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Hello All,

Sorry the email has been so erratic lately. My Zip drive where I
store all of the email info and nicknames is broken, so bear with me as I
work through it. And in addition to the technical mishaps, last week was
my birthday (turned 25 on the 13th for the curious) and it seems that only
today have I really started to recover fully. I can't even count how much
mead and homebrew was consumed, but it looms well into the 50 gallon arena.

The big news this week is the grape harvest. If you want grapes,
we will be making a run to temecula to pick up grapes this year. Its fun
and inexspensive and we'll help make it easy for you. All the info is down
below.

Its also almost time for apple season, which means hard cider. I
will be picking up my first batch of juice this week. When I get info on
when things will be in full swing I will pass it on.

Other than that, a few Ballast Point updates, some new grains and a
recipe or two to round it all out. Hope everyone is having a great August!

Cheers
Tom

CONTENTS:

GRAPES
BALLAST POINT
NEW GRAINS
PUB UPDATES
CLASS INFO
RECIPES

GRAPES

Its grape season and this is the week to make wine. Its an early harvest
this year so I am trying to organize a grape run for this Sunday. This
only comes around once a year, so if you've ever wanted to try your hand at
winemaking now is the perfect time to make a good, easy red wine!

We will be getting Cabernet and Zinfandel grapes. It takes about 50 pounds
for five gallons of finished wine. No one knows when the grapes will be
picked, but I am guessing no later than next week, possibly this weekend.
When the winery calls us we will go and pick up the grapes and bring them
back to Home Brew Mart. There we will crush the grapes and put them into
buckets - probably two buckets of crushed grapes for 5 gallons. Our Master
Brewer, Pete, will do the acid test to figure out how much acid to add to
the wine. We will also provide Campden Tablets and Yeast to ferment the
wine. After the grapes ferment on the skins for one week, they get pressed
and then just age them in a 5 gallon carboy.

The cost for five gallons of wine (2 buckets of grapes) with Acid, sulfites
and yeast will be $80 (buckets included) $70 if you bring in your own
buckets. This will yield about 25 bottles for around $3 a piece!

If you are interested you must call the store (295-2337) and give us your
name, number, what type of grapes you want, and how much. People who want
to reserve grapes must come down and prepay before Sunday! When we know
when we will be picking up the grapes we will give you a call. If you
can't make to the store that day, we can crush and sulfite the grapes for
you.

BALLAST POINT

We have the Barleywine back on the tasting bar! The kolsch will be coming
back soon, and you can expect the Porter on line in a week or so. The bar
will soon have a fifth tap--an English beer engine so we can properly serve
our cask conditioned Copper Ale!

If you want kegs for Labor Day please call in advance so we can have them
ready to go for you. We will be open for at least a half day on Monday,
but I'm not sure exactly off the top of my head.

NEW GRAINS

I've got two new grains in that look great. The first is Roasted Wheat.
It is a dark - 428 Lovibond - malted wheat grain. It will work for
dunkleweizens and wheat bocks and will add an interesting twist to stouts
and porters. It will work to steep, but probably best to mash this one
with a little two-row.

The second grain, Dark Munich Malt, will be in this week (its on order
right now). This is a 20 Lovibond Munich malt that will add more color and
malt flavor to any continental style beer--Marzen, Vienna, Octoberfest,
Bock. It will also add complexity to any darker beer in small amounts.
This is not a steeping grain, but is easily mashed with some two-row malt.

PUB UPDATES

Baja Brewing Company will be releasing a Belgian Triple in September. The
original gravity is 1.076 so it will be strong. Triples use sugar to boost
the alcohol content without making them thick, heavy beers. The light body
and color make this a very satisfying style. When I know for sure its on
tap, I'll let you know.

Pizza Port - both Solana Beach and Carlsbad should soon be adding a
fizzbuster to one of their tap lines to serve hand drawn ales, possibly the
IPA?. Look for the Old Boneyards Barleywine coming in October.

CLASS INFO

The next beginning brewing class will be held on Sunday, Sept 7th from
10-11:45am. The class is free and will be held down at the Linda Vista
store

I will probably do both a mead class and an all-grain class at the end of
September.

RECIPE

Chili Beer

It sounds wierd, but its really good. This is a good light beer that will
work just as well with a slice of lime in place of the chili peppers. The
peppers give off a huge aroma, but not that much spiciness. The longer
they sit in the fermentor, the more flavor you will get. Warning-the
habenero (sp?) peppers are super hot and the seeds are very oily. Don't
rub your skin without washing your hands thoroughly after cutting them.

Tom's Near August 8th Chili Beer

6# Pale Malt Extract
1 cup corn sugar - 15 minutes

3 oz 10L Crystal
2 oz Biscuit

1.5 oz Liberty 3.8% - Boil
.5 oz Liberty - Finish

California or East Coast Ale Yeast

2 Anaheim Chilis and 1 Habenero (sp?) cut, deseeded and steeped for 48
hours before bottling in fermentor. Bottle as usual and enjoy.
Any inspiration for a chili pepper Mead?

Thats All Folks!
Tom

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