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Homebrew noob.

I Are Baboon

The Full Dopey
Aug 6, 2001
32,383
9,289
MTB New England
I had made a few batches with "Mr Beer" but wasn't overly thrilled with the beer. Wife came through with a real homebrew kit for me for Hanukkahmas, purchased from northernbrewer.com. Mom-in-law bought me a double IPA ingredient kit. BadDNA hooked me up with a wort chiller.

The goods:



Beer in progress!

Grains...kind of look like a...well...nevermind. They smelled really good though.


Boiling wort. Kind of looks like soup. Mmmm...soup.




The boil went mostly ok. One minor error which I am hoping won't be a problem. My gravity and temp measurements though were exactly what they should have been.

The carboy is full!


And now, resting not-so-quietly (I hope) as the yeast goes nuts. I'll move the contents into the secondary fermenter in two weeks.


I was smelling and tasting everything as I went along. Man, hop pellets smell really good. As soon as I begin secondary fermentation, I'll start batch #2 (barleywine). I also ordered a bourbon porter kit today for batch #3. FYI, batches 1 and 3 will be ready for monkeyfest..
 
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IH8Rice

I'm Mr. Negative! I Fail!
Aug 2, 2008
24,524
494
Im over here now
you just jinxed your batch by wrapping it in a Red Sox towel

did that capper come w/ the kit? thats one thing i 100% need, but dont have
 

I Are Baboon

The Full Dopey
Aug 6, 2001
32,383
9,289
MTB New England
you just jinxed your batch by wrapping it in a Red Sox towel

did that capper come w/ the kit? thats one thing i 100% need, but dont have
Yeah, the capper came with the kit. I already had bought one though, so I now I have two. I would imagine though that as I venture more into the homebrew hobby, I will acclumulate multiples of the same parts, kind of like one does with bike stuff. :)
 

BikeGeek

BrewMonkey
Jul 2, 2001
4,573
273
Hershey, PA
Wait a minute...you're allowed to brew in the house?! I have to do it on the back porch, the wife hates the smell of boiling hops. That and I usually spill something making the entire kitchen floor sound like walking in a movie theatre.
 

BadDNA

hophead
Mar 31, 2006
4,257
231
Living the dream.
Looking good. Can't wait to try it.

I should get a couple batches going too. I've got a IIPA recipe that I came up with that should make even the most devout hop lover pucker.
 

I Are Baboon

The Full Dopey
Aug 6, 2001
32,383
9,289
MTB New England
Wait a minute...you're allowed to brew in the house?! I have to do it on the back porch, the wife hates the smell of boiling hops. That and I usually spill something making the entire kitchen floor sound like walking in a movie theatre.
She wasn't overly thrilled with the smell in the house when she got home.
 

Inclag

Turbo Monkey
Sep 9, 2001
2,750
439
MA
Cool, have fun.

My pops has been homebrewing for the better part of a decade and we're working on converting him to the PHD level of homebrewing with a full grain setup for this summer somewhat similar to this;

 

I Are Baboon

The Full Dopey
Aug 6, 2001
32,383
9,289
MTB New England
Cool, have fun.

My pops has been homebrewing for the better part of a decade and we're working on converting him to the PHD level of homebrewing with a full grain setup for this summer somewhat similar to this;
:beerjam:



Boy I hope the yeast in my batch settles down sooner rather than later. I peeked in this morning and it's getting really close to the top of the carboy.
 

BadDNA

hophead
Mar 31, 2006
4,257
231
Living the dream.
:beerjam:



Boy I hope the yeast in my batch settles down sooner rather than later. I peeked in this morning and it's getting really close to the top of the carboy.
Swap out that airlock for a blow off tube and a bucket of water before you run into trouble. Don't forget to sanitize the tube first.
 

Heidi

Der hund ist laut und braun
Aug 22, 2001
10,184
797
Bend, Oregon
I did my first brew last Saturday and it's bubbling away in our guest bathroom. It's just a basic pale ale and we will be more adventurous the next batch. I want to do a nut brown. Hopefully everything turns out ok!
 

I Are Baboon

The Full Dopey
Aug 6, 2001
32,383
9,289
MTB New England
I took my first final gravity measurement today. The beer is currently at 8% abv. I am hoping it's still got some work to do. It tastes good, too! Like a flat double IPA! It still needs the sugar and carbonation, but I can tell this is going to be real good when it's done.

BadDNA gets first dibs.
 

boostindoubles

Nacho Libre
Mar 16, 2004
7,839
6,145
Yakistan
So I have a hop question... What do people mostly use? Pellets? bricked? or just loose dried hops?

reason I ask is that I grew up in Hop country, alot of my friends dads are hop growers. I see the hops growing and on the vine, then getting harvested and baled. But not what comes after!

My dad runs a small hop packing/shipping company that bricks hops into small lb and ounce packages. We sell them to a couple places that have been buying them for years. Like Sri Lanka, South Africa, India... People use the brick hops to brew their beer there but it's pretty outdated I think in the states.

what do people pay for hops at brew stores?

btw... cool setups ya'll looks like fun
 

Westy

the teste
Nov 22, 2002
54,241
20,022
Sleazattle
So I have a hop question... What do people mostly use? Pellets? bricked? or just loose dried hops?

reason I ask is that I grew up in Hop country, alot of my friends dads are hop growers. I see the hops growing and on the vine, then getting harvested and baled. But not what comes after!

My dad runs a small hop packing/shipping company that bricks hops into small lb and ounce packages. We sell them to a couple places that have been buying them for years. Like Sri Lanka, South Africa, India... People use the brick hops to brew their beer there but it's pretty outdated I think in the states.

what do people pay for hops at brew stores?

btw... cool setups ya'll looks like fun
There has a hops shortage as of late. My local homebrew supplier has problems getting hops in any form, they can only buy hops when ordering large amounts of other supplies. I'm betting your friends could make a killing selling hops through eBay or another direct source. Better yet, sell them to me in bulk and I will sell on eBay.
 

BadDNA

hophead
Mar 31, 2006
4,257
231
Living the dream.
I use pellet mostly followed by whole hops and plug hops. I'm growing my own now, just a few varieties but hopefully I'll get enough yield this year to satisfy my need for those varieties next year and a little left to trade with other growers. If all goes according to plan, I'm going to be building a hop trellis to act as a visual barrier to a pump track I'll be building this year and splitting off a few rhizomes each spring for the next few years to populate the area.
 

Heidi

Der hund ist laut und braun
Aug 22, 2001
10,184
797
Bend, Oregon
I took my first final gravity measurement today. The beer is currently at 8% abv. I am hoping it's still got some work to do. It tastes good, too! Like a flat double IPA! It still needs the sugar and carbonation, but I can tell this is going to be real good when it's done.

BadDNA gets first dibs.
I'm thirsty
 

BadDNA

hophead
Mar 31, 2006
4,257
231
Living the dream.
I'm thinking of brewing a batch this weekend. My wife has been asking about a peat smoked porter she saw so I've put together a basic recipe, I just need to try and get over to the homebrew supply this afternoon.
 

I Are Baboon

The Full Dopey
Aug 6, 2001
32,383
9,289
MTB New England
I use pellet mostly followed by whole hops and plug hops. I'm growing my own now, just a few varieties but hopefully I'll get enough yield this year to satisfy my need for those varieties next year and a little left to trade with other growers. If all goes according to plan, I'm going to be building a hop trellis to act as a visual barrier to a pump track I'll be building this year and splitting off a few rhizomes each spring for the next few years to populate the area.
Speaking of hops, I have to dry hop one ounce. Should I move to the second fermenter and dry hop now while there may still be some yeast activity left?
 

BadDNA

hophead
Mar 31, 2006
4,257
231
Living the dream.
From a materials standpoint, it can be. For example, I can get ingredients for a 5 gallon batch of Irish Red Ale for under $15. That's around 52 12 oz beers. If you were to buy 4 12 packs of Killian's Irish Red I'm sure it would cost you more than $15 and that's on the macrobrew side of things. If you start looking at micro and craft breweries the cost usually goes up (assuming you're buying at a packie and not the brewery).

In addition to the monetary cost of materials, if you want to be fair you should factor in the water, your time, gas/electricity to boil the water etc. but I couldn't care less about the time and the other costs are minimal.