All-grain Brewing - The Mash

All-Grain brewing simply means brewing beer straight from grain instead of using pre-made barley extracts. It is considered to be an advanced form of beer brewing that most brewers don’t attempt until they have made several successful batches using extracts.

If you are considering making the jump to All-Grain Brewing, then this week we are going to get into the concept of the "Mash".

Mashing is the process of extracting simple sugars from barley. This is the first step in the process of brewing your own beer directly from grain, and most brewers consider it the most important.

Want to know more? Read our article: All-Grain Homebrewing Instructions: The Mash

Beginners Guide to All-Grain Equipment

If you have been homebrewing for a while and you are using extracts, then you are probably a little curious about all-grain brewing. What is necessary to make the leap? Is it really as difficult as it seems?

As usual, the process of brewing your own beer from grain is much less complicated than many brewers would have you believe. But it does require some specialized equipment, and that’s what our first all-grain article is about.

Read our article on All Grain Equipment for Beginners.

Beer Review - Snow Plow by Widmer Brothers Brewery

We have decided to start our "Reviews" section here at Drunk Man's Guide. That means that each week we will feature a new beer, liquor or wine and give you our honest opinion.

The rating scale will be in beers, and the scale goes like this:

5/5 is a "Must Try" beverage. This is a rare rating that we will only bestow on the most deserving beverages. You should definitely try these.

4/5 is a "Damn Good" beverage. If you see these in the store, then you can't go wrong with a 4/4 beverage.

3/5 is a "Good" beverage. This is worth buying - especially if it is on sale.

2/5 is an "OK" beverage. Keep it is someone gives it to you, but don't buy it. It's ok to regift a 2/5 beverage, but only to someone you don't care about, and who doesn't know much about alcohol.

1/5 is a "Only Drink it On A Dare" beverage. Don't drink this beverage even if it's free. Use it to marinate meat, or distill it for fuel; but only drink it if you are getting PAID to drink it.

Our first review is of a really good beer that we knew we wanted to include in a review as soon as we tasted it. The beer is called "Snow Plow" by Widmer Brothers, and it receives a 5/5 rating. Definitely seek out this beer and try it. Especially if you like stouts.

Since it's a seasonal, who knows how long it will be on store shelves. View our review of Snow Plow here: www.drunkmansguide.com/reviews/snowplow.php

Homebrewing Tips - Secondary Fermentation

One fact about Homebrewers is that they love to make life more complicated than it needs to be. I know, I’m a homebrewer; and I’m as guilty as anyone on this account. For this reason I really try to separate the necessary from the unnecessary – especially when I’m teaching a beginner how to brew.As I lurk around a few of the homebrewing forums out on the Internets, one topic that often comes up is the issue of secondary fermentation.

Experienced homebrewers often like to scare beginners with horror stories of all the nasty things that will happen to their beer if they don’t use a secondary. My opinion is that this step is unnecessary for most beginners, and is more likely to cause infections for inexperienced brewers.

That said, they can be very useful under certain circumstances.

If you have questions about secondaries, we have created a page on DrunkMansGuide.com that details more than you probably care to know about conditioning and secondary fermentation. You can get to the article here: “Do You Need To Use A Secondary Fermentor?”

Today’s Featured Mixed Drink Recipes:

• Midori Sour Ultra
• Gang Up
• Arthur Tompkins
• Top Shelf Margarita
• Sweet Manhattan