Thinking of home brewing

Paleocon wrote:

I looked at the carboys and couldn't figure out why folks felt they were better than simply using a plastic bucket. Also, I'm told the buckets with bottom taps are even more convenient.

Easier sanitation and being able to view your wort. Make sure you get a 7 gal bucket if you're going to use for primary as you'll need the headroom.

I wanted to know where I could pick up their used equipment for cheap.

Craigslist. I bought the majority of my main equipment used. I got it from the Austin.ForSale newsgroup prior to the existance of Craigslist and then from CL later. I got a ton of used equipment on the cheap. When I moved from Austin and decided to dump my equipment I broke even, even though I had dumped good money on kegerator fittings, a refractometer, counterflow chiller, and the likes of that.

I looked at some of the videos online and it looks like the primary part of the wort (the part you boil) is only about one gallon. The rest is water you add from the tap, which you can do in your fermenting bucket. If that is the case, why bother purchasing a 5 gallon brew pot? It would seem to me that using a high quality 8 quart stock pot like the one I have on my stove right now would be both more effective and cheaper. Am I missing something?

Ideally you want to boil all your water. You'll get a much better hot break and just general inclusion, plus it gets rid of the chlorine in tap water. To make really high quality beer all these little detail variables add up and make the big changes. I did 15 gal boils.

I'm interested in doing a bit more. A friend got me a Mr. Beer kit a year or so ago, and I've done a few batches with that, but would like to expand my options.

The thing you need to consider with bucket fermenting is that after a while the plastic will scratch and bacteria can hide out in the nicks easily. I don't find a carboy any more difficult than a bucket personally, though I actually use both (two carboys for fermenting and a bucket for bottling).

Full boils get better hop utilization, but you can make very good beers doing partial boils with extract and specialty grain.

I've been homebrewing (extract, full boil) for about a year now, and feel I am just starting to turn out product that's pretty good.
Pyro -- If you want to check out the process let me know and I'll ping you the next time I'm planning on starting a batch.

I'm a little concerned that the kitchen is on the second floor and the only place I'll have to ferment will be in the basement. That means I'll need to take a bucket of beer down a set of stairs. I can already imagine dropping the bucket down the stairs and the ensuing flash of razor sharp blades I'll see right before the end of my life when my wife gets home from work.

Paleocon wrote:

I'm a little concerned that the kitchen is on the second floor and the only place I'll have to ferment will be in the basement. That means I'll need to take a bucket of beer down a set of stairs. I can already imagine dropping the bucket down the stairs and the ensuing flash of razor sharp blades I'll see right before the end of my life when my wife gets home from work.

Plastic tubing down the stairs? Too much?

Paleocon wrote:
carrotpanic wrote:
Paleocon wrote:

I looked at some of the videos online and it looks like the primary part of the wort (the part you boil) is only about one gallon. The rest is water you add from the tap, which you can do in your fermenting bucket. If that is the case, why bother purchasing a 5 gallon brew pot? It would seem to me that using a high quality 8 quart stock pot like the one I have on my stove right now would be both more effective and cheaper. Am I missing something?

When we brew, we brew about 2-3 gallons in the pot. When you're dealing with large amounts of malt that you're steeping or dissolving (in the case of malt extract), it helps to have more water so the ingredients don't separate out from the water being too saturated. That was always our reason, anyway.

That's cool. the biggest stockpot I have is a 4 gallon stockpot I use for making oxtail soup. As long as I keep things clean, I think that should work fine, right? In any event, it's a lot better pot than the ones I see advertised on brewing sites. It should heat more evenly for sure.

I'm still thinking that there has to be a pretty big secondary market in used brewing equipment.

Along the lines here, what Alton Brown did in his homebrewing episode was boil 1 gallon (or whatever you're going to boil) and bottled water and bagged ice for the rest. That way, you get a quick cooldown without having to build a cooling contraption. I figure even if you boil 4 gallons and use 1 gallon (equivalent) of bagged ice, that would really help cool it down.

Phish, that sounds fun! Maybe a boardgame / homebrew day, eh? Honestly visiting a good brewing supply store in Cinci would probably be worth it, here all I have is Liquor Barn, which seems to have all the basics I need but maybe some specialty hops or yeast and actually talking to an expert would help alot. For instance, I have a mini-fridge but it probably can't hold a 7-gallon fermenter. A 5 gallon might be fine, though. At what point is the fermenter too big given the dimensions of my fridge? Stuff like that.

Part of my conundrum is I really dislike extremely hoppy beer, and most homebrewers I know are like "I made it so hoppy! Awesome!". So trying to understand the difference is kinda difficult, everyone seems to assume "more hops == awesome". I need to do some more reading.

PyromanFO wrote:

Phish, that sounds fun! Maybe a boardgame / homebrew day, eh? :)

This makes a huge difference. All of my brew days were weekend BBQs so I'd have friends over to help manage everything and pass the time.

Part of my conundrum is I really dislike extremely hoppy beer, and most homebrewers I know are like "I made it so hoppy! Awesome!". So trying to understand the difference is kinda difficult, everyone seems to assume "more hops == awesome". I need to do some more reading.

This is going to just boil down to styles. Brew ESBs or British Pale Ales. Just stay away from IPAs and probably American Pale Ales depending on what "extremely hoppy" means to you. Homebrewed porters and stouts are also things of beauty.

LiquidMantis wrote:
PyromanFO wrote:

Phish, that sounds fun! Maybe a boardgame / homebrew day, eh? :)

This makes a huge difference. All of my brew days were weekend BBQs so I'd have friends over to help manage everything and pass the time.

Part of my conundrum is I really dislike extremely hoppy beer, and most homebrewers I know are like "I made it so hoppy! Awesome!". So trying to understand the difference is kinda difficult, everyone seems to assume "more hops == awesome". I need to do some more reading.

This is going to just boil down to styles. Brew ESBs or British Pale Ales. Just stay away from IPAs and probably American Pale Ales depending on what "extremely hoppy" means to you. Homebrewed porters and stouts are also things of beauty.

I'm a hophead, and I love that about homebrewing, but you can make great non-hoppy beers easily. I made a Centennial Blonde which only used 1 oz. of hops, and it was delicious.

My first homebrew was with a kit called something like Mr. Beer or Mr. Brew or somesuch. It was a little, brown, plastic, keg-shaped brewing container with a spigot for bottling. I used small (8oz?) Coca-cola bottles and basic mixes.

It was awesome. Yes, it was cheap, but it was also good. The same company also makes a Root beer/Ginger beer making kit.

I made several batches, even experimenting with adding canned cherries to a batch or two. Or was it raspberries? Don't recall. It was interesting.

Now I have a "real" homebrew kit, and the homebrew bible book mentioned above - it's the one book everyone says you should have if you plan to homebrew - but I haven't had time or space to brew since then.

My recommendation is to start with a cheaper, not "real" kit. See if you like doing it. See if you actually want to homebrew or if you "just want cheaper good beer".

Homebrewing is a LOT of fun. And you get to decide what goes into it. Want to add raspberries to see how that kind of sugar/flavor plays with your hops? Go for it. Want to make something so hoppy it'll make you ribbit? Knock yourself out.

I wouldn't get too hung up on price (of the actual beer) or on having the "right" equipment, just get something you can use to try it out and go for it.

Oh, some homebrew stores have a kind of "learning/beginner co-op" sort of "class/club" thing. You buy the supplies and mix it up there and use their equipment and their storage, and at the end of the cycle, you made your own beer without having to store or buy the actual equipment. At least, they used to. Worth checking anyway.

Remember the kid at the surf-shop in Point Break, he was, like, 13, and he told Keanu "Surfing'll change your life, swear to God."? Yeah, making your own beer is that cool.

PyromanFO wrote:

Along the lines here, what Alton Brown did in his homebrewing episode...

Wait, what? Alton Brown did a homebrew episode?!?

was boil 1 gallon (or whatever you're going to boil) and [add] bottled water and bagged ice for the rest. That way, you get a quick cooldown without having to build a cooling contraption. I figure even if you boil 4 gallons and use 1 gallon (equivalent) of bagged ice, that would really help cool it down.

Yeah, that's what I did with my Mr. Beer(or whatever it was). Worked fine, especially since I barely had room for the stockpot and the carboy/keg-thingy, much less a bunch of other equipment.

I have GOT to go find that Alton Brown episode.

I have GOT to go find that Alton Brown episode.

It's in Season 6, called Amber Waves

Beware, just because Alton says so don't follow his advice, he gives such bad advice in that episode.

http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f45/anot... click here for a "lively" discussion on all the stuff Alton does wrong.

I mean if you don't want to "build an cooling contraption", don't throw bagged ice in your wort. You have no idea how that bagged ice was made, what kind of water it came from, sanitary, etc. Throw your kettle in a sink full of ice water instead.

Don't get me wrong, you'll still get beer, but there are much better places to get info, and this is coming from a huge Alton Brown fan.. it's the one time he's disappointed me. Especially for new people to the hobby. You'd be much better served by reading John Palmer's site.

El-Producto wrote:

Beware, just because Alton says so don't follow his advice, he gives such bad advice in that episode.

http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f14/home... click here for a "lively" discussion on all the stuff Alton does wrong.

There are much better places to get info, and this is coming from a huge Alton Brown fan.. it's the one time he's disappointed me.

Honestly, this looks like a bunch of professional programmers picking apart a "Dummies Guide to Writing a Web Page" book. Or a bunch of gearheads complaining about some guy who's just trying to teach people how to change their oil.

Also, this episode came out like a decade ago, so there's always that. It was alot harder to get this info back then.

Obviously there's mistakes, but you can follow his recipe and end up with a pretty good beer. Some of the snobs in there are basically acting like it creates undrinkable swill. Oh internet, don't you ever change.

He pitches yeast at 87 degrees.

I love Alton Brown don't get me wrong, but if you are going to spend the money on the ingredients don't you want to get the best out of it as possible?

I'm told that my taste in beer (really hoppy ales) works to my advantage in that they tend to be a lot more forgiving than lighter lager or pilsner beers.

My first batch - and, really, I feel Alton is aiming at "your first batch" folks - I was just glad is tasted like beer. I used ice from my fridge(granted, yes, it has a filter) and un-filtered tap water to fill out the liquid. I used a quite cheap beermaking kit with whatever wort, hops, and yeast was in the package.

Could it have been better? Undoubtedly.
Was it pretty good? Undoubtedly.
Did I screw up? Undoubtedly.
Did I pitch my yeast at a less than optimal temperature? Undoubtedly.

But you know what? It didn't matter.
You know what does matter? Sterilize your equipment. Most of the other stuff is details. Except for cleanliness, when brewing, "close enough" actually can be "good enough".

Yes, the quest for the perfect beer is all well and good.
No, you(edit: figurative "you", internet "you", not any "you" in particular. building on Pyro's "Oh, internet..." bit) shouldn't be scaring people off - intentionally or not - by making them think if they misread a thermometer that their beer is sh*t or that they wasted all that time.

I think some people need to go read the (homebrew) bible(Complete Joy of Home Brewing) again.
There sure is a lot of attitude that runs completely counter to Charlie Papazian's attitude. Relax. Have a homebrew.

What really matters is having fun and enjoying both the fruits of your labor AND your labor. If you're so stressed about every detail, it kinda feels like you're missing the point. I'll never be a master brewer, and I'll probably go with extract 9 times out of 10, but I'll have fun, I'll have good beer, and I won't really care if I missed by a degree or two or if my alcohol content is a little low or my "alternative" sugar source didn't work like I wanted it to.

Relax.
Have a homebrew.

Homebrewing has been my favorite hobby that I've been too busy for, for a long time, so I'd like to jump into this thread even though I'm not so much going to be adding new stuff as offering verbose +1's to things others have said.

IME, if you use fresh ingredients, sanitize everything thoroughly, and keep the fermentation temperature under control, everything turns out great, by which I mean as good as most commercial microbrews and better than many. In over a dozen batches, I only had one turn out undrinkable, and it was because it got too hot while fermenting. Ever since then, I've tried to keep things under 80 degrees and have gotten good results.

(My second-biggest brewing disaster happened with my first batch: the airlock got clogged and pressure built up until the carboy stopper gave, and beer ended up getting sprayed onto the ceiling. I've used blowoff tubes for primary fermentation ever since. FWIW, the beer that stayed in the carboy turned out delicious.)

If the shop you went to has barrels of malt syrup and offers to crush grain on-site for you, their ingredients should be good. All I can get locally are prepacked kits that have been sitting on the shelf for I have no idea how long, and beer made from ingredients mail-ordered from a real homebrew shop always turns out better than beer from those kits. (Austin Homebrew used to be my local store, and after I moved across the country, became my mail-order supplier. I've always gotten good results from their ingredients.)

I'd recommend bottling a couple of batches before you invest in kegging equipment, just to reduce the risk of shelling out $$$ and then deciding that brewing isn't for you after all. Cleaning, sanitizing, and filling a keg is vastly quicker and easier than cleaning, sanitizing, and filling dozens of bottles, though, so if you get serious, it's totally worth it. Having homebrew on tap will also impress your friends.

The How to Brew website should have everything you need to know to get started. Papazian's book is showing its age.

I've been looking to get back into home brewing, so this thread is pretty timely. The last time I was brewing, I was doing all-grain batches using two stock pots on the stove top, but I'm thinking of going over to doing my boils outside with some sort of setup closer to what LiquidMantis pictured.

I haven't been active there for a while, but I'll second the calls to hit up HomeBrewTalk for additional information and discussion on the topic.

duckilama wrote:

... much wisdom ...

To back ducki up here, the more I learned, and the more brews I had under my belt, the more I realized both how far you could take home brewing as a serious hobby, and just how forgiving it really was overall. In the end, it's much like any culinary endeavor that rewards preparation, experience, and a bit of luck and intuition.

Paleocon wrote:

I'm told that my taste in beer (really hoppy ales) works to my advantage in that they tend to be a lot more forgiving than lighter lager or pilsner beers.

This is one nice thing about home brewing: Making a beer that meets our personal tastes. And the stronger the beer in terms of hops and malts, the less noticeable little flaws in the flavor profile are. Really light beers can turn out to be the least forgiving since everything is out in the open in terms of flavor and clarity.

LupusUmbrus wrote:

but I'm thinking of going over to doing my boils outside with some sort of setup closer to what LiquidMantis pictured.

Here's some white-trashy porn for ya:
IMAGE(http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a254/Liquidmantis/brewing/whitetrashDrive.jpg)

This is one nice thing about home brewing: Making a beer that meets our personal tastes.

This is my primary reason for getting into this. It's hard to find a really good unfiltered Hefeweizen here, the best I've probably had in a grocery is the Sierra Nevada. I'm pretty excited that Hefeweizen is one of the easier and faster fermenting beers to try, so I'm going to start with that.

If I can figure out how to get/make/whatever a temperature regulator for my mini-fridge, I'm probably going to buy the parts and get started.

Yes, the quest for the perfect beer is all well and good.
No, you(edit: figurative "you", internet "you", not any "you" in particular. building on Pyro's "Oh, internet..." bit) shouldn't be scaring people off - intentionally or not - by making them think if they misread a thermometer that their beer is sh*t or that they wasted all that time.

I'll be honest, I read that thread and got a little disgusted with the community there. I've been reading "How to Brew" all day and their attitude was just kinda jarring. It's beer! Relax! Have fun! That's kinda the point!

I mean just celebrate the fact that a major cable network food show did an entire 30 minute episode on homebrewing! How many people are trying to make their own beer because of that episode? That's way more important than whether or not he used certain words correctly of if he used optimal procedure at all times. Getting people making their own beer and enjoying drinking it, that's good stuff.

LiquidMantis wrote:

Here's some white-trashy porn for ya:

You're definitely geekier about your brewing than I've ever gotten. Part of the beauty of homebrewing is that it spans everything from working with malt extract to full-mash, with lots of optional technology along the way. It's seriously geekworthy.

PyromanFO wrote:

If I can figure out how to get/make/whatever a temperature regulator for my mini-fridge, I'm probably going to buy the parts and get started.

First google result of the sort.

This is the type of thing you're looking for. Make sure you can fit your container in your mini-fridge. If you're making five gallons of beer you may want a six gallon container.

LilCodger wrote:
PyromanFO wrote:

If I can figure out how to get/make/whatever a temperature regulator for my mini-fridge, I'm probably going to buy the parts and get started.

First google result of the sort.

This is the type of thing you're looking for. Make sure you can fit your container in your mini-fridge. If you're making five gallons of beer you may want a six gallon container.

See, I'm kind of wondering if I can solder something onto my mini-fridge for alot cheaper. I'm looking at having as little invested in this as possible, and at $80 the temperature regulator would be by far the most expensive component

Last night at my boxing class I casually mentioned to my training partner that I was interested in getting into home brewing. He told me that he used to be "really into it". When I asked him what that meant, he told me he has rigs for 5, 10, and 50 gallons including a cone fermenter, two wort chillers with thermostats, and multiple varieties of hops growing in his backyard.

I told him that didn't exactly count as "home brewing".

PyromanFO wrote:
This is one nice thing about home brewing: Making a beer that meets our personal tastes.

This is my primary reason for getting into this. It's hard to find a really good unfiltered Hefeweizen here, the best I've probably had in a grocery is the Sierra Nevada. I'm pretty excited that Hefeweizen is one of the easier and faster fermenting beers to try, so I'm going to start with that.

If I can figure out how to get/make/whatever a temperature regulator for my mini-fridge, I'm probably going to buy the parts and get started.

Yes, the quest for the perfect beer is all well and good.
No, you(edit: figurative "you", internet "you", not any "you" in particular. building on Pyro's "Oh, internet..." bit) shouldn't be scaring people off - intentionally or not - by making them think if they misread a thermometer that their beer is sh*t or that they wasted all that time.

I'll be honest, I read that thread and got a little disgusted with the community there. I've been reading "How to Brew" all day and their attitude was just kinda jarring. It's beer! Relax! Have fun! That's kinda the point!

I mean just celebrate the fact that a major cable network food show did an entire 30 minute episode on homebrewing! How many people are trying to make their own beer because of that episode? That's way more important than whether or not he used certain words correctly of if he used optimal procedure at all times. Getting people making their own beer and enjoying drinking it, that's good stuff.

Funny, I find that to be one of the most welcoming, helpful web communities I've ever come across. No question is stupid, people are always supportive of your efforts,e tc. I've learned more from that community than I could have imagined.

IMAGE(http://i54.tinypic.com/1zdrn0y.jpg)

My Raspberry Wheat that I tried for the first time last night.. delicious.

As for temp controllers, I built this one for about 40 dollars, and it works wonderfully. Even does heating.

http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f51/ebay...

I'm no electrician either, I did it all without one drop of solder.
Here is a pic of mine IMAGE(http://i56.tinypic.com/2ll1sua.jpg)

I've done a few homebrews myself and I decided to get back into it and dug out all my old brewing gear from my parents place. All is well except all my old 22 oz bottles were tossed. Because of that and this thread, I'm contemplating the idea of ditching the bottles entirely for a keg system, but the only problem is I'm having a difficult time nailing down all the things i would need and how much all those parts would cost (my google-fu is weak; my searches found cost estimates that ranged from dirt cheap to prohibitively expensive).

El-Producto wrote:

He pitches yeast at 87 degrees.

I love Alton Brown don't get me wrong, but if you are going to spend the money on the ingredients don't you want to get the best out of it as possible?

Now that I've watched the episode in question, I'm more concerned by his leaving the specialty grains in for the entire boil and by the shortness of the boil. Although I guess the latter would mitigate the effects of the former.

Brewed a Goose Island Black Toad knock off this weekend. Also added tart cherry juice ($30 for a gallon worth!!!) to our partially fermented cherry ale and bottled our Rye Pepper Stout (named TBD...maybe something like Personal Mace Stout).