Relax, Don't Worry, Have a Homebrew

[Noodle]

I mentioned homebrewing in the "smells in my kitchen" thread and there was some interest. So, I created this thread to answer questions.

I've been homebrewing for 2.5 years now, and it's a great hobby.

if you're looking to get into the hobby, I'd say the first resource you want to turn to is your local homebrew store. Here in Milwaukee there are several stores, so I did some googling to find the one that came with the highest recommendation. They all provide pretty much the same stuff, so you're looking for the most knowledgeable and helpful staff.

The best way to start is with an extract brew. This is where you buy a syrup like malt extract and boil that. This makes it much easier than going "all grain" where you have the grains and do more work. You can always step up to an all grain system later, but for the sake of learning the process, it's best to go extract at first. I have yet to make the jump to all grain. My beers are still great.

The biggest advantage of All Grain brewing is that you have more freedom. When you do extract brewing, you're stuck with the extract, and the extract amounts that come in the package. Witgh grain. you can make your own recipe and adjust quantities on a much finer scale.

So anyways, ask away if you have questions. I'd be glad to help someone join in the homebrewer fold.

[VelvetElvis]

I've made wine before, but never beer.* What sort of equipment do you need?

[Noodle]

It's nearly the same equipment as wine. Depending on the size of your batch you need a kettle to boil in, a place to ferment (usually a carboy with an airlock, but there are other fermenters out there). some siphoning tubing, bottles and a capper.

If you want to get more advanced, you can get all sorts of crazy equipment. You can add a second fermenter, kegging equipment, wort chiller, bottle cleaners, propane burner, etc. etc. etc. Like most hobbies you can start out pretty cheap, and go all the way up to several thousand dollars worth of equipment. Every piece brings a new aspect to your beer of course.

[mr_thebrain]

also depends on what kind of beer you're brewing.

we grew hops at our house for awhile. basically you can tie strings to the top of your house and it will climb all the way up. yields a ton of hops. though i might add that you should only grow them if you're serious about brewing. cuz they are hardy and don't take a whole lot of maintenance, they will take over. we had two plants that spread to about ten.

[Mich]

Noodle, just want you to know:

Before I always imagined your voice as high pitched and girly. Blame my love of Gorillaz. Now you have a gravelly Jersey accent.

The effects that avatars have on my internal dialogues...

[Syphon the Sun]

I have the equipment for extract brewing, but haven't really used it (I made one batch... 5 years ago).

One of my close friends is super into homebrewing, though. They grow their own hops, do the all-grain stuff, etc. I swear every time I've over, they have a new type of beer.

[Noodle]

Mich: I've gone by the name Noodle since before Gorillaz was around. But hey, if you want to associate me with them, or with Moe I'm just fine with that. For the record though, I don't sound like either one.

Brain: I would like to grow hops here. I haven't made that jump yet. maybe next year.

Syphon: You should get back into it, if you've got the equipment what's holding you back? it's like a day or two of work for 50+ bottles of beer. Not a bad return on your time.

[mr_thebrain]

ok, helpful tips on hops:

if you string them up the house, put the string as far away from the house as possible. the wind blows the plant on the string back and forth, and it acts like sandpaper. if it's there for even a couple of seasons it can wear down any paint on your siding. not sure what it might do vinyl siding but best not to find out.

on a standard twine like string, the plant will grow very full as it climbs. figure for about a foot to a foot and a half of growth all the way around.

ETA: put the strings away from any cables or power lines coming to the house... they may continue to grow to them.

kind of like grape vines

[Noodle]

Good to know! I'm not sure where I can plant the hops since I live in a condo complex and I have to have my garden pre-approved before I start planting anything. One of the reasons I haven't already been growing them.

[Eaquae Legit]

Went on the brewery tour today! It was very fun, done by a near-incomprehensible Yorkshire man. I understood most of it, but only because I'm used to Yorkshire. My mum and I went and saw it and tasted the malts and had a couple half-pints each. Naomi came along in her sling and slept through the whole deal. Considering her due date is just today, we figure she's the littlest tour member they've had.

[VelvetElvis]

Precious

[Noodle]

Hooray Beer!

I'm going on a brewery tour myself this weekend. It's the tour that got me interested in brewing, and beer in the first place. Lakefront Brewery in Milwaukee. I've done the tour more times than I can count, but it's always a blast.

[Noodle]

I brewed today. A Chocolate Milk Stout. I'm planning on bottling this one in bombers (22oz bottles) and giving it out as Christmas presents. It should be ready in 6 weeks. As soon as I get this batch out of my primary fermenter, I'll be firing up the brewery operation yet again and brewing a honey brown ale.

Have to pick out names for these beers. My last brew was a Surly Furious IPA clone, and I called it Serenity IPA. Both because I watched firefly while brewing it, and to act as a counter to the Surly Furious name. I'm thinking since the honey brown is a nut brown ale with honey added, I might call it "Nuttin' Honey" after these old commercials. Not sure about a name for the Chocolate Milk Stout. I was kinda thinkin "Mudder's Milk" to keep up the Firefly theme, but that's not very chistmasy....

[Gravity Defier]

Was reminded of this thread by this:

[Luet]

My SIL's brother-in-law just build an add on to his mancave so he could homebrew. He used to have a whole shed for doing it but they moved across country and it took him awhile to have a place to do it. He has missed it a lot.

[Noodle]

I'm bottling my Chocolate Milk Stout today. I decided to be a little adventurous, so I'm putting a gallon into tertiary fermentation and aging it on toasted oak cubes and bourbon. This is the homebrew equivalent of bourbon barrel aging the beer. I'm also going to set aside a few bottles of this beer to bottle condition for a couple years.

The bourbon barrel aging will add a whole new character to the flavor of the beer, and the bottle conditioning should mellow it out and make it slightly thicker. Should be a really nice flavor. I tried some of the brew today (uncarbonated) and it was a really nice chocolate, roasted flavor with a hint of caramel in the aftertaste. I'm excited about this beer.

The Honey Brown ale is moving into secondary fermentation today after I empty the secondary fermenter of the Chocolate Milk Stout. This beer is coming along nicely. A mild honey flavor to sweeten out the nut brown.

Should be a good Christmas!

On a semi related note, I had some of my IPA left from this summer, and it was WAY too over-carbonated. It was getting to the point of being dangerous, since I didn't know if any of the bottles would explode from the pressure. I popped the tops on the last 6 bottles and it was all kinds of excitement. Some of the bottles opened nicely and did a good imitation of the Diet Coke and Mentos craze. They shot beer out the top of the bottle about 2-3 inches above the opening. Other bottles didn't behave so nicely. Two bottles were so carbonated that they didn't wait until I got the cap all the way off and at the first sign of an opening, beer started shooting out the cap like a rocket engine. The other two bottles made a real nice "BOOM" sound when I cracked them open and sent beer flying around the kitchen. I still haven't been able to get all the beer off the ceiling. Lucky for me, I had inadvertently built a wall of boxes on the side of the sink so when the bottles exploded a good bit of the beer ended up on me or those boxes that were on the counter, instead of making a mess on the carpet.

I picked a name for my brewery. "Hexadactyl Brewery" and I'm going to name the Chocolate Milk Stout "Six Fingered Stout." I haven't figured out what I'll call the Honey Brown, but it might be something like "Sticky Fingers"

[Ela]

I've had chocolate stout but never chocolate MILK stout. Sounds very interesting.

[Noodle]

as a quick lesson:

Stout: a typical beer style where the malts have been given a darker roast.

Chocolate Stout: a stout that's had chocolate flavoring added. In the case of mine it was aged on cocoa nibs.

Milk Stout: a stout that's had lactose sugar added. Lactose is a complex sugar and it's unfermentable, so it adds to the sweetness of the beer.

Obviously a chocolate milk stout is one where both of the above techniques are employed, making for a sweet chocolate beer. I haven't tried this recipe before, but I've heard from people who have brewed it that it's amazing. I'm excited.

[buckshot]

That milk chocolate stout sounds pretty wild. How big are your batches? I have been thinking of going to town to "Jim's home brew" to get set up to maybe try my hand at it but I don't want to get in too much trouble with Julie for stinking up the house or making a big mess in the basement kitchen.

[Eaquae Legit]

Mmmmm, cocoa nibs. That sounds awesome. I am very jealous of all the people who get to try this brew!

[Rei]

So I'm looking at trying this recipe. Any suggestions for a particular yeast I should try?

[Noodle]

I'm really not sure. That's a pretty vintage recipe and doesn't line up with a beer style that I know very well. I think the Treacle would make it a dark sweet beer, somewhat in line with a porter or stout. With that, I'd probably use an ale yeast of some sort. Probably a Dry British Ale strain of some sort.

Maybe a Wyeast 1098 British Ale?

[Noodle]

The Chocolate Milk Stout turned out every bit as amazing as I had hoped. It also went fast. It was in high demand, and I only ended up with 4 bottles of it for myself. It's going to be the first beer I add to my regular rotation of beers that I brew. Still aging a gallon of it on Oak cubes, hope to bottle that soon. The oak flavor is pretty prominent, so I don't want to wait too much longer.

I just cracked my first bottle of the Honey Brown the other day, and it's really good as well. This one wasn't as popular, and I have the full 5 gallons to work with, so I'll be having honey brown for a while. That's OK though since I like it.

My brother in law got custom etched glassware with his homebrew logo on them. I'm thinking I need to create a logo for my "brewery" so I can do the same.

[Rei]

So yesterday I popped by the brewing supply store and picked up some English ale yeast. It's all cooked up now and living in the boiler cupboard and I suppose in a few days we shall see if we have success.

Noodle, I was wondering if I could get your thoughts on interpreting this part of the directions: "Cover the bucket with a cloth and place in a warm draft-free spot for seven days to top ferment. Strain the liquid after 3 days then pour the mixture into clean bottles to about 1.5 cm of the top. Cap the bottles and place these on their sides in a warm and draft-free spot. The treacle beer will be ready to drink in about 5 days, but will keep quite well for an entire summer."

Does it want me to let it sit for seven days, then strain it and wait another three days before bottling for at least five? Another similar recipe says to top ferment for three days, strain, and bottle for at least 5, which seems to flow more clearly, but I also have no idea if that is ridiculously quick or not for this.

[Noodle]

"Cover the bucket with a cloth and place in a warm draft-free spot for seven days to top ferment. Strain the liquid after 3 days then pour the mixture into clean bottles to about 1.5 cm of the top. Cap the bottles and place these on their sides in a warm and draft-free spot. The treacle beer will be ready to drink in about 5 days, but will keep quite well for an entire summer."

Those are pretty confusing directions. It's difficult to interpret exactly what their intent is, so I'll just throw out a suggestion. The primary and most active fermentation will take about three days. This is where most of your alcohol is going to come from. If you look at the bucket with the fermenting wort (unfermented beer) in it, you'll probably notice a big head of foam on the top. When this head recedes, the primary active fermentation is done. The beer will still ferment, but at a much slower rate. At this stage, you have a decision to make.

You can let the beer sit in the bucket for a time, this will help clear out the beer. As the fermentation happens, sediment is formed, and it settles to the bottom of the bucket (this junk is known as trub). If you let the beer sit for a while, more yeast and other sediment will settle to the bottom of your bucket, therefore resulting in a less cloudy beer. You don't want to let it sit too long, or the yeast will become inactive, and you won't be able to carbonate your beer.

The other option is to bottle the beer right away after the three day active fermentation. This shouldn't cause any problems, but the beer will be a little cloudier. The one potential issue here, is if you bottle before the fermentation is finished, the yeast will still be active, and the CO2 that's released as a byproduct of the fermentation will pressurize the bottles more than you want. I've heard horror stories of bottles exploding because of excess pressure, but more likely the beer will be overcarbonated. I had a batch like this this summer, when I opened the bottles, at least half of the beer poured out when the release of pressure caused it to foam up. It was like the diet coke and mentos videos online, with a beer fountain flowing everywhere. One of those bottles even popped open when I uncapped it and sprayed all over my ceiling.

In short, I'd probably let the beer sit in the bucket for about a week before bottling it, just to be sure that it's finished the primary fermentation.

[Rei]

Awesome, that's very helpful to know! I'll just keep an eye on it, the, from three days on. I suspect I'll bottle it before seven, but probably a few days past three, depending on how it's looking. I'm really hoping this basic recipe works out well, because it'd be fun to play with to see what other things I can do with it for flavouring.

[buckshot]

I got to get this going myself! it sounds fun and I have a good place to do it. Home brewing seems to keep getting bigger , we sold a good bit of barley to some guys that are making their own malt. I did'nt get any details but they were guite picky that it be clean. We had to run it through a scalper cleaner 3 times before they were happy.

[Rei]

So I just bottled my first batch and have it back in the boiler cupboard. I'm not certain that it will turn out, but judging by the dregs at the bottom of the bucket, science happened! So who knows!

[Rei]

I cracked open a bottle last night. It tastes pretty good, although, as expected, strongly of treacle. It's not as fizzy as would be nice, so I suspect I didn't bottle it soon enough. It also did not have very much alcohol, which is not necessarily a bad thing, although I managed to down an entire 75cl bottle without more than the most minimal effect.

All in all I call it a fair success for a first go at brewing!