Homebrew

[chefchris]

I will definately get in on that.

[FactoredReality]

Wow, definately nice to see some avid homebrewers. I have a Scottish 60 shilling ale in the primary currently, but it has not been very active. I'm going to give it another day or so then I'm gonna hit it with some more yeast to hopefully recover it. On deck I have a London Pub Brown and I'd like to make an IPA after that.

I'm lazy and primarily do extract brewing, I have done all-grain in the past and while the product was great it was more effort than I was looking for. I also have a Sears "Water" Distiller sitting around to put those sub-par batches to better use. I used soda kegs in college and those were by far the easiest method, I'm back to bottling now while I decide if I want to re-plumb my kegerator to handle a third tap type. Do they make beverage grade quick-disconnects? How much impact would that have on carbonation/flow?

[wild]

I'm back to bottling now while I decide if I want to re-plumb my kegerator to handle a third tap type. Do they make beverage grade quick-disconnects? How much impact would that have on carbonation/flow?

They make QDs for both Pepsi (ball lock cornys) and Coke (pin lock cornys) or are you looking for a QD to switch from a Sanke to a corny?

[WOXOF]

I had the last two bottles of your Nut Brown Ale the other night while watching Appaloosa and enjoying an Oliva Serie V. Good stuff. I'm still saving the Oatmeal stout and Double Choc Stout. I wont be able to resist much longer.

[FactoredReality]

They make QDs for both Pepsi (ball lock cornys) and Coke (pin lock cornys) or are you looking for a QD to switch from a Sanke to a corny?

I'm sorry I should have explained in more detail. Currently I have 2 Sanke taps that I can swap in and out of my system. A and S types (American and European respectively). To switch to a corny setup the C02 line would be interchangeable but I would need a QD for my beverage line since that is mounted on the door and the opposite end terminates in a threaded nut. Althought now that I think about it I could skip the QD and just make an adapter line from the nut to the soda keg tap. I'm still curious on the foam situation as I have experienced huge changes by varying tube length and having an inline adapter to change the hose size.

[pmp]

Awesome. Now I don't feel like the only one who spends most of my money on cigars and homebrew!

[chefchris]

So I made some beer bread today. Tastes pretty good. Cup and a half of Maris Otter and half cup of Vienna Malt. Mashed it, then mixed it with yeast and flour. Sounds simple, but my back hurts.

Mine ended up a little dough-y in the center though I couldn't have cooked it any longer as I didn't want to throw off my bittering addition. Maybe next time I'll fly sparge and only use a half of the grains. They hold a lot of water and I had to use a lot flour. Maybe make a starter a couple days a head of time.

Mashing In:



Seperated into two loafes:



BING!




I got 76% efficiency on my first go!









My apologies to the non-brewers who won't understand my witty jokes spread throughout the post.

[FactoredReality]

Looks like some tasty bread. Were you able to measure the OG?

[chefchris]

Looks like some tasty bread. Were you able to measure the OG?

No, but I did check my gravity as I was sparging so I never went below 1.010.

[badwhale]

Chris,

Do you have a figure in your head as to how much each bottle costs to make (roughly), excluding the initial equipment startup costs?

Will

[chefchris]

Chris,

Do you have a figure in your head as to how much each bottle costs to make (roughly), excluding the initial equipment startup costs?

Will

Well, it takes about $150-$200 to start. You buy a kit and then you gotta buy a pot. You can find turkey fryers for under $30. Then you're average extract batch is gonna cost somewhere between $30-40, but it's easy to find them in the $20 price range depending on what recipe you're picking. Higher alcohol is going to cost more because it includes more fermentables.

When you go into all grain is where it gets cheaper per batch. I bought a cooler and some spare parts from home depot for under $50. That's pretty much all you need for All Grain.

So I did an English Mild a couple months ago. The total cost me about $16 for all the ingredients. Let's say I got 48 bottles out of it (about 2 cases), that brings it to .33 cents a bottle. I just did an Imperial Honey Porter that cost a little more since it's higher ABV and requires more grains. The whole batch cost me about $38 so that comes to .79 cents a bottle. That is not including equipment.

If you've got a burner or huge pot (perferably over 8 gallons) then that's less to spend. I got my 15 gallon pot for about $60. Or you can find a keg and convert it into a 'keggle'. You'll want to be able to do a full boil. So if it's a 5 gallon batch you're boil volume will be around 7 gallons. After an hour boil, it should have it down to 5 gallons, but you need the room for the full boil. And of course, it's going to be cheaper to go ahead and get the equipment you'll need now instead of upgrading as you go.






I know cost is important, but I freakin' love this hobby. You're learn to love good beer even more when you start appreciating how it's made. I find myself trying all kinds of new beer looking for what to brew next.

Try looking around Austin Home Brew Supply and you can price all the different kits. You'll probably want to start off with extract. If you want to see price per bottle, just divide the price by number of bottles. You usually yield around 2 cases.

If this doesn't make any sense or you have any more questions, ask away!

[FactoredReality]

Just brewed a batch of Scottish 60 shilling, have a English Bitter in the secondary. Anyone have anything good brewed or on deck?

[chefchris]

Just brewed a batch of Scottish 60 shilling, have a English Bitter in the secondary. Anyone have anything good brewed or on deck?

Sweet. I just brewed this past Sunday at my new apartment with a two friends. One's never brewed a beer, just a couple of ciders using my equipment. So I just sat back and told him what to do. It was awesome. Brewed a Double Chocolate Sweet Stout. It's a recipe I put together.

Efficiency: 93%
Batch Size: 5.50 gal
Boil Size: 7.39 gal
Estimated OG: 1.050 SG
Estimated Color: 46.3 SRM
Estimated IBU: 29.1 IBU
Boil Time: 60 Minutes
Ingredients:
------------
Amount Item
5.25 lb UK Pale Malt (2 Row)
1.00 lb Black (Patent) Malt
0.75 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt - 80L
0.55 lb Chocolate Malt
1.60 oz Williamette [5.50 %] (60 min)
1.00 tbsp PH 5.2 Stabilizer (Mash 60.0 min)
1.00 lb Milk Sugar (Lactose)
1 Pkgs SafAle English Ale (DCL Yeast #S-04)

Add 8 oz of Hershey's Baking Cocoa Powder and 1 lb of Lactose near the end of the boil.
Add 8 oz. Cocoa Nibs to secondary fermenter at transfer and age for two weeks.


I've also started kegging since I last chimed into this thread. I it !!! I brewed a Stone IPA clone but messed up when putting in the grain bill and forgot to up the recipe to my efficiency. The OG was suppose to be around 1.060 or so and I ended up with 1.090 OG !!! Whoops. Best beer I've made to date. Also got the highest attenuation I've ever had with that beer. FG was 1.012 ! Came out at 10.5% ABV. Man is this thing good, no taste of alcohol, dry and drinkable. Sending a couple off to a competition. Hopefully I'll get to post some pics up of my awards.


Also, I've started a homebrew club here in Gainesville. There's one already here but they're a bunch of snobs. So I figured I'd make my own. Got about 15 people on board so far and a homebrew shop to back us up all the way. In fact, one of the guys who worked lives in my complex and just left my house after sharing a couple beers. We're called Motley Brew.

[wild]

Is that the club out of Broken Bow?
If not, im me the your club contact info so I
can notify you of upcoming competitions.

[chefchris]

Well, the IPA that I was talking about in my last post took 2nd place out of 51 beers in the category. Not too shabby.

[FactoredReality]

Well, the IPA that I was talking about in my last post took 2nd place out of 51 beers in the category. Not too shabby.

Congratz! I'm studying for the BJCP exam now. Last batch didn't come out too good. Breakfast stout is going into secondary tomorrow and after the boil tasted amazing. Anything else brewing?

[chefchris]

Congratz! I'm studying for the BJCP exam now. Last batch didn't come out too good. Breakfast stout is going into secondary tomorrow and after the boil tasted amazing. Anything else brewing?

Are you doing the Founder's Breakfast Stout from BYO? I've been wanting to do that for quiet some time. I just entered 4 beers into our local competition - Moose Drool Brown Ale Clone, Dry Stout, Christmas Ale and a Coffee Stout. None of the beers are just flat out amazing but I figured what the hell. I've already started preparing myself to be let down with the results.

We also did a Double Chocolate Sweet Stout that tasted amazing in the primary, was for sure the best beer I had brewed, but it got infected in the secondary from the cocoa nibs that we added. If you ever use cocoa nibs put them in vodka first, then toss them in. I noticed the infection immediately and racked underneath the layer into a keg and threw it in the fridge. Everyone says they can't taste the infection but I can. I poured a glass the other night and couldn't finish it. I need to bottle it up and give it to them since they like it so much.

That exam is pretty tough. I've had a friend studying for it for the last 8 months. I think it's a 3 hour essay exam. Does it cost anything to take it?

[FactoredReality]

Wow it sounds like you've been busy. Its similar to the founders breakfast stout (we just got distribution of founders in VA so its awesome! Can't wait for their Kentucky breakfast seasonal.) but I think my recipie calls for more lactose than the founders.

Yeah the stuff you have to know for the test is crazy. And you are correct in it being a 3 hr essay test, but 1 hr into it you have to judge 4 beers (you are graded on your judging) so you write for 1hr then drink 4+ beers to do a proper judging then write for another 2 hrs. I think it will be a test of my bladder more than anything else.

I'm a huge fan of xmas ales, sometime we should work a trade of some brew and sticks if your interested. We also have some homebrew comps around here if you want info on them let me know.

[Irish79]

Well, you guys have inspired me. I just registered the wife & I for a free homebrewing class on June 6th. I am probably not going to buy any equipment just yet, but in a month or two when my job becomes more secure and we look to buy a house, then it is game on! Er, brew on?

[FactoredReality]

I hope you enjoy the class, they will probably start you with extract brewing. For that style brewing you can get the basic equipment for about $100 + cost of your first batch ingrediants (~$20). Its even cheaper if you already own a giant stainless steel pot.

I bottled half my breakfast stout (came in at a whopping 2.9% abv) and added 2lbs of honey to the remainder, so that is fermenting now.

Sunday I'm planning on brewing a Heffeweisen and maybe a Nut Brown if I feel up to it.