Let's Go Blues

I have a question, brew masters. it's a very simple question and probably quite idiotic.

What is the main reason for the variety within certain styles? For instance, The Paulaner Salvator is very red and syrupy and kind of sweet whereas the Celebrator is more bitter coffee flavored and spicy. They are both dopplebocks so where's the difference during the process? Just in the kind of malt, grain, and hops or are there other considerations?

goon attack wrote:I have a question, brew masters. it's a very simple question and probably quite idiotic.

What is the main reason for the variety within certain styles? For instance, The Paulaner Salvator is very red and syrupy and kind of sweet whereas the Celebrator is more bitter coffee flavored and spicy. They are both dopplebocks so where's the difference during the process? Just in the kind of malt, grain, and hops or are there other considerations?

I'm probably not qualified to answer this, but my guess is that it's a malt difference.

I'm certainly no expert after brewing just 3 batches of extract beer, but there are tons of ways to vary the flavor of beer and still fall within a style's guidelines. The grains that are used, the hops, the quantities of both, when they are added to the boil, the type of yeast (ale vs. lager yeast being the biggest difference, but different strains of yeast have their own subtle flavors), even the water and the minerals in it can make a difference.

Definitely give homebrewing a shot, marco. It's a lot of fun and I've learned a lot. You could probably even do it in your condo, although all the stuff does take up some space. I managed to score a lot of my equipment from craigslist and maybe have 200 bucks invested so far. The next step will be going to all-grain brewing and I'd love to switch to kegging instead of bottling. It's actually cheaper to make your own beer and it's not too time-consuming. This latest batch cost about $30 for the ingredients (all-grain is supposed to be even cheaper), brew day took about 3 hours, and bottling and clean-up took about 2 hours. That's for 5 gallons (about 2 cases) of beer. When I go all-grain I'll probably switch to 10 gallon batches. Here's a couple good homebrew sites:

http://howtobrew.com/sitemap.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; (definitely buy this book too)
http://garagebrewers.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; (Hollywood's brewing site)

I will - but not in the condo - it's already a little tight and I don't think the misses would appreciate it; gotta keep her happy.

marco wrote:I will - but not in the condo - it's already a little tight and I don't think the misses would appreciate it; gotta keep her happy.

++

I'm in the same boat. Once I actually get a basement, I'm hoping to crank out my own beer and wine.

I've have a very important question!

My neighbor works for a local beer distributor and can get me store case pricing (no keg specials due to the tags on kegs nowadays). How many cases = a keg? I'm lazy, someone help me out here.

I think the most common keg size is 15.5 gallons. That's about 165 12oz beers, which is close to 7 cases, if I did my math right.

I was pleased to hit up the new Whole Foods in T & C and see not only Celebrator on the shelves, but also all my favorite Paulaner styles: hefe, premium pils, salvator....YES!!!!!!!!


I also tried the Curator Dopplebock by Ettaler. It was NOT for me. It was very fermented tasting with strong raisin and prune flavors. Blech.

The Salvator and Celebrator are much superior for me, especially the Celebrator.

Same price as Lukas.

goon attack wrote:I also tried the Curator Dopplebock by Ettaler. It was NOT for me. It was very fermented tasting with strong raisin and prune flavors. Blech.

yes, but how were the poops?

goon attack wrote:
I also tried the Curator Dopplebock by Ettaler. It was NOT for me. It was very fermented tasting with strong raisin and prune flavors. Blech.

Sounds disgusting.

The Tommyknocker brewery in Idaho Springs, CO makes a pretty good dopplebock. The first time I tried it was on draft at a local pizza place. Tasty and like 9% alcohol, so it had a nice kick. I liked it so I bought a 6-pack of it at the store one time. Terrible! It tasted so much worse than on draft. I looked at the date on the bottle and it was a year old, so I think that had a lot to do with it. I have to remember to check the brew date more often, especially if it's a less popular beer that might've been sitting a while.

I bought some Celebrator tonight... pretty good.

I told my wife they came with free Christmas Ornaments too!

Prngr44 wrote:I bought some Celebrator tonight... pretty good.

I told my wife they came with free Christmas Ornaments too!

I find those ornaments a bit odd.

the knob wrote:I've have a very important question!

My neighbor works for a local beer distributor and can get me store case pricing (no keg specials due to the tags on kegs nowadays). How many cases = a keg? I'm lazy, someone help me out here.

keg is still more pricy?!

I guess you get one hell of a discount. Either that or I'm in a college town and I'm used to kegs being cheap. I can get one here for 65 bucks. 7 cases puts me in the hole almost $100

WaukeeBlues wrote:

the knob wrote:I've have a very important question!

My neighbor works for a local beer distributor and can get me store case pricing (no keg specials due to the tags on kegs nowadays). How many cases = a keg? I'm lazy, someone help me out here.

keg is still more pricy?!

I guess you get one hell of a discount. Either that or I'm in a college town and I'm used to kegs being cheap. I can get one here for 65 bucks. 7 cases puts me in the hole almost $100

Operative words bolded above. MO passed a law a couple years back requiring tags on all kegs to trace ownership and possession of rented kegs.

I'm liking this new neighbor. He works for the local A-B distributor AND I was able to get $100 of wholesale fireworks through a friend of his that would have cost about $250 retail if some of the prices scribbled on them are correct.

the knob wrote:

WaukeeBlues wrote:

the knob wrote:I've have a very important question!

My neighbor works for a local beer distributor and can get me store case pricing (no keg specials due to the tags on kegs nowadays). How many cases = a keg? I'm lazy, someone help me out here.

keg is still more pricy?!

I guess you get one hell of a discount. Either that or I'm in a college town and I'm used to kegs being cheap. I can get one here for 65 bucks. 7 cases puts me in the hole almost $100

Operative words bolded above. MO passed a law a couple years back requiring tags on all kegs to trace ownership and possession of rented kegs.

Did not know that. Sucks to be you!

btw, guys, I just bought some Wiehenstephaner Hefe last night and........ZOMG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!...it was fukking unbelievable.

HIGHLY, HIGHLY, HIGHLY recommended. The head on it was like flippin' frosting.

The most PERFECT hefe I've ever had. Whole Foods carries it in Pint + .9 bottles.

it's pronounced Vine-Hen-Stefanner btw.

I tried the Weihenstephaner Kristal Weissbier, which is merely the filtered version of the Hefeweizen.

Same great flavor. The clove seemed more pronounced and obviously the yeast was less present.

Highly recommended as well but if you want that full flavored hefe taste, stick with the hefeweissbier

the knob wrote:

WaukeeBlues wrote:

the knob wrote:I've have a very important question!

My neighbor works for a local beer distributor and can get me store case pricing (no keg specials due to the tags on kegs nowadays). How many cases = a keg? I'm lazy, someone help me out here.

keg is still more pricy?!

I guess you get one hell of a discount. Either that or I'm in a college town and I'm used to kegs being cheap. I can get one here for 65 bucks. 7 cases puts me in the hole almost $100

Operative words bolded above. MO passed a law a couple years back requiring tags on all kegs to trace ownership and possession of rented kegs.

I'm liking this new neighbor. He works for the local A-B distributor AND I was able to get $100 of wholesale fireworks through a friend of his that would have cost about $250 retail if some of the prices scribbled on them are correct.

I saved $100 on fireworks by not buying any.

goon attack wrote:btw, guys, I just bought some Wiehenstephaner Hefe last night and........ZOMG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!...it was fukking unbelievable.

HIGHLY, HIGHLY, HIGHLY recommended. The head on it was like flippin' frosting.

The most PERFECT hefe I've ever had. Whole Foods carries it in Pint + .9 bottles.

it's pronounced Vine-Hen-Stefanner btw.

It's probably closer to Veehen-steffaner, but I applaud the effort.

For those of you who enjoy it, there is a bar in the Central West End that has $3 Celebrator drafts 6 nights a week for late night happy hour. Awesome.