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Cointelprofessional posted:I got started on that kit myself. I didn't brew very good beer at first, but I'm a champion now. You will need a thermometer. I would also get some Star San sanitizer, because if I remember right it comes with a cleaner and not a sanitizer. Other than that, you should be good. There's a limitless amount of upgrades and gadgets to buy, which will only make things more enjoyable and allow you to brew better beer. Thanks for the info. I know the kit is pretty basic, but the way the Groupon works out you're buying the Kit and getting an ingredients kit and a $25 gift cert for free. If I stick with it I'll invest in more equipment, but I hate blowing a lot of money on a hobby and then giving up on it a couple months later. As you remembered, the kit comes with "Easy Clean No-Rinse Cleanser" but no sanitizer. I'll grab some Star San when I order. The kit comes with a "Liquid Crystal Thermometer", which I think is the strip-type that you put on the outside of a container. What type of thermometer should I be getting additionally?
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Apr 17, 2012 22:24
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Midwest supplies is fine, it's who I order from when I don't go to my flbs. I've found their packing habits to be a little strange at times, but I've had good turnaround from them. My first or second kit was their Irish Red, and it turned out pretty good. Also, when are we going to start getting kickbacks from Five Star? This thermometer is probably fine: http://www.midwestsupplies.com/homebrewing-equipment/measuring-testing/thermometers/dial-thermometer.html Yes the kit one is the one you put on the outside of your fermentor. I do also feel inclined to point out that the wing capper I got was cruddy and died after like 150 bottles or something.
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Apr 17, 2012 22:49
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Huge_Midget posted:It's basic gas law. Most gasses are more soluble in colder liquids. Which is why if you fill a growler or glass, it will foam less the colder the glass is. Also its all gases. You can intuitively think of it as the gas condensing into liquid. You can think of the solid case as it melting into liquid, hence warmer is better. I blew my mind the first time I put that together.
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Apr 17, 2012 22:57
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So I just mutilated my mini fridge so that I can fit a bucket/carboy in it and turn it into a fermentation...uh...box. A 5gal carboy fits *perfectly*, but the ridges on the top of the bucket come into contact just enough with the door to push on it a little, so I know when its full of 5gal of beer I might have a bit of a challenge. Am I asking for trouble if I switch to the 5gal carboy with 5gal batches if I use a blowoff tube? I guess my other option is buying a 6 gallon carboy, are they wider AND taller than a 5gal or just taller? If I start scraping out the insulation on the door where the bucket hits I'm not sure how much I'm going to have left....
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Apr 17, 2012 22:58
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Sirotan posted:So I just mutilated my mini fridge so that I can fit a bucket/carboy in it and turn it into a fermentation...uh...box. A 5gal carboy fits *perfectly*, but the ridges on the top of the bucket come into contact just enough with the door to push on it a little, so I know when its full of 5gal of beer I might have a bit of a challenge. Am I asking for trouble if I switch to the 5gal carboy with 5gal batches if I use a blowoff tube? Carboys come in different shapes and sizes. One of my six gallon ones is taller and narrower (I believe it's actually sold as a 23 litre carboy, if that helps). One of them is shorter and fatter. I like using 6 gallon carboys for 5 gallon batches because it gives plenty of head space. It gives you the flexibility to do 5.5 gallon batches if you want.
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Apr 17, 2012 23:05
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Sirotan posted:So I just mutilated my mini fridge so that I can fit a bucket/carboy in it and turn it into a fermentation...uh...box. A 5gal carboy fits *perfectly*, but the ridges on the top of the bucket come into contact just enough with the door to push on it a little, so I know when its full of 5gal of beer I might have a bit of a challenge. Am I asking for trouble if I switch to the 5gal carboy with 5gal batches if I use a blowoff tube? Maybe just scrape out the door in the place where the ridges hit it on the top of the bucket?
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Apr 17, 2012 23:07
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wattershed posted:Maybe just scrape out the door in the place where the ridges hit it on the top of the bucket? Yeah after thinking about it tonight (while at a Bell's event at a local bar, drinking Black Note  (I don't get the hype, honestly)), I think I've decided I'll just try to carve out part of the door to accommodate the bucket. It's the cheapest option, and I guess worst comes to worst I can always replace the foam. I'm pretty psyched as it is that the mini-fridge I've had all along could even accommodate a bucket. I've been scouring craigslist for a while thinking I needed something better. Now to order a thermostat!
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Apr 18, 2012 02:21
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Splizwarf posted:Got a recipe? Sounds just about awesome for the coming months. We hit 97F in northern VA this weekend. This summer's going to be a loving bastard. Sure! It's still very young so I expect it to change a bit, but at this point just keep in mind it's very very citrusy. code:
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Apr 18, 2012 02:25
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First brew update. You may remember I made an IPA for my first batch, and had to learn about making a blow-off on the fly because I fermented at a balmy room temp with explosive results. After some hesitation and posting, I ended up leaving the brew in bucket for nearly two weeks. I bottled on 4/6 and decided to pop one tonight, even though its still early. I am, in my shriveled heart, a pessimist, and I really did expect the worst. But, it is shockingly good. Its definitely a little sharp and needs to mellow some more, but it is fully carbonated, retains a nice head and I'm not getting ill or anything. It came out much darker than expected (like, say, Newcastle?) but otherwise resembles an IPA. It has none of the odd smells or flavors I detected during fermentation. It is good beer. Op success. Man, I really didn't need another hobby.
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Apr 18, 2012 02:56
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mrhemisphere posted:I am, in my shriveled heart, a pessimist, and I really did expect the worst. But, it is shockingly good. Its definitely a little sharp and needs to mellow some more, but it is fully carbonated, retains a nice head and I'm not getting ill or anything. It came out much darker than expected (like, say, Newcastle?) but otherwise resembles an IPA. It has none of the odd smells or flavors I detected during fermentation. It is good beer. Op success.  Congrats! I have the same pessimism problem, even with a few dozen batches under my belt. Perhaps the two most important brewing lessons are 1) if your sanitation is good, you're probably going to make tasty beer no matter what else goes "wrong" so quit worrying, and 2) assuming #1 was accomplished, if it tastes weird, it's not ready yet. Sounds like you've experienced both right off the bat.
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Apr 18, 2012 03:13
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I'm hopping into doing all-grain next weekend, and I'd like to brew a Kolsch-style beer as was suggested a few pages ago. Anyone have some good recipe suggestions? Kolsch was probably my favorite style when I went to Germany several years ago. Edit: here's my first stab at it. Zakath fucked around with this message at 05:03 on Apr 18, 2012 |
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Apr 18, 2012 03:40
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Docjowles posted:Perhaps the two most important brewing lessons are 1) if your sanitation is good, you're probably going to make tasty beer no matter what else goes "wrong" so quit worrying... My kit came with a jar of the 'Easy Clean', and it seemed to work fine. That said, I'll be sure to get Star San next time so you guys get your cut of the cash. I bought another primary bucket (without a hole & grommet) to keep the mixture in. Is there a rule of thumb for how long it keeps? Anyway, when I was first leaving my local home brew shop, I think the hippy who owns it could tell I was in for a ride. He gave me this thousand mile stare and said, "just make sure everything is clean, man." So, your comments and his are the bookends on the first batch.
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Apr 18, 2012 04:10
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LeeMajors, you guys finally got around to posting the Colonial Cup results today... not that I've been F5ing the page constantly or anything. I managed to pick up a pair of thirds. Thanks to your club for putting on the Comp. Any fun stories/trip report (you were thinking about Stewarding I think?) Did you managed to place anywhere?
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Apr 18, 2012 04:10
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drewhead posted:LeeMajors, you guys finally got around to posting the Colonial Cup results today... not that I've been F5ing the page constantly or anything. I managed to pick up a pair of thirds. Thanks to your club for putting on the Comp. Any fun stories/trip report (you were thinking about Stewarding I think?) Did you managed to place anywhere? Oh, I'm not part of the club (yet). I was going to enter, but we had a flavor disaster with our red (drinkable, but not worth entering--underhopped like a mofo), and our stout didn't dry out in time for entry.  Bad luck really. Congrats on the thirds. Where are you located? Chas?
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Apr 18, 2012 04:24
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mrhemisphere posted:My kit came with a jar of the 'Easy Clean', and it seemed to work fine. That said, I'll be sure to get Star San next time so you guys get your cut of the cash. I bought another primary bucket (without a hole & grommet) to keep the mixture in. Is there a rule of thumb for how long it keeps? You can test the pH of star san and as long as its still acidic, it should be fine to use.
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Apr 18, 2012 05:09
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I took a new job about a month ago. When I was hired, my boss asked me about my hobbies - apparently for all organizational announcements the supervisor of the new employee will write a little paragraph about the person, their past jobs, and their off-work interests. I'd mentioned I was getting into homebrewing, like to travel, guitar, etc. Anyway, today I get this meeting invite to this conference room that I've never been to before, invited by someone I've never met before, and see I'm one of about 10 people on the invite, only two of whom I've worked with directly (we're a company of about 800 people at last check). The subject of the meeting was 'taste?' with no more details. I show up, go into this windowless conference room, and there's a bunch of glasses on the conference table and about a dozen bombers of everyone's homebrews. gently caress yes. Secret work homebrewing cabal. The best news? The guy who hosts it is the Sr VP of HR, and told me the company's completely okay with the little get-togethers. He brought in a 23-ounces-of-hops triple IPA and a red DIPA. This...is definitely a perk.
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Apr 18, 2012 05:23
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lazerwolf posted:You can test the pH of star san and as long as its still acidic, it should be fine to use. The magic pH is 3.0 - if your solution is lower than that, it's still good. Life will vary with the makeup of the water you mix it with and any detritus that gets in it. I (and several others here) mix it in spray bottles with distilled water - in that form, it's good for months at least.
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Apr 18, 2012 05:53
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wattershed posted:The best news? The guy who hosts it is the Sr VP of HR, and told me the company's completely okay with the little get-togethers. That guy is going to be a very good person to have on your side. Treat him well.
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Apr 18, 2012 05:56
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wattershed posted:I took a new job about a month ago. When I was hired, my boss asked me about my hobbies - apparently for all organizational announcements the supervisor of the new employee will write a little paragraph about the person, their past jobs, and their off-work interests. I'd mentioned I was getting into homebrewing, like to travel, guitar, etc. Haha this is the best! I'm imagining way too many movie cliches and scenarios surrounding this. Good job man! However, how was the beer? Did you kiss up or was it pretty good?
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Apr 18, 2012 15:01
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I've brewed like 2 beers this year and my pipeline is shot, so I'm taking desperate measures: brewing 10 gallons of Berliner Weiss on a 5 gallon setup. This should be easy enough since I'm doing it traditionally with first wort hoping, a single decoction, and no boil. Here's hoping I don't have DMS issues. The last time I tried this it was with the second runnings of a botched 10 gallon hef (ouch my limitations). No DMS after double decocting the mother hef and giving the beer a 15 minute boil. I pitched White Labs lacto, waited 3 days, then pitched German Ale yeast, then bottled in champagne bottles. It turns out great. This time the place I ordered from is out of straight lacto, so I'm going to use the White Labs Berliner Weiss Blend. Which has hef yeast in it for some reason. It also seems like it takes a while to sour up after reading some reviews. Pray for Mojo. Zakath posted:I'm hopping into doing all-grain next weekend, and I'd like to brew a Kolsch-style beer as was suggested a few pages ago. Anyone have some good recipe suggestions? Kolsch was probably my favorite style when I went to Germany several years ago.
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Apr 18, 2012 16:20
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Nateron posted:Haha this is the best! I'm imagining way too many movie cliches and scenarios surrounding this. Good job man! The triple IPA was solid, for as many hops he used it didn't seem like a muddy mess, and had a great finish. The imperial red/red DIPA (that's a blurry line to my palate) was lacking some sweetness but that's not a style preferred by me so I can't judge fairly. People were giving constructive criticism, so I would have been okay with telling him where I thought it came up short, but I figure the newbie to the group should wait until he brings his own in to make any comments.
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Apr 18, 2012 16:24
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For the record I'm going to recommend that anyone who is making cider pasteurize their cider if they are buying it fresh from the press... There was some lactobacillus in my cider and I just made 2 gallons of undrinkable apple kombucha  - like, imagine if a kombucha and a Night Train had a babby...Just taking a sip from the sample tube almost killed my gf. Lots of people report success fermenting unpasteurized but do your self a favor and don't gamble, crush a campden tab in there and be done with it.
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Apr 18, 2012 16:37
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OK so the first extract kit (Coopers lager which comes with ale yeast) I made has reached the point that the instructions declare "ready" (I'm aware though that things dont really get good until the 1-month-in-the-bottle point.) Instructions said to bottle condition for 2 weeks. The room they were in was probably around 22-23 degrees celcius. At the two week mark I moved everything to the cellar (just under 10 degrees celcius). Went over to a friend's with some bottles, cracked them. Very cidery. However we agreed that the beer parts of it are very good and if it continues to develop in that direction it will be a very good beer. But we also agreed it was a good cider and then proceeded to get pretty drunk on it. He had his own beers but only ended up having 1 of them which i think is a good testament to the taste. Now to the question part - I feel like the bottles should really be more carbonated than they are. I can still compress them with my hand and the beer doesnt really want to get a head on it when you pour. The last bottle that was bottled from the batch had a bunch of sediment in it and is hard as a rock (I'm guessing its from an abundance of yeast), so I'm guessing they should feel like that one over time. Do you think the room may have been too cold? Should I move the bottles to the furnace room for a week or something (its probably over 25 celcius)?
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Apr 18, 2012 16:54
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Super Rad posted:For the record I'm going to recommend that anyone who is making cider pasteurize their cider if they are buying it fresh from the press... There was some lactobacillus in my cider and I just made 2 gallons of undrinkable apple kombucha Sorry about your cider, at least it was only 2 gallons. All kinds of stuff can live on cider presses which is why you can usually only get unpasteurized stuff directly from the farmers, and you take your chances with their sanitation practices. I'm very particular about the apples I use on my press. I don't use drops, soak them in a mild bleach solution first and cut out any bits that look remotely suspect. I use the Whizbang cider press design which also makes it a lot easier to sanitize all the surfaces compared to those old fashioned acme-screw designs.
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Apr 18, 2012 17:47
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NewcastleBrown posted:The kit comes with a "Liquid Crystal Thermometer", which I think is the strip-type that you put on the outside of a container. What type of thermometer should I be getting additionally? That's for tracking the temp of your storage area, you'll also want one for reading the temp of your liquids, like during mashing and when you're cooling wort. There's some discussion a page or two ago, people like Thermapens but they're a little pricey. I use a sterilized candy thermometer, it's not an ideal shape but was a great price at $0.
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Apr 18, 2012 18:19
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The session beer chat in the let's talk beer thread got me thinking about trying to brew session level beers of normally non session level styles. I'm thinking a normal west coast styled IPA is roughly ~6-7% with 60ish IBU of nice citrusy fruity hops. Is there a way to scale that down to 4.5% or does the resulting beer just become a Pale ale?
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Apr 18, 2012 18:56
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LeeMajors posted:Congrats on the thirds. Where are you located? Chas? Concord NC, I'm a member of both Carolina Brew Masters (Charlotte) and CABREW (Cabarrus Co). I decided I was going to enter all the CBoY competitions this year. Our (CBM's) competition, The Charlotte US Open is next on 5/19. Maybe you're stout will be ready for that one? I really want to steward four ours but they keep scheduling it on Race weekend *grrrr*.
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Apr 18, 2012 19:13
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lazerwolf posted:The session beer chat in the let's talk beer thread got me thinking about trying to brew session level beers of normally non session level styles. I'm thinking a normal west coast styled IPA is roughly ~6-7% with 60ish IBU of nice citrusy fruity hops. Is there a way to scale that down to 4.5% or does the resulting beer just become a Pale ale? I am also interested in the answer to this question, but I am picturing it becoming a Pale Ale.
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Apr 18, 2012 19:20
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Take the idea of a IPA's bigger presense, but scale down the bite. Think 21st's Bitter American. Nice clean palate, good strong hop aroma, but only 44 IBU and ~4.4% abv. Yes it's just an APA but not in the way most think of it. BYO has a clone for it and some other canned microbrews. EDIT: and a sort of emergency on my side of brewing. Brewing an IPA for a competition, and after five minutes of the boil, I left (dry hopping another beer) and came back to the burner not being lit. First off that freaked me out from a safety perspective, but now I'm worried about when it went out and making sure my IBU calculations are correct. Ugh. Luckily I have two pounds of citra and some simcoe left cause while it will still definitely be drinkable, i'm worried about my ability to enter this and do well now. Darth Goku Jr fucked around with this message at 19:30 on Apr 18, 2012 |
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Apr 18, 2012 19:27
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lazerwolf posted:The session beer chat in the let's talk beer thread got me thinking about trying to brew session level beers of normally non session level styles. I'm thinking a normal west coast styled IPA is roughly ~6-7% with 60ish IBU of nice citrusy fruity hops. Is there a way to scale that down to 4.5% or does the resulting beer just become a Pale ale? Here's a guy who did a "Half IPA": http://www.themadfermentationist.com/2012/02/vienna-half-ipa-tasting.html http://www.themadfermentationist.com/2012/01/vienna-malt-session-ipa-recipe.html
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Apr 18, 2012 19:34
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Is it possible to bottle in plastic? Festival season approaches, including events that allow outside booze but not glass. I don't see why it wouldn't work, besides perhaps shelf life, but they'll be gone quick. Would they carbonate OK?
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Apr 18, 2012 21:29
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Jo3sh posted:Here's a guy who did a "Half IPA": Hmm... This sounds tasty and may go out on my 3rd from now to do list. One question for dry hopping in a keg, should I move kegs before serving or just leave them in there and fish it out when cleaning between fills? Never dry hopped before and want to plan accordingly for needing a primary, secondary, and serving vessel. Yeah, I should just buy a 2 pack of those corny kegs to go along with the kit that just arrived...
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Apr 18, 2012 21:55
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wattershed posted:I show up, go into this windowless conference room, and there's a bunch of glasses on the conference table and about a dozen bombers of everyone's homebrews. gently caress yes. Secret work homebrewing cabal. This is a great story. I had something similar to that happen to me here in our new office locale. Some of the existing folks were big homebrewers and I got some free empty bottles and gear out of it. Plus lots of brewing tips and recipe exchanges from the more experienced folks here. Secret brewing cabals are the best.
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Apr 18, 2012 22:04
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theDoubleH posted:Is it possible to bottle in plastic? Festival season approaches, including events that allow outside booze but not glass. I don't see why it wouldn't work, besides perhaps shelf life, but they'll be gone quick. Would they carbonate OK?
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Apr 18, 2012 22:20
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BerkerkLurk posted:It looks like you got all of the important details right. All you need to pils, Kölsch yeast, and some noble hops. I typically do the traditional infusion step mashes (so much easier than decoctions) and temp control the ferment, it turns out great. Also, how do you accomplish step mashes using a cooler as your mash tun? My first guess is that you would just add an amount of boiling water to bring the temp up, but I would be worried about having either too much water at the final step of the mash or too little water during the earlier steps.
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Apr 18, 2012 22:28
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theDoubleH posted:Is it possible to bottle in plastic? Festival season approaches, including events that allow outside booze but not glass. I don't see why it wouldn't work, besides perhaps shelf life, but they'll be gone quick. Would they carbonate OK? If you had a kegging setup you could bottle in plastic straight from the keg right before you go and not really have to worry about that. Makes me wish I had the space for a keg setup 
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Apr 18, 2012 22:34
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zerox147o posted:Hmm... This sounds tasty and may go out on my 3rd from now to do list. One question for dry hopping in a keg, should I move kegs before serving or just leave them in there and fish it out when cleaning between fills? Never dry hopped before and want to plan accordingly for needing a primary, secondary, and serving vessel. Yeah, I should just buy a 2 pack of those corny kegs to go along with the kit that just arrived... You can dry hop in the keg just fine, use a hop bag though or your tube will clog constantly.
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Apr 18, 2012 22:36
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theDoubleH posted:Is it possible to bottle in plastic? Festival season approaches, including events that allow outside booze but not glass. I don't see why it wouldn't work, besides perhaps shelf life, but they'll be gone quick. Would they carbonate OK? Find a place that sells Mr Beer supplies. They will have the PET 1 liter bottles and caps. They're a little pricey though so you might be able to get away with something like this if you can keep them in a dark place.
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Apr 19, 2012 02:18
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I've heard of people using empty pop bottles. Getting the smell out would probably be the only challenge. Maybe soak in diluted bleach? But then would you get bleach taste? Who knows. But if you're drinking them at a festival you're probably drinking to get lit, so any taste imparted by soda would be unnoticeable shortly. In regards to the person who was talking about making soda earlier, and asked about bottle bombs. I made rootbeer once in elementary school with my dad. The wine kit place he used to go to had a little rootbeer kit for $2 so we got it. It said to leave the bottles in a warm place but never specified how warm and we put them in the attic. Forgot about them for a couple days too long and those few days were during a wild heatwave. All of the bottles (2L plastic bottles) had fallen over because the amount of pressure pushed out all of the dimples and made the bottom completely rounded. Oddly enough, the cap got sucked inside the bottle and was flush with the top, but the sides had swelled so it was more or less melded to the bottle. To open them we took them into the backyard, hit the cap with a nail and a huge geyser of rootbeer sprayed out for an incredible length of time. It tasted like liquor, but at the time I didnt appreciate that. It just tasted like bad rootbeer to me. Every time I have a taste of sarsaparilla I think about how loaded I could have gotten off that rootbeer
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Apr 19, 2012 02:59
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theDoubleH posted:Is it possible to bottle in plastic? Festival season approaches, including events that allow outside booze but not glass. I don't see why it wouldn't work, besides perhaps shelf life, but they'll be gone quick. Would they carbonate OK? Yes, but don't bottle in stuff that had a strong flavor. Ideally, bottle in seltzer bottles or brand new bottles.
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Apr 19, 2012 03:50
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