Any home brewers out there?

[Baylinerchuck]

I started home brewing a few years ago and have really enjoyed the challenge and honestly the chemistry. I have always loved creating stuff with my hands, and bringing a same philosophy of independence to the dinner table by way of hunting, fishing, butchering and canning. Brewing beer just seemed like a natural progression.

I started out with a simple brewing kit from Northern Brewer that contained a kettle, a couple buckets, hoses, etc. It came with a boxed extract kit that was a pretty easy brown ale. After the 6 week wait for the bottles to carbonate, I was pretty much hooked.

I’ve learned a lot along the way, and have since graduated from the inclusive kits to designing my own extract beers. I moved away from bucket fermentation and racking in favor of a catalyst fermenter. I also stopped the arduous task of bottling, and now strictly keg with a CO2 infusion.

This is currently a blood orange IPA on day 4. The yeast is starting to slow a little. I am holding a glass of the finished blood orange IPA, which is brewed with blood orange purée, lemon zest, and orange peel. I use a fairly moderate dose of Citra and cascade hops.

 

[dingbat]

Be careful what you wish for..... SIL started playing around in the basement.

The addiction got out of control and in April he and his partner opened a brew House in upstate NY.

 

[sangerwaker]

Not a brewer, but am a major beer geek. I am afraid to start brewing for exactly the reasons dingbat stated. I'd go OCD on it and just don't need another expensive hobby. I do thoroughly enjoy a good beer.

Your IPA sounds delicious, Chuck. I've had a couple of good blood orange IPA's. Like your lemon zest addition.

I had a great one in KC that had raspberry puree with lemon zest and Citra hops. It was fantastic.

 

[racerone]

Many years ago they developed the ---" Bavarian Purity Law " ----For manly beer.------It says ----Water , barley malt , hops and yeast only.-----I do not want " girly beer " with citrus flavour.

 

[dingbat]

Many years ago they developed the ---" Bavarian Purity Law " ----For manly beer.------It says ----Water , barley malt , hops and yeast only.-----I do not want " girly beer " with citrus flavour.

Worked for a German company for 10+ years or so. Spent a lot of time in small town outside Nuremberg. Visited quite a few of the local area breweries over the years.

Your missing out if you don't find enjoyment in a liter or two of the local Hefeweizen. Or better yet, a Dunkelweizen.

Bamberg was just up the road. One of the local specialties is Rauchbieris. Very unique..... a must for a bacon connoisseurs

 

[racerone]

Someone said that many really good beers never make it over to this side of the ocean.------It has been said that some beer has to be exported because the locals won't drink it !

 

[Scott Danforth]

this brewery http://www.rappbrewing.com/ started in the garage out of a passion of brewing...... they now have 40 beers on tap. just 4 years ago, it was only 20

 

[tpenfield]

I used to brew my own about 15-20 years ago. Still have all the stuff in the basement.

Then I got diagnosed with Celiac (gluten) and the beer brewing went on hold. I did find a few gluten-free kits, but my consumption volume was too substantial to wait for the 5 gallon batches to be ready. So, I got out of the habit and have been buying beer instead of brewing it.

Once or twice a week, the Admiral goes to the local beverage outlet and buys them out of the GF brews.

 

[sphelps]

My brother does some brewing .. Mine comes with a red label and cap ..
Just don't drink enough to warrant brewing any...

 

[JASinIL2006]

I brewed once... a pale ale. It was right before we were getting ready to sell our house. The 'experienced' brewer who was teaching me how to do it had some problems... it seemed to take forever for the ferment to start. Eventually, it finished (we thought) and we bottled it, some in 12 oz bottles, some in larger bottles with swing-top caps. So I had a couple of cases sitting in the basement.

Fast forward a few weeks. We're showing the house and the realtor is bringing a prospective buyer in couple hours. My wife, who was home with our three small children, was straightening up the basement, when my beer bottles started exploding! I kept getting these angrier and angrier calls at work from my wife, who not only had to wrangle 3 little ones, but who now had to clean up exploding beer (with the risks of further explosions if she moved anything) before the realtor arrived. No sooner would she get it cleaned up, than more bottles would explode.

Suffice it to say, I was not very popular for a few days, and my brewing days ended abruptly.

 

[FredDog01]

used to brew years ago never had any pop. My favorite book on brewing
was the Brewers Bible (author unknown) . Won a contest with my brew Ardvark Snout. If I find the recipe I'll post it if anyone is interested.

Used to get a case of what we used to call party beer (cheapest beer possible) empty into gallon jugs & used the bottles for my brew.

** side note ** that is how I spelled the name. one bottle and you had a snout full.
Cheers

 

[Baylinerchuck]

Many years ago they developed the ---" Bavarian Purity Law " ----For manly beer.------It says ----Water , barley malt , hops and yeast only.-----I do not want " girly beer " with citrus flavour.

LOL, trust me I get it. Some folks don’t like the additions of fruit. I brew an American brown ale that doesn’t have the fruit. There are as many types of beer meeting the Bavarian purity list as there brewers out there, some hoppy, some grainy, some malty, some dark, some light. I find orange to be a perfect compliment to the citrus taste of some of the more acidic hops. Certain hops by themselves have a distinct grapefruit taste. Citra is one of those very pungent hops and makes a fantastic IPA. IPA’s, by design use the same ingredients you listed, with no added fruit, yet have a distinct fruity taste, with a fairly high alcohol content.

 

[Baylinerchuck]

used to brew years ago never had any pop. My favorite book on brewing
was the Brewers Bible (author unknown) . Won a contest with my brew Ardvark Snout. If I find the recipe I'll post it if anyone is interested.

Used to get a case of what we used to call party beer (cheapest beer possible) empty into gallon jugs & used the bottles for my brew.

** side note ** that is how I spelled the name. one bottle and you had a snout full.
Cheers

Yes please share it.

 

[Baylinerchuck]

I brewed once... a pale ale. It was right before we were getting ready to sell our house. The 'experienced' brewer who was teaching me how to do it had some problems... it seemed to take forever for the ferment to start. Eventually, it finished (we thought) and we bottled it, some in 12 oz bottles, some in larger bottles with swing-top caps. So I had a couple of cases sitting in the basement.

Fast forward a few weeks. We're showing the house and the realtor is bringing a prospective buyer in couple hours. My wife, who was home with our three small children, was straightening up the basement, when my beer bottles started exploding! I kept getting these angrier and angrier calls at work from my wife, who not only had to wrangle 3 little ones, but who now had to clean up exploding beer (with the risks of further explosions if she moved anything) before the realtor arrived. No sooner would she get it cleaned up, than more bottles would explode.

Suffice it to say, I was not very popular for a few days, and my brewing days ended abruptly.

Sounds like the yeast was more of a wine yeast than it was a beer yeast....you were probably making vinegar instead of beer, lol. If I had to guess, I’d say something was not sanitized properly. Sanitization is definitely THE most important thing when brewing beer.

 

[JASinIL2006]

Sounds like the yeast was more of a wine yeast than it was a beer yeast....you were probably making vinegar instead of beer, lol. If I had to guess, I’d say something was not sanitized properly. Sanitization is definitely THE most important thing when brewing beer.

All the stuff was from a beer brewing supplier and was labelled as beer brewing stuff... the beer itself tasted pretty good (the beer that didn't explode, that is...). I thought my buddy said something about a 'lazy ferment' and he did something in an attempt to rectify it (more sugar? IDK...) that I suspect lead to my problems.

As it worked out, though, I have plenty of hobbies/pastimes (owning and maintaining a boat among them), so I really don't regret not sticking with my brewing. My latest endeavor is germinating and growing superhot peppers (e.g., Carolina Reapers, bhut jaloka "ghost" peppers) indoors. Fewer chances for bad stuff happening with plants!

 

[FredDog01]

!st time I brewed I used an large pot we had. At one one point it quickly over flowed all over the stove (newbie mistake). After having to clean each tiny burner hole,( wife wasn't too happy ) lesson learned. Went on to keep brewing. This is one of my favorite recipe, enjoy.
Ardvark's snout:2lb amber dry malt
4 1/2 light dry malt w/rice solids 1 1/2 lb
2lbs clover honey
Hallertau 3/4 oz boil / 1/oz fin
4 cups corn sugar /10% alc/1.78og/19 bal its been a long time hope I got it right.
**side note ** never had any bottles pop
Please post any newbie mistakes anyone made
sorry 4 long rant

 

[FredDog01]

not trying to hijack your post (sorry) started new post

 

[Baylinerchuck]

not trying to hijack your post (sorry) started new post

No, this is great keep it going here. This discussion was what I was hoping for.

 

[Baylinerchuck]

!st time I brewed I used an large pot we had. At one one point it quickly over flowed all over the stove (newbie mistake). After having to clean each tiny burner hole,( wife wasn't too happy ) lesson learned. Went on to keep brewing. This is one of my favorite recipe, enjoy.
Ardvark's snout:2lb amber dry malt
4 1/2 light dry malt w/rice solids 1 1/2 lb
2lbs clover honey
Hallertau 3/4 oz boil / 1/oz fin
4 cups corn sugar /10% alc/1.78og/19 bal its been a long time hope I got it right.
**side note ** never had any bottles pop
Please post any newbie mistakes anyone made
sorry 4 long rant

Also- can you refine your recipe with a time line?
60 min. Boil, hop timeline? When you add the honey? Fermentation timeline? Is this for 5 gallons?

 

[Baylinerchuck]

One thing I’ve learned over the years is to use muslin grain bags for any solids. For my blood orang ale, I use grain bags for the lemon zest and orange peel, as well as the hop pellets in the boil, and in the wort to dry hop the beer.