Re: Homebrewers - Whats in the fermeter?
 

Let me know what you think, that is the one I sent you.
Looking back, we don't have a wort chiller, (need to get one). The temp was at the 72 degree range, for fermentation.
Didn't have a problem with the yeast. We used White labs, and it pushed the blow off tube assembly, off the carboy twice.:D

Re: Homebrewers - Whats in the fermeter?
 

I can't wait to drink it, just need a night where I can sit down and enjoy it.

Did you make a yeast starter for this beer? Fusels can be made during reproduction when a yeast is underpitched. If you went from a small White Labs vial culture to a huge blow of the top of the fermenter culture at high temps you might have a recipe for hot alcohols. Maybe try a big starter and cooler temps the next time you make the beer if you notice that flavor and don't like it.

Re: Homebrewers - Whats in the fermeter?
 

I did an Amber Ale

Ended up converting my complete grill top to heat up all 4.5 Gallons and ended up re-arranging my freezer to chill.

http://www.cigarasylum.com/vb/showpo...postcount=1671

Re: Homebrewers - Whats in the fermeter?
 

just brewed something, aiming for like a Ruby Wheat sort of thing, we'll see....

Re: Homebrewers - Whats in the fermeter?
 

I just relocated my brewing equipment from my old apartment into the house so I should be up and running with a couple different brews here in a couple weeks after I get my disability check. Anyone got a recommendation for some beer styles? I am not a hop lover but I don't mind some hoppy notes.

Re: Homebrewers - Whats in the fermeter?
 

It's almost weizen season, so that's an option. I'd go with a robust porter or an American brown, either are more malt-centric in flavor/aroma and can be low IBUs. Here's my most recent easy brown that I'm really pleased with

http://hopville.com/recipe/934849/am...maduro-herfest

Re: Homebrewers - Whats in the fermeter?
 

We just did an Irish Red competition with the homebrew club I'm part of. Seems to fit the bill you're looking for, malty but still sessionable.

Re: Homebrewers - Whats in the fermeter?
 

Just kegged a double batch of IPA, split between WLP001 and WLP838 Lager yeast. They both turned out great. Got a Cal Common in the fermentor (Tim's "Cleveland Steam" Recipe) and planning on brewing a Kolsch this weekend. Looking forward to having some great session beers on tap!

Re: Homebrewers - Whats in the fermeter?
 

Next to bottle will be my black(almost) ipa.
It was in primary for 2 weeks. abv calc when I went to secondary was 7.74%.
Will have been in secondary for 2 weeks when I bottle.

Bother with more yeast?
If I do - right with bottling sugar or a day or two earlier?

Re: Homebrewers - Whats in the fermeter?
 

Don't bother. You'll have plenty of yeast still floating around in that beer. I only worry about adding yeast if it has been in secondary for months not weeks.

Re: Homebrewers - Whats in the fermeter?
 

Cool.
I think this one will come out well. Not quite as black as I had hoped but seems to be tasting good. The carboy was previously used by a friend for cider, and every time I smell inside it is just disgusting - but the flavor seems fine.

Re: Homebrewers - Whats in the fermeter?
 

Sounds delicious.

Through some reading I'm torn if I should rack to a secondary on a kit amber ale. I know ale is a generally an easy brew that can be left primary through the whole process but I'm interested in racking for clarity. Thoughts on racking the simple ale and risking oxidation or contamination vs. the benefits of a secondary fermenter?

Re: Homebrewers - Whats in the fermeter?
 

If everything is clean, when you transfer, you are good to go. Never had a problem with contamination.......but I sanitize the hell out of everything. You will get less sediment in your bottles, if you transfer to a secondary.

Re: Homebrewers - Whats in the fermeter?
 

Brewing an all Chinook hop IPA right now

Re: Homebrewers - Whats in the fermeter?
 

Lawson's does a chinook single hop (Chinooker'd) that is amazing. Good choice of hop!

Re: Homebrewers - Whats in the fermeter?
 

Brewing up a 10 gal batch of an all citra american pale ale.

Re: Homebrewers - Whats in the fermeter?
 

Just put a Two Hearted Ale clone in the fermenter, will pitch with some Bell's yeast as soon as temp drops to 65

Re: Homebrewers - Whats in the fermeter?
 

I just put 3 willamette and 4 columbus rhizomes into pots to start. 2 years and I might have some new hop varieties!

Re: Homebrewers - Whats in the fermeter?
 

I was just thinking of ordering a couple to plant today.
I was thinking Zeus, since I am a bit of a hop-head.

Re: Homebrewers - Whats in the fermeter?
 

As a side note, gentlemen, when you decide to fill a couple of bombers for someone who did you a favor, and you hook up a bottle filler or picnic tap, double check the fittings on your hoses before, during and after.
I just sucked up about a gallon of stout out of my carpet, having caught the leaky (loose, due to my own negligence, not the integrity of the fitting itself) bastard as I was going for a refill of my pint.
Ugh. In whiskey terms, they would call this the Angels Share (bastardized). I would call this the Devils share.

:rolleyes:

Nothing I can do but laugh at myself.

Re: Homebrewers - Whats in the fermeter?
 

Ouch....

I decided to rack the amber this weekend. Its looking good in the carboy. Additionally just received my bayou burner, wort chiller, bottle dryer. Dying to brew another batch but probably have to wait until the move to VA is complete

Re: Homebrewers - Whats in the fermeter?
 

Brewing up a simple IPA using Summit, Columbus and Cascade hops

Re: Homebrewers - Whats in the fermeter?
 

An interesting hop chart I found linked from Great Divide...
http://hopschart.com/

Re: Homebrewers - Whats in the fermeter?
 

Very cool.

Re: Homebrewers - Whats in the fermeter?
 

bottled this tonight - beautiful color and tastes great. 7.35 abv, surprised me.
can't wait to try this one for real!

Re: Homebrewers - Whats in the fermeter?
 

I was going to brew tonight, but I couldn't get my washed yeast to get active. Worst case is that I go get some yeast from the brew shop.
I don't think my procedure is messed up... dunno.

Re: Homebrewers - Whats in the fermeter?
 

Yet another air leak ;o( This time it was a main lid o ring. Funny because it held pressure for along time then poof all of a sudden leak. I am finding it is hard to keep track / maintain 12 kegs unless you are drinking every day. Looks like another trip to AHS for co2 and maybe even a 20# container.

Anyone know if you can lay a co2 container on its side and still dispense the gas safely or is there something not good about doing this?

On a positive note I found a source for lbs of hops that I cannot find at ahs. Nikobrew is the name of the site.


mikes

Re: Homebrewers - Whats in the fermeter?
 

I think I am going to do a brew day tomorrow to celebrate my Birthday and try to bang out 4 different brews. Scotch Ale, Guinness with a spin, my bruiser berry hef and maybe a bock.

Re: Homebrewers - Whats in the fermeter?
 

You should get some Keg lube and put some around all the o rings on the lid.
It helps seal the smallest leaks. :tu
I dont think you can lay CO2 on their side, but ask somone at AHS.

Re: Homebrewers - Whats in the fermeter?
 

Finally got my first beer in a keg. Pretty stoked about it! However, I'm still lagering it for a while so I can't really drink it yet. Any input on force carbing vs. cask conditioning?

http://i286.photobucket.com/albums/l...-01-41_207.jpg

Re: Homebrewers - Whats in the fermeter?
 

I just spoke with my HBS and he specifically told me not to lay the Co2 tank on its side. Apparently the gas can freeze the top and create a leak in the canister if laid on its side.

Re: Homebrewers - Whats in the fermeter?
 

You don't technically "cask condition" in a keg. Need a ferkin (spelling?) for that. You can prime a keg just as you would bottles though by racking your beer onto priming sugar and then sealing the keg. Make sure to hit the keg with a quick burst of CO2 to ensure that you got a good seal. Let that pressure off and the yeast will do their thing.

I have friends that force carb all at once by putting a bunch of pressure (20psi'ish) on the keg and shaking it. That is a faster method than putting the keg at serving pressure and giving it a few weeks to reach equilibrium and carb up. Either works. I run the slow method as I typically have my little kegerator full and plenty of time till my next keg is needed. Either way if you are leaving the gas on check for leaks periodically :tu

Re: Homebrewers - Whats in the fermeter?
 

Thanks!!!!

Re: Homebrewers - Whats in the fermeter?
 

I think I'm going to go with the quick force carb approach this first time. I know it's horrible, but I'm just too impatient to wait another few weeks on this beer. It is killing me! It's my first lager, so it's obviously been waiting a long time to begin with. Now I'm supposed to wait another few weeks for carbonation????? Never gonna happen. I want to pour my first beer from my hand made kegerator already!

Re: Homebrewers - Whats in the fermeter?
 

To hell with that....you're coming to Brew Day this Sun. We're making it happen!

Re: Homebrewers - Whats in the fermeter?
 

this time it would have worked out better if your brew day was on a Sat. That way i could hit the DMV and Brew day. Guess it'll have to wait until next time.

Just brewed up a coffee stout this past weekend and ordered a lemon weisse and oaked burbon ale for upcoming brews

Re: Homebrewers - Whats in the fermeter?
 

Just tasted my Black IPA which is ready for drinking. Came out really well, I like it! My own recipe...

Re: Homebrewers - Whats in the fermeter?
 

What hops did you go with? I made one I really liked that was columbus and willamette. Just put 4 rhizomes of each in the ground based on my fondness for that beer.

Re: Homebrewers - Whats in the fermeter?
 

my slightly sisorganized notes

8 lbs dark lme (2+14oz early, ~5+2 at 15 min)
1 lb corn sugar (1 min)


12 oz crystal 40L
4 oz Dextrine
4 oz flaked wheat
2 oz smoked malt
12 oz black debittered
4 oz black patent

2 oz millenium 60 min (15.9%)
1 oz chinook 15 min (11.8%)
1 oz centennial 10 min (8.1%)
1 oz cascade 5 min (6.4%)
1 oz chinook 3 min
1 oz cascade flameout

1 oz cascade dryhop
1 oz nugget dryhop


7.74% abv

Re: Homebrewers - Whats in the fermeter?
 

Thanks! That's a serious hop bill. Haven't used much nugget, but other than that not a hop in there I don't enjoy.

Re: Homebrewers - Whats in the fermeter?
 

I've got 25 gallons of Berliner Weiss going now (going with various fruit treatments, 5 gal each). Bottled my Blueberry Sour Saison last night, along with my "Mango Mimosa" (mango Saison brewed with Hill Farmstead Mimosa yeast/dreggs). If got a Chocolate Porter going as well (cocoa nibs and lactose), and of course my barrel aging plambics. I think that's it.

Re: Homebrewers - Whats in the fermeter?
 

I was finally able to gather all my home brewing equipment together, clean it, fix it, and get the ingredients for my favorite beer.

5 gallons of Altbier about ready to be brewed, primary mash underway now.
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-F...0429-00546.jpg

7 days of fermenting, 3 days of raising temp, shock it and 20-30 days of lagering to produce the elixir of the gods. I think the Germans made this so complicated just because they were bored.

Sadly neither of my propane burners were working, so I have to use the stove.

Re: Homebrewers - Whats in the fermeter?
 

I put in a Sweet Stout (Northern Brewer kit) today, an IPA (Thirsty Pig IPA- Beersmith recipe) yesterday, and a Bitter (modified Papazian recipe) in on Friday. Finally caught up with my consumption and social obligation deficit.
I really should get another couple big buckets or carboys so I can get more than 3 in primary at a time.

Re: Homebrewers - Whats in the fermeter?
 

Brewed an IPA Friday night with summit and cascade. Plan to dry hop with more cascade and maybe some simcoe in a couple weeks before kegging.

Re: Homebrewers - Whats in the fermeter?
 

Another Brewherf yesterday with Ferg & Matt, although I couldn’t officially brew since all my fermenters are currently tied up.

However, we made Attempt #2 at an unconventional second runnings mix-mash: after sparging & draining the grain bed, we let the mashtun sit while we continue our brewday. After a few hours, the coolers will have collected up usually another gallon or so of wort (not technically second runnings, I guess, because this is after the sparge.) We collect up all the runnings in a brewpot, and then fire up a small batch of this small beer, toss in some hops, then ferment with whatever yeast we might have handy.

MixMash #1 in March was about a gallon of Kolsch-Smoked Oktoberfest mixture (OG 1.039), that we hopped with Centennial and Saaz, fermented with Bell’s yeast. Ended up with about 3.9% ABV, 25 IBUs, bottle carb’d, and sampled it yesterday--I have to say, it was pretty damn good! Definitely a session beer that retained some characteristics of its two parents.

MixMash #2 yesterday was from Ferg’s Saison + Matt’s Oktoberfest. I took home about 2 gallons last night, boiled, hopped with Centennial, Hallertauer & Saaz to 35 IBUs, pitched a starter of some yeast that I harvested out of a Blue Mountain Brewery Imperial Stout, and it’s bubbling away this morning. :noon

No idea what we’re making, or how much fermentable sugars we’re able to extract from just the sparge, but it’s been a fun experiment!

Re: Homebrewers - Whats in the fermeter?
 

Pretty exciting day! Tapped my first keg of home brew! Tapped it a little young, but it's still damn tasty!

http://i286.photobucket.com/albums/l...-47-42_767.jpg

Re: Homebrewers - Whats in the fermeter?
 

Dude....we gotta get you in on our Brew Days. We tend to do them between Chester and Midlothian.

Re: Homebrewers - Whats in the fermeter?
 

Coffee Stout in the secondary is mixing well, looking at adding a clearifying agent to the secondary for the next 7-10 days it has left in the secondary.

The Weisse is still fermenting with 10-15 sec bubbles on its 5th day of fermenting, OG 1.064, still going strong in the primary.

Re: Homebrewers - Whats in the fermeter?
 

Brewed my 1st Saison yesterday

Re: Homebrewers - Whats in the fermeter?
 

I've got ingredients for an AG coffee stout and an extract Wit on the way. Should be here next week. Might do a big brew day next weekend depending on what I've got going on.