Home brewing

[Badger]

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Is it possible to put your home-brew into a keg, for use in a kegerator?

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Absolutely, but I've never done it. A homebrewing friend from work is talking about getting this started. It's actually easier because you don't have to worry about sanitizing and filling bottles. Also you can force carbonate instead of having to wait 3 weeks for the beer to carbonate in bottles. I'm not sure if this 3 week period is necessary for developing flavors in addition to letting the priming sugars carbonate the beer. So you might want to not cut all of the 3 weeks off of time from brewing to drinking.

[Badger]

Klompy just PMed me because I mentioned brewing in another thread. He was asking what I've done that I really liked, and if I've done any all grain brewing. So, I thought I'd share my response here:

To tell you the truth I have really enjoyed every single beer I've brewed.

My least favorite was probably a Summit IPA (No relation to the St. Paul brewery). To create summit hops the plants are dwarfed so they have a really high alpha acid content. This didn't turn out how I had in mind as a really hoppy beer. It was still good, but just my least favorite.

I did a Nut Brown that I wasn't too excited about. Again, nothing wrong with it, just not a very interesting beer.

My favorite is a toss up between two beers. I did a Lemon Grass Wheat which uses actual Lemon Grass just thrown in the wort. It turned out surprisingly well.

I also did a Vanilla Porter, which was a huge crowd pleaser, even people who claimed they don't like dark beers. I want to do that one again, but the list of stuff I want to brew is so long.

I did an American for the summer that was really good, but not too exciting.

I did a Young's Double Chocolate Stout clone that was fantastic, but maybe a bit shy of the real deal. I think that's because I usually get the real thing on tap.

I did an Oatmeal Stout that was my own recipe that turned out pretty good.

I did an American IPA. I wanted something hoppier after that which is why I did the Summit IPA. I'm a huge fan of Dogfishhead's IPAs so I want to do something like that. I've also got a bottle of Avery Maharaja IPA that I paid $7 for sitting in my fridge that I've been dying to drink. (I'm waiting to get a couple more beers for a comparison) My beer friends have been talking that up for the last month, so I may try to research something like that for my next beer.

I made a Scotch Ale which was fun, due to the high alcohol content. Not a particularly popular beer with the masses.

I brewed a blackpool ale, which I don't really recall what that was like, just remember the name.

There's a few others I can't recall at the time, but that sums up most of what I've done.

I recently switched from all extract brewing to a mini-mash. I have yet to do all grain, but I might get around to that this winter after I crank out some beers I've been meaning to do.

These are all Austin Homebrew Supply recipes (minus my Stout). I can share details if you have any specific questions.

[Klompy]

Sorry badger, pmed you again before I found this thread.

I've brewed about a dozen beers with mixed results. I'm no pro, but some things to keep in mind while brewing that have ruined or made some of my batches taste a little off are- pouring to much of the wort into the primary fermenter, meaning that a lot of the sludge at the bottom of the wort made it into the fermenter. I've done this twice now, and both times it ends up with the beer tasting much to hoppy. Always make sure that your traps on your fermenters stay full. I made an IPA that took forever to ferment, and when it was done I noticed that the trap was pretty much dry letting mold get into my batch and a nice film of blue/white mold on top when opened. (I still have this batch bottled, and am still thinking about drinking it as I've read you still can, but haven't built up the grapes to try yet).

Bringing your wort down to a temp where you can add the yeast takes a really long time if you don't have a wort chiller. Prob not something you're going to be worried about on your first batch, but after you make a few I'd look into it.

I also invested in one of these

That holds the bottles upsidedown to let them drain, as well as it has a spray nozzle on the top of it that disinfects the bottles before bottling. Just another toy that speeds up everything.

Most of my beers excluding one stout where I had to add coffee into a secondary fermenter I've just done in the primary and then bottled. Do you guys really think there's much of a difference? I have 2 bucket fermenters and 1 glass carboy that I usually am brewing wine or cider in. Is it best to use the glass carboy for secondary to avoid oxidation?

[PBAR]

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you will sterilize your primary fermenter, tubing, airlock, etc....

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Everyone has mentioned sterilizing as being a crucial part, but what exactly does it entail? i.e. are you boiling these parts, or ??

[Klompy]

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you will sterilize your primary fermenter, tubing, airlock, etc....

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Everyone has mentioned sterilizing as being a crucial part, but what exactly does it entail? i.e. are you boiling these parts, or ??

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There's different powders that you can buy that you mix in with water that are used for it. Some are no rinse, some you have to wash off so as to not poison yourself/ruin your beer. I'd recommend buying the no rinse.

[Badger]

Glass is better mainly because it is much more scratch resistant. Plastic makes it easier for the fermenter to harbor bacteria or off flavors/odors.
It's not that big of a deal, I did need to replace my primary fermenter bucket due to it becoming discolored. I'm guessing if it was holding color it could just as easily be holding bacteria, chemicals or flavors that would detract from my beer.

[JPinAZ]

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Everyone has mentioned sterilizing as being a crucial part, but what exactly does it entail? i.e. are you boiling these parts, or ??

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Unless you have a huge autoclave, you won't be sterilizing your equipment, just sanitizing. As Klompy posted, there are various chemicals you can use to do this. The most popular is probably Iodaphor. Another one I use is called Star San. Both of them are no-rinse. The cheapest would probably be bleach, but it needs to be rinsed and can cause off flavors to your beer. Over time it will also eat away at any stainless steel equipment you have .

[Yaboosh]

I love homebrewing. I am pretty new to it (only been brewing about 8 months or so) but I geeked out on it pretty hard.

One thing I have to say is plan to keg right away if you think you are going to be doing it with any sort of regularity. You can get a kegging system (excluding a fridge) for 200, and that includes 3 5 gallon corny kegs ( http://www.ebrew.com/cornelius_keggi...ock_system.htm ) a tank, all the tubing and everything else you need. Search craigslist for a cheap chest freezer, spend 50 more bucks on a temp regulator and you can easily keg your homebrew.

I am actually brewing tomorrow, a heavily hopped American "Bitter", basically a low alcohol pale ale. It will only be 3.2% alcohol so it will be good for the guys on poker night, they can have a few and still be good to drive afterwards.

If you haven't tried it already, in any APA or IPA, put all of your hops in at the last 20 minutes. You will have to add more to get the same IBUs, but the flavor and aroma you get out of them is unbelievable.

[RunDownHouse]

Cliffnotes for Dean.: The basic kits linked here will get you started and allow you to find out whether you even like brewing. If you do like it, you'll probably want to get a few batches under your belt to streamline your process and learn what makes good beer before you go off adding wood chips or fruit to your beer, but once you get to that point you'll probably still have most of your first kit that you'll use. Labels are kind of a pain from what I understand, and I don't think a lot of homebrewers label their beers simply because there's so much other fun stuff to spend money on.

Dean.,

Brewboard has a bunch of great FAQs as well as a ton of posters that are super patient when asked basic questions. The forums at Northern Brewer are also good, and there's a ton of overlap between the two both in content and in posters.

As others have said, your first priority will be sanitation. If you're looking to get very good, as you said, you're going to start looking at buying more and more equipment, particularly something to control the temperature at which your beer ferments. But to start a basic kit like those linked in this thread will let you know whether you even like the hobby, and you'll also get some good beer out of it. I've read tons of stories about guys that have been brewing for years, went back and brewed an extract kit for whatever reason, and said it came out great.

If I was going to start all over again, I'd change these things wrt the basic kit KB4Z linked: I'd get all 22oz bottles except for just a handful of 12oz. The 22oz bombers make bottling day go so much faster, and I'd basically only use the 12oz ones to hand out to friends. I'd buy an immersion chiller right away, like one that Badger linked. I'd buy a 24+qt pot to boil in, but only if I was sure my stove could get that much water up to a boil and keep it there. I'd also buy an auto siphon because I love the simplicity and am paranoid about sanitization, but you'll probably find out how you like to rack your beer right when you do your first batch.

What type of beer you brew first will probably depend on what you like to drink, but if I could recommend a style, it'd have to be a German Hefeweizen. For one, it ferments warmer than other styles. Fermentation temps are one of the most important variables in how your beer comes out, and since it'll be your first batch, you probably won't have a great handle on controlling your fermentation temps. The German wheat yeasts like higher temps than American pales or brown ales or porters. Belgian yeasts also like higher temps, but I think many Belgian beers have a complexity that comes through best when doing all-grain, whereas German hefes are a bit simpler and great just about no matter how you do them. Finally, the hefe is a fast fermenter. You don't need to keep it in the fermenter for a month to mellow out a bit; on the contrary, its best enjoyed young, so you're going to bottle it somewhere around 10 days after brewday and then drink it up when its carbed. So because the yeast likes the higher temps, its a pretty simple beer that almost always comes out great, and it goes from brewday to drinking so quickly, I'd recommend a German hefeweizen. But of course nothing wrong with making whatever else, I just found that for my first few batches I was so impatient to try out my new beer that it drove me nuts.

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They make special iodine-based (I think) sterilizer to clean out your carboys, bucket and everything else that will touch the wort once you're done boiling it.

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I use StarSan, as someone else mentioned, and think its one of the best purchases I've made. I listened to a podcast where the inventor claimed that, during testing, they actually left something like a full gallon of it in the carboy and then dumped the beer on it, and they didn't detect any off flavors. One of the most notable characteristics of home brewing is that everyone has their own way of doing things, which definitely applies to sanitization materials, but I don't see myself stopping using StarSan anytime soon. I also just use my dishwasher to sanitize my bottles and haven't had an infection in the bottle yet, knock on wood.

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Klompy just PMed me because I mentioned brewing in another thread. He was asking what I've done that I really liked, and if I've done any all grain brewing.

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I switched over to all-grain from extract this spring. I did a couple partial batches before I realized I was basically doing all-grain anyways and dumped the extract. It takes me a bit longer, but part of the move to all-grain included buying a propane burner and moving outside, so between that and the enjoyment I get out of mashing, its well worth it. I'm still trying to nail down my system, the temperature loss, boil off, etc, so my batches haven't come out great, but I've got a Belgian ready to bottle that may have turned out well.

[Yaboosh]

Honestly, sanitation is extremely important, but it is also pretty forgiving, especially with new equipment. I like to prepare a few gallons of Iodophor solution and just stick everything I need to be sanitized in the bucket and retrieve them when I need them. On brew day, this is really only the fermenter, tubing for racking from the brewpot to the fermenter, and the blowoff tube and carboy cap, and also my aeration stone and tubing.

I will disagree with you, RDH, about best first beers. While with a first beer you will almost certainly be bad at temp control (from both a lack of proper equipment and a lack of experience) I think it is a mistake to make a beer that is so dependent on the yeast. Hefes are defined by their yeast characteristics, and the proper fermentation temps (usually below what is normally thought, maybe 64-65 degrees F) is ideal for the proper balance of banana and clove esters.

I think that a hoppy beer, like an IPA or American Pale Ale is best for a first beer. These are typically made with a very clean fermenting yeast (US-05, WLP001 or Wyeast 1056) which will not spit off a lot of off flavors even if it gets a little toasty. The hops will be at such a level that they will tend to drown out many off flavors anyway.

If I were brewing my first batch again, I would make an all late hops pale ale. You will get such a ridiculously high hop flavor out of it that you will not notice any fermentation characteristics nearly as much as you would in a lighter tasting beer.

Something like this would make an excellent first beer.


9.00 lb Pale Liquid Extract (8.0 SRM) Extract 66.7 %
0.50 lb Carafoam (2.0 SRM) Grain 4.8 %
0.50 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt - 40L (40.0 SRM) Grain 4.8 %
0.50 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt - 60L (60.0 SRM) Grain 4.8 %
0.75 oz Centennial [10.00%] (20 min) Hops 10.3 IBU
0.75 oz Amarillo Gold [8.50%] (20 min) Hops 8.7 IBU
0.75 oz Centennial [10.00%] (10 min) Hops 6.1 IBU
0.75 oz Amarillo Gold [8.50%] (10 min) Hops 5.2 IBU
0.75 oz Centennial [10.00%] (1 min) Hops 5.1 IBU
0.75 oz Centennial [10.00%] (5 min) Hops 5.1 IBU
0.75 oz Amarillo Gold [8.50%] (1 min) Hops 4.3 IBU
0.75 oz Amarillo Gold [8.50%] (5 min) Hops 4.3 IBU