Home Brew Report Numero Uno

[broon]

Originally posted by: Ausm
How do you control the alcohol content? My Favorite beer is Chimay Ale or Erdinger pinkantis Bak both are around 9% by volume.


AUsm

I made a Chimay Bleu clone at 10% ABV at a cost of $.50/ 12 oz. bottle. I made it last year and still have about 5 bottles. It definately has improved with age and in a side by side it is almost identical.

 

[LeonarD26]

Could someone recommend a good starter/beginner kit? Any good online resources??

 

[broon]

Originally posted by: LeonarD26
Could someone recommend a good starter/beginner kit? Any good online resources??

I know of some resources. PM

 

[JDub02]

I just stick to home brew root beer ... still tasty, though.

I have yet to find a beer that I think tastes good.

 

[rgwalt]

If you really get into home brew, look into getting a kegging system... no need to worry about bottling. I also second the idea of using Grolsch bottles. Either way you go, it will be worth the investment.

R

 

[Descartes]

I would definitely get a kegging and cooling system if you plan on doing any more homebrew. It makes a world of difference, imo. The ability to more easily control the carbonation over time is worth it by itself, imo. I make wine and beer (more wine than beer, because I make beer during the winter mostly), and I do the same with my wine; age it in barrels/carboys instead of individual bottles.

Anyway, enjoy! Beer is pretty easy to make, but there's a whole world of complexity available should you choose to pursue it.

 

[broon]

Maybe you haven't tried the right beer yet. Wheat is always a good starter or a light german (helles or pilsener).

 

[stonecold3169]

Next time, I'd got o the bottle return center and pick up some swingtop bottles like the grolsch ones. My return store sells them at redemption cost (0.05 here in NY) and I can usually get a case at a time from them.

Abotu those corona bottles: They'll skunk your hops easily is exposed to light. also, be careful openiong those up! those corona longnecks are known for cracking easily afte rbeing recapped!

 

[Chaotic42]

Originally posted by: waggy
Heh my wife wants to get me a homebrew kit. She wants to have a superbowl party and have the beer for that.

Does she have a sister?

 

[Ogg]

omg so cheap!!:Q

Its on!!!




double omg descartes
......................................I could have Barrels of WINE!!!!!!!!!!!

YES







:thumbsup:

 

[Descartes]

Originally posted by: Ogg
omg so cheap!!:Q

Its on!!!




double omg descartes
......................................I could have Barrels of WINE!!!!!!!!!!!

YES







:thumbsup:

LOL, now that's enthusiasm

 

[broon]

Originally posted by: Descartes

Originally posted by: Ogg
omg so cheap!!:Q

Its on!!!




double omg descartes
......................................I could have Barrels of WINE!!!!!!!!!!!

YES







:thumbsup:

LOL, now that's enthusiasm

Not so fast. Not trying to discourage anyone but a decent starter kit will run about $120. Then like any hobby you want more stuff. I have about $1000 wrapped up and I don't even have the greatest stuff. But I have world class beer...stuff you can't buy here...at about $.25/12 oz bottle.

 

[Descartes]

Originally posted by: broon

Originally posted by: Descartes

Originally posted by: Ogg
omg so cheap!!:Q

Its on!!!




double omg descartes
......................................I could have Barrels of WINE!!!!!!!!!!!

YES







:thumbsup:

LOL, now that's enthusiasm

Not so fast. Not trying to discourage anyone but a decent starter kit will run about $120. Then like any hobby you want more stuff. I have about $1000 wrapped up and I don't even have the greatest stuff. But I have world class beer...stuff you can't buy here...at about $.25/12 oz bottle.

Well, it's still much cheaper for wine; of course, that's assuming you can produce a quality bottle. This is where your labor, research time, reading, experimenting, etc. comes into play. Not to be a snob about it, but I'm of the opinion that it's much easier to developer quality homebrew. Initially the costs might seem high, but if you stick with it the return is much greater, imo.

I have stainless steel fermenters plumbed-in between fermenters, a pump, etc. for my wine/beer. I still don't have a license to sell, but if I did I'd likely see a financial return on it as well. Anyway, the personal satisfaction is well worth the investment no matter what, imo.

 

[waggy]

Originally posted by: Chaotic42

Originally posted by: waggy
Heh my wife wants to get me a homebrew kit. She wants to have a superbowl party and have the beer for that.

Does she have a sister?

yeah! as a matter of fact she has 5 of them! 4 are single!

 

[broon]

Originally posted by: Descartes

Well, it's still much cheaper for wine; of course, that's assuming you can produce a quality bottle. This is where your labor, research time, reading, experimenting, etc. comes into play. Not to be a snob about it, but I'm of the opinion that it's much easier to developer quality homebrew. Initially the costs might seem high, but if you stick with it the return is much greater, imo.

I have stainless steel fermenters plumbed-in between fermenters, a pump, etc. for my wine/beer. I still don't have a license to sell, but if I did I'd likely see a financial return on it as well. Anyway, the personal satisfaction is well worth the investment no matter what, imo.

I totally agree. It's not about the price. It's about the satisfaction of having a quality product and the pride that you made it. The price per pint is just an added bonus. To further decrease the price/pint (but increase the cost of equipment) all grain is the way to go. I was paying $35/5 gallons for extract but now I pay less than $20 per batch on average. That's $20 for 2+ cases of bottles. I've also started growing my own hops which saves a little. Now if I could buckle down and learn to harvest my own yeast...now that would be something.

 

[funboy6942]

Any one looking to get into this here is a good but cheap way to start. I used this system and I got very good tasting beer.

They even have a home rootbeer kit as well

 

[UTmtnbiker]

Just had the wife pick up a 20qt stock pot. Been reading this is one way to improve your beer quality by brewing all (or as much as you can) the wort together rather than 3 gal. and then filling with water.

Any suggestions for the next purchase? I now have the 20qt (5gal) stock pot, 2 6 gal plastic bucket fermenters, 1 5 gal glass carboy, hydrometer, self starting syphon, couple of thermometers, couple of airlocks, 3 or 4 brushes for the carboy/buckets, basically all the ancillery things.

I'm thinking of either a bottle washer (I'm also of just sticking bottles in the dishwasher to clean and sanitize them), a bottle drying tree, or basically anything that'll make the bottling go quicker. I've found other than making the wort, bottling takes the longest time. Maybe a keg?

 

[stonecold3169]

Originally posted by: UTmtnbiker
Just had the wife pick up a 20qt stock pot. Been reading this is one way to improve your beer quality by brewing all (or as much as you can) the wort together rather than 3 gal. and then filling with water.

Any suggestions for the next purchase? I now have the 20qt (5gal) stock pot, 2 6 gal plastic bucket fermenters, 1 5 gal glass carboy, hydrometer, self starting syphon, couple of thermometers, couple of airlocks, 3 or 4 brushes for the carboy/buckets, basically all the ancillery things.

I'm thinking of either a bottle washer (I'm also of just sticking bottles in the dishwasher to clean and sanitize them), a bottle drying tree, or basically anything that'll make the bottling go quicker. I've found other than making the wort, bottling takes the longest time. Maybe a keg?

kegging is fantastic, BUT, call me sick or what not, I prefer using pint sized swing tops... there is somethign very enjoyable about popping and pouring them pint by pint.

As for the bottle washer, well, I bought a bottle scrubber from the dollar store (designed for baby bottles), cut the plastic end off of it, and ut the metal part in a drill. makes bottle cleaning fun and easy.

A full boil will make a noticably better beer, one thing you might have issues with is getting that water to boil on a regular range. The stove I have on my campus apartment works for it, my one at home doesn't... might wanna check out walmart and get a clearenced out turkey frier. The propane cooker will get much hotter much faster then a regular range, and tends to be more accurate.

If you are looking at getting a clearer beer and saving time on brew day, an immersion chiller is a must have. It's basically a hollow coppe tube that hooks up to a water line. you drop the cooler into your wart after it is boiled, and you run cold watter through it and it cools rapidly. Same exact idea as a computer water cooling system. This will help you get the cold break, which is typically what makes your beers cloudy.

 

[HomeBrewerDude]

http://www.howtobrew.com/intro.html

Midwest brewing is one example of an online brew supply store. I have heard good things about them, but I have never personally bought from them. I usually buy local if I can.

example starter kits:

basic:
STARTER EQUIPMENT LIST

INSTRUCTIONAL HOMEBREWING VIDEO
71 PAGE INSTRUCTIONAL BOOK.
6.5 GALLON FERMENTER AND LID
6.5 GALLON BOTTLING BUCKET AND SPIGOT
8 OUNCES OF ONE STEP CLEANER
AIRLOCK (KEEPS AIR OF THE FERMENTER)
HYDROMETER (DETERMINES ALCOHOL CONTENT)
BOTTLE BRUSH
TWIN LEVEL RED BARON BOTTLE CAPPER
BOTTLE CAPS
LIQUID CRYSTAL THERMOMETER
BOTTLE FILLER
RACKING TUBE WITH BUCKET CLIP
SIPHON TUBING


intermediate:
INTERMEDIATE EQUIPMENT LIST

INSTRUCTIONAL HOMEBREWING VIDEO
71 PAGE INSTRUCTIONAL BOOK.
5 GALLON GLASS CARBOY
6.5 GALLON PLASTIC FERMENTER
6.5 GALLON BOTTLING BUCKET AND SPIGOT
8 OUNCES OF ONE STEP CLEANER
RUBBER STOPPER
AIRLOCK (KEEPS AIR OF THE FERMENTER)
HYDROMETER (DETERMINES ALCOHOL CONTENT)
BOTTLE BRUSH
CARBOY BRUSH
TWIN LEVEL RED BARON BOTTLE CAPPER
BOTTLE CAPS
LIQUID CRYSTAL THERMOMETER
BOTTLE FILLER
RACKING TUBE WITH BUCKET CLIP
SIPHON TUBING

deluxe:
INSTRUCTIONAL HOMEBREWING VIDEO
71 PAGE INSTRUCTIONAL BOOK.
6 GALLON GLASS CARBOY
5 GALLON GLASS CARBOY
6.5 GALLON PLASTIC FERMENTER
6.5 GALLON BOTTLING BUCKET AND SPIGOT
8 OUNCES OF ONE STEP CLEANER
2 AIRLOCKS (KEEPS AIR OF THE FERMENTER)
8 INCH FUNNEL
HYDROMETER (DETERMINES ALCOHOL CONTENT)
BOTTLE BRUSH
JET BOTTLE WASHER AND ADAPTER
CARBOY BRUSH
TWIN LEVEL RED BARRON BOTTLE CAPPER
BOTTLE CAPS
2 LIQUID CRYSTAL THERMOMETERS
PHIL'S BRASS BOTTLE FILLER
RACKING TUBE WITH BUCKET CLIP
SIPHON TUBING


out of all these peices of eq, this is a list of what I would consider essential:

5 gal (or more) brew pot (you can get a outside propane burner and 7 gallon pot for around 30$)
6 or 7 gal primary fermentation bucket (10-15$)
5 or 6 gal carboy (for secondary) (18-23$)
hydrometer (5-8$)
2 airlocks and corks (8-10$)
autosiphon and 5 feet of tubing (roughly 10$, replaces funnel), can use with a hose clamp (3-5$) to replace bottling bucket.
bottle brush
carboy brush
a book like:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obi..._1/002-7616270-9070426

or Palmers online text.

 

[rgwalt]

Originally posted by: stonecold3169

Originally posted by: UTmtnbiker
Just had the wife pick up a 20qt stock pot. Been reading this is one way to improve your beer quality by brewing all (or as much as you can) the wort together rather than 3 gal. and then filling with water.

Any suggestions for the next purchase? I now have the 20qt (5gal) stock pot, 2 6 gal plastic bucket fermenters, 1 5 gal glass carboy, hydrometer, self starting syphon, couple of thermometers, couple of airlocks, 3 or 4 brushes for the carboy/buckets, basically all the ancillery things.

I'm thinking of either a bottle washer (I'm also of just sticking bottles in the dishwasher to clean and sanitize them), a bottle drying tree, or basically anything that'll make the bottling go quicker. I've found other than making the wort, bottling takes the longest time. Maybe a keg?

kegging is fantastic, BUT, call me sick or what not, I prefer using pint sized swing tops... there is somethign very enjoyable about popping and pouring them pint by pint.

As for the bottle washer, well, I bought a bottle scrubber from the dollar store (designed for baby bottles), cut the plastic end off of it, and ut the metal part in a drill. makes bottle cleaning fun and easy.

A full boil will make a noticably better beer, one thing you might have issues with is getting that water to boil on a regular range. The stove I have on my campus apartment works for it, my one at home doesn't... might wanna check out walmart and get a clearenced out turkey frier. The propane cooker will get much hotter much faster then a regular range, and tends to be more accurate.

If you are looking at getting a clearer beer and saving time on brew day, an immersion chiller is a must have. It's basically a hollow coppe tube that hooks up to a water line. you drop the cooler into your wart after it is boiled, and you run cold watter through it and it cools rapidly. Same exact idea as a computer water cooling system. This will help you get the cold break, which is typically what makes your beers cloudy.

I second the idea of using a turkey frier. A friend of mine home-brews, and he uses a turkey frier to make his wort. Plus, it doesn't heat up the house in the summer like the stove does. Making a chiller isn't hard. You can get all the piping and connections at a hardware store. You could brew your beer in the turkey frier outside, and then hook your chiller up to the garden hose or to your sink. You will be amazed with how well a coil of copper pipe with cold running water will chill your beer.

R

 

[broon]

Originally posted by: rgwalt

I second the idea of using a turkey frier. A friend of mine home-brews, and he uses a turkey frier to make his wort. Plus, it doesn't heat up the house in the summer like the stove does. Making a chiller isn't hard. You can get all the piping and connections at a hardware store. You could brew your beer in the turkey frier outside, and then hook your chiller up to the garden hose or to your sink. You will be amazed with how well a coil of copper pipe with cold running water will chill your beer.

R

I have two turkey friers and never fried a turkey. I have some 15.5 gallon stainless modified "vessals" that I brew 10 gallon batches in. Comes to a boil in about 30 min and I can brew about five times on one propane tank.

If you get to that volume, I suggest a counterflow chiller which can be made for less than $50. Will cool boiling liquid to yeast pitching temps in about 20 min vs. an immersion chiller which takes about an hour.

 

[Klixxer]

Originally posted by: broon

Originally posted by: rgwalt

I second the idea of using a turkey frier. A friend of mine home-brews, and he uses a turkey frier to make his wort. Plus, it doesn't heat up the house in the summer like the stove does. Making a chiller isn't hard. You can get all the piping and connections at a hardware store. You could brew your beer in the turkey frier outside, and then hook your chiller up to the garden hose or to your sink. You will be amazed with how well a coil of copper pipe with cold running water will chill your beer.

R

I have two turkey friers and never fried a turkey. I have some 15.5 gallon stainless modified "vessals" that I brew 10 gallon batches in. Comes to a boil in about 30 min and I can brew about five times on one propane tank.

If you get to that volume, I suggest a counterflow chiller which can be made for less than $50. Will cool boiling liquid to yeast pitching temps in about 20 min vs. an immersion chiller which takes about an hour.

You know, when you open that beer place, you gotta send me an invitation, don't forget that.

Actually i got kind of intrigued after our last discussion and have started lookin into it.

I got the tools to build anything in metal, give me a good description of what i would need to do this perfectly.

I promise to send you a case of the first batch.

 

[broon]

Originally posted by: Klixxer

You know, when you open that beer place, you gotta send me an invitation, don't forget that.

Actually i got kind of intrigued after our last discussion and have started lookin into it.

I got the tools to build anything in metal, give me a good description of what i would need to do this perfectly.

I promise to send you a case of the first batch.

Best thing to do is to check out a place like morebeer.com. They have all the supplies you need. Get some books and start reading. Also there are homebrew forums available to get advice. Be prepared to drop some change to get started.

 

[MikeMike]

do ya have to be 21 to brew? or can i just tell my dad i wanna brew? lol

MIKE

 

[broon]

Originally posted by: nourdmrolNMT1
do ya have to be 21 to brew? or can i just tell my dad i wanna brew? lol

MIKE

Regular laws apply. I don't think you have to be 21 to brew but you do have to be 21 to posess.