| Author | Message | ||
     Prof_stack |
I homebrewed from 1985 to 2005 and made about 15 5-gallon batches per year. The hobby ended with a 4-tap kegorater and me growing lots of hops. One of the beers, in 1989, won the Best of Show for pale ales in the national AHA contest. The hobby ended when I lost interest in it and, to some extent, alcohol. So, with my street cred established, here is some advice for starting homebrewers: - Use lots of quality yeast. They will win out over the nasty stuff. - Bleach is a good cheap sanitizer and you don't need very much. Worked for me. - Take your time moving from syrups and powders to using grains. Don't try to learn it all at once. - Get a small refrigerator to place the secondary fermenter within to get a clear ale or lager sooner and with a nicer flavor. - It is hard to make a good tasting high-alcohol beer. Original gravities of 1.055 or less usually work best for homebrewers. - Read and study journals and websites. - Around 40 years old the body starts to be less efficient in breaking down the alcohol in the system. ymmv - It's a fun hobby but remember that alcohol IS addictive and can take down almost anyone. - So, relax, don't worry. Have a homebrew! BTW, my current favorite beer is this year's Winterhook by Redhook Brewing. | ||
| Hootowl |
The near-freezing temps that the commercial guys brew at are ridiculous. I don't think any of the yeasts you'll get from White Labs or Wyeast will work at that temperature, or at least, the manufacturers don't recommend it. Typically lagers are 45-55 degrees for fermentation. Note that lager yeast will work at higher temperatures, but will give off ale-like esters (like an ale yeast). Lower temps produce fewer esters, so lager yeasts that can stay active at lower temperatures produce a cleaner fermentation. If you've used any specialty grains that'll make your beer darker than a Pilsner, you won't be able to taste the difference between the ale and lager yeast. Well, I can't anyway. I have also come to the conclusion that making Pilsners at home is a waste of time. MGD hits the Pilsner style right in the middle. I buy that when I want that kind of beer. Making it takes a month in the cooler, and another 1-2 months of lagering before it tastes right. I'd rather focus on ales that I can drink right away and that I can't buy in the store. | ||
| Spatten1 |
Bleach is a good cheap sanitizer and you don't need very much. Worked for me. +1. Be careful not to use too much bleach if you are not going to rinse afterwards. I've done "more is better" with bleach, and it ain't better if you can taste it. Get a small refrigerator to place the secondary fermenter within to get a clear ale or lager sooner and with a nicer flavor. I rack after 1 week into a secondary fermenter, and leave it for at least another week, but unrefrigerated. This results in almost no residue in the bottom of the bottles. You can drink right from the bottle without getting a cloud of dead yeast in the last 1/3. | ||
| Spatten1 |
So many great beers out there now, I have less motivation to brew at home and rarely do so. When I started in 1993 it was tough to get decent beers of any variety in the US. Now we are the beer capital of the world in terms of variety and innovation. Never thought that would happen in a million years. I never went past extract, and found you can do well without going all-grain. Also, some dry yeasts do a pretty good job. I used to use Edme for a great english style finish, but they quit makeing it 5 or so years ago. I bought all I could find on-line then, all gone now. Tried Danstar Nottingham recently, and was pleased to see that they finally put a good amount in the package. It used to be so little that it wouldn't even kick off for a day or even two. They must have doubled or tripled the contents of the pack and it takes off right away now. I know liquid yeast is much better, and if you can propogate it for future use it's cost effective, but for the price and infrequency of my brewing, I just take the easy way out with dried yeasts. I realize I'm missing out on some flavor. | ||
| Spatten1 |
Hex, have you tried Hop Wollop? When I lived in PA it was made by Victory at Christmas time only, and in limited quantity. It's like Hop Devil on steroids. Great stuff, and this is the season to get it! | ||
| Hex |
I'd rather focus on ales that I can drink right away and that I can't buy in the store. Amen brother! I like ales better anyway. I'm using a water jacket fermenter. Home made of course, with a Ranco temperature controller, a 100w fish tank heater, and a very small fish tank pump to circulate the water around the 3/4 submerged glass carboy. Winter here in Sacramento is about 47 deg f average. So the water jacket allows me to keep a cozy 68 deg f. I racked my primary after only 4 days into the secondary carboy. The airlock was bubbling about twice a minute, well down from the biological explosion the days before! I took a gravity reading and it was already down from 1.070 to 1.020. The secondary is still in the water jacket till this Sunday (brew day #3), and then the Honey Brown will sit on the garage slab for another week or two and will get down to under 50 deg f. Then bottling. | ||
| Hex |
I think my next batch will be called: RocketMan's 185RWH, well, maybe, please don't call ME a liar.  | ||
| Hootowl |
Dry yeasts actually start faster. Liquid yeasts are dormant and have to do several things internally before they can start to metabolize maltose. Dry yeasts are very nearly ready to go one they are rehydrated and start to work very quickly. You aren't losing any quality with the dry variety, just a little, well, variety. Fewer strains of yeast are produced in dry form, but the most popular strains, like California Ale Yeast (WL-001) are available dry (Safale-05). When I'm making a beer that calls for WL-001, I use Safale-05. Cheaper, and faster starts. | ||
| Hex |
...Safale-05... Yup, I've been using Safale-04, and I find it likes to go off in one big bloom. Batch #3 is going to be this Honey Brown recipe that I concocted, with Safale-05, just to see if there is a noticeable difference. | ||
| Spatten1 |
You aren't losing any quality with the dry variety, just a little, well, variety. Good to know that the quality is not suffering. I make mostly ESBs and IPAs/APAs, so I can work with a fairly narrow band of the yeast world. I just love the English beers and what the Americans have done to supercharge them. | ||
| Buellmeister57 |
My wife got me a beer making kit for Christmas, my first batch is fermenting now. Thanks for all the good tips. I'm stoked. (Thirsty) | ||
| Hootowl |
Hex, The 05 is a very neutral yeast. The 04 is for British styles and will give your beer a more malty tone than the 05. Also, when you think your beer is done, wait three more days. They call this a "diacetyl rest". Diacetyls are partial sugars, a byproduct of fermentation. The yeast will eventually consume them, but since they prefer tenderloin to flank, they leave them for last. If you chill the beer below the yeast's active temperature range before diacetyl conversion is complete, your beer will have a faint butter flavor. In fact, diacetyl is used commercially as artificial butter flavor. | ||
| Prof_stack |
If you can time it so you brew right after bottling (or kegging) you can use the yeast from the bottom of the secondary fermenter. Get the temperature of the wort to be within about 5F of the yeast. Some of my best beers started this way, and I've had microbrewers recommend it to me. | ||
| Theironmaiden22 |
I'll stick with my Guiness Extra Stout any day, week, or month of the year. Only thing I've tried brewing myself was Trappist ales. Came out horribly. | ||
| Jpgrego |
I've never attempted brewing any myself, but it's definitely on my list of things I want to try. I do however love and appreciate a good beer... anyone else attending the World Beer Festival in Columbia, SC in 12 days? Last year I found my new favorite beer there, it was from "The Duck Rabbit" brewery and was basically their milk stout, but was brewed in previously used oak bourbon barrels. I'm hoping they bring it again this year as they don't have plans to produce it commercially, it's strictly for festivals etc. | ||
| X5thxgearxfreak |
After doing some research, technically, it's impossible for one to brew Trappist ales being as the Trappists' are monks thus keeping their recipes secret. Great ale though, kind of strong with a 13% alc/vol thanks to it's secondary fermentation. | ||
| Sleez |
i love duvel! | ||
| Hex |
You should read "Brew Like a Monk" and realize that the 7 (only) official Trappist breweries are actually commercial companies who give half of their profits to the Monasteries in order to be labeled Trappist and brew within their walls. Not many (if any in some cases) monks are actually employed in the brewing of Trappist Ale. It's just marketing. There are no secret recipes after 7000+ years. I'm attempting to upload a video of my makeshift "Water Jacket Fermentation Chamber" from Kathleen's iPod Nano to youtube. It's mp4, but seems to be taking a while. I don't use youtube often so I guess I'll be patient. Stay 'tooned. Spidey: Gonzo's a great strong Porter! I'll buy it again. Kathleen didn't like it very much, but I do. Fatty: That Martzen tastes like bacon! No wonder you enjoy it so much. Lighter than the Gonzo in color and rich malt flavor, definitely a good beer, but smokey and rather odd... (Message edited by Hex on January 04, 2010) | ||
| Hex |
Here ya go! Low plastic 15 gal bucket wrapped with R17 insulation, Styrofoam bottom pad and top, towels and bricks, 100w fish tank heater, Ranco temperature controler, blow off tube, Buell poster in background on wall. 47 deg f average in garage, exactly 68 deg f in fermentation chamber! | ||
| Spatten1 |
Is the temp controlled fermenter because you don't want to stick the carboy in a closet inside the house? | ||
| Theironmaiden22 |
Try some Delirium Tremens!! It's dubbed a 'Trappist' ale. Comes in a 4 pack for like 13$ but definitely good shit. Strong, really strong, something like 13.5% alc by vol. And since it undergoes secondary fermentation it's different when you get to the bottom and get to all that yeast goodiness. | ||
| Hex |
Our house is 58 deg f at best. Kathleen's a heat nazi so I bundled up the beer! | ||
| Spatten1 |
Do you guys all do primary fermentation in glass? I always do the first week in a plastic bucket with a waterlock, then switch to a glass carboy also with a waterlock. I'll leave it in the secondary for a month if I'm busy, or as short as 1 week. | ||
| Spatten1 |
Hex: great idea and ingenuity! | ||
| Hex |
So far I've done: 6 gal hard apple cider primary in a plastic 'Ale pail', racked to a 5 gal glass secondary. 12 gal fig wine in a 20 gal food grade trash can, racked to two 6 gal glass carboys, and racked again and again into 5 gal glass carboys and several one gallon glass jugs. First batch of Brown Ale primary in 6 gal glass carboy, racked to 5 gal glass carboy, back to the 'Ale Pail' for bottling (I have a plastic spigot on the bottom of that pail). Second batch of Honey Brown Ale primary in 6 gal glass carboy, racked to 5 gal glass carboy, still in fermentation chamber. I blew up one of my 6 gal glass carboys cleaning it three days ago, what a mess, got cut too. Glass is seriously dangerous. I am considering another plastic 'Ale Pail' without spigot for my primary fermenter, but I still have one 6 gal carboy left, so will probably use glass for now... | ||
| Theironmaiden22 |
This is a bit off topic but it is alcohol related. Has anyone tried making their own mead? I love the stuff, especially warmed up just a bit on a blustery below zero day. However, it's not exactly cheap, so I'm thinking of giving it a try, I was just wondering if anyone else has tried making mead. | ||
| Aptbldr |
Hexs Serious Bear Thread ... | ||
| Hex |
I tasted mead recently, and honestly didn't like it. From what I have read, making mead from honey, water, yeast, etc. is just like wine making, but a little trickier. I'm sure you can get started with the help of www.homebrewtalk.com forum. | ||
| Spatten1 |
I made mead once. Had to use champaign yeast to get enough attenuation, beer yeast would go dormant before eating enough of the sugars. It really tasted more like mediocre white wine than beer. I'm pretty sure the honey browns, etc. that are commercially available must kill the yeast then add the honey so that it does not get fermented. That's how they taste to me, anyway, but just a somewhat educated guess. | ||
| Jim_williams |
Been homebrewing for years. Here's my basement  I try to always have a cask on at all times as well. Sometimes two. This time of year, when my basement is in the mid 50's I'll have a gravity tapped as well as the one I always have through a pump out of my chest freezer kept at 54 year round. You can see the end of the tap for the pump on the left.  |
