Official Home-brew Thread

[Dermeister3]

I almost forgot about this thread. Funny how the day before I brew it gets posted in lol.

This will be my second batch. First batch is in the bottle as of 3 days ago. Undergoing carbonation as I type this. I'm hoping for the best. I have some pics from the bottling.

Up tomorrow will be a dry stout, probably something similar to the oatmeal stout posted by killacam. Then after that I'm doing a Sierra Nevada Celebration clone. Really excited to go for round 2 now that I know wtf im doing lol.

[Dermeister3]

Me Bottling:


My brother in law helping cap


The cases of 22 oz bottles

[Nick325is]

I've been brewing for a couple years now. Got my starter kit from Northern Brewer and have been very happy with it. I'm in the process of moving but once I get settled I'm going to try to get into partial mash and then all grain brewing.

Glad I saw this thread. It's got me motivated to start another batch soon!

[Gasturbine]

I dont drink much beer...Ill have one or two cutting the grass on a hot day, or have a nice rich dark one with a BBQ or pizza meal, but I keep my garage fridge full for friends and family. Im on like my 5th batch now. My first was an east coast Pale Ale...it was delish!

[NigelStu]

I scored a home brew kit for Christmas :D

1st batch was a slightly modified Irish Stout - added some coffe at the end of the boil - 3/4 cup Caribou Coffee Obsidian. Yesterday I opened up the first bottle, after conditioning for 1 week. Light drinking, nice and dark color (another one that is hard to see through), good flavor with a nice amount of coffee notes to it. I think it needs a few more weeks in the bottles to mellow a bit, but I'm pretty happy with it being my first.

A couple shots from the bottling day. That krauesen stuff is nasty, moving to a 5 gal carboy with blow-off tube for 2nd batch.



2 of the 3 growlers are clear bottles. And look very similar to all the brown bottles... nice dark beer :)


Last night I started my 2nd batch (another reason why I opened up a beer from the 1st batch - the book told me to!). This one is an American Pale Wheat (Brewer's Best kit) that I added in a small (333g) bottle of agave at start of boil to bring the OG up. Measured at 1.074 right before pitching the yeast. Should be a nice strong, slightly hoppy wheat! It is a gorgeous golden color in the carboy, fermenting away.

And here's a shot of my super simple, not nearly enough room setup for the boil. Complete with a glass of the stout I made.




As part of my gift, I scored the "Joy of Home brewing" - excellent read for those who have not read it yet. Lots of great info, a bunch of delicious sounding recipes and some humor.

[Dermeister3]

^ that looks awesome! Similar to what I have as well.

I'm brewing in a few hours. Will take lots of pics and such.

i really want to look into kegging my beer. Having like 3 batches on a tap handle in my house would be beyond epic.

[Dermeister3]

Brewed a stout today! Excited for 2 weeks from now :)

Some pics:











And the beer I was drinking during:

[LEANE30]

I've been assisting others and using their equipment for sporadic batches for a few years, i finally got a couple carboys of my own two weeks ago and started off with an experiment brew that is in the secondary now. It is a 4 gallon small Scottish ale that i pasteurized. Before any of you start flaming the no-boil approach, this is an experiment. I'm just as curious as you all as to what exactly will go wrong when you break the "rules" hence it being a cheap small beer for the trial.

[Dermeister3]

I've been assisting others and using their equipment for sporadic batches for a few years, i finally got a couple carboys of my own two weeks ago and started off with an experiment brew that is in the secondary now. It is a 4 gallon small Scottish ale that i pasteurized. Before any of you start flaming the no-boil approach, this is an experiment. I'm just as curious as you all as to what exactly will go wrong when you break the "rules" hence it being a cheap small beer for the trial.

I dont think anyone would give you trouble for thinking outside the box when homebrewing. Hell, thats what has inspired some of the best beers you can drink today!

Break more rules!

[NigelStu]

2nd batch well under way - upgraded to a glass carboy for fermenting. And of course, sampled one of my first batch brews during the boil - pretty happy with the coffee stout :) Can't wait to see what it tastes like in a few weeks!

This one is an American Pale Wheat - American wheat style with a higher than normal IUB. My experimental aspect of this one was adding in a small jar of Agave nectar (opposed to adding in candied sugar) to bump up the O.G. - measured at 1.074. 6 days in the fermenter so far, still a lot of activity. Very excited to try this one out.

[Jorgen]

I made an IPA about a month or so ago probably a little more than that. It just got kegged out two weeks ago, I will probably test it this week or next week. Attached are pictures of it in secondary where it was dry hopped and also the hops that went into it, all 6 flavors. It tasted pretty good when kegging. I would have to look back but I think this baby is just about 9% give or take a small margin.

[Q5Quint]

Nice- glad I found this.

I've been making mead for about.... 7 years now. A roomate in college showed me how and I have been doing 5 gal batches every few months ever since.

I lived with a fellow that brewed and had a soda-kegging setup but never felt compelled to try it myself yet.

The best beer I ever saw made was a chocolate-coffee stout another friend did in a pot over a fire in the backyard. Dry-hopped a little after the boil and chilled with a homemade copper-coil wart chiller... right into a glass carboy and then sat in a closet for 2 months before kegging. Amazing.

The computer controlled thing is awesome but for a few hundred years I think the pot and fire pit method worked pretty well. We used a similar setup to control our biodiesel processor valve controls here at app. I think it was called 'labview' or something.

I have only had one batch of apple cider go bad~ I didnt boil it so the natural yeast took over and made it taste like barf. Was a real bummer because we hand pressed a truckload of apples to get about 15 gallons~ one i left as juice and it went bad within a week, one i added yeast with no boil and it turned into sour barf water, and one I boiled and added champagne yeast and it was awesome.

I would upload pics but they are boring~ I use 2 ale pales and two 5 gal carboys mainly, with a 7.5 carboy for bigger batches.

[NigelStu]

I was recently told about this little gem.

https://www.beersmith.com

cool little program / recipe book. Easy way to share info as well.

[LEANE30]

Awesome thread btw.
Anyone done wine before? After this batch...which I'm really getting tempted to dry hop... I'm going to make a malbec and try to do a lager simultaneously.

[JTDay]

Nice- glad I found this.

I've been making mead for about.... 7 years now. A roomate in college showed me how and I have been doing 5 gal batches every few months ever since.

I lived with a fellow that brewed and had a soda-kegging setup but never felt compelled to try it myself yet.

The best beer I ever saw made was a chocolate-coffee stout another friend did in a pot over a fire in the backyard. Dry-hopped a little after the boil and chilled with a homemade copper-coil wart chiller... right into a glass carboy and then sat in a closet for 2 months before kegging. Amazing.

The computer controlled thing is awesome but for a few hundred years I think the pot and fire pit method worked pretty well. We used a similar setup to control our biodiesel processor valve controls here at app. I think it was called 'labview' or something.

I have only had one batch of apple cider go bad~ I didnt boil it so the natural yeast took over and made it taste like barf. Was a real bummer because we hand pressed a truckload of apples to get about 15 gallons~ one i left as juice and it went bad within a week, one i added yeast with no boil and it turned into sour barf water, and one I boiled and added champagne yeast and it was awesome.

I would upload pics but they are boring~ I use 2 ale pales and two 5 gal carboys mainly, with a 7.5 carboy for bigger batches.

Idk if you like cysers but I had a cherry cyser the other day that was incredible. It was called zombie killer.

My roommates brewing a black ipa right now. Its about ready for bottle. The floaties on top are wood chips.