Quote :

"Learned a tough lesson a few days ago when bottling. I was boiling some honey and water on my stove to mix with the beer before bottling. I wasn't paying attention and it boiled over. Unfortunately for me I didn't realize thats like the worst thing to have boil over on a glass top stove. Apparently the sugar binds to the glass somehow and it etches in pot marks that you can't get out. It was a brand new stove. Needless to say I got an earful from my wife :-("

try bar keepers friend before you worry about it too much...it's amazing what oxalic acid can do...i got mine at walmart because i was there, but i'm sure it's available other places in the cleansers section



[Edited on September 12, 2013 at 9:26 AM. Reason : seriously, it's fantastic]

9/12/2013 9:23:32 AM

^this

9/12/2013 11:21:26 AM

My wife uses hot water and baking soda to scrub our glass top. Let it soak for a few minutes, then just scrub it with a scrubby sponge.

I've ruined our glasstop when making yeast starters (DME) and she's been able to easily clean it with this each time.

[Edited on September 12, 2013 at 12:37 PM. Reason : .]

9/12/2013 12:37:27 PM

^ i regularly use baking soda and diluted vinegar (along with a scrubbing pad and my fingernails) on our ceramic top range, but sometimes there's something baked on there that won't budge without BKF

[Edited on September 12, 2013 at 1:40 PM. Reason : just my 2 cents...it works when nothing else will]

9/12/2013 1:40:02 PM

I want to get into homebrewing really bad. Can you tell me the essential items I'll need to buy in order to get started (or direct me to one of these 34 pages that lists what I'd need)? Money is no concern

9/12/2013 1:55:43 PM

http://www.homebrewit.com/?gclid=CLPGw5LHxrkCFcN9Ogodiy8ATw

9/12/2013 3:07:36 PM

yes, I saw that on google

so, all I need, according to that site, are: Primary Fermenter " Bottling Bucket " Capper " Bottle Filler " Bucket Lid " Bottling Spigot " Begineer Book " Easy Clean " Air-Lock " Bucket Clip " Thermometers " Hydrometer " Siphon Hose " Bottle Brush " Carboy* " Carboy Brush* " Auto-Siphon* " Plastic Paddle*

9/12/2013 5:03:43 PM

That sounds about right. They have kits on the site with all the stuff. It's been a while since I did any brewing, but that website always had decent prices.

You could probably get away with buying some of the stuff at Home Depot, for example the fermenter is a five gallon bucket, and you can make an airlock with a bit of tubing and a ball jar. But if you're taking your first shot at it, just go ahead and buy them instead of trying to reinvent some piece of equipment.

Though, you could start out with empty 2-liter bottles and make sure you want to keep it up before you buy bottles, caps, the capper, and all that stuff..

9/12/2013 5:36:50 PM

Do you want to do extract or all-grain?

Extract is significantly easier, quicker, cleaner, and less expensive. You can make some great beer using extract, and dont let anyone tell you otherwise. Basically you heat some water, add your extract (liquid or dry malt extract), steep a handful of crushed grains (not always necessary), bring to a boil, add your hops, chill, ferment and bottle/keg.

All-grain means you are literally starting with the whole grain malted barley, crushing it, steeping it (mashing) it for an hour, and then separating the sweet sugary extract from the grain...bring to a boil, add hops, chill, ferment, and bottle/keg. Basically you are making your own "extract" at the beginning through the mashing process. This method is significantly more time consuming and a bit more expensive as you need some different equipment.

9/12/2013 5:39:07 PM

I live in Idaho, so I have access to some of the finest malt barley in the world. I'd love to go all-grain if possible. So, you're saying I'd need additional equipment if I go that route?

9/12/2013 6:47:52 PM

ohhhhh yes. You're in for quite the experience.

If you're wanting to do all-grain, you'll likely want to do this outside which will require a propane burner (a turkey fryer with sturdy legs will do). You'll want to do at least 5 gallon batches (basically the standard), so you'll need a pot that will accommodate a rolling 6.5 gallon boil (to account for evaporation called "boil off")... so, with that said, I'd suggest at least a 10 gallon pot. That will give you enough room to not have to worry too much about boilovers...

Many of us use what's called a "keggle" as a boil pot. These are just the standard 15.5 gallon stainless beer kegs with the top cut out of it to use it as a pot. It's cheap, and easy...you wont find a cheaper alternative to a 15+ gallon stainless pot and works like a charm. I also use one of these as a mash tun and a hot liquor tank (hot water tank).

And you'll need a mash tun with some sort of filter/false bottom that allows you to separate the wort (sugary water collected from the grain) from the crushed grain husks. Many people use a round 10 gallon water cooler with either a stainless steel false-bottom, a homemade filter out of copper pipe or pvc tubing, or what's called a "bazooka tube". Either of these will work just fine. These filters will hook up to a ball-valve that lets you drain the wort from the mash tun into your boil kettle.

Here's a quick example of how to build a mash tun I found on google: http://www.onemansbeer.com/diy-mash-tun-parts/

There's hundreds of ways to build one...use what you may have on hand, or go all out and buy some bling'd out pieces. That's half the fun of this hobby.


I'd suggest you get on youtube and watch some "how to brew all-grain" videos to get an idea of the process and the tools/equipment you'll probably want/need. There's just too much to explain here in detail

Also, check out Homebrewtalk.com. It's probably the largest online homebrewing community, and tons of n00bs asking dumb questions on there so you wont have to But seriously, read all you can, watch all the videos you can, and ask any questions you want here or on HBT. We'll help ya out.

9/12/2013 8:10:01 PM

thanks for taking the time

9/12/2013 8:17:25 PM

i'm looking for solid copper Chore Boy scouring pads. from what i gather, only 3 types of people use these: homebrewers, crackheads, and folks who shoot cast bullets and need to remove lead from their barrels.

do any of y'all know where i can buy these locally? i've tried Lowe's Home Improvement and Walmart. i guess i can always just go to Amazon.

11/29/2013 11:43:16 PM

The internetz says Ace Hardware has them.

11/30/2013 10:10:57 AM

good call. just got the last box from Wrigglesworth Ace Hardware. thanks.

11/30/2013 10:38:27 AM

Yay!

11/30/2013 10:59:55 AM

i have a couple of spare 6-gallon carboys doing nothing but taking up space...i kinda want to set up a wine or anything that doesn't require the initial time investment of beer (ie. i basically just want to toss in the ingredients and yeast and be done with it)

anyone have a recipe to recommend?

1/28/2014 6:27:20 PM

You can try mead. It's pretty easy and tastes good

1/28/2014 8:58:56 PM

Maybe a hard cider?

1/28/2014 11:31:50 PM

Just brewed a White IPA on Sunday night, and tonight did my first turbid mash in an attempt to make my first gueuze, while the turbid mash was a major PIA, I think it's gonna turn out great, hit all the temps and gravities.

Got some ECY BugCounty to use

[Edited on January 29, 2014 at 2:20 AM. Reason : /]

1/29/2014 2:20:08 AM

Someone saw my hops while visiting our coop in Tour D'Coop this weekend and asked if he could have some rhizomes. I've never dug up rhizomes before, but figured I'd give it a shot.

I dug up four rhizomes this morning that have sprouted new plants a few feet from my main crowns. I also dug up the connecting root portion and cut them into 3-4 inch segments (pictured below). I feel pretty good about the four mini plants (since they are already growing), but I'm not sure what will happen with the other ones I cut up. I planted one of each variety in pots to see if they grow, I wrapped the rest in wet paper towels and put them in the fridge. I have about 8 cuttings in the fridge, which I intend to give to the guy from this weekend. I'll report back on how they do.

Anyone else ever dig up rhizomes before?

Here is a pic of the root I cut up. This is from a 2 year old plant.



[Edited on May 19, 2014 at 11:42 AM. Reason : ]

5/19/2014 11:38:21 AM

Picked up a brewing kit at the local beer store (City Beverage) in Winston-Salem last week and took it to my gf's parent's house to brew an IPA over the weekend. We are first-timers, so we just tried to follow the kit's directions as strictly as we could. The brewing process worked out just fine early Saturday evening and we left it to ferment in the bottling bucket w/ the spigot. The airlock bubbles dropped to once every 30 mins by Monday afternoon and we decided to try and move it to the 6-gal glass carboy that also came w/ the kit. However, after trying to sanitize the carboy, my gf's father decided to drop in on the concrete porch outside

I figure it's still fine staying in the bucket, but I think her dad is gonna bring back a plastic carboy from his work to use for our secondary. After that, my gf is going back to her house next Thursday for a week and they'll probably try and bottle sometime before she leaves.

5/27/2014 11:41:18 AM

I would suggest just leaving your beer in primary until time to bottle. I usually don't rack to secondary. Its a contamination risk and I have heard its best to let the beer sit on the yeast cake. The yeast cleans up fermentation byproducts after the majority of fermentation has completed.

Rack to bottle 3-4 weeks after your brew day. Then let it carb up in the bottle for about 3 weeks at room temp. Then they should be good to drink after a few days in the fridge.

This is your first batch so I am sure you are going to be too impatient to wait that long. Its OK, i drank my first beer green too.

6/1/2014 10:02:52 PM

While secondary isn't necessary there are benefits.

After 4-5 weeks in primary the yeast cake can break down and start creating off-flavors. Second, by transferring to secondary in a beer that characteristically should be clear will help settle out break material, hops, and suspended yeast, resulting in a much clearer beer.

The yeast can continue to clear the beer even in the bottle, so I wouldn't leave it on the cake for longer than 5 weeks.

[Edited on June 1, 2014 at 11:13 PM. Reason : .]

6/1/2014 11:11:58 PM

Hops are really looking good! Some are already bigger than my thumb

6/2/2014 4:10:55 PM

Yeah, nothing wrong with doing a secondary. But, my beers clear up fairly well without a secondary. Usually they are crystal clear after they have fermented in primary for 3-4 wks and bottled conditioned at least 3 wks.

6/4/2014 10:58:11 PM

^^ my plants have no hops at the moment. Thats crazy that you already have hops that size. Or maybe somethings wrong with my plants

6/4/2014 10:59:29 PM

two of my varieties have flowers roughly equal to that pic, 3 varieties not even close to blooming yet.

6/5/2014 2:05:15 PM

I have 4 plants at my in-laws (great soil and full sun) and 4 plants at my house (not so great soil and partial sun).

The 4 plants at my in-laws have always been very strong, the plants at my house are always 2-4 weeks behind.

6/5/2014 2:30:57 PM

I harvested the first round of hops this past weekend which resulted in 5oz of dried hops. I did the harvest a little too late as half the hops were too brown to pull off the plants. The next harvest will yield at least twice as much, the side arms have exploded in the past few weeks with the cooler weather and rain. I can wait to brew an IPA to taste how this year's crop turned out.

Hop Plants for Sale - $15

I have a few Sterling, Northern Brewer, Chinook, and Cascade hop plants that have been moved to pots. If you have ever been interested in growing hops, this would be a good way to get started. $15 each.

Here is a pic of the hop plants at my house. I have 9 plants growing up to the trellis over my deck. Once they form a canopy over the deck I can't tell which is which, so I just create a blend of all the hops when I harvest them.




[Edited on August 6, 2014 at 9:44 AM. Reason : pic of hops]

8/6/2014 9:39:38 AM

^how do the hops do over the various seasons/extremes in NC?

I'm (hopefully) going to begin brewing this fall. My current concern is temperature control during fermentation (likely going with primary only), resting, and bottle conditioning. I don't have the luxury of having a bathtub available for weeks on end, and I'm not turning my whole house into an icebox (house temp is generally 72-76 during summer). So what's the best (inexpensive) option for beginners? Rubbermaid tub/horse bucket with ice water and a blanket wrap? My plan is to put this in the bathroom for the first few days in case of blow-off, then move to a closet.

Also, recommendations on thermometers for beginners (e.g, not spending $100 on a thermopen)? I figure a simple probe style for brew day (digital or analog) and fermometers on the fermentation vessel (brew bucket) for fermentation?

8/19/2014 8:57:55 AM

also meant to ask if anyone has equipment they're wanting to sell, let me know. I've got most of the basics already (at least for extract brewing), but duplicates of some wouldn't hurt nor would getting a start on better/more advancing brewing equipment.

8/19/2014 1:20:09 PM

^^ the hop varieties I have do great in NC. I have already pulled off over 1 lb of dried hops with at least that much remaining on the plants (each harvest fills up a couple grocery bags).

As far as keeping temperatures down, I throw my carboys under the house when fermenting. The crawlspace stays at about 68-70 in the summer and 66-68 in the winter. That means I do a lot of saisons, pale ales, summer seasonals during the summer (in case they ferment warm) and lots of porters, amber ales, dunkels, oktoberfest, etc during the colder months.

I used to use a meat thermometer for checking the temperature in the brew pot (after a couple batches you'll know exactly the settings to use for getting the pot to 155). I already had one so there was no cost there. I have the sticky thermometer that I put on the carboys to check fermentation temperature (they were a couple bucks at the home brew store). Christmas/birthdays is a good opportunity for family members to upgrade brewing equipment. I have received a longer thermometer ($30 from amazon), wort chiller, wort mixer attachment for drill, nylon muslin bags, long handled spoons, and equipment for kegerator as gifts.

8/19/2014 6:20:42 PM

Thanks. Under the house isn't a bad idea... I should take some temperatures to see where mine is sitting.

8/20/2014 1:08:06 PM

I'm brewing a Pumpkin beer tomorrow. Its the Post Road Pumpkin Ale clone in the Brew Your Own magazine. Anyone have any tips on brewing pumpkin beer?

9/1/2014 12:33:54 AM

From my experience on pumpkin beers: plan on giving a lot of it away.

Mine turned out great, and was close in comparison to a lot of store bought beers. But I was only 1/4 through it when I started to get sick of the pumpkin spice flavor. I bottled the rest and gave it out to friends.

I typically love seasonals, but I've gotten to the point of despising pumpkin beers. The flavor is great, but usually overwhelming, and within 2-3 beers, I've had enough for the year.

9/1/2014 12:44:27 PM

Yeah, i was afraid of that. I been getting burned out on a lot of the specialty beers that i have made recently. I tried to go lite on the the spice to make it subtle and not overwhelming. Regardless I have 5 gal of it now.

The only problem I had was my sparge got stuck and drained really slowly. The pumpkin puree apparently causes stuck sparges.

9/2/2014 12:23:04 AM

If its good though you shouldn't have any problems finding people to drink it. I didn't regret making mine since I ended up having a big party and everyone finished it off.

Or you could trade some to other homebrewers.

On a separate note: I've got a buddy that harvested a truckload of hops, mostly cascade and chinook. He's handing me a pound or so and I'm going to try for an all grain pale ale next Wednesday. I haven't brewed in over a year so I'm a little excited about getting the kettles out of storage.

9/2/2014 4:17:13 PM

This is my second year growing hops. The problem that I run into though is that most of the recipes I have done recently use hops that I didn't grow. So now I have a stock pile of homegrown hops. I plan to do a big IPA hopped to the hilt.

9/3/2014 12:05:40 AM

^ I have an ipa dry hopping right now with my homegrown hops.

Experiment a little, I am going to switch out my hops for others in recipes to see how they turn out. If the hops are just a background flavor to your beer (for something maltier) it shouldn't have as big an impact as you think. Once you get a feel for your hops you can start using them in different ways. It doesn't make any sense to grow them and then not use them.

My wife also pushes me to start getting the hops out of the freezer this time of year (since I just got done vacuum sealing the harvest from this year and it has taken up almost the entire bottom shelf). It's time to start making my fall beers!

9/3/2014 10:05:52 AM

i know some of you have made hard cider before (it's mentioned a bit on pages 10/11)...i tried apfelwein a couple of years ago and it really didn't come out very well (perfectly carbed and good clarity, but practically tasteless), so i figured i'd ask some questions

maybe it was tasteless because i used apple juice? it's half the cost of cider and after reading some of the forums, i didn't think it would make much difference

so this time i'm going to go cider all the way, but i want to be a little sweeter and add something to it...maybe some ginger? should i boil the ginger and add it as a flavor or toss it in the primary (or secondary)? suggestions on how much?

i've got some montrachet yeast i was planning to use, but suggestions on something not so dry would be welcome

i keep reading about pasteurizing to prevent bottle bombs...but that seems to happen when folks ferment 4 gallons and backsweeten with 1 gallon...seems weird that one would HAVE to pasteurize

9/10/2014 11:41:36 AM

I did a cider last year that was pretty basic and tasty. It was just 5 gallons of apple juice, a few pounds of table sugar and a wine yeast starter. I like mine dry, so I let it finish out completely, then just bottled it like a beer by adding a priming sugar to the batch and racking it.

I've heard a lot of guys sweetening it with honey, which I'd like to try. If you want it sweet and carbed could you force carb it and then bottle from that?

I've also read several recipes for sweeter ciders that use a black tea as a bittering agent to give a more complex profile.

9/10/2014 11:56:11 AM

Quote :

"I did a cider last year that was pretty basic and tasty. It was just 5 gallons of apple juice, a few pounds of table sugar and a wine yeast starter. I like mine dry, so I let it finish out completely, then just bottled it like a beer by adding a priming sugar to the batch and racking it."

i'll have to check my notes...i suppose i must have let mine finish, as well

did you you use the standard priming rate (whatever it is for 5 gallons of beer)? and you didn't pasteurize or have any bottle bombs? i'm thinking these folks that say you have to pasteurize must be adding too much sugar (though of course that's what makes one sweeter, i suppose)

Quote :

"I've heard a lot of guys sweetening it with honey, which I'd like to try. If you want it sweet and carbed could you force carb it and then bottle from that?"

i don't have anything to force carb it with, unfortunately

Quote :

"I've also read several recipes for sweeter ciders that use a black tea as a bittering agent to give a more complex profile."

hmm, interesting...i'll have to look that up

9/10/2014 12:03:51 PM

starting my first homebrew soon... I can't wait. Just need a free weekend and I'm game.

9/10/2014 1:41:28 PM

Quote :

" did you you use the standard priming rate (whatever it is for 5 gallons of beer)? and you didn't pasteurize or have any bottle bombs? i'm thinking these folks that say you have to pasteurize must be adding too much sugar (though of course that's what makes one sweeter, i suppose)"

Yes. However, I let mine finish fermentation completely before priming and bottling. There was no sweetness to it when it finished, it was like a very dry apple flavored champagne.

If there's more fermentable sugar in it when you bottle it than what's needed for carbonation, then you need to pasteurize it once its hit its mark. I'm hesitant to do this, since there's not really a science as to how much time it would need before its properly carbonated and ready for pasteurization. It could be ready to explode in 2 days, it could take a week, and the only way to check is to just open and test bottles until its where you want.

You can always back sweeten with unfermentable sugars, but I'd make sure to have a conversation with someone that works at your homebrew shop about what they'd recommend.

9/10/2014 2:04:00 PM

in hindsight, i imagine my apfelwein turned out like it was "supposed" to, in what that i considered tasteless really was more like a "very dry apple flavored champagne" as you said...i still have some bottles, i think (they're 4 years old ), so perhaps i'll open one up

after reading a bit more, i'm thinking i'll backsweeten with juice/cider (or possibly frozen concentrate)...a good suggestion i found online was to "bottle" some of the primed cider in a plastic soda bottle and check it regularly...once it gets to roughly the same pressure level as soda, bottles are ready to be pasteurized or refrigerated

since i don't have room to refrigerate, i'll do the pasteurization...put enough water in the pot to cover half the bottle, heat to 140F (yeast dies at 138F, i think), then add the bottles and leave them for 10 minutes...remove and allow to cool to room temperature

i could always backsweeten with xylitol or something, but i think i'm going to prefer the added apple flavor

[Edited on September 10, 2014 at 2:27 PM. Reason : .]

9/10/2014 2:27:21 PM

The problem with making cider in bottles is that you can either carb up or sweeten but not both. Unless you use non ferment-able sugar to sweeten. I used Sweet n Low to sweeten my cider before I bottled. I added priming sugar like normal. I think I used plain apple juice and red star champagne yeast.

9/13/2014 10:55:09 PM

Quote :

"The problem with making cider in bottles is that you can either carb up or sweeten but not both. Unless you use non ferment-able sugar to sweeten."

that's only true if you don't pasteurize...which i think i'll try

if it sucks, then i'll never do it again...or i'll use something unfermentable, like you said

9/15/2014 7:53:39 AM

If you pasteurize then you will not be able to carb in a bottle. Pasteurize if you are kegging and can force carb.

9/16/2014 12:07:12 AM

Quote :

"If you pasteurize then you will not be able to carb in a bottle."

the idea is that you let it carbonate to a point and THEN pasteurize...the most popular method seems to be to fill a small soda bottle when you fill your regular bottles and then check the soda bottle every day until it feels like soda would (ie. the carbonation has built up pressure)...when it gets to that point, pasteurize the glass bottles

as long as the seals are good on the caps and you don't get past the boiling point of ethanol (173F), the cider will remain carbonated and sweetened and the yeasties will all be dead

9/16/2014 8:06:21 AM