Home brewing!

[bumab]

So- anybody out there a homebrewer?

 

What's your favorite style to brew, and, what material do you think is best to boil in? I hear stainless steel breaks down and can give some nasty flavor to the beer because of the heat and the acidity in the wort. I currently use a canning pot (6 gallon), and I'm thinking of moving up to an old keg pot, however, I've heard there's some possible problems with the off flavors.

 

Also, I've been brewing for a little bit, if anyone wants to get involved, I could possibly help! :friday:

[Fishteacher73]

Homebrewing has always been a bit of interest to me, yet I have never done it... :friday:

I personally have always wanted to build my own still...Maybe its the Appalachian mountain blood in me (My great Uncle Cecil had a still up until he past away about 4 or 5 years ago). He could make some stuff that would take the paint off a car , but tasted oh, so good.

[Biochemist]

Homebrewing has always been a bit of interest to me, yet I have never done it... :friday:

I personally have always wanted to build my own still...Maybe its the Appalachian mountain blood in me (My great Uncle Cecil had a still up until he past away about 4 or 5 years ago). He could make some stuff that would take the paint off a car , but tasted oh, so good.

FT- Now we are getting somewhere. I am (genetically) Cajun. I never picked up any of the ethnic value (I never lived in Louisiana) but now might be the time to start.

 

A still would be a good start.

 

Bumab- Stainless steel imparts flavor????? Is that possible? I could understand the brew tasting different becasue of lack of flavor compared to other fermentation environments, but it is hard to beleive that you actually got any metal into the brew. But you could always switch to glass. That would be even less reactive.

 

Tell ius your favorite brew recipe.

[bumab]

You should try! It's really pretty simple, and if you take care, you can make stuff good right off the bat.

 

I would also like to try a still, but the explosions and room have been a hinderance, so I've not tried it. Brewing beer takes less equipment to make the premium stuff, as well.

 

Water, hops, yeast and grain!

[bumab]

Bumab- Stainless steel imparts flavor????? Is that possible?

 

I didn't think so either, that's just what I've heard- the bioling temp and acids can somehow hurt it...

 

A glass boiling kettle? Far to expensive. I'm trying to get a copper one, although they are pricey for a 10 gallon pot. Most people have great success boiling in an old keg- cut off the top and you can brew full keg size recipes.

 

Beer is aged in glass, for that reason. You can buy glass carboys (5 or 6.5 gallon) for only about 20 bucks.

 

Favorite recipe? There's so many! :friday:

 

Right now I'm bottle conditioning a west coast IPA (you're from portland, right biochemist?)

 

The recipe (as well as I can remember)

 

Grains (actually, I'm pretty sure these are wrong, the recipes at home, and I am terrible at remembering names)

 

6 lbs two row barley

1 lb crystal 60

8 oz. crystal 80

 

Mash (basically steep, like tea) at 168 degrees for an hour in 3.4 gallons

 

Sparge (wash) with 172 degree water (4 gallons) for 30 minutes- that brings it to a boil volume of aobut 6 gallons

 

Boil 60 minutes (loses a lot of water here)

 

Add hops (pellets) at:

60 minutes: 1 oz Columbus

20 minutes: 1 oz Galena

2 minutes: 1 oz columbus

 

Dry hop for 5 days in secondary fermenter with 1.2 oz columbus

 

That gives an IPA with about 75 ibu's (pretty hoppy) and about 6.8% alcohol, about average for a homebrew.

 

I'll post a good scotch recipe which I did earlier when I get home :)

[Biochemist]

I am going to have to take up this art.

 

Bumab- Do you have a suggestion for a source for hardware and supplies?

[bumab]

Sure- you'll need several things:

 

From home:

A big brewpot, at least 6 gallons. Find this anywhere cheap.

 

From local brew shop:

A 6 gallon food grade bucket for primary fermentation. You could buy this at a hardware store, however it needs to have a little hole in the top with an airlock (cheap). This allows CO2 to escape during the first fermentation stage without letting anything into the bucket. The airlock and buckets are available at the local brew store.

 

A 5 gallon glass carboy for secondary fermentation. You stick the brew in here after the main fermentation slows in the bucket. This allows the beer to age in glass (impermiable to air) and improves the clarity of the beer since more stuff can settle out. While many say it's not neccessary, I think it relaly helps.

 

Plastic tubes for siphoning beer from bucket to bucket. you can get these anywhere. I suggest a racking cane from the brew store- that allows you to siphon easier.

 

That's about it for starters. Start with brewing with extract AND adjunct grains. You can get "beer in a can" kits, but they are a waste. Basically, you steep a big tea bag with grains in it or an hour, then add extract (from the beer store) and boil like normal. It is not quite as satisfying as all grain brewing, but it's still capable of producing awsome beer, plus it takes less equipment.

 

Oh, and make sure you use liquid yeast, not dry yeast packs. Good luck!

 

Here's an awsome website that I used to get me around for a while, and still use for reference a lot.

http://www.howtobrew.com/intro.html

 

(did that answer your questions?)

[bumab]

Also- any good breweries in Portland besides Bridgeport? I'm going to be down there for a conference with my brewing partner, we're looking for one to check out.

[Bo]

I've made mead now quite some times; and each time it becomes better :friday:

 

Bo

[bumab]

I was curious about that. How do you determine the sugar content in the honey, since they vary? I assume it's some quantity of honey dissolved in water, then a hydrometer. How much water/honey do you use to get that?

[tzonehunter]

bumab -

 

I happened to run across this post while googling. As an advanced home brewer, I have to chime in.

 

1) Stainless Steel absolutely will NOT impart a flavor on the beer unless it is scoured with a harsh brillo pad or steel wool or something like that. The pH in beer is way too high to react with stainless steel. Nearly every commercial brewery in the world, including the American big 3 (Miller, Anheiser-Busch, and Coors), use stainless steel in all or most of their process vessels!

 

2) You mentioned you mash at 168 F. I would STRONGLY suggest mashing at temperatures closer to 155 F. At 168 F, the starch degrading (a.k.a. sugar making) enzymes that are naturally present in malted barley begin to de-nature and are rendered useless!

 

3) You suggested buying a plastic bucket as a primary fermenter. I would stongly suggest spending the extra $10 and buying a glass carboy from the get go. Plastic gets scratched easily. Bacteria can live in those scratches and infect your beer. Granted, nothing pathogenic can survive in beer, but it will taste quite funky if your beer catches a cold!

 

4) You refer to 'adjunt' grains. This is a bit nit picky, but I think you're actually speaking of speciatly grains. 'Adjuncts' are defined as any source of starch that can be used to make fermentable sugars. Potatoes are adjunts!

 

Just wanted to clear a few things up. Enjoy your brew!

[Turtle]

___Bumab said, "Also- any good breweries in Portland besides Bridgeport? I'm going to be down there for a conference with my brewing partner, we're looking for one to check out. "

___Plenty in portland; my roommate Frosty says McMenamens(sp), Widmore,...uhhh...we can't come up with anymore just now, as we are drunk! :(

___May I heartily recomend Dead Guy Ale from the Rouge Brewery in Newport Oregon (Frosty says Deschute Brewery not bad either). I am currently under the influence of Dead Guy, & in fact I have something of a diet going; I call it the Dead Guy, sausage stick, cheezy poof diet. :(

[C1ay]

Most of this is pretty much true for cooking corn whiskey on the stove as well.

 

bumab -

 

I happened to run across this post while googling. As an advanced home brewer, I have to chime in.

 

1) Stainless Steel absolutely will NOT impart a flavor on the beer unless it is scoured with a harsh brillo pad or steel wool or something like that. The pH in beer is way too high to react with stainless steel. Nearly every commercial brewery in the world, including the American big 3 (Miller, Anheiser-Busch, and Coors), use stainless steel in all or most of their process vessels!

 

2) You mentioned you mash at 168 F. I would STRONGLY suggest mashing at temperatures closer to 155 F. At 168 F, the starch degrading (a.k.a. sugar making) enzymes that are naturally present in malted barley begin to de-nature and are rendered useless!

 

3) You suggested buying a plastic bucket as a primary fermenter. I would stongly suggest spending the extra $10 and buying a glass carboy from the get go. Plastic gets scratched easily. Bacteria can live in those scratches and infect your beer. Granted, nothing pathogenic can survive in beer, but it will taste quite funky if your beer catches a cold!

 

4) You refer to 'adjunt' grains. This is a bit nit picky, but I think you're actually speaking of speciatly grains. 'Adjuncts' are defined as any source of starch that can be used to make fermentable sugars. Potatoes are adjunts!

 

Just wanted to clear a few things up. Enjoy your brew!

 

Chad