Home brew beer (Page 2)

Yeah, it was mentioned, but it's worth mentioning again since it was told to ME tons of times.

Sanitation, sanitation, sanitation.  Then sanitize...

You can be a little sloppy with wine - even then, I'm careful and never lost a batch, but beer has far less room for error.

Sometimes I use bleach to remove labels...depends how long the bottles have been sitting and whether they are starting to get fuzzy or not.

But no matter what I use they still end up going through my dishwasher on the sanitize cycle!

Dang, this thread got me all worked up!  I'm so jealous of the OP!  Maybe I can drop a hint to my wife for a kit - she has a hard time shopping for me.  I even shopped a bit online for some ideas!

I may even have to bust out the wine making gear now that it's not hot.  This is not the best climate for making wine - too hot to age properly.  But beer would be perfect and LOTS faster.

Great advice and suggestions from everyone. 

I really enjoy my brewing and the liquid goodness.  One thing to mention is that if you think your going to save money by brewing rather than buying.  That is not true.  I don't want to consider the costs of equipment and everything over the years. 

dang, I'm thirsty and still have an hour left at work.

two words... DO IT.  Vegas has a nice club and homebrew shop near UNLV.  (or at least they did when I lived there)  Ill help answer brewing questions if you help with my wine questions.

x 2 on The Complete Joy of Homebrewing - Charles Papazain

I also recommend keeping a journal or notes on your recipes.  I never could remember the little changes I made from batch to batch.  Hence, I could never repeat that 'perfect' beer.

Like everyone has said so far, be sure to sanitize!  I like StarSan but have used bleach in a pinch.  I usually stay away from bleach just because it leaves a smell in whatever you have sanitized.  I've heard it doesn't effect the flavor, but I'm not so sure about that. 

For cleaners, but PBW (powdered brewery wash, I think).  It is worth every penny.  Hot water and a couple scoops of this will clean even the nastiest stuff of the fermenters and carboys, no elbow grease required.  It also works well to take the labels or mold off the old bottles.

Until you are comfortable in creating your own recipies and buying ingredients I would go with Midwest Supplies.  They have TONS of extract kits online that you can buy for $30-$40 and they come out great!  I would recommend not paying for the liquid yeast or Wyeast starters and just buy them at the local brew mart.  They don't really travel that well!

As far as bottles, I've found the one's with longer necks are the easiest to cap.  Some of the smaller bottles (like Sierra Nevada) don't work with all bottle cappers. 

I really shouldn't have gluten anymore so I definitely haven't been brewing beer...but I think I have a wine kit just waiting to be made into goodness.  This is a good time of year for wine...and I do love my house to be frigid inside so it stores well.

I guess that's another tip...if you like it COLD you need to raise the heat or your beer won't turn into beer very quickly!  Yeasties like to be WARM. :D

Not intending to hijack...  Well, maybe a little.

For those familiar with wine AND beer making.  I have an extensive wine making setup, so I'm wondering if there is much more I would need for beer making?

I have the carboys, tubing, mixing drums, airlocks, hydrometers, etc.  I'm thinking I need something a bit more stout for an actual fermentation container.  In wine, primary fermentation is basically in a bucket with plastic wrap over it.  Then moves to a carboy with a pretty simple air release valve as you don't want any carbonation.

I may not get a whole kit, but some missing pieces.  I guess I could internet search tonight!

Just takes a lot more time.  A decent secondary fermentation is AT LEAST 3 months, but I prefer 6.  With 3-4 rackings.  I like mine as clear as I can get it (without the added effort of filtering).  That secondary fermentation is best around 70 degrees.  Can't do that in Vegas for 6 months (MAYBE if I got it going in mid Nov and hope to get done by April).  In Denver, it worked great!  Just kept it in my basement.  The primary needs to be warm, so I put my primary on a heating pad you get at Walgreens set on low.

I have looked into getting a wine fridge, take out the shelves, and hope a 5 gal carboy would fit in it for temp control those 6 months.

I prefer plastic buckets with LIDS...less likely for a bunch of air to get in.  The buckets have lids that have a space for that same air release valve setup you already have.  You use the same plastic bucket for primary for beer as you do for wine.

Beer is typically brewed in a 5 gallon carboy vs the 6 gallon you probably have for wine...you could use the 6 gallon if you wanted, you'd just have a lot of empty space at the top.  Carboys are cheap(ish) though, so you might just want to get the 5 gallon carboy.  Same thing maybe with the 5 gal v. 6 gal for the bucket though...the beer bucket is typically 5 gal and the wine bucket is usually 6.

But EVERYTHING else transfers over just fine...tubing, release valves, etc. etc.

Yeah, in the winter my house gets down to 50 before I break down and turn on the heat. :D  Not much ferments well at that temp. :D

I think you are probably fine with what you have.  I do all fermentation in carboys. If it has high initial gravity I may use the lid for my racking cane with a blow-off tube with the other end submerged in a bucket of water since they like to overflow into the normal airlock.  Other than that I use a $60 turkey fryer set from Home Depot to do all the cooking.  I figured it would work fine since it has the high output burner and large 8 gal pot.  So far it has worked great!

Nice to know!  I have a turkey fryer too and need something else to use it for.  Plus the using the tubing in a bucket of water is a perfect, non technical, non EXPENSIVE solution.  Perfect.  Sound like except for the ingredients, bottles, caps and capper, I'm set.

Easy fix!  Hit up Costco; 2 cases of the kirkland brand beer (~$20 per case) and you have enough bottles for 1 batch.  Caps run like $5 per gross (I think that is 144 caps), and a capper is like another $15. 

So about $60 in equipment and you are set to go!  All you need is ingredients, plus emptying the bottles which is generally pretty enjoyable!

I really had no idea the collection had gotten that large.  I'd just kept piling them in the closet, ya know?  I knew before I moved that I HAD to cull it down...I thought about trying to sell them...and I think I did put them on Craiglist once....but no one bit.  I mean, they are a buck apiece at a homebrew store...I was selling them for like a buck per SIX PACK and couldn't get a taker.

Oh well.

Perfect!  I have a 6 and 2 5's...  I'm hoping the reference book everyone suggested is on Kindle.  I want to buy it today.

SO, any decent recipes people have made?  I think my wife would LOVE a christmas type brew.  She tends to like blondes, and I'm a stout guy.  But we can meet in the middle with some decent IPA's and ales.

Don't use the 5's for primary with an airlock.  The krausen will very likely clog the airlock, pressure will build, the airlock will blow off, and the wort/beer will geyser all over the place.  My brother made that mistake and ended up with beer on the ceiling.  The 5's will work great for secondary fermentation though and allow you get a pipeline of beer going: some beer in primary, some in secondary, some conditioning in the bottle, and some ready to drink.

As for recipes, I'm still working through Austin Homebrew's fantastic selection of in house recipes.

Ones I've made: Kolsch, Texas Blonde, Double Chocolate Stout, Honey Hibiscus Wit (pink beer!), Imperial Agave Wit, Rose Hip Golden Ale, Texas Red, Flanders Brown Ale, Vanilla Porter, Irish Red Ale, Crisp Rye Ale, Scottish Heavy.

That's only scratching the surface of their recipes.  Some I still want to try: Smokin' Hot Blonde (flavored with chipotle pepppers!),  Christmas Day Black IPA, and more.  They also have HUNDREDS of commercial beer clone recipes.

The Costco beer does come in real bottles (read as non-twist off) and it is actually pretty good too!