Any other Home Brewers out there?

SixPapaCharlie

SixPapaCharlie

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One of my hobbies left over from college.

I never progressed past partial extract brewing. Would like to the real deal sometime but I have had some really great beers using grains for part and LME for part.

I have a kit similar to this except I ditched the plastic bucket and use Glass carboys for both stages:

http://www.midwestsupplies.com/brewing-starter-kit-1.html

It takes a few weeks to but getting much better quality beer for about 50 cents a bottle is hard to beat.
 
Thanks, that's a good start. Can you recommend one or more books that explain in detail how this works to get started and maybe other books that are a little more advanced?

Oops, I must have been typing when you sent that last post. Exactly what I was looking for.
 
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The first book I linked is sort of the beginner bible. I don't mean beginner like the Mr. Beer deal you see at bed bath and beyond. It is a bit more advanced but where you should start. You select your hops, grains, etc and cook them per the instructions and then add Malt Extract (liquid or dry) to increase the alcohol %

It is about a 3 hour process and then 2-5 weeks to ferment depending on the style of yeast you use. Bottle the beer and let is sit for another week and a half and it will self carbonate as the remaining yeast releases C02.

That is advanced as I have gotten. Two further paths are "all grain" and lagering.
All grain uses no extract so you spend a lot more time cooking many pounds of grains to get sugars out of them and Making lagers requires special fridge for fermenting as they must be fermented for longer periods of time in the 50 degree range.

Ales can ferment at room temp (low to mid 70s)

I buy my ingredients from a local shop but you can get them off that Midwest supplies site. $30 worth of ingredients yields ~5 gallons so about 53 12 oz bottles. Not a bad deal and it s a fun hobby.
 
Do you get a noticeably better end product with all grains?
 
I home brew electronics and airlanes... but not beer. :)
 
SixPapaCharlie said:
Do you get a noticeably better end product with all grains?
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OK, I'm back.

What you get with all grain are two things: you get complete control over the mashing process, and I forget the other.


(Really, there is no other).

The mash is where the starches in the grain are converted to sugars. The mash temperature deterimes a lot of how the final product will be - a lot of fermentable sugars means a more complete fermentation and a light body, a lot of unfermentable sugars means more body. That kind of thing. You also have the ability to adjust the colors better too.

The extracts take the mash process away from you, and boil it down into a concentrate. When you buy an extract that says it's for a particular style, you are trusting that the manufacturer used the proper mash temps - and they probably did.

As far as I know, beer judging contests don't have separate categories for extract and grain. They compete against each other and there are pleny of ribbons awarded to extracts.

Going all grain adds about 2 more hours to the beer making day. But it's a neat experience to taste the grains before, during, and after the mash. The raw grain is just that, like eating dry oatmeal. During the mash you can taste it starting to get sweet, and at the end of the mash, it's very sweet (not as much as you'd think, but it will boil down during cooking and get more concentrated.) After the mash, you rinse and strain all the sugary solution out so you can cook it. What you have left are spent grains and if you did it right, they will have no flavor left at all.
 
Make my own wine does that count :)
 
I don't drink, never have, but I've always been interested in trying home brewing. I guess it may be a problem that I can't taste test before letting others try.
 
ron22 said:
Make my own wine does that count :)
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I made a cab 2 years ago and it came out iffy.
I made a desert port wine and it was amazing.

I enjoy making wine as well.


It counts ;)
 
48dodge said:
I don't drink, never have, but I've always been interested in trying home brewing. I guess it may be a problem that I can't taste test before letting others try.
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Non drinkers can make fine beer. It doesn't become alcoholic until the fermentation. It really doesn't become drinkable for another week after that, at least. You can get good feedback from beer drinkers. Realy, beer making is very technical and you can follow the process by measuring the specific gravity at various points along the way.

Even without tasting the finished product you can smell the hops, the yeast and the malt. You can judge the color and clarity.
 
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Oh I love homebrewing. Just don't have the time like I used to. Used to be an all weekend thing to make an all-grain brew.
 
Started brewing 4 years ago, but now drink much more wine than beer, so I haven't brewed in a while. I do miss it though. I'll probably brew a few summer beers here shortly to get ready for the heat of summer.

For anyone interested in doing all grain without the equipment expense, look up Brew In A Bag (BIAB). You get most of the control of traditional all grain brewing, but with a fraction of the equipment (which ain't cheap). I made the move to BIAB a few years ago for a total cost of about $10. The BIAB beer was hands down better than any extract I'd ever made. I'll never do extract ever again. BIAB is just too easy not to do it!
 
I do a bit of homebrewing, I'm still very much just a simple hobbyist at this point...most of my efforts are used searching out good craft beers at local breweries made by people far more talented than me.

And wine is good too...though I usually just go with my lady says I'll like...
 
Yeah, if you are going to make wine, it is good to get one batch started 1/4 through the prior so and start a rotation so you always have some coming out. But winemaking is not fast.
 
Made wine for a couple of years - haven't in about a year now due to a move. But 6PC is right. When you start, you don't get much of a product for a while, like months. That first 6 months is the hardest, since you don't feel like you're getting anywhere! But what you do is start a new batch after a month or two, then another one after that, so that you have a rotation going. Then you have a new batch of wine finishing every month or two, which isn't bad.

Never made beer, but at least with wine, if you're using a "kit" (where you're buying the juice itself, not actual grapes), it's pretty easy and doesn't require any real time commitment. Not counting cleaning things, I bet the total time of actual work to make a 5 or 6 gallon carboy of wine has to be about 4 or 5 hours, that's it. A couple of hours during the first couple of weeks, an hour or so at the end for bottling, and maybe 30 minutes every month or so while it's aging.

Most of the time is just spent waiting, and sometimes forgetting about it!
 
RussR said:
Made wine for a couple of years - haven't in about a year now due to a move. But 6PC is right. When you start, you don't get much of a product for a while, like months. That first 6 months is the hardest, since you don't feel like you're getting anywhere! But what you do is start a new batch after a month or two, then another one after that, so that you have a rotation going. Then you have a new batch of wine finishing every month or two, which isn't bad.

Never made beer, but at least with wine, if you're using a "kit" (where you're buying the juice itself, not actual grapes), it's pretty easy and doesn't require any real time commitment. Not counting cleaning things, I bet the total time of actual work to make a 5 or 6 gallon carboy of wine has to be about 4 or 5 hours, that's it. A couple of hours during the first couple of weeks, an hour or so at the end for bottling, and maybe 30 minutes every month or so while it's aging.

Most of the time is just spent waiting, and sometimes forgetting about it!
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A friend and I made some pretty good stuff when we were in high school. We added a few cans of frozen Welches grape juice, sugar and a pack of baking yeast to a cider jug and filled it with water. We stuck a balloon over the jug opening and placed it in his attic. We made several batches that way until it got a little too hot and the balloon burst and the whole house smelled like prison hooch. His parents were not amused.
 
Gary F said:
A friend and I made some pretty good stuff when we were in high school. We added a few cans of frozen Welches grape juice, sugar and a pack of baking yeast to a cider jug and filled it with water. We stuck a balloon over the jug opening and placed it in his attic. We made several batches that way until it got a little too hot and the balloon burst and the whole house smelled like prison hooch. His parents were not amused.
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Smart to use a balloon. I did it in capped bottles.
Went to open one and it exploded. Glass went everywhere.

I gently carried the rest out side and threw rocks at them from behind a piece of plywood.
 
I have been making wine at home since 2007.
 
If someone wants to start with wine making I suggest using a kit.
Not really hard if you can read directions.
Later you can play tweaking thing to get the results you like bet
I use grapes and age for a year.
 
4 year home brewer here. All extract. Have not went AG yet. Pretty much all Dry Malt Extract (DME). Plastic bucket fermentors and secondaries. Got some great beers. All Ales. Haven't tried lagering yet. Won a couple events local level. Sent to nat'l comp and won NOTHING ! lol. It's a fun hobby, until you have a bad batch and have to dump 5 gal of beer down the drain. Got a nice 4 tap home made kegerator. Use Corny kegs.
 
I went to a local brew club meeting once, as a guest. They had beer tasting/judging that night. Everone got a sample and got to comment. Mine did OK that night, it was a batch of some style I'd never made before, and never tasted before. I wanted to know how close I came.

Then it happenned: the beer that you could smell a mile away. The club president said, "I've dumped a lot of beer down the drain over the years, and some of it tasted better than this." Nobody claimed it, so we tried to assume the reason it was entered for tasting was to get feedback on what went wrong.
 
SixPapaCharlie said:
Smart to use a balloon. I did it in capped bottles.
Went to open one and it exploded. Glass went everywhere.

I gently carried the rest out side and threw rocks at them from behind a piece of plywood.
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For home fermentation vessels the best IMO is to use a "Bubbler" which is like a little "S" shaped stopper put in the neck of a carboy. You put a couple ounces of sulfur water in it so that expanding gas from fermentation can escape (eliminating pressure build-up) but oxygen cannot get in.

One of the issues with smaller fermentors is getting enough mass to store the heat needed to complete the fermentation. You always want to make sure it's done fermenting BEFORE bottling it.


One thing not to forget is that often a wine (pretty much always for reds) will go through 2 fermentations, the first is alcoholic and the second is malo-lactic. It's best to use commercial bacteria for the ML fermentation instead of letting it start naturally as those can be unpredictable and usually much slower often ending up finishing in the bottle, creating pressure and surprises. Always always always make sure free sulphur levels are adjusted properly before bottling. Sulphur is your friend :yes:

My mom made some home wine when she was a kid and filled a couple bottles and proudly took it home and stuck it in the lay down wine rack at home which was conveniently pointed right at the completely full Thanksgiving table when the cap decided to give way :eek:
 
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I used the airlocks but went to a blow off tube after I made an IPA that I dry hopped and the airlock couldn't keep up with the carbonation. Never got the green stains off the ceiling.
 
Jr Hampton said:
It's a fun hobby, until you have a bad batch and have to dump 5 gal of beer down the drain.
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Done that more than once.
I always bottle it and wait and hope something magic will happen.
Then wait a little longer

...and then dump the batch. No fun.
 
I was heavy into home brewing when I lived in Vermont around 1991-94. Started with extract and then went all grain. My biggest issue was that I didn't drink enough. Generally you brew 5 gal batches at a time.

What home brewing did do was to destroy my ability to drink **** beer. I'm now a beer snob. I love a good glass of beer.
 
I don't know how anyone can drink anything that has to be kept as cold as the Rockies to keep you from actually tasting / smelling it.
 
jonnyjetprop said:
I was heavy into home brewing when I lived in Vermont around 1991-94. Started with extract and then went all grain. My biggest issue was that I didn't drink enough. Generally you brew 5 gal batches at a time.

What home brewing did do was to destroy my ability to drink **** beer. I'm now a beer snob. I love a good glass of beer.
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AMEN TO THAT
 
SixPapaCharlie said:
I don't know how anyone can drink anything that has to be kept as cold as the Rockies to keep you from actually tasting / smelling it.
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Now I loooove a good IPA or red ale. But sometimes, just sometimes, like when it's hot as heck and I'm playing disc golf or awake at 10 AM camping, a crappy beer fits the bill just fine.
 
Skyscraper said:
Now I loooove a good IPA or red ale. But sometimes, just sometimes, like when it's hot as heck and I'm playing disc golf or awake at 10 AM camping, a crappy beer fits the bill just fine.
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I'll confess to that. I keep cans of Miller Lite in the fridge for just such occasions. I prefer various beers by Ommegang when I want a real beer. I hope to start home brewing in a few months.
 
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I tend to get on kicks and burn out. About 10 years ago I had my first IPA. That is all I drank for about a year. Did the same thing with Franziskaner. Man I loved that stuff.

Now in my older wiser age, I am enjoying nut brown ales in moderation.
Sam Adams has a good Hazelnut ale that is pretty good.
Austin TX 512 brewery has Pecan porter that is awesome.
 
Skyscraper said:
Now I loooove a good IPA or red ale. But sometimes, just sometimes, like when it's hot as heck and I'm playing disc golf or awake at 10 AM camping, a crappy beer fits the bill just fine.
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Maintaining a tolerance for the crappy beers helps me when I go to a biker bar...I love me a good craft beer but if all I can find there is Budweiser or worse then at least I can still drink something.
 
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