Home brewing beer

[yellowlab03]

In light of the other thread that won't fucking die... Anyone in here brew their own beer? I just got a 2.5 gal Mr. Brew kit for Christmas and am hooked. My first batch kind of sucked, it has an apple cider taste to it... It was supposed to be an IPA. Going to try another batch and try to sanitize better though (according to the beer store guy I got a contaminate in there somewhere while fermenting). Next step is to go up to a 5 gallon kit.

 

I love a good double IPA, right now I am really into Hop Czar, and will probably try to replicate that.

[Phil K]

It's not too hard to brew really good beer. Sanitization is important, and chlorine bleach is your friend. I found that the bottling process got old pretty quickly; more specifically, the messiness and dealing with all the sticky kitchen surfaces. A good solution is to go with a Cornelius Keg system. Quick and easy, low mess, and it lends itself really well to a kegerator setup.

 

I eventually stopped brewing just because I was drinking too much beer. It's so easy to have a few tall ones after work which leaves me pretty much useless. And I don't need to be any fatter and stupider than I already am. Have fun though!

[billcoe]

My climbing buddy Ujahn started brewing batches with his next door neighbor. Some of the beer (they've made @ 9 varieties) is/was world class good. They said that it's better to do the work yourself, rather than buy a kit. I wouldn't know, being too lazy, but that's what they said. He keeps it in a keg on tap.

 

Mmmmmm. DAYUMMMM good. Philonius has good advice up there.

 

Good luck!

[denalidave]

Skip the bottling and go straight to kegging. Unless you like messes and cleaning and messes...

[OlympicMtnBoy]

Of course if you keg you have a pretty significant extra investment and then you have a keg of beer and you'll want a kegerator. Oh and you can't bring a six pack over to your buddies as a gift unless you buy a beer gun or something. And you'll need more kegs if you want to have more types of beer around.

 

Bottling on/in your dishwasher is a good way to keep it clean. Sanitize your bottles and put them upside down in the dish rack (also sanitized). Put your bottling bucket on the counter above your dishwasher. Pull bottles off the rack and fill, drips fall on the open dishwasher door. Piece of cake.

 

Not that if someone were giving away some kegging gear I wouldn't use it for some things.

 

Also don't underestimate your local homebrew shopes. They can get you set up with a "kit" and often help customize it based on what you already have. I've found pretty knowledgeable folks at all the local stores.

 

My next project is a Flanders Red (Belgian Sour) when i unpack the brew gear from our move.

[denalidave]

Of course if you keg you have a pretty significant extra investment and then you have a keg of beer and you'll want a kegerator. Oh and you can't bring a six pack over to your buddies as a gift unless you buy a beer gun or something. And you'll need more kegs if you want to have more types of beer around.

Or, just keep a dozen or so flip top bottles (Grolsch) or growlers handy for when you when to travel with your home brews. For me, the bottling was the most tedious and messy part of the brewing process.

[Phil K]

Yeah, transferring beer to open carry containers is quite easy. They even make screw caps that go on a standard PET soda or bottled water container which allow you to fill the open space with CO2 instead of air. Keeps 'em fresh for weeks.

 

[edit: Or is that concealed carry? I get confused.]

Edited February 4, 2013 by Philonius

[matt_warfield]

cleanliness of brewing apparatus: the best way to quality

kegs cuz cleaning bottles is a pain

IPA

Edited February 4, 2013 by matt_warfield

[E-rock]

The green apple/cidery flavor is likely NOT from an infection, it's caused by an intermediate fermentation compound called acetaldehyde (the same chemical they make green apple candies with). The cause of this flavor in your beer is incomplete fermentation. There are many ways to avoid this, but they all take practice:

1) Higher pitching rate - 1 packet of yeast is not enough you need to learn how to do a starter

2) maintain proper fermentation temperature - fluctuations in temp are bad, steady temperatatures outside your ideal fermentation temp range for the yeast your using are bad

3) allow secondary fermentation to progress for longer - after active (primary) fermentation is complete, many off-flavors are cleaned up n a conditioning phase that requres 2 weeks to close to a year, depending on your beer.

4) Poor yeast growth during lag phase - you must properly aerate your wort to get satisfactory yeast reproduction before fermentation begins.

5) Mr Beer Kit - Ditch that piece of shit and get some glass carboys with air-locks.

6) Refinded sugars - cheep recipe kits like Mr. Brew are often loaded with cheap refined sugars. You use this stuff, you get cider.

Edited February 4, 2013 by E-rock

[olyclimber]

Hey E, how is your yeast infection doing?

[E-rock]

Also:

-Get a copy of "how to brew" by John Palmer. Lot's of people like Papazian's book, I have no idea why, it's out of date. How to brew is also available in excerpts online

-check out online retailers like Northern Brewer and Midwest Supplies.

-use a recipe kit to start, you will not "invent" the world's next great beer until you know how to brew. hint: unless you brew every day, this will take years.

-Dry-hopping covers up many flaws. If you like hops, I recommend dry-hopping all of your beers in the beginning.

-Don't bother trying to "clone" your favorite beer right away. Clone recipes are notoriously inaccurate, and if you don't know what you're doing, it doesn't matter if you buy the ingredients from the brewery itself, it ain't gonna taste the same.

-Stay humble and KEEP TRYING. I made beers that I thought were awesome until I started noticing the flaws. Then I spent years working on the craft to get those flaws down to acceptable levels (i.e., I could enjoy my beer without tasting only the flaws).

-As Charlie Papazian says - "Relax, have a homebrew"

[E-rock]

Hey E, how is your yeast infection doing?

 

It's taken years to get it to reduce to acceptable levels.

 

[olyclimber]

you had me until the part about humility.

 

truth is I don't have the patience to make it, but here is to those of you who do!