Couple more questions from the new guy

[kevin]

What does it mean when you mention the following;

Heavy beer?
High Gravity? "what is the mid point 1.040?"
All Grain?
What is the calculation for ABV ?
How about best ways to bottle? I got a filler tube with my kit?
Cornelius keg systems, does everything go into the frig, CO2 and all?

Before I made my first brew I got the book by Palmer, some info is good but some flew over my head, any other book recommendations?

One thing I did before I made my first batch "porter" was to make a wortchiller. It cost around $40. It is 50 ft of 3/8 copper tubing. I wrapped it around a can that used to hold bite size Milky Ways then when I got to the top of the cannister I wrapped it around a second time. In my test to find out how well it worked I boiled some water with some white vinegar place the chiller in the boiling pot for about 20 mins. When I started the flow of water I timed how long it took to cool down, it took just around 10 minutes to bring it under 90.

I know there's more I want to know I feel like a sponge needing to soak up the beer facts.... :p

[paul84043]

Yes, I remember well all the questions when you're just getting started. Don't worry about asking, it's no problem. This is by far the best forum I have ever been a part of, I don't know if it's just the subject matter, or the type of people that are attracted to the hobby, but you NEVER see anyone here get wound up or in flame wars. It's really cool.

Hmm, A heavy beer? The opposite of a light beer? It could very well be a subjective term, but my personal definition would be a high gravity beer versus just a dark beer...I've made a couple Belgian ales that are light in color, but will knock you on your butt and I consider them to be heavy....

High gravity is also subjective, I would consider anything over 1.055 to 1.060 to be getting in the higher gravity range. Those will typically produce a 5% plus beer which in some circles is weak, but to me...from Utah, the land of 3.2%, 5 is pretty good!

The calc for ABV is Original Gravity - Final gravity X 133.
Example, O.G. of 1.060 - final of 1.010 = .050 x133 = 6.65%
It's not exact, I think there are more precise calculations, but that one gives you a real fast ball park figure.
You'll notice that it is a linear equation. An attenuation (change in gravity from beginning to end) of .050 will give you an equal ABV for a given O.G. variation. ie.....O.G. of 1.090 to 1.040 (we would hope for better than that!!) = 6.65% whereas and O.G. of 1.060 and a F.G. (final gravity) of 1.010 would also give you a 6.65% beer.
I don't believe that is completely accurate. It may be, but I don't think so.

All grain is when you actually "mash" all the grain yourself to convert and create ther fermentable sugars.
Mashing is the term for the conversion process, it should be outlined in detail in the book you got. Typically it consists of raising water to a given temp, adding the grain, and maintaining that temp for a specific amount of time to convert the starches in the grain to fermentable sugars. Then you pour off the runnings and rinse or "sparge" the grain with more hot water to get all the good stuff out of it.
It can get alot more complicated, but doesn't have to, and once you have done it, it all begins to make sense.

When you buy an extract kit, the grain has already been "mashed" and concentrated in to either liquied extract LME, or dried completely into dry malt extract DME.

All grain brewing is a bit more complicated, takes more time, costs less (except for the equipment) is supposed to give you "better" flavor. And is probably more satisfying since you really made the beer yourself!!
I do Kits still, they are so good and I am limited in time mainly, to where All grain is just not feasable.
I did one "partial mash" where I mashed a portion of the grain, also called a Mini-mash. It was a pain in the ass, but I learned alot, the beer turned out fantastic. It was a high gravity IPA. I thought I had totally hosed it but was very surprised to find out how well it came out.

Bottling...use the bottling adapter they gave you. some here still just use a hose and pinch it off..
Try to avoid reusing twist off bottles, the tops have a habit of breaking off under the stress of the capper.
There are many sources of bottles, both new and used, look around and see what works best for you.

Kegging, most people that have started absolutely LOVE it. I have only dabbled a bit with the "Party Pig" system.
the kegs can sit in the basement just like your bottles, or if you have room, they can go in the fridge. Most people plumb thier Co2 in from outside the fridge.

The beauty of beer is that there is no One way. There are many ways and 99.9% of them make great beer.

[mmmBeer...]

Not sure about “heavy beer”

I think a high gravity beer is anything over 1.070 (according to the whitelabs site), it is the that a starter is considered to be mandatory, but I could be wrong!

All grain is a beer that is brewed without extract, the brewer buys the grains and mashes them to create the wort. The rest of the process is the same.

To calculate alcohol content you use a hydrometer, your OG reading will give you a intial percentage, and your FG will give you another. You subtract the FG from the OG % and viola! You have an estimated alcohol content.

Never used a filler tube…just my siphon with a flow clip and slowly filled each bottle…not sure if you wanted more detail on this…

Most people here seem to keep the whole thing in the fridge tank and all. But, I had a friend who would just charge the keg, and put it in the fridge and just top up the keg with CO2 when the pressure went down. Some people tap a whole in the fridge and put the tank outside and run the CO2 line in through the hole. No personal experience as I don’t keg…yet!

For newbies I still think Papazian’s book is the best, lot’s of pics and he keeps it simple. Got me started.

I think I am going to try making a chiller very soon…sounds nice and easy!

[mmmBeer...]

Damn Paul! I think that is the second time you beat me to a post! Gotta learn to type faster :p

[brewmonkey]

High Gravity is generally anything over the 13P or about the 1.052 mark.

Another method for figuring alcohol is

Staring Gravity- Terminal Gravity= X

Then X*105= Alcohol By Weight

Alcohol by wieght X 1.25= Alcohol by volume.

As for the kegging. I have all my stuff in the fridge (CO2 included) but have a buddy who has his set up in box freezer with a thermostat to keep it at proper temps. He made a manifold and runs it between the lid and the box (from the back) letting the lid gasket create the seal for it.

[sallad]

brewmonkey, is that SODA in your beer fridge?? in CANS no less... geez... :D

[paul84043]

mmmbeer....
Sorry.....I type as part of my job, though you probably wouldn't know it from some of the spelling errors I make...


bremonkey,
Your alcohol calc is pretty close to the one I posted,
ABV by your calc would be O.G. - F.G. x (105x1.25) which = O.G. - F.G. x 131.25
I can't remember where I got the x133 from. It's just stuck in my brain for some reason. Close enough for beer!!

[quantum24]

just to note- i also use the formula brewmonkey mentioned. i got it from the new joy of homebrewing.

[Fast_Eddy]

I use the brewmonkey equation, too