Homebrew thread

[elpollodiablo]

Swung by Listermann's Brewing Supply co. in Cincy today and picked up both a deluxe kit, which came with two 6.5gal buckets & a glass carboy, and an AIPA recipe kit of Listermann's own devising, including 8 lbs of malt syrup and four separate bags of hops. Pretty stoked about starting! Still need to go get a bigass stockpot, though.

The first of what I'm sure will be many questions, this one purely academic: why did I get a sack of grain grist and a tub of malt syrup? Do they combine to form something more like the wort I'd have if I were to start from scratch and boil my own grains raw?

[elpollodiablo]

Also: what are some good methods for fast wort chilling? Does anyone here use an immersion chiller?

[milly balgeary]

I'd actually like to start homebrewing but I ain't sure where to begin. I sure could use an advisor, who will be paid in good will and spoken of with enthusiasm and kindness.

[diesel_powered]

Thirded on this. I've been looking for a kit around these parts and the one at the store here seems to be halfway decent. The only question I have is why I'd need two buckets and a carboy (as some kits have) vs. one bucket and a carboy (as this one has)?

[YojimboMonkey]

Swung by Listermann's Brewing Supply co. in Cincy today and picked up both a deluxe kit, which came with two 6.5gal buckets & a glass carboy, and an AIPA recipe kit of Listermann's own devising, including 8 lbs of malt syrup and four separate bags of hops. Pretty stoked about starting! Still need to go get a bigass stockpot, though.

The first of what I'm sure will be many questions, this one purely academic: why did I get a sack of grain grist and a tub of malt syrup? Do they combine to form something more like the wort I'd have if I were to start from scratch and boil my own grains raw?

I have some Listermann's equipment, they're pretty good AFAIK.  So the deluxe kit came with both malt syrup and specialty grains too eh?  Generally you're going to steep those grains for a while to extract some color and flavor from them but you're not going to actually boil them--you don't want them to get too hot or it's going to give your beer an astringent flavor.  Basically yeah it is a way to add more flavor than what you're going to get out of just the malt syrup alone.  Ultimately going all grain is the way to get the best control over what your beer is going to taste like.

I'm sure the kit came with instructions, you might want to take a look at those

I use a homemade immersion chiller, it does a pretty good job.  If you don't want to shell out for that right away, you can do a decent job of chilling it by putting the boil pot into a water bath.  Or if you're not doing a full boil, you can boil then chill some water and add the chilled or frozen water to your partial boil to bring the level up to 5 gallons and also bring the wort temperature down quite a bit.

Why two buckets and a carboy?  It depends on the kit I guess, one of the buckets might be for primary fermentation and the other for bottling, or if it's a more advanced kit they might be part of a sparging system.

[elpollodiablo]

Not sparging, but secondary fermentation. The old crotchety guy who sold me the stuff also sold me on the idea of siphoning from one fermentation container to another before moving it to the priming/bottling container, just for the sake of eliminating solids and the overall appearance and clarity of the beer.

It took me three tried to type 'appearance and clarity' just now

[diesel_powered]

And really, you can just get another bucket at Home Depot, yes?

Also, does everybody use glass carboys or has anyone invested in the PVA "better bottles"?

[elpollodiablo]

Cooked last night; now waiting for the wort to hit ~70 degrees to pitch in the yeast. Things went really smoothly, though I fear contamination... I sanitized everything constantly, but then I found a hair in the fermenter this morning. D:

[YojimboMonkey]

Ideally you'd like to minimize the time between your boil and pitching the yeast... what temperature is the wort at now?

[elpollodiablo]

80F. Basically I split the difference on the differing advice I got from a couple sources: I brought the wort down to 100F as quickly as possible after the boil, then put it in the fermenter and added a few gallons of cold water, but it was still hovering at around 90F. I sanitized the lid and put a bung in it, then let it sit overnight. It's gradually cooling, but yeah, I'm getting kind of nervous. Should be 70F for the yeast, right?

Also where do you stand on prepping the yeast? Seemed like a bit too much trouble this time around, but my friend swears by it.

[YojimboMonkey]

what kind of yeast?

Also, and again depending on the yeast, I'll try to get it below 80 and then pitch.  But this is really going to depend on your yeast.  You will get some off flavors if you let it ferment too hot with most yeast strains but with a lot of Belgian yeasts you might want to let it ferment a little hot.  Have you given some thought to how you're going to keep it cool?  Fermentation will heat up the wort a bit.

Do you have a big enough sink that you can put the bucket into the sink and fill in around it with ice and water?  Or maybe a bigger bucket to put it in and do the same?

[elpollodiablo]

For the whole fermentation process? No, not at all. The yeast I'm using is US 05 Ale yeast; the recipe calls for putting the fermenter somewhere where it'll be about 65-75F, but I don't really have a place like that. Oh well.

The recipe also says that sometimes fermentation will finish very quickly (1-2 days) if it's warm where the fermenter is kept.

[YojimboMonkey]

nah I meant right now just to get temp down

As for regulating temp for the first couple of days of fermentation, which is when those temps will spike high, you could maybe put it in a dark closet with a damp towel wrapped around it.

I haven't used that yeast but I'm guessing you really want to try to keep it within those target temperatures.  As for prepping it, do you mean doing a starter?  I think it'll be ok, though I'd probably hydrate it in some (a cup maybe? half cup? doesn't need to be a lot) boiled-then-cooled-down water and pitch it that way rather than just shaking the packet in.

[elpollodiablo]

Word, thanks man!

So it's like a constat struggle, brewing during the summer? Cuz I realize it's never going to get to the target temp if I just let it sit there in our ~78F apartment. Taking it to the bathtub and pouring in cold water and ice is a giant pain in the ass, too; makes me think maybe a wort chiller wouldn't be a bad investment.

Anyway, even if this first batch ain't perfect, I've definitely got the bug. We're going to do another batch at my buddy's place next week.

[YojimboMonkey]

yeah summer brewing can be a pain in the ass without a cellar or some other way of keeping the temperature down.  Currently I have a chest freezer with an external attachment that regulates temperature by turning its power on or off as appropriate. 

[Greg Nog]

The summer brewing temperature problems are why I usually stick to the applebeer with Champagne yeast, which seems to do just great in warm temperatures.

[elpollodiablo]

Well, I just said fuck and it pitched the yeast. Forgot to take the SG reading, too. I'm guessing I made one or two amateur mistakes along the way, and didn't hit the temperature targets exactly every time, but I'd be surprised if what comes out isn't at least drinkable, if not delicious.

[Bernard]

Keep us posted, I'm thinking of getting Aaron a kit for Christmas or his birthday.

[diesel_powered]

So since the fermentation warms things up, is it best to do it in a chilly room? How chilly should it be?

[YojimboMonkey]

again, it depends on the yeast.  Some yeast strains want cooler temperatures, some yeast strains like it hot.  You're going to ferment a German lager at around 50 degrees F, an English ale might need to be around 68 degrees or so, and a Belgian ale you might want to go higher, 80, 85, even 90 degrees depending on the yeast (and of course assuming that you are using an appropriate yeast strain for each of those beer types).

That said, most strains are somewhat forgiving; you're not going to have to hit an exact temperature, there will be a 5 to 10 degree range that you'll be good in.  That English ale, for example, might be optimal from 65 to 70 degrees but still OK down to 60 or so and even a few degrees above 70. 

[diesel_powered]

Hmm. So German lager in the basement bathroom in winter (the one with no heat register that vents directly to the outside) and Belgian ale in the upstairs laundry room in summer. I should classify the various areas of the house according to their yeasts.

[Bernard]

Hey pollo how much was your deluxe kit? Our local place sells one with one bucket, two glass carboys, and a bunch of gadgets for $175 or thereabouts. Is that the going rate?

[elpollodiablo]

That's about $75 more than what I paid. Mine came with two buckets, one glass carboy, some siphoning gear, some bottling gear (including the capper), a big thermometer, a hydrometer (which I think I'll need some training to use effectively), a big brew paddle, airlock, bunch of brushes, sanitizer, and a shitty little book that wasn't much help.

The proto beer, she is bubbling ferociously! Smells like beer, too, if you sniff the air above the lock. I'm pretty psyched!

[Bernard]

Ok, good to know, thank you! Looking forward to hearing how the beer tastes.

[Greg Nog]

Smells like beer, too, if you sniff the air above the lock.

Oh man, I do that sort of compulsively, constantly, as it's fermenting!