Looks pretty tasty. Have you every thought about doing a partial mash? I had a pretty limited set up back when I was brewing, but I used to do partial mashes with specialty malts in my oven. It seemed to add quite a bit more depth to my brews. Good luck man, it is a *great* hobby. I can't wait until I can get back into it.

I'll be looking into it at the very least. All grain brewing looks a bit intimidating at the moment, but I'm pretty sure I can handle steeping. Sounds like a good area to experiment in.

No kidding I'm going to be picking up a 5 gal carboy tomorrow for a secondary, just so that I can get another batch started in my primary

How has your brewing been going by the way?

My first brew is currently bottled up and ageing in my basement. I'm f*ckING DYING HERE!!

I have my equipment cleaned out and am searching for my next flavor.

I did the pre-bottling taste test on it and got so excited I took an artsy pic.

Well, I went ahead and made a batch yesterday. I completely ignored any recipe or "normal" directions, so I hope it turns out.

It's a West Coast Pale Ale with a light amber UME, instead of just letting it steep in the just boiled water, I returned that to a boil and let it go for about 10-20 minutes, then added a can of blackberries just for giggles.

It smelled very interesting, and tasted like it would be a fun beer, now I just have to wait a few weeks to find out for real.

The waaaaaaaaiting is the haaaaaarrrdesssssst part!

It takes about a week for a majority of the fermenting to take place. Then you usually let it sit for a week or two more before you put it into bottles. Finally, you let the bottles sit for at least a week or two before drinking the stuff down. All that sitting around is called "conditioning", and allows time for yeast to settle out, lets the flavors to mature, and time for carbonation to build in the bottles. So you're looking at about a month from the time you start to the time you drink.

Of course, you can drink it whenever you want, but it's suppose to get better with time.

I just transfered my batch to secondary the other night. Gravity sample sitting at 1.015 and tasted great.

Sounds interesting. Blackberries would make a great brew me thinks. The waiting it soo hard though. I was ready to just start pouring glasses after tasting my gravity sample

I'm confused because you first say you fermented 7 days and then say you didn't not wait a week before bottling.

If you waited a week before priming/bottling you're fine. If you bottled as soon as you made the batch you're screwed.

Every brew and brewer is different, I frement in a primary carboy (6 gallons to minimize blowoff) for two-three weeks and then rack the brew into a secondary carboy (5 gallon) to ferment an additional two-thre weeks. I bottle condition for a two weeks to a month. If it's a first time recipe, I'll keep a 6 pack of bottles aside and let them sit for at least four months. I'll drink the rest of the batch to my hearts content but after 4 months I'll have two a month up to the six month mark to see when the better flavor (for me) for that particular recipe is.

You'll acquire much gear as well.

I usually ferment for 1 week, then if it looks like things have settled down(no more busy little yeast colonies on the surface), I'll prime and bottle, then let them sit in the bottles for a week, then in the fridge they go. I'll have one as soon as the bottle is really cold, but they really taste much better after a 3rd week of sitting(in the fridge). After 4 weeks, it's usually markedly better, as the flavors have time to mellow out.

Yep. My last batch was Shiner/Killian's good at 2 weeks + a day in the fridge, but once it hit 1 week in the bottle plus another week in the fridge, it was heavenly. After 2+ more weeks, it was so good I wished I had made 2 batches.

So true, but I find that all the beers I've made(cider, too) really hit their best flavor about 1 month after Brew Day. Some do take a lot longer to get really really good though. I've got a couple of recipes that say to let them bottle condition for 2+ months. I need more bottles if I'm going to tie a whole batch up for a quarter.

So, Mex, a minimum of 2 weeks from Brew Day. Minimum.

I hope it was ok. my fermenter has a little air filter/bubbling thing on the top, and it said that the fermenting would take 3-7 days (whenever it stopped bubbling was when it was done).
It stopped bubbling after 3 days but, I left it in the fermenter for the full 7. The bottles have been sitting in my cellar for about a week and a half now, no explosions yet!

To follow up FeralPug, invest $15 in a hydrometer. Taking gravity readings will remove the guesswork as to when your fermentation is done.

I recently moved, so I have not had a brew day in about 2 months, and my last batch is all but gone I'm going to start a hefeweisen soon, though, and then get going on a 12.9% ABV porter recipe that I came across.

WineGlass, do you think you could post that Porter recipe. When I get going again I want to start with a quickie, like brown ale or a bitter, and then brew up an imperial stout or a heavy porter. Damn, I can't wait!

More yeast will not increase your alchohol percentage, only speed up the time between pitching and full fermentation. Generally, you want to start active fermentation as soon as you possibly can as this is the most dangerous time in terms of infection. I recommend making or buying a wort chiller so you can cool your wort quickly. I made a copper chiller that can cool 5 gallons of boiling water to room temperature in 15 minutes. They're easy to make or buy, and cheap as well.

There are a few ways to increase your alchohol percentage:

1. The more sugar you have, the more stuff the yeast can eat, the more waste (alchohol, CO2) the yeast can produce. One of the simpler ways to increase your alchohol is to increase your sugars.

2. Some yeast strains can tolerate a higher percentage of alchohol. Champagne yeast is one strain that can drive your percentage up to the 15% mark (sometimes higher). So if you want a high gravity IPA, pitch a good Ale yeast so you can get the proper ale esters going, and pitch Champagne yeast after the ale yeast slows down. If you have enough sugars in there you can push your IPA to a solid 15% alchohol. You don't want to use only Champagne yeast as the finished brew will lack the complex flavors that a good ale should have.

White Labs has a yeast that will theoretically do 25%. I used it and got it to about 19%. It's akin to a Thoroughbred race horse: difficult to use, but if you really know what you're doing it can outperform any other breed.

The higher the alchohol the longer you'll want to let it sit. Anything above 12% you can treat like wine: ferment it for 6 months and cellar it for at least a year. I've got a mead that's been in a fermenter for a full year right now. It's about 14%. I'll bottle it soon and let it sit in the bottles for at least another 6 months.

Thanks for the info, Feral. Never even thought about using multiple yeasts in stages. Brilliant. So to reiterate, you use a yeast with a flavor profile you like, then use another yeast to boost alchohol levels - preferably one that doesn't have as pronounced flavors? I think I'll wait a while to give this a shot, but it sounds like it would be a real fun experiment to try.

Wow, that looks great, Wine. I went ahead and added it to the "book". Any idea how you're suppose to add the honey to the brew? I wouldn't know if to boil it, or stir it into the fermenter, or just pour it in.

Well, the hefeweizen hit FG really quickly, in like 4 days (OG: 1.048, FG: 1.010). Fermented violently for a couple of those and was bottled this last weekend. I added some blackberry extract the last half of the batch in my bottling bucket to change things up.

I immediately turned around and brewed up an American brown ale that's sitting in my primary right now. I also ran down to the local homebrew shop (Home Fermenter Supply in Eugene, OR... Great guy runs the place) for a hazelnut extract to be added at bottling time.

So, between the hefeweizen/blackberry hefeweizen conditioning in bottles and the brown ale sitting in my primary fermenter, I've got about 10 gallons of beer in my apartment that I can't drink yet So, I stopped at the market tonight to grab 22oz bottles of Stone's Arrogant Bastard Ale, Rogue Dead Guy Ale, and Rogue Hazelnut Brown Nectar.

Hope it turns out well for you, Ducki. I've always been under the impression that it is the liquid temperature that you base your adjustment on with the hydrometer.

My hazelnut brown is screwed, totally oxidized and tastes like cardboard. I really screwed it up by not cooling it enough to pitch the yeast when I added it to my primary. I had really sloshed it around, aeriating it well, and had to let it sit for a long time to get it around 80 degrees. 5 gallons of beer down the drain

So, to mourn the loss of my brown ale, I turned right around and made an oatmeal stout that's been conditioning in bottles for about 2 weeks now and is smoothing out really good. I really like this style of beer. The oatmeal gives it a really silky character that just feels good in the mouth.

Last night I bottled an american pale ale that I dry hopped with Kent Golding hops. I think this was, technique wise, my best brew yet out of about 6 batches. It tasted good at bottling time, and I am really hoping it turns out well.

This last weekend, my girlfriend and I made the trip over to Newport, OR to stay at the Rogue Brewery's Bed & Beer, drink some great Rogue beers, and visit the brewery. Chocolate Stout and Hazelnut Brown rule! It turned out to be a great trip and very beer-spirational.

I'm trying to decide what to make next. I'm thinking I may take another crack at the brown ale, or try something really "big" (like a barleywine).