Home beer brewers ??

[jetstream1066]

I have been brewing my own beer....I'm curious if anybody here does the same if they have any recipe recommendations

 

[bideau]

When Babalu is back to full health, he'll be a wealth of information. He's a big time brewer who made the semi finals on the Sam Adams home brew contest a few years ago.

I tried a a few to times, with his assistance, and just couldn't get it right.

 

[jetstream1066]

When Babalu is back to full health, he'll be a wealth of information. He's a big time brewer who made the semi finals on the Sam Adams home brew contest a few years ago.

I tried a a few to times, with his assistance, and just couldn't get it right.

Semis in a sam contest is awesome. I'm far from that good....but the last few batches I made came out nice so I wanted to dabble in something more complex.

 

[mikiemo83]

Patriots4ever is a home brewer, he has a a Facebook page Gabe's brewing I think that may have tips

 

[jetstream1066]

Patriots4ever is a home brewer, he has a a Facebook page Gabe's brewing I think that may have tips

thx

 

[shirtsleeve]

I dabble. Got an IPA, Red, and Bourbon Barrell Porter in the pipeline now. Kegging the IPA and Red in the morning. Porter has another week on the oak before I keg that.

www.homebrewtalk.com has its own wiki and huge recipe database. Enormous volume of help and information there too. Hope this helps.

 

[jetstream1066]

I dabble. Got an IPA, Red, and Bourbon Barrell Porter in the pipeline now. Kegging the IPA and Red in the morning. Porter has another week on the oak before I keg that.

www.homebrewtalk.com has its own wiki and huge recipe database. Enormous volume of help and information there too. Hope this helps.

I go to homebrewtalk on occassion....I just ordered a blueberry wheat recipe and a milk stout

 

[shirtsleeve]

I go to homebrewtalk on occassion....I just ordered a blueberry wheat recipe and a milk stout

If you brew alot, you should consider joining their forums. Read Read Read. Another forum to look at is Northern Brewers.

Are you brewing extract, or all grain? either way, you can make fine beer if you nail procedure.

Both forums offer the opportunity to get involved with events and such, and to partake in group buys.

 

[jetstream1066]

If you brew alot, you should consider joining their forums. Read Read Read. Another forum to look at is Northern Brewers.

Are you brewing extract, or all grain? either way, you can make fine beer if you nail procedure.

Both forums offer the opportunity to get involved with events and such, and to partake in group buys.

Im brewing extract from a kit. Pretty basic, but I'd like to step up to more compleys, 2 phase systems

 

[Beaglebay]

http://bostonbeerweek.org/

 

[shirtsleeve]

Im brewing extract from a kit. Pretty basic, but I'd like to step up to more compleys, 2 phase systems

Im hoping you've read some on their forums. Some tips (and only tips, not to be confused with full procedure) from me are:

Cleanliness is next to beeriness. Super clean everything then sanitize with star san per their directions. Remember your hands! at least dip them or spray them with star san or 70% isopropyl before handling anything exposed to the beer after boiling. Infections are nasty things.

Yeasties are the infection you want, not the beasties. If you are brewing anything with a higher OG than 1.050, make a yeast starter. (really anything over 1.040). Or add addional smak paks of yeast equal to 1 pack for every .040 over the original OG of 1.040. So a 1.060 for instance would need two smak paks. 1.080 would need 3. Vials of white labs are the same as smak paks. Bring your yeast to room temp before pitching.

If you are using a dry yeast, stop. Get liquid yeasts fitting the style of beer.

Temp is critical, I will talk about that later.

Fresh Fresh Fresh LME from a place like midwest or NB is waaaay better than the canned crap you get at the local brew store. Add just 1/2 the DME (off of the heat) at the beginning of the boil. Start with a min of 2 1/2 gallons of water (never use chlorinated tap water. ever.) If you have all LME, add just 1/3 of it at the beginning. When all the extract is dissolved OFF OF THE HEAT and you are SURE its all dissolved thoroughly return to heat.

Hot break is important. You gotta approach and reach hot break as quickly as possible. A big hot break helps clarity and flavor. It pulls proteins and tannins out of solution. I skim the hot break, but its up to you, it should fall out at cold break anyway. Add hops per directions. Where you will be brewing weak, you may want to add a qty of hops at 1.5 the amount called for. This is only for this first addition of bittering hops. Later additions should not be so affected.

Which brings me to burners and vessels. You need a big pot to boil 21/2 gals of water plus the extract. think 4 gals or better. And yes, a 7 gallon pot to do a full volume boil is best.( Now you are outside with the turkey fryer tho.)
And you need a burner hot enough to readily get that volume up to and past the rolling boiling stage. This is very important.

Add the rest of the volume of extract 10 mins before the end of the boil. Stop the boil clock, remove from heat, stir in the extract and be sure its dissolved. Return to heat and bring back to a boil quickly and start the clock when the temp of the wort hits 165 again. add the remaining hops as per directions.

Cold break is of importance too. You must get the wort down from boiling to under 110 degrees as quickly as possible. If you can, buy an immersion chiller. If not a handy tip is to sanitize a half dozen of those blue ice blocks and freeze them in double ziplock bags to keep them sanitized. Drop them (the block and inner bag) right in the wort as you use your ice bath on the outside of the pan. when you are below 80 degrees, create a whirlpool in the wort and siphon from the side of the kettle into the fermenter. This will leave behind 99% of the solids from the hotbreak, cold break, and hop debris.

Aerate the wort rediculously after splash adding the make up water. This means set a timer, cover the opening of the fermenter and shake the snots outta it for 5 full minutes. This step is exhausting. Shaking 50# for 5 mins sucks. But its so necessary for proper fermentation. Or buy a stone and O2 setup...$$. Really take your hydrometer reading now and record your OG. For a kit it should be really close if your volumes are correctly calibrated.

 

[shirtsleeve]

Cont'd
Once the OG is established pitch your yeast and install your airlock. Ferment at controlled temps in the yeast's preferred range. TEMP IS CRITICAL here. For most ales, basement temps of between 60 and 68 are good. But check your yeast packet for ideal temps. or get them off line. I use an old apt size fridge in the garage as my fermentation chamber. I have a temp controller (available everywhere) that I plug the fridge plug into, stick the probe thru the fridge wall and plug it in. Now I can ferment lagers and ales of all styles. Temps north of 70 degrees, unless brewing certain Belgians, are BAD and will produce all sorts of off flavors. Too cool and it wont ferment out completely. I cannot emphasise this enough. controlled fermentation temps are critical to a good beer. No one likes ciderey tasting beer with just a hint of fingernail polish to it. Leave the fementer alone until all activity stops, then wait a few days. Yeast autolysis is not a factor in home brew volumes. Then check your FG every day for at least 3 days (remember to sanitize). The number should be stable. Stuck fermentation only occurs when there wasn't enough viable yeast or temp control was not followed. Figure at LEAST two weeks for quick fermenting light ales and closer to double that for bigger beers.

Secondary fermentation is not necessary unless you are adding flavors (like dry hopping, vanilla beans or cocoa nibs etc.) during that period IF you give adequate time in primary.

I will help with packaging if you tell me whether you bottle or keg.

 

[shirtsleeve]

Once you get the process down for extract, the first thing you will want to do, assuming you are already steeping flavor grains for 20 mins at 155-160, is to substitute some fermentable grains like two row or otter (to fit style) for a portion of the extract and steep for an hour at the same temps. Temp control when mashing these grains is of more importance. This is the first step toward partial mashing. From there you can continue to partial mash, or go into all grain. I like to pm a good extract ale sometimes. Its fun and easy, and makes fantastic beer.

If your process is down solid, and you have little money space or time, you may never want to. However if you have the money space and time, all grain is taking control over the whole process. The final product will be usually better too. But if you are really nailing process with a partial mash, no so much as to make the investment worth the little bit of extra flavor, if any. Really, with modern techniques and fresh ingredients, the only reason to go all grain is for the control of the whole process and eventually, if bought in bulk, a lower cost/unit. It takes a long time to pay back for all the equipment to take that step tho. I personally employ the ebiab for my all grain brews. But my brother is an electrician and set me up with a dedicated outlet for it. BIAB over a turkey fryer with an upgraded regulator can work, or stovetop for small 3 gallon batches if you have a kickass gas stove. Three tier traditional systems are great, but they are first cost intensive, take up quite a bit of space, and require outdoor brewing. Or at best an open garage. That can suck when its 0 outside.

 

[shirtsleeve]

jetstream

I was hoping to hear back by now. I hope my tips helped. The key lesson I was teaching there is to not be a typical new brewer and wing thru a few batches of extract so that you can brew all grain and make "real beer". Extract brews win competitions on a regular basis. Even big competitions. The key here is to perfect the process. It is so common for new brewers to tackle process after the fact, when they've attempted their first few all grain batches with mixed results, and finally figured out they need help to troubleshoot where they are going wrong. Then they go on to learn to make good beer, and blame the extract batches for their early mediocre results. Nothing can be further from the truth.

Learn NOW the science and art of brewing, before investing in the equipment and time to brew all grain. When you invest the effort to really learn how to brew a fine extract brew that you would enter into a competition, then, and only then should you consider brewing all grain. Dont rush it. For with a sound foundation of brew science, you will know where to turn to take the next step and control your whole process, including extracting the sugars from the grain.

Or, conversely, invest the effort NOW to learn the same science and art, then spend the money and time to brew all grain, and do it successfully.

The common thing here is the commitment of really learning. Really understanding. Nailing the process and recording everything you do to better replicate/adjust your process to perfect it.

 

[shirtsleeve]

Tapped an IPA and Irish Red tonite. Damn they are tasty. I was aiming for last weekend tho. But I gave them some extra time in the fridge to get them good and clear before kegging them. Worth the wait. Meh, they are ready for this weekend instead. Wasn't like the chocolate stout on nitro and the Scot 70/- wasnt fine for St Paddies day.