What's fermenting now?
- Thread starter TN
- Start date
i guess that dream is like the home brewers equivalent to driving with no brakes.
i use the mills at Norther Brewer.
I cobbled together a recipe from Brewtalk.. sorry, Homebrewtalk.
10g batch of "-BB- Brown"
14lbs 2-row
2lbs Crystal (60l)
1lb Carapils
1lb flaked oats
1lb chocolate malt
.5lbs Black Patent makt
2.5oz Kent Golding (60min)
1.5oz KG (30min)
1oz liberty (10min)
and depending on how it smells after the boil, maybe 1more oz Liberty at 0min)
Whitelabs British-Ale yeast
Going to have it all milled at the store, but since they might only do whole lbs, I'll ask that only .5 of the Black malt is milled and then I'll try the other .5lbs on my mill when I get home... just to test it.
I'm also doing a 5g Hoegarrten extract kit to appease the wife. She loves that stuff. I like it after a long ride as well.
.
Did some brewing over the weekend!!
I did a 10g batch of All-Grain Wort that I'm turning into two different 5g batches... one will be California Brown Ale and the other a British brown ale. The difference being that the Cali one had the Cali yeast strain (obviosuly) and an extra 1/2oz of Liberty hops added to the primary. The British one will have some ground hazelnuts added to the 2ndary.
Then I also did a Partial-mash batch of belgain Wit. It was a "kit" from the local brew-store, but being a cook/home chef I had to mess with it a bit.. added an extra 1/2lb of oats, 1lb of local wild-flower honey, and 2 oranges worth of extra "zest". One at 60min and one at 5min... oh, and I also added extra coriander and even a bit of Turmeric at the end of the boil.
I did a 10g batch of All-Grain Wort that I'm turning into two different 5g batches... one will be California Brown Ale and the other a British brown ale. The difference being that the Cali one had the Cali yeast strain (obviosuly) and an extra 1/2oz of Liberty hops added to the primary. The British one will have some ground hazelnuts added to the 2ndary.
Then I also did a Partial-mash batch of belgain Wit. It was a "kit" from the local brew-store, but being a cook/home chef I had to mess with it a bit.. added an extra 1/2lb of oats, 1lb of local wild-flower honey, and 2 oranges worth of extra "zest". One at 60min and one at 5min... oh, and I also added extra coriander and even a bit of Turmeric at the end of the boil.
It was a good weekend! Also, Fort Collins Brewery makes some killer stuff if you can get your hands on it.
http://www.fortcollinsbrewery.com/
Dark Ale - Bottled
Oh, Porter - Secondary
Tricerihops - Primary
Now I need to get some more stuff together to try All Grain in a couple weeks.
http://www.fortcollinsbrewery.com/
Dark Ale - Bottled
Oh, Porter - Secondary
Tricerihops - Primary
Now I need to get some more stuff together to try All Grain in a couple weeks.
wont be brewing again until we move. 
Sorry, went on vacation to Mexico for a week so I haven't yet had a chance to resp.
Well the AG batch did go well apparently. I had a little issue with my "screen" coming off the valve inside the mash-cooler and I got a stuck mash. Luckily my buddy had his keggle there so we poured the whole thing from mine into his and then drained and batch sparged.
We weren't sure what the OG was since we were gettting two different readings. One on my refractometer and one on his floating hydrometer (Mine said 1.07 (or is it 1.7... whatever... you know what I mean) and his said 1.05 (or 1.5). We cooled it all down and I split the 8 or 9 gallons into two separate fermenters. I used a Cali ale yeast on one and a brittish ale on the other (002 and 005 whitelabs). To the Cali one I also added an extra half oz of Liberty hops (boiled in a small pot with wort for 10min).
I didn't have my air locks on hand and I had to jam to a party so I left it pitched but not "sealed" for about 8 hours. When I got home I put on the air lock... The next day (sunday) no bubbles yet. I did a partial mash (extract and some grain) on Sunday as well. Pitched it, air lock.. within about 12 hrs I was bubbling pretty hard. Still no bubbles on the brown ales though, so I got a little freaked... went out and bought more yeast and re-pitched it. 24hrs later, still no bubbles!! The Heffe was going strong though. 48hrs later still no bubbles... 72 hrs, no bubbles. I thought it was a total loss.
So I went to Mexico for a week and came home last Sunday. Well on Tuesday I transferred the Heffe to 2ndary. Also opened up the two brown ales to transfer (and see what had happened). To my amazement there was at least 1.5 - 2in of yeast on the bottom. There was NEVER a Krousen on top, but obviously something happened.
I filled up the empty whitelabs bottle with the brown and force carbonated it. Tried it about 30min later and WOW.... it is dang good. Very little residual sweetness, so I got full attenuation on it.
It is now in Secondary. We will see how long I can hold out though. I really wanna try it.
Last edited:
Oh, and I also want to tell you all about what I consider to be one of the BEST brewing products EVER. The CARBONATOR
I've had mine for almost 10 years now and it is awesome.
I have two 5g kegs but I doubt I'll use them. This thing is just SO simple.
As I stated above I "tried" the brown ale when I transferred it. All you do is fill up any sort of soda bottle (or even the whitelabs vials), hook it up to your CO2 tank, shake... then wait a short period (maybe 1hr for a 2L bottle, or as short as 10min for the little vials) bleed off the excess CO2 by gently pressing on the top metal part, open and enjoy. We also use it quite often to make "healthy" soda. Just water and some sort of juice (I prefer a cranberry grapefruit mix) in a 2:1 or even 3:1 ratio of water to juice.
Nice and cheap, nice and healthy.
I've had mine for almost 10 years now and it is awesome.
I have two 5g kegs but I doubt I'll use them. This thing is just SO simple.
As I stated above I "tried" the brown ale when I transferred it. All you do is fill up any sort of soda bottle (or even the whitelabs vials), hook it up to your CO2 tank, shake... then wait a short period (maybe 1hr for a 2L bottle, or as short as 10min for the little vials) bleed off the excess CO2 by gently pressing on the top metal part, open and enjoy. We also use it quite often to make "healthy" soda. Just water and some sort of juice (I prefer a cranberry grapefruit mix) in a 2:1 or even 3:1 ratio of water to juice.
Nice and cheap, nice and healthy.
I also placed a large order of "buckets" from US-Plastics.
6 5g buckets
4 6g buckets
10 lids
All USDA Food grade. Came out to about $100. Half the price I get charged at the LBS (Local BREWING store)
Thinking I'll use some of the 5g ones for base ingredients (2-row etc). Then I can get a nice bulk deal.
6 5g buckets
4 6g buckets
10 lids
All USDA Food grade. Came out to about $100. Half the price I get charged at the LBS (Local BREWING store)
Thinking I'll use some of the 5g ones for base ingredients (2-row etc). Then I can get a nice bulk deal.
Yeah, that was my thought. Although if I did "push down" on the lid I would get a bubble.
Or maybe it fermented mostly in that first 8-10hr period where there was no lock.
If there was a krousen that would have helped me realize it was going but this one didnt bubble OR have a krousen.
Or maybe it fermented mostly in that first 8-10hr period where there was no lock.
If there was a krousen that would have helped me realize it was going but this one didnt bubble OR have a krousen.
They hydrometer knows if it's fermenting, without the guessing or variables...
question for you guys. So my brother gave me a mr beer set up that he had no interest in. From what I've read about the kits, is it worth giving it a go as my first attempt at a home brew, or am i better off using the plastic keg to ferment up some type of apfelwine that i saw a recipe for on home brew talk?
any advice would be appreciated.
any advice would be appreciated.
I say go for it. Many people get their start with a Mr. Beer kit. There is a sticky thread on HomeBrewTalk all about Mr. Beer and the people who love them.
If someone gave me a Mr. Beer kit I would use it. But, I would use known good yeast and some steeping grains, just because I can....
If someone gave me a Mr. Beer kit I would use it. But, I would use known good yeast and some steeping grains, just because I can....
I started off with Mr. Beer. It's a good way to get your feet wet if you have no prior brewing experience. The beer is drinkable...nothing too exciting though. And actually I made a really good coffee porter using Mr. Beer. I graduated to a "real" homebrew setup though within six months.
bottled my white ale yesterday. very tasty, a touch under 4% abv.
racked my double IPA to secondary, currently 1.020 SG, already at ~9% ABV
racked my double IPA to secondary, currently 1.020 SG, already at ~9% ABV
I mentioned above that in my first AG attempt, I split my 8g batch into two 4g batches. Well over the weekend I tried my California brown... all I can say is AWESOME.
It actually came out a bit more on the porter side but not quite as heavy. Had a good roasty toasty coffee/dark chocolate taste, but you could drink a LOT of it without it weighing you down.
I'm going to start planning out my next batch today. My new burner/pot and fermenting buckets should be here mid-week. Thinking of doing a lighter amber ale with a touch more hops.
It actually came out a bit more on the porter side but not quite as heavy. Had a good roasty toasty coffee/dark chocolate taste, but you could drink a LOT of it without it weighing you down.
I'm going to start planning out my next batch today. My new burner/pot and fermenting buckets should be here mid-week. Thinking of doing a lighter amber ale with a touch more hops.
I think my white ale (wit) came out to about 6%. Must have been the extra 2lbs of honey I added.
probably. mine came out where expected.
just floated a keg of IPA based on 2 hearted. It was good. prolly gonna brew a pale ale or something easy drankin' for our house warming party coming up soon. something everyone will like.
I brewed up a semi-arrogant bastard clone over the weekend. I'm calling it Arnold's Bastard.
This was my first SOLO All-grain beer brewing experience. I did mess up a bit on one step though. I kept the "Bazooka" screen in the boil pot and the pellet hops clogged the sheet out of it, so I had to keep scraping it with the spoon in order to drain into the fermenting buckets. Oh, and my 0-minute hop addition wasn't done until the wart was actually cooled down already so I guess it is more of a dry-hop now.
This was my first SOLO All-grain beer brewing experience. I did mess up a bit on one step though. I kept the "Bazooka" screen in the boil pot and the pellet hops clogged the sheet out of it, so I had to keep scraping it with the spoon in order to drain into the fermenting buckets. Oh, and my 0-minute hop addition wasn't done until the wart was actually cooled down already so I guess it is more of a dry-hop now.
Oh, and I mentioned above that when I did my brown ale (Jeff-drool), I split it into two batches. One with a Cali ale yeast (and a touch more hops) and one with a british ale yeast. Well the Cali ale was better IMO. The british is a bit more dry (and thus maybe higher alcohol?) and a tad maltier. The Cali is more rounded to me. Slightly sweeter, a bit more of the hop flavor... If I had to do again I'd do all Cali ale (WL-001) yeast with the extra 1oz of Liberty added at 0-min.
Bottled my IPA last night, tastes awesome. I can't wait for it to finish bottle conditioning. Just threw most all of the Porters I had bottled up into the fridge to chill.
What do you guys use to control fermentation temps? It's starting to get pretty hot around here, i'm thinking about picking up a chest freezer from CL and hooking up a temp controller to it. I don't have room for a full fridge, but could easily squeeze one of those in the corner of the dining room or basement.
What do you guys use to control fermentation temps? It's starting to get pretty hot around here, i'm thinking about picking up a chest freezer from CL and hooking up a temp controller to it. I don't have room for a full fridge, but could easily squeeze one of those in the corner of the dining room or basement.
I think I'm going to resort to this.
I actually had fair success putting my glass carboy in a bathtub full of water, and putting an old t-shirt over it so the neck of the carboy was up in the neck hole. That wicked water up over the top of the carboy and let it evaporate. With a small fan pointed at it, it was about 10 degrees below ambient.
That only works if you only need ten degrees below ambient, though. If it's getting to 80+ in your house, it's not going to help.
I just stocked up on a bunch of 2L bottles in the freezer, I may try rotating those into a water bath to get a little more temperature drop. Mostly trying to not acquire additional stuff in my house.
I just use a large storage tupperware (55g - $20 from home depot) half-full of water (about 10in deep) and I put my fermenters in there. If it gets REALLY hot in my garage I simply point a small fan at the water surface and evaporation cools it off significantly. The other benefit is that you have a much higher VOLUME of water so it won't heat up and cool down as fast... temp remains much more constant between the day and night time temp swings.
My garage gets up to at least 110 degrees in the summer. I kept a large saltwater coral tank out there and if that thing ever got above about 82 degrees I would have lost hundreds of dollars in coral. Even in the 110 degree garage with metal halide lights about 8in from the water surface I never lost anything.
It is similar to the other technique of putting your carboy in a tub filled with water and then draping a t-shirt over it. The t-shirt wiks the water up from the bottom and evaporates. the evaporation actually PULLS heat from the surface of whatever is wet.
Even without the fan, my garage has been getting up into the mid 80's over the past month or so... but the water in the tupperware container never got above 68 or below 66. Best part about this all is that you can do the whole thing for about $40 ($20 storage tupperware and a $20 fan)
Last edited:
The 10 degree thing depends on where you live. In the muggy east coast you would not get as much evaporation. here in CA it is bone dry and I can get up to a 20 degree temp diff.
Then again, I'm not factoring in the fact that daytime temps may be really high but night-time is pretty mellow. It could be 100 in the day (outside... 110 in the garage) but night-time temps never get above about 75). So the larger the volume of water you are sitting in, the less fluctuation.
Last edited:
Oh, another option for you guys AQUARIUM CHILLERS... haven't had to use it myself yet, despite the fact that I have one sitting in my garage from an old tank, but I guarantee it would work well and it takes up almost no space. Bust it out in the summer, put it away in the fall-spring. You could also get a cheap aquarium HEATER for the winter if you like to keep the fermenting in the garage. Those are only about $30.
http://www.marinedepot.com/chillers__index-ap.html
You can pick up used ones pretty cheap. Again, I wouldn't put the unit IN your beer, or cicrulate your beer. But you could easily keep a small storage tupperware at 68ish with even the smallest aquarium chiller (1/10th hp)
Here is one for $175 that I found in about 5 min of searching. You might also need a small pump if you get an in-line chiller (coils are inside the unit and water circulates through it vs a drop-in (the cooling element is at the end of a tube and you simply place it in the container you want to keep cold).
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2020841&highlight=chiller
http://www.marinedepot.com/chillers__index-ap.html
You can pick up used ones pretty cheap. Again, I wouldn't put the unit IN your beer, or cicrulate your beer. But you could easily keep a small storage tupperware at 68ish with even the smallest aquarium chiller (1/10th hp)
Here is one for $175 that I found in about 5 min of searching. You might also need a small pump if you get an in-line chiller (coils are inside the unit and water circulates through it vs a drop-in (the cooling element is at the end of a tube and you simply place it in the container you want to keep cold).
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2020841&highlight=chiller
Last edited:
I've got the Monkeyfest beers to move over to secondary this weekend. I have a Bohemian Lager, an Agave Wheat and a Chamomile Agave Wheat.
If I had a second bathtub i'd give that a shot to try, but I think showering with two carboys in the tub could get tricky. 
The home depot tub with water sounds like a good idea, but I think just having a freezer thrown somewhere would look better than a tupperware tub full of water (not that I really care). I figure for around $100 I can have a freezer and controller, keep things exactly how I want it all the time and not have to mess with a bunch of water splashing around. We'll see what happens.
The home depot tub with water sounds like a good idea, but I think just having a freezer thrown somewhere would look better than a tupperware tub full of water (not that I really care). I figure for around $100 I can have a freezer and controller, keep things exactly how I want it all the time and not have to mess with a bunch of water splashing around. We'll see what happens.
Don't any of you have a basement? I've got several fermentations going right now at ~65 degrees in my basement. If I need something a little warmer I move it to the area near the water heater, cooler and it goes to the area near the water inlet for the house. I've measured up to a 5 degree difference between the two spots. I've also got a spare fridge for lagering but that's a different topic.
Brewing a wheat
5 Pounds White Wheat Malt
3 Pounds American Two-row Pale
2 Pounds Vienna Malt
8 Ounces Cara-Pils/Dextrine
4 Ounces Caramel/Crystal Malt - 20L
Amarillo hops - 20 IBU
Pitching onto a pale ale yeast cake I did a few weeks back. (1056)
5 Pounds White Wheat Malt
3 Pounds American Two-row Pale
2 Pounds Vienna Malt
8 Ounces Cara-Pils/Dextrine
4 Ounces Caramel/Crystal Malt - 20L
Amarillo hops - 20 IBU
Pitching onto a pale ale yeast cake I did a few weeks back. (1056)