Home Brewing Thread III: Return of the Son of Home Brewing Thread

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Goons with Spoons > Home Brewing Thread III: Return of the Son of Home Brewing Thread

Dohaeris: Mar 24, 2012; Often known as SniperGuy

I received a Mr. Beer for christmas. My dad used to homebrew a bunch and it always seemed cool. Reading over a lot of this thread, I'm definitely interested. Any things I can do to pump up the usefulness/tastiness of the Mr. Beer kit? Oh, and as far as equipment goes, I'm going to be moving within the next year and probably again a year after that, so getting bulky stuff that's gonna take up a lot of apartment room is out of the question for now.

Dohaeris fucked around with this message at 09:09 on Dec 31, 2012

# ¿ Dec 31, 2012 09:04

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# ¿ Apr 24, 2024 03:29

Dohaeris: Mar 24, 2012; Often known as SniperGuy

Dumb noob question time! I bottled up my first batch of terrible Mr. Beer (It tastes like beer, so that did well at least!) and found my local homebrew shop and got some stuff.

I now have a variety of ingredients and am unsure how best to proceed. I have some unhopped malt extract, some hops, some various spices, a bag of..something? I think it's Honey Malt? I was in a tad bit of a hurry at the shop and didn't ask all the questions I should have. But with a MrBeer keg, what's the procedure? I have a "ProMash" recipe printout that's not giving me steps, just ingredients and boiling times and such. Anyone point me at a "do these steps" page or something?

# ¿ Jan 18, 2013 23:48

Dohaeris: Mar 24, 2012; Often known as SniperGuy

bengy81 posted:

Umm, so you have a specific recipe?

Edit: what kind of beer are you trying to make and how many gallons of it? Also how much of each ingredient would also help us help you.

2.5 Gallons

I have:
3.3 lbs Briess LME-Weizen
.25 lbs Honey Malt

.19oz Goldings-E.K.
.24 oz Czech Saaz

.04 oz Corriander Seed
.12 oz Bitter Orange Peel

and a packet of yeast in the fridge.

Is this as simple as combine water and malt/malt extract, boil for an hour, put in keg, add spices/yeast, wait till done?

edit: Oh, and the recipe is listed as a 16-A Hoegaarden White. I've got more specifics on this page if needed.

# ¿ Jan 19, 2013 00:01

Dohaeris: Mar 24, 2012; Often known as SniperGuy

Josh Wow posted:

This is ok advice but definitely do not add the yeast at 80*. Always, always, loving 100% of the time pitch your yeast strain 2-4*F below the temperature you plan on fermenting. This would solve so many homebrewers problems it boggles my mind.

Those instructions aren't all that comprehensive so here we go:

You'll want to start with 2.5 gallons of water and add your honey malt in a mesh sock or nylon bag (you can get a paint strainer bag from lowes/home depot for like $3 for this) to the pot. Make sure the grains get soaked and get your temperature up to 170*, and at that point pull out the honey malt and throw it away. This process will extract all the sugars and therefore flavor out of the honey malt, and you want to pull it out at 170* because above that temperature you can extract tannins from your grain.

At this point kill your heat and add half your extract, making sure to stir it in really well. Put your heat back on and get to a boil. Watch the pot carefully when it starts boiling to avoid a boilover. After you've been boiling for 5 minutes and haven't had a boilover add your Saaz and watch for a boilover again. This is your 60 minute hop addition and will give you your bitterness.

After you've been boiling for 45 minutes turn the heat off and add the other half of your extract. The purpose of adding the extract late in the boil is to keep your color light, while still sanitizing the extract. Once you get back to a boil wait 5 minutes and add your Goldings, this will be your 10 minute hop addition and will provide flavor and aroma along with a little bitterness.

After you're done boiling for 60 minutes kill the heat and add your lightly crushed coriander and orange peel and let it sit for 5 minutes. Now chill your wort down to 2-4*F below the temperature you plan to ferment at and transfer it all to your Mr. Beer keg and add the yeast. If you can't chill down cool enough in your pot just get it as cold as you can, transfer it to your mr. beer and stick that thing in the fridge until you get down to your pitching temperature. Ferment for 2 weeks, bottle and let it sit for two weeks and enjoy.

Is natural carbonation just letting the tail end of fermentation do the carbonating for you rather than adding some priming sugar? If so having a little bit of excess sugar is exactly what you need.

Much appreciated. Followed these instructions pretty much, though I had trouble getting everything boiling. Got it going as close as I could and finished off. It's showing ferment activity and everything, so now I wait and see if I screwed up. If so, learning experience! Next time, with a stove unable to boil 2.5 gallons easily, should I split it into multiple containers? Combine boiling water and that'll remain boiling on a burner? Or just split and do entire thing in smaller batches but combine for ferment?

# ¿ Jan 23, 2013 00:18

Dohaeris: Mar 24, 2012; Often known as SniperGuy

I just realized I probably shouldn't have batch primed into my primary fermenter and then bottled. I don't have a bottling bucket but I'm seeing a ton of recommendations for a walmart slimline thing. Gonna have to go check that out. And get a siphon. And some tubing for my bottling wand. Using a mr beer container and some handmedown stuff from my dad, so I have a weird assortment of gear. Am I screwed? Or will I just probably have some sediment in there? I added the sugar after boiling and waited about an hour for it to settle down before bottling.

# ¿ Feb 6, 2013 18:07

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# ¿ Apr 24, 2024 03:29

Dohaeris: Mar 24, 2012; Often known as SniperGuy

Jo3sh posted:

I am guessing you stirred the priming sugar into your fermenter to distribute it?

Most likely you are just going to have more sediment in your bottles than you would have if you had used a bottling vessel. Other than that, everything should be fine.

Yeah, I stirred very gently. Ok, phew. Sediment doesn't bother me, so here's hoping. First batch I've made by adding actual hops and stuff instead of a mr beer kit. Thanks!

# ¿ Feb 6, 2013 18:22

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