Home Brewed Craft Beer

I don't drink beer often, but I too enjoy a good stout once in a while and I made my own batch about 10 years ago. It was easy to do. I've been thinking about making another batch one of these days. The most daunting task is cleaning the bottles. I saved all the old bottles I used. I need to get a tool that will making the bottle cleaning process quicker and easier. The thought of having to clean all those old bottle by hand has kept me from getting started.

Is this you?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jSXpPCrLt7A

Have a friend that does that. Be a real Klingon. It's a good day to die! I say brew it!

My brother and myself got into that for a couple of years.quite a science.

At the time did have much knowledge of the science. But our third year, we produced a dark ale, nice head when you poured it, it looked absolutely delicious, but tasted like crap.

Made root beer the next year. Prior to making beer we tried white lightening. That was interesting, until my brother tested a little too big a sample and dad dump it out on us.

All in all, making beer was fun, made our own private labels, and when we had a party, we forced our guest to drink it. They drank it up, but frankly, I think our plants got most of it.

Great story... did the plants thrive?
Del

There's quite a knack to it, I had a buddy that used to make the best beer, 5 gal bucket at a time.....It was so good you could drink it at room temp....I got one of those kits some years back, but didn't have the time to really get into it....I think I made one batch that was not so good and that was that....So I would say plan to fail miserably until you get it right....probably need to do extensive research until you know all the pitfalls by heart, that way you'll be able to guess what went wrong an hopefully correct it....I remember asking my buddy exactly how he made that beer, but everytime I went over there I left with a buzz and don't remember a thing lol....I guess it seemed so simple I didn't bother to write anything down...I do remember the brew container had to be clean because of bacterial contamination that could kill the yeast....we never got to the point of bottling it, it never lasted that long...

http://eartheasy.com/eat_homebrew.htm

From my experience, Dark Ales are the easiest beers to produce. I never graduated to an all grain brew, just partial grain kits. Brewers Best had a very tasty Stout. I never bottled as I used 5 gallon soda syrup cans that were available surplus a few years ago. Perfect low labor way of doing home brew. I pressurized with CO2 to carbonate. So if the kit had a post sugar component for bottle conditioning, I added that to the boiling wort.

I would pour the finished boiling wort directly into the ferment pail, and snap the lid on, and let it cool over night. I put a shot of Vodka in the airlock. This always worked with sterilizing the bucket. If I ever got a wild yeast going before my Ale yeast, I got strange sometimes non drinkable results. It seems to be a function of the bittering from hops. The more the hops the less likely wild yeast would infect the batch. I don't know if there is any biological or chemical support of this experience. If you don't have a 5 gallon boiling pot, use another smaller pot to boil the remaining water to fill the ferment bucket with sterilized water.

The big thing with the partial grain kit was to not boil the water with the grain bag. This is a 160-170F operation to extract the color and nutty flavor from the malted grains. It also extracted sugars and exceeding this temperature stops the enzyme conversion of the starch to sugars, and this is the trick with whole grain brewing.

Ales are generally fermented at 70F and are 3-10 days in duration. Very fast compared to Pilsner/Lagers (which I never brewed), these are chilled and 30-90 day durations.

There's also this rule where when your brewing you must be drinking a similar kind of beer to what your brewing. This improves watching the pot boil.

Some of the gents that I share an office with do the brewing with grain, the method that is called 'traditional' by the purists and 'long-winded' by others. They spent a fair sum on the equipment too. That said, they do turn out quite a good drop.

I occasionally do a brew using the 'kitset' method which typically uses a can of malt extract flavoured with hops etc. The purists call this method cheating, but it suits me and turns out quite a good drop with a lot less effort than traditional methods. My favourite kitsets are made by English company Muntons, their traditional english bitter is particularly nice.

This sounds like what I want to do. I have an empty basement just waiting for a project like this.

I'm no purist when it comes to beer brewing at home.

I'll always have a "backup pint" handy in case of failure.

If you are interested in keeping bees, you might want to brew the drink of kings:

Mead

I switched to this from beers, I made of everything that can ferment. I come from the land of 800 beers and have brewed quite a variety because where I am at now beer is expensive (like between $1.50 and $3.00 a bottle/per case)

I like beers of high fermentation, up to 12 % volume. What the monks used to brew.

But the mead is super, like an angel that p**s on your tongue (in heaven)

The process is very simple, but it takes about 6 weeks before bottling and them it becomes better every year like the best wines.

If you want to try making mead, I recommend this recipe:

http://www.winepress.us/forums/index.php?/topic/6114-a-quick-mead-joes-ancient-orange-and-spice/

I've done a dozen or so batches of it, and have two medals and a best of show.

The only time I tried home brewing, racking into bottles was a real PITA. Whatever ale I was making came out so-so. If I do it again, I might look into growler-sized containers.

I've been making cider as there are lots of apple trees along the cycle tracks near us.
As I've bottled it up, I thought... hmmm empty demijohn... just taken the pears off our two pear trees.
So I used the damaged fruit and some yeasty cider dregs plus sugar and it's now fermenting.

then I noticed the remainder of the rhubarb which would go to waste...You get the idea.

I won't know if it's any good for a long time....

The thing I like is there's very little arseing about with chemicals and stuff. Especially the cider that was pure apple juice, nothing added

So Cider and wines may be a way to get a taster.

But if it's beer you fancy have a go. Like you say, go small scale and if you want to do more slowly expand keeping your eyes open for equipment you can find make steal borrow or get cheap.

It's all to easy to throw a load of money at things and then the interest wanes (I call those people "Cheque book hobbyists")

Be sure to PM me a pint

Del

PS. I noticed hops growing the the hedgerow near us so maybe....

Hmmmm....I wonder if that's a UK thing? I once worked with a fellow from the UK and he brewed up "wine" from damn near anything that would ferment! I went to his apartment once and it had the greatest fruity smell, and there were tubs of fermenting things everywhere...his Apple wine was really nice!

Lyn, I had a neighbor that brewed his own beer ,and it was quite good after he perfected the technique. He had one particular batch that he made using maple sap rather than water...about blew my head off!

Yes, it is easy, and a lot of fun, but there are things to learn along the way, and little things can make a big difference. The main things to be careful about are cleanliness and temperatures. There are more things that can go wrong when you are brewing from scratch, and nobody likes to waste a batch, so it might be best to start out with kits (you can still make a decent beer from a kit) and move on from there.

I started out at a young age on wines, beers and all sorts of concoctions, armed with a recipe book from the 1920s or 30s (wish I still had it!) choc-a-bloc full of interesting brews such as 'Cock Ale' and 'Honey Botchard'. I started brewing from scratch shortly after I moved back to Canada in 1981, when it seemed it was the only way I could get a decent beer. In my first attempt at mashing, I literally overcooked it in my attempt to extract as much maltose as possible, and ended up with starch haze, which is impossible to clear.

Happy memories, perhaps I'll take it up again when I retire.

Just make sure only One guy puts the yeast in!

...and make sure you keep track of how much sugar you add, lest you get a phone call and forget, thusly making the batch either totally flat or totally nuclear. I've never had a flat batch, but I've had a few go nuclear on me....like back away slowly on tiptoe, skull and crossbones nuclear.

So, I guess this isn't a "let's brew up a batch of stout for the party next weekend" kind of project.

It'll have to wait for the little house on the prairie with the basement, when I have all summer.

Obviously, I need to do a lot of research but it doesn't sound like brain surgery either.

Thanks for the help and informative responses.

Lyn, it's more like "The batch of stout I brewed is ready! Let's have a party next weekend!"

If you start with a kit it should go quite well. #1 is cleanliness # 2 is the same. Basements have mold and other nasty things. Temperature is critical up to a degree and washing the bottles is by far the worst. My son when he was in college and renting a house with 3 other gents one of which did the brewing made great beer. They had a refrigerator with a tap on the side and this eliminated the bottle washing and I thought at the time the I missed out on a lot of good times.

Get the kit and keep everything clean the brew people also have proper disinfectant for brewing beer and wine. Use it.

I have made several batches of beer over the years and I must agree with most of the comments made......

Cleanliness!!! A friend of mine has a small winery and I think he spends 85% of his time cleaning. Bottles can be tedious, but very important they be clean.

Recipe planning!! I started with malt/hops in a can, boil and add yeast. Simple but it was a good stepping stone to the next level. A book I used to learn to make better beer (never got to the purist grain mash thing) was Charlie Papazian http://www.amazon.com/Complete-Joy-Homebrewing-Fourth-Revised/dp/0062215752/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1413258065&sr=1-1&keywords=charlie+papazian

Patience! Try something and take precise notes! Times, measurements, etc. Then try again.

I actually stopped brewing because the last couple batches would cause my throat to tighten up after 2-3 bottles. I knew I had a shellfish allergy, then I spoke to a brewer in a pub and he said a material (irish moss) used to gather particles and drop them to the bottom (fining) was made from seaweed that may have shellfish material.

May have to crank up the brew-pot again - without irish moss!!

I used to do it - at best it was superb, better than anything available in the pub, at worst it gave me a hangover where suicide was the best option but I didn't have the strength. Best was using separate ingredients, worst was using ready made kits.

Rather than bottles I used a pressurised beer sphere which meant only one container to clean. The 'problem' with a bulk supply was a tendency to drink more.

My grandfather was a seasoned beer drinker and I made 5 gallons for him once, he was back for more after only 4 days. Supply couldn't keep up with demand!

• Hello Lyn
• Cheers from Scotland.
• I too like stout, but I couldn`t manage 5 gallons at a time!
• Don.
  

Homebrewing has come a long way in recent years. The best intro is to walk into a local homebrew meeting with an empty glass. I don't know of any local clubs on Trantor, but the folks at the galactic library should be able to help you find one. I recommend a brewing forum, like:

http://www.homebrewtalk.com/forum.php

Partial grain kits are fairly easy. An initial investment of less than a hundred dollars should get you started. The kits start at about $25. Once you get serious and go full grain, the cost lowers.

As many have already said, cleanliness is the most important thing.

You can make some pretty decent brew at home nowadays. You won't save any money, but the bragging rights are nice. Homebrewers also experiment a lot.

(If you like wine, wine kits are a definite money saver. You can make some kit wine for about $4 a bottle that rival commercial wines that are four times that.)

Hi Lyn,

Many years back, when broke in the early days of marriage, we made our own beer & wine from many different ingredients. For beer, I used recipes from a book by a guy called Dave Line who had adapted the recipes for the big brand beers,Guinness, Newcastle Brown Ale etc., to make smaller home size batches. I believe it's still available. My latest project is using these kits : www.moonshinedrinks.co.uk/

I brought a couple from Scotland back to my new home in Brazil to test. The first is still in the fermentation process. Hope to start tasting in about a week.

An earlier poster mentioned the plastic cubes? Maybe easier than washing bottles!

Lyn, I am at the same point of you and to learn more on ''how to make beer'' I subscribe to : '' Brew Your Own '' magazine and I found nice receipe and the way to brew my own beer. type : byo on google and you will find the link to the magazine. I hope this help !

Pops7

Lyn,

5 gallons is a perfect batch for any starter. Certainly Mr. Beer might be the easiest method. A turkey cooker for the heat is excellent and cooling to the proper temperature so as not to kill the yeast is extremely important.

You can spend as little at 50$ for Equipment on the first batch, to whatever floats your boat. My boat takes about 20 gallons a summer. Mostly IPA's, Cream Ales and Stouts. All have been winners.

It is a lot of fun to do the brewing and I suggest you check with a local craft supply store. That's what I do. I buy the complete kit which includes everything you need to brew the beer of your choice, less equipment. Depending on flavors about 40$ or less for the beer of choice. They also have all the necessary gear and most importantly they are honest and tell you up front what you need to do. All the knowledge you will need is there. Listen to them!! Home Depot should be so prepared.

Keep in mind that WATER is important and Water from a well like mine, can taste like Iron. I do not need to take any Geritol after a batch like that. Many brewers will say that adds to the flavor, A matter of Choice I say. Your water may be ok. If not then Bottled water will work fine. Thats what I do now.

Have fun and don"t try to push the envelope. With time comes wisdom and better beer!

If you want to start slow and see if you've got a nack for it, there are some 'home brewing kits' that are relatively inexpensive and easy to work with, one I tries was the Mr. Beer kit (First tried it with the 'Mr. Root Beer Kit' they sell, then a little research showed that 'Mr. Root Beer' was part of 'Mr. Beer,' guess they wanted to keep the kids from knowing that their 'carbonate your own rood beer' kit came from the same guys that make the harder stuff) and so I've been trying my hand at hard ciders. Not really a beer guy myself, sorry, but I just never could get the taste for it.

You might also want to look into the local 'hackerspaces'/'makerspaces' for help. They may have a Home Brewing community you can tap into for advice, support, and camaraderie. (The hackerspace near me has a home brew community that built their own microbrew facility in the workshop. The lounge is kind of funny, sodas are a buck each (pay on the honor system) but beer is free. If we charged for the beer, we'd need a liquor license, but there's no problem with just handing it out. Guess the liquor laws are more about tax money than actual regulation of the flow of booze.

Here in Oregon they have homebrew establishments that allow you to come in, pick a select beer from their menu and then brew and bottle it there. It's fairly cheap, and a great way to learn to brew.

I am not a beer maker, so I only know a little:

(1) Trappist monks recycle bottles of their best ales over and over, but they use a decidely precise cleaning, inspection, and sterilization of the re-use bottles. Heat is a good thing here, I suggest boiling up your bottles in a steam canner/cooker (carefully).

(2) If you can get your hands on the Trappist monk Chimay, there may actually be some yeast still active in the beverage, since the second fermentation that brings the alcohol content to about 7% is done in the bottles. That, if carefully cultured might be the very best yeast one could have, as this one is fairly tolerant to alcohol.

(3) You can pick up lots of helpful information on getting the best possible results in producing the wort. Note that there are quite a few additives including molasses that may help produce a more full-bodied stout.

(4)Temperature control in every step, and believe it or not oxygen addition in the first fermentation is actually desired to keep the yeasts happy and respiring well. Too little oxygen slows down fermentation too much, and too much oxygen will result in an acidic brew, I think. Also this can lead to problems with other off putting flavors, such as diacetyl (like articifial butter flavoring used on cheap popcorn), or stale socks. Do not use air for oxygen introduction, since this actually causes a problem with nitrogen solubility, and air is 80% nitrogen, even though this is less soluble than oxygen. I would recommend using 3% hydrogen peroxide, with an iron catalyst (in separate vessel, to product oxygen that could be introduced to the wort in a sort-of controlled manner. No oxygen is added during final cold processing, and certainly not desired in the second fermentation in bottle.

http://www.professorbeer.com/articles/oxidative_staling_beer.html

I have not brewed beer but in the Navy we diverted grapes during an underway replenishment that were intended for the officer's mess, put the grapes in a 5 gallon water jug, smashed them with a broom handle, added sugar and water, put a rubber glove over the top, hid the whole thing in a locker until the glove expanded then deflated. Then we got drunk.

That's about the level of complexity I'm after with my brews
Simplicity at it's finest.
Del

That's the Navy for you.

Seaman 1, "hey sailor, throw a big wrench up to me."

Seaman 2, "OK, what size?"

Seaman 1, "don't matter. I'm gonna use it like a hammer anyway".

In that case, here's the adjustable.

I have brewed several batches of beer from extract. This is where most people start and you can brew some really good beer. I just brewed my first all grain batch last weekend and it didn't go as planned, but we still made beer.

Brewing a batch of extract beer will take about 3-4 hours. This includes getting all your equipment ready, the boil, and cleanup. This process is to create the wort. You then ferment the wort into beer. Fermentation can take anywhere from 2 weeks to 6 weeks with some exceptions. The beautiful thing about brewing beer is that as long as you keep your equipment clean and yes, there are temperatures to look for, you will get beer, it will just taste different, not bad, different. A lot of the precision is necessary to create consistent beer. If you are not worried about that you can really relax.

It's not overly complicated. It can get there, but it really doesn't need to be. Don't get intimidated, just go through the basics. I just did a stout, it's really easy. I would not go with one of those kits I saw at Sears, go to a Homebrew shop or Homebrew online. Look at their kits but then go to Creigslist or e-bay. A lot of people do this a little while and want out. A lot of the equipment is fine used.

Good luck!

I had an uncle that had brewing down to a science. He had a room set up in his cellar with shelves around the interior walls. He had enough bottles to line up 3/4 around the room. He would Brew a batch in a crock pot with about 30 gal. capacity. you drink around the room emptying the filled bottles and refilling them with new brew. The empty part of shelves worked around the room. The "new" brew was drinkable by the time you got to it. Unfortunately, he is no longer with us and I didn't have the nerve to ask for the equipment he used due to his family. Best beer I have ever tasted to this day!

Not a thing wrong with kit beers, except buy some fresh hops separately to spruce up the brew. The hops in kits may be stale, but the malt is good to go, so why put yourself through the business of making it? Unless of course you want to experience beer in a spiritual on my knees before the god of hard work and scratch kind of way....

Kit wines are garbage IMO you can do much better even with berries and the right process and recipe. But kit beer is easy and good, with the caveat of fresh hops.

I haven't brewed in years, but a friend of mine told me the latest brew shop will take your bottles to recycle, and supply you with fresh, machine sterilized ones.... yes! If we have it in Newfoundland I'd be shocked if you didn't have the same service in a big American city.

It'll be years before I have the time, and access to a basement, to brew beer.

But, someday................................................

Don't put it off!!!! If you do you may never come back!

Do it, once you are started it all works out!!

Relax Don't Worry, Have a Home Brew

A phrase coined by Charlie Papazian in The Complete Joy of Homebrewing.

Can't do it now.

No time, no room.

We have from 3 to 8 kids running through here at any time.

It'll have to wait till I can spend summers in the house up north with the basement.

I've never done any home brewing, never needed to with my collection of friends. They make everything you can think of, from beer and ale to mead to stuff like lemoncello! That said, imy favorite beer was Watney's Red Barrel which is no longer brewed. If somebody can point me toward a recipe that copies it I just might try my hand.

Meanwhile Lyn, Good luck with your brewing,

Thanks.

I'm looking ahead to the time when I'm retired and have the room to brew in our basement in Minn.

We're still working in Arizona and can't leave yet.

Someday...................................