"Cheating" at homebrew?

For me, it comes down to if I am going to enjoy it or not. Some extracts I don't enjoy in beer because they taste artificial and just unappealing. But if it tastes right and you enjoy it, then go for it.

I assure you that many pro brewers use extract and short cuts that their pretentious fan boys are probably unaware of.

 

hmm... Where were your beans from? My came from the LHBS, so no idea on how fresh they really were, all I knew was the week before they were out. Couldn't find them anywhere else local, and Amazon seemed sketchy as again, how fresh are they really? Perhaps it was in my refusal to put the vodka sterilizer in the beer with the beer, just didn't want any of that following the vanilla flavor.

 

I hear Vanilla is reeeeeeally going up in price shortly (if not already)
If I remember right, vanilla extract is really weird in the US...gotta be >~80% alcohol to be called extract...I bought some in Jamaica that was only 30% and seemed much better...go figure.

 

Mine came from penzies spices. Also, by putting vanilla beans in alcohol you created an extract. By not putting the vodka in you essentially threw out the flavor.

 

I wouldn't consider that cheating. But then again, I'm not a douche bag.

 

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAAHA
Oh wait, he was serious?


Make sure to ask him if he grew and malted his own barley next time, captured wild yeast, pumped water manually from the water source, melted his own sillicate and hand-blew the glass bottles... anything else is just cheating.

 

There no cheating in baseball,, ahh I mean homebrewing!!!,!

Well, I could restate what others have like douch bag, fuck you, go have a car wreck,,,,, but for me home brewing is ,or can. Be, anything the Brewer wants. That fits me perfectly no requirements except what I like which also could mean fun,fun and gn or by the book.

When in doubt, have fun and cheat, ,,,,, at beer making.

 

I suppose I can see what the antagonist is trying to convey, although it is presented in a ham-fisted point-of-view.

It is kind of cool that someone might pick out chocolate or coffee notes in a stout which has neither. And if you've gone to the trouble of making a pumpkin ale, does it actually have pumpkin? But yea - if you simply make a spice ale, or add a tincture of cinnamon/cacao - I feel that most brewers wouldn't bat an eye. I certainly wouldn't unless it was over-the-top.

I was critiquing a maple porter which was a guest tap where my son was working and I asked the brewer how much maple syrup was in it (it was seriously over-done) and he admitted it was an extract added after the boil. He had to know it was bad. But he could have pulled it off with the right balance.

 

How much wheat flour did you end up using in the boil? I used a tablespoon in a hefe to try and introduce some haze and didn't really get any more than the usual amount. You'd have better luck with the fruit pectins. In greenkrusty's case though, the flour probably gave the lambic some long chain starches to chew on for a year or more

 

This is something I might have said jokingly, but certainly would never mean it. We are making food, no on yells at grandmom for using vanilla extract in her baking for the big pie contest. It's just another ingredient. Make what you like, how you like. Even the big boys use extracts.

 

Def not cheating.

I've used coconut extract in a stout, just a small drop in the pint glass tho. Tasted great. It's your brew, do what you want with it.

 

Can someone explain this flour to the Boil crap?
is that an attempt to make a NE Style ipa?

When I atttempted my Ne IPA I added Gypsum to the Boil very small amount of columbus. then did'nt do any other hop additions till after flame out , every 20-30 degrees did an addition till at pitching temp. then clearly london ale yeast and dry hoppiing.

Only thing i need to add to my recipe is Flaked Oat for more mouth feel.

 

Ok...I can't let it go.

I'm a semi active member in a photography club. There's only a small minority of us that actually shoot film as opposed to digital. So this means that all of the other folks aren't taking real photo's?

In brewing, I just do all grain. That doesn't mean extract brewers aren't making beer. And using store-bought extract??? It's a friggin' ingredient. The whole cheating notion is nonsense.