BeerBorg

I think FedoraDave nailed it. Home brewing equipment is a lot like home gym equipment. Most of the people that have it don't actually use it. Those that do don't repurchase often.

I have found myself brewing a bit less often because of the proliferation of GREAT beers available to me. But I try to brew at least once per month if I can. And since I'm doing all 5G batches now, I'll likely brew less often - or just give more away.

But, it's a big time commitment as we all know. Sometimes life gets in the way and people just don't have time for it anymore.

Kealia wrote:But, it's a big time commitment as we all know. Sometimes life gets in the way and people just don't have time for it anymore.

I resolved this for myself by allowing myself to brew with extract again (finding that fresh extract makes really dang good beer as opposed to the old canned stuff back in the day), justifying the added cost as saved time - and embracing non traditional short boil techniques (which can also make really dang good beer as long as you are using the right hops for the right job). I still brew most of what I do cheaper then I could buy it, extract or no. But I don't have a heavy investment in equipment. I make do with what I have because I can still make great beer with what I have.

I'm right with you Mash. I try to keep my equipment inexpensive and simple. I also use extract as necessary. Like many, I went from HME to grain, doing only a couple of extract+ batches. I like grain brewing, and I sort of looked at extract as something I had progressed past. But I hurt my hand, and hurt my shoulder, making a full brew day difficult. Worse still, my pipeline ran dry. So I made a couple of extract batches that were very successful. So I discarded my bias and bought some extract to keep for quick brew days.

mashani wrote:

Kealia wrote:But, it's a big time commitment as we all know. Sometimes life gets in the way and people just don't have time for it anymore.

I resolved this for myself by allowing myself to brew with extract again (finding that fresh extract makes really dang good beer as opposed to the old canned stuff back in the day), justifying the added cost as saved time - and embracing non traditional short boil techniques (which can also make really dang good beer as long as you are using the right hops for the right job). I still brew most of what I do cheaper then I could buy it, extract or no. But I don't have a heavy investment in equipment. I make do with what I have because I can still make great beer with what I have.

I've only done a couple of all-grain batches, and those have been 2.4 gallon batches. I do a lot of partial mashes, but sometimes just do an extract + steeping grain batch. I get my LME in bulk for $2/lb if I bring my own containers. It's usually really fresh, but one time, they told me that they tapped the barrel about a week earlier. I generally freeze it when I get home, so it stays fresh for a long time. You can make a really good beer with fresh extract.

I guess nearly all of us here, have enough brewing DNA in us, to skew the LD Carlson metrics on the flattening out of homebrew sales. Let's face it I love to brew, write about brewing and talk beer at homebrew meetings and forums. But I know that me and other Borg members only make a up small segment of 'dedicated' brewers, for every one of us there must be 20 that have had only a passing interest in brewing. Maybe its homebrewers like those that are giving up and moving on to the next new thing that are accounting for the lower growth numbers.

bpgreen wrote: I get my LME in bulk for $2/lb if I bring my own containers. It's usually really fresh, but one time, they told me that they tapped the barrel about a week earlier. I generally freeze it when I get home, so it stays fresh for a long time. You can make a really good beer with fresh extract.

Our group started doing the same. We bought a 33# growler of LME for $55.99. We kept a bunch of old 3.3# containers from various kits. We cut that 33#er into 10 batches and froze them.

We are making some very drinkable beer for around 11 bucks per 5 gal batch. Our brew day takes a little more than 2 hours. We won't (and aren't trying to) win any awards but we enjoy drinking our CAB (Cheap Ass Beer) and watching sports.

I would define us as "casual homebrewers" and we most likely will continue to be due to equipment costs, space and available brewing time.

brewnewb wrote:

bpgreen wrote: I get my LME in bulk for $2/lb if I bring my own containers. It's usually really fresh, but one time, they told me that they tapped the barrel about a week earlier. I generally freeze it when I get home, so it stays fresh for a long time. You can make a really good beer with fresh extract.

Our group started doing the same. We bought a 33# growler of LME for $55.99. We kept a bunch of old 3.3# containers from various kits. We cut that 33#er into 10 batches and froze them.

We are making some very drinkable beer for around 11 bucks per 5 gal batch. Our brew day takes a little more than 2 hours. We won't (and aren't trying to) win any awards but we enjoy drinking our CAB (Cheap Ass Beer) and watching sports.

I would define us as "casual homebrewers" and we most likely will continue to be due to equipment costs, space and available brewing time.

I love that you're still brewing CAB!

If you want something a little different, try switching out the yeast. T-58 with that recipe will give you a bit of a hefeweizen character to it, and there's no limit to what yeasts you can try out with that recipie!

Is the recipe for CAB posted somewhere here? I searched, but couldn't find it. Unless I looked right over it, which is highly possible.

BlackDuck wrote:Is the recipe for CAB posted somewhere here? I searched, but couldn't find it. Unless I looked right over it, which is highly possible.

Orig CAB Recipe

3# Light DME (I've been using 3.3# light LME)
1 lb table sugar
1 oz Meridian Hops (I've been using cascade since Jon moved from NY)
20 Minute Boil
1 whirlfloc tablet
1 pack S 05 at ~70*

Ferment at ~68* for ~14 days
Keg around 10 psi and enjoy in about a week.

We've been kegging with 5oz of priming sugar, letting them sit at room temp then tap when one blows. We usually have 2 on tap live and one on standby.

Last night during the hockey game my neighbor brought out a pitcher of Fat Tire Amber from his tap #2. We drank that and he said he'd rather drink the CAB since he paid about 60 bucks for that keg of Amber.

But we are cheap drunks .....

T-58 with that recipe will give you a bit of a hefeweizen character to it

I bet Abbaye yeast would turn CAB into at least a passable patersbier / table strength blonde and possibly it would be quite delicious.

Bella Saison would probably make good but VERY DRY beer - you'd probably want to reduce bittering but 1/3rd if you were to try that yeast.. you won't need it.

Thanks for the recipe....looks so simple!!

What's this CAB taste and look like? If this is a 5G recipe, then I'd figure a pale ale, low abv (maybe the added sugar raises this?), easy drinking (ie. easy to drink quite a few) kind of beer? Probably what a lot of people are used to drinking from the major breweries already? For a 1G recipe, probably 1 to 1 1/2# of LME would probably be enough, even with out the added table sugar? Hmmm.... things to consider.

Never underestimate the creativity of brewers! I'll admit this is the first I've heard of the 'CAB' beer style, maybe this is what's keeping LD Carlson sales forecasters up at night.

The history of CAB:

CAB originated on the old Mr Beer Fans Forum. A couple years ago I had 3 kids in college. They'd come home and drink that god awful Natty Light. I refused to pay for that crap so I requested a simple CHEAP recipe for me to brew for them. Jon provided the original recipe.

We threw a summer party and I had a bunch of bottles of CAB. All the neighborhood guys liked it so we named it CAB and decided to make it on a regular basis. It's become a staple in our pipeline.

Lately, we've been adding berry extracts to the 5g batches to come up with little variations.

I'll post up a couple pics of CAB later. It's very light in color and has a nice lace head to it. Don't rely on me for taste - all I can say is it's better than Natty Light and just as good as any run of the mill light beer.

BACK on TOPIC - we have a nano brewery in our town and he makes excellent beer. We've been there a few times but 5 - 6 bucks a pint drains the wallet quickly. Then add the who's driving home factor leads my group of neighbors back to CAB. No one risks a DUI and we have a bunch of $$ in our wallet to order pizza and wings during the sporting events.