Homebrewing Beer

[boxerboy]

Re: Homebrewing Beer

Liquid bread, yum!!

[NoVaJack]

Re: Homebrewing Beer

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.

Filbert, you better hope the FBI/BATF/DEA isn't data-word scraping this site because if you juggled a couple of sentences here and there I'm pretty sure you've also just described a meth lab.

[Prairiehaas]

Re: Homebrewing Beer

Liquid bread, yum!!

I think of bread as solid beer

[Prairiehaas]

Re: Homebrewing Beer

NovaJack, Filbert is OK. He left out the lithium batteries.

[filbert]

Re: Homebrewing Beer

Filbert, you better hope the FBI/BATF/DEA isn't data-word scraping this site because if you juggled a couple of sentences here and there I'm pretty sure you've also just described a meth lab.

Naw. Can't get enough sudafed any more due to the state laws down here. Gotta stick to beer. Also, doesn't beer blow up quite as dramatically (cough, I'm told, cough).

[NoVaJack]

Re: Homebrewing Beer

Naw. Can't get enough sudafed any more due to the state laws down here. Gotta stick to beer. Also, doesn't beer blow up quite as dramatically (cough, I'm told, cough).

Cough, cough..... pass the Sudafed!

[filbert]

Re: Homebrewing Beer

Cough, cough..... pass the Sudafed!

Sudafed is more for sniffles, I believe . . .

[SoDakJack]

Re: Homebrewing Beer

One word of warning. Once you start to brew and bottle your own beer, you will not be able to drink the Buds and Millers of the world. It is amazing how bland the mass produced beers are when compared to a true american style lager. I now have a "no twist off" policy for my fridge. Not only does that open people up to new beers, but I can gather the bottles afterwards and use them for my own brews.

[Prairiehaas]

Re: Homebrewing Beer

True SoDak. Homebrew is the one thing that may kill bland, industrial grade beer. Homebrewers are by and large beer snobs that have little time or patience for less than excellant brew. With so many small and medium sized breweries putting out good beer there is a fine brew for every taste and every season.

[goon]

Re: Homebrewing Beer

I guess I just don't know how do you know how much of what ingrident you put in at what time and for how long. I guess some how I would screw it up and would be afraid it would be awful. Also for the basic american style lager how long would it take from say start to finish for a avg size batch?

[Prairiehaas]

Re: Homebrewing Beer

Goon, do a little reading and start with a kit. You don't want to start with lagers. They are more difficult in that they require cold fermentation, and much more time. That and classic American style lagers are sooo bland. Start with a nice English style pale ale or bitter. Ales top ferment at temps between 65 & 72 degrees.

A light ale will take about 3 weeks minimum, start to finish. But 4 - 5 weeks will yield better beer.

[SoDakJack]

Re: Homebrewing Beer

Goon, do a little reading and start with a kit. You don't want to start with lagers. They are more difficult in that they require cold fermentation, and much more time. That and classic American style lagers are sooo bland. Start with a nice English style pale ale or bitter. Ales top ferment at temps between 65 & 72 degrees.

A light ale will take about 3 weeks minimum, start to finish. But 4 - 5 weeks will yield better beer.

I would also add that the kit is the way to start. Also, if you can use liquid yeast it makes things easier too. Although, if you are getting your ingredients from somewhere that needs to ship them be careful that the yeast can survive the trip.

Once you get the basics down, then you can start tweaking your brews, just like cooking at home. In fact, I am in the process of putting together the ingredients together for a home version of Sam Adam's Utopia. It will be interesting to see how a beer that is almost 24% alcohol brews. I am not sure if I am doing it because I want a high content beer or I just want to brew. That is what you will find, you will be brewing for the challenge and fun than for the actual drinking part of it.

[TransAmBison]

Re: Homebrewing Beer

I will always have to have Bud Light on hand. It is my wife's beer of choice. She doesn't like the bitterness of most of the beer/ale that I like. She does like Blue Moon and Shock Top, but she is quite conscious of the calories.

On a side note, I went on a vacation a little over a month ago we went through "Beer School". We learned a bit about beer and tried a lot of different kinds of beer/ale. We had so much fun we went to the class twice. I think this is what got me interested in making my own beer. Anyway, one of the beers I tried was Sam Adams Winter Lager, but they threw in a shot or two of Apple Pie in...good stuff. We were talking with a couple from Wisconsin and they said they drop a shot of Jameson into beer all the time. I don't know about that one...I tried a beer a couple months ago that was aged in whiskey barrels...not for me. This all got me thinking about a unique flavor to add in sometime once I know what I am doing. I wondered about black liquorice and my wife said how about Jag? I might have to drop a shot of Jag in a bottle from one of my Summit Sampler pack.

[goon]

Re: Homebrewing Beer

I will always have to have Bud Light on hand. It is my wife's beer of choice. She doesn't like the bitterness of most of the beer/ale that I like. She does like Blue Moon and Shock Top, but she is quite conscious of the calories.

On a side note, I went on a vacation a little over a month ago we went through "Beer School". We learned a bit about beer and tried a lot of different kinds of beer/ale. We had so much fun we went to the class twice. I think this is what got me interested in making my own beer. Anyway, one of the beers I tried was Sam Adams Winter Lager, but they threw in a shot or two of Apple Pie in...good stuff. We were talking with a couple from Wisconsin and they said they drop a shot of Jameson into beer all the time. I don't know about that one...I tried a beer a couple months ago that was aged in whiskey barrels...not for me. This all got me thinking about a unique flavor to add in sometime once I know what I am doing. I wondered about black liquorice and my wife said how about Jag? I might have to drop a shot of Jag in a bottle from one of my Summit Sampler pack.

The way I look at it is like red beer. If people put in tamato juice they obviously dont like beer, or tomato juice. I feel the same way about olives, totally ruins the flavor of beer. How ever certain beers can be highlighted imo with orange or lemon wedge.

[TransAmBison]

Re: Homebrewing Beer

The way I look at it is like red beer. If people put in tamato juice they obviously dont like beer, or tomato juice. I feel the same way about olives, totally ruins the flavor of beer. How ever certain beers can be highlighted imo with orange or lemon wedge.

A bloody beer can be a nice bridge between a hard night of drinking and an early morning tailgate. I've never been one for olives in beer. The apple pie in the Sam Adam's Winter Lager just seemed to bring out some flavors in the beer. The cinnamon really became pronounced. As for my other idea I just was thinking about trying something I hadn't tried before. I love black licorice...and found an ice cream shop near Walker, MN that has black licorice ice cream...the most awesome thing ever. I just was wondering if that might make an interesting accent to beer...therefore possible Jag + beer could be interesting. Not trying to cover up beer taste...just trying to see if great flavors go well together.