Educate me on making beer :)

[silverdoctor]

Originally Posted by qwert

beer, (and all other kinds of) independence is a wonderful thing.

As I said in the first thread, think of it as 're-loading' or 'hand-loading',
and enjoy the 'load development'.

Good Luck, YMMV.

Independence can mean hand unloading too

[Unregistered user]

Lol^

[qwert]

Originally Posted by silverdoctor

Independence can mean hand unloading too

That was one of the 'load developments' I was referring to.

[crosman177]

Get ready to put on some lbs of winter weight

Go down to brew store get a fermenter and Grab a can that catches your eye and do a kit and kilo brew. Muntons has a brew enhancer that is decent to give you the malt and sugar you need. I rack over to carboy after 5-7 days and the fermenter is ready to go again- I actually have three of them at a time going and 6 carboys on stand by. Learn what dry malt extract you like or other sugars. I started a cerveza with a kilo of creamed honey, excited to see the results.

Learning my hops now for the next brews.

I bought the coopers diy fermenter kit, it's basic and easy to follow. 1 kit gives 66 bottles of beer.

Good video to watch to see simple brew kit


https://youtu.be/gNaZTR3Z_hI

[Dewey Cox]

When I lived in Edmonton I bought most of my beer kits from Save On Foods on Calgary trail. I'd wait for them to go on sale (which they usually did twice a year) and stock up on them.
They were cooper's kits, and I had lots of success with them.
I'm sure you can make way better by brewing all grain, but I make beer I'm happy with quickly, reliably, and with not a lot of equipment by using kits. And I'm not going to apologize for it

[Unregistered user]

When apple juice is on sale, fill your fermenter with it and add a pack of champagne yeast. Cheap way to make hard cider, yummy too.

[Colin_r6]

I use Star San too. Works well for me. Haven't had a bad batch of beer yet.

I'm still making beer kits, haven't moved up to creating my own wort yet. One day.

For Dispensing, I use a few Grolsh Flip-Top Bottles for whatever doesn't fit inside my 19L kegs. I have two kegs inside a double tap Edgestar kegerator (model# KC2000TWIN).

I love having beer on tap. Currently have a Toucan Stout (WineSense Kit) and Pear Cerveza (Brewhouse Kit).

[calgarygringo]

I haven't in a few years but did for many. The wife still does wine at home and we figure one bad habit is enough.

As mention clean clean and clean is important. Contamination will be your worst challenge.

Use good filtered or non chlorine water. We have even gone out and brought home pure spring water just like the big boys.

Don't buy the grocery store kits and then complain about crappy beer because it is. Go to a reputable wine and beer making store and spend a few bucks and you will appreciate it.

Make several different types and experiment with them and find where you want to be. There used to be times I had 4 or 5 types on the go.

Don't forget that it has the same buzz as regualr beer and is cheap and handy. We had times things got carried away it tasted so good.

[Unregistered user]

Iodophor if still available at the wine stores was a good cleanser/sterilant.

[newdrenalin]

I just started brewing beer a couple months ago. Still on the kits ( 4th one now) but eventually want to get to all grain. I have been using Festa Brew West Coast IPA kits and and dry hopping in secondary fermenter. It is AWESOME. For $65 you get about 22 litres of delicious beer.

[propliner]

I bottled up a couple batches today into pint bottles. An IPA and a Sierra Nevada Stout clone. The IPA came straight out of the primary after 3 weeks and so I skipped the step where you rack into a carboy. I think I'll do them all this way from now on.

[Jeron Kahyar]

Originally Posted by propliner

The IPA came straight out of the primary after 3 weeks and so I skipped the step where you rack into a carboy. I think I'll do them all this way from now on.

Racking into a secondary is just a pain and not at all worth it. I don't even ferment in a carboy anymore brew bucket is the way to go. Nobody likes to clean a carboy!

[propliner]

Originally Posted by Jeron Kahyar

Racking into a secondary is just a pain and not at all worth it. I don't even ferment in a carboy anymore brew bucket is the way to go. Nobody likes to clean a carboy!

My primary is simply a brew bucket with an airlock. The nice thing is that they stack so you can save space. I'll trade in a carboy for another bucket. I'll admit that a carboy is nice for checking clarity, especially when producing a lager.

[Canehdianman]

I never use a secondary unless I'm racking onto fruit.

[Jeron Kahyar]

Originally Posted by propliner

My primary is simply a brew bucket with an airlock. The nice thing is that they stack so you can save space. I'll trade in a carboy for another bucket. I'll admit that a carboy is nice for checking clarity, especially when producing a lager.

^^ Great way to setup ^^

If you haven't tried gelatin fining to clear up your lagers I would check it out. Makes for commercial levels of clarity if you cold crash as well. The brew bucket definitely makes for some guessing if your beer is clear for sure however (I mostly stopped caring unless it is going to be given away).

[propliner]

Originally Posted by Jeron Kahyar

^^ Great way to setup ^^

If you haven't tried gelatin fining to clear up your lagers I would check it out.

Good idea. This is common practice in winemaking.

[thirty-30]

My sig says my feelings on this topic.

I've tried a few times with mixed results. I cannot stress what has been said enough: Clean, clean, clean. If you think it's too clean it's not clean enough.

[From The Hip]

I got into craft brewing a few years ago and I jumped into the deep end of the pool right off the bat and went all grain.I built a mashtun/HLT out of a couple coolers I got at walmart and added hardware such as ball-lock valves from home depot.Took a half hour to covert the coolers and all told my cost was maybe $100.Of course you need a kettle and you want one with enough headspace to avoid a boilover.Best rule to remember is a watched pot never seems to boil and an un-watched allways boils over.I used to brew on my stove with fantastic results though it took a lot of time.

I make damn good beer.Currently I have an amber ale on tap that could be judged to be better than Shock Top Belgian Wit.Mine is a little bit maltier and has a bit for intensity of citrus due to my malt profile as well as my hop profile>I also added bitter orange peel to the corriander seed for my adjuncts.

Most important is sanitisation of everything that comes into contact with the wort once it is finished boiling.Unless you use a filthy kettle to boil you have no worries during the boil because of the temperatures involved.

Chilling the wort with an immersion chiller is easy enough and it gets sanitized by putting it in the kettle in the final 15 minutes of the boil.

I use Starsan as my sterilizer.I buy it like all of my consumables in bulk.Last time I bought it was 1.5 years ago for a 32 ounce bottle that is just over half full now.

To the OP making beer is as easy as making Kraft dinner you just have to pay attention to cleanliness and you will be fine.

I do not secondary ferment as it is just not needed.I ferment in corny kegs and cold crash them and then force transfer with CO2 to a serving keg which gets force carbonated.

If you really want to up your game and elevate your beer making splurge on a GrainFather brewing system.It makes brew days a joy that are accurately repeatable.

FTH

[josey]

I just posted in another beer thread. Sorry to bring this one up again too but here are a bunch more people involved.
I have pretty much two questions from a hops grower point of view:

1) How much fresh hops would you need for a (homemade sized) batch of beer?
2) Is there interest/market for buying fresh hops in smaller quantities?

I grow hops for a different purpose but am thinking I could add more if people are interested in buying.
Thanks!

[murphy]

This thread motivated me to take up an old hobby once more. Spent last night brewing a batch of pale ale with the biab and no chill method. I think i'm going to use those 1 litre bottles with the grolsch style top... now I wait.

[nekred]

By a case of guiness drink it all... pee into a keg.....

Label it Pilsener.......

[Hauntings]

Ah yes, I used to do a bit of homebrewing a while back. Gotta say though that the amount of cleaning took me by surprise. Eventually tapered off, but a friend of mine is still going strong and he's got a wicked system in his basement. Says he saves quite a bit of money by just drinking homebrew mostly. Makes me wanna get back in but all that cleaning man...

[bigskinner]

Make your stomach and bowels happy , just forget it , save money , and buy a case of lucky at the store.

[58thecat]

Don't drink it until it is ready or you will purculate inside for a few days

[walker1]

Originally Posted by murphy

This thread motivated me to take up an old hobby once more. Spent last night brewing a batch of pale ale with the biab and no chill method. I think i'm going to use those 1 litre bottles with the grolsch style top... now I wait.

Me Too.
Went out yesterday and bought a starter kit and a few extras. Bought a Barons kit and a Brewhouse.

Checking kijiji for bottles and extras.

Brewed over 20 years ago while at university and spent one summer working in a brew store and learned a lot.

Starting this week and hope to have a few varieties ready for Christmas.
Thanks for info and inspiration! My wife is really excited!!!!! NOT!!!!
My kids are though!

[Canehdianman]

Originally Posted by walker1

Me Too.
Went out yesterday and bought a starter kit and a few extras. Bought a Barons kit and a Brewhouse.

Checking kijiji for bottles and extras.

Brewed over 20 years ago while at university and spent one summer working in a brew store and learned a lot.

Starting this week and hope to have a few varieties ready for Christmas.
Thanks for info and inspiration! My wife is really excited!!!!! NOT!!!!
My kids are though!

A lot of bottle depots will save the 1L groslch-style flip-tops and sell them at a great price (i.e. not the ridiculous price people try to get on Kijiji).

Eventually, you will get sick of bottling and build yourself a keezer and start kegging

[Jeron Kahyar]

Originally Posted by Canehdianman

Eventually, you will get sick of bottling and build yourself a keezer and start kegging

I think this will be my winter project. I want to build a ice jacket to fit a corny and make a portable draft system to take to the lake as well. Who wouldn't want 20L of home brew on tap for a long weekend at the cabin?

[Canehdianman]

Originally Posted by Jeron Kahyar

I think this will be my winter project. I want to build a ice jacket to fit a corny and make a portable draft system to take to the lake as well. Who wouldn't want 20L of home brew on tap for a long weekend at the cabin?

I did that too! Well, I built a two tap jockey box for when I'm drinking away from home. Works great camping!

[walker1]

Originally Posted by Canehdianman

A lot of bottle depots will save the 1L groslch-style flip-tops and sell them at a great price (i.e. not the ridiculous price people try to get on Kijiji).

Eventually, you will get sick of bottling and build yourself a keezer and start kegging

Thanks for that. I will bottle for a while and go from there. beer and camping and fishing and hockey and......... good great!

[mooseknuckle]

Really been getting into home brewing!! Kind of a regular beer kinda guy.. kokanee, lucky lager, ect, ect, but making your own really brings out some cool recipes.


big kettles/pots are expensive so a friend of mine who owns a bar gave me a couple empty kegs. cut the top off and away you go!!



30 gallons on the go now. a raspberry ale, coconut stout, and a winter ale.

got an old deep freeze for nothing and wired a temp sensor on it. 65f i find is the best for fermentation.

cornelious kegs and a set up on the garage beer fridge means cold beer on tap all the time!!