Home Brewing
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- akiersky0
Just finished my second batch of mead, it turned out amazing, the hardest part was waiting 6 months for fermentation!
- melq0
Mullins and fooler both have it right—you can toss a bunch of money at this hobby or you can take an econo approach. The fancy stuff is nice, but don't let it hold you back. I got started with ~$100 worth of supplies and grew from there. Since then I've literally brewed hundreds of gallons of beer.
Do you need to wait until you can afford a standalone burner? Only if you don't have a stove. Extrapolate from there.
It's more about processes than equipment, so if you really want to get rolling, read Papazian's book, put together a simple rig and head down to your local home brew store for supplies. Brew day is a perfect excuse to watch a football game and not feel like you've loafed away a Sunday afternoon.
*Worth noting that a standalone burner gets you out of your kitchen and onto your porch or patio, which is somehow a much more relaxing way to brew—think grill versus kitchen. I just mean, don't let yourself be limited.
- fooler0
When I started I was still renting an apartment and a friend that helped me with the first batch brought over his stand alone crab boiler that hooks up to a propane tank. He taught me to never brew indoors, especially if you're a renter because the boil over can ruin a stove.
Since then I own my own house but still insist on brewing outside on the side burner of my grill.
- dasohr0
Brewing my second batch this weekend. This one will be in the style of what is known as California Common Beer (once upon a time it was called steam or dampf beer).
First batch was an IPA and so far it's been tasty.
I love beer.
and babes.
- fooler0
I grew a ton of hops last summer and I only picked and collected the thickest, biggest dank cones. I had an entire 5 gallon bucket overfilling of Cascade hops but I left them in the bucket instead of laying them out to dry and then forgot about them for a week or 2. When I finally got around to drying them out it turned into a moldy gelatinous mess! Looks like I'll be purchasing hops until next harvest.
- robotinc0
I am brewing a barleywine on monday, and have a sour quad and a mead in primary. After this its a huge stout. Trying to get all the empty fermenter going with beers that take a while.
- scarabin0
i'm experimenting with a couple different kinds of hard cider at the moment (different ways of finishing- sweet/dry, still/bubbly) and am planning to try ginger beer soon
- scarabin0
there's a helpful community with lots of info in the brewing subreddit
- mstocks0
I am on my third brew. Made an pale ale, and an irish red. The Irish red blew up in my basement. My yeast was to active and I did not use a blow-off hose. Popped the airlock and crap went everywhere. Bottling an IPA in two weeks and brewing a Apricot Blonde for the wife tomorrow. Going to do a Rye Porter next...
- dasohr0
Bottled my Steam beer on Sunday, now it's time to let it cure. Cracked open that last bottle of my IPA batch last night, after curing it for 30+ days. Wish I hadn't drank all the other beer so early, because damm that IPA was nice and bubbly. Anyways... Next beer will be a Pliny the Elder Clone. Double IPA. Hoppy hoppy.
I sure like beer.
- boobs0
If you just buy the shit, you save a whole lot of time for actually drinking it.
- epic_rim0
It's hard to home brew and live in Northern California. There's honestly so much top shelf beer (at Safeway!) that I can't even match. When I was younger and lived in the woods in Virginia, brewing beer made sense because i couldn't get my hands on good stuff.
Oh well, brewing beer is still fun so i do it.
- dasohr0
Cracked a tester of my Steam last night. Color is rather dark, and boy that's a full flavored beer. And ABV is around 6.5% so I'm looking forward to getting shithammered on my own brew. Next batch Double IPA Pliny Clone. Ingredients are enroute, this will be done in a carboy rather than just a plastic bucket. I feel that despite the easiness of brewing in buckets, the beer probably will turn out better in a carboy. Also got a yeast starter kit. Happy yeast makes delicious beer.
Ben franklin once said: “Beer is living proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy.”
- instrmntl0
- Results forthcoming in 3 weeks.instrmntl
- Nice color!Crack_Junkie
- Thanks! I may have not activated the yeast enough. We'll see.instrmntl
- did you already rack this? is this secondary fermentation?
dasohr - First. Just made it last night. There's a possibillity I completely fucked it up.instrmntl
- give it a day or two. it should start bubbling and foaming. if not pitch more yeast. best you start the yeast before you pitch it. It should definitely be foaming.dasohr
- any bubbling yet ?
dasohr
- instrmntl0
I more or less followed Alton's recipe for my first run...
Good Brew
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recip…
- dito0
I like making labels for my beers
- I am a norther brewer brewer... How do you make your labels? I was going to use sticker mule.mstocks
- Grogtag seems to have some good custom label options. http://www.grogtag.c…tymeframe
- I print them out on a laser printer and use milk as an adhesivedito
- more info on milk glue: http://blog.bullcity…dito
- tymeframe0
^ Nice work. How'd the coffee porter turn out? I have one bottle conditioning now.