WATMM Homebrew Thread

Had a busy couple of months but wanted to put a christmas brew on so just chucked a kit into a fermenting barrel. Will bottle next week to give it a month to condition.

Quite red, smells nice. Had a little sip when I took some readings and tastes strong (hoping for 5.5%) and full. Was worried after reading some reviews so threw some extra sugar in to make sure that if it tastes crap it'll get me pished at least.

  On 11/15/2013 at 12:47 PM, jhonny said:

Had a busy couple of months but wanted to put a christmas brew on so just chucked a kit into a fermenting barrel. Will bottle next week to give it a month to condition.

 

 

Quite red, smells nice. Had a little sip when I took some readings and tastes strong (hoping for 5.5%) and full. Was worried after reading some reviews so threw some extra sugar in to make sure that if it tastes crap it'll get me pished at least.

how much sugar did you add? you might just make it taste even more rank. brewing a couple of litres less than instructed gives you extra abv without thinning or affecting flavour.

  On 11/15/2013 at 1:32 PM, keltoi said:

 

  On 11/15/2013 at 12:47 PM, jhonny said:

Had a busy couple of months but wanted to put a christmas brew on so just chucked a kit into a fermenting barrel. Will bottle next week to give it a month to condition.

 

 

Quite red, smells nice. Had a little sip when I took some readings and tastes strong (hoping for 5.5%) and full. Was worried after reading some reviews so threw some extra sugar in to make sure that if it tastes crap it'll get me pished at least.

 

how much sugar did you add? you might just make it taste even more rank. brewing a couple of litres less than instructed gives you extra abv without thinning or affecting flavour.

 

yeah I made it up to 20 litres rather than 23(?) and I just chucked in about 200g of leftover brewing sugar.

  On 11/15/2013 at 2:21 PM, jhonny said:

 

  On 11/15/2013 at 1:32 PM, keltoi said:

 

  On 11/15/2013 at 12:47 PM, jhonny said:

Had a busy couple of months but wanted to put a christmas brew on so just chucked a kit into a fermenting barrel. Will bottle next week to give it a month to condition.

 

 

Quite red, smells nice. Had a little sip when I took some readings and tastes strong (hoping for 5.5%) and full. Was worried after reading some reviews so threw some extra sugar in to make sure that if it tastes crap it'll get me pished at least.

 

how much sugar did you add? you might just make it taste even more rank. brewing a couple of litres less than instructed gives you extra abv without thinning or affecting flavour.

 

yeah I made it up to 20 litres rather than 23(?) and I just chucked in about 200g of leftover brewing sugar.

 

it'll be fine. it'll be beer anyway!

  On 11/15/2013 at 12:41 PM, keltoi said:

 

  On 11/15/2013 at 12:14 AM, Braintree said:

Hey guys, I'm making a chocolate stout and wanted to get opinions on when to add the chocolate.

 

In the boil or in the fermentor? Or both?

 

post script; I'm also adding peanut butter (shhhhhhh).

 

what kind of chocolate are you using? actual chocolate at end of boil or nibs usually in secondary.

 

i've got a choc/coffee stout ready to bottle this weekend. there's no actual chocolate (chocolate malts galore) in this though there is real coffee.

 

We're using 4oz of cacao nibs, so you suggest putting them in the secondary? This is also my first time using lactose. Do you have any recommendations when to add to the boil? We use a malt extract, so I was thinking of adding the lactose when we put that in.

No experience with lactose. But aye nibs in secondary for a week.

Thanks breh!

did you do anything to clean the nibs first braintree? i should have said...

i read about another method of adding chocolate and tried it before bottling my porter last night so we'll see how it goes.

add 2-4 TBSP of high quality baking/drinking cocoa and ~3oz of priming sugar (for 5 gal) to about a pint of water and simmer for 15 minutes... let cool and add/mix before bottling.

it tasted great but it already tasted great before the addition so fingers crossed.

lactose is a non fermentable sugar. Just adds sweetness to your milk stout.

You can add in 5-10min before end of boil or, if bottling, boil it w/ priming sugar.

Going to be making a Belgian-Style IPA, Raspberry Red Ale and Northwest-Style Pale Ale with some friends. Should be fun. :)

I have a West Coast Pale that I just put into bottles. Has a slight taste of grapefruit and caramel malt with a finish that's pure hoppy goodness. Got a few to give to Reid, Retrig and Cult Fiction when Wisp rolls through Seattle. Prepare for glory.

Just brewed a 5 gallon batch of Irish Red. Added 2lbs of clover honey to the primary (and only) fermentation carboy . Should boost the ABV to about 7-7.5%, won't really know till I take a reading @ bottling time. I expect to lose the sweetness and most of the aromatics of the honey due to CO2 push in the first few days after pitching the yeast... well that combined with the fact that honey sugars are like 96% ferment-able. Oh well, maybe next time I'll do a secondary with it and see if the flavor comes through more.

I have grown my own gardens, grown my own mushrooms, grown my own cannabis, make my own music, and now, brewing my own beer. I feel like a man - a big man.

Anyone got anything rockin' in their house lately? Let's pick the homebrew thread back up, gents. I can snap pics if it helps

We tested the peanut butter chocolate oatmeal stout and it has an intense PB flavor. We're hoping to age it for another month (or longer, if need be) and let the flavors mingle a bit more.

Keltoi, we just threw in the nibs. Didn't bother cleaning them or anything. They were kept in a bag for a couple days before we used them.

We also brewed an English Nut Brown ale recently, which I'm excited about. Should be a low gravity for a tasty session ale.

my stout was good... 6%, heavily centennial hopped with additions of chocolate and subtle root ginger before bottling. went down really well with friends and family over the festive period.

i've got a big bag of centennial left so i'm making bell's two hearted/centennial ipa clone next.

been looking at your US rubbermaid coolers to convert to a mash tun. anyone done anything like that? what's your set-ups?

  On 1/10/2014 at 3:03 PM, keltoi said:

my stout was good... 6%, heavily centennial hopped with additions of chocolate and subtle root ginger before bottling. went down really well with friends and family over the festive period.

 

i've got a big bag of centennial left so i'm making bell's two hearted/centennial ipa clone next.

 

been looking at your US rubbermaid coolers to convert to a mash tun. anyone done anything like that? what's your set-ups?

I use a 10 gallon round water cooler for my mash tun. Considered going with a larger cooler for big beers, but I've had no issues w/ my current setup. Are you looking at a square/rectangular cooler or one of the round water/drink coolers?

my first homebrew was pretty good, but it has a slightly flat, bitter aftertaste. it isn't strong, but it's there and i want to get rid of it next time.

after some reading, my best guest is that i may have left the grain in too long or let it get too hot. or it could have been that i just didn't condition long enough (2 weeks primary, 2 weeks bottle). i know for darker, stronger beers, many recommend 6 weeks minimum and up to a few months. i'll be more patient next time. still, the off-flavor is now very subtle after an extra week of conditioning in the fridge.

luckily i only made a 1/3 batch (1.65gal), so i'll try a little more care with the grains and a better yeast and a little more conditioning time.

i've also got a wheat beer i'll be bottling this weekend, just in time for the warm weather!

i think i wanna do a classic English Bitter next... but the single grain, single hop small batches i've heard people talking about sound great for a beginner to learn quickly about flavors and technique without having to deal with 50 bottles of beer every couple weeks.

Yeah, I'm in on this as well now. Only done two so far, one all grain APA, which turned out good, and one brown ale extract brew that I tried to transform into a dark belgian strong ale and adding some espresso, honey, cinnamon, vanilla, wlp 530 yeast and a ton of spray malt along the way. Tastes like shit and booze. Hopefully it'll get better with age, but I have my doubts. Doing an all grain Wit this weekend with some mates. My setup is a 36 litre BIAB.

did my first brew today. My BIAB set-up finally arrived, so I made an all grain APA. Not sure if I added the hops a little early though because I'm going with the no chill method and I hear that that can cook the later hop additions. Smells good though. A little colour to it and 4 different hops