[I Are Baboon]

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..

 

[IH8Rice]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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.

 

[I Are Baboon]

Update:

The yeast is yeastin'!!

 

[4xBoy]

She wasn't overly thrilled with the smell in the house when she got home.

Better to ask forgiveness then permission I always say.


So do a lot of other people I know. irate2:

 

[BadDNA]

She wasn't overly thrilled with the smell in the house when she got home.

I honestly don't understand that. I love the smells of brewing beer.

 

[I Are Baboon]

I honestly don't understand that. I love the smells of brewing beer.

So do you feel like you need a shower after brewing a batch? 'Cause I sure did.

 

[BadDNA]

So do you feel like you need a shower after brewing a batch? 'Cause I sure did.

Yeah, but I'm usually doing 2-3 batches from all grain, there's a bit more work involved and my system is still all gravity fed so a good deal of lifting as well.

 

[Universe]

Here is my crawlspace currently.

 

[I Are Baboon]

Whatcha got???

 

[Inclag]

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]

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]

: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.

 

[Universe]

 

[Brian HCM#1]

This is cool! I want to start brewing my own beer. Which kit do you recommend for starting?

 

[I Are Baboon]

This is cool! I want to start brewing my own beer. Which kit do you recommend for starting?

MBC bought me the "Deluxe Starter Kit" from northernbrewer.com. Third one down on this link (with glass carboys)
http://www.northernbrewer.com/starterkits.html

I'm not experienced enough to "recommend" it, seeing how I am on batch #1, but so far it's doing the job!

 

[Brian HCM#1]

Cool, thanks!!!

 

[SkaredShtles]

Mmmmmmm.... DIPA.

 

[BikeGeek]

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.

Blow-off hoses are good!

that's about 1/16 of what came out of an 80 bbl tank we brewed on Monday.

 

[I Are Baboon]

Well my yeast is finally settling down, so I capped the fermentation lock last night.

 

[Heidi]

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!

 

[TN]

Suh-weet!

 

[Universe]

Had a party this weekend.

 

[SkaredShtles]

Holy crap... look at all those deviled eggs.

 

[I Are Baboon]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

I'm thirsty

I'll let you know how it is when I get mine.

 

[Heidi]

I'll let you know how it is when I get mine.

Damn you! My first batch (we brewed the same day as Phil) is still working away. I haven't tasted it yet though. It's just an ale and I don't expect very high alcohol.

 

[BadDNA]

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.

 

[Heidi]

I am eager to try another batch already!

 

[I Are Baboon]

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]

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?

It won't hurt it.

 

[TN]

after the initial cost is home brewing cheaper than buying beer?

 

[BadDNA]

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.