Bottling the Winter Spiced Ale

By Greg B.  As promised, I’d follow this beer through with updates at the different stages.  The beer has been in the secondary since 12/15/08, at which time the gravity had come down from 1.104 to 1.030.  With December almost gone (today is 12/29/08) I decided to bottle the beer, and see what happens. Read more

Peanut Butter Porter Recipe

By Greg B. So this beer recipe has been a long time coming, and I’ve been awaiting the day when I felt I had enough abilities in brewing beer to tackle something like this.  For those of who who abhor peanut butter, read no further. If you want to learn how to make a beer with some peanut butter overtones, please, read further! Read more

Winter Spiced Ale Recipe

By Greg B. So, I was in the mood to try and make a winter ale.  I’ve had some great ones this year, and I really wanted to try to follow suit.  So, after checking with some homebrewers, sampling enough beers, looking around the internet and consulting my local homebrew suppliers at Maryland Homebrew, I bought a bunch of supplies.  This one is going to be one heck of a beer. Read more

Mother’s Milk IPA

By Greg B.  With a friend of mine’s PhD graduation this fall, I decided to brew a special beer in honor of the occasion. Her personality is a little bitter at times, but definitely overflowing with energy and sometimes she can be very sweet.  Thinking about the style of beer that best suited her, I could only naturally come to the conclusion that an IPA was in order, one that was a bit heavy on the malty side.  And so, I set out to craft a beer. (note:  I decided to give her the original, and only, recipe for this beer.  So this recipe is for the next, upgraded IPA I’d make, with some changes) Read more

Vanilla Oak Stout Recipe

By Greg B. Here is my recipe for a Vanilla Oak Stout.  I few years ago I made an Oak-Whiskey Imperial stout which was excellent, and then after trying the Founders Kentucky breakfast bourbon stout, a stout aged in bourbon-oak barrels for a year with a vanilla bean, I decided to make something similar, especially since that beer was by far one of the most amazing beers I have ever drank!  So here is my recipe for those of you who want to know how to make it.  For everyone else who is just plain interested in beer, I will try to explain things to educate everyone and hopefully convince you that you too can brew your own beers! Read more