New to brewing?

[S.F.B.]

The reason I ask is this. A friend of mine was cleaning out his garage the other day and came across some equipment and books for wine and beer making. More wine stuff than beer. He gave it to me knowing that I am a home brew enthusiast. In the box was a copy of Charlie Papazian's "The Complete Joy of Home Brewing". It is basically identical to "The New Complete Joy...". I found this to be very helpful when I was starting out. I would be willing to send it to a new brewer if they are interested in giving it a read. Like I said, it helped me a bunch and I think anyone interested in brewing should give it a go.

Let me know and I will get it in the mail.

[fretlessman71]

I know I've been around here for some time now, but I just recently got my first brewing kit (I practiced bottling some root beer before I wanted to risk ruining a batch of something really good), and I'm still a little perplexed. I mean, this OUGHT to be easy, but I'm the kind of person who could make an ordeal of pouring cereal. Can I be the one? I'll send you a PM with my address if that's okay. Thanks so very very much!

[S.F.B.]

Fret, send me a PM and I will get this out early next week. I can't believe I am sending to a "newbie" with more posts than I have. (lol) :D

[fretlessman71]

Hmmm... maybe I ought to change that to "OLDbie"... whaddya think?

[GunNut76]

Hey fretless when you're done with the book can you send it to me? SFB may have just started a book circle! :D

[S.F.B.]

Originally posted by GunNut76
Hey fretless when you're done with the book can you send it to me? SFB may have just started a book circle! :D

That would be kind of cool. By all means pass the book around if you like. This is kind of what I had in mind. A free exchange of info other than what we post here.

[Luther]

I've been looking around and talking to some old guys about beer recipes. Does anyone have any recipes that are like a hundred years old or more...you know, on ethat your grandpa use to use?

I would really like to make a old time brew...

[GunNut76]

Luther: You got a printer? Go to Cats Meow 3 (http://hbd.org/brewery/cm3/CatsMeow3.html) . Click on "Index", then click on "1500". 1500 will take you to quite a few old style beer recipes (some that are downright scary too, the "Cock Ale" comes immediatly to mind) up to the 1970's.

[fretlessman71]

I think it's only fair that I send this book along, free of charge, to the next person who asked for it after I'm through looking at it. A book circle is a wonderful idea; it keeps the community growing closer. GunNut76, that makes you next in line. I'm not sure how long I'm going to need it, but as soon as I'm not using it for everything I'd be happy to send it along to you. Go ahead and send me a PM with your information, and I'll fire it off to you when I'm done!

Ought the rules be such that each new person who wants in on the action should "sign up" on this thread, and have the book move around the country in successive order? We could all even sign it. Now, THAT'D be cool!

[fretlessman71]

Are they saying that they're going to shut down the website, and that we should print off all of the recipes before they're gone? I don't understand.....

[GunNut76]

CM3 is not shuting down. I meerly said that Luther needed a printer 'cause I figured that, like me, he would like to have a hard copy to look at while brewing.

[fretlessman71]

This is what I was talking about... when I went to visit the page, there was the following message:

This is the final form for The Cat's Meow. The amount of time it takes to obtain the recipes, reformat them, and then maintain the collection has become too great. We have a new collection The Gambrinus' Mug. Readers may post recipes which become instantly available for everyone. Try it!

"Final form"? Does this mean that they're just not going to update it anymore when people send in recipes?

[toneyc]

That was sort of the impression I got from reading it, that Gambrinus' Mug was sorta the Cat's Meow 4, the next incarnation. Anybody know fer sure?

:)
Toney.

[brewmonkey]

Book circle could be a cool thing, but when you send the book you need to send a bottle or two of what you brewed.

[fretlessman71]

I suppose it's too late for S. F. B. to begin that part of the circle (unless he really wants to), so I'd be happy to send some along when the time comes. Great idea brewmonkey!

[GunNut76]

I just thought about the fact that the next person in line might live close to you and it would be a great way to corrispond (sp?) with a fellow homebrewer. Hell if they lived close enough you could bring the book and a case of HB!!!:D

[fretlessman71]

Turns out we're making a 14 hour road trip to get there, and I don't HAVE any homebrew just yet. But it would be cool to be able to hand deliver the book AND get someone started on their first batch of HB in person, wouldn't it?

[YamahaXS]

Originally posted by Luther
I've been looking around and talking to some old guys about beer recipes. Does anyone have any recipes that are like a hundred years old or more...you know, on ethat your grandpa use to use?

I would really like to make a old time brew...

I remember i brewed a beer many years ago that my grandfather tried and said it reminded him of his grandmothers beer. It was just an extract beer with a couple of pounds of specialty malts.

[S.F.B.]

I suppose I might be able to slip a bottle or two in the package. I haven't had a chance to get to th P.O. this week. Tomorrow will be the day.

[fretlessman71]

Don't go out of your way to do this, SFB... remember, this was YOUR generosity to send the book out - don't feel obligated to send more stuff just because someone else thought you should. If you do, I'll be ever so appreciative, but PLEASE don't feel that you're honorbound to do so. Your generosity in sending the book shall not go unnoticed regardless!!! Thanks so very much!

[GunNut76]

Here is a better idea IMHO the person sending the book to the next person sends 2 HB with it...OK we already have that right here is the neat part...the person who just sent the book sends a couple HB to the person who sent them the book. Sounds good if you can figure it out!:confused:

[S.F.B.]

Originally posted by fretlessman71
Don't go out of your way to do this, SFB... remember, this was YOUR generosity to send the book out - don't feel obligated to send more stuff just because someone else thought you should. If you do, I'll be ever so appreciative, but PLEASE don't feel that you're honorbound to do so. Your generosity in sending the book shall not go unnoticed regardless!!! Thanks so very much!

I actually thought about putting a bottle or two in with the book before my original post. It's a habit I got into a while back from doing some trading online. All I ask is that when you come across a newbie that you treat him in the same way. I just wanted to give a little to this community. I have gleaned a lot of info from here.

I would urge any of you that have something to share to do so. Be it a book you can pass along or whatever. :)

By the way, the book went out yesterday. Should get to fretless around next Wed. I put delivery confirmation on it. The confirmation # is:0302 2940 000 3582 5010

[S.F.B.]

Originally posted by GunNut76
...the person who just sent the book sends a couple HB to the person who sent them the book. Sounds good if you can figure it out!:confused:

I think that is a nice idea. I don't want anyone to feel they are obligated to do this. I just wanted to help out a fellow brewer.

[fretlessman71]

I think we have the perfect formula now! SFB, if you reeeeeeeealy WANT to send me some HB, believe me, I won't turn it down. And when I'm ready to send the book on, I'll send out 4 bottles - 2 to you and 2 to GunNut76. GunNut will, in turn, send me 2 bottles and the next guy who gets the book 2 bottles, and so on, and so on. Totally up to you. I'm back in TN now (almost typed in CO - wonder what that means? ;) ), so I'll be looking for your shipment. Thanks ever so much!

[fretlessman71]

Thanks so VERY much, sfb! I'm putting your brews away for a few days to let them settle, and I'll give you a report when I've finally had a chance to taste them. I'm going to read that dang book from cover to cover!

[GunNut76]

Fretless- You will recieve 2 brews in the bottle style of my choice...probably a couple of pete's wicked bottles that I save for distributing my beer. The bottles are thin so I only feel safe using them one or two times.

[paul84043]

GunNut,
I have several Petes Wicked bottles that I have reused at least 4 times now and they are holding up just fine.

Fretlessman,
Wasn't it you that PM'd me a while back about the barleywine that I was beating my head against?

I finally bottled it a few months ago, it's sitting in the basement now.
I really don't know how it's going to turn out, the fermentation stalled and I don't think repitching did it any good.
I sampled it when I bottled it and it's VERY potent stuff, definitely not a "bad Batch" just high enough gravity that it kills the yeast off pretty fast, and still pretty sweet.
I hope they carbonate, I really should pop one open and see, it's been long enough, I may need to move them to a warmer spot, but have been afraid to mess with them too much.

ONe other thing,
I am very interested in what you think about the beer you received! It's not often that we get to critique anothers homebrew. I for one, am pretty much the only person that I know that regularly makes thier own beer, though, I'm working on it...

[fretlessman71]

Hmmm... I think I'm losing my mind... Am I mistaken, or have I not received anything from you as of yet? Please refresh my memory if I have...

I'd still be interested in some sort of a swap for a bottle of barelywine, if you end up thinking it's tradeworthy. I'm just about to make my first batch of brew myself; I'm probably going to go with an Irish Stout kit. We'll see... I'm still trying to figure out how to properly pitch yeast! My root beer died in the bottle, and I'm not sure what I did to kill it...

[paul84043]

No, I haven't sent anything to you yet because it's not done yet!!
Barleywines take a long time....I can now officially say that from experience.

An Irish Stout is an excellent one to brew, I have another on order and intend to build up a decent stock of it, it's turned out to be one of our favorites.
I made an Imperial Stout with cherry flavoring and I kind of wish I hadn't added the cherry. It's good, but I think it would be better if I had left it alone. We like the dry bitter stout with a little bite to it. mmmmmmmmmm.....

[S.F.B.]

Originally posted by fretlessman71
Thanks so VERY much, sfb! I'm putting your brews away for a few days to let them settle, and I'll give you a report when I've finally had a chance to taste them. I'm going to read that dang book from cover to cover!

You are very welcome. I hope the book helps you get to brewing.

Enjoy the brews!

[fretlessman71]

Maybe I'll add a little brown sugar to the mix when I make mine... you know, something the wife might like too. Guess I have an equally insatiable sweet tooth!

If you are indeed willing to drop a bottle in the mail, I'll give you my humble not-so-educated opinion on it, certainly! I'll even try not to let your generosity skew my taste buds too much. ;)

Just let me know what you think would be a fair exchange, and let me know when you're ready!

[GunNut76]

Fretless- If I recieve the book before xmas you will get some of my "experimental" batches...I brew only 2 gal at a time right now, but I asked for a 5 gal starter kit from my parents for xmas. Right now I have a dark irish ale in secondary and it is close to bottling. If I send a young beer I'll let you know.