You can avoid the problem of blowing up the carboy by using a blow-off tube during primary fermentation instead of an airlock, or rather, as an airlock. Basically you use a large diameter silicon tube that fits snugly into the neck of the carboy and put the other end into a bucket filled with water - or whatever fluid you fill your airlock with. The large diameter tube is much less likely to clog than the airlock and allows the krausen to overflow if necessary.
ya, blow off is real cool. But there is something about rolling the dice to see how full you can pack the carboy without the risk of a geyser. 
Wow. I guess I did the right thing by reading the forum at Northern Brewer and reading up on other peoples’ horror stories before I began brewing, because I’ve had a relatively mess-free time of it.
mmm… lambic… I’ve gotta try making some of that…
Not really a mess, but I did once make a cyser (mead made with apple juice rather than water) that came out to about 13% alcohol. I had three 12 oz. bottles one night, and then did the math. That’s like having nine bottles of beer.
In an hour and a half.
Never again.
No real horror storys yet here, either, with the exception of getting into my first batch after only 2 weeks in the bottle. A little “green” and very strong! Got so hammered…
All these exploding bottle stories have me worried now. I’m glad I built specially designed wooden crates to store my brews. Next batch should start this weekend maybe.
Fagjunk Theology: Not just for sodomite propagandists anymore.
I once made a brown ale recipe from Charlie Papazian’s CJHB. The finished product was very tasty but after a few hours the internal gas that was produced was horrible. The equation went as follows: 6 beer + 2 hours = rancid flatulence.
Well, I kept a case of this devil brew hanging around for a few months until this dinner party I was hosting. My friends new fiancée was very interested in home brewing and was asking me thousands of questions as well as hounding me for some samples. The only brew I had was the brown ale so I told him to help himself (I forgot to warn him about the side effects (-: ). The evening was a success and everyone went home happy. The next year I bumped into my friend and she proceeded to give me shit for poisoning her poor fiancée. They had slept at a relatives house that party evening and the fiancée began to realize the side effects shortly after going to bed. She said the odor was unbearable and permeated the entire room for two days. She broke up with the guy not long after that.
Ah yes, flatulence. Homebrew is typically not filtered, therefore it has live yeast in it. Consume enough and you get yeast doing their magic in your digestive tract - one of the side effects is production of CO[sub]2[/sub]. The gas has to go somewhere.
Homebrew,
I worked for a home brew retail shop for 7 years during the late 80’s and 90’s. The hobby was very popular for about five years and then slowly died out. What is the health of the hobby in Texas today?
Like in most places, the hobby peaked in Texas a few years ago and has since declined some in popularity. However, there are several very active clubs in the major metro areas. These clubs are quite competitive with each others and other clubs throughout the South and Southeast.
The big competition is for the Gulf Coast Homebrew Club of the Year which involves the Gulf Coast Circuit of competitions. The circuit is made up of the Dixie Cup, hosted by the Houston Foam Rangers; The Bluebonnet, hosted by Dallas’ North Texas Homebrewer’s Association; The Crescent City Challenge, hosted by New Orleans-based Crescent City Homebrewers; and the Sunshine Challenge, hosted by - I think - the Central Florida Home Brewers of Orlando.
Another big club is the Covert Hops Society in Atlanta, Ga. Their annual Peach State Brewoff usually attracts a healthy number of entries.
In short, homebrewing is alive and well, but not as “hot” as it was a few years ago.
It’s doing fairly well here in the Twin Cities, too, and apparently a bunch of people nationwide order from my local brew supply store (www.northernbrewer.com). We also have a lot of brew-your-own pubs and places, and it’s becoming a big team-building night out for startup companies with people fresh out of college to go out and brew a big batch of beer together…
As I told Homebrew in a recent email, I just got into homebrewing myself. I read extensively on the subject before attempting to actually brew, and it paid off. I also got very good help & advice from my local homebrew shop here in Orlando.
I brewed a partial mash English Brown Ale, and it turned out (IMHO) rather well. My only concern is that the recipe called for too much (Fuggles) hops, and since my favorite commercial beer is Newcastle Brown Ale, that makes sense. I had one “oh shit” during the brewing process, which is that while rinsing my carboy after sanitization, the outside of the neck cracked. I cut my hand a little, but that was the extent of the damage. The homebrew shop even offered to replace the carboy for me, which I thought was very decent of them.
Next up I plan to brew a wheat beer from a recipe called Cream Of Wheat Beer - any feedback in advance from the more experienced brewers is welcome!
Mars
the novice brewer
and expert drinker!
Mars sounds like you’re doing great. In the past I would plan out the brew day, lay out the equipment etc. etc. The best thing I can think of is to measure out everything the night before (hops, grains etc). Saves some time on the brew day. I also learned to relax and throw stuff into pot, boil, cool, pitch yeast and clean up. I have yet to go all grain but I did do a partial mash with oats that took a long time to mash/strain and working with real pumpkin is messy.
That looks like a good recipe, Mars. With the added honey, it’s going to have lots of sugar for the yeast to consume. Be sure to give it plenty of time in the secondary before bottling.
Tried making rootbeer a few summers ago. Man, what a disaster. Something went wrong in the fermenation process, because the rootbeer was barely carbonated, and RIDDLED with sulfur. That stuff smelled sooooo bad! :eek: I mean you take the cap off the bottle and your eyes are watering. I wouldnt be surprised if I made some sort of potent homemade bomb or malodorant because that stuff was NASTY