Any home brewers out there?

[milwaukeesportsfan]

I had been wanting to brew my own beer for some time, and last night I did it. I bought some supplies, boiled up a big pot of water, and brewed up a batch of ale. Right now the yeast is getting it on with the wort (assuming I didn't screw anything up), and hopefully soon I will see signs of fermentation. In about a month or so, I should be ready to drink my first batch of homebrew.

 

I figured with all the money I spend buying beer, why not cut out the middle man and make it myself? It was somewhat expensive for all the equipment I had to buy, but eventually that should even out. I plan on making a lot of beer over the course of my life.

[Thurston Fluff]

I make both beer and wine. Have been doing wine for quite a few years but just started the beer thing about a year ago. Only got to make two batches so far because we are redoing our basement but am about to start another batch within the month. Fun hobby but make sure you don't boil over the wert. It makes one hell of a mess and isn't real easy to clean up. How did you learn to do it? Just read a book or did you get some help from the supply store?

[milwaukeesportsfan]

My wort didn't really boil very hard. It boiled a little in the middle, but that was it. I think it's because I used like five gallons of water and couldn't get the stove hot enough. Hopefully that was good enough. I think next time less water in the brewpot would be a good idea. Since there was no room for any water in the carboy, I could not put any cold water in the mix, which I realized made it a long time before the wort was cool enough to add the yeast.

 

I went to a store in Waukesha called the Frugal Homebrewer and talked to the owner. He told me what I all needed to get started, and he gave me his instructions which are pretty easy to follow. My first batch was a red ale, so I didn't even need to mess around with a grain bag, which made it even easier. I also have a friend who knows how to brew, and he helped guide me through the process.

[Thurston Fluff]

Something that I found works realy well when trying to get air into the mixture after it cools is a mixmaster. Most people swish it around a whole bunch but I thought why not use the mixmaster. I called my home brewer guy and he said it should work really well. It's a good way to get enough air into the wort so it doesn't stall.

[milwaukeesportsfan]

Yeah, I think I need one of those. Shaking a carboy full of wort is kind of a pain. BTW, I just checked my mixture, and I think it's starting to bubble. Exciting.

[Thurston Fluff]

cool. It's kind if like the Futurama episode where they made beer in Bender. WhenI get it going agian we should compare notes.

[kilgore37]

My wort didn't really boil very hard. It boiled a little in the middle, but that was it. I think it's because I used like five gallons of water and couldn't get the stove hot enough. Hopefully that was good enough. I think next time less water in the brewpot would be a good idea. Since there was no room for any water in the carboy, I could not put any cold water in the mix, which I realized made it a long time before the wort was cool enough to add the yeast.

 

I went to a store in Waukesha called the Frugal Homebrewer and talked to the owner. He told me what I all needed to get started, and he gave me his instructions which are pretty easy to follow. My first batch was a red ale, so I didn't even need to mess around with a grain bag, which made it even easier. I also have a friend who knows how to brew, and he helped guide me through the process.

 

 

Are you making a 5 gallon batch? If so you usually only boil 3 gallons of wort and add 2 gallons when you go to cool it down.

 

[Invader3K]

I have the Mr Beer kit, which my wife got me for Christmas. I know it's not quite the same as some of the home brewing others are doing, but it's a lot of fun.

[BuckyTuba]

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51SKZH4AACL._BO2,204,203,200_PIlitb-dp-500-arrow,TopRight,45,-64_OU01_AA240_SH20_.jpg

 

Do yourself a favor and buy this book. Charlie Papazian is a trip, I met the guy when he won the Karl Strauss Lifetime Achievement in Brewing Award this past August (Karl Strauss was my grandfather). Turns out the guy studied Nuclear Engineering at the University of Virginia, but then threw it to the wind to teach people how to make beer.

 

 

[milwaukeesportsfan]

Yes, it's a five gallon batch. And the yeast is really working now. It's starting to foam big time. It won't be long, and it will start coming out through the blow off tube. I made beer. Awesome.

[Ando Calrissian]

Over the last year I've started down the homebrewing path. Instead of trying to boil all five gallons of water, use less as this will also help to cool the wort down faster so you can add the yeast and not kill it. When I've brewed I've used maybe three and then added water to the fermentor before I add the yeast. The brewing store I buy my ingredients from actually packages kits for specific beer varities that include their own set of instructions so a fair amount of guessing is eliminated. The only issue that I've had so far was making a weak flavored batch of Octoberfest because I did not allow the grains to steep long enough. Other than that I've tried to keep it rather simple for the time being and everything has been sea shells and balloons. Oh, one more thing: sanitize, sanitize, saniztize. Sterility is your friend when it comes to brewing.

I'll second the previous poster who recommneded Papazian's book: it is excellent for learning the ropes.

[brewerjamie15]

I'd like to volunteer as the official home brew taste tester for this thread.

[Thurston Fluff]

I'd like to volunteer as the official home brew taste tester for this thread.

 

If it's like wine taste testers don't get to actually drink the beer.

[RussBuss]

Couple of hints for you:

 

#1 - Try to boil all 5 gallons if you can. I use two burners on my stove, but I also bought a turkey fryer that I'm going to use for the next batch. If you can't, boil 2.5 gallons with half the total amount of extract. At the end of the boil, add the second half of the extract.

 

#2 - If you don't have/use a wort chiller, get one. Its a lot easier than an ice bath and much quicker too. You can make your own for about $20 bucks. If anyone is interested, I can post a picture of mine with some instructions (you'll need zero technical skills).

 

#3 - Pay some attention to your water. For the most part, you should be okay using city water, just bring it to a boil first to drive off the chlorine. If you are brewing a lighter brew with extracts, use distilled water, as the minerals in the water are already in the extract.

[Beerambassador]

I sampled my first homebrew last night, a belgian blonde ale. It's only been bottle conditioning for a about 5 days, so it was still a little flat. I'm hoping I didn't screw something up during the bottling process. I sampled some before I bottled, and it was pretty nice, big belgian yeast esters...maybe could've been a bit more balanced, a little too sweet and pretty hazy (so I likely screwed up something in that regard).

 

So anyway, the beer I drank last night still had those big esters upfront, but the back of the beer was really flat and dull tasting. I'm wondering if I oxidized the beer or maybe the flavor will "round out" more after some more bottle conditioning. Anyway, it'll be drinkable, but I might have some difficulty putting away 48 bottles of it. I'm already looking forward to my next batch.

[ewizabeff]

don't bottles have to condition for 2 weeks?