Any Other Homebrewers Out There? [Archive] - Realbeer.com Beer Community

Beer Nazi

12-06-2002, 08:56 PM

Woah...no two the same, eh??

I get them to come out the same except for the beer I brew in summer as opposed to the beer I brew in winter.

The only explanation I can come up with is the rate at which the wort cools at. I use an imersion chiller and during the summer the water supply is pretty warm and the wort takes a while to cool. Just the opposite during "winter" (San Antonio, Tx).

At any rate - I get my stuff from San Antonio Homebrew Supply. Unfortunately they no longer do business via internet. I'va had nothing but good luck, good tips and good poduct from them.

I've heard good things about St. Pat's in Austin, Tx. I have not been there (yet) or used any of their ingredients, but a few of my buddies have and they seem to think it's alright.

Chef

12-07-2002, 03:31 AM

I have been brewing very occasionally for the past 3 years. I have come up with a favorite recipe that I have used the past three brews. It is an amber ale with high alcohol. It is very smooth for the alcohol content. I am looking to try some new stuff. Any advice from anyone?

BeerCheese

12-07-2002, 10:18 AM

I've been homebrewing for about 4 years and have been on the all-grain train for the last two. IMHO, all-grain tastes better than extract brews. This is not at all to say extract brews are bad, in fact there are some advantages regarding consistancy and the amount of time it takes to brew (all-grain brewing adds a few hours to the brew day). To me, extract brews have a bit of a watered-down taste. Then again, this could have been the result of poor form on my part.

Suppliers: I have been going to Beer, Beer, and More Beer out of Concord, California. (www.morebeer.com). They have been very helpful with my questions and have quite a large selection. Plus they ship in the lower 48 for free with orders over $40.00.

billy frank

12-07-2002, 11:31 AM

Hi all I am also a Homebrewer. Brewed for about 3 years before a 3 year stint working in a profesional brewery. Worked my way up from cellar boy to lab tech, (did microbials on the beer,yeast cell counts, boring stuff). Have not brewed much in the last couple of years, but I am getting back into it.
Hope to hear some good recipes from you folks,
Billy

Ray

12-08-2002, 02:23 PM

Hi all -

My friend and I have been brewing together in his garage for about seven years - we have cobbled together a system that allows us to do 10-gal all-grain batches. One of the best on-line sources we've found for recipes is called The Cat's Meow http://realbeer.com/spencer/cats-meow/top_page.html. Not sure how current it is anymore but the list of recipes is huge and categorized by just about any beer type you can think of. We've had good luck with several of the recipes posted on this site.
Beer is cool.

Aleman

12-09-2002, 03:36 PM

I have homebrewed over the past twelve months. My wife mistakenly gave me a Mr. Beer for Christmas. Success with that got me into the five gallons batches. I use a 6 1/2 gal glass carboy for primary fermentation and a five gal glass carboy for secondary. To date my beers have been:

Wee Heavy Scottish Ale (second place in category L.A. County Fair)
Dark Belgain Triple
Irish Red Ale
Honey Steamer
Guinness Clone

I am now brewing outdoors with a propane cooker. I use an immersion chiller. I am going to build a pre-chiller for those hot summer months. Put the St. Pats immersion chiller in a 5 gal plastic bucket and fill it with ice. Connect that to the immersion chiller in the boiling pot. I think this will get the pot to the cold-break must faster.

Cheers to all of you, great new forum.

BREWERDLUX

12-09-2002, 04:22 PM

Hey folks! I have been brewing for about seven years. Most of that time I have been doing all grain.
looking forward to sharing some recipes with you folks. My last beer was a Wheat-oatmeal stout. Turned out very well.

irishmac13

12-11-2002, 04:11 PM

How is everybody doing? I have been brewing for the last three years. Only manage 2-3 batches a year. Still doing Extracts at my house. Hope to get the space and time to all grain in the next few years.

Brewing has really helped my appreciation of micro's so much more. I often will chat with brewers around here to discuss different techniques. Its a lot of fun. Also fun to find out recipe's from these same brewers.

As for my supplier

http://www.williamsbrewing.com/

Good quality, fair price.

Keep Brewing

Aleman

12-11-2002, 04:33 PM

Williams brewing is a good source for some brewing equipment. I got my oxygen aeriation system from them with a stainless steel wand to direct where the air is appied in the wort. I also bought the digital temperature control from them. This device controls the temperature of your frig or freezer for fermentation. This unit has the capabilty to heat or cool. Very nice.

Ray

12-11-2002, 05:00 PM

Williams has some of the best catalogs out there, very descriptive, and their products are top notch. I bought their "entry level" plastic system for doing all 5-gal grain batches, that is how my brewing partner and I got going on all-grain many batches ago.

Aleman

12-11-2002, 05:04 PM

For another excellent catalog go to St. Patricks. You can download it (very time consuming) or have it mailed. A very informative catalog, particularily about grains.

http://www.stpats.com/index.htm

Deacnbleu

12-13-2002, 08:25 PM

I have been homebrewing for about 10 years now. All-grain for the last 5. All grain gives the best control.
As far as getting your supplies, I would advise anyone that has a local homebrew shop to patronize them first and formost. The local homebrew supply store that I use may cost slightly more than the mail order and online stores, but the help over the years has been invaluable.

Beer Nazi

12-14-2002, 12:09 AM

There are trade-offs between all grain and extract batches.

I've really enjoyed the extract brews I've been making (combo dme / specialtly grains). One thing I will not like about going all grain is the time required, but that will most likely be worth the effort in taste and quality.

There's a big difference (to my taste buds, anyway) between liquid extract brews, combo liquid / specialty grains and dme / specialty grain brews.

I plan on brewing partial grain batches even after the all grain system is running, just because it's quicker.

I look forward to sharing recipes and info too!!! It's amazing how there are so many ways to do things, and to learn that something you thought wouldn't work actually will. Should be fun.

zymurgist

12-14-2002, 04:58 PM

I have been homebrewing now for 8 years. I went all-grain after my third batch and have not looked back. There is no comparison between extract and all-grain brews, not to say that I have not enjoyed some of the extract brews that I have sampled. I have taken grand champion one time and brought home several blue ribbons from our Interstate Fair each of the four times that I have entered competition there. I have also consistently taken ribbons at tasting sessions that I attend from time to time.

I find that it really doesn't take that much more time to brew all grain than extract if you get yourself organized. In fact, I have on occasion brewed two batches on the same day. It's all just a matter of staying focused.

Happy brewing!

mountain beer

12-18-2002, 08:10 PM

I stared homebrewing last January after my wife told me I needed a hobby. It has been the best thing I could have done. I have been buying the Brewer's Best kits which has all the ingredients included. My favorite is the English Brown Ale. Some day I'll just start buying the ingrdients with out the kit.

tjthresh

01-09-2003, 07:54 AM

I just bought the stuff to brew my first batch last night. Man I can't wait. I am going to fire everything up on Saturday. My first will be an amber ale kit that I got from my local store. This is going to be great.

toneyc

01-09-2003, 09:33 AM

I've only been homebrewing for a little over a year. It has been great fun. My wife used to complain bitterly about how much I spent on beer, now she helps me pick out recipes to brew. She doesn't drink beer, but she likes mead. ;) Homebrewing has brought much peace to my family, even though I'm not sure that I'm saving any money.

There are two homebrew stores in Austin, St. Pat's and Austin Homebrew Supply. I have stopped going to St. Pat's unless I just can't get what I need elsewhere. Austin Homebrew just moved into a much larger store this month. I do like St. Pat's catalog better than AHS', because there is much more description in it, but AHS has a much larger selection of recipes and they are a lot more willing to talk to you. Lynn (at St. Pat's) was always very terse and distant. I think that if AHS improved their catalog, I wouldn't miss St. Pat's at all. Anyway, here are their URLs:

http://www.stpats.com
http://www.austinhomebrew.com

Toney.

-={Too many images in post or signature? Where?}=-

tjthresh

01-12-2003, 04:28 PM

Well, I brew my frist batch ysterday. It was fun, but I'm worried that its going to be not so good. I had some roblems get the wort temp down, and I'm worried that I might not have sanitized my equipment good enough. I used One-Step. In the Jan/Feb 2003 issue of Brew Your Own, one of the articles says that its not a very good sanitizer. That bothers me a little bit. I am also concerned about the temp in my house. I don't really have a way of controlling it right now. Man this is gonna be great.

Beer Nazi

01-12-2003, 10:06 PM

Hang in there TJ....

I have always used one step and in three years come this March I have only had one batch not ferment and one batch go sour, so using one step should be o.k.

Temperature control is important, though. If you err on the cool side you will probably be ok.

Getting your wort down is very important so that your yeast can do its' business. Holding the wort at a fairly constant temperature is important too during fermentation. Fortunately, temperature-wise, your brew is somewhat forgiving.

Relax and let it do its' stuff. As long as you get an active fermentation, you'll probably do o.k.

toneyc

01-13-2003, 08:01 AM

The big thing is not to stress over it. Like the book says, relax and have a homebrew. Since this is your first batch, relax and have one of your favorite store-bought brews. As long as the temperature in your house is acceptable for human occupation, it will be ok for the yeastie beasties, although they do better in the 68-72 degree F range with little fluctuation. With sanitation, you do the best you can. I use either bleach or iodophor, but OneStep should be perfectly fine. Relax, have a beer.

:) Toney.

tjthresh

01-13-2003, 12:13 PM

Beer Nazi and Toneyc

Thanks for the words of encouragement.

My air lock was bubbling away last night when I went to bed, and had slowed signifacantly in the morning when I checked it. I hope thas just because it wrapping up. I anticipated transfering it to my secondary on Wednesday. I think things me be going better than I'm allowing myself to believe. I'm just a worry wort:D .

As far as relaxing goes, I killed a sixer of Sierra Nevada Pale during this process. Needless to say my wife was not happy with me considering I started at 9 a.m.

HomebrewinAr

01-13-2003, 08:43 PM

Hello , my wife and I have been brewing for three years now, Still just extract. I brewed some when I was 16 or so using premier malt and sugar, you can imagine how that tasted lol. We are planning on learning how to brew all-grain beers before long. We make several different types and have made up some recipes on our own. I just registered tonight.

MrBrewEsq

01-14-2003, 09:19 AM

Greetings Fellow Homebrewers...

What a great forum. I have so enjoyed reading everyones postings, and look forward to regular visits back to the site.

I have been brewing for about 11 years, most of that has been all-grain. My best man introduced me to it. We took off like a couple of mad men. I only lasted about 9 month before I had annixed the spare frig in the garage. My wife came home one Sunday morning from church to find me with the door from the frig on a couple of saw horses augering holes in it to make a "beer frig".

It's been down hill from there. Just this past December I replaced that faithfull friend (the frig not the wife) with a commercial side-by-side, 6 feet wide, 3 feet deep, and 7 feet tall, 4 taps in one doors (soon to be 7) Gleaming Stainless steel....Ahhh Ahhh Ahhhh! Oh, excuss me, but I just love this hobby.

Mountain Beer;
Your wife said you need a hobby? And you chose homebrewing... She's a keeper! Let the spending begin...

tjthresh;
Welcome to the brotherhood... I agree with Toney, relax dont worry, have a homebrew. Did you take a hydrometer reading on you first batch? If so that will help you figure out the alcohol level by compairing the first reading (starting gravity-SG) to the final reading (final gravity-FG) and when to transfer to your secondary. If you have a triple scale hydrometer, turn it and you will find the ABV scale (alcohol by volume). Say for example your SG was 1:040 which is roughly 5.5%, and your FG is 1:010, which is roughly 1.5%, subtract the two and you get 4% ABV. The other thing that the hydrometer will do for you is help you figure out when your at terminal gravity (or final gravity). After the airlock slows down to about a bubble every 1 1/2 minutes take a reading. Then take another reading the next day, then the next day. If all three compare stay the same, your at terminal, and it's time to tranfer.

I hope I haven't offended with my unsolicited advise, but that was one of my first points of confusion. Anyway, good luck with your brew. I would love to hear how it turns out.

I forget who mentioned the "Cats Meow" as a source for recipes, but I agree. It is loaded with lots of great recipes. Many of which target the extract and/or partial mash brewer.

Enough of my ramblings for now. Keep the brew pots boiling everyone....

mountain beer

01-14-2003, 08:27 PM

I usually cant wait to come home from work and read these threads---I have recently read and heard in the news that 1-2---hopefully 3 beers a day keep the heart attacks away----I wouldimagine that the homebrew is even better ---vitamin b and all----

I have been using 1 step for the last year and it has been working great for me--

I have one keg in my frige at this moment---I had to buy it from my homebrew store but have been thinking about adding another one---does anyone have any suggestions on how to get the 5 gal soda kegs---

MrBrewEsq

01-14-2003, 10:34 PM

Have you tried ebay?

tjthresh

01-15-2003, 07:59 AM

I transfered my beer to the secondary yesterday. I was surprised to see how much crap was actually in the bottom of my bucket. The beer is still pretty murky. I guess that is the purpose of the secondary. This is going to be great.

tjthresh

01-22-2003, 08:29 AM

Man, bottling really sucks! I did it by myself, but I really think it is a 2 person job. I think I'm going to invest in a bucket with a spigot instead of using a wand.

On a happy note, I broke one of my bottles while I was capping it. I decided to try what was inside. Well, it wasn't awful. I mught be even better with some carbonation.

I bought my second kit last night. I'm going to try a chocolate porter. I decided to pass on the dry yeast the is provided in the kit and go with White Labs English Ale yeast. I also got a jar of Irish Moss.

This is starting to get expensive. I have been a homebrewer for 2 weeks. I've been the the homebrew store about 6 times.

Aleman

01-22-2003, 11:55 AM

Welcome to the wonderful world of homebrewing. Yes, you will get very friendly with your local homebrew supply store. A bottling bucket is an important asset for ease of bottling. Also in the future look at investing in a bottle tree and sanitizer injector. It adds $40 or so to your budget, but really eases the washing and sanitizing of 50 bottles.

Beer Nazi

01-22-2003, 11:04 PM

You said it!!!! Bottling SUCKS!!! Oh well, it's well worth it. Ever squish the trub between your toes?

As far as finding kegs, you can get them at good prices on Ebay, but have to pay for shipping, which shouldn't be all that much because they are light.

There are also a few internet sources for them both new and used, but the best source may be your local homebrew shop. Usually by the time you pay for your keg and shipping on Ebay you could have bought one locally.

Sometimes local bottlers phase out Corny kegs and will either sell tham or give them away. Good luck with this as it's hit or miss, mostly miss.:D

Oristo

01-26-2003, 01:11 PM

Try washing and draining the bottles then putting them in the oven. Heat the oven to around 200F and turn it off. I found that heating to 160 and turning it off ended up heating them to 185 which is plenty. 140 is the dead minimum.
Let them cool at least a couple of hours but don't open the oven until you start bottling. They're sterile in there.
Bottling is a lot easier with two or three. I usually wait until I can get help. ;)

mongo

01-29-2003, 08:58 AM

Hi!

My wife bought me a carboy and equipment for xmas last year, and it's been used constantly since. I bought another carboy within a couple of weeks. For mailorder I like www.thingsbeer.com
they started the Michigan Brewing Company and will give you lots of advice if you want it. I mostly start with extract and then build from there. My favorite is a stout, lately adding cinnamon bark in one and ground ginger in another. Yum!

It's cold here and no problem cooling the wort. I notice that if I stick the water on the back porch and then add to the carboy, the wort cools instantly to the proper pitching temp----that saves a few hours!

A friend got a beer pipe, he claims it makes bottling easy. I'm still with the siphon so I wouldn't know...

Making the labels is the most fun, imho. (aside from the drinking, of course!)

Thanks for all the advice...

Kevin

jmooney50

02-02-2003, 04:20 PM

Hi Folks,
I'm a second year brewer moving to all grain in the near future. Here in norther Indiana I have almost no one to talk to about this wonderful hobby so this web site is a breath of fresh air.
I have found Great Fermentations in Indy to be a great help. They don't have a web site yet but Anita@greatfermentations.com has been a wonderful asset. I have had good luck with Grape and Granery in Akron, Ohio. They send very clean kits. Also have used Austin Homebrew and appreciate them including the exact ingredients. St. Pats was fine too.
I have a question for you. I've noticed recently that my bottled batches have been inconsistent in carbonating. One beer has a huge head while another has little. My procedure has always been to just put the boiled corn sugar mixture in the bottling bucket and add the beer. Should I stir it at that point? I never have thought about it. Thanks, Moon

mongo

02-02-2003, 05:25 PM

Hi!

I've had the same problem. The sugar should, in theory, rise to permeate the mixture, (since you just heated it) so I'm thinking maybe give it a few minutes to rise before bottling, or else sanitize a long spoon and mix. Let me know how it works, eh?

K

Richard English

02-03-2003, 03:31 AM

I prefer to wait until the fermentation finishes, then bottle the wort and add the priming sugar to the bottles in individually measured doses (about a level teaspoonful to the UK pint bottle).

That way I know that I am getting a consistent level of priming.

Aleman

02-03-2003, 12:18 PM

jmooney50
Yeast health at the time of bottling can be a problem. I use the same procedure that you do and have never had a problem. What is your process for primary and secondary fermentation?

jmooney50

02-04-2003, 06:06 AM

Aleman,

I use a plastic primary bucket and transfer to a glass carboy once it settles down (4 - 7 days). Then wait until it gets below one bubble per minute before bottling.

Any thoughts are appreciated. Thanks, Moon

Here's another one. Ever have a stuck fermentation? A Mexican brew I'm making has been going crazy (fermentation wize) for 16 days now. It wont settle down.

Aleman

02-04-2003, 01:21 PM

jmooney50,
My process is 5-7 days for the primary fermentation and 14 days for the secondary. You want to make sure fermentation is over before bottling. If some fermentation is still going on in the bottle that will increase carbonation, often unevenly.

For your overactive fermentation the best way to monitor is to check specifc gravity at the beginning of fermentation. You can develop a target finished gravity from the yeast you are using. At this point you could check the gravity and see if you have hit target. If not, let it go. To stop fermentation rack it to a secondary carboy.

herman

02-05-2003, 05:02 PM

When I add my priming sugar to a bottling bucket, I gently stir with a sanitized spoon. It seems to work well. But be sure to stir gently, as you don't want to add any oxygen to the beer at this point.

Beer Nazi

02-05-2003, 10:16 PM

I've never had a problem with consistancy in carbonation when using priming sugar.

I have noticed that when adding the priming sugar to the bottling bucket when I first start to transfer the beer from the carboy gives more foam in the neck of the bottle.

Adding the priming sugar to the beer in the bucket towards the end of transferring has resulted in less or no foam in the neck.

I don't know if that makes a difference or not as far as carbonation goes.

One other thing you may consider is temperature consistancy. For instance, if you store your bottles in too cold of an environment, the beer will not carbonate.

jmooney50

02-06-2003, 06:04 AM

Beer Nazi,

I think you hit on the solution to my carbonation problem. I've started conditioning my beer in my basement where it's around 60 degrees. I always use to keep it upstairs in my house at around 70 degrees before moving it donw. I guess I thought it would condition O.K. at that temp. I'll keep my next batch a little warmer.

Thanks, Moon

drstandley

02-12-2003, 02:11 PM

I've just started in the past year and really enjoy it. Been doing the mini-mash method which about half extract and half grains. As soon as my brewery in the garage is done, I'll start an all grain process. You can do a mini-mash on the stove top with out too much mess. The book "Clone Brews" shows an extract, mini-mash and all grain recipe for 150 different beers. I just did a Speckled Hen Clone mini-mash. It's ready to bottle now. Looks good so far.

RogueBrewer

02-18-2003, 12:03 PM

I have been at it for two years approximately. Mostly extract brewing with specialty grains from kits purchased from Northern Brewers [ http://www. nothernbrewer.com ] who also has a Forum link for those of you who are "addicted" like myself. Lots of advice on the various forums. You can also check out Homebrew Adventures [ http://www.hombrew.com ]. They too have an excellent site for purchasing supplies and have a very active forum.

I am currently putting together a two tier system that I hope to use by spring. Its too cold here in Michigan to brew outside for that long. Since my wife won't let me in the house with "that smell" :p I have to brew in the garage.

I recieved a Listermann's Mash Tun set-up for X-mas, but have not used it for the same reason. Can't wait though.

Brew on.

CapsFan1974

02-20-2003, 01:43 AM

Seems to be a few homebrewers here. Some posts mentioned recipies. Is there a place here for recipe posting?

I'll drop one of my favorites here now. It's a Honey Blueberry Ale. I've never been fond of most of the commercial fruit beers. Way too much fruit for me. This gives a slight hint of the blueberry and a lavender tinge to the head. It's one of my favorites. I decided to post this one because I am about to make it yet again!

All grain version (single step):
Pale malt 6lbs
10L crystal 2lbs
honey 2lbs

Northern brewers hops 1 oz for 90 minute boil
Northern brewer 1/4 oz for 5 minutes

Frozen blueberries 2 lbs added when the heat was removed after the boil.

Mash pale and crystal @ 155 until complete. Add honey at the beginning of boil.

The berries help cool down the wort and I've never had a problem with contamination in 5 batches. Transfer to carboy once cooled to pitching temps.

Hope someone tries this.

Beer Nazi

02-25-2003, 07:41 PM

Sounds goods Caps!!! I made a partial grain blueberry ale this fall, used 3 pounds of blueberies and no honey, came out great!! Not too sweet.

Hey Moon....another thought; Sometimes if you leave your beer in the secondary too long, there might not be enough active yeast to get carbonation going.

Five days or so in the secondary has worked for me.

Jerry

02-25-2003, 08:56 PM

Hello Folks , I'm pleased to find you guys . I'm boring all my friends talking about beer.....although they don't seem to mind nearly as much when they're drinking the beer I brew!!!!!
I've been brewing about 18 months now and have just completed batch 23 (and my first all grain) . I have a home built 3 tier converted keg system . I do have a couple of questions I'd like your opinions on . First ...I ,like some of the other posts, am always looking for a better sanitizer . I stared out with with One Step and after loosing a batch to infection I moved to BTF and now I read even it requires 10 min contact time . I also have read that Star San has a 30 sec contact time . Does anyone know any draw-backs to Star San? On to a different question ....I just brewed as Amber with a O.G. of 1.063 it has been nearly a week in the primary the bubbles all but stopped 2 days ago but my F.G. is only 1.029 . This seemed to high to me so I rehydrated another package of Dansar Winsor yeast and added it to help it along ...Will this help ? Thanks for any input .......Jerr

mic

02-26-2003, 05:50 PM

Hi all, I am another rookie homebrewer who just stumbled upon this site. I have made 4 extract homebrews so far and I am hooked. I will eventually graduate to all grain once I purchase more equipment.

I always have problems with my siphoning and I was hoping to get some advise. I always get an air pocket right below the elbow of the racking cane and then the siphon quits altogether before the carboy is empty. I have to restart the siphon which takes many tries and also exposes oxygen to the beer. Is this a common problem or do I have bad equipment? What is the best siphon to use?

Thanks from Brewing in the Burgh.

mountain beer

02-26-2003, 07:23 PM

I had that problem at first--I usually put carboy on the counter and racked it to the carboy on the floor and that helped a lot.
You want to make sure you have a good flow and the siphon should do the rest.

mountain

drstandley

02-27-2003, 11:22 AM

I have a racking siphon that's really great. And cheap. It's a racking cain, but in a tube. So all you have to is pull the cain up and down a few times inside the tube and it starts to siphon. If it quits, just pump or two and it starts again. And it will only allow the beer to come out of the cain, you can't pump it back into the carboy. One way in, one way out. And one more thing, it has a little plastic cup on the bottom that puts the siphon inlet just above the crap on the bottom. Hope you can find one. A buddy gave me mine, but I know he didn't pay much.

Beer Nazi

02-27-2003, 09:36 PM

Originally posted by mic
Hi all, I am another rookie homebrewer who just stumbled upon this site. I have made 4 extract homebrews so far and I am hooked. I will eventually graduate to all grain once I purchase more equipment.

I always have problems with my siphoning and I was hoping to get some advise. I always get an air pocket right below the elbow of the racking cane and then the siphon quits altogether before the carboy is empty. I have to restart the siphon which takes many tries and also exposes oxygen to the beer. Is this a common problem or do I have bad equipment? What is the best siphon to use?

Thanks from Brewing in the Burgh.

You may not have an air-tight seal between your tube and racking cane. Even the slightest breech will kill your seal.

You could try one size smaller tubing or maybe GENTLY use a hose clamp.