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Home Brewing


twiley
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Some friends and I were discussing ways to get out more often to just have a good time and the idea of home brewing came up. I did some research and found some beginner kits for around $60. I wanted to get some opinions on this and also wanted to know how much time is involved with making a batch.

 

TIA - I'll answer yours if you answer mine. :D

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That kit will do fine. It is a starter kit, after all, and if you haven't made beer then it's tough to know what your equipment preferences will be.

 

Here's a tip: Try to bottle in good brown bar bottles. Don't recycle bottles that have screw caps or green glass. If you can get your hands on good "stein" bottles with a rubber stopper system, these are the best because you can reuse them infinately.

 

As far as time, it generally takes a few hours (3-5) to deal with making a batch. Then there is time after the fact monitoring, adding hops, bottling, etc.

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That kit will do fine. It is a starter kit, after all, and if you haven't made beer then it's tough to know what your equipment preferences will be.

 

Here's a tip: Try to bottle in good brown bar bottles. Don't recycle bottles that have screw caps or green glass. If you can get your hands on good "stein" bottles with a rubber stopper system, these are the best because you can reuse them infinately.

 

As far as time, it generally takes a few hours (3-5) to deal with making a batch. Then there is time after the fact monitoring, adding hops, bottling, etc.

Suhweet. :D

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That Kit is fine....Caveman Nick is right on the money for time. the most monotonous part of home brewing is disinfecting bottles...if you have the disposable income, by a 5-gallon Corny keg and a CO2 system. At that point, if you stay interested, you'll be wanting to upgrade to all grain brewing, which I find about 10 times more enjoyable.

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Also, champagne bottles are great. Because of the manner in which real champagne is made, they have a lip on them that accepts a bottle cap. They're also a nice size.

 

The guy down the street from me (until they moved a few years ago) made amazing beer. Much better than the stuff my friends and I used to make. The main difference I noticed is that they were very precise and had just a bit more cool stuff than we did. I'm sorry I didn't check out your kit but one of the big differences I noticed was that they had water cooling gadget to cool the beer down really quickly after adding the finishing hops. It was a pretty simple copper coil that you hook a hose up to one end and feed the hot beer through the other. Rather paramount IMO. Apparently, if the hops cook too long, pretty much all they add is the bittering effect, rather than all the aromatics. So, adding finishing hops but failing to cool down the beer right away sort of undermines the whole intent of finishing hops. That might be why a lot of home brew tastes OK but not great.

 

Also, actually malting your grains makes a huge difference. We nearly always just bought the syrup and I think that also had a lot to do with why this guy's stuff was so much better.

 

Of course, the fact that he and his friend were both OCD stoner chemists might have had something to do with it.

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You don't need a wort chiller unless you are actually heating up the whole volume of water for your recipe. With Twiley's kit, he will probably boil up about 2 gallons are so and then add 3 gallons of cold water for a 5 gallon batch.... Cooling the wort down right away is primarly done to pitch yeast as soon as possible. You don't want any kind of bacteria introduced to the wort before the yeast (which can't survive at temps above 80 degrees Farenheit) has a chance to initiate fermentation.

 

That might be why a lot of home brew tastes OK but not great.

 

Also, actually malting your grains makes a huge difference. We nearly always just bought the syrup and I think that also had a lot to do with why this guy's stuff was so much better.

 

With Twiley's kit, he can make damn fine home brew. All-grain brewing can improve the taste but it also introduces other variables that can aid to crap beer. The bonus of all-grain beer is that it is from scratch and you have total control of the recipe; but it involves a rather substantial investment in equipment to do it right (it also takes more time to brew a batch).

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Start here:

 

http://www.howtobrew.com/

 

Better yet, buy his book, it's well worth the investment.

 

You can do partial brews with extract, adding additional boiled water after the one hour boil, a full boil (better) but going all grain is not what a beginner should attempt. Not to brag, but I do have a blue ribbon or two, and one of my recipes Has been brewed commercally. Rapid cooling of the wort is important. For the beginner, I would suggest placing the brew pot in an ice bath, with the lid on the pot to prevent infections. Start with Palmer's site, that is a version of his book in a condensed presentation. Also, buy a brew kit.... "Beer, beer and more beer" or "Northern Brewer" are good sites to buy ingredient kits from. Google those two sites.

 

Forget bottles. The are a royal PITA! Get one gallon growlers with those Grolsch type of flip tops. And make DAMMMMMMM sure you don't add to much priming sugar to the bottles for carbonation! That is when bottles explode! Trust me here.... if you use bottles, you need a capper. With one gallon growlers, you only need to sanitze five bottles, not two cases, and you won't need a capper. Sixty bucks.... I don't need to see it, it's trash. A good starter kit with fermenting bucket is $100. Look at the starter kits at those two sites I mentioned.

 

After a couple of batches, then you might consider going all grain, or other upgrades. Both of those sites I mentioned have good message boards where a lot of your questions can be answered as well. if you don't do some research, the beer will taste like chit. take a couple hours and read up, you can brew a beer that rivals top shelf brewers like Sam Adams.

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Forget bottles. The are a royal PITA! Get one gallon growlers with those Grolsch type of flip tops.

 

This does make for less bottling, but at the same time I still prefer the big stein type bottles. I have never had one go boom on me. Same type of top, less bottling than bar bottles, more bottling than growlers. I guess it's a preference thing.

 

EDIT: I am talking about the kind of bottle you get with a Pils in Stein by Fiedlers.

 

 

And make DAMMMMMMM sure you don't add to much priming sugar to the bottles for carbonation! That is when bottles explode! Trust me here.... if you use bottles, you need a capper. With one gallon growlers, you only need to sanitze five bottles, not two cases, and you won't need a capper. Sixty bucks.... I don't need to see it, it's trash. A good starter kit with fermenting bucket is $100. Look at the starter kits at those two sites I mentioned.

 

After a couple of batches, then you might consider going all grain, or other upgrades. Both of those sites I mentioned have good message boards where a lot of your questions can be answered as well. if you don't do some research, the beer will taste like chit. take a couple hours and read up, you can brew a beer that rivals top shelf brewers like Sam Adams.

 

Good advice :D

 

FWIW, when I started I went all grain, but I also made my first few batches with a friend that had experience. Sometimes I let myself forget that :D

 

If you are a good kitchen person and recipe follower you can probably do a decent job of it, but if you are just using this as an excuse to pound beer with your friends then the type of recipe Rovers is suggesting is for the best :wacko:

Edited by Caveman_Nick
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Worked at Redhook for two plus years as a Cellarman, been homebrewing for 15+ years. Get the book Rovers suggested. Read it. If I were just starting I would find a place in town where you can brew with their equiptment first. We had classes on the weekends at Hook. Smaller breweries have this service also. This way you don't have a lot of outlay for something that just may collect dust after the fashion has worn off. I use the 20 oz. Grolsch type bottles with the rubber stoppers(mine are blue). Use over and over again. Sterilizing is KEY, food based Iodine or bleach mixed with water is the best. Less caustic and easily obtainable. You can also buy packets, but they are overated and overpriced. Also I have found all my varieties are better when I take the extra time and "Lager" them after fermentation. Takes the green out of green beer so to speak. Also the types of hops and barley are KEY to making beer YOU like. Like mine Hoppy, but with a nice roasted malt barley. Also love adding corriander(Thomas Jefferson). Just made some Oatmeal Stout last month. Last night was the first night they were available to drink. Friggin' awesome and smooth somewhat chocolaty, with a punch. Remember beer only has four main ingredients. Learn the process and enjoy the experimenting. Great hobby.

Edited by Hugh B Tool
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Good advice from everyone. Congrats on taking the first steps in a very satisfying hobby. :D

 

On a down note, I managed to knock over and break two 5 gallon carboys in my garage this morning. The only upside that I have been able to find is that they were not filled with beer at the time. :D

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How big of an area do I need to set aside for brewing? I've got about a 6x4 area available in my wine cellar.

 

You need a heat source for boiling while actually making the beer. I wouldn't do that in your wine cellar. Your wine cellar would be fine for storing beer while fermenting or equipment.

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Ok, the first habit you must pick up is to immediately rinse any beer bottle you plan on using for your home brew as soon as it is empty. It makes cleaning and sanitizing MUCH easier. Also, if the botles are pretty clean, you can use the dry cycle on your dishwasher to sanitize the bottles. If the dishwasher comes with an anti-bacterial setting, so much the better.

 

The brewing is the easy part, it's pretty much like making soup. You might want to pick up some boiling bags, IMO, it makes seperating the wort from the hops much easier.

 

Make a practice run filling the bottles from the bottling bucket with some plain water. The first time you do this you'll make a mess, water is much easier to clean up and you don't want to waste any of the beer.

 

Try really hard not to scratch the plastic buckets. That's where bacteria can hide and that will ruin a batch quicker than anything.

 

Most importantly, I'll pass on some advice that I got when I first started brewing. Relax, don't worry and have a home brew.

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Yeah, you don't want to run a propne burner in the basement!!!! !!!! !!!!

 

A carport is fine, the air needs to circualte well or the fumes can literally kill you.

 

The "typical" homebrewer will boil a partial extract on his stove, about two gallons, then add three gallons of previously boiled water to the wort once it has boled for about an hour. Use an OVERSIZED pot! You have to watch boiling wort like a hawk watchin rabbits, or it will boil over on the stovetop. this stuff is almost impossible to clean off your stovetop without damaging it! I used to coat the whole stove top with aluminum foil, which minimized damage until I eventually ended up with a twenty gallon outdoor all grain brewery.

 

All this info is at that site and in John Palmer's book. The great thing about Palmer's book is it's good for the new home brewer, but still very useful for the experienced brewer... it's a book you won't outgrow. Some home brew sites actually include a copy with a $100 or so starter kit. DO NOT buy any Charlie Papizian books! He'll have you dumping table sugar into your beer! Bad, very bad!

 

When I started out, my hope was to brew a beer as good as a Sam Adams. Eventually, my beers were better than that. BTW.... anyone interested in a 12 gallon SS fermenter?

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When I started out, my hope was to brew a beer as good as a Sam Adams. Eventually, my beers were better than that. BTW.... anyone interested in a 12 gallon SS fermenter?

 

Quite possibly. I got to talk to my brewing buddy. Can you give some details?

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Quite possibly. I got to talk to my brewing buddy. Can you give some details?

 

I have 2 twelves, a 24, and a 7 gallon SS fermenter. I can part with one of the twelves. Blichman units, conical shaped on the bottom with a spigot for removing slurry after primary fermenttion is over. This removes the need for a "secondary" fermentation. PM me with yer email if interested.

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