# I'm taking the plunge into home brewing **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 8, 2006, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-taking-the-plunge-into-home-brewing/347536 "2006-03-08T14:07:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2006, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-taking-the-plunge-into-home-brewing/347536/101 "2006-03-27T00:48:13Z")
We really need to get shirts made: **The Straight Dope Guild of Brewers** or something. ---
**Author:** ![jweb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/71c47a/32.png) [@jweb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jweb)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2006, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-taking-the-plunge-into-home-brewing/347536/102 "2006-03-27T03:25:09Z")
I’ll take one of those t-shirts when someone gets 'em made. Anyway, I moved my batch over to the secondary yesterday afternoon. It looks good so far (and the sample I tasted seemed pretty promising). It was all I could do to keep myself from going back to the homebrew shop and picking up another batch to start today. A question of my own: I have an autosiphon like **Whammo** mentioned. It seemed to work pretty well, but it seemed like I didn’t quite have a tight seal between the siphon and the hose that i attached to the siphon. Is there any way to make that junction more airtight? ---
**Author:** ![Whammo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8dc957/32.png) [@Whammo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whammo)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2006, 4:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-taking-the-plunge-into-home-brewing/347536/103 "2006-03-27T04:06:19Z")
> [@Eleusis](#): > > Another note on priming sugar vs carb drops: > > When using priming sugar you need to be very careful to get it mixed thoroughly and evenly in the wort. If not, you’ll have a risk of some of your bottles exploding, and others never carbing up. > > That risk disappears with the carb drops. Right on. My kits came with priming sugar but the carb drops dont exactly cost an arm and a leg. I think I will try those. 😃 Last night I racked my MicroBrew Pale Ale knock off to secondary. It doesnt appear to be bubbling at all but it is setteling. Tonight I started my CJ JPA style IPA **Eleusis** recommended. Wow was THAT a fun wort to boil… adding hops ever 15 min. However after chilling I ended up with a wort full of hop gunk… even straining it through a filter strainer I had to do it in small batches and stir it in the filter strainer till the liquid was mostly gone but MAN was there a lot of sediment/gunk. Even though I filtered it I can still see in the primary where it looks to be setteling into a 2 inch or more layer… it was like 6oz of hopps total… lol is this what you have seen with that kit Eleusis… if not do you have recommendations for when I try it again? It seems to be ok… In a newbie mistake I filled it while airating it to the 5 gallon mark, not taking into account the rise of liquid as the foam head settled out… im guessing it ended up at 6 gallons. My final OG ended up at 1.066… sounds good. It seems there was a lot of suspended sediment in it though… how much does that throw off a gravity reading?? ---
**Author:** ![Eleusis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Eleusis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eleusis)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2006, 4:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-taking-the-plunge-into-home-brewing/347536/104 "2006-03-27T04:46:44Z")
Don’t worry about the trub - yeah there’s a bunch there - but that’s normal. I usually get a full spaghetti strainer’s worth. That gravity question might get a better answer in GQ, but I don’t think it’s going to affect anything enough to make any difference. Overshooting the volume, again no big deal… after all the yeast and sediment settle, I wouldn’t be surprised if you’re closer to 5g than you think… you might get a few extra bottles out of the deal. DWRHAHB! 😉 ---
**Author:** ![RancidYakButterTeaParty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/53a042/32.png) [@RancidYakButterTeaParty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RancidYakButterTeaParty)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2006, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-taking-the-plunge-into-home-brewing/347536/105 "2006-03-27T14:34:33Z")
When the official shirts are made, I want one too. I bottled my scotch ale 4 days ago, and can’t wait to taste it. The gravities were all right on, and it tasted pretty darn good before bottling. Waiting three weeks is so painfully hard–good thing I have some of my impy stout left over to keep my happy until then. Looks like this sort of thread might become a regular occurence around here–and that’s a good thing. Keep brewing! ---
**Author:** ![The\_Weird\_One](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7bcc69/32.png) [@The\_Weird\_One](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Weird_One)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2006, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-taking-the-plunge-into-home-brewing/347536/106 "2006-03-27T15:59:09Z")
I wouldn’t mind doing a t-shirt design. What should be on it, though? Cecil holding a big ol’ stein? SDMB - Straight Dope Master Brewers? **Silenius** , if no one else’s taken you up on that offer yet, I will! ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2006, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-taking-the-plunge-into-home-brewing/347536/107 "2006-03-27T16:07:11Z")
You’re on. Let’s see if we can whomp up some designs, then get Cafe Press or something like that to hawk them. Straight Dope Master Brewers…I like that! ---
**Author:** ![GWVet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/65b543/32.png) [@GWVet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GWVet)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2006, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-taking-the-plunge-into-home-brewing/347536/108 "2006-03-27T16:23:17Z")
Cool! Who knew one of my impulse obsessions\* would turn into this! I’m aboard for a T-shirt. - I’m not sure anyone else has these - I tend to take a passing interest in something on a whim and then dive in to my ears:) ---
**Author:** ![RancidYakButterTeaParty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/53a042/32.png) [@RancidYakButterTeaParty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RancidYakButterTeaParty)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2006, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-taking-the-plunge-into-home-brewing/347536/109 "2006-03-27T16:34:35Z")
How about “The Perfect Master Brewers” ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2006, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-taking-the-plunge-into-home-brewing/347536/110 "2006-03-27T16:35:35Z")
OK…a shower has cleared my brain a little. I know a company that makes shirts. As long as we don’t offer them for sale or attempt to profit from the undertaking, I don’t think we violate any copyright laws. I’ll check tomorrow for the rates and get back to everybody. We should be able to get high-quality shirts done for cost+shipping. A rough estimate would be +/-$15. Then when we get a design, **The Weird One** can email it to me, and I’ll get it to the shirt people. Let’s kick this around for a few days and see how many of our fellow brewers want in on it. **SDMB** - “In cyberspace, no-one can hear you belch.” 😃 ---
**Author:** ![The\_Weird\_One](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7bcc69/32.png) [@The\_Weird\_One](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Weird_One)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2006, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-taking-the-plunge-into-home-brewing/347536/111 "2006-03-27T20:09:02Z")
Cool. Do we want to riff on the “Fighting ignorance” line, too? I’m having trouble coming up with one that doesn’t sound awkward. Fighting beer ignorance since 1973 Fighting brewing ignorance since 1973 Fighting ignorant beer since 1973 Fighting ignorant brewing since 1973 Fighting ignorant brewers since 1973 Any other ideas? I’m good with the designy stuff, the words, not so much. ---
**Author:** ![Whammo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8dc957/32.png) [@Whammo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whammo)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2006, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-taking-the-plunge-into-home-brewing/347536/112 "2006-03-28T03:35:43Z")
Mmmm… the IPA I brewed last night is now bubbling away at a nice rate! The KC Pale Ale I racked to secondary yesterday is doing nothing as far as the air lock is concerned… its settling slowly though… starting to become clear. As far as T-Shirts go… yeah I’ll buy one but im a kind of a big guy and the average xxl doesnt fit… so if there was a way to go cafe press I would definatly get a ballcap and an apron or something… lol. Then one day of course after we have so many people… yeah an SD brew member dopefest and brewshare… awww yeah. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-taking-the-plunge-into-home-brewing/347536.md?page=5)