Made beer

[44man]

I made a Scotch Ale and got it kegged, then made a stout to put on the same yeast. It is going nuts and foaming out of the air lock.
I found the perfect mash tun. A big square Coleman cooler that I took the push button spout out of and put a valve in place. Inside I have copper tubing with slits all across, slits down to keep from plugging. It plugs into the back of the valve. I heat water to 165° and pour it in followed by the grain. Put the lid on and in an hour all is converted.
Bad thing is I mash in the kitchen, sparge in the basement and boil in the garage.
Getting old to carry stuff up and down. I can sparge without getting it stuck. Even 15# or more of grain keeps flowing. I have a Starbucks coffee grinder adapted to grind Barley. Got it free when a micro switch failed, stripped it the the grinder alone and in minutes I have a batch done.
I need one of those systems all in line.
I got a great book, 250 Classic Clone Recipes. Each will be all grain or extract. Extract makes great beer but sure raises the price.
Anyone else here make beer?

[Jupiter7]

Yup, this guy! Not as much as I did in my 20's. I did all grain in home converted kegs with a tube iron tiered tree I had a buddy make, ran gas lines and mounted burners was on casters. Now I only do extract/partial grain. I usually use light extract and do flavoring and coloring grains in a steep bag. My personal favorites are English style brown ale around 4.5% abv and my own concoction of an imperial porter(I call it vengeance porter), high hop oil content with chinook hops and around 7% abv.

[pjames32]

Several make beer. I do! I do mostly partial grain so I can do it in my kitchen. All grain is good, but too much time and too much equipment. I ferment and rack in the laundry room in 6.5 gallon buckets in the laundry sink so I can manage my fermentation temps.
Your second batch on "hot" yeast will go quick. I usually use a hose instead of an air lock for 24 hours to control the blow off AND keep the temp down that first 24 hours. Good luck!
PJ

[44man]

Several make beer. I do! I do mostly partial grain so I can do it in my kitchen. All grain is good, but too much time and too much equipment. I ferment and rack in the laundry room in 6.5 gallon buckets in the laundry sink so I can manage my fermentation temps.
Your second batch on "hot" yeast will go quick. I usually use a hose instead of an air lock for 24 hours to control the blow off AND keep the temp down that first 24 hours. Good luck!
PJ
I have used the hose too but am too lazy and hope it settles down. Boy, the yeast went crazy.
You can use the same yeast over and over forever if you keep it alive. I use liquid yeast in the pop packs. It gets expensive plus gas to go get it.
Sometimes I store it in the fridge in a sterile bottle with an air lock. Warm it up and go but then it might be a long time before I make beer so it will go dead.
Like sourdough, it must be used and fed. I make the best sourdough pancakes on earth but not enough to keep the yeast alive.
You want great cakes, beat the egg whites thick and fold in.

[Skunk1]

I used to make my own beer til I dumped about 5 gallons on the kitchen floor. I had fun with it til that happened. The wife wasn't very happy with me either, she don't like the taste or smell of it.

[GhostHawk]

Back when I was brewing a lot of beer I was a regular yeast farmer. I had at least 8 different ones going. Like was said above every so often you need to take them out, give them some food, let the old stuff settle, and drop into a clean container for more fridge time.

The small Sunny D orange juice containers were my favorite.

Still sitting on a case of slightly hoppy amber sorta clone. 3 years old now, might have to crack one of those tomorrow, just to check.

[reloader28]

You bet!!!
I'm drinking a homebrew Scottish Ale right now. It was just a kit a friend picked up for me for helping him out. I normally do all grain, but sometimes partial grain. I love the smell of brew day.
I even made a special trip to town today to go to the brew store, needed a couple things for Skeeter Pee (tomorrow's project) and bought another 50lb sack of 2 row.
My mash tun is a Coleman Maxi Cold I think its called, but I just use grain sacks instead of tubing. I need them for making wine anyway.

I love the clone books. My house brew is a Grolsche clone that I tweeked a little. I'm still working on a nut brown ale thats coming along pretty nice.
Next up is a Peruvian chocolate beer that I've made before and is good.

Right now I'm sitting on 4 cases of my Grolsche clone, 2 cases of hard apple cider, half case of Scottish Ale and about 15-16 cases of homemade wine not counting the 11 gallons in the fermenter or the 5 gallons of Skeeter Pee tomorrow.

Its really amazing at the amount of money you save making your own. I can make 10 cases of premium beer for about the same price as 4 cases of ..gasp.. Bud.

Well my frosted mug is empty so its time to refill.:drinks::drinks:

[reloader28]

I'm back and I almost forgot.
Buying yeast can be an expensive part , but its very easy to harvest it. Once you do that the savings start really piling up.

[fatnhappy]

drank beer.

[MaryB]

I have been dabbling with small 2 gallon partial grain kits. Makes just the right amount of beer for me because I do not drink it that often anymore.

[lightman]

I Love Craft Beer but have not gotten into Home Brewing yet. Maybe another hobby to do in retirement!

[wordsmith]

Another caster / homebrewer here. Got started after an all-grain friend introduced me to it and I couldn't believe the taste of a really fresh beer made with good ingredients. I'm 25 batches in now, with most of the last one's in 10 gallons batches for economy of scale.

I decided all-grain was not worth the trouble and time and have only done extract. After side-by-side tastings, my buddy is wondering the same thing, as my extract comes out very nicely, if slightly more expensive. Guess it depends on how much you peg your time at, and how close to the "pure" process you want to be. For me, I just want fresh great beer that I can't buy at the store.

What I believe is that the health and appropriate pitch rate of yeast is critical. My buddy that introduced me to brewing doesn't pay much attention to yeast and just pitches a single vial of yeast and leaves it to chance. Me? I have a 5L flask and stir plate and I tap into my frozen yeast farm to grow up yeast batches that are raring to go and have proper counts. It's funny when he tastes my beer, he always makes a face and goes, "man your beer is so clean tasting". I've talked to him about my yeast process and how it makes all the difference, but he's not on board just yet. Just passing along to others that may be getting started, to not leave yeast pitching to chance. They are what makes beer, and their happiness is directly related to your happiness.

A great tome on the subject is Yeast: A Practical Guide by J.Z. It's a thick read at times, but will get you oriented correctly.

http://www.amazon.com/Yeast-Practical-Fermentation-Brewing-Elements/dp/0937381969/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1437919027&sr=8-1&keywords=yeast+beer+brewing+book

[44man]

You bet!!!
I'm drinking a homebrew Scottish Ale right now. It was just a kit a friend picked up for me for helping him out. I normally do all grain, but sometimes partial grain. I love the smell of brew day.
I even made a special trip to town today to go to the brew store, needed a couple things for Skeeter Pee (tomorrow's project) and bought another 50lb sack of 2 row.
My mash tun is a Coleman Maxi Cold I think its called, but I just use grain sacks instead of tubing. I need them for making wine anyway.

I love the clone books. My house brew is a Grolsche clone that I tweeked a little. I'm still working on a nut brown ale thats coming along pretty nice.
Next up is a Peruvian chocolate beer that I've made before and is good.

Right now I'm sitting on 4 cases of my Grolsche clone, 2 cases of hard apple cider, half case of Scottish Ale and about 15-16 cases of homemade wine not counting the 11 gallons in the fermenter or the 5 gallons of Skeeter Pee tomorrow.

Its really amazing at the amount of money you save making your own. I can make 10 cases of premium beer for about the same price as 4 cases of ..gasp.. Bud.

Well my frosted mug is empty so its time to refill.:drinks::drinks:
You da man! Stout has calmed down and I am tasting my Scotch ale and it is super, not fully carbonated yet.
If you guys need bags go to Sherwin- Williams paint store and buy nylon paint strainers for 5 Gal buckets. $1 apiece. I have a whole box but keep washing out used ones for a life time supply.
Those at the beer store can reach $10 apiece. They are not as good.
My friend used to make goat scrotum ale, NASTY stuff.
I can't make beer with my well water. It takes hours to convert, too much lime. I go up the road and there is a spring that comes out of the rock to run into the Potomac river. Underground river from PA. I scoop buckets full from it. The owners let me. A brewery wanted to buy the property, the water is that good. You can drink right from the stream. I do not need to add anything to the water. It is perfect.
I gave up bottles long ago and got pop kegs at work free. I hated bottles. I have a big CO 2 tank when needed but still add sugar to self carbonate first.
DANG this ale is so good.

[762 shooter]

+1 for Skeeter Pee.

Very dangerous on a hot summer day.

762

[44man]

I have been dabbling with small 2 gallon partial grain kits. Makes just the right amount of beer for me because I do not drink it that often anymore.
They work and I still have a few the neighbor found cheap. Need to make them. They were made for some expensive set up but regular beer making stuff works.

[Tom W.]

I'll filter beer.....….:-)

[Pipefitter]

I also homebrew, prefer an IPA but not so much hops that it tastes like you are drinking a bale of hay. Malt extract with flavor and color grains, takes about half the time and much less cleanup than whole grain. I also got tired of bottles and bought Corneilus kegs, then a kegerator. All my friends tell me I should open up a microbrewery after tasting my homebrew.

[44man]

I'll filter beer.....….:-)
Through kidneys of course! :bigsmyl2:

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

I also homebrew, prefer an IPA but not so much hops that it tastes like you are drinking a bale of hay. Malt extract with flavor and color grains, takes about half the time and much less cleanup than whole grain. I also got tired of bottles and bought Corneilus kegs, then a kegerator. All my friends tell me I should open up a microbrewery after tasting my homebrew.
Yeah, Me too.
Although I kinda quit brewing a couple years ago, but I still grow Hops...this is a older photo, but they look like this every year. I'm thinking, I gonna brew a fresh Hop IPA this september, when the Hops ripen. I Brew allgrain (3 gallon batches) with a cheapo setup where I Mash in a 5 gallon stainless steel brewpot and sparge in a homemade double bucket lauter tun that Charlie Papazian talks about, in his books.

http://i640.photobucket.com/albums/uu127/JonB_in_Glencoe/100_0325.jpg (http://s640.photobucket.com/user/JonB_in_Glencoe/media/100_0325.jpg.html)

[hoosierlogger]

Ive been home brewing for about a year now. It's amazing how my tastes have adapted. I used to hate an IPA, now I love them. I have been planning on a clone of "not your fathers root beer". I also like brown English ales.

[Coconino]

Brewed for about 8 years and then got busy on a teaching job. The hops I have along the garden fence are looking good this year so I think it is time for a nut brown and an IPA this fall.

[Tackleberry41]

I did beer for a while, started simple with kits, then eventually recipes. Had people to help me drink it. Moved several times, first thing you ditch is a bunch of empty beer bottles. Got into wine, the blackberries were free. Might get back into beer, theres a Berry weiss I really like, but only way I can get it is to buy a variety pack and get 3 of them.

[Electric88]

I've been thinking about picking up home brewing as a new hobby. Everyone I talk to that does it says it tastes far and away better than what can be bought in a store. I would love to start out with a bourbon type ale.

[Taylor]

I love beer.Beer is a good thing.

Electric88,I have quite a bit of beer making equipment to include bottles.You can have it,if'n you want to come and get it.

[Electric88]

I love beer.Beer is a good thing.

Electric88,I have quite a bit of beer making equipment to include bottles.You can have it,if'n you want to come and get it.

I appreciate the offer Taylor, but unfortunately I live up in Southeast Michigan. If I find myself near Tennessee in the near future, I will be sure to take you up on your offer though :drinks:

[44man]

Best wine I made was black raspberry, so good you give friends a shot glass to sip. For some reason all the berry bushes here have gone away and I tried to grow them with no luck.
Friend brought me a bucket of elder berries and it was great too.
I once made paw paw wine, never again. i did not like the taste for one and it boils out of the fermenters all over the floor. It is like slime and hard to clean up.
Tomato wine is good as long as you get the first batch of real ripe maters.
I tried honey suckle and dandelion, not worth the effort.
Beer is the hardest. I was ruining a lot until I found to never sterilize anything and rinse with well water. Let it drip dry. Never add cold house water to kit beers, if you must, boil it and cool it first. If the beer is still hot just add boiling water. If you add sugar to carbonate, boil in some water, cool it off before adding. Every nasty on earth loves beer. They use malt to grow nasty stuff in labs.
If you run out of corn sugar or dry malt, use table sugar and add some lemon juice to change the sugars.
Never add sugar to beer, use malt only. Candi sugar for Belgian is OK. It is rock candy and you can get it in colors all the way to caramel.
Before it was legal to make beer, guys bought Blue Ribbon malt syrup and added a ton of sugar. NASTY STUFF!
I made beer back then and bought stuff from Herters but instructions said nothing about sanitation. I made one that was great when I bottled but the whole batch spoiled on me. I would open a bottle and blue smoke went to the ceiling. When bottles blow in the case you know something is wrong.

[Tackleberry41]

I've been thinking about picking up home brewing as a new hobby. Everyone I talk to that does it says it tastes far and away better than what can be bought in a store. I would love to start out with a bourbon type ale.

Wouldn't say its better than store bought, Germans make some really good beer. And you won't be saving any money making it. But you can generally make a beer equal to the really good stuff at the store for less money. A kit works out to nearly the same $ as buying decent beer.

It was making it from a recipe and the basic raw ingredients where things change. I never was for all the carbonation some beers use. It was easy to tone it down by just using less sugar at bottling. I had a recipe for a really good belgian type beer using brown sugar, some bubbles so it wasn't flat, but not to much. It was also around 10% alcohol vs about half that or less in store bought. Everybody wanted to drink some of my beer, so it didn't tend to last very long. I would need to pile up some bottles to start making it again, which generally requires buying quite a bit of the more expensive stuff to get bottles without twist off caps. Or just buy them.

Wine I can put in canning jars that I have plenty of. I use to get the regular bottles corks etc, but those canning jars work fine. Just go down to pretty much any store to buy them. I also tend to add a bit more kick to mine, most store bought is about 12% right yeast you can get it up to 18%, little tingle on your lips as you drink it. Only made blackberry for a while. Then had several cans of pineapple juice that was going out of date, figured, its cheap, doesn't work just dump it out, no great loss. It came out really good for just juice from a can, everybody raves about it. Very basic recipe, juice, yeast and regular sugar from the store. Tried orange juice from the store this time, again its cheap, doesn't work out, no great loss, but tastes pretty good after just 2 weeks of sitting. Been piling up the honey to try some mead next.

[jonp]

I've made it for years. Corner of the bedroom in my old house kept just the right temperature to ferment it. One time I put a little too much sugar in the bottles to do this and they started popping off in the middle of the night. I lived way out in the country by myself and I jumped out of bed with my pistol in my hand as I thought someone was shooting at the house. Broken glass and beer everywhere. Jeez that was funny

[pjames32]

I remember Blue Ribbon malt and lots of sugar. It made cheap beer that we bottled "green" and had lots of explosions. That was late 60's and in college.
Now I brew partial grain, high gravity, mostly scotch ale or barley wine that I can't buy. If I can buy it, it will be cheaper than brewing. I do still brew what I want.
PJ

[44man]

Bottles can blow from contamination, nasties never stop eating. But even if good, bottles are much harder to get it right with.
Best way is a counter pressure bottling setup but it will use a lot of CO2. I never made one. Pop kegs are easier.
But I do get tired of the work. Costs have gone up, used the get a bag of malted barley for $19, then went to $21, now it is over $50. Breweries suffer too so good beer has gone up a whole lot. Hops are out of sight, I grow Cascade but it does not work in some beer. None of the other hops I planted lived.

[Moonie]

I've made beer for years, but I don't make much. I'm more of a mead maker that had the equipment and lots of time for the mead to mature and age. Beer is much faster. I do have a 3 gallon batch of mead that is probably ready to bottle, been aging for 4 years give or take a few months.

When we do beer I either use extracts or I do have a friend I brew with that has put together a computerized RIMS system and it works amazingly well.

[hoosierlogger]

I've got some pumpkins growing that I am expecting to reach 100 pounds. I'm gonna brew a pumpkin ale in one of them in about a month.

[Zaneiel]

I have always wanted to attempt making beer but to many other things going on. Is it expensive to start? Probably like reloading or casting eh? Need some of this and some of that o look i spent 1,000 bucks today!!#/^

[44man]

Not really expensive to start. Good buckets, hose, etc. much you can make yourself.

[Moonie]

I have always wanted to attempt making beer but to many other things going on. Is it expensive to start? Probably like reloading or casting eh? Need some of this and some of that o look i spent 1,000 bucks today!!#/^

Where do you live? I'm sure you can find someone in your area that brews, lots of brew clubs around as well.

[Zaneiel]

Salem Oregon

[Moonie]

Salem Oregon

A little far for me to drive but I found the following brewing clubs:

Anti-Gravity Brew Club
502 14th St NE
Salem, OR 97301
PHone: 503 851-5646
Email: clutch_brewery@yahoo.com


Capitol Brewers
Salem, OR 97303
PHone: 503 363-7442
Email: dondarst@comcast.net

Talk to them, hang out with them, talk beer with them. They should be able to help you out, beer brewers are a lot like us casters, we love to share our knowledge.

[44man]

I heat sparge water in a 6 gal bucket. I bought one of those with a heating element and thermostat long ago. I was cleaning it by heating B-Brite. Forgot about it and the water got low, burned the element and melted the bucket.
I bought a short water tank element and made a new bucket, still works great. Just had to wire to the thermostat. I think a water tank thermo would work. I put a 220 outlet in for it.
A beer cooler can be made with copper tubing in a bucket. Cheap way is to let the beer cool overnight before pitching yeast. Stir the heck out of it to get oxygen in, yeast needs it to grow. I made a fitting, valve with a hose into the beer with a fish tank stone so I can use my oxygen tank but it is no better then stirring.
DO NOT put house water in to cool beer. City water has chlorine in it too. Kills yeast and tastes bad. Most recipes for extract call for adding cold water, boil it first. Beer will spoil so fast that you will quit making it fast.
It IS like loading ammo, much care every step.