Homebrewers

[DangerDanJD]

Anyone getting the brew pot out this weekend? 

[DaveS]

Anyone getting the brew pot out this weekend? 

No, but very soon! Probably within the next couple of weeks. I have a taste for some Porter and Steam Beer.

 

DaveS

[Andyshowfan]

[URL=http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/201/w43p.jpg/][/URL]

 

It's here!

[LagerHead]

 

 

It's here!

 

 

 

Good luck on your brew. Of course we'll be wanting a "range report" once it is done. 

[JeffL]

UPS man has almost everything I need for an all grain brew. Found a recipe for a Dogfish Head 90 min IPA, hope it's at least close. Need to go by All Seasons for some glass carboys.

[DangerDanJD]

 

 

It's here!

 

 

Definitely let us know how the brew goes and how it turns out. MidwestSupply is a great vendor too. 

[Andyshowfan]

This will be my very first attempt, so, good or bad, I'll keep y'all updated!

[DangerDanJD]

UPS man has almost everything I need for an all grain brew. Found a recipe for a Dogfish Head 90 min IPA, hope it's at least close. Need to go by All Seasons for some glass carboys.

 

Good luck with the all grain. Did you move from extracts or will your first beer be an all grain batch? Let us know how it goes. 

[DaveS]

Keep us posted on your "brew".

 

DaveS

[JeffL]

Good luck with the all grain. Did you move from extracts or will your first beer be an all grain batch? Let us know how it goes. 

 

I did a Mr Beer kit once, if that counts. Figured if I was going to do it I'd do it right. Got a 5 gal corny for the kegerator. Easier than bottling.

 

Yeast starter is underway.

 

[Guest t.bird]

The wife and I will be starting our first homebrew soon...we need to order a turkey frier.  I did a Mr Beer kit once as well (and it was awful!)

 

Is anyone here familiar with the Mid-State Brew Crew?  We tried a few of their beers at a recent local beer festival and the easily had the most unique and flavorful beer of the whole festival!

[peejman]

I had a couple friends that tried the Mr. Beer kits in our college dorm rooms...  boy was it horrible!  It must be bad when broke college students who haven't discovered craft beer yet think it's too nasty to drink...

 

I'd like to home brew, but don't really have the space or the time at the moment.  A couple coworkers have done it a lot and made some really good beers. 

[JeffL]

I didn't get the OG I had hoped for, but I've got some very active fermentation. A little too active.

 

[TMF]

I didn't get the OG I had hoped for, but I've got some very active fermentation. A little too active.
 

Wow. Is that normal? Seems like a lot of space gets wasted in the carboy by leaving room for fermentation. Does it need an airlock for primary fermentation? What about using a bucket first and using the carboy as a secondary? I'm working on some wine right now, but when my carboy gets emptied I'm gonna try brewing beer for the first time.

[JeffL]

Wow. Is that normal? Seems like a lot of space gets wasted in the carboy by leaving room for fermentation. Does it need an airlock for primary fermentation? What about using a bucket first and using the carboy as a secondary? I'm working on some wine right now, but when my carboy gets emptied I'm gonna try brewing beer for the first time.

I don't think I quite got 5 gallons of wort. That is a 6.5 gal carboy, I will move it to a 5 gal carboy for secondary fermentation in a few days. I got some hose and will rig up a blow off tube when I get home.

[DaveS]

I like a bucket with "blow off" tube for primary (sometimes a carboy) and then put the airlock on the secondary. Most anything will work. You have a very active fermentation to say the least!

 

DaveS

[JeffL]

I like a bucket with "blow off" tube for primary (sometimes a carboy) and then put the airlock on the secondary. Most anything will work. You have a very active fermentation to say the least!

 

DaveS

 

Yeah I think my yeast starter did pretty well. Blow off tube is rigged up now. I bought a 6.5 gal ale pale but I just used it for measuring and transferring between the brew kettle and mash tun.

 

I put in a solid 6 hours yesterday doing an all grain batch. I don't even know if this one will be good but I already want to do another.

[Andyshowfan]

Im making a 5gal batch. A few questions from a first timer. 1. I used a food grade 5gal bucket for my primary, have I messed up due to lack of headspace? 2. What is a "blow off" tube and should I use it instead of airlock on my primary due to the lack of headspace? 3. Is it normal for the wort/mash to be much darker than the finished product?

[JeffL]

Im making a 5gal batch. A few questions from a first timer. 1. I used a food grade 5gal bucket for my primary, have I messed up due to lack of headspace? 2. What is a "blow off" tube and should I use it instead of airlock on my primary due to the lack of headspace? 3. Is it normal for the wort/mash to be much darker than the finished product?

 

I did a 5 gallon batch in a 6.5 gallon carboy and still had spillage with an airlock attached, I can't imagine a 5gal bucket ending well. Replaced the airlock with a blow off tube yesterday. The blow off tube is just some 5/16" line ran through a carboy bung, the other end resting in a vessel of water.

 

Edited November 11, 2013 by JeffL

[Andyshowfan]

Update: I built my own wort cooler, primary fermenter and bottling bucket and so far the whole process has been very addictive. My 5gal setup is doing pretty well. Very little spillage. I rigged up a blow off tube and it seems to have helped a lot with the spillage by allowing the krausen to spill out through the tube. I have an active fermentation going and all seems well. 

 

[URL=http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/819/skrr.jpg/][/URL]

 

[URL=http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/201/85xy.jpg/][/URL]

 

 

[DaveS]

 

Update: I built my own wort cooler, primary fermenter and bottling bucket and so far the whole process has been very addictive. My 5gal setup is doing pretty well. Very little spillage. I rigged up a blow off tube and it seems to have helped a lot with the spillage by allowing the krausen to spill out through the tube. I have an active fermentation going and all seems well. 

 

 

 

 

 

Looking good!!

 

DaveS

[JeffL]

 

Update: I built my own wort cooler, primary fermenter and bottling bucket and so far the whole process has been very addictive. My 5gal setup is doing pretty well. Very little spillage. I rigged up a blow off tube and it seems to have helped a lot with the spillage by allowing the krausen to spill out through the tube. I have an active fermentation going and all seems well. 

 

 

Nice. Your wort chiller looks better than the one I bought.

[DangerDanJD]

Looking good guys. We should get a group of TGOers to do a homebrew trade one of these days. 

[Andyshowfan]

Nice. Your wort chiller looks better than the one I bought.

  

Thank you sir!

Looking good guys. We should get a group of TGOers to do a homebrew trade one of these days.

I think this would be great!

[Andyshowfan]

Darker than I had hoped, but have been told it will lighten up as the process continues. I racked it Saturday so hopefully will be bottling this coming Saturday. I had a few local bars keep some bottles for me and I ended up with a bunch. I have found that I really like the Dos Equis bottles as hey are easy to remove the labels and once they are clean they have no indication that they are a commercial bottle, plus I'm a huge fan of the green color. I have actually made my request to the same places for just those bottles but looks like I'm going to have to use the others I acquired :( I suppose that beggars can't be choosers though :) 

 

[URL=http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/826/ordy.jpg/][/URL]