Welcome to R.J.’s Home Brew Corner! This is where I get to tell you about all of our new products, and why we like them so much! We'll talk ideas, what we plan to use them for, and even dip into some of our favorite products, even if they're not new! I’ll wax eloquent on everything fermentation, from fermented food to wine, mead, cider, beer and seltzer. I’ll update this page the first Monday of every month so you can stay up to date on the latest and greatest products and what we're doing with them.
If you want to see all of these new products, head over to our R.J.'s Home Brew Corner collection and see all of them together!
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New Products for May 2022
NEW YEAST
Propagate Lab MIP-343 Kveik Ebbegarden Yeast
The first in our new line of specialty Kveik strains from our friends over at Propagate Lab, Ebbegarden is a full on tropical fruit bomb! This is the strain we used in our Nordic Cowboy collaboration with Heretic Brewing Company and True Symmetry Brewing, and it definitely pushes the tropical characteristics of juicier hop varieties. One thing to keep in mind is that this strain also pushes perception of bitterness way up, so either use it for a hazy IPA with no bittering hops at all,or dial back your bittering addition in a west coast style.
Propagate Lab MIP-354 Kveik Oslo Yeast
I love this strain, especially for pseudo lagers and summer brewing. Just like Stranda and Opshaug, Oslo is clean clean clean at super high temps. This makes it a wonderful tool for brewing ‘lagers’ in the summer. If you’ve used Lutra from Omega Yeast, then you’ve used Oslo. Oddly enough, I read a lot from other brewers that swear by this strain for their IPAs instead of Flagship or the Cal Ale strain. This is definitely an experiment that I’ll be testing soon!
Propagate Lab MIP-353 Kveik Stranda Yeast
Although a more commonly available Kveik strain, Stranda has been adopted in many Colorado IPA breweries as their house strain. While it’s typically very clean and crisp at lower temps, up at the 98° range, it can really help tropical hops by throwing out tons of ripe pineapple and mango. Consider this for your next juicy, hazy New England style IPA and even a west coast IPA! Better yet, try it a little cooler for that next pseudo Marzen!Propagate Lab MIP-344 Kveik Framgarden Yeast
Framgarden is another strain that you don’t see very often, especially stateside. This is another strain that is known to accentuate hop bitterness, bring a balanced malt profile, and push out late addition hops. The profile is distinct citrus with hints of cantaloupe and other melon like characteristics. Seems like it would be killer for a hazy IPA with no bittering hops and a good mix of Lotus, Sabro and El Dorado. Talk about juicy!!
Propagate Labe MIP-358 Kveik Granvin Yeast
The Granvin strain is not often seen in the wild! It’s very versatile and works great for hoppy west coast IPAs, throwing out tons of orange and citrus characteristics. The versatility comes with the slight acidic tinge. It helps give hoppy IPAs a killer perception of dryness, but in my head it would work great as a co-pitch for a berliner weisse or gose. Honestly, I think it would be pretty amazing for a proper fruited mixed culture fermentation sour as well!
Nordic Cowboy IPA - Extract and All Grain
When we formulated this recipe, we wanted to make this beer as ‘South Coast’ as we could! What does that mean? Well, We started with fresh Blue Agave Nectar straight from the source. We then set up a profile of neomexicanus hops to make sure we got a bright and tropical BOMB of a dry, West Coast Style IPA. From there, we decided to add in some pretty aggressive Viking Yeast that throws TONS of tropical fruit characteristics, and the rest is history! Without further ado fellow brewers, Us, Heretic and True Symmetry give you the world’s first and most authentic South Coast IPA!!
Odell New Dawn Hazy IPA - Extract and All Grain
This recipe was for Big Brew 2019, so I thought it would be fitting to add it in for May 2022’s Big Brew year! Working in conjunction with the fine folks at Odell, New Dawn was born as a clone of one of our favorite Hazys around, New Dawn. The secret to this beer, and many hazy beers, is adding a small percentage of Un-Malted Wheat and keeping the grain bill nice and simple. This makes sure that it tastes hazy, and the lineup of Simcoe, Azacca and Chinook give you a beautifully dank and juicy example of the style.
Lawn Mower ESB - Extract and All Grain
One of our original and to this day favorite beer recipe kits in our lineup. This simple and stylistically perfect ESB lives up to its name. It’s light on the abv and gives you a medium bodied, malt forward and refreshing beer. It’s almost like if a crisp, refreshing blonde ale were given a shot of malt complexity and hop dimension, but stayed super chuggable and easy drinking! We modeled this beer after an old favorite, and my craft gateway beer, Boddingtons Pub Ale. For maximum authenticity, try it with Wyeast 1318 or Imperial Juice. That being said, I like this beer better with WLP002, Wyeast 1968, or Imperial Pub.
BrewSeltzer FIzz - 5 Gallon Hard Seltzer Recipe Kit
Our best selling base hard seltzer recipe, Fizz is clean and crisp and ready for fresh fruit or any flavoring that you can think of. Although we have tons of flavor profiles already put together in our Hard Seltzer Kits section, I like the versatility of this one. It’s literally just the base, which comes out crisp and ridiculously clean. From there, you can go in whatever direction you want. Of course, it comes with our BrewWater Hard Seltzer Yeast Kit to make sure that fermentation is easy, fast and flawless. From there, the sky's the limit! We’ve done this base with Blackberry Puree, Blueberry Puree, and with most of our Natural Fruit Flavors - even chocolate!NEW EQUIPMENT
Kegerator Conversion Kit Sanke Coupler - Stainless Steel
This is our perfect kit for converting that old garage fridge into a kegerator! Hell, even a new garage fridge! It has everything that you need except the drill, all in one place. We put this together because we kept running into beer enthusiasts who weren’t necessarily brewers but wanted to have beer on tap at home. We thought why not have the perfect kit so there’s no guesswork as to what you need, you can just grab this kit and your drill and make a killer kegerator with all stainless steel, high end components that will last a lifetime. Want to turn it into a dual or quadruple kegerator? We have our Kegerator Add a Faucet Kit with Sanke Coupler - Stainless Steel to make that part easy, too!
Ok, absolutely not new, but a staple for all of us homebrewers regardless. Star San may be the easiest sanitizer to use, and it’s great for every brewer from the very first timer to the seasoned brewmaster. It basically slams the pH of your base water down to 2.0, making conditions too acidic for anything to live in. Keep in mind that part of Star Sans magic is the heavy foaming agent that they use. This makes sure that every surface gets touched and sanitized. Don’t worry about washing out the foam. It’s totally inert and won’t hurt your beer, wine or cider one bit. We always say Don’t Fear the Foam!
5 Gallon Beer Making Equipment Kit - Basic
One of my favorite kits for getting started, this has everything that you need for the fermentation side of brew day. It’s super cost effective and one of the best places to start. No frills, but all of your measurement, fermentation and transfer equipment are included and ready to go, so no need for guesswork. It’s comprehensive, and one of the best ways to get started on your brewing journey! For even more inclusive kits, check out our Premium Kit with the Fermonster fermenter!
NEW HOPS
