Homebrew

[chefchris]

I just left my neighbors house...Out of being polite I drank a "tall boy" bud he offered up.

Now I'm going to get rid of the taste with a Stone IPA.

Chris...You should try to brew some IPA. I love hops!!!

Well, you know, if you would come hang out every once in a while I might try brewing some.

Have you tried the Stone Oatmeal Chocolate Stout yet? Oh, it looks soooo good.

[WOXOF]

well, you know, if you would come hang out every once in a while i might try brewing some.

Have you tried the stone oatmeal chocolate stout yet? Oh, it looks soooo good.

Fo' Sho'

If the idea of some "chef's choke-alot" stout doesn't entice him out of Jackson, I don't know what will.

[ashauler]

Fo' Sho'

If the idea of some "chef's choke-alot" stout doesn't entice him out of Jackson, I don't know what will.

Now that's funny shit right there.

I'm with Dennis.......like I need another hobby, but I do kinda like my beer, I'm a hops guy though IPA/Ambers etc.... what brewing board did you guys join?

The equipment investment looks to be pretty moderate to start with.

[Kenyth]

All grain brewing takes a lot of equipment and a lot of time. It's best done on a large scale. At least 10 gallons at a time to make it worthwhile.

Extract brewing is much simpler. You basically brew using malt syrup or malt powder. The stuff you would spend all day extracting from all-grain. So your work is half done.

You also want to stay away from Lagers. They take fermenting in temperature controlled environments of lower than 70F. This means you'll need old refrigerators/freezers and external thermostats. Most people don't have the space or money for this.

You'll be making 4-5 gallon batches of warm fermented ale at a time, so the cheapest way to go is with industrial PVC plastic buckets and airtight lids with airlocks and a basic turkey fryer setup. You boil the wort in the turkey fryer. You'll need one six gallon bucket, which can be bought from most brew stores, and two five gallon buckets, which can be bought for cheap at any Lowes, Home Depot, etc.

After boiling the wort according to recipe, you need to cool it off quickly before pitching the yeast. Some folks prefer a cold water/ice bath, but most use a length of coiled copper tubing hooked to your garden hose called a wort "chiller" that you stick in the pot with the end hanging out over the edge. You siphon the wort off the sediment into your primary fermentation container and pitch the yeast when it gets down to 90F. The six gallon bucket is used for the one week primary ferment. You need the extra headspace to contain the foam during this very active ferment timeframe. You then siphon the beer off the yeast sediment into a five gallon bucket for a two week secondary ferment to finish off the sugars and clarify the brew. I find it prudent during this time to boil up another batch for the second five gallon bucket. This way, you don't have to sanitize the primary bucket again and you can use some of the sediment to start your second ferment (if your recipe calls for the same yeast).

Once the beer has set for at least two weeks (you can let it sit longer), you prime it, and siphon off the sediment into bottles, where it should set for two weeks to carbonate.

If you keg, you have a lot more options like secondary fermenting in the keg and force carbonating it, but kegging systems cost a significant amount, wheras saving the bottle from your micro brew purchases is free. I prefer the 22 oz bottles.

Oh, one more thing. EVERYTHING that touches or contains the wort or beer after boiling MUST be VERY clean and sanitized with bleach or Idophor immediately before use. Idophor has the advantage of being a safe, rinse free sanitizer, so thats what I use.

[chefchris]

Now that's funny shit right there.

I'm with Dennis.......like I need another hobby, but I do kinda like my beer, I'm a hops guy though IPA/Ambers etc.... what brewing board did you guys join?

The equipment investment looks to be pretty moderate to start with.

Oh yeah, real cheap. Just got mine for $100 shipped. I'm so excited!

The forum is homebrewtalk.com

[ashauler]

Oh yeah, real cheap. Just got mine for $100 shipped. I'm so excited!

The forum is homebrewtalk.com

Dang, that is pretty inexpensive......is it only equipment or a package with ingredients?

I'll check out the board, thanks.

[chefchris]

Dang, that is pretty inexpensive......is it only equipment or a package with ingredients?

I'll check out the board, thanks.

It's just the equipment + you have to buy a brew pot seperately. Then you got spoons and what not. The equipment kits run around $30-40. I just ordered the Nut Brown Ale from AustinHomeBrew.com. Makes 5gl - or 2 cases.

[mrtr33]

Despite my previous posts indicating otherwise, I truly enjoy microbrews. I would love to start into this hobby.

Hmmm....haven't heard of the Stone Oatmeal Stout. Need to find that one.

That starter kit looks rather enticing as well....

Let us know how it goes, Chris.

[bigwhiteash]

nut-brown ale sounds just WRONG

[chefchris]

Shopping for my first brew pot. Knowing that I have a tendancy to jump head first into hobbies, I would rather get what I needed the first time and not have to upgrade later when I become obsessed.

Example: Get a trunk instead of a humidor.

Having said that ... what size brew pot should I purchase? I'm starting out with extracts but can definately see myself going more advanced in the future.

Something like this??? Link