Homebrewing Beer

[JackJD]

Re: Homebrewing Beer

TAB: I'm in the school of thought that the kit (e.g. Mr. Beer) is a prudent starting point for most. If you carefully follow the instructions, you will get drinkable beer. The starter supplies will not make a good quality beer (see post early post from Prairiehaas: "One piece of advice on kits. Make certain it has 6 lbs of malt (2 cans or two bags). Some kits skimp on malt and substitute corn sugar. They get the alcohol but the taste is weak." The Mr. Beer people call the corn sugar "extender" -- and his comment is correct: you get alcohol but the teste is weak.). I have made excellent beer using the Mr. Beer supplies and two cans of malt etc. and then adding a few special ingredients.

[JackJD]

Re: Homebrewing Beer

Homebrewing does not mean you're going to save beer money. It is not particularly expensive but you can run down to the local convenience store and get a case of Coor's Lite silos for several dollars less than home-brewing the same quantity of beer.

[JackJD]

Re: Homebrewing Beer

Here's a picture of the hops trellises outside Target Field. The planters beneath the trellises identify the variety of hops in the planter. Hops grow from a rhizome -- to me, they're a lot like raspberry plants (I grow really good raspberries!) in relation to when and how they emerge each spring and how they initially take off...but hops growth rate is crazy. For proper attribution, here's the site where the picture was found: https://plus.google.com/110696721997...ts/NfxQNUYUHKn

[TransAmBison]

Re: Homebrewing Beer

I think you misunderstood my question. I am not thinking of Mr Beer when I am talking about getting a kit. I was talking about supplies...the fermenter, chiller, etc.

[Prairiehaas]

Re: Homebrewing Beer

JD, 20 years of mistakes makes a difference. That and a degree in Chem from SDSU

Suggestion for experimenting with hops. Do single malt single hops (SMASH) batches. Those help set base lines. Three batches will get you far. All with pale ale malt. One with Saaz or Halertau, one with UK Kent Golding or Fuggles, one with Cascade, Centennial or Amarillo. It will give you a feel for German styles, British styles and NW USA styles.

[filbert]

Re: Homebrewing Beer

Ok, here's another question. I'm guessing I will get the supplies when I go to this class. Would I be better off getting a kit with the supplies all in it, or should I piece it together? Anything I should have that isn't included in a standard kit?

If your friendly local homebrew dealer offers a deal on a starter equipment kit or something like that, and it seems reasonable to you, then go for it. But this is a hobby, dude. That means a) you get to do it any way you want to and b) there is no (practical) limit to the amount of money you can spend/waste/spend on it, other than natural prudence and the innate survival instinct of a guy when faced with a spouse/significant other's ire at your "wasting money." (If, on the other hand, spouse/significant other likes good beer too, well, then . . .)

Off the top of my head, here's the equipment I have in my mad scientist lab in the basement:
- 24-quart stock pot
- three glass carboys, two 5 gallon, the other 6 gallon, each with plastic/water airlocks
- 6 gallon plastic bucket with bottom spigot--I actually do the wort-cooking in the kitchen, then transport it downstairs to my mad scientist lair to transfer to the fermentation carboys and later for bottling. The plastic bucket is invaluable for this process, and the spigot on the bottom really, really makes things easier. I mix the yeast with the wort in the plastic bucket, then essentially drain the plastic bucket into a carboy from the spigot--this adds a bit more oxygen to the wort which I understand is a good thing. When it looks like fermentation is done in the carboy, I pump the beer back from the carboy into the plastic bucket where I add the bottle-conditioning sugar (to get the fizzy) and then I fill the bottles from the plastic bucket, where the bottom spout is exceptionally handy.
- Vacuum pump (piston-type) and rubber hosing -- sorry, don't remember the "right" name for the pump--for moving the wort/beer back and forth from plastic bucket to carboy.
- Blowoff-tubing (basically big plastic tubes that fit into the mouths of the carboys)
- Three big blue Rubbermaid tubs, that I use a) as blowoff-airlock-reservoirs (I put the free end of the blowoff tube into these, submerged in sufficient water), and b) to put the carboys into when they're serving as fermentation vessels, just in case of accident.
- A hygrometer, for measuring before- and after- specific gravity to determine alcohol content.
- A capper, and several bags of bottle caps.
- Lots and lots of bottles, some 22-oz "big" bottles purchased from my friendly local homebrew store, others are Sam Adams- and other 12-oz non-screwtop beer bottles I've collected over time.

I've done as many as three batches at once, but that's a) a LOT of beer and b) a LOT of work.

I use the special Oxy-Clean-like disinfectant/cleaner powder ("rinse-free disinfectant") that can be found in most homebrew stores (whose name I don't recall offhand) as the final step in my rather anal-retentive and repetitive washing-and-disinfecting of pretty much everything that the malt/hops/yeast/beer could possibly touch from the time it enters the stock pot until it gets capped into a bottle.

I hand-wash my bottles because I'm a masochist and because the bottle-washer I bought doesn't fit right on my kitchen's sink faucet. Washing them in the dishwasher works, but I'll still run them through a bath of the rinse-free disinfectant before subjecting my beer to the bottles. (I take over the kitchen for the day when I'm brewing a batch. My wife finds somewhere else to be, generally.)

Did I mention I'm a bit anal/fanatic about cleaning/disinfecting my beermaking stuff? It amazes my wife, as I"m otherwise just a normal male slob like everyone else.

I'm probably forgetting something obvious and utterly necessary. Oh well. Somebody else pick me up here.

The one thing I don't have that I probably should is a wort cooler (because I spend a LOT of unnecessary time cooling my wort in a sink filled with ice water/cool water before it cools down enough for me to pitch the yeast). I pretty much clear out the refrigerator's icemaker (plus the three or four 2-liter bottles of ice I keep in the chest freezer for just such occasions). The wort gets quite warm on the stovetop, and sucks up a lot of ice cooling down.

[Prairiehaas]

Re: Homebrewing Beer

Ok, here's another question. I'm guessing I will get the supplies when I go to this class. Would I be better off getting a kit with the supplies all in it, or should I piece it together? Anything I should have that isn't included in a standard kit?

TAB, get a kit of the type of beer you like. It will have all ingredients you need except water (water is a very important ingredient); malt, hops, yeast and priming sugar. If a kit comes with grains it will usually come with muslin bags (the bags work well for loose hops also. You will need to get all the hardware you need; kettle, racking can (go with siphon cane), tubing, bucket and airlock or carboy and blow-off tube and airlock, capper, caps and bottles. Brew stores tend to have starter hardware kits.

Before you go to class get a copy of The Complete Joy of Homebrewing and read the first half. Charlie Papazian is the Yoda of home brewing.

[Prairiehaas]

Re: Homebrewing Beer

Filbert has an excellent list below. He is right, be anal about cleaning and sanitizing.

I clean and sanitize all equipment after use. I seal cleaned carboys with foil (foil is sanitized on the roll). I rinse clean all bottles after use and store them in cases upside down in cases (bacteria can't climb up). When brewing, all equipment that you will use after boiling the wort must be sanitized (again). When bottling a use a sulfiter to sanitize the previously cleaned bottles (huge time saver Filbert).

I use OneStep to sanitize. It is like OxiClean with no perfumes. Other good options PBW, StarSan and Iodiphor (for you ag guys think tank cleaner), and bleach. All have pluses and minuses. Go with what is comfortable, worrying = bad beer.

[TransAmBison]

Re: Homebrewing Beer

Thanks again guys...you've been most helpful. My father-in-law is excited for this as well now and wants to go in on the supplies with me. Should be some good fun. We already make deer sausage together so we are used to working together. Should be some good times comin'.

[TransAmBison]

Re: Homebrewing Beer

Can I use twist off beer bottles? How about cans?

[zooropa]

Re: Homebrewing Beer

Thanks again guys...you've been most helpful. My father-in-law is excited for this as well now and wants to go in on the supplies with me. Should be some good fun. We already make deer sausage together so we are used to working together. Should be some good times comin'.

I have a question:

How does it come about that a guy with a coat like that and a giant boot mug makes it this far into his life before brewing his own beer?

[JackJD]

Re: Homebrewing Beer

Thanks again guys...you've been most helpful. My father-in-law is excited for this as well now and wants to go in on the supplies with me. Should be some good fun. We already make deer sausage together so we are used to working together. Should be some good times comin'.

Just remember when drinking beer with your father-in-law, don't get to the point where you start talking about women.

[Prairiehaas]

Re: Homebrewing Beer

Can I use twist off beer bottles? How about cans?

Twistoffs not recommended due to increased risk of seal leaks. BTW bottles are best brown in color. Green and clear will get you something that tastes like Corona (beer hates light).

Cans? Go for it if you have access to a canning plant.

[JackJD]

Re: Homebrewing Beer

filbert & Prairiehaas: Filbert gave us a very complete list of equipment. At what point do you consider going to the CO2 carbonation rather than adding sugar during the bottling process?

[Prairiehaas]

Re: Homebrewing Beer

JD, you can go to with CO2 with kegging equipment. I have friends that went that route. My wife draws the line there.

Anyway, a few hundred $ will get you set up for kegging. For kegs use soda canasters. CO2 is readily available from welding supply shops. And, you will want a means to refrigerate and serve. A refrigerator is easily modified, or a specialty chiller system, Brewmeister?

Kegged beer, once carbonated can be bottled directly from the keg with no priming.

Friends that went that route found that it reduces labor but increases cost. I do like TAB's suggestion of canning though