page 27

I think this year is the year I start dabbling into home brewing

starting with giving myself this for xmas

http://store.brewhut.com/thebrewhutultrabrewingkit.aspx

(posted on page 26)

12/16/2011 10:57:09 AM

I've never heard of a female home brewer.

Something does not add up here.

12/16/2011 11:00:53 AM

I know a few female homebrewers. Neither of them make good beer in my experience

Best of luck though!

12/18/2011 12:55:24 AM

Christmas came early.

9-gallon, all stainless, with thermometer (on the way)

12/21/2011 11:28:12 AM

come on peoples...its 2012....what is everyone been up to!?!?!?

My breakfast stout came out wonderfully, and is on tap in my kegerator. I will take a picture of it and post it next time I pour one.

It is time to begin thinking about a new batch of beer. Something lighter in body than the breakfast stout for sure...I may delve into the honey brewed realm.

1/10/2012 2:39:29 PM

Fermenting an English Pale Ale right now. It's nice being able to store it in the bathroom instead of under the house since it is cooler out now.

I am always a fan of darker beers in the winter, but my brother (and co-brewer) loves the pale ale.

1/10/2012 4:16:39 PM

I just finished the welding on my brewstand.

I've also bought everything that I need to put together my electric HERMS system. Will start building that as soon as all the parts arrive.

I brewed a Rogue Dead Guy clone last week that is happily fermenting away in my fermentation fridge. It's gonna be a great 2012 for my brewing habit.

1/10/2012 4:19:10 PM

im just aging shit, and slowly working through 5 gallons of chocolate milk stout, oatmeal stout, and english pale ale, and should rack a big ole russian imperial this weekend. i plan to keep that in secondary for 6 months then in the bottle for another 6-8.

1/10/2012 4:38:25 PM

Working on drinking my English Maple Nut Brown and aging my Barleywine(s).

Probably going to do a Wee Heavy this summer in preparation for next winter. Also on my list of to-do styles this year are a Rye IPA, APA (with my home-grown Columbus), German Pilsner, and probably a Belgium Strong Ale - either Tripel or Dark Ale. Might rebrew my Saison as it has been one of my favorite recipes so far.

Also 2012 will be year two for my home-grown hops, this year is looking up! Should be adding a Cascade rhizome to the mix this year to supplement my Centennial & Columbus.

[Edited on January 10, 2012 at 4:52 PM. Reason : .]

1/10/2012 4:51:21 PM

i was thinking this year maybe trying to do a sour. or just letting something get really funky.

^the rye-ipa i made last year ended up being a drain pour for most of the batch. i was super sad.

1/10/2012 5:02:33 PM

http://www.northernbrewer.com/shop/brewing/recipe-kits/all-grain-kits/all-grain-ale-kits/surly-bitter-brewer-pro-series-all-grain-kit.html

ordered this kit.

need an easy drinker for the spring.

1/18/2012 11:51:17 AM

awesome!

1/18/2012 12:06:12 PM

What's the best way to accrue a bunch of bottles for those of us who are just starting out? Doing a 5 gallon batch so around 50 bottles. Figure there is a better (cheaper) solution than buying 50 bottles and drinking them. Is there any problem with scouring the recycle bins for non screwoffs?

1/18/2012 12:53:56 PM

have a party

or ask friends.

just give them a good oxyclean bath to get the labels and other grossies off.

1/18/2012 1:01:47 PM

or you can buy them for $0.50/bottle from your local homebrew shop... but i prefer to pay the $1.50/bottle from buying/drinking beer personally.

having a party is the easiest, particularly if people come and bring 6-packs of their own.

1/18/2012 1:57:01 PM

yeah eventually i broke down and bought like 6 cases of 22oz bottles from a supply store's going out of business sale.

got really tired of messing with the 12oz bottles, just the volume really.

now, i've bottled a couple of 12%+ beers in the 22ozers that had me wishing i still had 12ozers available

1/18/2012 2:05:58 PM

screw bottles. Kegging is where it's at.

I bottle right off the tap if I want to take a 6pack somewhere.

1/19/2012 9:58:12 AM

+1 for kegging. Bottled exactly one batch when starting out, and that was enough for me to figure out it's not for me.

I just fill up a couple growlers when I need it to go.

1/19/2012 10:58:23 AM

yeah, bottling fucking blows.

but until recently i had no room for a kegerator.

it's next on my homebrewing adventure to-do list, but will have to wait until the summer it seems.

1/19/2012 11:07:52 AM

kegging for most ales sure, but there's some usefulness in aging in bottles for the higher gravity beers and being able to gift bottles away. i know you can age in kegs, but it takes up valuable space and doesn't really make sense to age barleywines that could take 6 months to 2 years to age taking up a full keg, so it's always helpful to have some bottles around. i guess in that case you could keg half and bottle half

this year i'm making a major investment in a quality all-grain setup, hoping to start kegging by end of year, but since I still split my batches with my friend, I'm wondering if getting into kegging just for 2.5 gallons per batch is worth it. maybe i can convince him to do double batches instead of splitting batches

[Edited on January 19, 2012 at 11:25 AM. Reason : .]

1/19/2012 11:23:21 AM

that's what i've started to do with my brew buddy

each of our mash tuns can handle a 10 gal batch (except the balls out russian imperial we brewed, we could only hold enough grain/water volume for a 9gal batch... but close enough), and we use a 15gal kettle.

he lives like 60 miles away though, so we'll make trip weekends and brew up 10 gallon batches, then split into two buckets. we alternate who's house we brew at.

it's really worthwhile.

it's going to suck one day if i ever get into a wreck, and a bucket of 5 gallons of wort is buckled into the back seat of my car.

we brewed together in delaware, and both took jobs in texas. 60 miles is texas close.

[Edited on January 19, 2012 at 11:40 AM. Reason : e]

1/19/2012 11:39:38 AM

i really need to do something about my fermentation temperature swings.

maybe put together a fermentation chamber of sorts...

idk.

1/23/2012 9:19:13 AM

Dude. $40 craigslist minifridge. $40 temp controller. $20 brewbelt or similar heating element (for the winter).

MONEY. Mine is working great. I have one fermenting happily at 62 degrees right now in my garage.

1/23/2012 9:46:18 AM

fantastic. for some reason i thought it'd be more expensive.

what temperature controller are you using?

1/23/2012 9:48:19 AM

I "built my own".

http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f51/ebay-aquarium-temp-controller-build-163849/


If you decide to go ^this route, make sure you get a temp controller for 110V AC and not the 220V model. The cheaper ones on ebay are 99% of the time the 220v model.

This is the one you want: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Mini-Digital-Temperature-Controller-Thermostat-Aquarium-/400215095360?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item5d2eadb840

These are Celsius only, but for a ferm fridge, who cares?! You're not gonna be changing the temperature often.

[Edited on January 23, 2012 at 10:04 AM. Reason : .]

1/23/2012 9:57:31 AM

awesome, thank you for the post and links

1/23/2012 10:07:38 AM

built the same box. but dont have a chest or anything for it yet. still using the old cooler in the tub set up.

going to brew this weekend for the first time in a long time.

1/23/2012 12:01:04 PM

FYI, a simple light bulb works just as well as a Brewbelt for keeping temperatures UP during the winter.

1/23/2012 12:13:20 PM

Yeah, I'm going to use a lightbulb to warm my ferm chamber when I build a larger one next week.

1/23/2012 9:17:55 PM

well this weekend will be my first batch since moving into my condo last year. I have all of my brewing stuff in my truck and finally out of storage. It looks like a chem lab in the back of my truck.

My condo is short on storage so i'm trying to figure out where all of these glass carboys are going to go. Thankfully my gf loves beer and the spare bedroom has already become the storage room for a lot of stuff.

The other thing I'm really going to miss is my outdoor hose for cleaning and hooking up my wort chiller. I've been sitting here thinking all day about how i'm going to chill the wort as I really don't want to return to ice baths




also, I recently found a half case of Coffee Stouts that I had brewed back in mid-late 2010 and wow are they good. Definitely for the fan of straight black coffee, and a little lighter in body than I'd like in a stout, but the year or so hidden away did them well.

1/25/2012 3:58:39 PM

nice!

i brewed some coffee stout last February and it's just now drinkable.

a side note, my buddy and i decided on a system... going all-stainless false bottom (& stainless ball valves) with sparge arm using 10-gallon coolers:

http://www.austinhomebrew.com/product_info.php?cPath=178_33_82_449&products_id=13048


[Edited on January 26, 2012 at 1:12 AM. Reason : .]

1/26/2012 1:11:59 AM

i hope you are building and not buying it pre-made. the markup on those systems is out of this world.

1/26/2012 8:36:35 AM

Quote :

"i brewed some coffee stout last February and it's just now drinkable."

LAST february?

I just started an oatmeal/coffee stout last sunday, and was hoping to enjoy it while the weather is still cold. Was this just a super long bottle conditioning, or do stouts need that long to develop properly?

1/26/2012 8:59:51 AM

big stouts/porters like that take really well to long aging.

when i make a batch of things like that i'll keep around 6 or 8 or so bottles and just pull one out every month or so to see how it's changed over time.

usually for the better.

the russian imperial stout i made in december i dont plan on drinking for about another year, or more.

1/26/2012 9:09:14 AM

Quote :

"i hope you are building and not buying it pre-made. the markup on those systems is out of this world."

yes, of course, aside from the false bottom, we're building it ourselves, i just needed an image for reference.

i'm not doing that cheap-ass MLT conversion that you see on HBT though, i'm trying to mimick the Austin Homebrew setup almost identically as I know I want all-stainless setup with 3-piece ball valves and silicone O-rings versus that brass 2-piece ball valve and zinc washer setup that will rust in 3 months...

this is the DIY kit you get from Austin Homebrew


after pricing it out, it actually might be cheaper to do it through Austin Homebrew, the ball-valves, locknuts, silicone o-rings are about $120 at a hardware wholesaler, and the false bottom, sparge arm, and high-temp tubing are about $70 together, so I really don't think there's all that much mark-up with the AHB DIY kit. The big markup is if you pay for them to put it together and ship the coolers to you.

my coffee stout came out pretty strong, i wouldn't presume an oatmeal stout needing that long as they are typically smoother right out of the fermenter, typically they get better with age, i just find that coffee stout's in particular take longer to mellow out due to the acidic coffee

[Edited on January 26, 2012 at 12:05 PM. Reason : .]

1/26/2012 11:49:45 AM

Man I'm a noob at this but damn what difference a little conditioning makes! So exited for this frosty 5 gallon batch that we're bottling Sunday!

1/26/2012 9:48:19 PM

does anyone have any experience with old yeast packs? and by old I mean almost a year?

i had a wyeast activator pack of an american ale yeast, it's been in the fridge for almost a year. smacked it, it expanded over night and last night i made a starter for it. but the starter doesn't seem to have taken off. I was almost positive when the smack pack expanded everything would be good to go. Now i'm curious if perhaps I didn't make a big enough starter for the old yeast.

1/27/2012 8:25:04 AM

What was the OG of the starter?

Did you make sure the starter was cooled appropriately before you pitched the yeast?

1/27/2012 8:44:43 AM

^^A stir plate might help, if you're not using one. Or just make sure you shake it up periodically.

1/27/2012 10:27:34 AM

yeah, i'm not going to get a stir plate. my other starters have worked great with just regular shaking and mixing. I've read of starters of old yeast packs taking several days to activate, but those people also mentioned the yeast pack taking several days to even swell up. Mine was swollen in a day, which is why i'm curious as to the lack of activity in the starter.

1/27/2012 11:08:59 AM

chances are it's just taking longer because there was a diminished amount of yeast cells, growth is like a bell curve, so the older it is, the slower start, but eventually it will grow, give it another day or so and just make sure the temperature is right.

1/27/2012 12:12:47 PM

So i'm trying to formulate an American Brown Ale recipe solely on what I have in my inventory. I've been away from brewing for a few months and so I've lost my edge a bit. Wondering if you find folks would want to help me tweak a good one.

This would be an extract w/ specialty grains wort. 5 gallon final volume, partial boil in a 4 gallon brew kettle.

Here is what I have in stock.


1 lb - Crystal 120L
.25 lb - Chocolate Malt

1oz - Kent Goldings
1oz - Northdown
1oz - Newport
2oz - Cascade
3oz - Falconer's Flight

The only thing I'd need to get is DME as I only have a few pounds of it.

also, falconer's flight is similar to chinook

1/27/2012 3:50:45 PM

a good brew day yesterday. i was surprised how seamless it all went in my condo. had the burner set up outside, wort chiller and hoses in the guest bathroom and now the primary is in my guestroom closet which holds steady in the low to mid 60s all day long.

ended up doing the american brown with cascade, newport, and falconers additions. put the recipe in beer smith and the starting OG was around 1.052. Hit it on the nose.

I was worried about the yeast taking off after being such an old pack and not seeing much out of the starter. So we added yeast around 4pm yesterday. There wasn't much activity between 4p-12a yesterday but i woke up this morning to a full head of krausen which is great to see.

1/29/2012 10:59:40 AM

sorry I meant to come back to this to help with the recipe, i know you've already brewed but this is what i would've done:
http://hopville.com/recipe/1123595/american-brown-ale-recipes/tdub-brown

Crystal should be about 10% and Chocolate around 3-6% in an American Brown, the style also calls for citrusy hops and typically hopped twice the amount of the English Brown's, so I wouldn't have used any English hop varieties like the Kent Goldings or Newport. Since Cascade is a great dual-purpose hop I used that for bittering and flavor and falconer's flight for the aroma addition.... this would save 3oz. or more of falconer's for an IPA or Pale later

Glad you're back in the game! I'm hoping to start my first all-grain batch of 2012 here shortly.

[Edited on January 30, 2012 at 11:47 AM. Reason : .]

1/30/2012 11:47:26 AM

did 10 gallons of http://www.northernbrewer.com/shop/brewing/recipe-kits/all-grain-kits/all-grain-ale-kits/surly-bitter-brewer-pro-series-all-grain-kit.html this weekend.

wort was tasttttyyy

first time i've done a first wort hopping... kinda neat. wanted to keep my face in the kettle after the first runnings finished.

1/30/2012 1:03:42 PM

this is what I went with

6# Light DME
1# Crystal 60L
1# Crystal 120L
4 oz Chocolate Malt

.5 oz Newport 60min
.5 oz Falconer 60min
1 oz Cascade 15min
.5 oz Falconer 0min
1 oz Cascade 0min

I added the extra Crystal 60L because the color was not going to be as dark as I wanted, almost red light a Killians.

And the hop additions I just kind of winged it. Put it all in Beersmith to make sure I was in the right style guidlines and then went a little over on the IBUs to give it more of an India Brown make up.

Brown Ales are usually pretty forgiving and everything is rolling at the moment so it shouldn't be too bad.

1/30/2012 1:07:28 PM

awesome, yea, i love india brown's, i did one of those a while back and it's one of my favorite brews!

1/30/2012 2:12:29 PM

I'm selling a Beer Tower/Tap and 2.5 lb CO2 tank. Nice starter pieces for making a kegerator. Tank is brand new, beer tower was used twice before I swapped it out for a dual-tap. Everything is clean and in perfect working condition. If you come over I'll show you how to make a kegerator.

TWW fellow homebrewer discount is $10

Beer Tower/Tap - http://raleigh.craigslist.org/for/2846886393.html
CO2 Tank - http://raleigh.craigslist.org/for/2846894499.html


[Edited on February 11, 2012 at 6:10 PM. Reason : ]

2/11/2012 6:08:21 PM

Tank is gone, but I still have the beer tower/tap.

2/13/2012 1:56:18 PM

bottling India Brown this weekend.

fermentation temps have stayed in the low 60s the entire time which has been great. shouldn't have any unwanted esters from higher temps or fluctuations.

2/16/2012 2:20:44 PM