New toy - Home Brewing Kit
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6th Gear
Joined: Nov 2003
Posts: 10,684
From: Columbs, Ohio
RE: New toy - Home Brewing Kit
Unfortunately I live in a small town so we don't have any homebrew stores close by. My first batch is going to be Hank's Hefe-weizen. It came with some cheap no name yeast so I ordered some specific top floating hefe yeast made for this type of brew. All I have left is to build my wort chiller and buy a stainless pot and I'm going to be ready to brew! I ordered a wine kit yesterday too. I'm not so sure if i'm very keen on waiting a year to drink it though. [&:]
You are going to have a blast!!!!
Administrator
Joined: Dec 2004
Posts: 591
RE: New toy - Home Brewing Kit
i was told by several experienced brewers to start with wine, but i dont care for wine, so i started with beer.
i have a pretty nice home brew store only a few blocks away, and there are a bunch others. if i can ever try to help anyone out, let me know...i can always run to the store and send things out if it will help someone out!
i have heard alot of exactly what david said, that the kits are good, but actual ingredients are better...on my beers, i have put a little less than the "Recommended" amount of priming sugar, as i was instructed by the experienced brewers, and my beers are still plenty bubbly
come cooler weather, i will be buying another carboy, and i will be brewing more than one batch at a time, staggering the start.
do any of you other brewers use the ale pale for primary fermentation? and has anyone else adapted a kit using hops with a higher IBU, and adding "better" yeasts to a kit? I dont want to jump right into brewing my own beer and screw something up.
i have a pretty nice home brew store only a few blocks away, and there are a bunch others. if i can ever try to help anyone out, let me know...i can always run to the store and send things out if it will help someone out!
i have heard alot of exactly what david said, that the kits are good, but actual ingredients are better...on my beers, i have put a little less than the "Recommended" amount of priming sugar, as i was instructed by the experienced brewers, and my beers are still plenty bubbly
come cooler weather, i will be buying another carboy, and i will be brewing more than one batch at a time, staggering the start.do any of you other brewers use the ale pale for primary fermentation? and has anyone else adapted a kit using hops with a higher IBU, and adding "better" yeasts to a kit? I dont want to jump right into brewing my own beer and screw something up.
1st Gear
Joined: Sep 2005
Posts: 414
From:
RE: New toy - Home Brewing Kit
I brewed for years before finally giving it up. Actually started at a "brew on premises" place which had all the equipment, ingredients, and recipes. Once you were done they would rack it and you'd come back in a couple of weeks to bottle. Got into it pretty seriously, eventually moving up to brewing all grain recipes. Some things to help advance from kits:
1. After primary fermentation, siphon the beer into a second car boy. Moves it off the sediment which will start to break down and affect the flavor
2. Never use priming sugar. Use some DME (dried malt extract) instead. Boil a cup or two of water, then add the DME. And don't prime each bottle individually - instead, siphon the fermented beer into your pail, add the DME mixture, stir, then bottle.
3. You can introduce grains to a kit by putting some cracked grains into a brew sock and adding it to the boil. Later you can stop using malt extract and go to all grain.
4. Use a 5 gallon drink cooler (the upgright kind with the tap at the bottom) to keep your wort at the proper temperature. Once you hit the target temperature called for in the recipe, poor it into cooler and quickly cover it. It will hold its temperature pretty well, and the occasional addition of small amounts of hot water will keep it there.
5. Above all, keep everything absolutely clean at all times. There's nothing sadder than a wasted batch :-(
1. After primary fermentation, siphon the beer into a second car boy. Moves it off the sediment which will start to break down and affect the flavor
2. Never use priming sugar. Use some DME (dried malt extract) instead. Boil a cup or two of water, then add the DME. And don't prime each bottle individually - instead, siphon the fermented beer into your pail, add the DME mixture, stir, then bottle.
3. You can introduce grains to a kit by putting some cracked grains into a brew sock and adding it to the boil. Later you can stop using malt extract and go to all grain.
4. Use a 5 gallon drink cooler (the upgright kind with the tap at the bottom) to keep your wort at the proper temperature. Once you hit the target temperature called for in the recipe, poor it into cooler and quickly cover it. It will hold its temperature pretty well, and the occasional addition of small amounts of hot water will keep it there.
5. Above all, keep everything absolutely clean at all times. There's nothing sadder than a wasted batch :-(
Administrator
Joined: Dec 2004
Posts: 591
RE: New toy - Home Brewing Kit
ORIGINAL: VitaminB6
I brewed for years before finally giving it up. Actually started at a "brew on premises" place which had all the equipment, ingredients, and recipes. Once you were done they would rack it and you'd come back in a couple of weeks to bottle. Got into it pretty seriously, eventually moving up to brewing all grain recipes. Some things to help advance from kits:
1. After primary fermentation, siphon the beer into a second car boy. Moves it off the sediment which will start to break down and affect the flavor
2. Never use priming sugar. Use some DME (dried malt extract) instead. Boil a cup or two of water, then add the DME. And don't prime each bottle individually - instead, siphon the fermented beer into your pail, add the DME mixture, stir, then bottle.
3. You can introduce grains to a kit by putting some cracked grains into a brew sock and adding it to the boil. Later you can stop using malt extract and go to all grain.
4. Use a 5 gallon drink cooler (the upgright kind with the tap at the bottom) to keep your wort at the proper temperature. Once you hit the target temperature called for in the recipe, poor it into cooler and quickly cover it. It will hold its temperature pretty well, and the occasional addition of small amounts of hot water will keep it there.
5. Above all, keep everything absolutely clean at all times. There's nothing sadder than a wasted batch :-(
I brewed for years before finally giving it up. Actually started at a "brew on premises" place which had all the equipment, ingredients, and recipes. Once you were done they would rack it and you'd come back in a couple of weeks to bottle. Got into it pretty seriously, eventually moving up to brewing all grain recipes. Some things to help advance from kits:
1. After primary fermentation, siphon the beer into a second car boy. Moves it off the sediment which will start to break down and affect the flavor
2. Never use priming sugar. Use some DME (dried malt extract) instead. Boil a cup or two of water, then add the DME. And don't prime each bottle individually - instead, siphon the fermented beer into your pail, add the DME mixture, stir, then bottle.
3. You can introduce grains to a kit by putting some cracked grains into a brew sock and adding it to the boil. Later you can stop using malt extract and go to all grain.
4. Use a 5 gallon drink cooler (the upgright kind with the tap at the bottom) to keep your wort at the proper temperature. Once you hit the target temperature called for in the recipe, poor it into cooler and quickly cover it. It will hold its temperature pretty well, and the occasional addition of small amounts of hot water will keep it there.
5. Above all, keep everything absolutely clean at all times. There's nothing sadder than a wasted batch :-(
i am newer to this, but i do much of what you said...i do move to a seperate secondary fermentation tank, and im using cracked grains, but im interested in this idea of not using priming sugar? what i did prior to bottling, was to dissolve the priming sugar in some hot water, and poured that into my bottling pail, then i siphoned my beer from the carboy into the pail with the dissolved sugar. does the DME have the same effect as the priming sugar, and what is the advantage of using the DME over the priming sugar?
3rd Gear
Joined: May 2006
Posts: 2,725
From:
RE: New toy - Home Brewing Kit
i use to home brew with my GF father when i was up at school, it was nice, saved me some $$ when it came to beer and it all came out great, he had been doing it for about 10 years, and still dose it, makes some really great stuff... good luck and have fun with it
1st Gear
Joined: Sep 2005
Posts: 414
From:
RE: New toy - Home Brewing Kit
ORIGINAL: Patrick
interesting...
i am newer to this, but i do much of what you said...i do move to a seperate secondary fermentation tank, and im using cracked grains, but im interested in this idea of not using priming sugar? what i did prior to bottling, was to dissolve the priming sugar in some hot water, and poured that into my bottling pail, then i siphoned my beer from the carboy into the pail with the dissolved sugar. does the DME have the same effect as the priming sugar, and what is the advantage of using the DME over the priming sugar?
ORIGINAL: VitaminB6
I brewed for years before finally giving it up. Actually started at a "brew on premises" place which had all the equipment, ingredients, and recipes. Once you were done they would rack it and you'd come back in a couple of weeks to bottle. Got into it pretty seriously, eventually moving up to brewing all grain recipes. Some things to help advance from kits:
1. After primary fermentation, siphon the beer into a second car boy. Moves it off the sediment which will start to break down and affect the flavor
2. Never use priming sugar. Use some DME (dried malt extract) instead. Boil a cup or two of water, then add the DME. And don't prime each bottle individually - instead, siphon the fermented beer into your pail, add the DME mixture, stir, then bottle.
3. You can introduce grains to a kit by putting some cracked grains into a brew sock and adding it to the boil. Later you can stop using malt extract and go to all grain.
4. Use a 5 gallon drink cooler (the upgright kind with the tap at the bottom) to keep your wort at the proper temperature. Once you hit the target temperature called for in the recipe, poor it into cooler and quickly cover it. It will hold its temperature pretty well, and the occasional addition of small amounts of hot water will keep it there.
5. Above all, keep everything absolutely clean at all times. There's nothing sadder than a wasted batch :-(
I brewed for years before finally giving it up. Actually started at a "brew on premises" place which had all the equipment, ingredients, and recipes. Once you were done they would rack it and you'd come back in a couple of weeks to bottle. Got into it pretty seriously, eventually moving up to brewing all grain recipes. Some things to help advance from kits:
1. After primary fermentation, siphon the beer into a second car boy. Moves it off the sediment which will start to break down and affect the flavor
2. Never use priming sugar. Use some DME (dried malt extract) instead. Boil a cup or two of water, then add the DME. And don't prime each bottle individually - instead, siphon the fermented beer into your pail, add the DME mixture, stir, then bottle.
3. You can introduce grains to a kit by putting some cracked grains into a brew sock and adding it to the boil. Later you can stop using malt extract and go to all grain.
4. Use a 5 gallon drink cooler (the upgright kind with the tap at the bottom) to keep your wort at the proper temperature. Once you hit the target temperature called for in the recipe, poor it into cooler and quickly cover it. It will hold its temperature pretty well, and the occasional addition of small amounts of hot water will keep it there.
5. Above all, keep everything absolutely clean at all times. There's nothing sadder than a wasted batch :-(
i am newer to this, but i do much of what you said...i do move to a seperate secondary fermentation tank, and im using cracked grains, but im interested in this idea of not using priming sugar? what i did prior to bottling, was to dissolve the priming sugar in some hot water, and poured that into my bottling pail, then i siphoned my beer from the carboy into the pail with the dissolved sugar. does the DME have the same effect as the priming sugar, and what is the advantage of using the DME over the priming sugar?
The DME serves the same purpose as sugar - to kick off secondary fermentation in the bottle. However sugar is an adjunct and doesn't belong in real beer.