Retirement Planning

RETIREMENT PLANNING

If you had purchased $1000.00 of Nortel stock one year ago, it would now be worth $49.00.


With Enron, you would have had $16.50 left of the original $1000.00.


With WorldCom, you would have had less than $5.00 left.


If you had purchased $1000 of Delta Air Lines stock you would have $49.00 left


If you had purchased United Airlines you would have nothing left.






But, if you had purchased $1,000.00 worth of beer one year ago, drank all the beer, then turned in the cans for the aluminum recycling REFUND,

You would have had $214.00.


Based on the above, the best current investment advice is to drink heavily and recycle.

It's called the 401-Keg Plan

Munton's Wheat Beer

Brewers: Pete

Brew Date: 4/28/08
Carb/Bottle Date: ??
First Drink Date: ??
Volume (Gal): 5
Yeast Activity (0-No Activity, 5-Extremely Active): 3 - Visible Activity (Normal)
Yeast Type: Dry Yeast Packet
Recipe:

• This is a pretty bizarre recipe because there was no boil process…just add hot water to the dry ingredients
• 1. Pour molasses mix and dry malt into fermenter
• 2. add 1 gallon of boiling hot water
• 3. stir and then top off with cold water
• 4. in 1/3 c warm water (under 100 deg F), stir in packet of dry yeast
• 5. once the temp is cool enough (around 80 deg F) add the dry yeast mixture
• 6. recipe suggest that the brew will be done fermenting in about 6 days.

Comments: Molasses settled to the bottom of the carboy. Hopefully, it will not affect the taste of the brew.
Overall Rating (0-low, 10-high): -

Strong Ale

Brewers: Jim and Phil

Brew Date: 11/27/07
Secondary Stage Date: 12/07/07
Carb/Bottle Date: ??
First Drink Date: ??
Volume (Gal): 5
Yeast Activity (0-No Activity, 5-Extremely Active): 3 - Visible Activity (Normal)
Yeast Type: ??
Recipe:

• Midwest Brewer Kit: ??

Comments: "A little too strong to really enjoy." -Pete
Overall Rating (0-low, 10-high): 5

Blonde Ale

Brewers: Jim and Phil

Brew Date: 10/10/07
Secondary Stage Date: 10/25/07
Carb/Bottle Date: 11/07/2007
First Drink Date: 11/10/2007
Volume (Gal): 5
Yeast Activity (0-No Activity, 5-Extremely Active): 3 - Visible Activity (Normal)
Yeast Type: ??
Recipe:

• Midwest Brewer Kit: ??

Comments: A bit Cloudy but Tastes great! -Pete
Overall Rating (0-low, 10-high): 8

Walmart Cider

Brewers: Phil

Brew Date: 10/23/07
Carb/Bottle Date: 11/07/2007
First Drink Date: 11/20/2007
Volume (Gal): 2
Yeast Activity (0-No Activity, 5-Extremely Active): 3 - Visible Activity (Normal)
Yeast Type: WLP550 Belgian Ale YeastRecipe:

• Apple Juice
• Supposedly, bread yeast (Phil used the Belgian Ale on this one)

Comments: Very tart. May have fermented a bit long…or maybe just because its ingredients from…WALMART!

check this out: http://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=14860
Overall Rating (0-low, 10-high): 3

Oatmeal Stout

Brewers: Pete and Phil

Brew Date: 11/02/07
Secondary Stage Date: 11/10/07
Carb/Bottle Date: 11/20/2007
First Drink Date: ??
Volume (Gal): 5
Yeast Activity (0-No Activity, 5-Extremely Active): 3 - Visible Activity (Normal)
Yeast Type: ??
Recipe:

• Midwest Brewing Kit:
• Carmel
• Grains steep 30min.
• Fuggle Hops.
• No aroma hops.

Comments: "Very Dark and hearty. Phil had to finish mine" -Pete
Overall Rating (0-low, 10-high): 8

Amarillo Pale Ale

Brewers: Jim and Phil

Brew Date: 10/12/2007
Secondary Stage Date: 10/27/07
Carb/Bottle Date: 11/10/2007
First Drink Date: 11/20/2007
Volume (Gal): 5
Yeast Activity (0-No Activity, 5-Extremely Active): 5 - Boils Over water lock
Yeast Type: ??
Recipe:

• Midwest Brewing Kit:
• Chinook Hops - 60 min boil.
• Amarillo Hops - 20 min boil.
• Amarillo Hops - after boil.
• 2nd stage recommended.

Comments: Pretty sure this is going to be a good one. Actually, the result was less than expected. It was pretty bitter although we suspect the alcoholic content to be quite high. I probably won't buy this one again.
Overall Rating (0-low, 10-high): 2

Flat Tire

Brewers: Jim and Phil

Brew Date: 9/30/07
Secondary Stage Date: 10/15/07
Carb/Bottle Date: 11/10/2007
First Drink Date: ??
Volume (Gal): 5
Yeast Activity (0-No Activity, 5-Extremely Active): 3 - Visible Activity (Normal)
Yeast Type: -
Recipe:

• Midwest Brewing Kit:Lotsa malt, not as much hops.
• Northern Brewer hops - 30 min boil.
• Saaz Hops - 2 min boil.
• 2nd stage recommended.

Comments: Tastes just like Fat Tire! Really good stuff. Kept it in the secondary fermenter for about 4 weeks before putting it in the fridge and it tasted great!
Overall Rating (0-low, 10-high): 8

Irish Red Ale

Brewers: Jim and Phil

Brew Date: 9/30/07
Secondary Stage Date: 10/15/07
Carb/Bottle Date: 10/25/2007
First Drink Date: 10/27/2007
Volume (Gal): 4
Yeast Activity (0-No Activity, 5-Extremely Active): 2 - Little Activity
Yeast Type: WLP004 Irish Ale Yeast
Recipe:

• Midwest Brewer Kit: Grains turned it red color.
• Added 1 more gallon of water after fermentation
• Cascade hops - 60 min boil.
• Fuggle Hops - 2 min boil.
• 2nd stage recommended.

Comments: Very Light. Carbonation was difficult to manage, but that's because it was force-carbed and may not have had enough time to carbonate.
Overall Rating (0-low, 10-high): 6

Belgian Wittbier

Brewers: Pete, Phil, and John

Brew Date: 9/12/07
Carb/Bottle Date: 9/30/2007
First Drink Date: 10/15/2007
Volume (Gal): 5
Yeast Activity (0-No Activity, 5-Extremely Active): 1 - Dormant
Yeast Type: WLP400 Belgian Wit Ale Yeast
Recipe:

• Midwest Brewer Kit: Orange peels, malt, grains

Comments: Yeast was very poor. Did not take. We ended up with an only 4% alcohol beer. Tasted good though. Carbonation was hardly there because the yeast was not very active.
Overall Rating (0-low, 10-high): 4

Honeyweizen

Brewers: Pete and Phil

Brew Date: 8/31/07
Carb/Bottle Date: 9/12/2007
First Drink Date: 9/15/2007
Volume (Gal): 5
Yeast Activity (0-No Activity, 5-Extremely Active): 3 - Visible Activity (Normal)
Yeast Type: WLP300 Hefeweizen Ale Yeast
Recipe:

• Midwest Brewer Kit: Tons of HONEY!!!!

Comments: Little metallic at first, but after the keg was chilled for a while, it tasted much better. Note: always let the forced carbonation take at least 2 days. We used 40lbs of pressure.Pete's Fav
Overall Rating (0-low, 10-high): 10

EPA - Northern Brewer

Brewers: Pete and Phil

Brew Date: 8/24/07
Carb/Bottle Date: 8/31/2007
First Drink Date: 9/12/2007
Volume (Gal): 5
Yeast Activity (0-No Activity, 5-Extremely Active): 4 - High Activity
Recipe:

• Northern Brewer Kit: (+ extra hops)3 Different Kinds of Hops!!!!

Comments: Too much hops!!!!
Overall Rating (0-low, 10-high): 4

This area is intended to serve a number of different purposes including (but not limited to):

1. as a reference for beer recipes that we've tried and also some very thorough reviews.
2. Pictures/Videos of the brewing process and finished products
3. Q&A of Brewing and General Beer-related topics.
4. Lederhosen Fashion (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lederhosen)

...to name a few

Sincerely,