Like the rest of my blog and unfortunately my brewing hobby, it’s been kind of on hold. I haven’t had much time recently. Having a fifteen month old running around the house will do that. However, Perry’s Brewer one gallon all brewing seems like the perfect way to get back into brewing when fighting with a jam packed schedule.

Perry’s Brewer promises beer that isn’t difficult to brew and doesn’t require any previous brewing experience. Each one gallon kit makes 8-10 bottles of beer at a time.

What caught my attention is that it makes all grain beer in just five steps and their promise that it wasn’t much harder than making pasta. There’s say there’s no need for multiple cooking pots, the brewing steps are kept to a minimum and there’s powder extract. Just fresh ingredients that hopefully take less time to make. Perfect for when the time is of the essence and my brain is fried from work and trying to keep up with a little one.

I’ll be looking at how easy it is to brew using the Perry’s Brewer system and further down the road I’ll of course share how the homebrew actually tastes. Some might say that’s the most important part.

Inside the box:

• Ingredient mix of your choice (I choose the Statement Sout Beer Making Mix).
• Glass fermentation jug and airlock
• Quikbrew bag
• Auto siphon and tubing
• Thermometer
• Funnel
• 10 bottle caps
• Beer Making Guide

Statement Stout Beer Making Mix

“Soft, smooth and full bodied. A pitch black beer with a tan head. A warming alcohol note to accompany a cold chocolate dessert.”

-Perry’s Brewer Product description

All I had to supply was:

• 8-12 QT cooking pot
• 10 flip-top or pry off bottles. (If you don’t have a bottle capper or caps, they have them in their online store.)

The last time we talked, I wrote about the White House Honey Porter from Midwest Supplies. Since then, a lot has happened. The kit has gone from ingredient form to in the bottle. More details about that below. Also, I’ve tried my hand at making wine, as well as mead. Once, I found out that there wasn’t much equipment that I needed to switch from beer to wine, I decided to give it a go. I’ll be writing more about the wine and mead experiments in up coming blog posts.

White House Honey Porter Review

First off, thanks to the crew at Midwest Supplies for sending me this kit to review. I’ve been itching to try this recipe for a while and when they said they would send me one for free, I couldn’t turn it down. I’m also a long time customer of theirs. While I’m getting to know my local homebrew shop, Brewstock, I like the selection of kits and equipment at Midwest Supplies. All that being said, I’m going to give you my honest opinions.

Overall, it doesn’t get much easier than a kit from Midwest Supplies. The ingredients arrived here quickly and intact. The instructions are easy to use and tailored to the recipe kit.

As far as variations to the recipe, I made too. Instead of adding the honey to the boil, I waited to the secondary. While I know some people worry that it may cause infections, I have yet to have a problem. I believe that the higher alcohol content in the secondary takes care of any risks. The result is more honey flavor and aroma. Second, I let the beer ferment for a lot longer than recipe. While you probably could get good beer after two weeks fermenting, I did two weeks in the primary fermenter, then another four in the secondary before bottling and aging.

The result is a respectable porter with a hint of honey around the edges. I swear that each bottle gets better than the last. I have to give two thumbs up to Midwest and say that I would highly recommend them for equipment and ingredients based on this experience and my previous purchases from them.

I’ve been a honey beer kick lately, first a couple batches of a honeymoon rosemary saison and now this one. I’ve been wanting to try this recipe since the White House released, so I’m glad I finally got the opportunity to try it.

Since I brewed today, it’s obviously too early to give you a review of how it tastes. However, I can tell you about some other observations I’ve made so far.

The recipe kit arrived safely and quickly from Midwest.

For the most part I like the recipe instructions. However, I do wish that they would put the recommend temperature for the yeast to ferment. I was able to find it online, but it was one extra step.

Other than that minor detail, I don’t have any complaints.

Here’s a few pictures from brewing day.

I’ll keep you updated with how it goes!

First up on my schedule is the Tails & Ales festival August 18th. The event takes place in the Clubhouse at the Fair Grounds Race Course & Slots.

Tales & Ales is present by Louisiana powerhouse brewery Abita Beer. Also confirmed for the event are Bayou Teche, Blue Moon, Covington Brewhouse, Duvel, La Chouffe, Lazy Magnolia, Liefmans, Ommegang, Parish, Saint Arnold and Tin Roof. If you pay for VIP access, you’ll also get exclusive brews by Angry Orchard and Samuel Adams. Most breweries will have at least four varieties to sample and the total number of beers to taste will top 75, with offerings from all over the world. My kind of festival!

Admission for “Tails & Ales,” which includes live racing admission, is $30 in advance through Ticketmaster.com or $35 at the door. The VIP experience – which includes an exclusive “VIP Hour” with entrance before the general public from 4-5 p.m. – is $60. Discounted “Designated Driver” admission is available for $15 (General Admission) or $25 (VIP). “Tails & Ales” tickets are limited so fans are encouraged to purchase online in advance. Valet Parking will be available Aug. 18. General valet is $20 and VIP Valet is $30.

Saturday, March 24; 2-6 p.m. Cigar City Brewery 3924 W. Spruce St , Suite A

Tampa, are you ready for another beer fest? I hope so, because this one is filled with cask conditioned beers and it helps a good cause. Win/win!

Casks For A Cause is this Saturday (March 24th 2-6pm) at Cigar City Brewing and will feature beers like Stone’s Cali-Belgique, Shipyard’s Export Ale, Tampa Bay Brewing Company’s Black IPA, Great Divide’s Old Ruffian Barley Wine and Dogfish Head’s 120 Minute IPA! Do I need to say anything else? Yeah, I didn’t think so.

It’s just ten bucks to get in, you’ll get one free beer ($2 per beer after that), plus the first 300 people will get a free pint glass.

All proceeds benefit the Whole Planet Foundation, funding microloans to women in poverty.

Hopefully, I’ll see you there!

I always do a Guinness corned beef and cabbage. The only change modification that I’ll make, is adding a cup of brown sugar like a spice rub before I add the beer. It promises to be delicious.

This year, I’m also trying Guinness chocolate cookies for dessert.

Are you doing any cooking with beer this year?

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Photo by La Marga.

Five things I love and hate about craft beer festivals
I love craft beer festivals, but I have to agree with this author that there’s a lot of things that I could do without: the frat boys that are just their to get drunk, the volunteers who are clueless about the beer their serving, etc. What’s your favorite and least favorite things about beer festivals?

Big Beer, Big Lies
The Aleheads have some scathing words for the approaching fingers of big corporate beer companies on our precious craft beer. This one is a must read.

How to handle a Carboy
Tom has a solution (that I also use and recommend) for dealing with those heavy, difficult to hold and very breakable glass carboys.

NH police follow beer cans to nab robbery suspect
A tip for would be robbers. Make sure that you don’t leave a trail of beer cans, like bread crumbs. At least give the police a challenge to catch you.

Cigar City Brewing scores big in national beer championship.
Local (for me at least) brewer, Cigar City Brewing took home some awards in the United States Beer Tasting Championship Winter Competition. Congrats guys! And I think it’s another excuse to head over to their tasting room again soon.

New Tampa Bay area craft brewery to open soon: Rapp Brewing Company
Also in local news, Rapp Brewing Company is opening up in the Pinellas Park by the end of May. I can’t wait to stop by their tasting room and check out their twenty taps when it opens.

The Drink

This is half beer review of the Criterium Ale from Cigary City Brewing, half to make sure everyone knows about the Cigar City Brewing Criterium & Street Festival.

The Cigar City Brewing Criterium & Street Festival is a full day of events with a bike race in downtown Tampa. I love the bike, but I’m more interested in the beer and food trucks that’ll be there. Apparently the world’s longest bar will even be there. I’m not sure what that is, but I can’t wait to find out!

To celebrate the race and festival, Cigary City brews a special beer ever year. This year’s Criterium Ale is a wheat beer with bitter curacao peel added. It has hops from New Zealand and Australian hop varietals – Motueka, Galaxy and Pacifica.

Last night, I was able to try the Criterium Ale.

It poured an orangish, yellow color with a nice white head. It was the kind of beer that just looked refreshing.

It did have the wheat beer flavor, but it wasn’t just another what beer. There was the orange citrus that brought out a bit of tartness, a bunch of hop bitterness and a malty sweetness that rounded it out.

It’s full of flavor, but still light and refreshing, the perfect kind of beer for an outdoor festival with bike racing through the middle of it.

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Fine Print.

I remember my first batch of homemade beer. I brewed it, pitched the yeast, put the lid on the white bucket, put on the blue lid and topped it off with an airlock. I put it away in the closet, closed the door and immediately started wondering how long it would take for the fermentation to start. I saw videos online of airlocks filled with bubbles, I wanted to know when my airlock would have the same activity.

The answer is that it’s going to take at least 12-36 hours for the yeast to start showing signs of fermentation.

Before the yeast even start turning your wort into beer, they go through a phase called respiration. I know, it reminds me of high school biology too and I would’ve paid more attention if the course materials included making beer.

Respiration lasts between 4-8 hours and there won’t be much for you to see during this period. According to Charlie Papazian in The Complete Joy Of Homebrewing it’s during this period where the yeast gain and store energy for future activities and reproduction.

After respiration is complete, you’ll start to see some action. This is the fermentation, where the yeast turn the sugars in the wort to alcohol.

The exact time varies because of these factors:

• Temperature: If you’re yeast are too cold, they’re going to work slower. If they’re warmer, they’re going to work faster, just make sure the yeast aren’t too hot. If the temperature is too high in the fermenting bucket, it could lead to some problems in the final product. Make sure you keep your beer within the recommended rage on the yeast packaging or in the recipe.
• Oxygen Levels: The more oxygen in your wort, the happier the yeast will be and the faster they’ll work. Make sure you properly oxygenate your wort before pitching the yeast.
• Type Of Yeast: Some yeast types work faster than others based on their natural metabolism. However, you can’t just change to a different kind of yeast to get faster results. You need a specific type of yeast to get a specific style of beer. However, you can create a yeast starter to see better results quicker.
• Amount Of Yeast: If there’s not enough yeast, they’re going to have to spend more time reproducing instead of fermenting your wort. This goes back to the last factor and creating a yeast starter. Some yeast and some recipes need a starter.
• High Gravity Beers: The more fermentable sugars in the wort, means that there’s more work for the yeast to do. Higher gravity beers may need a yeast starter.
• Water: For more beginner to intermediate homebrewers, you won’t have to worry about your water. However, once you get into the more technical aspecits of brewing, you may want to take control of your water if it has high levels of pH, minerals, etc because they can affect the yeast, among other aspects of the beer.

If you don’t see any activity within the 12-36 hour window, don’t start worrying yet! Relax and have a beer instead. Then do a gravity reading and see if the levels have changed since you to the original gravity reading.

According to the yeast manufacturer Wyeast Laboratories, if you don’t see a gravity change, you should make sure the temperature is warm enough for the yeast, then shake the bucket or carboy to see if that will bring the yeast to life.

If there’s still no signs of life after 12 hours, it might be time to run to the local homebrew shop and pick up a new pack of yeast.

A similar question you might have is:

I Don’t See Any Bubbles Or Activity In The Airlock Is My Beer Fermenting?

Check out this blog post: Airlock Questions Answered: No Bubbles? Bubbling Done?

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Luckily, my fiancee loves craft beer, but I know that a lot of craft beer fans that have significant other’s that don’t drink beer. I think this could be a beer that convinces a lot of non-beer drinkers to see what can be done with beer.

This is another beer that I want to try (and hopefully soon.) Of course, I’ll do a review of it when I do find a bottle. Have you tried it? What did you think?