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Rozzbot posted:I'm going to have my first shot at an all grain brew in the next week or so and was planning on freezing some big soda bottles filled with water so I could sterilize the outside and then drop them the wort to cool it. That could work for getting it the final distance to pitching temperature, if you're agitating it enough. Really though, once you get the wort to where it's no longer hot, which is perfectly doable with ice bath and stirring, I don't think the cooling speed really matters so much. If it's too warm to pitch yeast when you get tired of chilling, put it in the carboy/bucket with a swamp cooler and pitch in the morning.
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Sep 15, 2012 04:07
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In my opinion, quick cooling is important because it helps a bunch of crap precipitate out and settle quickly and it shortens the window of time where the wort is cool enough for wild yeast and bacteria, but too hot for yeast. Both if these are kind of minor issues for early batches though, so don't worry. My first 4 batches just went into the bucket warm after an ice bath and got pitched the next morning. They came out fine.
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Sep 15, 2012 05:42
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I just used my gift certificate from the Midwest Groupon deal in May and made my second order for brewing ingredients, a Hefeweizen kit and everything individually that I need to make a Two-Hearted clone recipie from Adventures in Homebrewing. I was even able to "find" the Centennial hops I needed! After not screwing up the Irish Stout that was my first batch I'm hoping I can get lucky another couple of times. 
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Sep 15, 2012 06:23
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Cheers dudes. I was planning on using the big plastic iceblock to stir the pot, I'll let you know how it goes.
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Sep 15, 2012 06:54
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Rozzbot posted:I'm going to have my first shot at an all grain brew in the next week or so and was planning on freezing some big soda bottles filled with water so I could sterilize the outside and then drop them the wort to cool it. The bottles will melt and/or leach plastic into your wort.
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Sep 15, 2012 17:27
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OK, I pulled the trigger on my first round of equipment to get this started, already so excited! Quick question, anyone have any experience with this kettle manufacturer I found on craigslist: Spike Brewing Looks like a guy who is modding his own kettles and selling on the side, seems decent, but wanted to know what you guys thought.
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Sep 15, 2012 20:12
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My only concern would be that the bottom is only 1mm thick which is pretty thin. If you're using something with very even heat distribution like a banjo burner then it probably won't matter but if your burner is from a turkey fryer/crayfish boiler which tend to be more concentrated then it might not be ideal.
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Sep 15, 2012 20:31
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Angry Grimace posted:The bottles will melt and/or leach plastic into your wort. Only if you drop them in boiling wort. If you take it down from "boiling" to "hot tap water" or so in an ice or cold water bath then use ice immersion to get it to pitching temperature that's fine. Which works fairly well: the slow part of ice bath cooling is after most of the temperature difference is gone.
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Sep 15, 2012 20:31
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GORDON posted:And I was not giving it my full attention because I was surfing and listening to music with raps, and when my boil started I added the bittering hops, and forgot to add the malt. Followup: Moved to secondary today, it smells great. It started bubbling at about 20 hours and stopped about 40 hours later... I had 2 bubbles per second during peak, which may not seem like a lot but it is the most I have personally seen in 10 batches. I was whiffing the gas coming out of the airlock... I do that to get a sense of what is going on in the bucket... the first day it smelled really bitter, and was thinking it was going to have fairly high IBUs due to my brew timing being all screwed up, but today when transferring the bitterness was mostly gone (I am more a malt-head than a hop-head), and I had a nice, pungent ale smell. I am sure there are better ways to describe it, but I have never had any exposure to people who can describe these scents better.... self-taught, and all. I have an ignorant, uneducated nose. tl;dr - the batch seems to be coming along fine, in spite of my accidentally having added the malt 30 minutes too late in the boil. GORDON fucked around with this message at 20:42 on Sep 15, 2012 |
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Sep 15, 2012 20:40
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GORDON posted:tl;dr - the batch seems to be coming along fine, in spite of my accidentally having added the malt 30 minutes too late in the boil. You're probably better off for that anyway. Malt extract has already been boiled once, so all putting it in for a full hour does is darken it up more. Unless you're mashing, the full boil time is pretty much just for the benefit of your bittering hops and they can do that with little or no malt in the water. Just make sure that if you add extract mid-boil in the future, you take it off the heat. It sinks right to the bottom, so can stick or scorch if there's active heat underneath while you're still stirring it in.
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Sep 15, 2012 20:46
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Killer robot posted:You're probably better off for that anyway. Malt extract has already been boiled once, so all putting it in for a full hour does is darken it up more. Unless you're mashing, the full boil time is pretty much just for the benefit of your bittering hops and they can do that with little or no malt in the water. I was already planning that if this turns out nice, to continue tweaking my personal recipe to add the malt mid-boil. Are you saying that I could/should add it right at the end of the boil?
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Sep 15, 2012 20:50
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GORDON posted:I was already planning that if this turns out nice, to continue tweaking my personal recipe to add the malt mid-boil. Are you saying that I could/should add it right at the end of the boil? It varies. I've seen people add the extract at the end of the boil, and some fifteen minutes before the end just to make sure it's fully sanitized in case it got contaminated during packaging/storage. Either way gives a lighter color and possibly better taste than a full boil of all your extract. Most also add a half cup or so at the start: the theory is that a little sugar in the mix helps the hops isomerize better, but I don't know if the chemistry really works that way or not.
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Sep 15, 2012 21:01
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Hello homebrew thread. I've been a hardcore beer nerd for years. About a month ago I got around to finally trying homebrew. I got a starter kit and a Brewers Best box (Munich Helles) and cooked it up about 3 weeks ago. I didn't have anywhere to lager it so I let it ferment at ale temps in a closet and waited very impatiently for my beer to get done. As the wait went on I read more and more about homebrewing and the more stuff I started to want. I had yesterday off, and it was hardcore homebrew equipment acquisition day. I stumbled onto a cheap full size fridge on craigslist, so I got a thermostat for that and now have a proper fermentation chamber. I also lucked into a lightly used mini fridge and got the remaining kegerator plumbing I needed yesterday. I'd ordered a couple of corny kegs and a tower last week; the kegs got here Thursday but the tower wasn't supposed to arrive until next Wednesday. Instead when I got home from breakfast this morning, there was my tower! So, I just spent the last few hours building my kegerator. It was surprisingly easy to do even considering my fairly lightweight building poo poo skills. My helles lager isn't done yet (I hooked it up for forced carbonation last night) but I couldn't wait to try it...it was very cloudy, mostly flat, and totally delicious. That I pulled it from a tap in my dining room made it that much better. My main purpose in posting this is to express excitement to people who I don't know but who participate in this hobby, so here, have some enthusiasm! I now have an APA I cooked last night in my fridge doing its thing. I can't wait to try it. (I must have spent $7-800 on this already)
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Sep 15, 2012 21:37
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 Made 10 gallons of Scottish 80 schilling last night, great night to brew. Taught some friends how it's done and got pretty blitzed. In a few weeks I'm going to have 2 carboys with nice yeast cakes of WLP028 Edinburgh Ale, any suggestions on what I should brew to pitch on top of them?
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Sep 15, 2012 22:18
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Bewbies, Let me know how that helles goes. My wife and I love Münchner styled beers and I'd really like to do something like that w/o cold fermenting.
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Sep 15, 2012 22:39
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bewbies posted:My main purpose in posting this is to express excitement to people who I don't know but who participate in this hobby, so here, have some enthusiasm! I now have an APA I cooked last night in my fridge doing its thing. I can't wait to try it. I needed a new hobby when I turned 40 that didn't involve computers, and took this up. It really is the coolest thing. It is science, cooking, chemistry, biology, and a hell of a conversation starter when the husbands of your wife's friends discover you homebrew. At the end, you have beer. I only spent about $125 to get started, still very happy cooking ales. A year and 10 batches later and haven't had a bad batch yet, or even a bad bottle. You can get into it as fast or as slow as you want.... I think I am asking for a small freezer to start making some lagers and pilsners, for christmas. :-D
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Sep 15, 2012 23:04
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Anyone have experiences to share with oak casks? Do beers always come out super oaky and mellow out with time? How long did it take reach that "just right" level? I helped a buddy brew a 55 gallon batch of imperial stout, which sat in an oak barrel for ~1 month. The oak flavour is a little overpowering right now, but at least it's a beer that should age well.
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Sep 15, 2012 23:41
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LaserWash posted:Bewbies, So far, fantastic. It actually tastes a bit more like a marzen than a helles but I'd hardly complain about that. I kegged it too early so it is pretty cloudy...not sure if that will clear up or not. It definitely doesn't look like a typical helles (it is a little ugly to look at) but it tastes fantastic. FYI it spent most of its fermentation time at 76-78 degrees (we keep our house pretty warm) and it didn't seem to phase it at all.
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Sep 16, 2012 01:40
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Sadly, I think one of the best ways to improve your results/process is to not actually drink homebrew while you are brewing.
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Sep 16, 2012 02:41
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Has anyone used MoreBeer's Grain Gobbler mills? I'm still doing extract batches with specialty grains but with a mind to move from kits to making my own recipes and eventually all-grain. I'm wondering if I should get a grain mill now or just order pre-milled grain and vacuum seal the unused portions.
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Sep 16, 2012 03:22
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I'm doing a whole hop recipe and I forgot to put the bazooka tube on the pot before I filled the pot all the way. For some insane reason I decided it would be a great idea to put on a latex glove and put it in through the hot wort. Note to self: Don't ever stick your arm in hot wort. Don't.
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Sep 16, 2012 03:27
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 Are you okay?
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Sep 16, 2012 04:05
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JawKnee posted:
Pretty minor burns. The problem was that one glove wasn't enough insulation from the heat (they're for washing dishes), so I used two, but then the wort got into the glove and ran down into it which hurt like loving hell. To make matters worse the gloves were really tight, so it was hard to get off. Edit: The bloodied remains of some ungodly amount of whole hops in my brew kettle (about 8 oz.) 
Angry Grimace fucked around with this message at 07:13 on Sep 16, 2012 |
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Sep 16, 2012 05:04
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Double posting, but a hydrometer question - does wort density stratify as it sits? I didn't take pre-boil gravity readings on this IIPA because I've had pretty consistent efficiency (consistently on the lowish side but within typical ranges for batch sparging and I usually just goose the base malt a bit to compensate) and the recipe called for a lot of plain sugar, and I didn't know whether that was supposed to be counted. Due to the temperatures in the region (it was 103), I couldn't really chill the wort below ~85 degrees, so I let it sit in the fermentation fridge in the carboy for an hour or so while the yeast rehydrated (and I got some rolled tacos) and I took a hydro sample right before I pitched the yeast. I was expecting a pre-boil gravity of like 1.072 or so, but I had 1.062. The only explanation I can come up with is either a significant drop off in efficiency (which would be unusual given that I hit all my temps and have hit the pretty much same efficiency every tim even with beers bigger than this and a lot of adjuncts), or the wort is just less dense on the top since it had been sitting there unmoved for about 30-45 minutes. Edit: I used my other hydrometer on the same sample and it now reads 1.068?  Angry Grimace fucked around with this message at 09:03 on Sep 16, 2012 |
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Sep 16, 2012 08:48
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Angry Grimace posted:Sadly, I think one of the best ways to improve your results/process is to not actually drink homebrew while you are brewing. I disagree completely. When I'm brewing with my friends, we have a rule called "Step 3." You see, brewing can be broken up into multiple 3-step processes. Every third step is have a homebrew.
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Sep 16, 2012 17:51
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How long do home grown hops need to dry out? I've set them up on a screen over a box fan.
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Sep 16, 2012 20:52
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icehewk posted:How long do home grown hops need to dry out? I've set them up on a screen over a box fan. Mine have just been sitting in a paper bag that I shake once a day. It's been 3-4 days and they seem pretty dry now. I think when you do it with a forced hot air system it works over night, so maybe a day for your setup? Best way to tell is probably by experience and the way they look and feel. Cut one open and see if the inside is still damp and green.
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Sep 16, 2012 23:04
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I understand this is probably a troll image but what the hell I might as well ask. My room mate sent me this picture  Wants me to help him out on it, I think it is just a troll image but he isn't so sure. Seeing how neither of us know much about this sort of thing we were thinking why not try it 10 bucks each isn't too much for something that doesn't work out.
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Sep 17, 2012 03:22
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Corvettefisher posted:I understand this is probably a troll image but what the hell I might as well ask. It'll definitely work as long as the apple juice has no preservatives but it will be roughly 163% better if you use a wine yeast instead of bakers yeast. Also an airlock wouldn't hurt. And brown sugar instead of white sugar. Also sanitize your jug with a bleach/water solution and rinse it well.
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Sep 17, 2012 03:35
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Corvettefisher posted:I understand this is probably a troll image but what the hell I might as well ask. This is pretty much exactly how to make hard cider, though that much alcohol in it will probably not taste very balanced. I like my cider around 6-7%.
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Sep 17, 2012 03:36
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If you use juice that has only been pasteurized instead of containing a bunch of preservatives designed to prevent fermentation then yes you will get booze doing that. It will taste loving terrible because of the baking yeast and because it will be contaminated all to gently caress. Also the bakers yeast probably won't be able to get to 14% abv especially because the yeast won't have all the nutrients it requires to thrive. e: Actually just watch this. Specifically about 9.5 minutes in. Galler fucked around with this message at 03:45 on Sep 17, 2012 |
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Sep 17, 2012 03:39
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oh wow thanks for the fast responses all. Yeah we are trying to do something for a Halloween party, this looks like a solution to get a good amount of people drunk for decently cheap. Last year we did everclear, and well I don't think I need to say more. I'll look into wine yeast, I'll look into pasteurized non preservative juice. I did some googling and found this airlock http://www.northernbrewer.com/shop/bubbler-air-lock.html Not sure if this is good or not. Also the pic in question has 2 months, I have googled and people say 3 minimum with an average of 4-5. Also, Coke, really? that is kinda what made me think it was just another troll image like magic crystals but I won't complain.
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Sep 17, 2012 03:47
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If you want to do it for real then get a 5 or 6 gallon Better Bottle, rubber stopper, and an airlock. The water bottle in that image won't fall apart or anything but the plastic isn't made to be used as a fermentation vessel or exposed to alcohol. You should also probably add some yeast nutrient. Fermentation will be complete within about a week. The extra time helps the flavor. Looks like the image is just telling you to store the cider in empty 2 liter bottles not add coke to it. If you want carbonation you would need to add more sugar when putting it in the bottles but odds are that would just result in a huge mess when you add too much sugar and the bottle explodes.
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Sep 17, 2012 04:08
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Oh wow I am dumb, it is 11pm and I should really get some sleep... Thanks for the tip but this is mostly going to be catering to college age people 21-24, I doubt they will care too much if I am going to be hitting anywhere above 7%.
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Sep 17, 2012 04:15
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Even juice preserved with potassium sorbate is only enough to impair yeast multiplication and keep it from fermenting with wild yeast that gets in there. If you add a whole packet of yeast it will ferment fine from my experience. Still, agreed you're better off just getting pasteurized juice that has nothing added. If it says "ascorbic acid" on the label that's not a problem, just means they added Vitamin C, won't impair yeast. Down side: it's not going to taste too much like commercial hard cider, especially after two months. Expect it to be dry, tart, and not too strongly apple flavored. Up side: if you put in too much sugar for the yeast you're using, it ferments itself out with some sugar still in and leaves you a sweeter and maybe more drinkable product. Fallback either way:, if you're looking for budget party drinks, mix it into a punch or something like people have done with cheap hooch for centuries.
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Sep 17, 2012 04:19
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Generally, making cider/applewine from juice (and using champagne or wine yeast) needs a solid 5-8 months of sitting around conditioning before it's really tasty. It'll still be extremely dry and tart, though. If you want cheap party drinks, buy some Natty Light. Trying to ferment apple juice to get a bunch of people drunk isn't going to be a very successful first alcohol making experiment. It's going to be gross.
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Sep 17, 2012 04:40
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Hi guys, still catching up with 350 unread posts but have a question to ask in the meantime. Basically, I ordered a bunch of stuff from a local brewshop and because of a cock-up with Parcelforce, the delivery agents, it looks like I'm going to get them on Wednesday. That's a full week from the ship-out date meaning my WYeast Smack Packs (produced in June according to the website) will be sitting at non-fridge temps for a week. How much of an issue is this for viability? I'll likely be making starters regardless but would like to have yeast that's at least alive.
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Sep 17, 2012 11:34
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Galler posted:It will taste loving terrible because of the baking yeast and because it will be contaminated all to gently caress. You can ferment things with bread yeast and have them come out just fine. I made a good cyser with bread yeast and plan on making beer with it sometime soon. It's actually the same species (sacchormyces cerevisiae) as beer yeast. Not sure why you think it'd get contaminated either, cheap store bought juice will be sanitary straight out of the jug so as long as he has a sanitized vessel to put it in there's not really much risk of infection.
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Sep 17, 2012 11:52
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Baker's Yeast is the same species of yeast, but it's bred to bread, not to beer. As such, it doesn't ferment well at normal fermentation temperatures and produces alot of co2 and scary tasting stuff.
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Sep 17, 2012 12:31
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I just wanted to say thanks to Splizwarf and his wife for being such awesome people and teaching me a ton about home brewing. I'm really excited to see how the Honey Ale turns out! Fun things we've learned: - The banjo burner is angry mother. Also Splizwarf it turns out it's the same price on Amazon but if you have Prime it's cheaper. - Should your banjo burner bring forth a massive overboil because you have it turned on too much you should definitely have a spray bottle on hand. Also turn off the gas at the propane tank rather than the regulator, it's quicker. - Brewing in the driveway helps with cleanup immensely. - Breakfast Stout is delicious. - If your bottle of homebrew decides to vomit forth a cascade of foam when you open up the bottle, check the bottom. You probably didn't clean the bottle well enough. - Giant nerds seem to like to marry tiny teachers. - Homemade chili and beer is the greatest thing ever. Splizwarf the honey company I was thinking of was Cloister Honey. I have no idea if they can supply stuff in 5 gallon batches or not, but I bet it's worth asking.
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Sep 17, 2012 12:50
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