Its Done!!!!

[Camaro Dom]

MY FIRST BATCH OF HOME BREWS ARE DONE!!!! its a "robust porter" which means its a little bit lighter than a stout (an example of a stout is guinness) but not by much.

ok, so you take a mouthful, and you immediately feel the full, creamy body accompanied by a nutty, almost pine flavor. swish it and you feel how smooth it is and the malt flavor comes out. swallow and you get the full malt flavor, a hint of bitterness and a smooth finish with a very nice floral (hoppy) aftertaste. roughly 5% alcohol but you dont taste a bit of it. Absolutely delicious. The perfect beer to drink on a ski trip after a long day on the slopes.

ladies and gentlemen, i love cars to death but this is a hobby i can actually support on a college budget. after the inital investment of about 150 bucks for all the equipment, all it is is 20 bucks to brew 5 gallons (about 55 12-oz bottles) and its DAMN good beer. its cheaper than busch light with all the taste God intended beer to have. This is the start of something GREAT.

[Fireball27]

Re: Its Done!!!!

I should get you in touch with a guy i work with... He's been brewing his own for years now, and really knows his stuff.

[gman2000]

Re: Its Done!!!!

Do you time the bubbles to bottle or do you add sugar to the bottle.

[hockeyman]

Re: Its Done!!!!

Stout's and Lagers RULE!

Samuel Adams in the bottle is my first choice, and Guinness on tap is my second choice. If the bar doesn't have either one of those, I'm drinking vodka...lightly cut with cranberry juice.

If you make any more home brews, please send the samples to me! Beer is my favorite past time :naughty: :naughty: :naughty:

[Camaro Dom]

Re: Its Done!!!!

Stout's and Lagers RULE!

Samuel Adams in the bottle is my first choice, and Guinness on tap is my second choice. If the bar doesn't have either one of those, I'm drinking vodka...lightly cut with cranberry juice.

If you make any more home brews, please send the samples to me! Beer is my favorite past time :naughty: :naughty:

... IF i make anymore??? i got 2 more batches fermenting now and the next one is getting done 2nite. gimme an address or PO box and i'll send them in a bit. The porter and the stout both need to age 1-3 months for their full flavor to "gel", but they're still good to drink right off.

And to answer the question, you DO NOT bottle while its still fermenting. You wait about 2 weeks after you pitched the yeast (longer if need be, or if your doin a lager), then siphon it into another bucket with a spigot. you add the sugar to the bucket, stir it in really good then and immediately bottle.

[StrtRacer98]

Re: Its Done!!!!

lol, beer guru's.

congrats, i myself am not a fan of the "thick" beer lol like guiness or sam adams.

[gman2000]

Re: Its Done!!!!

... IF i make anymore??? i got 2 more batches fermenting now and the next one is getting done 2nite. gimme an address or PO box and i'll send them in a bit. The porter and the stout both need to age 1-3 months for their full flavor to "gel", but they're still good to drink right off.

And to answer the question, you DO NOT bottle while its still fermenting. You wait about 2 weeks after you pitched the yeast (longer if need be, or if your doin a lager), then siphon it into another bucket with a spigot. you add the sugar to the bucket, stir it in really good then and immediately bottle.

I have made my on for years. At first I let the wort work off and put sugar in the bottle,but you will end up with yeast in the bottle. If you bottle before it has finished working off, you get rid of the yeast in the bottom of the bottle and a better cleaner flavor. You take a chance on blowing up bottle if you don't time it right.

[Camaro Dom]

Re: Its Done!!!!

i dunno, everyone i've talked to has told me to mix the sugar into the bottling bucket, because that way its less of a mess and you're guaranteed to get a uniform amount of sugar for each bottle.
oh believe me, i really try to keep the yeast outta the bottles. I strained the trub out when i first boiled and used a secondary fermenter. Theres also this other stuff thats supposed to clear up the beer... i'm gonna be trying it on this next batch. i think that by the very nature of fermentation and the fact that in order to get carbonation you have to ferment those sugars in the bottles themselves, i dont think there's any way around a little bit of sediment in the bottom.
but who cares about that anyways, that stuff will stay there as long as you pour it into a glass without righting the bottle again...
whats your favorite kind that you've made? everyone seems to love IPA's but i havent had the privelidge of trying one yet...

[Savorybacon]

Re: Its Done!!!!

Where did you purchase your equipment? (If you don't mind sharing.)

[gman2000]

Re: Its Done!!!!

IPA is a great beer. And you are good doing it the way you are. I asked only because some friends and I have bottled before the wart is done. If you hit right, you have a great beer with allmost no yeast. But you will blow a lot of bottles before you get it right. I don't do it that way anymore. I go a half teaspoon of corn sugar per bottle. The way you do it is better but my Grandfather showed me my way a long time ago.

[Mogobs30th]

Re: Its Done!!!!

Where did you purchase your equipment? (If you don't mind sharing.)

Im actually quite interested myself where you got the equipment from, wouldn't mind trying that myself.

[Big Tymer]

Re: Its Done!!!!

write up, details on the equipment and everything... im soooo going to try this

[Camaro Dom]

Re: Its Done!!!!

LOL... the equipment is READILY available online. I bought mine from a local place called Hopman's Beer and Wine Making Supplies. The two guys that work there are sweet as hell so i love going to talk to them. I recommend you find a local place to buy your different kits or grains... you buy it and you're brewing that nite and plus you'll have a lot of questions when you first start out (i can help but if you love it enough to open up a shop, you'll know your stuff real good).

Step 1: Buy your equipment. Check at a local store to see their prices. Usually they're pretty close to online costs if you count in shipping, and agian, you got an experianced guy right there helpin you.
your gonna need all this to start brewing:
-a big pot about 3-4 gallons. stainless steel is ideal or enamelized steel. you should already have one tho
-a stirring spoon and a mesh strainer agian, you should have these already
-a 6.5 gal primary fermenter this is just a bigger, foodgrade contractor bucket and lid. this is where your beer goes for a week after you brew it.
-a siphon tube you'll use this alot. if you can find an "auto siphon" where you can pump to get the siphon going absolutely get that... its worth its weight in gold. ask about it at the store. this is one here: you pump the actual hose in the tube running into the carboy a few times and presto! siphon is running! no trying to screw around with it. http://www.beer-wine.com/product.asp...productID=1113
-a 5 gal glass carboy after you let your beer chill in the primary for a week, you take the siphon and let it run into the glass carboy (gently down the side, you dont want it to fizz up, it'll kill the yeasts or sumthing)
-bottling bucket and spigot- not ABSOLUTELY necessary, you could siphon from the carboy to the bottles but this makes life so much easier and plus you dont have to worry about the sediment on the bottom of the carboy getting into the bottles
-an airlock and a bung for the carboy this allows the yeast its own little environment to munch on the beer. the CO2 can bubble out but bacteria cant get in and cause off flavors.
-bottles and caps and bottle capper for me, about 12 bucks for 24 bottles, caps are like 3 bucks for 150 and the capper was like 20 bucks.
-cleanser and sanitizer and carboy brush you use the cleanser to get all the baked on stuff and sediment knocked off. i use b-brite cleanser and it works pretty well but is a bit caustic when it gets on the hands. you can use household bleach for sanitizer but you gotta rinse everything really good to make sure your beer doesnt taste bleachy. I use this stuff called "B-T-F Iodophor Sanitizer"... basically its that brownish yellow stuff the doc wipes on your arm. 2-3 tbsp sanitizes 5 gallons and you dont gotta rinse at all. the brush you'll need cuz theres no way to clean inside that carboy w/o it.
-hydrometer and thermometer these, again, arent ABSOLUTELY necessary to make basic beers but strongly recommended. The hydrometer mesures the density of the liquid "wort" (the stuff you brewed b4 adding the yeast). wort is thicker than water by around 4-5% as the yeast produces alcohol, which is less dense than water, the beer becomes less dense. you can measure to make sure fermentation is complete b4 bottling and also know the alcohol content of your homebrew. thermometer (both one for the pot and a stick on one for the carboy) makes sure you're at the ideal temps for fermentation.
-Lastly, "The Complete Joy of Homebrewing" by Charlie Papazian. This guy founded the American Homebrewing Assn. (something like that) like 5 days after it was made legal in like 1978. He's an expert and his book will tell you everything you could ever want to know about brewing. It starts out real basic and then gets more complex as you assumingly have gotten better. includes a bunch of recipes too. again, highly recommended.

I'm 19, but our crazy nation allows me to purchase EVERYTHING you need to brew beer but not actually purchase the stuff made already or even OWN the stuff i just made if you're under 21, just know that in the rare circumstance that the police came in your apartment or house, you could be held liable for 5 gallons of beer chillin in the closet

[josh98bird]

Re: Its Done!!!!

sticky

[Camaro Dom]

Re: Its Done!!!!

Now how to brew:
Anything that touches the beer or wort MUST be cleansed and sanitized. if you put it down, sanitize it again. dont take risks. you dont wanna wait 4 weeks to taste sour beer.
-fill your pot w/ 2 gals of water and get to about 170 degrees (bubbles starting to form but you can still touch the water for a sec w/o screaming
-take your grains and roasted malts and put them in a boiling sock (should come with a kit or you can get them at the store) and soak or "steep" the grains for about 20-25 minutes.
-take the grains out, throw them in the trash and crank the stove so you get a nice boil going.
-add your malt extracts, bittering hops, dextrin and anything else except finishing hops to the pot and get a good boil going for 55 mins. stir CONSTANTLY. that sucker will boil over in a split second if you're not watching it and you'll have chunky hops stuck all over everything.
-add finishing hops, continue to boil 5-7 minutes.
-have your primary fermenter sanitized and ready with an airlock and 3 gallons of COLD water waiting. Strain the wort into the primary (you'll have to take a break or two cuz the "trub" will clog up the strainer at least once if not more.
-once the wort is all in there, check to see how much is in there (there should be graduates on the side of the bucket). if your less than 5 gallons, throw some cold water into your brewpot and add till you're at 5 gal.
-let it chill for an hour or two to make sure its at about 70 degrees. take your original hydrometer reading, write it down and sprinkle the yeast on top of the wort. put the lid on it and put the bucket somewhere cool (65-70*) and quiet (you dont wanna clean up 5 gallons of brewing beer)
-wait a week
-sanitize the carboy and the siphon and siphon the beer over to the carboy from the fermenter nice n' gently. get all the beer you can except for the stuff about 1-2" from the bottom of the carboy. you'll start to see that there is a big blob of sediment chilling on the bottom there. you dont wanna taste it or have it in your beer. airlock the carboy and clean out your siphon and primary
-wait another week
-time to bottle. take a hydrometer reading on day 13 and 14. if they're the same, fermentation is complete. if not, wait another 3-4 days till it is. sanitze all your bottles. if you got a bottling bucket, siphon the beer over into it, add the priming sugar and mix it up. fill the bottles to about 1" from the top and cap. if you dont have a bucket, then i guess try to pour the sugar into the carboy and mix it around with something long and skinny like a piece of wire or something (sanitized of course) and siphon from the bottle.
-wait 2 weeks.
-drink your beer!!! dont drink it from the bottle! you'll see there is a bit of sediment on the bottom. you dont wanna drink that. pour into a glass gently and once you turn the bottle dont turn it up again. if you do, the remaining liquid will rush down and kick up the sediment making for cloudy, weird tasting beer.

thats all there is to it. seems like theres more to it than there actually is. it actually goes pretty quickly too. if you guys got any specific questions, e-mail me hockeydom1234@comcast.net otherwise, good luck! dont worry, relax and have a homebrew!