Homebrewers - Whats in the fermenter?

[St. Lou Stu]

Originally Posted by Tristan

Holy Crap Tim! What have you turned into?

I had a great mentor!

[BlackDog]

Originally Posted by Tristan

Who's going to participate in "Teach a Friend How to Homebrew" day? It's November 6th.

I had no idea that Nov 6th is "Teach a Friend to Brew" day, but cooincidentally I'm having a couple guys over to make a nut brown ale and sample various beers. Sort of a "guy's day."

Last night I added 3 lbs of raspberries to my Belgian Blonde, and tomorrow or Sunday I'll bottle my Imperial Vanilla Bourbon Porter.

[St. Lou Stu]

Just got the IPA in the fermenter. It was a train wreck. It'll still probably be good, but not exactly what I wanted.

IPA - Primary
American Lager - Secondary (Lagering)

I need to start brewing again

[Salvelinus]

I'm going to give this recipe a shot this week Warren. Thanks!

[St. Lou Stu]

Fermenters are all empty now!
Bottled a Lager Saturday and an AIPA tonight.
Both tasted great un-carbonated. It's always a good sign when flat beer tastes good!

[kaisersozei]

I couldn't see what equipment was included in that kit, Chris?

[St. Lou Stu]

Originally Posted by kaisersozei

I couldn't see what equipment was included in that kit, Chris?

Didn't momma tell ya that you'd go blind from that?

Brewing Basics Equipment List:

• Instructional Homebrewing DVD
• 71 page instructional book
• 6.5 Gallon Fermenter and Lid
• 6.5 Gallon Bottling Bucket with Spigot
• 8 Oz. of Easy Clean No-Rinse Cleanser
• Airlock (Keeps air out of the fermenter)
• Hydrometer (Determines alcohol content)
• Bottle Brush
• Twin Lever Red Baron Bottle Capper
• Bottle Caps
• Liquid Crystal Thermometer
• Bottle Filler
• Racking Tube with Bucket Clip
• Siphon Tubing
• Recipe kit (included). Choose between Irish Red Ale, Amber Ale and Irish Stout.

[kaisersozei]

Originally Posted by St. Lou Stu

Didn't momma tell ya that you'd go blind from that?

Brewing Basics Equipment List:

• Instructional Homebrewing DVD
• 71 page instructional book
• 6.5 Gallon Fermenter and Lid
• 6.5 Gallon Bottling Bucket with Spigot
• 8 Oz. of Easy Clean No-Rinse Cleanser
• Airlock (Keeps air out of the fermenter)
• Hydrometer (Determines alcohol content)
• Bottle Brush
• Twin Lever Red Baron Bottle Capper
• Bottle Caps
• Liquid Crystal Thermometer
• Bottle Filler
• Racking Tube with Bucket Clip
• Siphon Tubing
• Recipe kit (included). Choose between Irish Red Ale, Amber Ale and Irish Stout.

That IS a purty good deal right thur!


Tim, I wonder if I can get a braille LCD display?

[cricky101]

Originally Posted by kaisersozei

I couldn't see what equipment was included in that kit, Chris?

Sorry 'bout that. I wasn't thinking, but it would make sense that a deal-a-day link may change when the deal's over
I can't even find that list now Tim was nice enough to post, but did find a pic I attempted to post below.

I do have a question, though -- I can order it anytime through mid-May, and it comes with an ingredient kit (I can choose from three: a stout, an Irish red ale, or an autumn ale, I think).

I am going to save up bottles for a while, so should I wait to order everything until I'm ready to brew? Or will the ingredient kit be OK sitting around for a while?

[BeerAdvocate]

Hit up your friends for some bottles. Its going to take a little over a month for your beer to ferment then carb up, so you should have enough bottles in no time.
If you do want to wait to brew, just put the ingredient kit in the fridge

[cricky101]

Originally Posted by BeerAdvocate

Hit up your friends for some bottles. Its going to take a little over a month for your beer to ferment then carb up, so you should have enough bottles in no time.
If you do want to wait to brew, just put the ingredient kit in the fridge

Awesome. Thanks! I'll be able to collect more than enough bottles in a month

[St. Lou Stu]

Originally Posted by cricky101

Awesome. Thanks! I'll be able to collect more than enough bottles in a month

Also... give the local breweries a call.
Schlafly, here in STL, will allow you to come in and pick through their bad bottle bin. I am clueless as to why they are considered bad. You can walk out with cases and cases.

You'd be surprised how few bottles you can come up with by your own consumption and still hold down a job.
Figure you need 50-60 per batch, 3 weeks to carb. So... if you brew 3 weekends in a row, you'd need 180 bottles before you could crack any of the stuff you have bottled open. Once you get rolling (if you decide to stick with bottling rather than kegging) you'd have about 300 bottles on hand (empty or full) at any given time.

I love bottling!

[cricky101]

Originally Posted by BeerAdvocate

Hit up your friends for some bottles. Its going to take a little over a month for your beer to ferment then carb up, so you should have enough bottles in no time.
If you do want to wait to brew, just put the ingredient kit in the fridge

Just set up a time to meet a guy on Craig's List selling a bunch of label-free empties for $4/case - he said he's got 10 cases. Apparently he moved to kegging and doesn't need the bottles anymore.

[potlimit]

Well there it is... my first one. Wanted to take a sec to thank you guys for your input. I can almost guarantee you it's infected as there were multiple opportunities for that to happen, but I'm not really concerned about it. Just happy I got it under my belt and already thinking about the next one.

Again, thanks guys, much appreciated.

[kaisersozei]

Originally Posted by potlimit

Well there it is... my first one. Wanted to take a sec to thank you guys for your input. I can almost guarantee you it's infected as there were multiple opportunities for that to happen, but I'm not really concerned about it. Just happy I got it under my belt and already thinking about the next one.

Again, thanks guys, much appreciated.

Great job! I wouldn't worry too much about whether it's infected. Beer is pretty resilient, and as long as you were "passably clean," you'll probably be fine.

[St. Lou Stu]

Originally Posted by potlimit

Well there it is... my first one. Wanted to take a sec to thank you guys for your input. I can almost guarantee you it's infected as there were multiple opportunities for that to happen, but I'm not really concerned about it. Just happy I got it under my belt and already thinking about the next one.

Again, thanks guys, much appreciated.

Nice!!
You'll be fine. Especially with first time use equipment... it's hard to infect.
Is that the Brown Ale you talked about? Should be good for a Christmas drink!

[potlimit]

Originally Posted by St. Lou Stu

Nice!!
You'll be fine. Especially with first time use equipment... it's hard to infect.
Is that the Brown Ale you talked about? Should be good for a Christmas drink!

It sure is Tim! I think I'll be alright, I was pretty anal about sanitizing. Only problem I encountered resulted from the fact I couldn't find the lid to the pot and so some of the tin foil I had covering it in the ice bath plopped in a bit for a minute (but it was still around 125 degrees at that point anyway).

Already on Midwest's site trying to figure out what to brew next. And SERIOUSLY considering a wort chiller... it was excrutiating waiting for it to cool.

[BeerAdvocate]

It will be ok to leave your beer in Primary for up to 3 weeks

[St. Lou Stu]

I brewed up a simple little Blonde Ale yesterday.
#10 2-Row (60 min. mash @154.5°F) (~80% eff., OG to boiler 1.054, fermenter 1.043)(7.33 gallons into kettle, 5.25 into fermenter)
5 drops fermcap @ start of boil
1oz Cascade 60 min.
.5oz Cascade 15 min
1 Whirlfloc tab @ 5 min.
1oz Cascade 2 min.
WLP007