Homebrewing

Our homebrew recipe of the month program is officially back in business! Each month, one of our store clerks will share one of their own homebrew recipes. August 2021's recipe is below. You can purchase the kit online here and the ingredients at our General Store (355 E Kalamazoo Ave, Kalamazoo, MI 49007).  If you have any homebrew questions, please reach out to the General Store. We’d be more than glad to help you. Give us a call at 269-382-5712 or drop us a note. cameron's spice world Created By: Cameron Spencer Estimated OG: 1.047 Estimated ABV: 4.3% Estimated IBU: 20.5 Estimated Color: 16.6 SRM 5 gallons - All Grain 8 pounds Maris Otter 12 ounces Caramel 120L 1 pound Caramel 60L 0.25 pound Munich 1 ounce East Kent Goldings for 60 min. 1 ounce Fuggle Hops for 10 min. 1 ounce Willamete for 10 min. 1 Imperial Pub A09 Ale Yeast Optional: 0.5 ounce Cinnamon Stick 0.08 ounce Allspice 0.25 tsp Cardamom This beer is designed to get you in the fall mood. It is a malt forward amber style ale balanced with earthy and subtly spicy hops. Cameron brewed this beer with spices that remind him of fall and compliment this style. This beer pairs well with bread pudding and fall colors. See more Homebrew recipes here.

A Baltic Porter with salted chocolate took first place in our 11th Annual Bell’s Homebrew Competition! Winners were announced Sunday as part of our 36th-anniversary party at the Eccentric Café in downtown Kalamazoo – just steps from where Larry Bell brewed the first batches of Bell's beer in 1985. Eli Osborne took first place. Matt Mansfield came in second and Scott Main placed third. “Overall, we saw a lot of high-quality submissions and a lot of returning brewers, some nationally recognized homebrewers, Ian Gould, Bell’s Senior Store Clerk, and competition organizer, said. “We saw a lot of submissions that were either fruited sours or some variation of pastry or sweet stouts.” The competition kicked off on July 31; 148 homebrewers picked up our wort for free, one of the few requirements for entering this contest. 98 entries were judged earlier this week by a wide cross-section of Bell’s employees from various departments including two Beer Judge Certification Program (BJCP) judges, Great American Beer Festival (GABF) judges, a certified Cicerone, and those considered to be masters of sensory in their respective fields. “Fourteen entries made it to the final round of judging, speaking to the overall quality of submissions this year,” Gould added. As in past years, the first-place winner will head to next year’s GABF as a guest of Bell’s (round trip airfare, hotel accommodations) and have their beer entered in the festival’s Pro-am competition. They will also have the opportunity to brew their beer on our original brewing system (affectionately known as B1) to then go on tap at our pub, the Eccentric Café. We added some new prizes this year including a three-year membership to the American Homebrewers Association, a medal, and a place in the Bell’s Homebrew Hall of Fame (all previous winners will be added as well). Second and third place winners will each receive gift cards to the Bell’s General Store, a one-year membership to the AHA, and a medal. Everyone who entered this year will receive a 7-day trial to the AHA as well as one free entry to its National Homebrew Competition. Congrats to all! Stay tuned to our website and social media for more on when you can sample this year's winning recipe at our pub! This year’s winners 1st place: Eli Osborne – Galley West - a Baltic Porter with salted chocolate. 2nd place: Matt Mansfield – a German chocolate cake inspired stout with coconut and chocolate. 3rd place: Scott Main – Wind Through the Trees IPA - brewed with blue spruce tips, lemon zest, Chinook, lemon drop, and Mosaic hops. Honorable mentions Bill Blakeslee (2019 winner) - Pineapple Under Great Lakes - a pineapple wheat IPA Robert Mansfield - Raz-Diculous – a raspberry sour Gerald Vanderweele - Scottish Ale Previous winners 2019: Imperial Coffee Blonde Ale from Bill Blakeslee 2018: Heather’s Request, an Apricot IPA, from Matt MacQuillan 2017: Damson Plum Crisp, Saison brewed with damson plums and toasted sugar from Steve Vroegop. 2016: Freedom of Peach, hoppy Saison brewed with peaches, from Evan Monroe. 2015: Bale So Hard, a Farmhouse Ale brewed with HBC 438 and Mosaic hops from David Hellen. 2014: Coffee Mustache, a California Common style beer brewed with coffee from Matt VanNatter. 2013: Proud Mitten, a dry-hopped IPA/Pale Ale made with Centennial, Citra and Simcoe hops from David Lyman. 2012: Manden Med Leen, a black IPA brewed with Belgian yeast from Nick Rodammer. 2011: A Bit of Heat, brewed with paradise seeds, rose hips, and habaneros, from Geoff Groff. 2010: Oscar’s Folly, a collaborative IPA from Jarrett Cupp, Bailey Cupp, and Paul Gentz.

Our homebrew recipe of the month program is officially back in business! Each month, one of our store clerks will share one of their own homebrew recipes. August 2021's recipe is below. You can purchase the kit online here and the ingredients at our General Store (355 E Kalamazoo Ave, Kalamazoo, MI 49007).  If you have any homebrew questions, please reach out to the General Store. We’d be more than glad to help you. Give us a call at 269-382-5712 or drop us a note. lexy's seventH layer stout Created By: Lexy Koperdak Estimated OG: 1.063 Estimated ABV: 5.9% Estimated IBU: 29.4 Estimated Color: 50 SRM 5 gallons - All Grain 9 pounds Briess Brewer's Malt 2 pounds Caramel 120L 1 pound Briess Chocolate Malt 1 pound Honey Malt 1 pound Carafee III 1 ounce Apollo Hops for 30 min. 1 Imperial Darkness A10 Ale Yeast Optional: 16 ounces Pomegranate Puree in primary or secondary fermentation "This recipe was inspired by The Divine Comedy and Lexy’s affinity for Greek mythology. This beer is an assertive but light stout filled with complex flavors and a lot of symbolism. This beer pairs well with molten chocolate cake and classic literature." See more Homebrew recipes here.

We are excited to share that the 11th Annual Bell’s Homebrew Competition Kick-off will be held this year on Saturday, July 31st, 2021 at Bell’s Eccentric Café in downtown Kalamazoo. This year's homebrew expo will be taking place on Sunday, September 19th starting at 11 am! This is also the anniversary of Bell's Brewery so stay tuned for all details coming soon! “Supporting the homebrewing community is very important to Bell’s and to me personally. We will always support those who are on their own quest to make a better beer, just as I set out on my own path years ago,” said Larry Bell, Founder, and President of Bell’s Brewery. The Bell’s General Store has been supporting the homebrewing community since 1983 – offering advice, homebrew ingredients and kits (a variety of clone recipes of some of Bell’s most popular beers are available to purchase). Bell’s homebrew connection predates the brewery which opened in 1985. As in previous years, there is no cost to enter the competition and the only requirement is that you use Bell’s wort, which will be available for free at the kick-off. This year, we are making a change to wort pickup. All participants must reserve a time slot online for their wort pickup. No walk-ups will be permitted until all online reservations have been fulfilled. Pick-up time slots will go live on Sunday, July 11th at 10 am EST. Sign up here. Competition entries (four 12 oz. bottles) are due to the Bell’s General Store by 6pm on Friday, September 3rd. Be sure to read these guidelines before you brew. Other Previous winners 2019: Imperial Coffee Blonde Ale from Bill Blakeslee. 2018: Heather’s Request, an Apricot IPA from Matt MacQuillan. 2017: Damson Plum Crisp, Saison brewed with damson plums and toasted sugar from Steve Vroegop. 2016: Freedom of Peach, a hoppy Saison brewed with peaches, from Evan Monroe. 2015: Bale So Hard, a Farmhouse Ale brewed with HBC 438 and Mosaic hops from David Hellen. 2014: Coffee Mustache, a California Common style beer brewed with coffee from Matt VanNatter. 2013: Proud Mitten, a dry hopped IPA/Pale Ale made with Centennial, Citra and Simcoe hops from David Lyman. 2012: Manden Med Leen, a black IPA brewed with Belgian yeast from Nick Rodammer. 2011: A Bit of Heat from Geoff Groff, brewed with paradise seeds, rose hips and habaneros. 2010: Oscar’s Folly, a collaborative IPA from Jarrett Cupp, Bailey Cupp and Paul Gentz. [[{"fid":"2943","view_mode":"default","fields":{"format":"default"},"type":"media","field_deltas":{"1":{"format":"default"}},"attributes":{"class":"media-element file-default","data-delta":"1"}}]] [[{"fid":"682","view_mode":"default","fields":{"format":"default"},"type":"media","field_deltas":{"2":{"format":"default"}},"attributes":{"class":"media-element file-default","data-delta":"2"}}]] [[{"fid":"7532","view_mode":"default","fields":{"format":"default"},"type":"media","field_deltas":{"3":{"format":"default"}},"attributes":{"class":"media-element file-default","data-delta":"3"}}]]  

Things to keep in mind if you decide to enter this year's homebrew competition: Homebrewers should bring a sanitized vessel with them to transport their wort home. Buckets, carboys (please be extra careful handling glass carboys) and cornelius kegs are the most common vessels. You can leave them in your vehicle until it’s time to pick up your wort, but again, please sanitize your vessel prior to your pick-up time to help us make sure everyone gets their wort. NEW THIS YEAR! All participants must reserve a time slot online for your wort pickup. No walk ups will be permitted until all online reservations have been fulfilled. Pick up time slots will go live on Sunday, July 11th at 10am EST. Please check our Facebook page for a link to sign up.  The first time slot for wort distribution will begin at 3pm on Saturday, July 31st.  Be creative with your recipe/submission! If your entry is chosen as the winner, we will have to be able to figure out a way to make your beer on a much larger scale. So please, take good, detailed notes of everything you do to the wort. Cannabis infused beer will not be judged and should not be submitted. The wort will be made with 100-percent Michigan Pale Ale malt. The original gravity of the wort will be announced on the day of wort pickup. The wort will be minimally boiled and entirely unhopped, giving you complete freedom for recipes and allow your imagination to run wild from there. However, homebrewers will have to complete the kettle boil on their own systems. There are no style guidelines for the final beer, so long as it uses the base wort from Bell's Brewery, Inc. Competition entries (four 12 oz. bottles) are due to the Bell’s General Store by 6pm, September 3rd. For more on this year's competition, go here. 

Our homebrew recipe of the month program is officially back in business! Each month, one of our store clerks will share one of their own homebrew recipes. June 2021's recipe is below. You can purchase the ingredients online and at our General Store (355 E Kalamazoo Ave, Kalamazoo, MI 49007).  If you have any homebrew questions, please reach out to the General Store. We’d be more than glad to help you. Give us a call at 269-382-5712 or drop us a note. ryan's low sierra helle dope helles Created By: Ryan Tovey Estimated OG: 1.058 Estimated ABV: 4.9% Estimated IBU: 24.28 Estimated Color: 6.13 SRM 5 gallons - All Grain 7 pounds Pilsner Malt 3 pounds Bonlander Munich 0.5 pound Vienna Malt 0.5 ounce Cascade for 60 min. 0.5 ounce Cascade for 30 min. 2 ounces Cascade at Flameout 1 Imperial Global L17 Lager Yeast "This beer is a salute to a traditional German style Lager and a classic American Pale Ale. The goal is to merge the classic drinkability of a Helles lager with the modern hop profile of one of the most beloved American pale ales. This beer pairs well with samosas and skinny jeans." - Ryan   See more Homebrew recipes here.

Our homebrew recipe of the month program is officially back in business! Each month, one of our store clerks will share one of their own homebrew recipes. May 2021's recipe is below. You can purchase the ingredients online and at our General Store (355 E Kalamazoo Ave, Kalamazoo, MI 49007).  If you have any homebrew questions, please reach out to the General Store. We’d be more than glad to help you. Give us a call at 269-382-5712 or drop us a note. Chase's st joseph's maibock Created By: Chase Pearce Estimated OG: 1.072 Estimated ABV: 6.6% Estimated IBU: 34.68 Estimated Color: 10 SRM 5 gallons - All Grain 9.4 pounds Pilsner Malt 2 pounds Carahell 1 pound Caramunich 1 Malt 2 pounds Vienna Malt 1 ounce Magnum Hops for 30 min. 2 ounces Northern Brewer Hops for 10 min.  2 ounces Hersbrucker Hops Dry hop 1 Imperial Harvest L17 Lager Yeast This Maibock was inspired by a desire to explore styles of beer not traditionally found in the American industry. It is made with all German style malt and hops to maintain an orthodox profile with the twist of dry hopping. The beer is named in honor of St. Joseph, as May 1st is dedicated to him and his patronage over workers. This beer pairs well with Swiss Cheese and Beethoven's 9th Symphony. See more Homebrew recipes here.  

Our homebrew recipe of the month program is officially back in business! Each month, one of our store clerks will share one of their own homebrew recipes. April 2021's recipe is below. You can purchase the ingredients online and at our General Store (355 E Kalamazoo Ave, Kalamazoo, MI 49007).  If you have any homebrew questions, please reach out to the General Store. We’d be more than glad to help you. Give us a call at 269-382-5712 or drop us a note. kaylee's go for gold  Created By: Kaylee Britten Estimated OG: 1.058 Estimated ABV: 6.5% Estimated IBU: 10.37 Estimated Color: 6.5 SRM 5 gallons - All Grain 5 pounds Pilsner Malt 5 pounds Maris Otter 1 pound Briess Bonlander Munich Malt 4 ounces Caramel 20L 1 ounce Azacca Hops for 10 min. 1 ounce Falconer's Flight Hops at Flameout for 5 min. 16 ounces Mango Puree in primary or secondary fermentation 1 Lallemand Wildbrew Philly Sour Yeast 5 gallons - Extract 3.3 pounds Briess Pilsen LME LME 3.3 pounds Briess Golden Light LME 1 pound Traditional Dark DME 4 ounces Caramel 20L Malt 1 ounce Azacca Hops for 30 min. 1 ounce Falconer's Flight Hops at Flameout for 5 min. 16 ounces Mango Puree in primary or secondary fermentation 1 Lallemand Wildbrew Philly Sour Yeast   See more Homebrew recipes here.  

Our homebrew recipe of the month program is officially back in business! Each month, one of our store clerks will share one of their own homebrew recipes. March 2021's recipe is below. You can purchase the ingredients online and at our General Store (355 E Kalamazoo Ave, Kalamazoo, MI 49007).  If you have any homebrew questions, please reach out to the General Store. We’d be more than glad to help you. Give us a call at 269-382-5712 or drop us a note. sandy's oh saisonna Created By: Sandy Vox Estimated OG: 1.086 Estimated ABV: 8.7% Estimated IBU: 26.21 Estimated Color: 8.49 SRM 5 gallons - All Grain 13 pounds Pilsner Malt 3 pounds Briess White Wheat Malt 1.5 pound Briess Bonlander Munich Malt 4 ounces Special B Malt 1 ounce Centennial Hops for 30 min. 1 ounce Nugget Ace Hops for 5 min. 1 ounce Nugget Ace Hops @ Flameout 1 ounce Motueka dry hop Imperial Napoleon B64 Yeast 5 gallons - Extract 6.6 pounds Briess Pilsen Light LME 3.3 pounds Briess Bavarian Wheat LME 2 pounds Briess Pilsen Light DME 4 ounces Special B Malt 1 ounce Centennial Hops for 30 min. 1 ounce Nugget Ace Hops for 5 min. 1 ounce Nugget Ace Hops @ Flameout 1 ounce Motueka dry hop Imperial Napoleon B64 Yeast See more Homebrew recipes here.  

Homebrew has always been the heart of what we do. It's our roots. Larry Bell began brewing in the early 80’s on a 15-gallon soup pot, and ran a homebrew supply store before opening the brewery. Today this is still an important part of who we are.  The Bell's General Store, adjacent to the Eccentric Cafe, has become a place not only for beer to-go and merchandise, but a place for local breweries and homebrewers to shop homebrew supplies. Our store offers supplies that appeal to every homebrewer, no matter the level of expertise. With the help of our knowledgeable General Store clerks, as well as some Bell's employees who are experienced homebrewers, we are excited to share with you some tips that will hopefully help you on your next homebrew adventure. Check back weekly for a new tip! 1. Are you having trouble getting consistency between batches? Start taking notes to figure out what is changing and say goodbye to surprise hydrometer readings! We even offer a free printable sheet to help get you started. Next time you're in the General Store be sure to ask one of our store clerks for a Brew Day Stats Sheet. 2. Oxygen Is Not Your Friend (Part 1)- Commercial breweries do everything they can to eliminate oxygen contact following wort aeration, measuring pick-up in parts per billion. Always purge vessels and packages with CO2, and consider transferring under a small amount of CO2 pressure and bottling with counter-pressure filling equipment. 3. Oxygen Is Not Your Friend (Part 2) - A single drop of water can contain up to 100 ppb of dissolved oxygen, and 5 drops of water in a 12oz bottle is enough to significantly impact long-term freshness. Sanitized and well-drained bottles and kegs help keep oxygen pick-up at a minimum. 4. Trouble with off flavors? Your tap water may be to blame. Here’s an easy trick to remove chlorine & chloramine without filtration: Add a campden tablet to your brew water! The potassium metabisulfite will react to neutralize the chlorine in your water and prevent nasty vinyl off flavors. 5. Focus on brewing base beers of good quality and repeatability, that means taking notes on EVERYTHING from the start of a brew day through packaging. Developing a sound process builds a foundation that will support a lot of experimentation and help with recipe development. 6. Want to take your NEIPA game to the next level? Dry hop with Cryo hops to bring the fresh dank, tropical, and resinous notes to your hazy monster. 7. Trying to work out the best dry hop schedule? Try this: Add 1/3 of your hops during active fermentation (day 3-5) & add the other 2/3 after fermentation, or at the tail end of fermentation (day 7-10). This technique will help you utilize the full potential of your hops and get you closer to that unforgettable hoppy juicy bomb! 8. Have you always wanted to make a sour beer but have been put off by the prospect of kettle souring? We have a solution for you! Try Lallemand Wildbrew Philly Sour Yeast - a yeast that produces a moderate amount of lactic acid during fermentation. It's also a high attenuating, high flocculating yeast with an alcohol tolerance of 9% ABV and an ideal fermentation range of 68-77 Degrees F. This yeast is well suited for a wide range of styles from Berliner Weisse to sour New England style IPAs. This yeast is now available through our online store. 9. Looking to boost your hot side hop schedule? Consider medium temperature whirlpool and lower your wort temp to around 160-170 Degrees F. Next, let your hops steep for 20-30 Mins. With this, not as much isomerization (bittering) will occur and you will pull out more hop oils/aroma juice that will make it into your pint at the end! 10. Tired of spending a fortune on sanitizer? Mix smaller batches and transfer into a spray bottle to sanitize everything that will come into contact with your beer after the boil! 11. Do you notice your beer bubbling after dry hopping? This is perfectly normal and in a lot of cases, good for your beer! Be sure to give your beer enough time to finish cleaning up nasty off flavors before racking. 12. Does your NEIPA hop character die off too quickly? Your beer may be experiencing the negative effects of hop flavor compound oxidation. Try adding a little bit of a crushed campden tablet or potassium metabisulfite powder to your beer before cold crashing. In the end, this should counteract oxygens impact on your lovingly crafted hazy beverage. 13. Here are a couple of ways to increase caramel flavor/aromatics for styles like Barleywine, Old Ale, or Scotch Ale: Side Reduction: take some of your wort from the kettle and boil it in a much smaller pan until you reduce it into a syrup. Once you get the syrup, add it back to the kettle to give your beer interesting caramel aromatics! Extended Boil: boil for 120 minutes. The additional time in the kettle allows for additional scorching of the sugars against the wall of your kettle. Avoid adding any bittering hops until you hit 90 minutes or less remaining in the boil and you will need to either add additional water to your kettle or sparge more through the mash (just be careful to not over-sparge) if you want to finish with a similar volume as a 90 minute boil. 14. Are you interested in nailing low gravity styles but your efficiency is just too high? We have a couple of methods that you may want to try to accomplish your goal! Both of the following tricks are designed to prevent the extraction of polyphenols from over sparging: Destroy your brewhouse efficiency by sparging at the same temperature as your mash. By keeping the sparge water cooler, around 150F, you will liquefy fewer sugars and lower efficiency. Add a significant amount of the water you would normally sparge with to your kettle (this usually amounts to about half.) An added benefit of this method is you can start heating your water earlier and achieve a boil faster! 15. Cryo Hops are very high quality concentrated hop pellets. This makes them perfect for dry hopping! They tend to have a lower amount of green matter, which means if you're dry hopping with them you get all the wonderful hop aroma and survivable compounds without any unwanted grassy or vegetal flavors. These hops will also increase your final yield because they are not absorbing as much of your beer. Use half the amount of cryo hops VS regular pelletized hops. 16. Temperature control for fermentation is arguably the most important equipment investment for homebrew quality. 17. Calibrate your measurement devices! (thermometers, hydrometers, etc.) 18. In the words of Charlie Papazian: “Relax, Don’t Worry, Have a Homebrew!" Share your homebrew experience with us on social media using the hashtag #BellsAtHomebrew for a chance to be featured!   Our General Store has everything you need to start homebrewing or develop your next recipe. Check us out in person (355 E Kalamazoo Ave, Kalamazoo, MI 49007) or online. As always, if you have any questions about homebrewing or a specific brew, give us a call at (269) 382-5712 or drop us a note!