homebrewing and general beer chat

[Scapegoat]

I've tried before and was too lazy about it.

I just picked up a home brew kit from a real home brewers store as well as a the ingredient to make a wheat beer similar to hoegardden.

Right now I've got the yeast doing its thing in the little baggy, and I should be ready to get going on making the wort in about an hour and a half.

2-3 weeks for fermentation in the bucket, then another 2-3 in the bottles... so 2 months from now I'll have my own booze

I think once I get this batch into the bottles I'm going to pick up another case of empty bottles and get to work on an ale or stout. I may actually inquire about what it takes to make something like gulden drak

[Drftpretty]

^Beer is too hard to brew at home. Way way way too temp sensitive.

The GF and I started doing wine and just crushed 20 lbs of strawberries, poured into a bucket, added yeast culture/ sugar and slapped a pressure lock on it and forget about it.

In 6 months we'll have 18 bottles of sweet STRONG desert wine.

[Scapegoat]

everything I'm reading about brewing beer says keep it in the high 60's to mid 70's during fermentation.

Doesn't sound too hard to me, I'm just gonna stick it in the basement where its always mid/high 60's

[Drftpretty]

^Give it a shot, I just could stand how picky it is with temp.

PLUS, At X-mas we give away bottles of wine to family. Freebie!

[Scapegoat]

yeah, i'm thinking of going batty and making a chocolate stout for x-mas... maybe even a chocolate peppermint stout lol

[Drftpretty]

^Sounds emo

Give it a shot. If it works good I may have to switch to beer.

[Scapegoat]

right now I've got about 50 minutes left on my yeast bag to culture. so I'm sanitizing.. yay clean...

Wheat beer is apparently very very very simple to make. My next wheat beer, barring nothing goes too wrong with this batch is going to be an apple cinnamon... The best part about this whole process is coming up with your own recipes.

[Scapegoat]

Originally Posted by Drftpretty

^Sounds emo

Give it a shot. If it works good I may have to switch to beer.

I'll let you know how they turn out in nearly two months...

[SeMaxima99]

Originally Posted by Scapegoat

yeah, i'm thinking of going batty and making a chocolate stout for x-mas... maybe even a chocolate peppermint stout lol

ahh choclate beer floats! So good. I had the Sam Adams Choclate Bach with some vinilla ice cream and whipped cream.

[Scapegoat]

Originally Posted by SeMaxima99

ahh choclate beer floats! So good. I had the Sam Adams Choclate Bach with some vinilla ice cream and whipped cream.

not a bad idea. might make the chocolate peppermint stout idea plausible...

[Scapegoat]

one more look at the directions... then its wort making time

[05suby]

yea a guy i work with is most likely going to open up his own store and teach people how to do it and sell the parts.

[Scapegoat]

4 hours later I'm left with a strange sticky goo...

currently chilling for another 25 minutes before getting added to the fermentation bucket where it will sit with about 4 gallons of water and yeast. In two weeks it gets mixed with some priming sugar and bottled where it sits for another 2 weeks to carbonate. then I have beer... I hope

[05suby]

haha good luck dude.

[BlackBulletTSi]

There is a thread about this already I believe but I would love to brew my own beer

[Scapegoat]

Originally Posted by BlackBulletTSi

There is a thread about this already I believe but I would love to brew my own beer

eh, its not like its something that comes up often.

I know drft had a thread awhile ago about moonshine... but that's been awhile.

Well, I went to put the airlock on and guess what... the rubber piece that is in the lid of the fermentation bucket... popped out and into the wort... and it didn't float...

Luckily I had some epoxy putty hanging around and I quickly got to work creating a nice seal. So the bucket is now airlocked and the only thing I need to worry about is the grommet that is hanging out in my beer... hopefully it won't mess things up.

[Scapegoat]

maybe I should make a member's journal about this... lol

don't worry, I'll start my own blog site and stop being happy around here ;)

anyway, fermentation has started despite my concerns about the yeast

[twistedlanes]

hmm.. you gotta bring some when its done....

[Scapegoat]

Originally Posted by twistedlanes

hmm.. you gotta bring some when its done....

5 gallons makes 2 cases worth... and I'm seriously tempted to go back to the homebrew store on saturday and pick up another fermentation bucket and make the stout this weekend instead of the following after I've bottled this batch.

I'm already addicted to doing this, and I don't even know if its going to taste good!

Oh PS: If anyone that comes to the Media meet ever gets cases of beer that are pop-off, NOT twist off, tops...

save me the bottles and bring them by in the case. I can use them to bottle my stuff

[Kevin]

My uncle does it. He's pretty successful at it.