Nah. I’m not interested in mead, lambics, or cherry porters. The closest I get to fruity beers is Witbier. I want a nice ESB. That’s it.
Anyhow, I went to the library, but unfortunately I didn’t bring my list of books along, so I ended up with Homebrewing for Dummies and some hardcover scientific treatise on homebrewing (I mean, it was a good text, but far too technical with all the chemical reactions going on. That certainly would have interested me in high school, when I was a science geek, but for now I just want to drink.)
All I gotta do is figure out a good homebrewing supply store in the Chicagoland area. (Preferably in the city or south suburbs.) Also, I noticed that the Beverly Arts center in Chicago has a homebrewing class for $80, which I may just investigate. However, I prefer teaching myself so I’ll probably skip out on that.
I think it’ll be a couple of weeks before I start buying supplies, but I’m pretty sure I’ll go ahead with it.
I’ve done it. I went out and shelled out about $130 on supplies and my first batch of brewing ingrediens. The recipe was for some sort of ad hoc pale ale that the guy at the shop came up for me, given my level and taste preferences. We got some cracked Crystal malt, some liquid extract (Cooper’s Real Ale), some plain white malt dry extract, Kent Goldings hops for the flavoring and finishing, and some Cascade for a final hopping during the secondary fermentation. Also, some English liquid yeast.
I sure as hell hope I followed the directions correctly.
At any rate, the resulting liquid does smell like beer, so that’s a good start. I added my yeast when the wort cooled down to about 65-70, so that should be good. Now it’s in the primary fermenter and the waiting begins…
oh man, wish I’d seen this earlier. I’m the king of the cheap starter (by necessity not choice). Pulykamel - sounds like you’re going good.
FYI, Easiest thing to do is use a plastic 5 gallon carboy that bottled water comes in. Jam in a rubber cork and plastic airlock and you’ve got a disposable fermenter. Siphon tube, bottle capper, hop bag and basic kitchen utensils and you are good to go. (I’ve brewed in many places where there are no homebrew supply stores and it was illegal to import equipment or supplies. I’ve probably done 100 batches with a plastic carboy.)
Easiest first batch is to buy a kit can, and get the homebrew store to recommend a hop. Add in two pounds of extra malt or honey, boil the hops, and pour it into the plastic carboy. Let sit two weeks, add bottling sugar and bottle. Wait two more weeks and drink. I usually start the yeast the night before in a beer bottle with some malt or honey and an airlock, then when the wort has cooled just pitch and full fermentation starts quickly and blocks out wild yeast.
Purists may sneer, but IMHO this is the easiest way to get a pretty tasty homebrew. Most people then quit using the kits and do it all from scratch. Then you start playing with adjunct grains or go to all grain.
IMHO, using crystal malt really helps make a great beer. For a shortcut, adding some dextrine malt provides some of the benefits of crystal malt.
You’ll do fine. Sounds like a good starter ale you’ve got going. Remember, there are no known human pathogens that can live in beer, so the only way you can kill somebody with it is to hit them over the head with the bottle!
I have made some wonderful beers with cans of malt and adjuct grains. Crystal malt is your friend. Keep us informed as to how it tastes.
The only thing that has me puzzled now, is that the 3-part airlock on my lid seems to be somehow be losing water. I fill it halfway with water; there’s a tight seal from what I can tell, but after a few hours go by, I can definitely tell the water level has gone down. This isn’t right, is it?
Are you getting a vigorous bubbling? Is there any gunk in the airlock? If you’ve got gunk in the airlock the krausen (the foam on the top) may have bubbled up into it and pushed some of the water through the lid. Just add some pure grain alcohol to the airlock. It should be okay as long as the airlock doesn’t get dry.
No bubbling yet. The air lock seems to have settled. There’s no crazy water evaporation happening now. Anyhow, my instructions here say that bubbling should begin in 1-2 days, so I still have some time to see if all systems are go.
Actually, if you look in the Sam Adams Brewmaster’s Collection 12-packs, Scotch Ale can be found in there (I bought it for the Black Lager, but it was just a bit too sweet to be a good schwarzbier).
Today, I bottled my specialty grain/extract weizenbock and it ended up at 8.4% (living in a 6% state, making small beers just aren’t as fun). It’s definitely a lot of work (released my imperial-ish Oatmeal Stout yesterday, and got to mention “how I sweated over a hot stove making beer for all of you” :D) but I’ve never regretted my investment (went a little bigger since it was a Christmas present, so spent over $150 at the homebrew store including ingredients, and probably 70 since).
I think once I do a few more batches and learn a bit more about my stove and just what setting serves as a temperature rest, I’ll definitely be interested in doing a mini-mash (and if I can ever find a gas stove I want to all-grain!!)
[B}pulykamell[/B}, welcome to the obsession! As the old saying goes, give a man a beer and he wastes an hour, teach him to brew and he wastes a lifetime.
Sounds like your first brew is off to a good start. I’m sure that once you trythe finished product you’ll be hooked on the hobby.
Is your fermenter a plastic bucket or a glass carboy? If it’s a bucket sometimes there is no bubbling in the airlock because the lid is not sealed tightly.
beergeek we should try and work something like that out, or at least an exchange of homebrews.
Plastic bucket. Lid seems to be sealed okay to me. Gently pushing on the top of the lid causes the air lock to bubble. The recipe specifically said 1-2 days for fermentation to start, so I’m not going to start worrying yet.
This is why is it always a good idea to start your yeast a day or two ahead. That way you get a goodly amount to pitch, and fermentation can start immediately. This lag time is the most dangerous for your beer, because until the yeast can dominate, your wort is liable to all sorts of contamination by wild yeasts and bacteria.
This is what I hear. I used liquid yeast, and there was nothing in the recipe about propagating it beforehand. The test tube itself said to shake and simply pitch it into the wort. No need for propgation. It said something to the effect of “if you like, you can make a 1 pint starter.” If nothing happens by tomorrow afternoon, I’ll try pitching more yeast…assuming that no bacteria have invaded and set up camp in my beer.
And if they have, hey…not a problem. We’ll just try again.
www.austinhomebrew.com is an awsome place to get stuff.
Bottling sucks. I now use plastic 2 liter soda bottles and “Swing Top” glass bottles. They work fine.
Experiment with “Dry Hopping”. You can get some real ‘interesting’ brews.
Wives don’t like the smell of boiling wort.
Honey is your friend.*
I make a starter anyway, even when it says not to bother. It gets the beer going faster - hey, I’m impatient - and helps a lot when you’re making a high-gravity beer as well.
