Hey Homebrew gurus,

I got my starter kit, all the buckets and whatnot, but what I do not have is a stainless steel pot to boil in. Yes, I know I should look at it as an investment - buying a 90$ 30 quart pot, but I'm a bit short on dollar bucks this month.

Would any of you fine gentlemen be willing to rent out your boil pot for an afternoon this weekend? I can throw 5$ or so and a 6 pack of the northern brown we'll be brewing up in as payment. Hell, if you want to stick around and teach me a trick or two about brewing that would be super too.

[Edited on February 27, 2009 at 9:03 AM. Reason : obligatory [2]]

2/27/2009 9:03:17 AM

one of my friends is a grad student in food science, with his concentration in fermentation science. the dude can brew some tasty beverages.

funny story though, one time he and some buddies miscalculated their blonde ale that was supposed to be 6.5 or 7% and it ended up 13 or 14.

and was fantastic, hahaha

2/27/2009 9:20:56 AM

hydrometer [FAIL] for the [WIN] !

2/27/2009 9:51:02 AM

i need to get a big brewpot as well. i think im gonna hit up big lots

2/27/2009 1:15:27 PM

make sure you get stainless steel and not aluminum. we got aluminum because it was cheaper and our beer turned out metallic tasting. i would lend you a pot, but i also dont have one. i always borrow one from a friend. sorry.

2/27/2009 3:43:00 PM

dry hopping is mostly for aroma-- it won't make the beer much bitter at all. Unfortunately, you needed to boil the hops for 60 minutes to really get the alphas out... your batch will be a fairly low IBU no matter what you do at this point (short of throwing a bittering agent in- don't).

A really nice kit you can try next time is NB's "toungesplitter"... it's awesome and cheap.

2/27/2009 7:06:16 PM

picked up a 22 liter stainless pot at walmart and am currently in the thick of things. i finished steeping for 30 minutes and just added the malt. just waiting on it to start boiling!

[Edited on February 27, 2009 at 7:24 PM. Reason : ]

2/27/2009 7:13:14 PM

^ how much was it?

2/27/2009 11:41:05 PM

it was $50. if you want to borrow it just save me a few beers and give me some kind of collateral.

2/28/2009 12:20:10 AM

Yeah I have a 3 gallon pot that I'm am not gonna be using anymore because of the risk of boilovers... Borrowed my buddies for the last two batches and I'm getting one from home this week.

One tip... NEVER primary ferment in a 5 gallon carboy.... This should be a no brainer but I threw in with my buddies on a Belgian Blonde Ale the other day and he insisted on the 5 gallon better bottle for primary.... Blew the top off and let the beer be exposed to air for a couple of hours... Lost about a gallon too... Besides the fact that three of us argued with him when we were brewing about doing this its all cool...

We have deffinately proven that primary should be done in a conatiner with atleast a gallon of space in it....

Anyways, about 5 days untill I bottle the Pale ale and I started a Apricot Hefeweisen yesterday (from kit).

3/1/2009 2:15:28 PM

did you not use a carboy cap

along with an air lock?


[Edited on March 1, 2009 at 2:21 PM. Reason : .]

3/1/2009 2:21:21 PM

Don't use an airlock during the first couple of days of fermentation.

Just run a tube from your orange cap into a water jug filled with sanitizer. That way it can overflow all it wants and it won't affect your beer.

3/1/2009 3:41:50 PM

^^ Nope just an Airlock... I only use a 7 gallon plastic fermentor... But my friend wanted to be able to see fermentation and only had a 5 gallon carboy with arilock... Like I said, we argued with him about it but it was his setup we were using... so FAIL.

^
But yeah, I may switch to a 6.5 gallon carboy after a while and I'll keep the blow off tube in mind.

Its just a dissapointment to lose a gallon of beer and run the risk of contamination... I think he learned his lesson though.

[Edited on March 1, 2009 at 5:20 PM. Reason : I need some spellcheck]

3/1/2009 5:19:43 PM

Anyone had a lot of experience with Hefeweizens?

I'm trying to decide how long I should let my hefeweizen go in primary? I don't think I'm going to do a secondary. I know a good percentage of people like "young" hefeweizens so I was thinking about going for 8 days in primary and then bottling... This is ofcourse contingent on fermentation being finished so I will keep an eye on the gravity.

Thanks,

3/1/2009 6:05:31 PM

Just started my Northern brown last night. Excite!

3/2/2009 10:28:58 AM

I just bottled a Stone Ruination clone using only 750ml flip-tops. I'll never go back to regular bottles.

And hell, it's not like I'll ever want less than 750ml worth of this stuff. What a great recipe.

3/2/2009 10:41:39 AM

I use mostly 1 litre flip tops and 22oz bottles... I'm with you, I allways drink atleast 2 beers when drinking homebrew, plus its less to bottle.

3/2/2009 1:43:06 PM

where do you guys get your bottles, and how much can I expect to drop bottling my first 5 gal?

3/3/2009 11:32:35 AM

Save all your bottles and buy a bottle capper... its $15(144 caps are like $3 bucks) from American Brewmaster. I buy 22oz beers when I don't drink homebrew. You can also go to the recycling bin in your apartment complex and scrounge non-twist top bottles... They have to be the right size to fit the bottle caps though.

This is the cheapest way. You could also bottle in 1, 2, or 3 litre soda bottles but it has drawbacks.

3/3/2009 1:52:24 PM

Dont do soda bottles, please. I will give you 50+ bottles by the time you are ready to bottle, but PLEASE dont use soda bottles.

Also, i think i got my entire setup with my first kit for about $125 at American Brewmaster, and that was with 2 buckets, 1 top, spoon, hydrometer, all of the tubes, thermometer, siphoning thing, bottle caps, beer brite, etc. The only thing you really have to buy if you get that kit is a large stainless steel pot (which i just borrowed) and bottles (like stated: reuse old bottles but make sure to clean out well). I think that is probably the best deal there, especially considering you get all of the ingredients for your first batch thrown in for the bundle. Just talk to the guys there, they usually hook you up pretty well if you are just getting started.

[Edited on March 3, 2009 at 2:05 PM. Reason : BEER!]

3/3/2009 2:00:15 PM

Bottled the Pale ale today. It tastes and smells delicious.

Some notes on it: (see original post for entire recipe)

Started at 1.053 OG and ended at 1.008 FG which represents a 5.895 ABV. the IBU is 37 and I dry hopped with 1 oz Ahtanum plugs.

Racked my Hefeweizen to secondary today to let it mellow a bit. Original gravity was 1.060 and gravity today was 1.010. Thats after 5 days in primary. Even if it bottoms out here I'm looking at 6.55 ABV... Pretty high for a Witbier... Going to mellow that out with Apricot Extract when I bottle.


Anyone interested in trading beers? I was thinking a 3 or 6 pack for the same? Give me a little diversity while I'm waiting on my Hefeweizen to finish. If you're interested pm me. it'll be 7-10 days before these Pale Ales are primed... I have some decent dopple bocks left too.

3/5/2009 5:29:50 PM

Quote :

"Racked my Hefeweizen to secondary today to let it mellow a bit"

waste of time and effort with an increased chance of oxidation

all you're really going to gain from a secondary in this case is clarity, which obviously doesn't matter in a hefe

3/5/2009 6:05:51 PM

You have a point. My problem is I have 2 carboys a primary fermentor/bottling bucket and a 8 gallon wine bucket... So I needed to get the Hefe out of the primary so I could use it to bottle my Pale.... Confusing huh?

I will deffinately be getting another fermentor soon so I don't have to do that...

3/5/2009 7:42:27 PM

so my hefe still has a few days left to ferment but i was thinking it might be fun to split the batch in half and do some type of fruit beer. is it too late to do this? if so what is the best way to go about it?

3/5/2009 7:54:02 PM

Whats your gravity look like/how many bubbles a min you get in your air lock. If you still have some fermentation going on ( preferrably about 5-10% left then you can go to secondary now with the fruit)

I would suggest a carboy... So you would go to a carboy for the first half and then bottle the second(don't bottle with 5-10% of your fermentation left... Just go to another carboy with ita nd wait till fermentations done). American Brewmaster has a couple of different sized carboys like 1 and 2 gallons.

For the fruit you can get halved apricots in syrup from harris teeter for cheap (or several other fruits) to add. Or, you could just buy the puree they sell at AB, allthough if you're doing half batch secondary it might be alot of fruit to add if you go the puree route.

One thing to know about secondary with fruit... Its not necessarily going to add a lot of fruit flavor to a beer... It will add some but because all those sugars are fermentable it will end up as a dryer fruit taste... Extracts are good to add just straight fruit flavor.

[Edited on March 5, 2009 at 8:11 PM. Reason : I hope I made sense there... I'm doing Beer batter'd braught's tonight so I allready drank a couple.]

3/5/2009 8:06:33 PM

Just bottled my DIPA (4oz every 10 minutes, 4 at boil out and dry hopped with Cascade ) , amazing aroma. Planting my hop rhizomes this weekend

^ boil / heat up those fruits to kill any bacteria and avoid souring of the beer, unless that is what the goal is.


[Edited on March 6, 2009 at 5:38 PM. Reason : ]

3/6/2009 5:32:45 PM

OG - 1.055
current - 1.016

gonna take another measurement tomorrow.

so basically if i wanted to use strawberries i would remove the stem's, blend them up, boil the puree'd fruit, and add the puree and half the beer to a secondary, let it ferment for a day or so and then bottle?

3/6/2009 6:10:36 PM

The first part sounds about right... You'll probably want to let it sit in secondary with those strawberries for atleast a week. You'll also need to do another gravity reading after you add the strawberries and then again before you bottle because the strawberries will add fermentable sugars.

Just so you know I am bottling my hefe today and the FG on it is 1.008.

Where you getting your strawberries? Does the farmers market have any yet, or are you just gonna get them from the store?

3/8/2009 2:17:19 PM

i've never boiled any fruit before addition to secondary, but i do freeze and thaw them before pureeing to rupture the cell walls

3/8/2009 8:10:19 PM

Yeah, On second I wouldn't boil the strawberries. I've been reading up online and there are several reasons you wouldn't, but do sterilize everything that comes in contact with your strawberries during the puree'ing process and you could boil some water with sugar in it for the syrup and pour that over the strawberries at a relativly hot temp.


I have a question for the seasoned brewers.... Has anyone tried a framboise recipe before?

Heres the one I'm looking at:

Framboise Ingredients
6 1/2 lb Light malt extract
1/4 lb Crystal malt 10 c (may bump this up to 1/2 lb)
2 1/2 c Raspberry puree
1 oz Boiling hops (Hallertauer,

Instructions for Framboise
Crack, steep, and strain crystal malt before boiling. Add extract and hops. Boil. Strain into primary. Add 2-1/2 cups raspberry puree. Add enough cold water to make 5 gallons. Pitch yeast. When racking to secondary, add another 10 cups raspberry puree. Recipe By : Cher Feinstein From: Cindy@sierra.Uucp (Cindy Johnston File


I think I'm going to use a champaige yeast or maybe a meade yeast. Post your comments.

Thanks,

[Edited on March 8, 2009 at 8:36 PM. Reason : a]

3/8/2009 8:35:11 PM

Convinced my parents to grow hops, and ordered 2 rhizomes each of Centennial and Willamette.

Brewing this coffee stout tomorrow, specifically for the US Open Beer Championship ( http://www.usopenbeer.com ). I was one of 29 homebrewers invited to compete with commercial brewers. I'll probably end up tweaking this a few times.

6 gallons.
OG: 1.058
41.2 SRM
32.3 IBUs

10 lb English 2-row (Maris Otter)
1 lb Caramunich III
1 lb Black Patent Malt
0.5 lb Chocolate Malt
1 lb Lactose

Mash @ 150 F

1.5 oz Glacier (5.9% AA) - 60 min

Wyeast 1099 Whitbread Ale Yeast @ 66-67 F

Steep coarsely ground coffee in secondary, tasting every few days. Haven't decided yet on what coffee.

3/20/2009 9:03:10 PM

Just put my vanilla porter in the fermenter. I used a recipe for Goat Scrotum and am going to add vanilla beans in the secondary fermentation.

1lb crystal malt
1/4lb black malt
1/4lb roasted barley
5lb dark malt extract
1oz cascade hops
1/4oz tettnanger hops
2tsp gypsum
1lb corn sugar (into the boil, not for bottling)
1cup molasses
1cup brown sugar

I also added 1 piece of baking chocolate. Shit was so dark and sweet. I can't wait for this one. Pics to be added tomorrow.

Also, I used Nottingham yeast.

Amkeener, I've never tried a Framboise recipe, but it actually looks pretty simple. Hot damn, thats a lot of raspberry puree in the secondary. If you do end up making it, i would love to try some.

[Edited on March 23, 2009 at 1:23 AM. Reason : Framboise]

3/23/2009 1:18:59 AM

^I'll let you know how it goes... I've been adjusting the recipe slightly so I'll post what I finally brew. I'm also pretty broke right now so Hopefully I don't have to wait on my tax returns to brew my next batch!!!

^^Good luck on your entry... Let us know what happens.

3/25/2009 11:07:20 PM

Ok, I have my framboise in Primary.

The finalized recipe is:
22oz Wheat Dry Malt Extract
6.6 lbs Light Malt Extract
1/3 lb acidulated Malt
2/3 lb Crystal 40L
1oz Hallertauer
American Ale Yeast

In secondary:
1 15oz can of Bing Cherry Puree
2x 15oz cans of Rasberry Puree

And I'll probably add a dash of acid blend if the acid isnt where I want it. Its gonna have a much higher abv then regular framboise and I doubt the taste will be too similar since I'm not adding bacteria, but hopefully its a good start.

I also put a strawberry cider into primary the day before yesterday:

6lbs fresh cut strawberries
Some yeast nutrient
1lb of Corn Sugar

In secondary I will be adding a pound of Honey and 1 15 oz can of Black Berry Puree.

I used White Wine yeast.

Pics:





[Edited on April 5, 2009 at 12:40 PM. Reason : s]

4/5/2009 12:22:19 PM

Just bottled my Irish Red Ale from American Brewmaster. Great store, really helped me get set up for my first attempt. I am ready to try the finished product!

4/5/2009 4:32:42 PM

Alright homebrewers,

After reading the article in this months Brew Your Own, on the Australian Pale Ale, I was left with a question. The article suggested using Cooper's own yeast in the fermentation of their beer. They said the best way to do this was to buy a Coopers beer, pour out all but the last 1/2 inch, add some wort, and let the yeast culture. Did I read this article wrong? Can you actually culture yeast from the remaining sediments in beer? I would have thought the temperature and weeks (months?) of sitting around would have killed off all of the yeast in these beers. If it is possible to culture these yeasts, why isnt it done more often? I know yeast isnt the most expensive thing for homebrewers, but it seems like it could save a little bit of $ in the longrun and, would be beneficial in trying to replicate beer recipes. Has anyone got any experience with doing this sort of thing?

Also, should be bottling my Vanilla Porter sometime this week. And I had another of my Pale Ales tonight, after aging for 3 months. It really improved the quality of it (especially carbonation) and I am glad I had enough patience to age 1/3 of my batch.

4/5/2009 11:26:16 PM

yes, this is possible...many commercial beers contain live, culturable yeasts

the process requires very careful attention to sanitation and "stepping up" the culture a few times, meaning decanting the old wort and adding more than before, increasing the size of your starter until you have enough viable yeast to start a fermentation without too long of a lag time

used to have a better explanatory link, but cant find it:
http://byo.com/stories/article/indices/58-yeast/1693-yeast-culturing-from-bottles-techniques

http://www.nada.kth.se/~alun/Beer/Bottle-Yeasts///

*never done this

[Edited on April 6, 2009 at 12:36 AM. Reason : ']

4/6/2009 12:31:36 AM

So the cider's bottled. The Framboise is in secondary. Gonna switch to a tertiary and let it chill for another month.


Just brewed a Summer ale yesterday:

6 lbs light malt extract.
1/2 lb crystal 10L
1/2 lb wheat malt
2 oz of Centennial (1/2 oz to start. 1/2oz 30 minutes in. and 1 oz with 15 minutes left)

Should be pretty grapefruity and delicious.

4/18/2009 8:06:50 PM

sounds pretty good. i love centennial. after exams im gonna see if my brew buddies wanna hang out, but they are both too busy these days and i dont have a setup anymore.

4/21/2009 12:35:55 PM

Starting a Hoegaarden clone tomorrow. Actually pretty complex for an extract.

5/20/2009 6:37:51 PM

My last two attempts at IPAs have been... funky. Some of my friends like the funk. I think it's nasty.

I just tried a Victory Wild Devil, and it tastes exactly like my brews.

Turns out Wild Devil uses Brettanomyces. A wild yeast sometimes used in Belgian ales. According to wikipedia, this yeast produces these chemicals:

Quote :

" * 4-ethylphenol: Band-aids, barnyard, horse stable, antiseptic * 4-ethylguaiacol: Bacon, spice, cloves, smoky * isovaleric acid: Sweaty saddle, cheese, rancidity "

Which definitely explains the funk.

Why is my well-behaving American yeast turning into funky wild yeast? I use White Labs vials, and they go straight into the carboy.

[Edited on May 20, 2009 at 11:01 PM. Reason : ]

5/20/2009 11:00:29 PM

You've obviously got some sterile technique issues going on. if you have made or drank lambic or other Belgian style ales in the area that you are brewing, you've likely contaminated the area with Brettanomyces yourself. wine makers sterilize stuff that will come into contact with the wort with citric acid to minimize brett contamination. having a laminar flow hood would be ideal, but a lot of people dont have access to these. my stove hood is laminar flow for some reason, and it lends itself to all sorts of interesting projects. you'll go a long way in your own lab to wash everything with a 10% bleach solution and spray down all counters, stove, and your own body with a 75 % ethanol solution. adulterated ethanol is fine as this should not come into contact with your food implements. wines are frequently sterilized with dimethyl dicarbonate at a max of 200 mg per L, and fruit wines and mead are protected with this as well, but i cant find any supporting evidence for use in beer.


Brettanomyces is slow-growing though, and your best defense against it aside from sterilizing everything possible in your work environment is to make sure you are inoculating your wort with a healthy, pure Saccaromyces culture that will quickly dominate fermentation. If you always use the same brand and line/packaging, i would be a bit suspicious and switch to a different brand/style of packaging since the lab may have a contamination issue. You should sterilize the outside of the yeast packet before you bring it into your brewing area and again before you open it, because it comes from a facility that more than likely produces both Brettanomyces and various strains of Lactobacillus, all of which will create off flavors that you may not desire in your particular beer. Brettanomyces is also intolerant of both low pH (below 3.5) and carbonation, so you might consider racking to a keg or using a dry ice bomb before bottling, since Brettanomyces can continue to grow after Saccaromyces becomes inactive. Obviously, you need to carefully sterilize your bottles by soaking them in a 10% bleach solution and scrubbing carefully with a bottle brush to remove any yeast residues, particularly if these bottles had lambic or other belgian beers in them previously.

I would be particularly suspicious of any plastic implements you have such as buckets. they can be difficult to clean and are more porous than glass, so they can harbor a lot more bacteria and yeast. we had a persistent white mold infection in a plastic bucket that we couldn't eradicate with bleach or citric acid, so just be on the look out for unlikely sources of contamination.

[Edited on May 20, 2009 at 11:52 PM. Reason : ]

5/20/2009 11:50:38 PM

^I second everthing he said. Infact if you've cleaned your primary(plastic) fermentor with abrasive chemicals or hard bristle scrub brushes/steel wool, you may have pitted the surface and made arears where the bacteria can survive even after sanitizing. Do everything he said (sanitize all utensils, etc) and even then you may have to get a new primary fermentor if your problem persists.... Luckily they are pretty cheap.


Hey MovieGuru23 can you post that recipe for the Hoegarden clone? Also update us how it turns out.

I've been playing around with late extract edition method brewing recently and I'm gonna post some cool picks and stuff during the next week or two.

[Edited on May 21, 2009 at 2:02 PM. Reason : s]

5/21/2009 2:02:22 PM

sure, man. i am steeping my grains right now. the guy at american brewmaster and i have tweaked the recipe a bit, like usual, but here goes.

ORIGINAL RECIPE:
MALT
3.30 lbs. Light liquid malt extract
2.00 lbs. Dry wheat malt extract
0.50 lbs. Cracked unmalted wheat
0.50 lbs. Rolled (flaked) oats

HOPS (pellet)
0.50 oz. Saaz for 60 min
0.70 oz. E.K. Goldings for 60 min
0.50 oz. Saaz for 15 min

OTHER
1.25 tsp. Coriander seeds (cracked) for 15 minutes
2.00 tsp. Dried bitter orange for 15 minutes

PROCEEDURE
Steep whole grains in 1/2 gallon water @ 155F for 30 minutes. Rinse
with 1 or 2 pints of 170F water. Remove grains, add 2.0+ gal water &
extract, start 60 minute boil. Add hops and other ingredients as
specified.

White Labs Belgian Wit Ale Yeast (WLP400)


WHAT I AM DOING:
Since the flaked oats need a catalyst to start producing sugars (who didnt know that??) i added a pound of pilsner malt to the steeping process and steeped for an hour instead of 30 minutes. One step closer to all grain! I kept the saaz hops but American Brewmaster was out of English Kent Goldings, so i just went for kent goldings (shouldnt make for a huge difference). American Brewmaster told me it was a horrible idea to add the coriander and orange at 15 minutes left. he said to wait until 5 minutes or they would be too strong and release bad elements. this was one of the most common complaints about this recipe on the beer thread that i found it on. he also suggested i add a gram of chamomile in the last 5 minutes to give it that "juicy fruit flavor that hoegaarded has. he said to make sure it is plain chamomile, and not anything else added (i went with celestial seasons and have a lot left over if you decide to do a batch). i also used a different yeast. i went with wyeast 3944 belgian wheat. it was my first time getting something besides dry yeast, and i have to say, i enjoyed smacking the activator! besides that, i kept everything else the same.

i will let you know how it turns out. hopefully pretty similar. my girlfriend tried a hoegaarden for the first time in amsterdam this week and she loved it. i want to surprise her with a batch when she gets back from europe.

[Edited on May 21, 2009 at 4:44 PM. Reason : YEAST]

5/21/2009 4:41:44 PM

Thanks for all the information.

I never considered sanitizing the kitchen or my skin. Hmm.

Can contamination occur after primary fermentation? I haven't been terrible when it comes to sanitation during the brewing process, but I've been pretty awful post-fermentation (using my lungs to siphon immediately comes to mind).

5/21/2009 5:56:08 PM

^
http://www.americanbrewmaster.com/product_info.php?cPath=1_99&products_id=1164

one of my favorite pieces of brewing equipment.

5/22/2009 12:02:05 AM

^Thanks for the recipe... I will try that before the end of the summer. Also, I may be kegging my Framboise before too long. If it turns out well I'll bottle you one/you can come over and try a mug. I have to finish the Apricot Hefeweizen thats in the keg first though .



Yeah... An auto syphon is really handy. Just remember to use pellets or plug hops/ strain into primary with whole leaf. Those auto syphons get clogged and can easily break if you arent careful cleaning them.

I honestly havent had much trouble with contamination and like you, would say I'm more carefull before its fermented than after. Green beer (after fermentation but before carbonation or secondary) is pretty hard to contaminate.

I will say that depending on how you sanitize/clean your bottles can make a big impact. One of my friends gets a bottle or two each batch that is contaminated because he is careless when it comes to sanitizing the bottles.

[Edited on May 22, 2009 at 10:37 AM. Reason : s]

5/22/2009 10:35:51 AM

i dunno about "juicy fruit flavor", but chamomile has an appreciable amount of coumarin, which has a sweet hay-like scent. it is the flavoring agent in maywine and its added to berliner weiss as well. try to limit your consumption of chamomile and woodruff (the actual flavoring agent of maywine and formerly berliner weiss) because its the chemical precursor to warfarin and can cause blood thinning (aka trouble clotting) which can lead to strokes and stuff.

5/22/2009 9:42:54 PM

I've been brewing a lot lately. Brewed west-coast style red ale, irish dry stout, american pale ale, and smoked hefeweizen all in the last few weeks. but i'm glad now that my kegerator is full.

also, decided to open one of my old bottled beers last night. it was a belgian beer i fermented only with brettanomyces, no other yeast. it ended up winning gold at the national homebrew competition last year...it was still pretty damn tasty. one of the most unique and interesting beers i've ever made.

5/23/2009 9:21:36 AM

set em up

5/23/2009 2:31:12 PM