Home Brewers

#1

SaluteToTheHill

Wide Receiver U
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Sep 22, 2008
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#1
We got any other VolNation brewers? I bottled an Oktoberfest and Autumn Amber a few weeks ago and brewed a pumpkin ale and maple syrup dark ale last weekend. :toast:
 
#3
#3
Wanting to start

Got any tips on equipment and such?

Best way to start is an equipment kit. Ive talked to you on here before and if memory serves me correct your in Jackson. There is a store in Nashville named All Seasons that sells kits but they dont have a very good selection.
"All Seasons, hydroponics, homebrewing, wine making, growlights, organics"
Best thing to do is order a kit online. There are many good home brew websites. One of my favorites is Mid West Supply.
Midwest Supplies - Homebrewing and Winemaking
You can get a good kit for about $150 that will allow you to do extract brewing. Midwest sells many good extract kits included the ones I mentioned. Home brew is some of the best beer you will ever drink. If you have any questions let me know.
 
#5
#5
One more thing. Instead of buying bottles try to buy beer with pop tops and rinse them out and keep them (I love emptying bottles :D). Most quality beers will come in these bottles. I have bottles I bought beer in that I have been using over an over for years. The only ones I have bought are the grolsch style ez-cap bottles. These are great because you dont have to cap them.
 
#6
#6
I've done two batches so far: a porter and an amber. Both turned out pretty darn good.
 
#10
#10
The first step is the boil. When you buy an extract kit everything comes premeasured and with instructions. You will basically get grain with a steeping bag, malt extract, hops, and priming sugar. Ingredients will differ depending on the type of beer your brewing. Here is a brew (called wort) boiling on my patio.
 

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#11
#11
After the boil is complete it is poured into the ferment tank and brought to 5 gallons with fresh water. You want to cool it as quick as possible, you can use a wort cooler or clean ice. Once this is done you add the yeast, stir and close it up. It will begin to ferment within a couple hours to 24 hours. You will know when it starts. The air lock on the top will perk like crazy from the yeast consuming the fermentable sugars. The bye product of this is alcohol and Co2. The Co2 is what is coming out of the air lock. I usually leave the beer in the ferment tank for one week.
 

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#13
#13
After a week I siphon the beer to a carboy. This is not mandatory but it greatly improves the beer. The time in the carboy depends on what kind of beer your making. A light beer only needs a couple weeks. A brandy wine may need as much as nine months! I do alot of amber beers and usually leave them in the carboy four weeks.
 

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#15
#15
When the time in the carboy is done it is time to bottle. Siphon the beer into a large container and mix in priming sugar. You will need a bottling wand for this step. Some equipment kits will come with it. The remaining live yeast will consume the sugar and the Co2 created will carbonate the beer. it will take at least 2-3 weeks to carbonate but home brew is like wine, it gets better with age so leave it at room temp until your ready to drink it. Once chilled the aging process stops. I try to stay ahead enough so that I can let it sit 2-3 months before drinking.
 

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#16
#16
That's pretty much it. The hardest part is the waiting! But once its done grab a good cigar and enjoy!
 

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#18
#18
I brewed for about six years when I was in my 20s. I knew I'd finally arrived when I started getting annoyed because my friends would show up and drink all my beer. When you start out, everyone says your beer is good but they really want to drink something else; eventually you get to the point where it's as good as a microbrew that you can buy for eight or nine bucks at the beer store. At that point I felt like I had two options: ramp up to 10 or 20 gallon batches to make the time/money investment per beer more reasonable, or make use of the fine division of labor we enjoy in modern civilization and let somebody else make the beer while I did other stuff. I lived in a small apartment at the time, so I chose the latter. I still have all my gear; one day I'll take it back up.

The two steps I took that improved my beer the most dramatically were: A) going to an all-glass, two stage fermentation (Lots of folks believe in a quick fermentation in plastic followed by aging it in a carboy; all I know is I had a lot less disappointment once I moved to all glass. Maybe my plastic bucket just sucked.) and B) and more importantly, going to liquid yeast. Liquid yeast is expensive. But it was night and day compared to the packets of the dry stuff.

I would seriously consider telling a new brewer not to bother bottling at all. Bottling is a nightmare. Saving the bottles, washing the bottles, sanitizing the bottles, filling the bottles. It's awful. I think for the new brewer I'd recommend starting with the Party Pig, which I had good success with. It's basically two big bottles per five gallon batch that you then get semi-draft beer from. The Grolsch-style bottles are way easier, but seriously: consider not bottling. If I ever start up again I'm going kegging-only.

Anyone who cares seriously about beer ought to brew for awhile. I can't tell you how much I learned about the process. It's like the guitar lessons I took in high school -- I never ended up in a band, and I barely got to the point where I was willing to let other people hear me play, but it's added an extra dimension to my enjoyment of music for my whole life. Absolutely worth it. It's even great before the beer's any good. There really is nothing like the feeling of craftsmanship you get the first time you're hammered on beer you made with your own hands.
 
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#19
#19
Good points Vercingetorix
I know what you mean about people drinking it all up. I have a few friends I dont mind sharing with but I dont break it out for the bud light crowd. I do 10 gallons at a time and and the price per 6 pack comes out around $3.

So did you use a carboy as your primary? Ive never seen a glass primary fermenter. I would like to get one of the stainless steel ones but they are very expensive. The most important thing about the fermenter is a tight seal. Any air leaking in around the lid can ruin the beer. You are correct about the liquid yeast.

I would like to get set up to keg at some point but the setups Ive looked at were pretty expensive. The process I outlined is the cheapest way to get started. I will check out the party pig. Bottling is the most time consuming step but sanitation products like One-Step make it go much quicker. Ive just got so many bottles and have always done it that way.
 
#20
#20
Got my pumpkin ale and maple syrup dark ale in the carboy this weekend. Bottle in about four weeks. I think these are gonna turn out real nice!
 
#21
#21
There is nothing better than home brew. I wish I had the patience, cant I just buy a Mr Beer? lol
 
#22
#22
Yeah, that's what it came down to for me... There is such competition between microbrews here that they're only a tad bit more than the macros. It's like six for a sixer of Budweiser, or seven for an awesome local micro. Easy choice. And I don't really save any money by homebrewing. I just did a few batches to get an appreciation for it. I'll get back into it when I have more money and space.
 
#23
#23
Also, easily the biggest hurdle for home brewers is sanitation. That is by far the largest key to making a successful brew. Load up on bleach.
 
#24
#24
Did it many, many years ago. Still have my original kit.

Good move DV to do the wort outside on propane. I had one spill over in the house and it was a friggin' nightmare to clean up.
 
#25
#25
Did it many, many years ago. Still have my original kit.

Good move DV to do the wort outside on propane. I had one spill over in the house and it was a friggin' nightmare to clean up.

Me too, plus my wife complained about the smell when I brewed in the house.
 

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