I tried the first bottle of my special Christmas ale last night, and it was quite good–better than I expected it to be, really.  My only major complaint was that it didn’t quite have the bitter maltiness to it that my porter did.  I didn’t expect a porter taste out of it, but I would [...]

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Self-Made Brewing’s Black ‘n’ Blue Ale
Makes one 5 gallon batch. Brewed on 10/22/07.
2-day yeast starter
Boil 1 pint water with 1/3 cup amber malt extract
Add Wyeast 1056 American Ale liquid yeast
Ferment one day
Boil 1 quart water and 1 cup amber malt extract, add to starter
Ferment another day
1 3.3 lbs. can Briess Sparkling Amber malt extract
1 [...]

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Self-Made Brewing’s Purple Circle Porter
Makes one 5 gallon batch.  Brewed on 9/30/07.
1 3.3 lb. can Briess Porter malt extract
1 3.3 lb. can Briess Traditional Dark malt extract
2 oz. loose-leaf Sterling hops
2 oz. Galena hops
1 oz. Cascade hops
Wyeast 1056 American Ale liquid yeast
3 lbs. extra-dark dry malt extract
Bring 2 gallons water to boil
Add liquid malt extract
Add [...]

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Self-Made Brewing’s Gold Star Ale
Makes one 5 gallon batch.  Brewed on 9/16/07.
1 3.3 lb. can Munton’s Amber malt extract
1 3.3 lb. can Light malt extract
4 oz. Mt. Hood hops
Wyeast 1056 American Ale liquid yeast
2 lbs. light hopped dry malt extract
Bring 2 gallons water to boil
Add liquid malt extract
Add 2 oz. Mt. Hood hops
Boil 40 minutes
Add [...]

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Self-Made Brewing’s Red Star Brown Ale
Makes one 5 gallon batch.  Brewed 8/19/07.
1 3.3 lb. can Cooper’s Amber malt extract
1 3.3 lb. can Cooper’s Light malt extract
Two 1 lb. bags light-hopped dry malt extract
2 oz. Fuggles hops
1 oz. Kent Golding hops
Wyeast 1332 Northwest Ale liquid yeast
Bring 2 gallons water to boil
Add cans malt extract
Add 1 oz. [...]

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Self-Made Brewing’s Silver Star Brown Ale
Makes one 5 gallon batch.
Two 3.3 lb cans Thomas Cooper’s Amber malt extract
4 oz. Cascade hop pellets
1 package Wyeast 1056 American Ale liquid yeast
Two 1 lb. packages Munton’s light-hopped dry malt extract
Bring 2 gallons water to boil
Add both cans malt extract
Add 2 oz. Cascade hops
Boil 30 minutes
A 1 oz. Cascade [...]

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Staying home sick from work is finally giving me an opportunity to publish my recipes thus far.
My beer names all derive from the color of stickers I put on the caps. Original, huh?
Self-Made Brewing’s Green Star Ale
Makes one 5 gallon batch.
Two 3.3 lb. cans of Munton’s Amber malt extract
3 oz. Centennial hops (9.3 alpha)
10g [...]

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Progressively incoherent meaning I’m drinking the beers as I write about them.  Scarcely written because I’m not a beer writer and I don’t care for the subtleties of beer.  I just know what I like.  It’s gonna be an interesting evening.
Mistletoe Bliss, Lazy Boy Brewing Company
I love Lazy Boy IPA.  It has a great label, [...]

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Last Wednesday night I brewed my 10th and final batch of 2007, an amber-colored lager (which was odd since I used light and extra-light malt, but perhaps it will “mellow out” in color) that I’ll rack into a carboy around Christmas and bottle around Valentine’s Day. It’s no wonder that breweries prefer ales to [...]

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I bottled my 10th and final batch of 2007 last night, and with my trusty brewing companion-slash-girlfriend’s help, things went much more smoothly than the last two times I bottled by myself.  I ended up with 23 22 oz. bottles (and one filled halfway up) and six 12 oz. bottles.  Since this is the Christmas [...]

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