^Thanks a lot for the information. I guess the fermentation went as it should, I just wasn't prepared for it. We going to try a DFH 60 minute clone this weekend as our first stab at a non-kit homebrew. We're going to be doing the extract version of this recipe:

http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f69/dogfish-head-60-minute-clone-ag-extract-25709/

Maybe I'll look into getting a blow-off tube for this one. It'll also be our first attempt at secondary fermentation in a carboy, so hopefully that goes well.

2/14/2013 3:38:19 PM

Prospero, I'll have to check Beersmith when I get home.

Another tip for anyone who may be new to brewing: Get a good brewing software. I like Beersmith 2. It helps me create, modify, store and share recipes. It does all calculations for you once you get your equipment profile set up in there. It's just a very handy tool to have around.

[Edited on February 14, 2013 at 3:48 PM. Reason : .]

2/14/2013 3:44:27 PM

Yea, I use Beersmith (v1) too.

I typically use Brewersfriend.com or Hopville.com as they provide online calculators to tweak recipes, then I input into Beersmith when I get home to get estimated price, step & infusion calcs, etc. Although you can do all that online for free if you find a couple good websites. I think Beersmith is worth it though for $27

[Edited on February 14, 2013 at 3:54 PM. Reason : .]

2/14/2013 3:50:49 PM

How did you guys learn about some of the more advanced aspects about brewing like secondary fermentation, all grain brewing, kegging, etc? Books? Trial and error? Clubs?

2/15/2013 11:34:11 AM

All of the above really.

Check out http://www.homebrewtalk.com/forum.php. That place is a wealth of information (also tons of idiots/misinformation on there, so just do your homework).

Also, another great resource is Brewing TV. It's a webcast that Northern Brewer puts out. There's quite a few episodes, and they talk about most all aspects of brewing, and the guys are pretty funny. Unfortunately, the entire cast quit about 3 months ago, but Brewing TV is starting back up with a new cast soon. http://www.northernbrewer.com/brewingtv/ Start with episode 1. You wont regret it. I thoroughly enjoyed most every episode.

There's also a bunch of podcasts out there. Check out http://thebrewingnetwork.com/shows/The-Jamil-Show

As far as clubs, there's a few clubs in the Raeigh area. My experience with them is that they meet once a month or so and share homebrew. The issue is that most of it sucks, and they're too afraid to hurt each other's feelings, so they wont tell the person their true thoughts. Don't get me wrong though, they're usually a good group of guys, and everyone means well. Definitely worth checking out. Websites: http://carboyclub.com/ and http://www.trubclub.com/

I'm part of a brewing "disorganization" of sorts, and we are the complete opposite. We sporadically hold "thick skin" meetings, where we expect and encourage honest feedback, even if it means hearing "dude, your beer tastes like shit." But the good thing is that we give suggestions on how to make it better. I'd personaly rather hear my beer sucks so I can figure out what to improve on.


Above all, don't be shy to brew with others, as you can learn how other people brew and pick up tips. If you're in the raleigh area, I'm more than happy to have folks over on brewday to show you how I do things. I'm always open to better ideas and learning from others as well, as Lord knows my beer sucks sometimes too. Hit me/other homebrewers up.


[Edited on February 15, 2013 at 12:44 PM. Reason : .]

2/15/2013 12:31:06 PM

^Thanks a lot for all the information. I'll definitely queue up some brewtv episodes.

I've been getting all my supplies from Bull City Homebrew and I've heard the guys there talking about the TrubClub. The guy working said it's gone downhill recently and that it's less about swapping brew tips and more about drinking a lot of beer -either one sounds fun

Thanks for the offer too. I'm going to hone my skills a little more before going public though. My first two batches turned out pretty good (even if the first IPA was a little boring). I might take you up on that offer once I get a little better.

2/15/2013 1:35:09 PM

I live about 2 miles from Bull City Homebrew, so definitely feel free to stop by if you're in the area.

Honestly no need to hone skills first either haha. We've all been there at some point and I wish I had someone to answer even the "dumb" questions.

2/15/2013 1:40:56 PM

I also had some questions about filtration. Currently we just run the wort through a colander when transferring from the pot to the primary, and then again when going from the primary to the bucket with the priming sugar. These still leaves behind some sediment in the final product. Are there better ways to filter?

Also, given we are bottle carbonating, is there any way to prevent having the layer of what I assume is dead yeast on the bottom of each bottle? I don't imagine there is, but it does suck having to waste the last 0.5oz or so of every bottle to avoid pouring it into the glass.

2/15/2013 2:28:30 PM

Essentially, if you're bottle conditioning, you're stuck with having the little bit of yeast in the bottom. There is still yeast in suspension, and it's needed in order for your bottles to carbonate.

I'd try "cold crashing" your fermenter before you transfer to the bottling bucket. This will help settle out most of the yeast still in suspension, and should help with clarity of your beers and reduce the amount of yeast in your bottle. There will definitely still be enough yeast left to eat your priming sugar and carb your bottles, and you will have a tiny bit of dead yeast in the bottom of your bottles.

Most of us switch to kegging at some point, which is MUCH easier as you dont have to sanitize, fill and cap each bottle, and you dont really have to worry about having yeast in your pint glass since most people force carb with CO2. Some folks still "naturally" carb kegs by adding priming sugar and letting the kegs sit for a week or two, but I'm too impatient. Naturally carbed kegs will have a little bit of yeast sediment in the bottom too, and the first pint or three will have a little yeast in them. To remedy this, some folks cut about 1/4 inch or so off of the keg dip tube so that it doesnt pick up the layer of yeast on the bottom.

[Edited on February 15, 2013 at 2:39 PM. Reason : .]

2/15/2013 2:38:13 PM

Quote :

"Essentially, if you're bottle conditioning, you're stuck with having the little bit of yeast in the bottom. There is still yeast in suspension, and it's needed in order for your bottles to carbonate. "

That's pretty much what I thought. I definitely want to get into kegging at some point, but we still live in a crappy little apartment and right now money and space are both at a premium.

Down the road I really want to start brewing and kegging my own sours. They are by far my favorite style of beer. I think most homebrewers keep second sets of equipment for sour batches to avoid cross-contamination, so that's something else I'll have to wait to do in the future.

[Edited on February 15, 2013 at 2:46 PM. Reason : ]

2/15/2013 2:45:58 PM

One more question while I'm thinking about it. Why are most of the carboys I've seen clear? It seems like you would want them to be opaque to stop light from damaging the beer. Is this wrong?

2/15/2013 5:08:06 PM

that's a good question. Not sure really. I'd guess it's just cheaper.

One thing I've found out, though, is that you dont have to worry about light from lightbulbs...I've read from several sources that it's not an issue. I use one for heating my fermentation chamber and havent had any problems.

2/15/2013 7:54:22 PM

^^it's so you can see what's going on and how much the yeast/hops/protein has settled and monitor the flocculation, clarity, etc. while not a necessity to be clear it helps. i typically just get a couple brown paper bags from grocer and cut a hole in the bottom and put it upside down over top of the carboy when i don't need to take a peak.

2/15/2013 7:59:28 PM

Quote :

"what I assume is dead yeast on the bottom of each bottle?"

it takes awhile to die, most of the time it's just "inactive" yeast since all of the fermentable sugars are eaten it lacks the sugar and oxygen to reproduce/cultivate.

2/16/2013 12:41:40 AM

2/20/2013 11:09:41 AM

Sweet.

I'm entering my first competition this weekend. Should be interesting.

I tend to shy away from comps as I dont necessarily want to brew according to style guides usually.

2/21/2013 3:04:36 PM

Best of luck! It doesn't really matter too much, there's a reason the specialty category and spice, herb, vegetable categories exist (and are most popular). In fact some BJCP judges will still award a BOS to beers that don't fit exactly to style so long as they are brewed without flaws and are intangibly enjoyable. The feedback on scorecards is more centered around how to brew better, not all about how to brew closer to style, although if you enter a specific style they may comment on things that are out of norm.

[Edited on February 21, 2013 at 6:25 PM. Reason : .]

2/21/2013 6:23:22 PM

^^^ Congratulations. What was your award winning brew?

We just dry hopped and racked a batch to a glass carboy. Do you guys have any tips for carboy sanitization and cleaning? It was hard to get all of the sanitizing solution out of the carboy and I'd imagine cleaning it will be tough as well, especially considering we live in an apartment and don't have access to a hose.

[Edited on February 24, 2013 at 3:28 PM. Reason : ]

2/24/2013 3:24:41 PM

It was for my doppelbock & chocolate stout.

In all my batches of homebrew to date I've never had to use anything other than PBW cleaner, the stuff does wonders if you get the water temp between 100-140' (nothing hotter as it will separate the better bottles) and let it sit for 30 minutes or longer. I've never even had to use any sort of forced water pressure, just cleaner and rinse.



[Edited on February 24, 2013 at 7:27 PM. Reason : .]

2/24/2013 7:27:07 PM

Quote :

"Do you guys have any tips for carboy sanitization and cleaning? It was hard to get all of the sanitizing solution out of the carboy and I'd imagine cleaning it will be tough as well, especially considering we live in an apartment and don't have access to a hose."

oxiclean free (or knockoff brand with sodium percarbonate as the active ingredient, just make sure there's no fragrance) for cleaning and iodine for sanitizing

PBW's just sodium percarbonate mixed with sodium metasilicate, "one step" is basically (if not exactly) oxiclean free

oxiclean is a quarter of the price (or even better) of the homebrew-specific stuff, can be picked up just about anywhere, and just as effective

the bonus is that oxiclean will get labels off bottles like whoa

[Edited on February 24, 2013 at 8:57 PM. Reason : .]

2/24/2013 8:53:30 PM

good to know, not sure if oxiclean leaves residue or not, is it rated food-safe? i don't use iodine for sanitizing that stuff stains like crazy.

brewed two 10-gallon batches today, a hoppy Red Ale and a Saison. loved it, brewed from 9am-6pm

3/2/2013 11:41:25 PM

n/m

[Edited on March 3, 2013 at 1:13 AM. Reason : .]

3/3/2013 1:12:43 AM

Quote :

"not sure if oxiclean leaves residue or not, is it rated food-safe?"

oxiclean (or sun oxygen cleaner, which seems to be the popular half-the-price knockoff brand) leaves the same level/type of slippery residue that PBW does, which goes away as long as you rinse well...i've never had to rinse more than twice (which i'd do regardless of what i'm using, just to be safe) and stuff's been squeaky clean with no off tastes

it's safe in that even if you left the residue (which, obviously, i would not recommend), it's not going to hurt you

the advantage of PBW is that it's aluminum safe if you need to soak something...if you don't have to soak, it shouldn't make much difference

i've read that you can make PBW by mixing 50/50 oxiclean and "TSP substitute" (not TSP, and available at home depot and lowe's and the like), but i've never tried it...and after that much work, i might as well just buy PBW (though it's still super cheap by comparison)

Quote :

"i don't use iodine for sanitizing that stuff stains like crazy"

i definitely get that, though my buckets haven't stained yet

it takes only enough iodine to leave a color for it to be a no-rinse sanitizer...if the water is yellow or orange, it's way more iodine than is necessary...just add drops until it retains color (it will disappear altogether until you've hit the saturation part)

all that said, i'm just being cheap...five star isn't priced too badly, but i started after i ran out and since i keep iodine around the house and it's an effective and stupid cheap alternative...just never had a reason to get more five star

3/3/2013 8:56:08 AM

havent been brewing much the last few weeks as I've been trying to get a side-business off the ground.

I present to TWW.....Homebrewed Handles. http://www.homebrewedhandles.com

We've all seen the chalkboard tap handles out there...even some that have a baseball card holder glued/magneted(?) on the front.

I've come up with a new way to utilize the simple baseball card holder (toploader) to store and display the beer logos that lots of homebrewers work so hard on. I think they look a little cleaner than most of the other "customizable" tap handles out there...and they're handmade here in my garage/"brewery" in good ol' Durham, NC.

Check out and "LIKE" our facebook page here! https://www.facebook.com/HomebrewedHandles

Some pics of the handles (more on our website)

African Mahogany


Brazilian Cherry


Finished Red Oak


Unfinished Red Oak


You probably wouldnt know it, but MONTHS of time and tooling/testing have gone into the creation and perfection of these "simple" tap handles. These are all milled out of a single piece of wood...It's taken a while to get to market, but i'm definitely stoked at how some of these have turned out.

If anyone's interested, I'll offer a TWW discount. PM me for more info. I'll also offer unfinished versions of any of these for a slight discount. Will even source different wood if there's interest.

[Edited on March 11, 2013 at 11:01 PM. Reason : .]

3/11/2013 10:53:39 PM

Anyone had problems brewing with city water during the March chlorine flush? I've got a couple of brews I wanna do next week but realized everything's gonna smell like a pool and wasn't sure if that flavor and odor would carry into the finished beer.

Also, a friend down the road said the Brewmaster owner is going to open a supply store in Cary near the western intersection of Chatham and Old Apex. Should be walking distance for me.

[Edited on March 11, 2013 at 11:32 PM. Reason : ]

3/11/2013 11:30:54 PM

^that would typically only be of concern if you're doing extract and adding water at the end of the process (chlorine boils off during the brewing and/or evaporates over time if you leave your water out overnight), in which case if it's a concern, just go buy 2.5gal of purified water for $2

[Edited on March 12, 2013 at 1:59 AM. Reason : .]

3/12/2013 1:58:51 AM

I dont worry too much as I have a filter setup on my brewing water supply. Throw a little bit of Campden in there and you should be fine from what I've read.

Water profiling is the next big step for me. I want to send my water off to a lab to see exactly what I'm working wtih.

3/12/2013 10:35:40 AM

those tap handles look really sweet.

the water here blows ass and i end up using jugs of kroger drinking water. the water is so hard.

i'm sure it's pretty detrimental to my beers, but i haven't had the time to adequately study my water reports and what i'd need to do to treat it.

i brewed up what was supposed to be a clone of russian river's row 2 hill 56 as an easy drinker into spring on saturday.

someone had cleaned out my lhbs store of all of their pilsner and marris otter malts, and all of their simcoe.

so basically, on the fly, i replaced the pilsner malt with 2 row, marris otter with vienna, and instead of a single hop pale with simcoe, i used nugget for 90, columbus for 45, and amarillo at flame out, with amarillo dry hop.

missed my water volume and sparge temp playing with a new burner.

all around fail in terms of what i was going for, but fuck it, with a basic recipe i don't think it'll be terrible.

[Edited on March 12, 2013 at 10:54 AM. Reason : e]

3/12/2013 10:54:01 AM

water's one thing i really don't have to worry about in Denver all the commercial breweries even use the tap water here.

oh, i also heard rumor last weekend that Mitch Steel the author of the recent IPA (hops) book is doing a book ALL on water chemistry.... should be good to pick up.

there's also one by John Palmer coming out:
http://www.amazon.com/Water-A-Comprehensive-Guide-Brewers/dp/0937381993/ref=pd_bxgy_b_img_z

[Edited on March 12, 2013 at 11:10 AM. Reason : ,]

3/12/2013 11:02:40 AM

Any home brew competitions around Raleigh coming up soon?

3/13/2013 3:41:03 PM

You can always check here for BJCP ones:
http://www.bjcp.org/apps/comp_schedule/competition_schedule.php

3/13/2013 4:25:21 PM

Lonerider has a competition, Brew It Forward, as part of its Showdown on the 23rd. Registration and entrees are due by the 15th.

http://loneridershowdown.com/

The link on the far right is information about the Homebrew Competition. I don't have anything to enter, but I've got a buddy who's entered in the last few years and won each time, either overall in in his category.

The have restrictions on the type of beer that can be entered. It has to be something they can reproduce in their brewery in under 4 weeks (Wyeast strains, under 8%, no home prepared malts, etc.)

3/13/2013 4:43:16 PM

I've got an imperial stout in the primary that I am getting ready to rack to the secondary. I'm planning to throw some cocao nibs soaked in vodka (for flavor extraction purposes) and some coffee. I'm planning to throw the nibs in immediately and let it age for 2 weeks in the secondary. My question is how/when should I add the coffee? I've read that cold brewed coffee is good, but was wondering if anyone had french pressed the coffee, chilled and then added it. I would prefer the flavor profile to be more coffee than chocolate. Thoughts?

3/19/2013 3:13:59 PM

Cold brewed coffee is actually more flavorful and a lot less acidic, which is a huge plus when adding to beer. I'd do coarse ground coffee with cold purified water in a french press for 12-hours, then use the press to remove grounds and add to secondary.

Cacao nibs don't necessarily need vodka, a simple boil with just enough water to cover is sufficient.

[Edited on March 19, 2013 at 3:37 PM. Reason : .]

3/19/2013 3:36:09 PM

Thanks. Nibs are already already in the vodka, but I've read that shouldn't affect the taste. I'll go with cold pressed coffee and add it at the same time for the secondary. What do you think about the amount of aging? I've read the nibs start to get pretty bitter after 2 weeks, which is something I would like to avoid.

3/19/2013 3:42:49 PM

7-10 days is plenty (assuming you used >4oz.), cacao nibs are pretty flavorful. Yea, vodka is pretty tasteless, just as good as water, you can do either method.

[Edited on March 19, 2013 at 3:47 PM. Reason : .]

3/19/2013 3:46:23 PM

Awesome. I'm really looking forward to this one. I'm hoping for something like Bell's java stout or Epic's big bad baptist (lower ABV for mine though).

3/19/2013 4:07:35 PM

Best coffee beer, IMHO, Bourbon County Coffee, followed by Founder's Breakfast Stout, I find it best mixed with other ingredients like oatmeal, chocolate, bourbon to cut the sharpness of coffee, but that's just me. I like that you're adding cacao nibs, should keep it nice and smooth.

3/19/2013 5:57:24 PM

i was pretty thrilled with an fbs style beer a did at the end of last year, if anyone wants to see the recipe.

3/19/2013 7:16:27 PM

brewed a double-batch ESB today (with two different yeasts...looking to rack into secondary next week

have any suggestions for something special to add to the secondary? thinking about oak chips (something like http://www.northernbrewer.com/shop/oak-cubes-french-medium-toast.html)...good idea or bad idea? should i just leave it alone?

[Edited on March 24, 2013 at 8:42 PM. Reason : .]

3/24/2013 8:39:45 PM

if you do it i'd keep it to 1oz or so for 5g don't want much oak with an ESB, but could be a nice subtle touch.

3/24/2013 11:33:19 PM

Just moved a heffeweizen to the secondary after a week of primary fermentation and I added some Simply Limeade and restarted the fermentation. Should end up around 7% ABV and I'm hoping it will be a good warm weather beer, while not being too sweet.

3/31/2013 12:08:53 PM

i opted to forgo the oak chips...and the secondary altogether

i've never cold-crashed, but i'm going to give that a shot...gravity's down to around 1.018 (from 1.051) and should settle out around 1.012, so i'm going to give it another couple of days (it's down to about a bubble every 40 seconds or so)

3/31/2013 1:23:19 PM

thinking about doing a belgian tripel as my next brew...anyone done one in a partial mash and have a favorite recipe?

4/1/2013 8:02:47 PM

http://raleighbrewingcompany.com/


If you haven't gone here yet for your ingredients or equipment, then I highly recommend giving them a try. They've only been open for a couple months now and I loved it there. They are hidden between gorman and hillsborough. They had everything we needed and a huge bar attached to the store. The coffee porter we tried was fantastic. Plus it is so much closer for me than American Brewmaster.

4/4/2013 1:52:14 PM

Quote :

"They had everything we needed and a huge bar attached to the store."

I'm pretty sure "A homebrew shop attached to the brewery" is a little more accurate


But for the record, Raleigh Brewing Company is the brewery. Atlantic Brew Supply is the name of the homebrew shop.


[Edited on April 4, 2013 at 3:50 PM. Reason : .]

4/4/2013 3:49:04 PM

Anyone made Skeeter Pee (hard lemonade) before? I've done it several times, but I'm convinced the wine yeast is giving me unbelievable headaches (que hangover jokes, but its not a hangover).

I'm going to try a batch of cheap apple cider this weekend (apple juice + table sugar + yeast), using a starter from a dry American ale yeast. If the ale yeast ferments well enough for cider, I may try it on skeeter pee and see if the headaches go away. Wasn't sure if I'm alone in this problem with wine yeasts or not.

Also, finishing up an English Brown today and going to reclaim some of the starter, refeed it and keep it for an english bitter on Monday.

4/5/2013 6:54:50 PM

You could "reclaim the yeast and make another starter" for your bitter on Monday...

But honestly, I'd just pitch your bitter right on top of the yeast cake from the brown ale. No need to even clean the carboy if you don't want. Syphon the brown ale out, pour your bitter wort in. Aerate, mix/stir/shake the carboy to get the yeast back in suspension...profit.

Shouldn't hurt your beer at all. Tons of us do this all the time. I especially do it when I'm making similar color beers with the same yeast back to back.

[Edited on April 6, 2013 at 9:34 AM. Reason : .]

4/6/2013 9:33:54 AM

^ you know, i never thought of doing that...i'm in the process of cold-crashing the ESB above and the yeast i used (don't remember which one) is also good for irish red (of which i have a kit that i haven't used, yet)

we're kegging/bottling (half of each batch, which are made with different yeast strains) on sunday and so now i'm wondering if i could go ahead and just use the yeast cake from one to do my single batch of irish red...cold-crashing shouldn't affect the usability of the yeast cake, right?

4/6/2013 12:29:00 PM

^^That would be a good option if I wasn't in a rush to get these in the primary. I want the brown to stay in its primary for 10 days before racking to a secondary, and I want to get the bitter going by Monday so they are both done, bottled and carbonated by May.

I am a fan of English styles though so I plan on throwing another batch on top of the trub of both of these when I rack them to secondary.

4/6/2013 12:50:45 PM