Gonna start brewing

[forgop]

Bought a beer brewing kit nearly 4 years ago and it sat in the original box since then. Just felt too intimidated I guess to crack it open, but my brother and I hit up a class held at a local brew supply shop and urged me to crack it open.

I got home from a 12 hour shift and let's just say between melatonin and a few beers, I spent another $475 US towards a beer bottle rack, wort chiller, 2 FastFerment vertical fermenters, and a carboy washing system with more cleaner/sanitizer, and 3 more ingredient kits. The sad thing is that even included 25% off.

[Cohiba Stevie]

I use a fast ferment system. They are awesome!

[irratebass]

Bought a beer brewing kit nearly 4 years ago and it sat in the original box since then. Just felt too intimidated I guess to crack it open, but my brother and I hit up a class held at a local brew supply shop and urged me to crack it open.

I got home from a 12 hour shift and let's just say between melatonin and a few beers, I spent another $475 US towards a beer bottle rack, wort chiller, 2 FastFerment vertical fermenters, and a carboy washing system with more cleaner/sanitizer, and 3 more ingredient kits. The sad thing is that even included 25% off.

Hey what's up Duane?......maybe I will be lucky enough to try out your test blend?

[Habana Mike]

Used to brew a batch or two a month easy. Spent way more than that on a 60 degree conical fermenter, copper tube wort chiller, keg system, all stainless mash/lauter tuns, brewing kettles, counter-pressure bottle filler, racking transfer system, kick-ass Cajun Cooker, stable of carboys, and of course grains, hops, liquid yeasts, on and on.

Actually had a Porter place in the AHA National Homebrew competition a few years back. Hardly brew any more, maybe once or twice a year.

It's another slippery slope I tell you!

[forgop]

Yeah, I know I haven't even begun to spend the amount of money you really can in this hobby. My brother and I ate going to brew together and he's wanting to get a Grainfather. We're planning to do our first 2 batches on Wednesday.

Going to do a Hefe kit I picked up from the local shop and then I have these 2 kits arriving Monday.

http://www.northernbrewer.com/brickwarmer-holiday-red-extract-kit-w-specialty-grains

http://www.northernbrewer.com/brewing/recipe-kits/extract-kits/extract-ale-kits/caribou-slobber-extract-kit

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N910A using Tapatalk

[SmittyinAZ]

Great hobby.

Many on here brew our own. Reach out with any questions.

Good luck.

[forgop]

Great hobby.

Many on here brew our own. Reach out with any questions.

Good luck.

I think this is worse than cigars. I've dropped nearly $1k on equipment and brewing kits and haven't even bottled my first beer yet, but that's all due to logistics and schedules. Will bottle those 2 batches the first week of January.

Gonna boil up 2-3 more batches Tuesday or Wednesday next week.

[backslide]

Yeah, I know I haven't even begun to spend the amount of money you really can in this hobby. My brother and I ate going to brew together and he's wanting to get a Grainfather. We're planning to do our first 2 batches on Wednesday.

Going to do a Hefe kit I picked up from the local shop and then I have these 2 kits arriving Monday.

http://www.northernbrewer.com/brickwarmer-holiday-red-extract-kit-w-specialty-grains

http://www.northernbrewer.com/brewing/recipe-kits/extract-kits/extract-ale-kits/caribou-slobber-extract-kit

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N910A using Tapatalk

My advice would be to buy grain in bulk (1/2 the cost) and a grain mill. Kits are overpriced and soon you'll want to brew your own not some one else's recipe.

Sent from my Nexus 5

[helix]

Been there also had a blast, attended a Charlie Papaizian workshop back in the mid 90's.

[jwr0201]

Before you get into the all grain brewing, you may want to begin with a malt extract batch or two to get the hang of things. There are a LOT of subtle details that can make a HUGE difference in your batch. First and absolutely foremost is the fact that everything must be sterilized. If not, you WILL get an off batch. Happens to everyone at some point in their brewing career if they do it long enough. Another thing that makes a big difference is the temperature to steep your grains. When using flavoring grains such as, caramel, chocolate, carapils, etc., do not use boiling water. I think it is 160 deg. max for steeping. Any higher and you will get tannins extracted from the husks of the grains. You will know it if there is a definite earthy, astringent background taste to your ale. A good thing to investigate for you is the different yeast strains available from Wyeast. Liquid yeast - very good yield and easy to use. You can use the exact same recipe and change the yeast strain and have a very different ale. My favorite used to be London Ale Yeast strain for making a Bass Ale. Cheers and let us know how you make out!

[squizz]

Great hobby. I've been doing it for a few years now. Any questions, just ask away.

[forgop]

So, I've been quite lazy with my first 4 batches that I've bottled.  I didn't take readings to calculate ABV, nor did I even label which batch was which when I was fermenting, so I have a 50/50 shot of guessing which is which in the bottles.

Brewed 2 batches last week and this time I actually labeled my batches and took a SG reading.  If I can get around to it with my 2 days off, I'll try to get a couple more batches cooked up again this weekend.  

[demer]

Homebrewed for a long time and loved it. Been a beer wholesaler for the past 7 years and haven't homebrewed in about 3 years because after dealing with beer all week the last thing I want to do on the weekend is homebrew. With that  being said I really miss it and should start again.

[TypicalSituation]

So, I've been quite lazy with my first 4 batches that I've bottled.  I didn't take readings to calculate ABV, nor did I even label which batch was which when I was fermenting, so I have a 50/50 shot of guessing which is which in the bottles.

Brewed 2 batches last week and this time I actually labeled my batches and took a SG reading.  If I can get around to it with my 2 days off, I'll try to get a couple more batches cooked up again this weekend.  

You'll want to take gravity readings. It ensures your beer is fully fermented. Packaging under attenuated beer can result in bottle bombs... And nothing ruins your day like an exploding bottle of beer.

[forgop]

1 hour ago, TypicalSituation said:

You'll want to take gravity readings. It ensures your beer is fully fermented. Packaging under attenuated beer can result in bottle bombs... And nothing ruins your day like an exploding bottle of beer.

Both of these batches were 2+ months in before I bottled.  I don't think there was much risk of fermentation not being done.  

[Philc2001]

On 6/11/2016 at 8:15 PM, demer said:

Homebrewed for a long time and loved it. Been a beer wholesaler for the past 7 years and haven't homebrewed in about 3 years because after dealing with beer all week the last thing I want to do on the weekend is homebrew. With that  being said I really miss it and should start again.

I haven't home brewed, but I have brewed on-premise for years... until our local brew on-premise closed down. Before closing they had a wonderful setup, with steam-jacketed copper kettles, chillers, cold storage, fresh and imported ingredients from all over, and a fantastic recipe book for some of the best beer I've ever tasted. We made doubles, triples, IPAs, lagers, bocks, ales, even tried a mead. My buddies and I would cook 2 or 3 batches at a time, and stock-up beer for 4-6 months. It was a wonderful craft.... I sure do miss it 

[Fosgate]

I went through University of Nebraska's brewing program as part of a required course for my Business Management and Public Health Degrees. I have always brewed starting from All-grain and have tried the kits. There always seems to be something missing in flavor to me in those. Here are a few of the most important tips I recall. 

1. Write down everything- if you don't write it down, you may never figure out what went wrong or right with a batch to repeat it. Use a program like Beersmith 2
2. Sanitation- Sanitation is so key in brewing a beer, you can brew everything right but you can ruin the beer or your equipment without realizing it until it's too late. I clean everything before and after use. Use Brewery wash to clean and Star Sanz very liberally treating my beer once it passes through the coils like trying not to infect an open wound. 
3. Water- Minerals and water quality can bring out so much more in your beer or kill your beer than one realizes (chlorine). I always run mine through a charcoal filter first and depending on how my mineral tests go I may or may not add the mineral I want depending on which beer I am making. 
4. Efficiency- Knowing what strike temp is and thermo absorbtion of your hot liquer tank and what maintaining your temp with the least amount of heat does not cost a fortune or require a high tech setup to achieve brewhouse effeciency. I'm able to achieve 94% with using commercial grade coolers, preheating them, insulating my transfer lines and rigging a temp gage on the outside so I'm not always opening the lid. 
5. DWRHAHB!!_Don't Worry, Relax, Have a Home Brew; Everyone hits the wall with a bad batch every now and then and often due to overthinking their creation. There are some ancient brew recipes out there that people are chewing on fruit or grain and spitting it into a vat to produce an alcoholic beverage. Don't overdo it and just relax. 

[jwr0201]

Before you jump into all grain brewing, start with a couple of malt extract batches.  Malt extract brewing will get you used to brewing techniques and give you some excellent results.  Tip:  one of the most important things I learned that made the greatest single improvement in my brewing was to be sure to keep your steeping grains at or under 167 degrees f.  This prevents tanins from releasing from the grain husks.  If you put your flavoring grains in boiling water to steep, you will get astringent off flavors.  Good luck and have fun!