Home brewers CHECK IN please!

[5_Cent]

one of these good to start with?

http://cgi.ebay.com/Home-Brew-...sting

[SmithersSP]

Here's my recommended starter system.
-Propane Turkey Fryer.
-Propane Tank
-Copper immersion chiller (make one yourself to save $)
-Glass Carboy (you can use HPDE bucket to save $)
-Bottling Bucket
-Misc equipment such as nylon hop bag, hydrometer, thermometer, etc

This method allows you to boil the full 5 gallons of beer and cool it using the chiller. Ferment that, then bottle using the bottling bucket.

[SlamdSLC]

Just popped open a batch of IPA. Hoppy goodness in a bottle. The bottom picture is the labels I'm making . One of my best friends, a fellow homebrewer who passed away last month. All the beer I make is in memory of him since he introduced me to it.

Modified by SlamdSLC at 12:56 AM 5-5-2009

[patrikman]

Quote, originally posted by 5_Cent »

one of these good to start with? http://cgi.ebay.com/Home-Brew-...sting

that's more or less the kit I started with. I do pretty well with it. you do want to look into a wort chiller somethihng along the lines of this. you can make one but, copper is definitely not cheap right now but, I "acquired" 50 ft of tubing for free so you just decide which way to go. also, like Smithers said, get a propane kettle kit. ( I have a turkey fryer kit and it works great)


Modified by patrikman at 9:57 PM 5-4-2009

[5_Cent]

cool thanks, I'll hunt around and see what I can find as far as copper tubing goes and compare prices. The kit seems like a decent starter for the price. Turkey propane kit I shall pic up in a couple weeks when I move into my new house. Want to start getting some experience, I would really like to have some skills and turn out something really nice for my wedding guests in 2011 the fiance thought it was a great idea.

[ribguy]

How about a Matrimonial Ale? Or Love Potion #9

[patrikman]

update--- we just tapped the first Corny this weekend. it was a Cherry Stout. pretty damn good once we got all of the foam out.

[Moe Sizlack]

Eh. Just went to bottle a batch last night, and there was white junk floating on the top of the beer. It looked like a layer of fat. The beer still tasted good so we skimmed it off, and bottled it anyways.

[SlamdSLC]

What type of beer?

Quote, originally posted by Moe Sizlack »

Eh. Just went to bottle a batch last night, and there was white junk floating on the top of the beer. It looked like a layer of fat. The beer still tasted good so we skimmed it off, and bottled it anyways.

[Moe Sizlack]

Raspberry Wheat from extract w./Safbrew WB-06
I would guess something wasn't clean enough.

[blksabbath]

Was it just a few floaties or was it covering the whole top? Sometimes yeast will clump and hang out on the surface. Sometimes other fun things too though.

[5_Cent]

Quote, originally posted by ribguy »

How about a Matrimonial Ale? Or Love Potion #9

Those are recipes?

Picked up the John Palmer: How to brew last night. Been reading it and it is a very well written book. Going to take one pass through it before I start to map out a plan.

[SmithersSP]

How to brew blows Papazian's book out of the water IMHO... Those floaters are most likely brettomyces. Did said floaters affect the taste? If not don't worry and drink up!

[Moe Sizlack]

No, it still tasted quite good.
It was not a layer over the entire batch.

[patrikman]

Quote, originally posted by 5_Cent »

Picked up the John Palmer: How to brew last night. Been reading it and it is a very well written book. Going to take one pass through it before I start to map out a plan.

this is pretty good too.

[5_Cent]

i'll check it out, thanks!

this is some very interesting stuff. I had no idea the carbonation came from sugar, that is so cool!

[VWGolfDriv3r]

I just judged the NE region for this year's Longshot competition. A pretty great turnout, close to 700 entries, though I did have a few of the worst beers of my life. Winners were an incredible Lambic and Old Ale. Really awesome.

[Residentevol]

The first brew day for the both of us...We ordered our kit from midwest supplies and freeballed the rest of the equipment needed.

We got the intermediate kit from midwest w/ 2 5gal better bottles 1 primary ale pail and one bottling ale pail. We also bought a wort chiller which I totally would have made if we were anywhere near a home depot (were in Germany both stationed at Spangdahlem AB) The day went off with close to zero issues the things we encountered were a small boilover and stirring our yeast in our rehydration cup before letting it sit for 10 min (no big deal as it is now sitting in the primary bubbling away)

The recipe kit that we used was his and is as follows

Midwest supplies India Brown Ale

6 lb. Gold liquid malt extract,
2 lb. Light dry malt extract,
1 lb. Brown Sugar,
8 oz. Caramel 60°L,
4 oz. Coffee malt,
2 oz. Roasted Barley,
1/2 oz. Summit,
2 oz. Glacier,
1 oz. Palisade pellet hops
dry yeast.

This beer was super brown after the boil and looks delicious We tasted the wort through all the process just to get an idea to what were working with. Water steeped with the barley is not delicious however

Once we get the primary racked to the secondary were going to start my recipe which is as follows

Hop head DOUBLE IPA
9.3 lbs. Gold Malt extract,
4 oz. Aromatic,
12 oz. Caramel 60°L,
8 oz. Victory specialty grains,
1 oz. Chinook,
1 oz. Cascade,
1 oz. Centennial,
1 oz. Crystal,
2 oz. Leaf (dry hop),
dry yeast

what I was looking for was something similar to Troeggs(sp?) Nugget Nectar its one of my favorites and I wanted my first brew to be close but easy..

Anyways we took some pics hope you guys enjoy

cleaning up before we start

Me adding the water (the German water doesnt taste too great)

Craig adding some water to the turkey fryer turned wort boiler

We took our water temps very seriously

We cant really get homebrews around here but we can get some pretty abstract beers from a lot of different places.

adding the barley

and the malt extract (All grain one day)

bottoms up!

boiling away!

and one fancy one

after 60 min's its time for the wort chiller

We even let the ladies hold the hose

And finally sitting happily in the primary fermenter (need a 6gal better bottle next so we can watch the process!)

This is our first setup and were already looking into our next steps...definitely want to learn the way of all-grain......

Good post

oh and X10jillion on the for http://www.homebrewtalk.com it is a lot of help...

[patrikman]

awesome content guys! I can't wait to get situated after the move and get back to brewing...I am burning through the last batch very rapidly.

[5_Cent]

nice post! that is the kit I am looking at and probably will get myself. Hope your batch turns out well, post up when it gets to that time!

[Residentevol]

I recommend that you go ahead and get two 6gal better bottles instead of the 5 gal. The thing about the bucket is you cant see the primary in action so your missing the fun part....

you cant primary in the 5gal better bottles unless your doing smaller batches because you will lose beer during fermentation..

[Moe Sizlack]

Quote, originally posted by Moe Sizlack »

No, it still tasted quite good. It was not a layer over the entire batch.

Bottled this and tried it yesterday.
Tasted fine.

[patrikman]

this weekend we drank a Corny keg of Cherry Stout brewed with Door County, WI cherries! it was delicious, smooth with a bit of tart and a hint of sweetness.

[Residentevol]

sounds awesome Im thinking of experimenting with a Chocolate orange stout...still researching for ingredients anyone have any tips I've never brewed a stout...I'm also thinking of doing a small batch 2.5 gal or so Im just not sure what to ferment in since its so small...

[MK4 Getta]

So, I have been making beer for a few years now and have never had this problem. I made three batches of beer. One Oktoberfest and two Ale's. I bottled one of the Ale's with priming sugar and it carbonated fine. But I put the other two in my keggerator (as I usually do) and they wont carbonate. They have been in there for over a month now. We have purged many times, checked for leaks, increased and decreased the temperature and pressure from the CO2 tank and nothing. Does anyone have any ideas? The Oktoberfest is a little weaker (alcohol content wise) as it should be, but the Ale is stronger than normal. I dont know what to do, but I want to drink my brews!!!

[WayOutWest]

Thinking about grabbing this kit from Midwest Supplies. Is that everything I will need (minus ingredients of course)?

[Matt]

we're doing a Great Divide Yeti clone soon. It'll be my first mini mash recipe and will be the first batch I keg.

I'm so over bottling it's not even funny.

Oh, and the Brewing Network Sunday Session show is starting in a few. Check it out at http://www.thebrewingnetwork.com and click on the listen now icon on the home page.

[XClayX]

Quote, originally posted by WayOutWest »

Thinking about grabbing this kit from Midwest Supplies. Is that everything I will need (minus ingredients of course)?

It's a good place, they really know there stuff. It's right down the block from me. My brother has been brewing beer for years, and is now switching in and out of kegging. Most of his winter beers are still bottled, then the other ones "IPAs, Ales, Lagers" he keggs for convenience. All set up on tap, chest freezer with auto temp. Co2 tanks, and lines are all inclosed.

How he started was a kit similar to that. Then bought a Kit, most of them are pretty decent if not better than store bought. Once he learned what it took to make beer, screwed up a few times. He moved into developing his own recipes via altering kits, or taking online recipes and trying them. Now it's making his own recipes, but you need to get the basics down.

A few tips I can offer to new brewers that I have learned from my brother.
1. Keep it clean, VERY CLEAN. Rouge bacteria will ruin your beer.
2. Keep a eye on the carboys/tanks, theres been a few night explosions "it shoots beer all over". Towels close by help.
3. Keep RECORDS, learn what works and what doesn't.
4. Home Depot makes a Killer Wort chiller. FYI.
5. Plastic can absorb some of the smells "flavors? maybe" of the ingredients. It's a good idea to keep them clean, DON'T scratch them. bacteria. My brother has had better success with the glass ones.

[magics5rip]

I have been brewing for a few years, growing my operation from the simple kits to allgrain 7.5 gal boils. I'm trying to locate some refurb corny kegs for about $30/each and stop this bottling crap! Im going to try a bell's tow hearted ale copy this weekend; Im interesting the results.

Good to see that their is a brewing thread on the vortex!


Modified by magics5rip at 6:05 PM 7-21-2009

[Matt]

If you look on http://www.homebrewtalk.com in the classifieds there's a guy that goes by the name Pedalbiker that's also in PA who sels kegs.

There's also another guy in Iowa that goes by the name Insco2 that will ship me 4 balll lock corny kegs to CA for $115 so I would imagine it'd be a lot cheaper for you to get them.

[graffkng]

wow, i've been on here for about a year and a half and never thought to look for a homebrew thread...

I am a homebrewer but I've only done extract batches with a preboil tea or mini mash. I love this hobby. I'll be poking in this thread.

[patrikman]

I haven't done a full grain brew yet either.

[magics5rip]

Quote, originally posted by Matt »

If you look on http://www.homebrewtalk.com in the classifieds there's a guy that goes by the name Pedalbiker that's also in PA who sels kegs. There's also another guy in Iowa that goes by the name Insco2 that will ship me 4 balll lock corny kegs to CA for $115 so I would imagine it'd be a lot cheaper for you to get them.

Hell yeah! Thanks for the heads up!

As for getting your all grain setup off the ground, it is reletively easy. I'll snap some pictures of my setup this weekend when I brew.

[graffkng]

Quote, originally posted by magics5rip »

As for getting your all grain setup off the ground, it is reletively easy. I'll snap some pictures of my setup this weekend when I brew.

sweet. i wanna make the switch to all grain. I'm too chicken

[magics5rip]

Quote, originally posted by graffkng »

sweet. i wanna make the switch to all grain. I'm too chicken

My setup is probably primitive compared to other people's! Its nothing more than a 50qt coleman cooler with a ball valve added for a mash tun. The boiling part is exactly the same as an extract brew (for the most part)