Home brew beer

Opas Coat · Jun 3, 2009

Does anyone here do the you brew?

Right now I'm on my first beer, I have done the whole "Hooch" thing before but beer is a first for me. Right now in my fermenter I have some Black Rock Wheat beer. Unfortunately its not fermenting the way I expected... Bottling should begin this sunday if all goes well and the first beer should be sacrificed within the next two and a half weeks. I found some cool brown bottles with the spring/ lever clasp lock on them. Its only about $30 per dozen bottles.

Are there any tried, tested and preferred kits out there?

St.Ignatz · Jun 3, 2009

Keep it clean.

Good kits abound but the knowledgeable proprietor of a home brew shop can make one up to your specs. Brew your second batch NOW! You're going to find that you keep on trying this first batch until it's just right and GONE. Then you have what seems an eon to wait to drink your own beer again. I like George at Home Sweet Home Brew in Philadelphia. He's the oldest shop in the city and ships everywhere. Good luck and remember "Relax, don't worry, have a home brew".

barra063 · Jun 3, 2009

I home brew. unless I want to get real adventurous I use Coopers home brew kits. Not into the whole hog mash tun thing. If it is not fermenting, check the fermenter is sealed. If using an airlock check that is seated. If your vat is not sealed it may be fermeting but the gasses are leaking via somewhere other than the airlock. I used to get old beer bottles, sterilise and cap etc. Now I use plastic PET bottles with screw on caps (quick and easy) In Australia, Coopers sells dark plastic bottles. Some friends of mine just use empty clear plastic PET soft drink bottles. They then store the bottles in a dark place while it is bottle conditioning. I play around with different sugars, corn syrup, mollasses etc. Never use plain old white sugar as the beer will always taste home brewish.

Yep as soon as you have bottled, sterilise everything and lay down a new batch straight away. I sterilise with either household bleach or baby bottle steriliser. I don't use sodium metabisulphate as the fumes do me in.

Opas Coat · Jun 4, 2009

It seems to be brewing as we speak, looks like I'm accustomed to brewing hooch with the turbo yeast with enough pressure to blow the air lock out of the lid.

It was recommended that I mix my cup and a half of sugar in to my fermenter instead of a teaspoon in each bottle. Has anyone tried this?

MisterCairo · Jun 4, 2009

I've been home brewing ever since I bought my dad a kit for Christmas about 15 years ago. Usually use the prepared malt kits from England and Australia.

I'd love to make home brew from scratch, buying barley, malting it myself, selecting different types of hops. We will be getting our "forever home" in the next year or two, in the country with more room.

Oh, the fun I will have.....

St.Ignatz · Jun 4, 2009

Opas Coat said:
It seems to be brewing as we speak, looks like I'm accustomed to brewing hooch with the turbo yeast with enough pressure to blow the air lock out of the lid.

It was recommended that I mix my cup and a half of sugar in to my fermenter instead of a teaspoon in each bottle. Has anyone tried this?

I've used that method except I racked (gently) to a sterile container and mix in corn sugar that's been boiled in a pint of water then cooled. Actually I put the cooled sugar mix in first,that reduces the amount of slow agitation needed. You get a much more even distribution of new fermentables. You can also use malt extract that's been boiled and cooled if you want to go purist. Mmmmmm beer.

TM · Jun 4, 2009

A stuck fermentation is always a worry. Sometimes stirring it up a bit will get it going. Sometimes adding some additional sugar will work too. Both of which were previously mentioned. Sometimes it's the temperature, which might be too hot or too cold for the yeast.

When I used to brew I found it useful to make a starter yeast the day before. This got things going pretty well.

Also, if you are starting off by using a brew kit, rather than full grain, adding some selected grain to the kit makes a tastier beer.

Experiment! But take good notes so you can replicate.

Tony

ClothesHorse · Jul 9, 2009

I'm an avid homebrewer. I have gone the way of All-Grain. That way I can control everything from water, starch conversion, fermentation temp (I use a fridge with a digital temp control.)

I'm way over the deep end of brewing.

Like others have mentioned- Support your local shop if you can. If you can't I've had good luck with morebeer.com, and northern brewer for supplies and kits.

I've got a Raspberry Stout, Cider, Pale Ale, English Mild on tap. Getting ready to Keg a Bitter this weekend.

Good luck

CH

Phineas Lamour · Sep 6, 2015

I have just gotten into home brewing and decided to see if there were any other home brew heroes here at the Lounge. My wife and I are about to bottle our second home brew. The first was an amber ale from an extract kit. The current is a robust porter, part extract with specialty grains. I added a jalapeno pepper to one gallon of the porter in the secondary fermentor. I was going to start a new thread but I found this old one and decided to try to revive it.

dnjan · Jul 23, 2016

St.Ignatz said:
... I racked (gently) to a sterile container and mix in corn sugar that's been boiled in a pint of water then cooled. Actually I put the cooled sugar mix in first,that reduces the amount of slow agitation needed. You get a much more even distribution of new fermentables. You can also use malt extract that's been boiled and cooled if you want to go purist. Mmmmmm beer.

Agree. Put the corn sugar solution in a sterilized carboy, and then siphon the brew from the fermenting carboy into the bottling carboy. That way you can leave much of the sediment behind, while having an even distribution of priming solution.

newsman · Aug 16, 2016

Been a home brewer for 17 years. Something like that. A long time. Nothing fermenting right now. I do have 15 pounds of honey that should be made into mead.

newsman · Aug 16, 2016

Phineas Lamour said:
I have just gotten into home brewing and decided to see if there were any other home brew heroes here at the Lounge. My wife and I are about to bottle our second home brew. The first was an amber ale from an extract kit. The current is a robust porter, part extract with specialty grains. I added a jalapeno pepper to one gallon of the porter in the secondary fermentor. I was going to start a new thread but I found this old one and decided to try to revive it.

Don't be afraid to let things age a bit. A lot of places tell you to start drinking your beer at a month. That just seems too short a period of time. I think two months is better.

Home brew beer

Opas Coat

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