I did it.



100_1013 by anzalone22, on Flickr


And it's delicious! 

I was surprised at how much settles to the bottom of the bottles.   

Quote from: The Architect on November 03, 2010, 04:52:52 PM
I did it.

And it's delicious! 

I was surprised at how much settles to the bottom of the bottles.   

Well done.

You may be able to get rid of the dregs by racking into a secondary fermenter and adding finings (gelatine I think it is) to the brew with extra sugar or if you didn't put a sediment trap on the fermenter tap, you probably should use one.

I've actually started buying the odd beer again because my home brew is too good to drink. 

I don't use finings, a sediment trap, or a secondary on any of my beers.  Come out nice and clear!  I have used all of those things however... and found them unnecessary places to introduce infections.

Most of the stuff that has settled to the bottom in a properly conditioned bottle of live beer is produced during conditioning/carbonating of the beer in the bottle.

QuoteI was planning on checking the wort Sunday to see how it's doing.  That'll be 7 days of fermenting.  If the bubbler is still bubbling at more than a bubble per minute, I'll wait. 

How long do you guys typically let the wort ferment?

Any answer other than, "It depends on the beer," is wrong.  My 11.5% barley wine stayed in the fermenter for 8 months.  Then four more in the keg.  My Koelsch takes 2 weeks in the primary, a 3 day cold crash, and three in the keg.  The only way to accurately determine whether it's time to bottle is with a gravity reading from your handy dandy hydrometer, and, again, there is no hard fast number there either.

I can't wait.

I just started collecting the necessary bits and pieces to start brewing this winter....

Ive been eyeballing the home brew concept for a while now.....

Any jump ahead equipment tips? 

The guy at the brew shop insisted I buy a brew kit.  Yes it has a few things I don't need but it was still cheaper to buy the kit than buy the parts individually. 

I was surprised at the cost of the bottles.  Start saving your used beer bottles but not the twist offs.

Get a priming siphon it's so much easier than trying to start a siphon and not contaminate the beer.  I don't know what the brewers call it.

The next time I brew I'm going to throw the grains into a tea bag in order to keep the brew a little less cloudy.   

I used the pellet type hops.  I'd like to try actual hops next time. 

Architect:

Quote
Get a priming siphon it's so much easier than trying to start a siphon and not contaminate the beer.  I don't know what the brewers call it.

Auto-siphon.  Good stuff.  

Another, cheaper option is a barbed t-fitting spliced into your line with enough tubing to put the t below the fermenter.  Put a piece of tube out of the top of the line with a hose crimp.  Another hose crimp on the down-river side of the t helps too.

To start the siphon, crimp off the down river end and suck on the tube coming out the top.  Before the wort or beer reaches the T, but after it is below the fermenter, crimp the line you were sucking on and uncrimp the down river end.  Voila! Siphon, and no risk of infection!

Quote
The next time I brew I'm going to throw the grains into a tea bag in order to keep the brew a little less cloudy

Steeping grains should always be in a bag.  If not in a bag, how do you get them out of the kettle before you start boiling?  Temps above 170* pulls junk outta the grain that you don't want.

With extract recipies, your biggest factors for good clarity are time and yeast strain.  I don't know if you use a carboy or a bucket to ferment in... but I usually don't bottle/keg until I can read something through the beer (hefe's don't follow this rule...).  If fermentation is complete according to your hydrometer and the yeast wont settle out... try cold-crashing the beer.  Put the whole carboy in a fridge, or if that's not an option, a cooler with ice-water for a while. You can freeze water bottles to (re)use in the cooler.

Ramjet:
Most homebrew kits are a great start.  Make sure it comes with a hydrometer, and a bottling wand.
Carboys! Much mo better than buckets.
I like the s-type bubbler airlocks over the 3-piece. 
And, a good, 7.5 gallon or larger kettle.  Stainless or aluminum, it doesn't really matter.  Better beer comes from full-boils (no adding water at the end), and for 5 gallon batches you'll need at least a 7.5 gallon kettle.  Turkey frier kits can be had for $60 that come with a suitable pot and a burner with enough umph to bring 6 gallons of wort to a boil.
Another handy piece of equipment, a spray bottle filled with plain tap water.  If you are about to have a boil over, you can mist the water onto the impending doom and hold it off till you lower the heat.  That oughta save you some cursing.
Finally, get some tubing that fits snugly in the neck of the carboy... I forget what size it is exactly.  Stick one end in the neck, one end in a small bucket of sanitizer.  This will allow a vigorous fermentation to vent properly as opposed to cloging a standard airlock and spewing doom all over your closet.  After the krausen has fallen, swap it out for a regular airlock/stopper.

Krolic:
Late addition with extract is a good thing.  Better hop utilization, less caramelization, reduced threat of boil-over, etc..  BUT, you do have to have some maltose in your wort to get what you want out of the hops.  1lb of extract to start and the rest for the last 15mins is a winner.

Quote from: The Architect on November 04, 2010, 07:31:24 AM
The next time I brew I'm going to throw the grains into a tea bag in order to keep the brew a little less cloudy.     

I steep grain by using a coffee plunger. Use it the same way you would brew a coffee, but leave the grain in for about 15 minutes then pour into your fermenter.

Quote from: The Architect on November 04, 2010, 07:31:24 AM
I was surprised at the cost of the bottles.  Start saving your used beer bottles but not the twist offs.

I use twist offs, I've had no problems with them.

Quote from: Punx Clever on November 04, 2010, 04:08:57 AM
I don't use finings, a sediment trap, or a secondary on any of my beers.  Come out nice and clear!  I have used all of those things however... and found them unnecessary places to introduce infections.

Most of the stuff that has settled to the bottom in a properly conditioned bottle of live beer is produced during conditioning/carbonating of the beer in the bottle.

Neither do I. I have used finings and a secondary fermenter once but I can't remember which brew I used it on, but I've always used a sediment trap on my fermenter tap. I'm just passing on what was told to me about having clear beers, but yeah, it's not necessary. 

It's good also to keep a diary of what you've brewed and how you've brewed the beer, something which I'm a bit slack with. 

Quote from: Stinky Wizzleteats on November 04, 2010, 01:28:37 PM
Neither do I. I have used finings and a secondary fermenter once but I can't remember which brew I used it on, but I've always used a sediment trap on my fermenter tap. I'm just passing on what was told to me about having clear beers, but yeah, it's not necessary. 

I used gelatin ONE time on a cider that just would not clear up... good fresh pressed, non pasturized, special blend from the homebrew shop in Indy apple juice. I lost that batch because of the make the beast with two backsing gelatin and swore I would never use it again.

The trick to no sediment traps is using a standard racking cane... pass it through the hole in your stopper and use the friction to adjust how far down the end goes.  If you've let it clear enough you'll have a nice hard yeast cake and you can set the cane at just the right height to not pull any of the sediment.  Works better than a trap because you NEVER disturb the cake

Quote from: The Architect on November 04, 2010, 07:31:24 AM

I was surprised at the cost of the bottles.  Start saving your used beer bottles but not the twist offs.

Kegs!!!!!

I don't plan to even screw around with bottles.....

Subscribed, and taking copious notes. 

Lets see...

Complete keg setup (granted it's a picnic tap): $154.00
http://cgi.ebay.com/Single-Tap-5-Gal-Keg-Home-Brew-Beer-Draft-System-/350325019356?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item5190ff92dc
Craigslist garage fridge: $50

Total cost of kegging: $204


2 cases of small bottles: $60 from your local homebrew shop
3lb bag of oxygen barrior caps (should last a long time): $21
Capper: $18
Plus a couple bucks per brew for priming sugar...

Total cost of bottling: $100 or so


Lets say your personal time is worth a measly $10/hr
Bottling is about 2-3 hours of doing stuff including sanitation: $20-30 per brew
Kegging is 20 minutes of doing stuff: $5 per brew, so $25 dollars per brew difference in personal time.

Four brewing sessions later, you've made up for the additional cost of kegging.  Adding another keg is in the $50 range if you do it on the cheap...

Yeah. Kegging is worth it! 

So when is the DMFSBEG going to start?

DMF Small Brewers Exchange Group

You mail me a few.... I mail you a few. 

Hmmmmm

I'm behind on batches right now... but when I get the pumpkin ale sorted out it's on!

Quote from: Punx Clever on November 04, 2010, 03:34:36 PM

Yeah. Kegging is worth it! 

And if your fridge is big enough you can have multiple kegs tapped and ready to rock.