Re: Homebrewers - Whats in the fermeter?
 

10 gal of bombshell blonde
10 gal of jester king commercial suicide

The citra pale ale that came out and was kegged was by far the best beer I have ever made...were talking out of 200gal here. Great kit from AHS!

Re: Homebrewers - Whats in the fermeter?
 

What is AHS?

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I'm waiting for my pumpkin ale to show up.. Prolly start it this weekend.

Re: Homebrewers - Whats in the fermeter?
 

Austin Homebrew Supply.

I'm going to see about a chest freezer on craigslist after work to turn into a keezer. I'm sick of bottling and the girlfriend says all the gear can be an early birthday present.

I'm thinking four kegs to start ... :D

Re: Homebrewers - Whats in the fermeter?
 

I have posted this before but here is a pic of my kegerator from a small dorm fridge that I bought off of Craigslist for $50. It holds 2 5gal kegs.
Best thing I ever did. I cant imagine ever bottling again!

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I haven't looked back since I started kegging.

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Cider is in there now. Crashing it now, later today I add the brown sugar, non fermentable sugar and add the Champagne yeast.

Re: Homebrewers - Whats in the fermeter?
 

I just bottled my first batch of home brew, a Fat Tire clone. I tasted it when I was filling the bottles and for a flat, warm beer, it tasted good. I now have a batch of Maple Nut Brown Ale in the fermenter which I just cooked up tonight. I'm looking forward to trying the beer once it carbonates and refrigerated. I can see why people do this. This is a ton of fun.

Matt

Re: Homebrewers - Whats in the fermeter?
 

Have some cider fermenting now, brewing some saison next

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I picked up 3 ball lock kegs, dual gauge regulator and 5lb co2 tank from a guy on craigslist for $75 earlier this week. Still need a fridge or freezer, but I'm getting close! :banger

Re: Homebrewers - Whats in the fermeter?
 

Bottled some Porter last night, added some Wild Turkey to the last gallon in the bottling bucket - the flat sample tasted delicious, can't wait for this one to be ready :dr

Re: Homebrewers - Whats in the fermeter?
 

Good find! I scored a 7 cf chest freezer on craigslist for $50 when I got started. It was and still is in great shape. I built a temp controller to compliment the freezer.

About to kick a keg of american brown ale and my blond ale is cold crashing before racking to keg.

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Question about cold crashing. How do you do it? As fast as possible? Over a couple of days? I just set up a fridge that can hold a carboy, and rigged up a temp controller. I've been over-reading about yeast. I'm a dork and like the science aspect of the living thing that's making my booze for me. It sounds like there is some evidence that you risk pushing esters out of the yeast if you cold crash too fast. Is this something that might happen but just isn't an issue like hot side aeration, or is it something you take into account for and crash slowly (oxymoron).

Dark IPA I'm calling Hoppy Halloween in the fermentation chamber right now, Brown ale into my first keg (so much easier than bottling) last week, and a simcoe/chinook IPA that got dry hops 4 days ago about ready to go into my second keg. Just had the first bottle of a Founders breakfast stout clone yesterday, delicious, but I haven't ever had the original so I can't say whether I cloned it well.

Re: Homebrewers - Whats in the fermeter?
 

I will cold crash at 38 degrees F for 2 days prior to kegging. It usually takes about 3-4 hours for my wort temp to drop from 65 degrees F to 38 degrees F. I feel this helps settle all of the solid particles and provide a clearer beer.

Re: Homebrewers - Whats in the fermeter?
 

10 gal pumpkin ale (9 lbs of baked pumpkin in this one)
10 gal of citra pale ale (blew thru the other 10 like it was nothing lol)

Re: Homebrewers - Whats in the fermeter?
 

Quick drop. I think I can achieve that pretty well in my fridge. Giving it a shot with the next batch to hit the keg.

Recipe for that Citra Pale? Trying to get my hands on a pound of Citra in a couple of days.

Re: Homebrewers - Whats in the fermeter?
 

I will post it up asap. I do mini-mash kits....so if you do AG you might have to convert it. Also do a dry hop that the recipe does not call for ;o).

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Beware of suck back from the airlock or blowoff. Dropping temp creates a vacuum and for those people who have an elevated blowoff this could create a siphon. I use a S-style airlock and I noticed last night that the sanitizer solution froze before the wort reached 38 degrees.

Re: Homebrewers - Whats in the fermeter?
 

I found a floor-model 7cf freezer at Menard's for $90 on Saturday and was psyched! I had a couple rebates from prior purchases so it only ran me about $50.

Then I got home, plugged it in for 36 hours, and it never got cold. It was returned last night. Back to the search :td

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Around here they are few and far between now that deer season in underway.

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How bout using vodka and not the san solution so there is no worries about freezing? ;o)

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I don't usually have vodka on hand but I'm not too worried because once the wort reaches the temperature set point the freezer turns off and the sanitizer thaws.

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Just put the Pumpkin Ale in the fermeter. I was slacking on this one.. I am hoping to have it ready by Thanksgiving.

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Have a dunkel ready to bottle. Next up is an irish stout that I am going to try to "breakfast stout" it up.

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Frigidaire 14.8 Cu. Ft. Chest Freezer (Color: White) ENERGY STAR on sale at lowes for $364. My brew bro has the same one. Holds 8 corney kegs and a small co2 tank. Now that I have the old inside fridge in the garage for fermentation I might as well build a keezer next to it....right? ;o)

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Just put a pale ale hopped with chinook and simcoe into a keg. Awesome citrusy aroma. I'd drink it all right now if I hadn't brewed it with a pal that needs to at least get a chance to taste it :D

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Better late than never. Went over today to keg and remembered to pick up the recipe sheet:

Mini mash:

1/2 lb Crystal 75L Malt
2 Lb 2-Row Malt
1/2 Lb Munich Malt
1/2 Lb Cara Pils Malt

You know the drill...155 deg for 45 min then sparge with 170 deg water. Approx 1 qt of sparge water for every 2 Lb of grain

5 Lb of Extra Pale ALe Extract

Bittering hops 1 oz Citra 60 min

Flavor hops 1 oz Citra 15 min

Aroma hops 1 oz Citra 5 min

White Labs California Ale V 051 or Weast American AleII (I use WL)

Final Gravity should be appx 1.013

I dry hop after the primary in the keg with another 1 oz of Citra. This time one keg had the pellet Citra the other had 1 oz of whole leaf Simco hops. We will see what a difference it makes ;o). One thing is for sure the whole leaf hops float like a mother....I thought I used enough marbles to weig them down but it was only enough to make the hop bag look like a bobber lmao.

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Started drinking a porter we brewed about three monthe ago. Now that it has some age one it it is flat out wonderful!

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Just brewed an IPA with Galaxy,citra,centenneial,chinook,and columbus

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Thanks! My pound of citra should be in this week. Some citra single hops are definitely in the works.

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Brewing an Irish Stout tonight, that I am going to let age for a few months before I tap the keg!

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That Bell's yeast is a beast. I put a pound of honey in the secondary which boosted the OG to about 1.078, and it was 1.016 when I bottled on Sunday. I had dry-hopped with a 75/25 Citra/Simcoe mix--smelled & tasted great, now the waiting begins.

Have three recipes ready to go, just trying to determine which start next: a belgian stout, a brown ale, and a SMSH experiment using my homegrown hops that I will split into 3 batches, using a different yeast with each batch.

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Bottled a funky batch of Saison last night (yeast was Whitelabs Platinum American Farmhouse - Saison yeast and Brett) that had two kinds of wine soaked oak cubes added (Madeira and a variety called Linae) as well as Rhubarb for a little hint of sour/fruit. I don't generally add so much "crap" to my beers at once but I just bottled a great plain batch of Saison a few weeks ago, so I thought "why not?". It actually tastes very good at bottling, we'll see once its cold and 'carbed. :tu

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I picked up three Perlick faucets/shanks for the yet-to-be-built keezer. Now I just need a freezer/fridge and I'll be ready for three kegs on-tap and one on-deck.

Haven't worked out the recipe yet, but I've got a bunch of Amarillo hops to use up, so it'll be some kind of IPA. I like Rogue's Yellow Snow, which I think is all-Amarillo, so it should be tasty.

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Where did you buy your keezer parts. I have the opposite problem. Just picked up a new 14. something horizontal freezer @ lowes. Now I need the parts. THinking about all stainless parts and perlicks but damn son **** adds up fast! Looking forward to your research to see if I looked at those places online already.

Btw are you mounting the collar to the lid or the base?

Mikes

Re: Homebrewers - Whats in the fermeter?
 

kegconnection.com has the best prices & customer service

Re: Homebrewers - Whats in the fermeter?
 

any help here guys is appreciated noob brewer thread

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I've bought stuff all over the place, over the span of a few months. I wanted to go all stainless, too, but the cost was too much for me.

- Got kegs, tank and regulator on Craig's List;

- disconnects, tubing, new O-rings and other smaller items from Northern Brewer (at their retail store);

- I went with the chrome, front-sealing perlicks from ritebrew.com for $17.50 each.They're the 525PC. I've got a couple buddies who each have them said they're working great. The front-sealing was the biggest thing for me, so they don't gunk-up as quickly as the generic ones;

- I got a secondary regulator from Beverage Factory.

I haven't decided on the collar yet. I've seen it where the collar is hinged with the factory hinges to the base, and then the freezer lid is hinged (with new hinges) to the top of the collar. I think I'll explore that method. That way you can tip the collar assembly up to switch kegs (so you don't have to lift them over the collar), but can just lift the lid to mess with connections, tubing, etc ...

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Nut brown Ale that my buddy and I added some pumpkin to the wort, is fermenting now. Basic can kit, dry yeast.

Doing a Imperial Nut Brown Ale tonight, using White Labs English ale yeast. This is a partial mash kit.

Re: Homebrewers - Whats in the fermeter?
 

yeast blew the stopper and water valve of the carboy of the Imperial Nut Brown Ale.:banger

Went to my buddies house and set up an overflow tube/ water valve on the carboy. Think I'll name it Nitro INBA. :D

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And that is why my fermentors sit in the basement stand up shower! I've had some good ones, but I can always just turn the shower on to clean up.

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Yep.. it was in the shower.:tu

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Just pitched yeast into 12 gallons of fresh pressed cider. Not sure what I am going to do with the two carboys of it yet. Probably some brown sugar and cinnamon in one, but I might get odd with the other one. Some tart cherry and dme perhaps...

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Keezer is almost done ;o) Putting the paint on the collar. Got some whiteboard paint for the front 1x10 where the taps are going to go so I can just write under them what style of beer is gonna come out. Then to remount the lid and wait on beer parts to come in. Not a bad way to spend a day and a half......

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After it's done fermenting put it outside and remove the ice, it will make Apple Jack.

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Decided to brew a simple American Brown at the second annual Winston's Homebrew Herf & Chili Cookoff this past Sunday. Currently bubbling away at about 66 degrees, much lower than I've used for the Bell's yeast before.

http://hopville.com/recipe/934849/am...duro-brown-ale

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I am brewing a milk stout today. I plan on adding 4oz of cocoa nibs to secondary for a Chocolate Milk Stout :chr

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Just got a keggle. Inaugural brew in it is going to be a wee heavy. I know it is going to be harder, but I'll probably still manage to boil over in this kettle too...

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I will be doing a dark lager Sunday morning. Haven't brewed for about 3 or 4 months and needed to scratch the itch. For anyone that has tried Sam Adams Black Lager then you will know what I am going for. I figure it would be nice come around Christmas to enjoy a nice dark, smooth, malty lager. I will post a few pics too for yins to check out! :D

Re: Homebrewers - Whats in the fermeter?
 

Brewed a stout yesterday that I pitched with Belgian Ale yeast (W550) last night. I'll probably ferment a little on the cool side, just because ambient temp in my brew closet is about 66. Depending on how it turns out, I may add some lactose at bottling to turn this into a sweet stout.