Adventures in Home Brewing

After visiting so many awesome local breweries, I wanted to try brewing myself, so a few weeks ago I hung out with my friends Steve and Eli and we made ourselves some Irish Stout (aka, knockoff Guinness). It was not the glamorous, high-tech process I originally imagined, but it sure was fun. Here's a general breakdown of how the magic happened.

Sanitizing- One of the most important lessons I’ve learned from visiting breweries is that the work is about 90% sanitizing and only 10% actual brewing. So the first step was to sterilize our equipment.

Pouring and Stirring- Next we heated up the water and added the stout mix and the malts. After that cooled we added the yeast and sealed it up.

Waiting- The beer sits in the bucket for about 5 days while the yeast does its thing.

Bottling- We used tubing to siphon the beer into bottles from the bottom up. You can either buy new bottles or just clean and reuse your old pry-off bottles. This batch filled 43 12oz bottles.

More Waiting- The beer sits out in bottles for a week, then in the refrigerator for another week before they’re completely ready to drink.

Drinking- The fun step! This batch ended up lighter than a traditional Guinness, but it came out clean and tasty.

Now, this was the totally unscientific, bare basics explanation for what is actually a pretty complex process. There’s a lot of work that goes into making a recipe for a specific kind of beer, but by using a mix, we were able to bypass that step. There are tons of different mixes and brew kits available online. You can also read some more in-depth descriptions from professionals who know what they’re talking about here and here. Once you purchase all the initial equipment, buying mixes for new batches is relatively inexpensive. If you get a chance, home brewing is a fun experiment that will delight your inner beer lover.

Lucky Bucket Brewing Co. and Cut Spike Distillery- La Vista, NE

I’m back! Many apologies for the brief hiatus. Between school and the Thanksgiving holiday, I have (surprisingly) not had much time for beer lately. But the good news is that I have lots of great articles coming up in the next week, so I promise, the wait will be worth it.

First up is my review of Lucky Bucket Brewing Co. and Cut SpikeDistillery in La Vista. Both of these fine establishments are housed under the same roof, so you’re really getting two tours for the price of one! They offer tours Wednesday-Friday at 5:30 and Saturday at noon, 1:30, and 3. It costs just three dollars per person and includes a free beer. Even better, right now there’s a Groupon available that includes 2 tours and four additional drinks for $15. Tours last about half an hour and cover Lucky Bucket’s history, the brewing and bottling process on the brewery side, and the distilling process on the Cut Spike side.

In the brewery, Lucky Bucket produces their IPA, HeartlandWheat, Pre-Prohibition Style Lager, and Certified Evil (the black-hearted Imperial Porter). In addition to their lineup of year round brews, they also produce four seasonal beers for distribution as well as a variety of specialty beers that are only available in the tasting room. This includes lots of small batch and cask beers that you won’t find anywhere else. The tasting room also has some really tasty infused vodka cocktails, so there’s something there for everyone.

On the other side of the fence sits the distillery. Cut Spike Distillery produces barrel-aged rum, single malt whiskey, and premium vodka. I got to sample the rum and vodka on the tour, and let me tell you, they did not disappoint. Cut Spike may have produced the smoothest vodka I’ve ever tasted. It was great. Their rum isn’t flavored with a bunch of different sugars and spices, but it is aged for a full year in old Cut Spike Whiskey barrels, so it is not lacking on taste. Although they make delicious rum and vodka, Cut Spike’s true star is their single malt whiskey. Each batch is painstakingly prepared and aged for two years in oak barrels. Their first batch, which was released in 2012, sold out entirely. It was that good. Cut Spike Distillery released their second batch of whiskey on November 12^th, so go get a bottle before it’s gone again.

This is another really fun tour and I would highly suggest checking it out. They serve up great beer and cocktails and the tour is definitely worth your three bucks. Check out their Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram for special announcements and upcoming events, and if you’ve got some free time this weekend, head over and have yourself a delicious drink.

Farnam House Brewing Company

Located in the heart of Omaha’s Midtown, Farnam HouseBrewing Company is one of the newest craft breweries to hit Nebraska. They opened their doors on June 30^th, 2014 and have been serving up hand crafted brews and delicious locally sourced food ever since.

Over the years, their building has housed everything from a fur retail and storage facility to a pizzeria, but, being located next to the infamous Beer Corner USA (home of Crescent Moon, Huber-Haus, Max & Joe’s, and Beertopia), it was only fitting that a craft brewery would find its home at 36^th and Farnam.

Last weekend I had the privilege of taking a tour with brewmaster Phil Doerr to see what goes on behind the scenes at Farnam House. The building’s surprisingly spacious basement is the perfect place to house all the brewing equipment, with plenty of room for potential expansion. Phil, who is a longtime home brewer, took me step by step through the brewing process. In addition to all their state of the art equipment, the basement at Farnam House is also home to a vintage bike, a disco ball, and several jugs of homemade cider. Although the cider won’t be available to the public this year, there is talk of brewing a cider/beer hybrid in the near future.

Upstairs they have 10 beers on tap ranging from the light Graetzer Smoked Polish Wheat to the dark and aptly named Taft American Stout. While I was there I tried the Farnam House Keller, the Oktoberfest, and the Hop Harvest Saison (which I would highly recommend). Although their beers aren’t available in stores, they do have growlers for sale at the bar so you can always take some home with you.

Keller and Pierogi

Farnam House is so much more than beer. Their food selection is unique and inventive, and I couldn’t wait to try some new dishes. Everyone I know who has eaten at Farnam House has raved about the pierogi, so I knew I had to try them. Let me tell you, I was not disappointed. Pierogi are a kind of potato dumpling with white cheddar cheese, creamed leeks, and little chunks of crispy bacon. So tasty. They were devoured in a matter of seconds. They also make giant soft pretzels out of the brewery’s spent grain, so that’s on the list for next time. They have so many tasty looking starters that you could easily fill up on apps and bar snacks, but they also have an impressive selection of entrees. Almost everything on their menu is made in house, from scratch. They frequently roll out specialty items, so keep an eye on their Facebook and Twitter feeds. Farnam House has great beer, delicious food, and is a great addition to the budding Nebraska beer scene.

To read more, check out this awesome review from last week’s Omaha World Herald.