Is Brewing Better With Friends?

Good morning. If you’re reading this, it means you haven’t resorted to bulk deleting all of your emails in protest of Black Friday/Cyber Monday. One more day left until the barrage is over - hang in there.

-Brandon Copeland

Who Do You Brew With?

Homebrewing has been a solitary pursuit of mine pretty much since I started brewing in 2013. The recipe ideas, equipment setup, and brewing I do all by myself preferably when no one is around. Even my wife hasn’t seen a full brew day of mine.

However, my favorite part of homebrewing is sharing the final product with anyone who will taste it with the hopes they like it. Usually people do like it, because since it’s made at home, people aren’t expecting much, so they are shocked when it tastes like beer from a legit brewery.

As an apartment brewer, brew days are pretty chaotic for me. I usually have a limited time window in which to brew, and even with my upgrade to the Brewzilla Gen 4 all in one brewing system, there are a lot of moving parts. The kitchen can become a hostile environment…

Even after brewing for 10 years, I haven’t felt comfortable bringing others into my brew day. It’s difficult to assume someone who has never brewed before will have the same interest and commitment in the process as you do. They may not realize that so much of brewing is cleaning, sanitizing, and waiting around - not as glamorous as expected.

It goes back to the old saying that you can lead a horse to water but you can’t make them drink. Just because I’m passionate about brewing beer, doesn’t mean someone else is going to be, even if they have shown some interest in the process. The best intro to homebrewing for most is just buying a cheap intro kit and giving it a go yourself.

That all being said, a goal of mine is to get my wife involved in a full brew day. It would mean a lot to brew a beer together, and show her an inside look at my favorite hobby, not just the final product. After all, anything in life is better when shared with others.

Let us know below who you prefer to brew beer with!

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Beer Trivia Question

🍺 What is the world’s oldest continuously operating brewery?

Read to the end to find out if you're right!

Homebrewing Equipment Highlight

Tilt Hydrometer and Thermometer

One of the most frustrating things about homebrewing is waiting for your fermentation to complete. You nailed the brew day and you’re stoked to finally try the delicious fruits of your labor. However, you’re not sure when it’s done fermenting.

It’s tempting after a week, when the airlock is no longer bubbling, to pop off the lid and take a hydrometer reading to see where you’re at. However, every time you open that lid, you’re risking contamination that could cause off flavors in your beer.

This is where the Tilt Hydrometer comes in handy. You drop this device in when you put your beer in the fermenter, and then you get real time data on specific gravity and temperature straight to your phone using their mobile app.

This is the next brewing purchase on my list - I’m an over eager brewer with no patience, and I think this would do me a lot of good and reduce potential risk of contamination in my future homebrews. I can’t speak to how well it works, but from reviews I’ve read, it’s accurate enough to give you a good indication of when fermentation is complete.

I’ll do an update in the future when I’ve had a chance to test it out… stay tuned!

What’s Brewing in the News

Black Friday is over, but here comes Cyber Monday. If you didn’t capitalize on a deal just yet to upgrade your brewing setup this weekend, don’t worry - homebrew equipment suppliers will still be running deals into December to try to boost their Q4 sales, which are generally the highest of the year.

Last Weeks Poll Results: Bottle or Keg?

Results were a 50-50 split for last week between kegging and bottling! The general consensus in the feedback was that the expense of upgrading to kegging can be prohibitive, so once you have bottling figured out, it can be an inexpensive and flexible way to store your beer. If money isn’t a factor, then kegging and using a counter pressure bottle filler is the best of both worlds.

Brewgr Recipe of the Week

Finished Peanut Butter Cup Porter

Selfishly the recipe of the week goes to a Peanut Butter Porter because this is the next style of beer I want to make. I went ahead and cloned it so I can start customizing it ahead of my brew day!

Credit: Guido

And the Answer Is...

🍺 Weihenstephan - it was started in 1040 and was a Benedictine monastery. They still brew in the same location today - definitely a location to throw on the brewery bucket list!