Last Updated on Sunday, 4 April 2010 06:32 Written by admin Sunday, 28 September 2008 01:28

Many homebrewing related articles and books mistakenly claim that, in 1979, President Jimmy Carter signed into law a bill explicitly allowing home beer and winemaking, which was at the time illegal as a holdover from the prohibition of alcoholic beverages (repealed in 1933). In fact, the U.S. Congress passed an Act in 1978 exempting a certain amount of beer brewed for personal or family use from taxation. President Carter signed the Act, which addressed other issues as well.

States remain free to restrict, or even prohibit, the manufacture of beer, mead, hard cider, wine and other alcoholic beverages at home.[11] For example, Ala. Code § 28-1-1 addresses the illegal manufacture of alcoholic beverages in Alabama, and no other provision of Alabama law provides an exception for personal use brewing.

Ala. Code § 28-1-1 – “In all counties of the state it shall be unlawful for any person, firm or corporation to have in his or its possession any still or apparatus to be used for the manufacture of any alcoholic beverage of any kind or any alcoholic beverage of any kind illegally manufactured or transported within the state or imported into the state from any other place without authority of the alcoholic control board of the state, and any person, firm or corporation violating this provision or who transports any illegally manufactured alcoholic beverages or who manufactures illegally any alcoholic beverages shall, upon conviction, be punished as provided by law.”

Interestingly, several homebrew stores operate in Alabama, so the status of homebrewing as an enforcement priority with the Alabama Alcoholic Control Board is unknown.

However, most states permit homebrewing, allowing 100 gallons of beer per person over the age of 21 per household, up to a maximum of 200 gallons per year. Because alcohol is taxed by the federal governments via excise taxes, homebrewers are restricted from selling any beer they brew. This similarly applies in most Western countries.

Last Updated on Sunday, 4 April 2010 06:32 Written by admin Sunday, 28 September 2008 01:26

A modern ale is commonly defined by the strain of yeast used and the fermenting temperature. Ales are normally brewed with top-fermenting yeasts (most commonly Saccharomyces cerevisiae), though a number of British brewers, including Fullers and Weltons, use ale yeast strains that have less pronounced top-fermentation characteristics. The important distinction for ales is that they are fermented at higher temperatures and thus ferment more quickly than lagers.

Ale is typically fermented at temperatures between 15 and 24 °C (60 and 75 °F). At these temperatures, yeast produces significant amounts of esters and other secondary flavour and aroma products, and the result is often a beer with slightly “fruity” compounds resembling apple, pear, pineapple, banana, plum, or prune, among others. Typical ales have a sweeter, fuller body than lagers.

A particularly well-known ale type is India Pale Ale (or “IPA”), developed by British brewers in the 19th century. The ale was light, and suited to a hot climate, but with a moderately high alcohol strength and strong hop content, intended to preserve it over a long ocean voyage. Some mass-produced beers (e.g. Alexander Keith’s, brewed in Nova Scotia, Canada) use the term “India Pale Ale”, but are not in any way true IPAs.

Real ale is a natural product brewed using traditional ingredients and left to mature in the cask (container) from which it is served through a process called secondary fermentation where the beer slowly ferments in its cask producing its own natural CO2. This causes CO2 to become dissolved in the beer resulting in natural carbonation.

Lambic, a beer of Belgium, is naturally fermented using wild yeasts, rather than cultivated. Many of these are not strains of brewer’s yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae), and may have significant differences in aroma and sourness. Yeast varieties such as Brettanomyces bruxellensis and Brettanomyces lambicus are quite common in lambics. In addition, other organisms such as Lactobacillus bacteria produce acids which contribute to the sourness.

Last Updated on Sunday, 4 April 2010 06:32 Written by admin Sunday, 28 September 2008 01:25

Lager is the English name for cool fermenting beers of Central European origin. Pale lagers are the most commonly consumed beers in the world. The name “lager” comes from the German lagern for “to store”, as brewers around Bavaria stored beer in cool cellars and caves during the warm summer months. These brewers noticed that the beers continued to ferment, and also to clear of sediment when stored in cool conditions.[40]

Lager yeast is a cool “bottom-fermenting yeast” (Saccharomyces pastorianus), and typically undergoes primary fermentation at 7–12 °C (45–55 °F) (the “fermentation phase”), and then is given a long secondary fermentation at 0–4 °C (32–40 °F) (the “lagering phase”). During the secondary stage, the lager clears and mellows. The cooler conditions also inhibit the natural production of esters and other byproducts, resulting in a “cleaner” tasting beer.[41]

Modern methods of producing lager were pioneered by Gabriel Sedlmayr the Younger, who perfected dark brown lagers at the Spaten Brewery in Bavaria, and Anton Dreher, who began brewing a lager, probably of amber-red colour, in Vienna in 1840–1841. With improved modern yeast strains, most lager breweries use only short periods of cold storage, typically 1–3 weeks.

Last Updated on Sunday, 4 April 2010 06:32 Written by admin Sunday, 28 September 2008 01:23

Style: Oatmeal Cream Stout
Brewed by Neb Bosworth

Ingredients:

* 7 pounds liquid pale extract
* 1 pound roasted barley
* 1/2 pound chocolate malt
* 1/2 pound black patent malt
* 1 pounds flaked oats
* 3/4 pound sumatra coffee
* 1/2 pound lactose
* 1.5 oz Bullion pellets, boil 60 mins
* .5 oz Bullion pellets, boil last 15 mins
* 1 oz. Fuggles pellets, boil last 10 mins
* Irish Ale Yeast (I use White Labs)

Instructions:
Steep your grains, coffee and oats in a grain bag at 150 degrees F for 45 minutes to an hour. Then add the extract and boil for 60 minutes. Adding the 1.5 oz. Bullion hops. The Remaining .5 oz. Bullion hops and 1 oz. Fuggles are added with 15 minutes and 10 minutes left in the boil in that order. Cool and pitch yeast. The lactose is added when bottling. I boiled my priming sugar and lactose at the same time and added the mixture to my bottling bucket before racking to it.

Ferment in primary for 7 days, then rack to secondary fermenter for another 5 days. This is a 5 gallon extract recipe.

I think it turned out excellent. I was going for a smooth stout and I didn’t want the coffee to be overpowering. The coffee really comes through in the aftertaste. Drink one and then try to keep yourself from drinking another… I think the aftertaste makes me want more and more.

(Note: Mashing the flaked oats with malted barley grains is not required. Converting the starches in the oatmeal is not the idea, the starches are intended to add to the “creamy” quality of this stout. Steeping the flaked oats is recommended, unless you want a stout with less body and more alcohol. — CBO)

Last Updated on Sunday, 4 April 2010 06:32 Written by admin Sunday, 28 September 2008 01:22

Style: Special Bitter
Brewed by Lee Kraemer & Michael Vitez

Ingredients:
1 lb. Hugh Baird English crystal malt, 40° Lovibond
3.3 lbs. Edme dry malt syrup
3 lbs. amber dry malt extract (domestic Northwestern)
2 oz. Cascade hop pellets (11% alpha acid), for 60 min.
0.5 oz. Fuggle hop pellets, for finish
Liquid British ale yeast or Wyeast 1098
2 tbsp. gypsum
1 tsp. Irish moss, for 15 min.
3/4 cup dextrose or 1.25 cup dry malt extract for priming

Instructions:
Add gypsum to cold water and heat to 170° F. Steep crushed crystal malt in straining bag for 15 minutes at 170° F. Remove bag, add malt extracts and Cascade hops, and bring to a boil for 45 minutes. Add Irish moss and boil 15 minutes more. Total boil is 60 min. Add Fuggle hops when heat is turned off.