Re: Homebrewers - Whats in the fermeter?
 

Here we are 3 weeks to the day and my gravity reading is 1.020. Should I keep waiting? Doesn't look like much has been going on in the air lock for quite a while.

Re: Homebrewers - Whats in the fermeter?
 

I ended up using Wyeast 1214 because the shop had two (and I only had time for a 24hr starter), and I believe I'll get a little less banana with the 1214 as well but haven't really looked into that in detail.

I checked in on it this morning before work and the bubbling has slow, but is still very active IMO with a large bubble/second.

Re: Homebrewers - Whats in the fermeter?
 

About a month ago I made a sour robust porter; a basic porter recipe except I added one gallon of wort I soured with acidulated malt. Earlier today I racked it over from primary to secondary, and decided toinnoculate it with some Brett. This should be a very traditional tasting porter when it's done next autumn. Traditionally porters were aged in oak casks and became "infected" with lacobacillus bacteria and wild brettanomyces yeast. It will be modestly sour, and have a "barnyard" aroma. I tasted the beer when I racked it, and it tastes great. I almost decided to just go straight to bottles and omit the Brett. Hopefully I won't be disappointed next fall.

HERE is my original post if anyone is interested in the recipe.

Re: Homebrewers - Whats in the fermeter?
 

awesome! Glad you updated us on this...very interesting

Re: Homebrewers - Whats in the fermeter?
 

:hm

So here's what I would do. I would rack to a glass secondary and then watch it for a week. And by that, I mean actually eyeball it. Go all "beer whisperer" on it and see if it looks done. Anything bobbing around, or clumping on the top? Is it still as can be? Maybe float the hydrometer in there midweek to see if there's any movement. Then I'd bottle it and not worry.

I hestitate to say it's stuck, especially since you started at an OG that was 10 points higher than expected, and now you're only 6-8 points higher than the recipe. Just means you have a big bodied beer.

:2

Re: Homebrewers - Whats in the fermeter?
 

As soon as all the parts for my mash tun arrive I will brew BierMuncher Centennial Blonde. I have it on good authority that this is a good light ale for summer drinking pleasure. Plus it costs $18.87 to brew 5 gallons of beer which equates to approximately $0.36 per 12 ounce beer.

Re: Homebrewers - Whats in the fermeter?
 

I have brewed this a number of times and can attest that it's a very good beer. icantbejon's wife loves it, and she's not much into homebrew. It's just as good if you leave out the Vienna malt, which I've done when I overlooked it in the recipe ;)

Bottled my light American ale test batch last night--tasted a little like a cross between Rolling Rock & Sam Adams ale. Not my favorite style, but it's experimental for some non-craft brew drinking friends.

Tonight I'm racking my Hopslam clone, adding the honey and salvaging the yeast. Had good, steady fermentation for almost a full week, I'm really pleased at how well the yeast performed considering I cultivated it from the bottle dregs! :noon

Re: Homebrewers - Whats in the fermeter?
 

.020 isn't bad. Not ideal, but not bad, full bodies and a touch sweet. I like that.
If its still there(.020) by the time you read this and take another measurement, I'd call it good. It'll still be good beer. Did it get into the low 60's while fermenting?

Re: Homebrewers - Whats in the fermeter?
 

sounds good. I was going to bottle anyway, but I found out I can't easily bottle straight from the primary with an autosiphon and a bottling wand. Looks like I need a bottling bucket or something similar.

Oh, I really doubt it got to the low 60's during fermenting. I'd guess 65 at the lowest but anything's possible. Unfortunately I wasn't able to watch it 24/7, even though I would have liked to :)

Re: Homebrewers - Whats in the fermeter?
 

Bottled my Irish Red today. 3 weeks is gonna feel like forever with this one.

Re: Homebrewers - Whats in the fermeter?
 

I just wrapped up brewing a partial mash pale ale. Nothing fancy. 4 lbs light DME, 3 lbs two row, one lb crystal malts. Magnum for bittering, Amarillo for flavor and aroma. Should have been about be about 45 ibu's, but I messed up my hop schedule so this will come in at about 36 ibu's. No biggie, should still be nice to drink. I'll also dry hop with the ounce of Amarillo I forgot to add. Pitched Safale US-05. OG was 1.052, planning for 1.012 FG.

Re: Homebrewers - Whats in the fermeter?
 

Sunday I bottled a cream ale and brewed a blood orange hefeweizen. Hoping that turns out because it smelled awesome, and the hydro sample tasted great, too.

I got the recipe off of homebrewtalk.com and the poster there said it came from "Extreme Homebrewing" by Sam Caglione. It was an extract and grains recipe.

This week I'm picking up the rest of the ingredients to do my first partial mash. It'll be a Bell's Two-Hearted clone I plan to brew this weekend.

Re: Homebrewers - Whats in the fermeter?
 

Depending on what all I have to do this weekend I may find time to brew a dry stout. I'm thinking about trying the Ó Flannagáin Standard.

Re: Homebrewers - Whats in the fermeter?
 

If anyone is interested, now is the time to register for this year's contest. More information:

http://www.homebrewersassociation.or...on-information

The last time I entered was more than 5 years ago, so I decided to submit a few of my recent beers to get some professional feedback and to see how they hold up to others in their style:

Winston's Lot (Imperial IPA)
Trappist Hollow (Belgian Specialty/Trappist Christmas ale)
Essence (Cream Ale)

My son is also entering as primary brewer on CohiBrew (Imperial IPA,) I'll be secondary.

Since a number of folks around CA have sampled these, I'll be sure to post my performance once the scores come back. Unless they suck ;)

Re: Homebrewers - Whats in the fermeter?
 

Cool stuff Gerard, good luck.

Last night was bottling day for me...http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5014/...11cb4a7ff1.jpg

No, this one will not be going to AHA, HAHA! I don't have particularly high hopes for this batch, but a lot was learned that I applied to my second batch (a belgian trip that tastes quite promising). I guess I'll just wait and see. It will certainly be beer! Labels are coming off from now on.

Dunkelweiss PM and Chimay Grand Reserve AG half-batch up on deck for this weekend.

Re: Homebrewers - Whats in the fermeter?
 

Just kegged 10 gal of AHS Greenbelt IPA and 10 gal of a smoked creamy amber. This saturdays mega brew day will include 10 gal batch of mixed up ginger wheat and 10 gal of ?????.

Re: Homebrewers - Whats in the fermeter?
 

I just emptied a keg of GreenBelt. Its one great beer, you are going to love it. More of an IPA than a PaleAle. I will be making it again for sure!

Re: Homebrewers - Whats in the fermeter?
 

Good news! This stuff smelled like a grapefruit bomb went off when we were kegging it. Out of the keg a week later not so much...;o( Still a great beer for sure just wonder where that great flavor/smell went? I think we should have waited 10 or so days before we dryhopped (we did our dryhopping in the primary this time). In other words all of that great smell bubbled out with the fermentation. We are kinda lazy brewers and have only used the carboys once lol. Looking into dryhopping in the kegs next with a hop bag tied to dental floss sticking out of the corney lid.

You know of any IPA Clones (extract) that are lighter in color @think pilsner color@ and a bit less bitter?

Re: Homebrewers - Whats in the fermeter?
 

http://i976.photobucket.com/albums/a...t/DSC_0001.jpg

Makings of an alt, and my recent hop score. I should be able to lager this thing in the basement for the next two months unless spring decides to come early in VT. Should have 5 gallons ready for a May camping trip in Maine.

Rant on...
Hops are $3 an ounce at my local homebrew supply, $48 a pound. What you see on the table is 2.5lbs of various hops, leaf and pellet that cost me $35 with shipping. I'd like to support my local but at some point I have to look elsewhere.
Rant off...

Re: Homebrewers - Whats in the fermeter?
 

Racked my second batch, Belgian Trippel, to secondary tonight to free up a primary. Also whipped up a starter for the Dunkelweiss I'm doing this weekend. I'm freakin hooked, bad.

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5094/...2dbe0b23e0.jpg

Re: Homebrewers - Whats in the fermeter?
 

I'm with you on this one. All of my hop purchases are internet these days--not only is the price better (even with shipping,) but so is the variety. My HBS carries a lot of stock, but they're all pellet and I prefer whole leaf or plug for the most part.

Re: Homebrewers - Whats in the fermeter?
 

Bought a pound of centennial and a pound of amarillo online a couple of weeks back, too. They were only about $10/pound, and make brewing a IIPA a whole lot cheaper!

Re: Homebrewers - Whats in the fermeter?
 

OK, with all these awesome brews I have to be the dumby and ask; how do I start homebrewing? Is there a kit or anything out there and is there guide to brewing? Can someone help me? Thanks gang.

Re: Homebrewers - Whats in the fermeter?
 

http://www.howtobrew.com/

Read this, and if you are still interested get down to your local homebrew supply and purchase the supplies you need. Tell them what you want to brew, and that you are new and they should be able to set you up with a kit that includes what you absolutely need, and not the extra stuff that you will wind up buying later anyway.

Re: Homebrewers - Whats in the fermeter?
 

Going to try my first brew-in-a-bag method this weekend (which is my first all-grain, too). Anyone who has done it have any pointers?

It's a small batch - a 3-gallon Bell's Two-Hearted clone. I'm still doing stove-top and my boil maxes out at about 4.5 gallons.

Re: Homebrewers - Whats in the fermeter?
 

I brewed this saison today. This may have been my smoothest brew day (evening) yet.

LB OZ
6 0 Pilsner Liquid Extract
1 5 Rahr White Wheat Malt
0 5 Munich Malt - 10L
0 5 Vienna Malt
0 4 Acidulated Malt
0 4 Biscuit Malt

1 oz German Tradition 60 mins 5.7 AA
1 oz Hallertauer 30 mins 3.7 AA

Wyeast 3711 French Saison pitched at 65*. (Built up a 2 liter starter on my stir plate over 4 days, cold crashed to pitch one concentrated liter.)

OG = 1.052, 22.6 IBU's, SRM = 5, plan FG = 1.010, plan ABV = 5.5%

I've now got 20 gallons of beer in various stages of fermentation. :D

Re: Homebrewers - Whats in the fermeter?
 

20 gal? Nice Warren!

I brewed up my Deathbrewer Dunkelweiss partial mash...I only hit 1.042 :(

Hopefully my starter was robust enough to get this thing dried out so I can at least get high 4% abv....5% seems unlike, but we shall see. Used a wort chiller for the first time, loved it.

Re: Homebrewers - Whats in the fermeter?
 

For those of you who buy bulk pellet hops how do you store them after opening the air tight package? I'm been thinking about buying a pound of cascade, east kent golding, and hallertau but I don't want them to go bad.

Re: Homebrewers - Whats in the fermeter?
 

I put them in a ziplock bag and put them in the Freezer

Re: Homebrewers - Whats in the fermeter?
 

Me too, and try to get as much air out as possible. If I had a vacuum sealer I'd probably use that and maybe even seal them into small packs of a couple ounces each.

Re: Homebrewers - Whats in the fermeter?
 

I've been keeping mine in a zip lock bag, and putting them into a canning jar, and then into the freezer.
Posted via Mobile Device

Re: Homebrewers - Whats in the fermeter?
 

Who worries about storage? You just need to brew more! :al :r






But seriously, a compressed ziploc baggie in the freezer should do the trick. They're pelletized, and already at a lesser chance of spoilage than, say, whole cones because of the resin that they're coated with. They'll keep in the refrigerator for a few months.

Re: Homebrewers - Whats in the fermeter?
 

And you should be able to start for under ~$100. Then it gets addicting and you spend more :D

Re: Homebrewers - Whats in the fermeter?
 

Albert,
Just from reading all these posts I can see that this brew thing can get very expensive. But man I bet it is worth every penny. :)

Re: Homebrewers - Whats in the fermeter?
 

I am very limited in my experience but I will say this; when you pour a beer enjoy your glass and LOVE the way it tastes and realize you made it, it is worth every penny.

Re: Homebrewers - Whats in the fermeter?
 

:tu:tpd::tu

And when OTHER people say "Wow, you made this!"

Re: Homebrewers - Whats in the fermeter?
 

I honestly don't think that homebrewing is expensive at all. My initial set up was about $90. I've added another carboy and 2 more plastic fermenting buckets, but otherwise I'm brewing with the same basic outfit.

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

Oh, and I also bought a copper immersion chiller for about $45.

http://www.nybrewsupply.com/products...sion.php#c3825

There's a few other odds and ends I've purchased, but overall I have under $250 invested in my gear, which I think isn't bad at all considering how much I've spent on other hobbies. ;)

The one thing I would recommend buying, but is not absolutely necessary, is a large kettle. I have a 5 gallon one and wish I had a larger one. At some point I will buy a 10 gallon kettle.

Re: Homebrewers - Whats in the fermeter?
 

Daryle, all things considered, it's not expensive at all. I don't even consider my equipment costs anymore, because I've been using most of the same stuff for the past 15 years. The supply cost for each 5 gallon/48 bottle batch (grains, hops, yeast) run me anywhere from $15-40 depending on the style. The more expensive batches are mostly for things like DIPAs, imperial stouts and barleywines--and retail versions of these go for $10/4pack. The economics are still in my favor!

I figure it's still much cheaper than golf or other hobbies, and I get a lot of satisfaction, as others have said.

Re: Homebrewers - Whats in the fermeter?
 

First dry hop infusion (Simcoe) went in to my Hopslam clone. SG = 1.020, so we're sitting right at 9% alcohol, thanks to the 1.5# of honey I added a few weeks ago. Tasted awesome.

Second dry hop infusion (Amarillo) goes in on Sunday, and I'll let it all sit for about a week until bottling. :noon

Re: Homebrewers - Whats in the fermeter?
 

Sounds tasty :dr

Re: Homebrewers - Whats in the fermeter?
 

Where are you geting SImcoe hops. AHS says there is a worldwide shortage or something......?

Re: Homebrewers - Whats in the fermeter?
 

Brewed an Imperial Stout on St. Patrick's Day. 1.150 going into the fermenter. Second runnings off it resulted in another Imperial Stout at 1.085, but at 5.5gal instead of 5. Wanted to boil longer to get 5 a higher gravity, but oh well. Interesting brewday that went surprisingly well. Big ole starter and O2 injection each day. Hope it ferments well.

Re: Homebrewers - Whats in the fermeter?
 

I've read that they're in short supply because U.S. harvests were down last year. I don't buy in huge bulk, though, so I haven't had any problems getting Simcoe or Amarillo (both whole leaf & pellet.) These either came from my HBS or Midwest Supply. I've had them since December.

Re: Homebrewers - Whats in the fermeter?
 

Primary and secondary are finally both empty.
I bottled my RIS yesterday. It started at 1.125 and finished at 1.020 for a whopping 13.83% ABV.
My brewstand should be done this week. I'll post pics before and after powder coating.
After powder is down and baked, I'll just have to plumb it up and do some final wiring.

American Pils will be the test batch on the new rig:

Classic American Pilsner
Type: All Grain
Date: 3/20/2011
Batch Size: 5.50 gal
Brewer: Tim Lael
Boil Size: 7.00 gal
Boil Time: 60 min
Equipment: My All Grain
Brewhouse Efficiency: 80.00

Ingredients
Amount Item Type % or IBU
5.50 lb Brewers Malt 2-Row (Briess) (1.8 SRM) Grain 64.71 %
2.00 lb Maris Otter (Crisp) (4.0 SRM) Grain 23.53 %
1.00 lb Rice, Flaked (Briess) (1.0 SRM) Grain 11.76 %
0.50 oz Sterling [7.50 %] (60 min) Hops 13.2 IBU
0.50 oz Cascade [5.50 %] (20 min) Hops 5.3 IBU
0.50 oz Sterling [7.50 %] (15 min) Hops 6.5 IBU
1 Pkgs American Lager (White Labs #WLP840) Yeast-
Lager
Beer Profile
Est Original Gravity: 1.045 SG
Est Final Gravity: 1.010 SG
Estimated Alcohol by Vol: 4.62
Bitterness: 25.0 IBU
Est Color: 3.5 SRM

Notes
Created with BeerSmith

Re: Homebrewers - Whats in the fermeter?
 

I brewed a 3.5 gallon batch of a Bell's Two-Hearted clone yesterday. It was my first all-grain and I used a brew in a bag method on my stove.

Had some trouble with the mash, and hitting the correct gravities, but with the help of a little DME, it ended up pretty close.

It was bubbling away this morning while I was getting ready for work!

Re: Homebrewers - Whats in the fermeter?
 

my first ~all-grain, although just a half batch, and I blew it!

Forgot the flaked wheat on the modified Chimay GR clone! WTF! Anyway, it was only 1/16th of the grain bill, but still...weak move. It was in a separate bag because I didn't run it through the mill at the shop. Went to grab my thief after the cool and there is a brown paper bag sitting there. Oh well, hit 1.070 OG and I don't think I'll mind drinkin it ;).

I'd like to try a slightly finer mill next time so I can really start settling in to some decent BIAB efficiencies.

Re: Homebrewers - Whats in the fermeter?
 

All grain batches right now:

Kegged: Northern Brown, British pale Ale, Honey Cream Ale. A 2 hearted clone is going down fast. A honey Altbier is about dead and a sangria made with wine we made in 2009 is up next.

Fermenting: Kriek (started last sunday). This will take ~18 months. At least 12 before I add the cherries.

Next: Oatmeal stout, Porter, another Cream Ale, another Kriek, and 10 gallon batches of Jamil's Robust Porter and my ersatz 2 hearted.

Re: Homebrewers - Whats in the fermeter?
 

Bottled this last night with a bit less priming sugar than I typically use (3.25 oz for 4.5 gallons.) Hoping to get the carbonation right, that should give me 2.2vol CO2. Beer weighed in at 1.020, so it's dead on with the recipe. Tasted pretty good, too :al :tu

Re: Homebrewers - Whats in the fermeter?
 

I bottled my all-grain Centennial Blonde on Friday. I had a few homebrews before starting so I hope I didn't screw anything up. This weekend I will attempt a Blue Moon clone.

Re: Homebrewers - Whats in the fermeter?
 

I think we are going to try a wheat beer this weekend as well. We haven't settled on a recipe yet but I think it will probably a Bavarian style Hefe, fermented warm to get some banana esters :noon (just wanted to use the dancing nanner)