WATMM Homebrew Thread

  On 9/26/2012 at 3:48 PM, jhonny said:

  On 9/26/2012 at 3:43 PM, onesixoneight said:

jhonny, Im by no means an expert but I would see how you get on with your standard set up with your yeast and hops added to get a handle on how they perform as the yeast may well kick out more alcohol for you.

 

If that works then you could go for different/extra fermentables and see how they change your brew.

 

Good shout, will probably just use the same BKE pack as before and see what difference the yeast and hops bring..

If you do want to mess with your recipe I suggest checking a free brew calculator site such as hopville.com or the likes. Put in your ingredients and yeast, and it will tell you what to expect. Unfortunately hopville "upgraded" to their new site that's in beta so it's a bit touchy now, but that's where I create/store my recipes before I brew them.

I settled on an imperial pumpkin ale for the initiation of my new setup this weekend. Trying to get something close to Southern Tier Pumking. A sweeter, pumpkin pie with whipped cream, type of beer.

haut did you ever make that vanilla coffee porter again? that was amazon. for real.

Haven't brewed that again, yet. Planning on doing that, the eggnog stout, and a black IPA soon. Just did an imperial pumpkin ale today. OG of 1.096, should be about 9.5% by the time it's done

My new outdoor setup. 10 gallon cooler mash tun, 9 gallon boil kettle, that's my old 5 gallon kettle heating sparge water on the new 14" propane burner.

Color of the wort as I transferred to the fermentor.

Just put a brew on:

Coopers Australian Pale Ale

1 kg Brew Enhancer 2

2 litre cascade hop tea (20g boiled for 15 mins, then added 20g more and steeped for 30 mins).

US-05 yeast.

Gonna leave it for 10 days and then syphon to secondary and dry hop for another 7 days with 20g of cascade.

First time I've tried messing about with hops, so am excited to see how it turns out!

I just helped a buddy brew a batch of some Ale/Lager hybrid yesterday.

He's been telling me all about his processes for the past few months. I think this was his fourth batch. Anyway, he's been a bit obsessed over the whole thing.

He also really likes Breaking Bad and I think he feels like he's in the show, cooking up meth or something.

Anyway, I cant remember the specs on what kind of grains, hops, sugars and yeast he used, but my guess is it will turn out pretty good. His last few have been really smooth tasting. He had one that was closer to an IPA, which I normally don't like, but this one was really good.

I was honestly a bit bored during the whole event. It took like 5 hours and most of it was disinfecting shit and boiling shit. Still, it was a pretty cool experience.

Anyway, I just wanted to be able to post something in this thread. You guys seem to be having fun in here!

  On 10/1/2012 at 8:45 PM, jhonny said:

Just put a brew on:

 

Coopers Australian Pale Ale

1 kg Brew Enhancer 2

2 litre cascade hop tea (20g boiled for 15 mins, then added 20g more and steeped for 30 mins).

US-05 yeast.

 

Gonna leave it for 10 days and then syphon to secondary and dry hop for another 7 days with 20g of cascade.

 

First time I've tried messing about with hops, so am excited to see how it turns out!

Hope it goes well for you Jhon sounds like you are having a good time experimenting, youre inspiring me to mess with hops...

In the meantime Ive also got a brew on;

Geordie Winter Warmer dark ale

Coopers Amber Malt extract

Geordies supplied yeast whatever that is

The wort was cooled in record time using an ice bath and the September evening air last week

Tucked away in my bedroom for two weeks - one to go

nice one, that sounds good. i love amber ales/dark lagers but i think it's time to plan ahead for a winter brew...

Hey hautlle, do you make yeast starters for all of your batches? I've never had a stuck fermentation or anything but it's a pretty big factor in brewing a perfect batch from what I gather.

I've only just recently started making starters and washing/harvesting yeast. I plan on building a stir plate out of an old cigar box and computer fan/hdd magnet soon, right now I just shake the jar whenever I walk by.

It definitely helps prevent start-up lag and off flavors from stressed out yeast, especially in big beers. I've read one package of yeast is good for up to 5 gallons of 1.050 wort. I made a 1 liter starter for my pumpkin ale, it's the biggest beer I''ve done so far.

Proper pitching rate and temperature control during fermentation are two of the easiest ways to improve your beer.

hautlle your neighborhood depresses me

that's a house they just built next door, it's the suburbs though . If you try to look at my neighborhood in google street-view it doesn't work. You can only see the land where my house will eventually be and piles of dirt where other houses are being built on either side of a path worn through the prairie by heavy equipment.

yeah, not your house, your hood. I knew what I was lookin at :) Seriously tho, those burban type places just make me feel like shit for some reason. I can't even pinpoint why. Also, I'm not trying to bash you or anything. I just got really creeped out there for a minute. The fact that you now have a house as opposed to an apt is awesome. What natural gas company do you guys have out there?

Yeah, this is the first time I've ever lived in the suburbs. It is pretty weird, we don't really know any of our neighbors. It's all families and stuff, we don't really connect with them. I got tons of odd looks while I was brewing on the front deck, but no one stopped by to ask what I was doing or anything. Only one guy did stop to tell me that we have some weed growing in our yard and we should call the Homeowners Association (which we're not even part of since we rent) to make them take care of our lawn LOL.

I just do my thing, and enjoy the results brah

Good times, my brew is racked and clearing well got a lovely reddish hue too.

Tried one last night purely for research purposes, needs longer to condition....

Earlier in the year I planned to brew from scratch. However, I haven't had the time or huge want to do it. For now I'm gonna stick with the pre-made kits that you get. My question was:

Has anyone any suggestions as to what is a good kit to get? My last one was this which was very tasty but I want to try a different before, and then over, Christmas.

This was successful. I brought 12 bottles to a wedding in Cornwall in September and they were gone by the morning.

Ive got another one of these ready to make once Ive got enough bottles.

Racking to secondary and dry hopping with some cascade

Looking at your hydrometer Jhon tells me youve got a good brew there yes?

yeah from 1040 to 1009 so about 4.4%. Didn't add any extra sugar as this was just an experiment with hops.

can't wait to get a brew on when i move to a bigger place... IF i ever move to a bigger place.

  On 10/24/2012 at 2:44 PM, jhonny said:

yeah from 1040 to 1009 so about 4.4%. Didn't add any extra sugar as this was just an experiment with hops.

Good times, so your yeast did the trick, if you doubled the sugar then you would have had a giant killer.

Im gonna get a different yeast next time as I think the yeast that came with the kit for my recent brew was a bit weak.

  On 10/24/2012 at 3:33 PM, onesixoneight said:

  On 10/24/2012 at 2:44 PM, jhonny said:

yeah from 1040 to 1009 so about 4.4%. Didn't add any extra sugar as this was just an experiment with hops.

 

Good times, so your yeast did the trick, if you doubled the sugar then you would have had a giant killer.

 

Im gonna get a different yeast next time as I think the yeast that came with the kit for my recent brew was a bit weak.

Yeah I bought some US-05 yeast and it worked well. I am going to try it with more sugar to get it to about 6% as I do like a strong hoppy pale ale!

US-05. Seen that in my local brewshop. Noted.