Jay's Brewing

I found an article while looking on the internet about how more people are home brewing.  I copy and pasted it below, found it to be very interesting as well as put in my two cents.

I hope that you find it as interesting.

Results Indicate Growth, Increased Diversity

Boulder, CO • July 20, 2011—For the second consecutive year, the American Homebrewers Association (AHA) conducted a survey of homebrew supply shops. The 2011 survey, conducted in the spring, saw a dramatic increase in respondents—67 percent increase over 2010′s survey. Across the board, the results indicate that homebrewing is growing consistently, leading to a more diverse demographic of homebrewers and new shops catering to local enthusiasts.

I’ve seen this to be very true.  When first opening the shop, most of the customers were from the baby boomer generation.  That is not the case any more, we have all walks of life come through our door.  A lot of generation X & Y.

Overall, homebrew supply shops grew 16 percent in gross revenue in 2010, which matches the previous year’s growth rate and reflects a steadily increasing demand for the ingredients and equipment needed to brew at home. Additionally, 82 percent of shops saw an increase in sales of beginner kits in 2010, another strong indicator of the growing interest in the hobby.

I can not tell you how happy it makes me to help a customer with their first beer.  At Jay’s Brewing one of our most popular items that is sold is the starter kit. A

Also of note, 43 percent of retailers indicate that the most common age group for beginner equipment purchasers is those under 30., which points to homebrewing’s widening demographic. AHA Director Gary Glass explains: “Traditionally a hobby dominated by middle-aged males, the influx of younger homebrewers bodes well for the future of the pastime.” In that same vein, on an anecdotal basis, shops surveyed indicated that they saw the numbers of female homebrewers gradually ticking upwards.

This is not to big of a surprise to me, but that’s because I am in that group that they are talking about.  People in there 20′s are in a generation which is about customizing and uniqueness. We started to get spoiled with ring tones then it progressed.  Naturally what we drink we want to be made to our specifications.  I wasn’t to surprised with women either.  We have quite a few female customers, I applaud women who know what a good beer is.

With growing demand for homebrew supplies and equipment, homebrew shops are responding to the trend and benefiting from the growth. In 2010, 25 percent of shops indicated they’d been open for three years or less, showing that many new shops are springing up to meet the needs of homebrewers in underserved regions and towns.

The AHA will continue to conduct this survey annually to track industry trends and to supply retailers with data relevant to their businesses. Future surveys will incorporate suggestions from retailers on additional data they would find useful.

To me home brewing is in the up and up.  Most of the findings in this article I know to be true.  It makes me happy to see so many people brewing their own beer.  In my humble opinion it’s one of the best hobbies out there.  Your going to drink beer anyways, why not make a hobby out of it?   Especially when you get into kegging it just makes it that much easier to really get into because you won’t have to clean bottles.  Speaking of, I will be posting soon the biggest shortcut you can take with cleaning bottles that I’m sure will blow your mind as well as save you bundles of time.

 
Read more: Homebrewing on the rise | Beer Nut http://blogs.wickedlocal.com/beernut/2011/07/20/homebrewing-on-the-rise/#ixzz1ZwSDEnrT

If your even thinking about making a stout this winter, this is a good one to make.  The stout is actually going to be two different stouts 1) Whiskey Oak Aged Dry Stout 2) Rum Oak Aged Dry Stout.  The thing with this stout, is that you need to plan it out in advance because of the amount of time it takes; 3 – 4 months.  The base of this recipe is a  5 gallon batch of a  ”Dry Irish Stout” then I’m going to split the batch in half for the secondary putting the beer into two different 3 gallon carboys.

While they are in the secondary, I’m going to add to oak that has been soaked in whiskey for one and rum for another.  I haven’t tried the rum one before, but a good customer of ours with lot’s of brewing experience told me that this is one that he does.  I’m going to trust him at his word.

If this is something that your interested in, then I suggest you start this as soon as possible because this process will take quite a few weeks.

The scedule looks something on the lines of:

3 weeks of oak soaking   – WEEK 1-3

Make Dry Irish Stout let ferment for 1 week in primary – WEEK 3-4

After a week of fermenting, add the oak that soked into the carboys – WEEK 4

Let the carboys secondary ferment for 6 weeks. – WEEK 4-10

Bottle and let sit for 3-4 weeks. – WEEK 11-14

So at the end of the process it will take about 14 weeks which is about 3-4 months.  Since it’s October, this beer you will not be able to drink until January. In my opinion, that is perfect stout season anyways.  It’s gonna be cold by then and your mentality will be, “Grab Me A Stout”.

For this beer, we will do a series though and go step by step to make it turn out right.

The 1st major step is pretty easy though. 

Buy a small bottle of whiskey and a small bottle of rum. Growing up I always heard when cooking with wine, “Don’t cook with wine that you wouldn’t drink”.  I keep this mentality with brewing as well.  So I have a fine taste, for the whiskey I bought “Makers Mark” and for the rum I bought, “Sailor Jerry’s”.

Now that you got your liquir you need to buy a total of 4 oz’s  2 oz of Oak Chips.  Home brew stores should have them, we do.

Split them up into two different food grade containers.  One will be for the whiskey and one will be for the rum.

The one that’s for the whiskey, pour whiskey on top of the oak until it’s covered.  The one that’s for the rum do the same thing.  After you have poured your whiskey and your rum on top of the wood chips, close them up and set them aside.  If they start to dry out take more whiskey or rum and pour more on top.  It’s as simple as that.  Now we wait 3 weeks.

We’ll make a post when we get to the next step.  Until then.

Cheers