Another 'where to buy' question

[psychodad]

You can get a pretty clear beer if you take care of a few things.

• Bring to a boil quickly to get a good hot break.
  Add a tsp of Irish moss during the last 15 minutes of the boil.
  Chill quickly. After boiling, get the wort temperature down quickly to get a cold break.
  Rack carefully to the fermenter leaving as much trub and break behind as possible.
  Use a secondary fermenter and leave as much trub and yeast behind as possible when racking.
  Force carb in kegs. This avoids a yeast cake you will get with priming sugar.

Some people throw a cold crash in there but I've never had a problem.

One thing I think happened to help my beer clear was going to all grain brewing. The hot break is supposed to have happened when the extract was made, but I'm getting far better beers as far as color and clarity are concerned than I was with extract.

[cm11599ps]

I don't think you're ever going to get a crystal clear beer like you would see in a Bud. I never have.

Second, the beer usually does clear up a bit after bottling.

I just got some corny's and my next brew will go straight into one of them when done fermenting.

[Jazzbone]

Well I'm certainly looking forward to it...a few more weeks to go though..
The rootbeer I just made up should be ready by this weekend though...Now I just gotta convince the wife to let me buy another fridge for everything.. lol

Jazzbone

[psychodad]

Don't let the color concern you. Extract recipes are often darker than AG, and what you see in the fermenter isn't what you will see in the glass. Some time after I brewed my first extract kit, a recipe based on Boulevard'd wheat, I brewed the same kit in the all grain version. It was very close to Boulevard's in terms of color and taste. The extract version was good too, just not as close to the original beer.

[Jazzbone]

It should be ready to transfer into the corny next weekend...Just tried a Coopers Mexican, it seemed alot darker than it should...being a noob to this and not wanting to turn this thread into a homebrew question...will the beer clear itself up in the next stage? As mentioned, it's a Corona clone and during the mixing/1st stage I'm looking at Rickards Red color...

Jazzbone

[psychodad]

Hopefully I have some time to find an importer if my 1st homebrew attempt turns out ok....but Im not counting on it...

Don't underestimate your first homebrew. Homebrewing isn't all that hard to do or as easy to mess up as many home brew forums will lead you to believe. There hasn't been a commercial keg in my kegerator since I started brewing a couple or three years ago.

[Jazzbone]

Nope, went that route 1st with the Warsteiner...our LCBO (liquor control board of Ontario) doesn't deal in kegs whatsoever...it's all done through the beer store, problem is the selection at the beer stores is iffy at best...
Premier Brands in Toronto imports decent german and some english brew, but don't deal with the Bitburger....
Hopefully I have some time to find an importer if my 1st homebrew attempt turns out ok....but Im not counting on it...


Jazzbone

[cubby_swans]

Do you know of any liquor stores near you that have bottles? If so, ask the liquor store who distributes it to them. Whomever distributes the bottles would also likely distribute draft products.

[Jazzbone]

Well, Google has failed me...hopefully some of the other Canucks here will be able to point me in the right direction...I'll be finishing off my 30l of Warsteiner soon and am looking to get ahold of a 30l of Bitburger pilsner next...but of course I can't seem to find an importer of it...
Took me awhile to find a distributor of Warsteiner...I've inquired with the sales people at the brewery but haven't heard back yet.


Jazzbone