Any homebrewers out there? Let us know what's currently fermenting in the pot.
Mother's in the kitchen washing out the jugs,
Sister's in the pantry bottling the suds,
Father's in the cellar mixin' up the hops,
Johnny's on the front porch watchin' for the cops.
Here's what I've got in the basement right now:
OG: 1.040 / Ready: 6 weeks
Suitable for beginners
Irish ales are malty, smooth, and many, like our kit, are a rich copper-red color. This Irish Red Ale is our attempt to improve upon some domestic versions. Our Irish Red is colored by a blend of specialty malts. Its great taste, drinkability, and low aging requirements make this our best-selling kit.
6 lbs. Gold Malt Syrup
1/2 lb. Dingemans Caramel Pilsner
1/4 lb. US Special Roast
1/8 lb. Dingemans Biscuit Malt
1/8 lb. UK Chocolate Malt
1 oz. Northern Brewer (60 min)
1 oz. Willamette (1-2 min)
Wyeast American Ale II #1272
Available in kit form from http://www.northernbrewer.com/
Cool Frosti. I don't like beer but everytime I go by that store on Grand I want to go in and have a look around.
Update. The Irish Red was bottled last weekend, should be ready to go this coming weekend for the first taste test!
Ye gods. This guy built a walk-in cooler in his basement for his homebrew!
http://www.brewrats.org/walkin.cfm
oh man. i still prefer this beer cooler though
The batch I'm pitching this evening, if all goes to plan:
Belgian Ale (partial mash)
6.6# unhopped Northwestern Light (or 6# light DME (Muntons))
1# caramunich malt
1# special B
1# dark Candi sugar
White Labs 550 ready-to-pitch yeast (24 hrs. in a 2:1 DME starter)
Bittering: 2 oz. Styrian Goldings pellet (60 min)
Flavoring: 1/2 oz. Hallertau pellet (30 min)
Aroma: 1/2 oz. Saaz leaf (5 min)
Steep grains @160 for 45 min. 12 day primary fermentation. 21 day secondary fermentation (be careful to leave behind the trub on the transfer & don't top off the secondary unit). Prime with 1.25c DME to 2c. water. Hold for 30+ days in bottle. This will be about 8% ABV when done. Mellow phenolic/estery tastes. Quite rich in body.
Sounds nice Andy. Let me know how it turns out.
Here's the recipe for the Red I've bottled, in case anyone is interested.
Specialty Grains
 0.5 lbs. Dingemans Caramel Pils
0.25 lbs. Briess Special Roast
0.125 lbs. Dingemans Biscuit
0.125 lbs. Crisp Chocolate
Fermentables
 6 lbs. Gold Malt Syrup
Boil Additions
 1 oz. Northern Brewer (60 min)
1 oz. Willamette (1 min)
Yeast
 Wyeast #1272 American Ale Yeast II. Fruitier and more flocculant than 1056, slightly nutty, soft, clean, slightly tart finish. Flocculation: high. Apparent attenuation: 72-76%. Optimum temperature: 60-72.
Will do. Been a while since I made my last batch, which was a variant of this Belgian. I'm adding more special-B and changing the hop bill slightly -- going with the leaf hops to see if that makes any difference in the finish.
I think I waited too long to lager; too cold to do it in the crawl & I don't have a fridge. Frozen wort would be a real mess.
My next will probably be an IPA or an ESB. I'm in the mood for hops, for whatever reason.
Oh, and to the last recipe:
1T Irish Moss @20 min.
OK, here's a puzzler:
How does one effectively filter out pellet hop detritus when going from brew kettle to primary fermenter?
I have a funnel that has a fairly fine mesh on it, but it gums up if there's a lot of stuff coming down the siphon.
To tell the truth, I don't strain it at all from kettle to fermenter. I leave it in the primary until the airlock stops bubbling, usually 5-7 days. Then I transfer it to the secondary. When I do this transfer, the hops have settled to the bottom with the other sludge and it stays in the primary. Seems to work for me.
Hm. Pondering.
Maybe I could sacrifice a grain bag for this purpose...
I use hop bags for leaf hops -- makes it a whole lot easier when it comes time to transfer. Less siphon hassle. The wort is gummy enough with 2-3 oz. of reconstituted hop pellets without having to worry about loose leaves. (And I have to siphon, because my primary is a 6.5 gallon glass carboy.)
I'm just thinking that leaving a whole lot of hops in the fermenter is going to change the hop character of the brew. And I'm thinking, the less gunk that goes into the primary means less gunk that can potentially get in the secondary, which eventually means a clearer beer. (I'm trying to acheive more clarity in the finish, along with that bit about hop character.)
(I'm trying to acheive more clarity in the finish, along with that bit about hop character.)
Ah, well. Carry on. Maybe a clean, sterilized pair of the fiance's pantyhose?
Update: The basement was a little too cold for bottle conditioning the Irish Red, so I moved the stash to a warmer climate. As a result, I'm giving it another week in the bottle before tasting. My brother and his wife are coming over this weekend for the initial sampling.
A couple of tidbits for you twin cities folk. First, tickets are now on sale for Winterfest, a beer tasting extravaganza. For details, click here.
And, though not listed on their website, I have it on good authority that Vine Park Brewinghad a misprint on their pint beer glasses. Their logo was printed with green on the inner ring and red on the outer ring, instead of green outer ring/red inner ring. They are closing out the glasses for $1.00 each, regular price $3.50.
Huh... I never really tried makin my own beer.... I guess it's just easier to pour some Captain, and a lil bit of Coke... either that or i'm just lazy.
Hey, I like a little Cap'n Coke too . But brewing beer is just something I find interesting. And, unless you find the process interesting, it's MUCH easier to run to the liquor store any buy a 12 pack. :-)
Frosti:
Do you mail order your brewing supplies, or do you have a local place that you get your goods from?
Local place, NorthernBrewer.com. But I used to mail order when I lived in South Dakota.
Any recommendations? There's only a couple of places locally that specialize, and I don't think I always get the best deal.
When I mail ordered, I went with either Northern Brewer (mentioned above) or WilliamsBrewing.com. If nothing else, Williams has the prettiest catalog I've seen for homebrew supplies.
I don't do much with grain (mashing and sparging and whatnot), mostly extract, so I can't speak to that portion of their inventory.
Beer tasting report:
Friday night we uncorked the Red. Me, Mrs. Frosti, my brother, his wife, and Mrs. Frosti's brother. General consensus was that it was good! We drank one mini-keg along with almost a complete case.
My personal feeling is that it's a little too bitter, and should be allowed to age for another month before going back to another test. The bitterness isn't a bad flavor, but in my mind it doesn't fit with the style.
The brother-in-law expressed an interest in brewing some mead. Anybody tried this before?
I purchased a British Bitter kit on Thursday. I popped the yeast smack-pack yesterday, and am planning to brew it tommorow. Here's the ingredients.
Kit Inventory
Specialty Grains
 0.5 lbs. Simpsons CaraMalt
Fermentables
 3.3 lbs. Gold Malt Syrup
1 lbs. Light Dry Malt Extract
Boil Additions
 1 oz. Northern Brewer (60 min)
1 oz. Kent Goldings (1 min)
Yeast
 Wyeast #1098 British Ale Yeast. From Whitbread. Ferments dry and crisp, slightly tart, fruity and well-balanced. Ferments well down to 65° F. Flocculation: high. Apparent attenuation: 68-72%. Optimum temperature: 64-75.
Northern Brewerhas switched over from the 50ml yeast packs to the 125ml packs. This is my first time using one of the XL sizes. So far, I'm impressed. I smacked it this morning before I left for work, and it's probably ready to use now. The 50ml ones always took at least two days, I would usually smack them on Wednesday to prepare for a Saturday brewfest.
I guess that obviates the need to make a starter. They have a pretty good selection of different strains?
Only 4.3# of fermentables? Hm. Oh, never mind... you used DME. Duh.
The Belgian Ale went into the bottle yesterday. We'll see how it comes out. I tasted a little bit of what was left after racking into the bottles... should be pretty rich and sweet once the stuff carbonates. I did 1.25c DME in 2 c. water for the priming. It's about 8% ABV.
Cool Andy.
Saturday, I made "spent grain bread" with the grain leftovers from the brew batch. Yummy!
shit, I've got a starter kit, and don't know where to start.
What do you want to know, Ian? What kind of kit do you have?
http://www.semplexofusa.com/business001.htm
I got it at Semplex
It looks like you've got all the needed equipment. It doesn't say too much about ingredients though. What have you got in that department?
I'll have to look when I get home. We bought it for my son, but I guess he's not real interested. So I thought I'd keep it.
As previously discussed Ian, I do most of my shopping at Northern Brewerover on Grand. They have ingredient kits ready to go, usually priced between $20-$30
Thanks Frosti- that would make a great gift! a brewing kit! perfect!
Hey, whatever happened to The Great Beast? He seemed to know everything there is to know.
The Great Beast
??
He was a poster on TT who had been brewmaster at various places throughout the years, and last I heard was working at a company that made home-brewing kits. I think he was a Vancouverite. Vancouveran. Whatever. Anyway, I haven't seen hide nor hair of him since they started asking for money to talk with your friends.
That explains it. I'm not a TT refugee, so I guess I'll just let it stand as is.
Did you know sortasushi? He & TGB were pretty tight.
Did you know sortasushi?
Geez, I hope you're talking to Austin.
Yeah, I was.
Ooops. ;-)
7.5 gallon fermenter with lid and air-lock
jet bottle capper/caps
b-brite cleanser
siphon with shut-off clamp
dextrose corn sugar
"Brewing Quality Beers"
instructions
australian coopers lager
american light beer (munston's)
australian coopers lager
american light beer (munston's)
Are these cans of malt extract?
Yes, I think so. I had choices of two types of beer. Are there better ones to get?
Well, depends on who you ask. I think the hierarchy goes: all grain, fresh malt extract, canned malt extract.
All grain is more involved than what I've been willing to try so far, so I usually use fresh liquid extract. I have used canned, and haven't had a problem.
What kind of yeast do you have?
Something like this Ian?
<edit> for the malt, not the yeast.
I've also used bagged malt extract, as in, the syrup came in plastic bags so no metallic taste was imparted to the stuff.
Munton's also makes a fine DME (dry malt extract) product.
Those malt extracts may come "hopped," but you might wanna get some hops on your own. My experience is that hopped malt extract isn't hoppy enough. If it comes unhopped, you still need hops. Check the ingredient list. Also, I don't see yeast on your list...
Cooper's Brewery, pure malt, hops and yeast-finest two row barley and hops
Munstons, hopped malt extract, glucose syrup, dried brewing yeast
Those all in one can kits are not the greatest thing going Ian. You might be disappointed with the results. Give it a try, but don't be discouraged if it's not great.
Is it one of those "no boil" kits?