@DrewsBrews said:
...Thinking I need to try some Rye myself and taste what all the hoopla is about...
1) I like Rye, so I don't mean this in a negative way at all;
2) But the "hoopla" is that Rye has more "spicyness" than corn or wheat and thus can be aged for a shorter time...thus is more profitable for distillers.
One of the best Rye's for the money is Rittenhouse Bottled in Bond. If I remember correctly, you live in Ohio where the state controls what liquors are carried in the stores, so not sure if you can get it or not. If you are ever in the Cincinnati area, cross the river to the Kentucky side and go to The Party Source for an incredible selection of bourbons. (Other than for this reason, I do not recommend crossing the border to Kentucky )
"More profitable for distillers" Isn't that where all the "innovation" comes from .heh
Yep, live in City of Hamilton currently. My old stomping grounds were Amelia/Withamsville/Eastgate and I went to Cincinnati State so I'm no stranger to I471. Found some of my favorite wines at Party Source attending their tastings years ago. Then they built that New Riff distillery right in the middle of the dang parking lot
Plenty of reasons to cross the border:
Pretty sure my favorite beer is the dunkel at Hofbrauhaus Newport. Even my wife orders it every time we go there!
Then again her favorite is Kentucky Bourbon Barrel Ale. That is also my fault. ($14 for 4 bottles doh) at least we can get that local.
And we have made special trips for Goodfellas Pizza, then end up hanging at Cock and Bull.
Milo is another grain than many do not like that I find attractive. In small quantities, it imparts an earthy taste which can sometimes complement other spicy flavors.
Back in ~ 1994-5, I was living in Cincinnati (just 'nort of Ky, the world's bourbon capital...) and reading up on speakers, designs, and measurements. I connected with Bob and drove up to Miami and had a chance to speak with him regarding some sound / speaker ideas I had been playing around with at the time, and speaker designs in general. I remember him as being generous with his time, clearly knowledgeable on speakers, and an overall interesting gentleman.
I had just recently been to a Stone’s concert at the Stadium in Cinci, not having the best of seats (actually any seat was great, but on the main floor and a bit off to a side) and I came up with an idea for better sound staging / imaging. And it got me hooked.
@jr@mac said:
A lot of rye whiskies are blends, generally high corn content.
Especially in Canada where we don’t have strict rules on this stuff, “rye” is just another word for Whisky here, it can be 100% corn and still labelled as Rye really. Recently I believe we are now allowing up to 10% of other non-whisky to be blended in and still allowed to call it whisky, it’s a bunch of bs if you don’t know if your buying a cocktail or not.
Lot 40 is copper pot still 100% rye anyway, great stuff.
@jr@mac said:
A lot of rye whiskies are blends, generally high corn content.
Especially in Canada where we don’t have strict rules on this stuff, “rye” is just another word for Whisky here, it can be 100% corn and still labelled as Rye really. Recently I believe we are now allowing up to 10% of other non-whisky to be blended in and still allowed to call it whisky, it’s a bunch of bs if you don’t know if your buying a cocktail or not.
Lot 40 is copper pot still 100% rye anyway, great stuff.
I wasn't going to say anything about Canadian rye, but what you speak is truth.
That being said, here is a very short list of my favorite budget Canadian whiskies.
Honorable mention to Black Velvet Reserve. That is a pretty solid pour, stupid low price notwithstanding.
These can all be had for under $50.
The Templeton rye is 100% rye and is now distilled in Iowa. Formerly it came from the same ginormous distillery in Indiana that a million other "craft" whiskies come from - including some fairly expensive expressions. I tasted a 10 year old bourbon they have started bottling when I took my tour last October. Not bad, something like 30% rye. Give it a bit of a "bite back" I find lacking when the mash bill leans too heavy towards corn.
Speaking of, I am not generally a bourbon fan, corn liquor is sometimes just too sweet for my palate. That being said, some of the higher rye content bourbons I don't mind. Woodford Reserve is a good bourbon that is still 72% corn, although the malted barley component of their mash bill might lend a bit of familiarity. Scotch is, after all, my favorite style of whiskey.
An ultra honorable mention to Stranahan's Colorado Whiskey. 100% malted barley, very reminiscent of a nice single malt Scotch - think along the lines of Macallan. Give it a try if you like Scotch.
Picked up my first Rye tonight. My local state store has a limited selection so I opted to play it safe and got the Woodford reserve. First sip finished.... subtly rum like? Gros Michel (pre-cavindish banana) and maybe the lightest whiff of coconut. Not what I expected. Certainly not hating it though. I did drink some unsweetened tea not long before, so that could be affecting my taste.
I tried Rittenhouse Bottled in Bond. Way too peppery for me. Ended up sending the bottle home with my father since he really liked it. Sofar, I've found the max amount of peppery I can still enjoy is Ezra Brooks 99... Think that one might be a new favorite, actually.
Planning to get back into homebrewing a bit. Just picked up 4lb ea. of amber and red LME, Fuggle and Golding hops and a couple smack packs of 1057 liquid yeast. Want to make a basic strong amber ale to add some bourbon too. LME and liquid yeast always yielded the most consistent results for me with least funky flavors. So probably forever an extract brewer.
Not a Rye, but Old Grand Dad 114 (not the 80 proof or bottled in bond) is very unique. I really like it, but I can imagine someone absolutely hating it too. I can't remember if it available in Ohio or not, but definitely south of the border.
@a4eaudio said:
Not a Rye, but Old Grand Dad 114 (not the 80 proof or bottled in bond) is very unique. I really like it, but I can imagine someone absolutely hating it too. I can't remember if it available in Ohio or not, but definitely south of the border.
Agreed. Old grand dad 114 price/performance is quite a winner, and easily tailored to taste, a cube or two.
I would love to, Though I usually give it 2 weeks to be sure the party is over. I probably wont have time to bottle before Indy comes around. Would need to give it another 2 weeks to carbonate the bottles. Then, to be at it's best IMO, another few months aging in the fridge (kinda lagers the last bit of priming sugar to nicely dry up the flavor).
Just snapped a pic a few min ago. Well on the way already. Heck, by bed time it had a half inch of foam. I'm used to nothing happening until the next day.
Wife and I have considered brewing our own several times but always chicken out lol. We enjoy a wide variety of different beers so it isn't a question of necessarily disliking what we would produce, it is more being intimidated by the entire process.
Much easier to head to our favorite bars and asking for samples
@DrewsBrews said:
Just snapped a pic a few min ago. Well on the way already. Heck, by bed time it had a half inch of foam. I'm used to nothing happening until the next day.
@jr@mac said:
Wife and I have considered brewing our own several times but always chicken out lol. We enjoy a wide variety of different beers so it isn't a question of necessarily disliking what we would produce, it is more being intimidated by the entire process.
Much easier to head to our favorite bars and asking for samples
There are so many ways to brew I really do understand being intimidated/overwhelmed about knowing where to start or what to do. But, a basic all-extract ale is orders of magnitude easier than designing and constructing an exceptional sounding speaker IMO.
Tips from my personal experience for anyone who might want to give it a try...
-If you skip the grain steeping/mashing step and go all-extract you eliminate those first hour/s dorking around with the grain, watching mash temps like a hawk.. and just go straight to the boil.
-Basically you boil a malt sugar solution for about an hour and add in hops at specific times to add bitterness and hops flavors.
-Cool the resulting "wort" down to below about 95F then add it to your fermenter with the yeast
-Wait 2 weeks for the magic to happen and fizzle out (starts fizzling by end of first week)
-Add a little "priming" sugar (dissolved in boiling water) to the mix and bottle the beer
-The priming sugar is consumed by the remaining yeast in suspension to carbonate the bottle (about another 2 weeks)
-Consume and/or age as you wish
To be honest the Northern brewer $150 kit is probably a better value since it comes with a stainless brew kettle and a bottling wand for easier bottling. But it comes with a cheaper ingredient kit that has steeping grains (adding another step and more time) and doesn't appear to come with yeast. Maybe get this kit, saving the ingredient kit for later and buy an all extract ingredient kit from Williams to do for the first batch. https://northernbrewer.com/products/brew-share-enjoy-homebrew-starter-kit
-I later went to a glass carboy for fermentation, but only because I have a thing for glass. They have their own difficulties in use. And recently I've heard they are being produced in China instead of Italy and are having many more incidents of randomly cracking open. The plastic bucket fermenter is perfectly fine, just don't scrub it so you don't introduce micro abrasions for wild yeasts and bacteria to hide out in. I'm also weary of potential for leaks with the valve hole. So I'd put the fermenter in a plastic tub when in use just in case... Maybe I should do that with my glass one anyway, lol
-For brew kettle it is suggested to go Stainless or enamel coated steel. I guess aluminium can react giving metallic flavors to the brew. I got a Ballington brand 24qt stainless stockpot. it lets me do a 5gallon boil if I want to, just barely. But looks like they are $100 now. I'm sure there are better options now. Hell looks like at williams brewing if you buy the fermenter kit they will knock their 40qt Brewers Edge pot down to $80 when you add it on. Looks like it has a nice stainless ball valve to drain through a tube instead of having to tip it to pour 5gal of boiling hot liquid. Dang that'd be nice, but says not recommended for glass top stoves. Pretty much any would be big enough to use for canning too.
-I never bought a wort chiller. Initially I had a big enough sink to do an ice water bath for the whole stockpot, but that took time to cool. Then I moved to an apartment where the sink was too small. So I started doing 3.5-4gal boils and would add 2 small bags of the typical bagged ice to the bucket before dumping the hot wort directly on it. My new place has a bigger sink again but I might stick with the ice method. Way quicker
-I might as well throw away my hydrometers. I used them once. You quickly get an idea for what a good ferment is just by watching the airlock bubble. It is very hard to have a stuck ferment unless you let temps go too low in an unheated room in the winter or are going for a higher gravity beer where the yeast is working harder but are low on a nutrient they need. Generally more sugar = more alcohol. If you try a higher gravity brew don't be surprised if the yeast goes nuts and foam blows into the airlock. You can make a super airlock by shoving a sanitized hose in the fermenter airlock hole and the other end of the hose in a glass of water. Once I did a ferment that was probably into the double digits abv and the yeast collectively ripped their shirts off and went apesh@t, blew foam all the way down the hose into the glass, twice!
-Bulk spring drinking water is a good default to use. I moved to a locale with known good tasting water and I tested low chlorine/chloramines so I'm now trying out tap water.
-I use the Brewers cleaner/sanitizer to clean everything both before and after the boil and bottling. So 2 chances to get everything cleaned out and sanitary.
-Ales are pretty much all you will be doing unless you have an appropriate stable low temp environment for lagering. Most folks who want to lager will modify a mini fridge for lagering temps (~55F) and make an insulated extension housing because the fermenter is often too large for the mini fridge to fit with closed door.
-I don't worry about fermentation temps too much as long as it is not too high and doesn't swing rapidly. Alot of ale yeasts will say between 60-70F on the package but I think all my ferments were mid 70s and may have crept up to 78-80 on vigorous ferments (yeast makes it's own heat).
-Keep the fermentation in the dark as much as you can. Skunkiness is actually from light exposure; they call it "lightstruck". Hence the, ehm.. flavor profile, of beer in clear or light color bottles (Corona, Heineken, etc.)
-Don't buy bottles.. You are a beer drinker. Just buy beer in dark non twist off cap bottles and save them. Soak in warm cleaning solution and the labels and glue comes of easily. I know 50 bottles can take a while to accumulate. But you can do it Everyone says they almost immediately went to kegging but I never did. I like being able to stash some away and slowly try it to see how it changes as it ages. Lastly: It is an unfiltered bottle conditioned beer. There will be a yeast cake at the bottom that is easily stirred up. Slowly pour into a glass, stopping when the yeast starts pouring in. Or, sigh, drink from the bottle if you must. I'm not your dang mom
-Oah and probably the biggest one.. The chances are extremely low that you would be able to make something that would actually hurt you. If the airlock is doing the dance then you are making alcohol and the yeast is taking over, muscling anything else out. The biggest reason for sanitizing is to prevent other wild yeasts or bacteria from making funky flavors before that happens.
Comments
"More profitable for distillers" Isn't that where all the "innovation" comes from .heh
Yep, live in City of Hamilton currently. My old stomping grounds were Amelia/Withamsville/Eastgate and I went to Cincinnati State so I'm no stranger to I471. Found some of my favorite wines at Party Source attending their tastings years ago. Then they built that New Riff distillery right in the middle of the dang parking lot
Plenty of reasons to cross the border:
($14 for 4 bottles doh) at least we can get that local.
Pretty sure my favorite beer is the dunkel at Hofbrauhaus Newport. Even my wife orders it every time we go there!
Then again her favorite is Kentucky Bourbon Barrel Ale. That is also my fault.
And we have made special trips for Goodfellas Pizza, then end up hanging at Cock and Bull.
Anyhoo, thanks for the tip I'll check it out!
You can taste the difference in grains before fermentation.
Milo is another grain than many do not like that I find attractive. In small quantities, it imparts an earthy taste which can sometimes complement other spicy flavors.
If you can get “Lot 40” where you are I believe it is the best Canada has to offer. I haven’t had the Alberta cask strength though so YMMV.
I love rye whiskey. Templeton 6 is my go to. I'm going to try a similar aged Whistlepig this weekend.
A lot of rye whiskies are blends, generally high corn content.
To be labeled bourbon it must be at least 51% corn.
I know it well. I lived in Liberty Township when I was an Economics professor at Miami University 2003-9.
Did you have an opportunity to meet up with Robert Bullock (Bullock on Boxes), or had he passed?
No, I hadn't discovered this hobby back then. I only found out recently that he had been there based on something I read on one of the forums.
Back in ~ 1994-5, I was living in Cincinnati (just 'nort of Ky, the world's bourbon capital...) and reading up on speakers, designs, and measurements. I connected with Bob and drove up to Miami and had a chance to speak with him regarding some sound / speaker ideas I had been playing around with at the time, and speaker designs in general. I remember him as being generous with his time, clearly knowledgeable on speakers, and an overall interesting gentleman.
I had just recently been to a Stone’s concert at the Stadium in Cinci, not having the best of seats (actually any seat was great, but on the main floor and a bit off to a side) and I came up with an idea for better sound staging / imaging. And it got me hooked.
Especially in Canada where we don’t have strict rules on this stuff, “rye” is just another word for Whisky here, it can be 100% corn and still labelled as Rye really. Recently I believe we are now allowing up to 10% of other non-whisky to be blended in and still allowed to call it whisky, it’s a bunch of bs if you don’t know if your buying a cocktail or not.
Lot 40 is copper pot still 100% rye anyway, great stuff.
I wasn't going to say anything about Canadian rye, but what you speak is truth.
That being said, here is a very short list of my favorite budget Canadian whiskies.
Tangle Ridge - 100% rye, aged 10 years, Sherry cask finished.
Canadian Club 100% rye
Canadian Club 12 yr
Forty Creek Barrel Select
Pendleton 1910
Honorable mention to Black Velvet Reserve. That is a pretty solid pour, stupid low price notwithstanding.
These can all be had for under $50.
The Templeton rye is 100% rye and is now distilled in Iowa. Formerly it came from the same ginormous distillery in Indiana that a million other "craft" whiskies come from - including some fairly expensive expressions. I tasted a 10 year old bourbon they have started bottling when I took my tour last October. Not bad, something like 30% rye. Give it a bit of a "bite back" I find lacking when the mash bill leans too heavy towards corn.
Speaking of, I am not generally a bourbon fan, corn liquor is sometimes just too sweet for my palate. That being said, some of the higher rye content bourbons I don't mind. Woodford Reserve is a good bourbon that is still 72% corn, although the malted barley component of their mash bill might lend a bit of familiarity. Scotch is, after all, my favorite style of whiskey.
An ultra honorable mention to Stranahan's Colorado Whiskey. 100% malted barley, very reminiscent of a nice single malt Scotch - think along the lines of Macallan. Give it a try if you like Scotch.
I’m a fan of Stranahan’s - since years ago visiting The Home Ranch (and now living in Clark)
Check out history- and Supreme Court Case on one of their beers - quite interesting (legal issues- Raging
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flying_Dog_Brewery
Picked up my first Rye tonight. My local state store has a limited selection so I opted to play it safe and got the Woodford reserve. First sip finished.... subtly rum like? Gros Michel (pre-cavindish banana) and maybe the lightest whiff of coconut. Not what I expected. Certainly not hating it though. I did drink some unsweetened tea not long before, so that could be affecting my taste.
I tried Rittenhouse Bottled in Bond. Way too peppery for me. Ended up sending the bottle home with my father since he really liked it. Sofar, I've found the max amount of peppery I can still enjoy is Ezra Brooks 99... Think that one might be a new favorite, actually.
Planning to get back into homebrewing a bit. Just picked up 4lb ea. of amber and red LME, Fuggle and Golding hops and a couple smack packs of 1057 liquid yeast. Want to make a basic strong amber ale to add some bourbon too. LME and liquid yeast always yielded the most consistent results for me with least funky flavors. So probably forever an extract brewer.
Not a Rye, but Old Grand Dad 114 (not the 80 proof or bottled in bond) is very unique. I really like it, but I can imagine someone absolutely hating it too. I can't remember if it available in Ohio or not, but definitely south of the border.
Agreed. Old grand dad 114 price/performance is quite a winner, and easily tailored to taste, a cube or two.
30min in, just threw in a whirlfloc tab.
Man it feels good to brew again.
Gonna bring any samples to Indy?
God speed you magnificent yeasty bastards!
I would love to, Though I usually give it 2 weeks to be sure the party is over. I probably wont have time to bottle before Indy comes around. Would need to give it another 2 weeks to carbonate the bottles. Then, to be at it's best IMO, another few months aging in the fridge (kinda lagers the last bit of priming sugar to nicely dry up the flavor).
So, Iowa?
Why is that water so dirty?😬
Ask your parents
Just snapped a pic a few min ago. Well on the way already. Heck, by bed time it had a half inch of foam. I'm used to nothing happening until the next day.
Wife and I have considered brewing our own several times but always chicken out lol. We enjoy a wide variety of different beers so it isn't a question of necessarily disliking what we would produce, it is more being intimidated by the entire process.
Much easier to head to our favorite bars and asking for samples
Maybe try the Oreo recipe next.
There are so many ways to brew I really do understand being intimidated/overwhelmed about knowing where to start or what to do. But, a basic all-extract ale is orders of magnitude easier than designing and constructing an exceptional sounding speaker IMO.
Tips from my personal experience for anyone who might want to give it a try...
-If you skip the grain steeping/mashing step and go all-extract you eliminate those first hour/s dorking around with the grain, watching mash temps like a hawk.. and just go straight to the boil.
-Basically you boil a malt sugar solution for about an hour and add in hops at specific times to add bitterness and hops flavors.
-Cool the resulting "wort" down to below about 95F then add it to your fermenter with the yeast
-Wait 2 weeks for the magic to happen and fizzle out (starts fizzling by end of first week)
-Add a little "priming" sugar (dissolved in boiling water) to the mix and bottle the beer
-The priming sugar is consumed by the remaining yeast in suspension to carbonate the bottle (about another 2 weeks)
-Consume and/or age as you wish
This is the kit I went with probably 15+ years ago to get started. Includes an ingredient kit of your choice that would usually cost $40-50:
https://williamsbrewing.com/Home-Brewing-Supplies/Williams-Home-Brewery/Williams-Home-Brewery
To be honest the Northern brewer $150 kit is probably a better value since it comes with a stainless brew kettle and a bottling wand for easier bottling. But it comes with a cheaper ingredient kit that has steeping grains (adding another step and more time) and doesn't appear to come with yeast. Maybe get this kit, saving the ingredient kit for later and buy an all extract ingredient kit from Williams to do for the first batch.
https://northernbrewer.com/products/brew-share-enjoy-homebrew-starter-kit
-I later went to a glass carboy for fermentation, but only because I have a thing for glass. They have their own difficulties in use. And recently I've heard they are being produced in China instead of Italy and are having many more incidents of randomly cracking open. The plastic bucket fermenter is perfectly fine, just don't scrub it so you don't introduce micro abrasions for wild yeasts and bacteria to hide out in. I'm also weary of potential for leaks with the valve hole. So I'd put the fermenter in a plastic tub when in use just in case... Maybe I should do that with my glass one anyway, lol
-For brew kettle it is suggested to go Stainless or enamel coated steel. I guess aluminium can react giving metallic flavors to the brew. I got a Ballington brand 24qt stainless stockpot. it lets me do a 5gallon boil if I want to, just barely. But looks like they are $100 now. I'm sure there are better options now. Hell looks like at williams brewing if you buy the fermenter kit they will knock their 40qt Brewers Edge pot down to $80 when you add it on. Looks like it has a nice stainless ball valve to drain through a tube instead of having to tip it to pour 5gal of boiling hot liquid. Dang that'd be nice, but says not recommended for glass top stoves. Pretty much any would be big enough to use for canning too.
-I never bought a wort chiller. Initially I had a big enough sink to do an ice water bath for the whole stockpot, but that took time to cool. Then I moved to an apartment where the sink was too small. So I started doing 3.5-4gal boils and would add 2 small bags of the typical bagged ice to the bucket before dumping the hot wort directly on it. My new place has a bigger sink again but I might stick with the ice method. Way quicker
-I might as well throw away my hydrometers. I used them once. You quickly get an idea for what a good ferment is just by watching the airlock bubble. It is very hard to have a stuck ferment unless you let temps go too low in an unheated room in the winter or are going for a higher gravity beer where the yeast is working harder but are low on a nutrient they need. Generally more sugar = more alcohol. If you try a higher gravity brew don't be surprised if the yeast goes nuts and foam blows into the airlock. You can make a super airlock by shoving a sanitized hose in the fermenter airlock hole and the other end of the hose in a glass of water. Once I did a ferment that was probably into the double digits abv and the yeast collectively ripped their shirts off and went apesh@t, blew foam all the way down the hose into the glass, twice!
-Bulk spring drinking water is a good default to use. I moved to a locale with known good tasting water and I tested low chlorine/chloramines so I'm now trying out tap water.
-I use the Brewers cleaner/sanitizer to clean everything both before and after the boil and bottling. So 2 chances to get everything cleaned out and sanitary.
-Ales are pretty much all you will be doing unless you have an appropriate stable low temp environment for lagering. Most folks who want to lager will modify a mini fridge for lagering temps (~55F) and make an insulated extension housing because the fermenter is often too large for the mini fridge to fit with closed door.
-I don't worry about fermentation temps too much as long as it is not too high and doesn't swing rapidly. Alot of ale yeasts will say between 60-70F on the package but I think all my ferments were mid 70s and may have crept up to 78-80 on vigorous ferments (yeast makes it's own heat).
-Keep the fermentation in the dark as much as you can. Skunkiness is actually from light exposure; they call it "lightstruck". Hence the, ehm.. flavor profile, of beer in clear or light color bottles (Corona, Heineken, etc.)
-Don't buy bottles.. You are a beer drinker. Just buy beer in dark non twist off cap bottles and save them. Soak in warm cleaning solution and the labels and glue comes of easily. I know 50 bottles can take a while to accumulate. But you can do it
Everyone says they almost immediately went to kegging but I never did. I like being able to stash some away and slowly try it to see how it changes as it ages. Lastly: It is an unfiltered bottle conditioned beer. There will be a yeast cake at the bottom that is easily stirred up. Slowly pour into a glass, stopping when the yeast starts pouring in. Or, sigh, drink from the bottle if you must. I'm not your dang mom 
-Oah and probably the biggest one.. The chances are extremely low that you would be able to make something that would actually hurt you. If the airlock is doing the dance then you are making alcohol and the yeast is taking over, muscling anything else out. The biggest reason for sanitizing is to prevent other wild yeasts or bacteria from making funky flavors before that happens.
Dude I'd be down! A creamy chocolatey stout. mmmmm