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

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crazyfish: Sep 19, 2002

MJP posted:

Just finished a batch of nut brown ale, and after I sealed up the lid of the brew bucket and pushed in the airlock, the little rubber bung around the hole of the airlock lid fell into the bucket and sank to the bottom.

Am I screwed or should I RDWHAHB and wait 48-72 hours to see if fermentation starts successfully, and hope nobody detects a slight rubbery flavor?

This exact thing happened to me on my first batch. I sprayed my arm with iodaphor, waited about a minute for it to do its thing, and reached in and grabbed the o-ring. No infection, the beer tastes great.

# ¿ Sep 18, 2011 21:47

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# ¿ Apr 25, 2024 12:45

crazyfish: Sep 19, 2002

This is the recipe list from the last thread: http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=2984156&userid=0&perpage=40&pagenumber=447#post393860805

Would be great if it could be put in the OP.

# ¿ Sep 19, 2011 10:05

crazyfish: Sep 19, 2002

Paladine_PSoT posted:

Hello brewers!

I just got my first taste of this, and I love it. I got a Mr. Beer kit from my mother in law for my birthday, and I've been powering through that. I've got my 3rd batch fermenting (blackberry wheat) and my 2nd is carbonating. I'm really looking forward to having a LOT more fun with my new hobby.

Where should I go from here? I know this has to be the ultra newb kit, so I'm trying to plan this so it's afordable and I upgrade properly. I'm thinking I'll look at getting some proper carboys and associated gear and still use the malt extracts for a while? Making my own seems to be way too advanced for me right now.

I guess my question is, has anyone started here, and how did you move up?

A lot of people say that "moving up" means moving to all grain (or at a minimum, partial mash). I don't necessarily agree, at least at first. My first brew was a Belgian tripel which, in retrospect, turned out drinkable but not great. While I'm a little disappointed in that brew, the main thing I learned is that no matter how much you follow a process, there's always something to learn. In my case, I got a metallic taste in my brew as well as more esters (banana-y taste) than I wanted. The former was due to using a brand new aluminum pot as the boil kettle, and the latter was due to a high fermentation temperature. The point is that I was able to figure these things out from remembering what I had done and comparing what I had done to the style. Until you can really taste the end product, it's hard to learn how to move up - it's a constant process, and you'll surely get to where you want to be eventually, but it just takes time.

# ¿ Sep 26, 2011 04:12

crazyfish: Sep 19, 2002

So I'm interested in brewing a Belgian wit, and I came upon this recipe for a key lime wit:

http://www.fermentarium.com/homebrewing/brewing-beer/how-to-make-a-key-lime-wit-beer/

code:

4 lbs Belgian 2-row Pilsner malt
3 lbs Belgian wheat malt
2 lbs Flaked wheat
8 oz Belgian aromatic malt
4 oz Flaked oats
1.0 oz Kent Goldings (bittering for 60 minutes)
0.5 oz Kent Goldings (flavoring for 15 minutes)
0.5 oz Saaz (aroma for 1 minute)
3/4 tsp cracked coriander (for 15 minutes)
2 oz fresh Key Lime zest (for 15 minutes)
White Labs WLP400 or Wyeast 3944
SG 1.048 - 1.050
FG 1.010

Since I don't have the equipment to do all-grain yet, I'd like to convert it to extract + specialty. The recipe says to use 7.5lb wheat LME for the conversion. On that note, I have a couple questions:

1) I'd like to use DME instead if possible. From what I hear, in partial boils, LME caramelizes easier and leads to darker beer (this was a problem I had with my Belgian tripel), though this may theoretically be offset by a late extract addition rather than dumping it all in at once. I'm not sure about the wisdom in this, because doesn't the boiling process do something to the proteins that is fairly important for head development?

2) I've heard the conversion ratio is (LME by weight) * 0.8 = (DME by weight). Is this correct?

3) From what I can tell, the Belgian aromatic and flaked oats are steeped in addition to the extract as I don't believe they generate a ton of fermentable sugars. Is this correct?

4) Are flaked oats the same thing as standard-issue Quaker rolled oats (not the quick-cooking kind)? I happen to have a ton of those laying around.

# ¿ Oct 15, 2011 17:29

crazyfish: Sep 19, 2002

Jo3sh posted:

1) DME and LME are pretty well interchangeable, so you should have no problem there. I have not heard that LME is easier to caramelize, but I do know that old or poorly stored LME can darken over time. I think you'll have a hard time getting as pale a beer as you would from all-grain no matter how you do it. Whatever you choose, get the palest you can and do a late extract addition to keep the color pale. The oats will add enough gums that I don't think you'll have a heading issue.

2) Yes, that's correct. DME ~=45PPG; LME ~=36PPG. 45*0.8=36

3) I really think you're going to want to do a minimash rather than just a steep. Personally, I'd replace the aromatic malt with pilsner and hold it and the oats for an hour or so at around 150. Aromatic is not a steeping grain; it needs to be mashed. It does have the diastatic power you would need to convert itself and the oats, but I am not so sure its character goes well in a Wit.

4) Flaked oats are more like quick oats than regular rolled oats. Lots of people report success just chucking quick oats into the mash, but for rolled oats, you would need to gelatinize (cook) them first.

Thanks for this. Based on your suggestions and what I was able to pick up at my LHBS, here's my recipe which I'm hoping to brew this Sunday:

code:

6 lbs Breiss Wheat DME (1 lb @ 60min, 5 lbs @ 15min)
8 oz Belgian pilsner malt
4 oz rolled oats
1.0 oz Kent Goldings (bittering for 60 minutes)
0.5 oz Saaz (flavoring for 15 minutes)
0.5 oz Saaz (aroma for 1 minute)
3/4 tsp cracked coriander (for 15 minutes)
2 oz fresh Key Lime zest (for 15 minutes)
Wyeast 3944
SG 1.048 - 1.050
FG 1.010

Cook oats per package instructions with a little extra water to ensure full gelatinization.  
BIAB-mash pilsner + cooked oats for 1 hr @ 150 in 2 gallons water, sparging once with .5 gal water @ 170.

edit: unbreak table

# ¿ Oct 18, 2011 19:48

crazyfish: Sep 19, 2002

I'm fermenting a key lime belgian wit right now (protip: grating 2 ounces of key lime zest is a giant pain in the rear end) and once that's done in the primary, I'm going to bottle without doing a secondary and then brew another wit (this time with dried orange peel) and reuse the entire cake from the previous batch (wyeast 3944). Well, given that wyeast activators are expensive, I was thinking about doing yet another beer on top of the same yeast cake after the second wit is done, but probably not another wit. Reading wyeast's style guidelines, they say that 3944 works well in a dubbel, and I've had a hankering to incorporate more grain into my brewing process by going up to partial mash. Anyone have a favorite partial-mash dubbel recipe, or barring that, an all-grain that I could try my hands at converting?

# ¿ Oct 27, 2011 21:01

crazyfish: Sep 19, 2002

Docjowles posted:

Have this dubbel recipe kicking around, it came out pretty well but took a couple months to mature and really get good. This was a collaborative recipe through my homebrew club and if I was doing it myself I'd probably leave out the chocolate and up the Special B to like 5%, but it's not a big deal either way.

Just convert some or all of the Pilsner malt to Pilsner extract and you should be on your way. I'm currently having efficiency issues which is why there's such a shitload of pilsner malt for a moderate gravity beer.

code:

Bottling Volume: 5.50 gal
Estimated OG: 1.066 SG
Estimated Color: 31.2 SRM
Estimated IBU: 23.7 IBUs
Brewhouse Efficiency: 55.00 %
Boil Time: 90 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amt                   Name                                     Type          #        %/IBU         
14 lbs                Pilsner (2 Row) Bel (2.0 SRM)            Grain         2        81.6 %        
8.0 oz                Caramunich Malt (56.0 SRM)               Grain         3        2.9 %         
5.3 oz                Special B Malt (180.0 SRM)               Grain         4        1.9 %         
3.2 oz                Chocolate Malt (350.0 SRM)               Grain         5        1.2 %         
42.52 g               Tettnang [3.90 %] - Boil 60.0 min        Hop           9        23.7 IBUs     
1.00 Items            Whirlfloc Tablet (Boil 15.0 mins)        Fining        11       -             
1.00 tsp              Yeast Nutrient (Boil 15.0 mins)          Other         12       -             
1 lbs                 Candi Sugar, Dark (275.0 SRM)            Sugar         7        5.8 %         
1.0 pkg               Trappist High Gravity (Wyeast Labs #3787 Yeast         13       -             


Mash Schedule: Single Infusion, Full Body, Batch Sparge
Total Grain Weight: 17 lbs 2.4 oz
----------------------------
Name              Description                             Step Temperat Step Time     
Mash In           Add 23.30 qt of water at 172.6 F        158.0 F       60 min      

Fermentation
------------
Pitch at 64 F, allow to slowly rise to 70 F over one week. Condition for 1 month in primary before packaging.

Thanks for this. I'm planning on doing a brew-in-a-bag partial mash in about 3.5 gallons of water, assuming that about a half gallon will get eaten up by grains. Given that most brewing guides recommend somewhere around 2 quarts per pound of grain, that means I should be able to do about 6-7lb of grain (thinking 1/2 lb cara munich + 1/2 lb special b + 5 lb belgian 2-row pilsner) in my mash and fill out the rest with DME as a late addition.

Also, instead of buying expensive-rear end candi sugar, I might try my hands at making homemade dark syrup to cut down on costs.

crazyfish fucked around with this message at 00:52 on Oct 28, 2011

# ¿ Oct 28, 2011 00:29

crazyfish: Sep 19, 2002

Bottled my key lime wit today, and I have to say that this is far and away the best of the three batches I've done - the color is well in the range of a wit (despite being extract), and it tastes like it's going to be really good after it's carbed and given a couple weeks of age. I did the same recipe again today but with dried orange zest instead of key lime zest (more in keeping with the traditional wit) and pitched it on top of the leftover yeast cake. Fermentation took off like a rocket; The airlock is bubbling once a second right now and it's only been about 6 hours.

# ¿ Nov 7, 2011 08:01

crazyfish: Sep 19, 2002

Speaking of strainer bags, I want to do my next batch as a partial mash BIAB and I wasn't able to find a strainer bag that would fit over my 8 gallon pot. The biggest one I could find was only 5 gallons, and while it would work as a hop bag for sure, it's far too small to put 8 pounds of grains in. Anyone know where I could find something like, say, the bag used in this video? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kfi86yzhPvw

# ¿ Nov 7, 2011 18:41

crazyfish: Sep 19, 2002

tesilential posted:

I have brewed seventeen 5 gallon batches BIAB style with a nylon paint strainer bag. The smallest grain bill was 9# with most being around 13#.

Recently brewed a big RIS, and I used 2 paint strainer bags to deal with the 21.5# grain bill.

I did upgrade to an 80qt pot, so now I really do need a bigger bag. You can make one out of voile ($4 curtains at wal mart) or order one from the couple guys who make them on homebrewtalk ($20-35). I considered the latter because they make nice bags with holding loops and draw strings but I may just buy the voile and use a large section so I don't need to sew at all.

So more or less it comes down to:

1) Buy voile curtain
2) Cut to size
3) Attach to pot with clips to keep it from moving around
4) Put in false bottom (probably a wire cooling rack) to keep the voile from touching the bottom of the pot in case I need to turn the heat on for temperature adjustments

If that's the case, I'll probably hit up Wal-Mart or some place and hopefully find it cheap as hell. Thanks!

# ¿ Nov 7, 2011 23:06

crazyfish: Sep 19, 2002

Jacobey000 posted:

Got the recipe or a hopville account I can 'follow' you? I'd like to brew this one day. Maybe a cream ale variant...

This is off the top of my head. I posted it earlier in the thread, but here's what I actually wound up brewing:

code:

6 lbs Muntons plain wheat DME
1/2 lb Belgian pilsner
1/4 lb oats (flaked can go right in the mash, rolled need to be cooked first)
1 oz kent goldings
1 oz czech saaz
3/4 oz cracked coriander seed
2 oz fresh grated key lime zest

Wyeast 3944 @ 67ish

Mash oats and pilsner @ 150 for 1 hour.  

OG = ~1.050, FG = ~1.010, low (<20) IBU

60 minute boil

Additions:

1 oz kent goldings @ 60 min
1 lb DME @ 60 min
1/2 oz saaz @ 15 min
coriander seed @ 15 min
zest @ 15 min
5 lb DME @ 15 min
1/2 oz saaz @ flameout

Also, grating 2 oz of key lime zest took loving forever. I'd recommend just buying dry stuff from penzey's if you can get it.

# ¿ Nov 8, 2011 01:48

crazyfish: Sep 19, 2002

So I'm racking my brain thinking about a way that I could go all-grain in my apartment, and I think I have a couple ideas to get around my main two problems (full boil volume and chilling). I don't have space for a propane burner so I can't do full boils that way, but has anyone tried supplementing their stove-based boils with a bucket heater like this?: http://www.amazon.com/MARSHALLTOWN-Premier-742G-Bucket-Heater/dp/B000BDB4UG/ref=pd_bxgy_petsupplies_img_b By putting the pot over two burners (I could probably boil 5 gallons on my stove right now but not the 7ish that full boils need) plus this heater, I think I might be able to sustain a 7 gallon boil.

The other problem was chilling the wort, and I think this one is less of a gray area, because I found a garden hose adapter for my kitchen faucet and I can hook up an immersion chiller that way.

# ¿ Nov 8, 2011 03:44

crazyfish: Sep 19, 2002

His Divine Shadow posted:

Moved my cider to a new container today for clarification. It's been a bit over two months since I opened this lid, this is what it looked like:

Using a hose to move it to a new container:

Looking better already.

The taste and smell is like that of wine, which is not surprising I suppose since I used wine yeast. It was not sweet at all so I guess the sugar's been digested pretty thoroughly. The air lock didn't really bubble much the second month so I guess thats around when it ran low. I dunno what strength it is at now, I added 12 grams of sugar per liter though, that + any natural sugars in the juice.

When, where and how much sugar should I add when bottling them if I want to get carbonation? Should I put a little pinch in each bottle or should I mix it all in the big container first?

When I brew I make a syrup with all the sugar needed to carb whatever bottles I need, typically 5oz by weight of table sugar dissolved in 2 cups of water. I put that syrup in a sanitized bottling bucket, transfer the brew to the bottling bucket, and let the swirling generated by the transfer mix in the priming sugar, then just to make sure, I give it a stir with a big sanitized spoon for a minute or so. All of the priming sugar should be mixed in evenly by that point. In two batches I've done so far, I haven't had problems with uneven carbonation.

# ¿ Nov 8, 2011 21:59

crazyfish: Sep 19, 2002

exant posted:

Ok. My kit recommends drinking a lot of Grolsch.

Looking at the prices, you're right, the capper is much cheaper than swing-tops.

No kidding. Bottling sucks, but capping isn't such a massive ordeal that it justifies the huge price difference between normal bottles and swing-tops.

# ¿ Nov 9, 2011 23:05

crazyfish: Sep 19, 2002

Hypnolobster posted:

I've been doing this for about the past year and it's awesome. I still keep around a 1lb tub of PBW that I tell myself is for extremely important hard to clean things, but to date I only have really used it for every few month harder cleanings of my plate chiller.

TSP, Oxyclean Free and Oxalic Acid are pretty much the only cleaners I ever need, and they're all dirt cheap and hilariously effective. I love it.

e: related chemicals tip: For people using StarSan, BUY DISPOSABLE PIPETTES. 3ml or 6ml pipettes let you mix 1 gallon of starsan in moments. 1 gallon needs 5.9ml of star san and you don't have to mix the basically required for accuracy 2.5 gallons/.5oz anymore. I've had a bunch of sterile pipettes for a while but always just used them for taking refractometer samples during brewday. This is a way cooler use.

I've started doing ~1/4tsp -> 32oz spray bottle for all my sanitizing that doesn't need to be done en-masse. The guy at my LHBS who sold me my brew kit on the first day (who I haven't seen back there since despite having made numerous treks there) told me to get iodaphor rather than starsan due to the price difference. I'm probably going to just get rid of my iodaphor or at least figure out something else to do with it. Maybe mass sanitizing bottles until it's gone?

crazyfish fucked around with this message at 19:02 on Nov 10, 2011

# ¿ Nov 10, 2011 18:55

crazyfish: Sep 19, 2002

Paladine_PSoT posted:

Hey, anyone interested in a Goon Homebrew secret santa this year? I'd be willing to administer.

I would definitely be down to submit some brews. I can't say mine will be especially incredible, but it would be nice to get some critical tastebuds on my beer so far.

# ¿ Nov 14, 2011 03:30

crazyfish: Sep 19, 2002

Paladine_PSoT posted:

Okay, here's the SA Homebrewer Secret Santa reg form. Registration is open until 11/30/11 and I will send assignments no later than 12/3/11.

Please be aware of restrictions and packing requirements for shipping beer. Do your homework!

Signup Form

We should make a sticky or something.

Signed up! I would also like to know guidelines on how much stuff is customary to send, though I've got plenty.

# ¿ Nov 15, 2011 18:14

crazyfish: Sep 19, 2002

Cracked open my key lime wit that I bottled about two weeks ago. I was really excited about drinking it when I tasted it out of the fermenter, and now that I got to drink it fully carbed it's glorious. By far my favorite of the three batches I've made. Hoping my secret santa assignee enjoys it as much as I am

# ¿ Nov 20, 2011 03:17

crazyfish: Sep 19, 2002

Batch #4 (belgian wit) is getting bottled this week, and I'm already starting to plan ahead for my next couple batches. I want to do one session-type batch, and one big, heavy batch to give me an excuse to buy some new equipment (like flasks for making yeast starters). Earlier in this thread I had the desire to do a Belgian dubbel, but I decided to go crazy and I'll now be doing a quad, in particular, a Westy 12 clone(ish). Since I can't do all-grain yet, I've decided to go partial mash. This guy has a lot of specialty-type grains which I think a partial mash will help a lot with.

Based on this recipe: http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f73/pious-westvleteren-12-style-quad-multiple-147815/

code:

Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Boil Size: 4.46 gal
Post Boil Volume: 3.91 gal
Batch Size (fermenter): 5.00 gal   
Bottling Volume: 4.60 gal
Estimated OG: 1.104 SG
Estimated Color: 33.6 SRM
Estimated IBU: 23.3 IBUs
Brewhouse Efficiency: 72.00 %
Est Mash Efficiency: 102.3 %
Boil Time: 90 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amt                   Name                                     Type          #        %/IBU         
5 lbs                 Pilsner (2 Row) Bel (2.0 SRM)            Grain         1        32.7 %        
1 lbs                 Caramunich Malt (56.0 SRM)               Grain         2        6.5 %         
8.0 oz                Biscuit Malt (23.0 SRM)                  Grain         3        3.3 %         
5.3 oz                Aromatic Malt (26.0 SRM)                 Grain         4        2.2 %         
4.0 oz                Special B Malt (180.0 SRM)               Grain         5        1.6 %         
3.2 oz                Chocolate Malt (350.0 SRM)               Grain         6        1.3 %         
6 lbs                 Pilsen Light Dry Extract [Boil for 30 min] Dry Extract   9        39.3 %        
1.00 oz               Northern Brewer [8.50 %] - Boil 90.0 min Hop           8        14.1 IBUs     
2.00 oz               Styrian Goldings [3.90 %] - Boil 30.0 mi Hop           10       9.3 IBUs      
2 lbs                 Candi Sugar, Dark (160.0 SRM)            Sugar         7        13.1 %        

Mash 90 min @ 152. 

Wyeast 3787 Trappist High Gravity.  Pitch at around 65, let it self-rise to about 80 and hold 
it there until nearly done, then cool it down to about 70.  At FG, rack to secondary and condition 
for 2 months, then bottle.

Aimed high on the OG in case I'm not very good at partial mashing.

Couple questions:

- I was thinking about trying an open fermentation at least for the first couple days while it's still at high krausen. I'm hoping to get a little bit more of a fruity, raisiny, cherry-type character out of it, plus it (mostly) avoids the need to rig up a blowoff hose. Does this seem like a good idea? I'm probably going to pitch a pretty reasonable starter, and I might loosely cover the fermenter until it starts.

- Anyone ever used a bottling bucket as a lauter tun? I've got some paint strainer bags that fill up the bucket, so I can pour the mash into the strainer bag and batch sparge using the strainer bag as sort of a false bottom.

- Anyone have a favorite recipe for dark candi syrup? I'm not going to buy the brown rocks at my LHBS, I'd rather save some scratch and make my own.

crazyfish fucked around with this message at 03:54 on Nov 22, 2011

# ¿ Nov 22, 2011 03:52

crazyfish: Sep 19, 2002

Wow, totally didn't make the connection between rage-saq and saq - cool to see that I scoped another goon recipe!

Thanks to the both of you for the comments. I'm dead set on a partial mash right now because I've already got a bunch of the grain and extract sitting around. I'd have to run out to my LHBS for some of the specialty malts and the 3787. I might sub 3.3 lb of pilsen LME for 3 pounds of the DME to lower the gravity slightly, and since I'm not concerned about darkening too much, I might wind up adding it earlier in the boil.

I'm not going to brew this for a couple weeks yet, so who knows, I might bite the bullet and buy a bunch of all-grain gear

# ¿ Nov 22, 2011 09:55

crazyfish: Sep 19, 2002

In the UK, since everything runs on 220V, it's a lot easier to do electric brewing, which is what I'd recommend in that case. Unless you've gotta have portability, that is.

# ¿ Nov 30, 2011 01:51

crazyfish: Sep 19, 2002

I've used a red wing capper on twist-offs, but these were a special case as they were Unibroue bottles that were from a brew that happened to be bottle conditioned.

# ¿ Dec 7, 2011 01:11

crazyfish: Sep 19, 2002

I haven't sent mine out yet, but I'm planning on sending a 6 pack of 12oz bottles.

# ¿ Dec 9, 2011 19:34

crazyfish: Sep 19, 2002

greasy digits posted:

Just found this thread by chance so I thought I'd share my first attempt at cider making. I've always wanted to do it and had access to a 5g primary and carboy, so I bought 5g of cider from a local orchard and thought I'd give it a shot. In retrospect I think it would've been smarter to do a smaller batch for my first attempt. In just under 2 months I ended up with this: (everyone likes pictures, right?)

I'm really happy with the color and clarity, and MY GIRLFRIEND and I agree that it's pretty drinkable despite maybe leaving it sitting on the lees longer than I should have. I forgot to record a hydrometer reading after adding the sugar, so I have no clue how much alcohol is in it. Fermentation stopped at .995 so I'm guessing it's a bit higher than your average cider.

What kind of yeast did you use? Or did you just use the wild yeast already in the cider?

# ¿ Dec 9, 2011 21:31

crazyfish: Sep 19, 2002

I live in a relatively small apartment so I don't have the space to get a chest freezer and a kegging setup. Luckily, my wife helps me bottle - she sanitizes the bottles by dipping them in a bucket of starsan, hands them to me to fill, then I pass them back to her and she puts the cap on. Bottling days aren't short, but they're a hell of a lot quicker now than when I was bottling solo.

# ¿ Dec 12, 2011 02:49

crazyfish: Sep 19, 2002

I'm going to be doing partial mash on my stovetop soon, and I plan on using my bottling bucket as a lauter tun. No having to hold a heavy grain bag over a pot for me

# ¿ Dec 12, 2011 17:55

crazyfish: Sep 19, 2002

I bought a brew hauler thing, but then I realized that carboys are just about the perfect size to fit in a milk crate.

# ¿ Dec 13, 2011 08:08

crazyfish: Sep 19, 2002

Just sent out my secret santee's package. Wasn't as expensive as I thought. 9 pounds via fedex ground cost me about $13 to send.

# ¿ Dec 16, 2011 18:15

crazyfish: Sep 19, 2002

tesilential posted:

Aluminum is perfectly fine. Italian restaurants use them to cook 10+ gallons of house tomatoe sauce everyday.

I'd go 40qt to comfortably do 5 gal all grain batches in the future. If you check out a local ethnic or surplus supermarket you can find one for ~$45.

I bought a 32qt Imusa aluminum "tamale steamer" at my local Target for about $20. It's served fine as a brewpot through four batches so far.

# ¿ Dec 16, 2011 18:26

crazyfish: Sep 19, 2002

GonadTheBallbarian posted:

I did. I'm a little paranoid about bacteria beating the yeast to the sugars, so I carpet bomb the fuckers in every possible place (minus the actual grains themselves). Couldn't hurt to sanitize the pot so long as you're using a non-reactive sanitizer.

There isn't a need to sanitize your brew kettle: The boil does that for you.

# ¿ Dec 16, 2011 19:34

crazyfish: Sep 19, 2002

Make sure your oxiclean is unscented. I bought generic Target-brand oxiclean rather than the name brand stuff, and it works great.

# ¿ Dec 16, 2011 19:48

crazyfish: Sep 19, 2002

I've done two belgian wits that have been drinkable (bottle conditioned even!) in about 3 weeks. Of course, with only about two weeks till NYE, I don't think you're gonna be able to pull it off without a kegging setup.

# ¿ Dec 17, 2011 18:42

crazyfish: Sep 19, 2002

mewse posted:

Worst Homebrew Ingredient 2011

I can't find the thread, but there was someone on homebrewtalk that wanted to brew a beer with his dead wife's ashes.

# ¿ Dec 19, 2011 00:38

crazyfish: Sep 19, 2002

Haven't heard anything from my santee yet, so Magua, in case you didn't get notification, your leasing office has your SS package according to the fedex tracking and it was delivered on Monday.

# ¿ Dec 23, 2011 17:21

crazyfish: Sep 19, 2002

j3rkstore posted:

Sent out my SS as well today. Should arrive there Friday

Got my package from you! For those interested, I got four well-packed bombers of pumpkin ale, vienna lager, hefeweizen, and hard cider (even got my wife excited - she doesn't like 99% of beers but she loves cider). Thanks a lot!

# ¿ Dec 23, 2011 23:47

crazyfish: Sep 19, 2002

Northern Brewer rules. They slightly messed up one order, and promptly fixed it with no fuss.

Things that a beginning brewer needs, imo:

1) Bucket fermenter with lid
2) Racking cane/autosiphon
3) A good instant-read thermometer
4) Hydrometer
5) Bottling bucket (with spigot)
6) Bottling wand
7) Starsan (some people like iodaphor, but those people are wrong)
8) Capper
9) Clear vinyl tubing (3/8" ID seems to be the standard)
10) Big mesh strainer
11) Brewpot, minimum four gallons in size. I recommend buying a pot no smaller than 8 gallons, personally, because it will scale up to when you go all-grain. I have a 32 quart Imusa "tamale steamer" I picked up at target for $20 which serves as a fine brewpot.

Most beers don't need a secondary. I only consider it necessary for styles that need additional flavours post fermentation (i.e. dry hopping) or beers that need exceptionally long aging like sours.

# ¿ Dec 26, 2011 22:25

crazyfish: Sep 19, 2002

Did my first partial mash last night, the oatmeal stout kit from Northern Brewer. Even though my mash temp was all over the place for the first 10 minutes or so (figured out that I should keep stirring and it was alright after that), I hit an OG of 1.052 (anticipated OG of 1.049) I'm happy I did better than the kit hoped

# ¿ Dec 28, 2011 19:39

crazyfish: Sep 19, 2002

7/1 - Belgian Tripel. Disliked it at first but it seems to be getting better with age. Hopefully the quad I'm going to brew in January turns out better.

8/7 - Vanilla Porter. A little thin, and not as much vanilla flavour as I wanted, but still drinkable.

10/23 - Key Lime Belgian Wit. Absolutely delicious.

10/25 - Apple Cider. Amazing what you can do with store bought apple juice and a yeast packet.

11/6 - Belgian Wit. Almost as good as the key lime.

12/27 - Oatmeal Stout. Not sure about this one yet, as it just started primary, but I'm pretty hopeful.

# ¿ Dec 29, 2011 17:54

crazyfish: Sep 19, 2002

Paladine_PSoT posted:

Secret Saudit!

I have not heard from the following people as to whether they have received their gifts:

Acceptableloss
Nesbit37
Crazyfish
PaladinePSoT
Magua
Imasalmon

If I missed a post saying you got it, let me know! If you received it, post some pictures (or reviews) and let us know! If you have yet to receive something, let us know too, I'm not too worried because there's been a great turnout sofar with some late "it's been shipped"s that are unaccounted for.

I posted that I got mine from j3rkstore a couple pages ago: http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3437782&userid=0&perpage=40&pagenumber=40#post398899553

edit: Also, Magua has been away and hasn't actually picked his up - I left notification that it had been delivered to their leasing office.

crazyfish fucked around with this message at 06:03 on Dec 31, 2011

# ¿ Dec 31, 2011 06:00

Adbot: ADBOT LOVES YOU

# ¿ Apr 25, 2024 12:45

crazyfish: Sep 19, 2002

j3rkstore posted:

Looking forward to hearing if you like them or think they are crap and I should stop brewing forever.

Will definitely let you know! I'm saving them for the next time a couple beer enthusiast friends come over so you can get more than just my pedestrian palate

# ¿ Dec 31, 2011 06:32

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

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