plastic two liter bottles?

oh and dont bother trying to reuse twistoff bottles, if reusing going to need non-twist off

10/7/2009 11:56:58 AM

Yep. Two Dr. Perky and one diet Coke. Bought the Dr. Perky's just for the bottles. I didn't really need to sink a real amount of money into a new hobby. But at least I've justified growing the hops.

Next year I'll be donating them to a worthier cause.

10/7/2009 12:33:52 PM

If you ever want to do it again, just re-use non-twist off glass bottles from other beers. If you dont drink a lot of nicer beers, there is always the options of asking friends to save them or stealing them from recycling bins. Then, you could always borrow a capper from someone on here (i would gladly lend you mine for a day) and get some caps from American Brewmaster (144 for $2.25). I always found bottling to be the cheapest part of the whole process.

10/7/2009 5:29:22 PM

Thanks, I'll keep that in mind.

10/7/2009 8:52:12 PM

Just picked up my beginner kit from American Brewmaster.

Plan on starting a batch of "Mock-ToberFest" tonight. Wish me luck

10/9/2009 5:32:40 PM

^ Nice...I was just there at like 5ish getting my kit for the belgian blonde. this is my first one by myself. Prob going to do it tonight or tomorrow

10/9/2009 6:46:04 PM

I just added my bittering hops...add my flavoring hops in about 30 minutes.

I somehow convinced my gf that brewing beer on a friday night was better than going out to the bars/dancing. She might be a keeper.

10/9/2009 9:23:43 PM

So I think I finished it up around 11pm last night and it's now fermenting in the corner.

~12 hours later, it's bubbling once every 5-8 seconds. Is that right? Should it be bubbling more?

10/10/2009 11:29:46 AM

your fine. and dont be scared if the bubbling drops to almost nothing after several says its still going. One of my best beers looked all but inactive after 3 days of fermenting

10/12/2009 2:04:57 AM

Wanted to show you guys how my indoor hop growing is going. Here are two pics of where the centennial is at now:





as you can see I'm growing it on modular shelving. As it gets to the top of the shelving I plan on training it horizontally across the grating back and forth untill it fills up the shelf entirely. Once i get to that point I will then decide whether to cut the light period down to flowering mode or continue on and fill up another shelf.... This second option will require me to buy more lights but I figure I'm spending about a dollar a month on electricity now and if you factor in the 13 dollars I've spend on other materials (had the shelving laying around) then its not a bad deal.

Unfortunately the cascade rhizome I had didn't grow very well so I wen't and got a couple more. I have planted them and I am just waiting on them to come up.

10/22/2009 12:00:37 PM

I'm still waiting on my Mocktoberfest to finish fermenting....put it in the fermenter around midnight on Oct. 9....

It's been ~13 days...still bubbling every 40 seconds. A few days ago it seemed to have slowed down to about every 90 seconds, but now it's back to 40 seconds.

Think it's still ok? I know I need to wait for it to quit bubbling before I bottle it, but it's just taking much longer than the guys at American Brewmaster said it would (7-10 days). My house stays between 70-75 degrees...

10/22/2009 6:59:14 PM

Brewed a Czech Pilsner a couple of months ago ended up winning best of show at a competition LoneRider brewery held. For those that don't know, they're a relatively new brewery in north Raleigh near Glenwood and 540.

I'll be brewing it with them sometime in the spring, and it'll be available around Raleigh/Durham area.

http://www.loneriderbeer.com

[Edited on October 22, 2009 at 9:56 PM. Reason : .]

10/22/2009 9:55:38 PM

^Awesome. Congrats on the win. I look forward to grabbing one when they come out.

10/22/2009 10:51:16 PM

^^Nice man, I'll have to grab one of those.

Was gonna say, for those of you interested in hard apple cider.

I started mine last week:

4 gallons of apple cider from the farmers market (the lady beside the seafood place)
1 and 1/2 lbs of Sourwood honey.

I melted the honey in a gallon of the cider on the stove before pitching the yeast and saved a quart jar of this solution for bottling then added the rest with the cider to the fermentor.

Not added any cinamon yet. Gonna taste it when its done fermenting.

I didn't take a hydrometer reading.... For which I am kicking myself because this cider had been going at a rolling bubble for a full week and hasn't let up (my fermentations usually take all of 3 days to finish)

Also, I used American Ale II yeast (wyeast).

10/25/2009 11:41:37 AM

About ready to bottle my Belgian Blonde I got from the home brew store. Next up is the Bell's Two Hearted Ale clone from AHS http://www.austinhomebrew.com/product_info.php?cPath=178_452_43_263&products_id=1794

10/26/2009 7:05:30 PM

Yo Amkeener, is that cider gonna be done by the Halloween party?

[Edited on October 26, 2009 at 8:09 PM. Reason : missed a word]

10/26/2009 8:09:30 PM

^^I've tried to clone that before. It didn't turn out well, though.

Let us know how yours turns out.

10/26/2009 8:18:46 PM

^^Not looking like it unfortunately. It is still bubbling after 10 days in. It'll be ready for Hampstock though hopefully.

10/26/2009 9:20:22 PM

When you tried to clone it, was it from this company? What was your process (ie time for each step)?

10/26/2009 9:21:41 PM

if i have left a really, really over the top porter in secondary for an extended period of time, do i need to do anything special when priming for bottle conditioning?

racked to secondary on 9/05/09 after 14 days in primary

was going to bottle sunday

10/26/2009 9:23:39 PM

pilgrimshoes you don't need to do anything special - it's likely the porter will taste pretty good after aging that long.

Just make sure there's no mold floating on top of the secondary (it's unlikely if you sanitized properly).

Prime normally to your desired carbonation, bottle and let it age for another couple weeks, and enjoy.

10/26/2009 10:56:58 PM

^^^ It was a recipe from Hops and Vines in Asheville.

I don't remember a whole lot, but was all centennial hops, and was dry-hopped with plugs. It tasted a little skunked, and its color was a bit too dark. It was almost certainly user error on my part, though.

10/27/2009 9:35:34 AM

My pumpkin ale (Pumpky Brewster) came out very yummy but not very carbonated.

10/28/2009 1:30:07 AM

Awesome man! Yeah Mines pretty good as well... Not very carbed either, but then again I only bottled 6 days ago so maybe it'll keep goin. Pretty spicy though. I bet this will age well... Maybe have to save a couple for next halloween .

10/28/2009 11:57:30 AM

Between me and my girlfriend, there is no way mine would make it that long!

10/28/2009 5:02:51 PM

Prewing a pale ale as I type.

I've not had any luck brewing anything pale so far. At best, I achieve a dark amber color. Is this common?

10/28/2009 5:47:45 PM

Boone - is color or flavoring your primary issue.

Are you doing straight hopped extract, extract, partial mash, or all-grain?

For color, you shouldn't be getting dark amber unless you're using amber extract or some darker specialty grains (or even darker base grains like munich - that's pushin it).

What grains are you using in the pale recipe?

10/29/2009 12:07:31 AM

It's a partial.

All my other pales were IPAs, and it was mostly color only, although they were a bit more malty than I thought they should have been.

Last night was the first night doing a regular pale ale, and it still looks like it's going to be on the darker end of golden at best, amber at worst. In fact, it had already turned dark golden before I even added the extract. Typically my IPAs only turn darker after the extract.

The recipe was pale malt for the grain, and golden for both the dry and the wet extracts.

10/29/2009 8:31:44 AM

Sooo, i just realized that I forgot to stir my priming solution to mix it thorougly into my beer...

I poured the solution in the bottom of my bottling bucket, and siphoned the beer on top of it. Then I bottled.

How screwed am I?

10/29/2009 10:28:52 AM

if you boiled the priming solution, cooled then siphoned into it, the agitation of the siphoning should be sufficent.

in my experience, i've never stirred after siphoning, just seems like it'd cause more aeration than i'd like

[Edited on October 29, 2009 at 10:37 AM. Reason : e]

10/29/2009 10:36:51 AM

^i always stir before bottling. as long as you dont get too violent with it, it shouldnt aerate the beer too much. otherwise i would be just as nervous as ^^

10/29/2009 1:33:11 PM

What's the purpose of cooling the priming solution before pouring it in?

I went straight from a boil and then dumped it in the bottom of my bottling bucket.

It probably took me about 3-4 minutes to get the siphoning action going since this was my first attempt, so I'm sure it cooled quite a bit before beer actually hit it.

10/29/2009 2:53:08 PM

I usually siphon into my bottling bucket, boil my sugar, temper it with my beer, and then add to the top of the bucket while stirring gently.

10/29/2009 3:56:49 PM

Thinking about brewing an American Pale Ale tonight.

10/29/2009 7:20:45 PM

^Boone I might have a couple of suggestions for you on the color issue:

If you are going for a light pale ale try to use only crystal 10 or 20 for your specialty grain. Maybe some wheat malt mixed in if you want some more mouth feel.

Also make sure the boil is very vigorous. I leave my stove on the highest setting. This will keep malt from sitting on the bottom of the pot and carmalizing/creating that amber color.

Stir often. Same principle as the vigorous boil.

You can also add less malt extract. I did a beer recently with 5.5 lbs light LME and that helped reduce the color substantially... Just make sure you reduce your hops accordingly for what you are going for.

I had some color issues myself and after doing these things I got a pretty light beer.

Most of my IPA's and even pale ales still turn out on the copper side of pale though.

10/30/2009 8:28:57 AM

Thanks for the suggestions. I think lack of a vigorous boil was definitely a factor in all my previous pale ales. I had a stove that could -just- barely keep 5 gallons boiling.

This time around I'm using my new propane burner, and I kept the boil extremely vigorous. Is it possible that the heat was too high and resulted in caramelization throughout?

I'm fairly certain that my steeping water was waaay too hot, too. I'm still getting used to the burner. Would that have had a negative effect on anything?

Who knows, though. I'm going to wait until I rack it again before I make a call on the color.

10/30/2009 9:12:25 AM

Boone the low boil can definitely be attributed to the color issues you're having, but only if you're not stirring it regularly to make sure there's no malt on the bottom of the kettle - just as Amkeener suggested.

Don't boil too vigorously though, you'll run into the same problem if anything has a chance to sit on the bottom of the kettle.

Follow Amkeener's suggestion on specialty malts - 10-20L max for your Pale Ales, you go much higher and it starts turning more copper. When steeping make sure the heat is between 148 and 160 and stays within that range. If you're using direct heat while steeping, I would recommend making sure the grain isn't touching the bottom of the kettle/pot - the direct heat can serve to toast the malt more (effectively making those specialty grains darker than you purchased them). It won't toast much, but it can toast them enough to push the color just outside the BJCP guidelines for a Pale Ale if you're starting at the high end already.

10/30/2009 10:52:25 AM

Brewed an American Pale Ale last night.

It's bubbling up a storm right now....gonna let this one finish fermenting and then rack to a secondary.

Just poured my first glass of homebrew...a Mocktoberfest that fermented for 16 days and was bottled 8 days ago. Not bad...not bad at all. I know it'll get better after a few more weeks.

11/2/2009 8:32:15 PM

Anyone want to get together and try some beers. I would love to show off my pumpkin ale.

11/3/2009 12:09:05 AM

brewed this on Sunday:

Holiday Cheer Beer
6 lbs. Light Malt Extract
1/2 lb. English Medium Crystal
1/4 lb. Victory
2 oz. Cascade Hops (60min.)
1/2 oz. Sterling Hops (5min.)
1 lb. Honey (5min.)
1/4 tsp. All Spice (5min.)
6 inch Cinnamon Stick (5min.)
1 oz. Sweet Orange Peel (5min.)
1 Vanilla Bean (Secondary)
London Ale Yeast (WLP013 or WYEAST 1028)

11/3/2009 11:44:13 PM

Man that sounds good^ Trade you for a couple of Pumpkin Spice Ales when they're done .

^^I'm down man. When did you have in mind? All I have ready right now are some Spice Ales and a couple of Golden Ales. If we wait a week or so I can bottle my apple ciders and my 90 minute IPA clone.... Or we could just do it again! I'm allways in the mood to drink homebrew.


On a side note, is anyone going to the Teach a Friend to Brew this Saturday at American Brewmaster? I've been told there will be a lot of free beer and possibly free food as well.

11/4/2009 6:43:11 AM

^^ That sounds awesome. I can't even think of a commercial equivalent to it, though. Are there any?

You've got me in the mood for a beer that doesn't exist.

11/4/2009 10:44:35 AM

they change every year, but it sounds a little like anchor steam's christmas beer so you could try to pick that up -- i think 2009 is out already

11/4/2009 10:52:49 AM

^^ it sounds a lot like harpoon's winter warmer. which is fantastic. i have yet to see it on shelves this year other than in a variety pack from harpoon, which has some other great stuff in it as well.

11/5/2009 9:08:42 AM

Anyone ever use one of these?


We've only done bottles. And don't have a spot or funds for a kegerator, though I think I could probably fit one of these in the little pantry beer-fridge.

[Edited on November 5, 2009 at 10:09 AM. Reason : JPG!]

11/5/2009 10:09:29 AM

They look pretty cool and I think it would be nice for a party... Although you can do pretty much the same thing by just bottling in 2 one gallon jugs... Or better yet four 1/2 gallon jugs (ensure every beer is carbed and the last couple aren't flat depending on how fast you're drinking) and just take them to the party cold. They'd fit better in someones fridge anyways. You know you allways roll up to a party and the fridge is allready packed with cheap beer.

American Brewmaster has 1/2 gallon jugs with caps for $3.34

The gallon jugs are $5.99 with a cap.

11/5/2009 12:22:45 PM

I have that problem with the little kegs Rogue and Bell's sometimes sell; the carbonation's gone way before the beer is drunk when it's just me doing the drinking.



[Edited on November 5, 2009 at 3:38 PM. Reason : ]

11/5/2009 3:36:33 PM

Yeah, it seems like it'd be pretty useless if it were anything but a party. Didn't realize the 1/2 gallon & gallon jugs were that cheap though...

11/5/2009 5:00:07 PM

This may be common knowledge, but auto-siphons are the bee's knees. I can't believe I went so long without one. It's the best $15 I've spend on brewing supplies.


Also, when my wort chills, I end up with a lot of sediment at the bottom of the kettle. Do I want to stir the wort and pour it all into the carboy, or do I want to avoid pouring the sludge? I've always poured all of it in.

11/9/2009 12:27:58 PM

Started my Hefeweisen on sunday! SUPER EXCITED.

11/9/2009 3:04:41 PM