The TBR Homebrewing thread

maybe years down the road. Not just yet.

 

OK, well not years down the road. I wanna know. What are you into?

 

bump so kozel will start talking about home brew

 

Sorry.

I'm into just about anything. Lagers are great but they take so damn long to ferment if you use liquid yeast (and that's all you should use) that I generally end up doing ales. Pales, browns, stouts, trappists, beligians with fruit (trust me, some of the best beers I've ever made), and ciders (extremely easy).

I both keg and bottle my beers, but kegging is WAY easier. I also brewed outside using a turkey cooker and cut out keg as a cooker. If you think that you are going to stick with it, it might be worth it to spend a couple extra dollars to get the outside set up - especially if you already have the outside cooker. With this setup, we brewed 12 cases at a time - which can really add up. At one point, I had like 120 cases of beer. If you do this, I also recommend brewing with a friend - it can really save time.

I never got into whole grain, because it took a little extra time (30 min, maybe?), but we used the DME (which essentially is the dried version of what you'd get with the all grain version). The trade off is cost. Going all grain reduces your percase cost to probably 5 dollars, whereas DME is 15.

I recommend that you start with a good DME set - I can hook you up with the guy - and build from there once you find out if you like it.

Anything else you'd like to know?

 

i wanna brew root beer.

 

no prob. the same guy sells that too. I've always wanted to do that as well actually.

 

One of my best friends is as interested as I am, so I've got the help. Gonna get a fryer setup, what do you mean by outside setup outside of the fryer gear?
Am kinda leaning toward kegging, cost comparatively? It would seem easier.

any favorite sites? I'm not worried about having recipes, but I do like to read as much as I can. I can google, but haven't really settled into a site I like.

I'm sure there's more as I go, and I'll also be bothering my local homebrew supply store (less than 5 mins away but open at crap hours), but I think that's about it right now.

 

For outside brewing the only additional equipment you will need a propane cooking unit - make sure your fryer setup is not a combination that can only handle one circumference - and a pot. My cook pot is an old keg that has had the top cut off (if you go this route, make sure that the cut is the same size as a standard pot lid because you will need to cover it sometimes) and has a valve in the bottom to drain the wort into the carboys. I got it through my homebrew shop and I think it cost me 50 bucks for the conversion(a buddy gave me the keg). The best part is that you can cook 3 batches at a time in it.

Here is the guy I get all my stuff from http://www.ebrew.com/, but if you have a shop near you, then I would recommend using him. You are going to more out of it and you will be able to meet other brewers there as well.

Another good site I found is http://www.northernbrewer.com/index.html. All the recipe sites I hadbookmarked are apparently dead.

One other thing, no matter what you do, you must get The Complete Joy of Home Brewing by Papazian. It will let you know some of the basics that you need as you start out.

Things have honestly gotten so much simpler than even when I started that there really isn't that much to worry about. About the only two things you need to make sure of is to sterilize everything that will touch the wort and to make sure that it doesn't boil over.

A couple of other things - make sure you get hop bags, there isn't much worse than trying to drain wort with hops in it. Ugh. Get a couple of large grain bags, but remember these sink, and will break if you leave the heat on ::banginghe . Buy a very large interior diameter tube and cut som notches in one side. This is invaluable for quickly transfering clorox/water from one carboy/bucket to another. I would also recommend a counterflow chiller - if you are brewing large quantities, this is a necessity.

Some other things I've learned:

Grain bags are very hot after they sit in 160 degree water, but vice grips are good to hold them with. Make sure you have a good grip though :banginghe
Wort that splashes from dropped grain bags hurts.
I like to leave the first grains and bittering hops in for a little longer than the recipie says
Do NOT do this with flavoring hops or aromatic hops - after 5 minutes, the hops begin to impart bitterness
Dry hopping is the best thing ever
If you know any bartenders well, get your bottles from them - bottles are like 8 bucks a case - which can add up when you've got 150 cases. Mine cost me a 6 pack for each pickup truck full
Same thing with the kegs - the kegs you will use are soda kegs, and if you can get them from a restaurant or bar, this will same you lots of cash.
If you do go the keggin route, get a cold plate as this is like the greatest invention ever. Actually, it just occured to me that you could use your cold plate as your counterflow chiller.
If you want, I'll send you a recipie tracker and label maker I built in Excel

 

A couple of other things....

Make sure you get a blowoff stem and blowoff tube - trust me, you'll need it.
Buy a bunch of extra stoppers and airlocks (I prefer this type of airlock http://www.ebrew.com/Products_A/vinty_airlock.jpg)
Make sure you check out the carboy the morning after you brewed - there is nothing quite like seeing that whirl of activity
Taste the beer at every step so you can develop an appreciation for the subtleties
Buy clorox in bulk
If you have a place you can put a big worksink/washtub, that is worth doing
Buy an attachment for your faucet that allows you to hook up a hose to it
Carboy washers are a thing of beauty

And this is the most important one
You CANNOT fill your cooker with a garden hose - you need to get plastic tubing

When are you thinking of starting? Let me know, because I'd be happy to have you down one weekend to watch the whole process.

 

fred and/or builder can hook you up.