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Homebrewing! Who's making beer?
Michael H
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
I know I am. I'm starting a cream ale tonight, it should be ready in a month. After that I might start a bigger beer like an imperial stout. In about the 6 months it's ready it will be the perfect time for dark beer again.
Even MORE exciting are the hop plants I'm getting into the ground this weekend. I got my rhizomes last weekend, and they're happily sitting in some pots for the time being. I have to get my trellises yet, but hopefully on Saturday I can get the plants into the garden.
Finally, here are some sweet posters I found today from Northern Brewer. Can't beat $5!
Who else is brewing?
Even MORE exciting are the hop plants I'm getting into the ground this weekend. I got my rhizomes last weekend, and they're happily sitting in some pots for the time being. I have to get my trellises yet, but hopefully on Saturday I can get the plants into the garden.
Finally, here are some sweet posters I found today from Northern Brewer. Can't beat $5!
Who else is brewing?
Michael H on
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I have to say, I do not grow my own hops. That's impressive.
the aroma is perfect, the color is great but the taste is just off. It's too yeasty even though I bottled it 2 months ago and it should have had plenty of time to condition.
It almost feels right but it doesn't quite have the sweetness and the hop flavor is too bitter.
I'm trying a different recipe next weekend. I hope it turns out a lot better
I did brew a Scotch Ale. That stuff is incredible. about 8% ABV, tastes like vanilla and caramel.
All of his homemade brews are very hoppy; what do you expect, we're Lutherans
When he especially likes the music I put together on Sunday he gives me a 6-pack and a bottle of his Riesling ice wine
Who said being religious has no perks
Take a look at the "Brew in a bag" and "no chill" methods. They will reduce the amount of stuff you need to brew all grain.
So far, it's been interesting.
On the first round, I was too quick to pull the trigger and it ended up a very green beer.
The second time around, I learned that with a gallon jug, dry hopping is not recommended. It was a huge mess and I had to clean out the jugs before adding the bottling sugar.
We have a dunkelweizen, an Irish red and a brown ale all ready. Plus one of my guests used some of the dunkelweizen to bake homemade hamburger and hot dog buns with. Fantastic.
Started a chocolate banana stout, but it's not even close to being conditioned yet. Fingers crossed on that one.
And my stepfather has informed me that there is a grove of wild hops that grows down the road from him (he lives out in the mountains right off a river). I've instructed him to keep an eye on them and let me know when they bloom.
edit: Also, I'm relatively still a rookie at it, but I'd really like to get away from malt syrup and into all-grain.
xbl - HowYouGetAnts
steam - WeAreAllGeth
Awesome.
omg do want
Robots Will Be Our Superiors (Blog)
http://michaelhermes.com
There's really nothing wrong with extract brewing IMO. I prefer dry vs. liquid but both work just fine in the end.
Robots Will Be Our Superiors (Blog)
http://michaelhermes.com
I've got 10 gallons of a dry stout that I have GOT to bottle this weekend, been sitting in the secondary fermenter for a month.
Anyone got ideas for a good summer brew, light/medium that's easy to drink but has great flavor?
My scotch ale and funky hopped up stout are great with a meal but way too rich to drink more than two at a time.
Speaking of funky, hopped up stout, We had some leftover hops from 1/4 to 1 oz from previous batches that we wanted to use up. So we brewed up a batch of a really dark stout, threw in some boiled pumpkin (cause why not, it was lying around) and ended up with something I've never tasted before. Had the hops and aroma of a Californian IPA, was pitch black and so much barley it tasted like it had been brewed over a campfire.
Doubt we'll ever be able to repeat that
When I get home I'll see if I can dig out the recipe I used. It was incredibly simple. The only bad part - it doesn't really mature until about 4-5 months. Of course that didn't stop me from drinking a case as soon as it had finished bottle conditioning but it's soooo much better after a couple of months.
xbl - HowYouGetAnts
steam - WeAreAllGeth
how do you do fruit beers? Do you actually brew with fresh/frozen fruit as an addendum or do you just add fruit flavoring?
Also I've been thinking about getting into brewing, or at least giving it a shot. It seems as though there are plenty of people around here who have experience with it, or at least seem to have more experience than me (which is none at all).
So I ask of you, brewers of PA, how did you get started? What would you recommend for first time brewers? Are there any good kits you would recommend? What kind of equipment is needed to brew my own beer?
Agreed.
Getting started is easy.
I started with the following equipment:
1 - 6 gallon carboy
1 - big pot. You can get 5-6 gallon pots that you can boil the whole wort in but it's perfectly acceptable to boil in a 2-3 gallon pot and then dilute the wort to 5 gallons.
1 - airlock - cheap little plastic device to allow gasses to escape while the beer is brewing
1 - thermometer
1 - bottle capper
1 - package of sanitizer
bottles and bottle caps
1- funnel
1 - 5 gallon bucket with a little spigot for filling the bottles
You can also brew in just food-grade plastic buckets but you'll need at least two containers big enough to keep your entire batch in because you'll have to siphon the beer off the sludge that collects from brewing.
EDIT: this is just equipment obviously. You'll need the actual ingredients for the beer too.
You need:
-A decent basic equipment set (see below)
-One good homebrewing book (I like this one for the "first" book. "Radical Brewing", which has been mentioned, is a terrific book but not as your first book.)
-A recipe kit (contains all necessary ingredients)
This is the basic kit that I think most people start with. They range from $60 to $75 depending on where you buy them from. It's what I used when I brewed my first batch. You can upgrade the components as needed. The only thing you really need in addition to the kit are bottles (you can buy them or just drink beer with pop-off lids as opposed to twist-off) and a big ol pot.
http://www.midwestsupplies.com/brewing-basics-equipment-kit.html
I would avoid things like Mr. Beer and go with the standard equipment and ingredients.
midwestsupplies.com and northernbrewer.com are fun to browse through. I would also look for a home brew store in your area, as going to the brew store is one of the more fun parts of the process.
Robots Will Be Our Superiors (Blog)
http://michaelhermes.com
A friend of mine's uncle makes really good beer. That same friend is volunteering at a distillery so he can learn to make whiskey. I had a bottle the distillery gave him (not a batch he made of course, but the same type) and it was really good.
1): I live in Mississippi, in a dry county (but a wet city, which I don't understand but don't question.) Any idea if there are any legal issues I could run into, even if I'm not selling the product?
2): Basically the only space I have for this is in a garage with no A/C. Again, I live in Mississippi; it gets fucking hot in the summer. I know that brewing is very temperature-sensitive, and don't really have the money to buy a big fridge; am I screwed?
That said, the speed of the brew can affect the flavors that are present in the beer but it's really hard to make beer that's undrinkable if you keep everything clean and keep contaminants out of the wort.
OK, AL, and MI are the only states where homebrewing is still illegal as far as I know. How strictly they enforce, I have no idea.
With no AC or extra fridge, lagers are out of the question. Ales might work, but I don't know how high they can go and still ferment well. 80 F? 70's?
Robots Will Be Our Superiors (Blog)
http://michaelhermes.com
You'll want to double check everything. For Federal purposes, you are exempt from taxes as long as you're under 100 gal/year (something around there) and aren't selling it. On the whole, most states don't consider it an enforcement priority if you're not going around their control laws to sell it.
No. There are plenty of yeast varieties that can get into 70+ deg F just fine. You'll always want to be sanitary and sterilize ahead of your brewing adventure. You will need ice at some point in order to cool your wort down to appropriate temperatures to pitch the yeast.
Well, if it's illegal in your state there probably won't be any homebrew stores and an online place might not ship to a state where it's still illegal. If that's the case, then unless you live near the border you might have a hard time getting started.
EDIT: just filled out an order at midwest supplies for a Mississippi address and got as far is hitting the submit order button. Looks like you can order online.
Funny side note, last year when they legalized homebrewing, they neglected to update our keg laws. We can now make beer, but we are still forbidden from having a container of beer larger then 2 liters. I'm guessing the fermenter counts as a container of beer...
Robots Will Be Our Superiors (Blog)
http://michaelhermes.com
Baking can still leave spores behind, be careful.
I usually just throw them in the dishwasher and run it on pots and pans. They come out hot to the touch even after cooling down. I'm not really the safest when it comes to sterilization, I guess, but I've never had any ill effects
Have any of you made a beer with a grain bill with anything other than barley?
After it was done (and one bottle exploded in my bathroom, because apparently it was some kind of superbeer), we took a few bottles of homemade brewskies. It was pretty danged delicious. Except one problem: after about two or three bottles, I still wasn't drunk, and considering my Asian ass, that was a problem.
Complete failure.
I used wheat in the weizen, that's about it. There aren't any real differences there, though.