Homebrewing Beer

[edenman]

What if one were to give you some glass carboys instead? Not that I have any to give, but I'm curious what the rewards would be

I've thought of going glass, but I know I want to go steel at some point, and I'm not sure I want to make the investment in glass (I'd have to get a siphon, and the glass itself is like $25/per) if I'm just gonna ditch it after a year. Plastic buckets are cheap and I can get 3-4+ batches out of them before they start to show flavors of previous batches. Plus they are stackable, which is a very important attribute in a small studio like mine.

Gifts of carboys will rewarded, but probably not by an entire keg

[TedE]

I've thought of going glass, but I know I want to go steel at some point, and I'm not sure I want to make the investment in glass (I'd have to get a siphon, and the glass itself is like $25/per) if I'm just gonna ditch it after a year. Plastic buckets are cheap and I can get 3-4+ batches out of them before they start to show flavors of previous batches. Plus they are stackable, which is a very important attribute in a small studio like mine.

Gifts of carboys will rewarded, but probably not by an entire keg

If space is at a premium I can't see how using carboys will be anything but a bigger hassle. In my homebrewing days my friend and I went from plastic buckets to a carboy (gifted to him), and aside from the joy we got out of watching the fermentation behind glass it wasn't much of an improvement. One thing is for sure: you need a really big sink! They are a pain to clean with that small opening compared to the buckets, and we almost lost the whole batch trying to lug a heavy, wet glass container down to the basement.

[edenman]

If space is at a premium I can't see how using carboys will be anything but a bigger hassle. In my homebrewing days my friend and I went from plastic buckets to a carboy (gifted to him), and aside from the joy we got out of watching the fermentation behind glass it wasn't much of an improvement. One thing is for sure: you need a really big sink! They are a pain to clean with that small opening compared to the buckets, and we almost lost the whole batch trying to lug a heavy, wet glass container down to the basement.

Good points, I had forgotten about the prospect of trying to clean a carboy....even as it is, I tend to use the shower as a cleaning area, since my kitchen sink is nowhere big enough, especially for my brew kettle (14gal pot). Of course, cleaning a 12gallon conical fermenter will still require that large of an area, but at least the opening at the top will be large enough that i can easily get an arm in there.

And of course, I haven't even considered how I'm going to move the conical inside after transferring the wort from the kettle into it. I boil outside (propane + inside = bad), and i do it a good 30 feet from my door (and up some stairs), so that's definitely going to be a two-person job at least.

[edenman]

Ingredients are in the mail for my Spring Picnic English Mild, and I'll be brewing next weekend. Anybody else up for brewing something? I'm thinking session beers should be the target since people have to drive home. Thoughts?

[Barbara]

Ingredients are in the mail for my Spring Picnic English Mild, and I'll be brewing next weekend. Anybody else up for brewing something? I'm thinking session beers should be the target since people have to drive home. Thoughts?

I don't actually understand your post. EXCEPT that I can walk home from your place.

[DanielK]

You had me at English!

[edenman]

I don't actually understand your post. EXCEPT that I can walk home from your place.

I should've added emphasis. It's the Spring [DR.com] Picnic English Mild

[mdt]

I should've added emphasis. It's the Spring [DR.com] Picnic English Mild

I finally got my ass in gear and got my brewing equipment out of the cellar. I stopped by a local homebrew store, myLocalHomeBrewShop, in Falls Church and picked up ingredients for an English session beer. Here is to hoping it turns out drinkable.

[DameEdna]

Ingredients are in the mail for my Spring Picnic English Mild, and I'll be brewing next weekend. Anybody else up for brewing something? I'm thinking session beers should be the target since people have to drive home. Thoughts?

That phrase "session beers" is new one for me. Does it only apply to English beers? Alcohol between 3 - 4%?
I like the general definition " a beer which can be consumed for several hours, and then still be able to go back to work!"
True definition?

We used to try and judge what we could drink, and still go back and grind out a few lines of COBOL code
--- we didn't have a special phrase to describe these potables, though (sorry, ancient history reference).

[shogun]

That phrase "session beers" is new one for me. Does it only apply to English beers? Alcohol between 3 - 4%?
I like the general definition " a beer which can be consumed for several hours, and then still be able to go back to work!"
True definition?

We used to try and judge what we could drink, and still go back and grind out a few lines of COBOL code
--- we didn't have a special phrase to describe these potables, though (sorry, ancient history reference).

That pretty much covers it. Something you can stand to sit and drink for a while, without getting unsociably drunk. Think the target ABV is less than 5%. Also, there's still plenty of money in COBOL!

BeerAdvocate.com article on session beer (might require login)

[edenman]

I finally got my ass in gear and got my brewing equipment out of the cellar. I stopped by a local homebrew store, myLocalHomeBrewShop, in Falls Church and picked up ingredients for an English session beer. Here is to hoping it turns out drinkable.

Excellent. anybody else?

Yea, session beer has always been (to me, anyway) just an indication that the beer is a quaffer, something you can drink a few of and go back and write some code without introducing too many bugs more than usual. The english seem to have far more affinity for them, perhaps due to the far higher prevelance of the "local pub" where you can stop in and have a beer or two on the way home. However, there seems to be a bit of a resurgance of these beers in the US recently, at least in part a reaction to the surge of Imperial and Double styles in the past few years. Full Sail in particular makes a "Session Lager" and it has achieved a bit of cult status out in Portland, where it seemed to be at least as common as PBR at bars.

[Tweaked]

Ha! Every time I have a beer drinking "session" at my local, I end up rip roaring drunk!

[edenman]

Ha! Every time I have a beer drinking "session" at my local, I end up rip roaring drunk!

(just did the research, and it's 5.1%, so on the high side. even in an 11-oz bottle, enough of them will still get you plenty drunk)

[mdt]

I finally got my ass in gear and got my brewing equipment out of the cellar. I stopped by a local homebrew store, myLocalHomeBrewShop, in Falls Church and picked up ingredients for an English session beer. Here is to hoping it turns out drinkable.

The beer is in the fermenter!

Recipe from an old newsletter on jaysbrewing.com.
3.5 lbs John Bull Light Liquid Extract
1 lb Munton's Extra-Light Dry Malt Extract
0.5 lb Munton;s Crystal Malt
0.5 lb Weyermann Carafoam Malt
1.0 oz Kent Goldings hops (5% alpha) - 60 min
1.0 oz Kent Goldings hops (5% alpha) - 1 min
The homebrew shop did not have the yeast called for so I used Wyeast 1275 Thames Valley Ale Yeast.

[edenman]

And we're off.

5lb American Pale Malt

2lb Caramel 40L

1lb Special Roast

10lb malt extract

Fuggles, 2oz each at 60, 10, 5, 1 minutes for estimated 28 IBUs.

OG: 1.045

FG: hopefully in the 1.01 area

estimated alcohol: 4.58%

All of the ingredients were from morebeer.com, except for the wyeast 1272 that i picked up today at myLHBS (I somehow forgot to include yeast in my order).

I really need to get a counterflow chiller. This pos immersion one takes forever and a whole ton of waste-water to chill 10 gallons of boiling-hot wort.

[edenman]

And we're off.

Moved the mild to the secondary today.

Also in the process of brewing a barleywine to pitch onto the top of the yeast cake from the mild. OG should be around 1.1 (compare to 1.045 of the mild), should get close to 10% if all goes well.

And i bit the bullet a few days ago and bought that stainless steel conical, and a plate wort chiller. So excited/broke.

[edenman]

And of course, I haven't even considered how I'm going to move the conical inside after transferring the wort from the kettle into it. I boil outside (propane + inside = bad), and i do it a good 30 feet from my door (and up some stairs), so that's definitely going to be a two-person job at least.

And after I discussed this with a friend, we decided it made alot more sense to transfer the wort to buckets like I normally do, and just carry the full buckets inside and dump them into the conical. No sense in trying to carry 11 gallons of liquid in addition to the steel.

[PollyG]

And after I discussed this with a friend, we decided it made alot more sense to transfer the wort to buckets like I normally do, and just carry the full buckets inside and dump them into the conical. No sense in trying to carry 11 gallons of liquid in addition to the steel.

You might want to read up on the perils of hot side aeration if you're doing that prior to chilling. If I remember right (and I may not), hot side aeration is pinged as a likely culprit for DMS issues (cooked corn/vegetal aroma).

[edenman]

You might want to read up on the perils of hot side aeration if you're doing that prior to chilling. If I remember right (and I may not), hot side aeration is pinged as a likely culprit for DMS issues (cooked corn/vegetal aroma).

Yea, i'll be chilling on the way to the buckets, then dumping the cool wort into the fermenter. I've read about HSA, and thankfully never encountered it.

[southdenverhoo]

Yea, i'll be chilling on the way to the buckets, then dumping the cool wort into the fermenter. I've read about HSA, and thankfully never encountered it.

yeah, the aeration involved in dumping cooled wort into the fermenter is most definitely "cold-side" and not an issue, in fact a lot of us aerate our chilled wort to give the yeasties the oxygen they need to reproduce their little way thru the "lag" phase as quickly as possible.

I'd be more concerned, of course, with sanitation, as your cooled wort is subject to attack from wild yeasts and bacteriathe air is full of.... I'm assuming these buckets have lids and that you're sanitizing buckets, lids and of course the fermenter....some people sanitize their fermenter by filling it with sanitizing solution and draining it, others do the "half-fill/turn upside down/flip back and drain" method, but both of these can be messy and I've always sanitized the fermenter outside and filled it directly from the counterflow chiller. You don't have one of those but I can tell you're about to.

(My solution to the problem you describe, and I had more like a hundred feet to travel, was to put little wheels on the bottom of my fermenter stand ("casters"? from Home Depot)...but I only had one step down and one up, this obviously wouldn't work if you have to traverse a staircase or something. Then you'd want handles welded/bolted on the damn thing too))

[PollyG]

A hint on sanitation I picked up from an excellent fellow brewer:

Buy the cheapest, neutral-tasting mass market canned beer you can find. Clean a can of it and float it in your buckets while you are sanitizing them. Pull the can out as you rinse, then open the can and do a final rinse with the beer. The canned beer is pasteurized and that final rinse will remove any traces of bleach or iodophor.

Glass carboys fit right into plastic milk crates for much safer handling.

Oh, and for those of you who enter homebrew contests, a plea: If one of your bottles has exploded or all the bottles from that batch are gushers, please do NOT enter the beer in a contest. We really didn't appreciate the bottle that exploded on its way from the cooler to the table.

PollyG

BJCP National Judge

[edenman]

(My solution to the problem you describe, and I had more like a hundred feet to travel, was to put little wheels on the bottom of my fermenter stand ("casters"? from Home Depot)...but I only had one step down and one up, this obviously wouldn't work if you have to traverse a staircase or something. Then you'd want handles welded/bolted on the damn thing too))

Yea, wheels aren't really an option, sadly. The staircase in question is on the narrow side, and it's not a straight shot from the bottom of the stairs into the apartment.

I think I'll probably just have to sanitize the filling buckets and cross my fingers. I tend to brew higher-alcohol beers, so between the big yeast starter and the higher gravity, I haven't had any infection problems fermenting in the plastic, so hopefully a few minutes in a sanitized bucket won't have any perceptible effect. Although I suppose I could use my smaller brew-kettle (4gal) for the transfer, since it won't harbor bacteria/flavors like the plastic in the buckets does.

PollyG:
So happy I don't bottle anymore. I'd like to enter homebrew contests, but I'm far too lazy to sanitize bottles since I started kegging. The cheap-beer trick is an interesting one, I haven't heard of that before. I may give it a try, even though I haven't had any problems recently with sanitizer residue flavors.

[southdenverhoo]

I didn't read carefully enough--also see (now) you bought a plate chiller, congrats on that; I'm still using my copper-tubing-and-garden-hose counterflow chiller....

just be sure and cover those plastic buckets during transit, you'll be fine.

As to Polly Gs idea, seems fraught with risk to me, and although I use Star-san, there's a long taste test floating around in the archives of the beer blogs re the tastelessness of Iodophor in even (IIRC) 4 times the appropriate concentration. It was undetectable in water to the tasting panel....

Pasteurizing commercial beer means it doesn't have any bugs in it but it doesn't mean it becomes a sterilizing agent; it therefore could serve as a landing place for airborne fauna and pouring it into a sanitized container immediately destroys the sanitizing effect of whatever sanitizer was used in said container, all for the dubious positive effect of removing the (undetectable) taste of the sanitizer used, if that sanitizer was star-san or iodophor. (all bets being off if the sanitizer was Clorox but I don't think any serious homebrewers are still using that, if they ever did.)

[edenman]

In other "Eric spends money he should be saving for Belgium" news, I just recieved a 10gallon all-grain setup from NorthernBrewer. Gonna brew the first all-grain batch this weekend. So excited.

Still no sign of the conical. It's been about 6 weeks now: last time I talked to MoreBeer (last monday i think) they were estimating the first or second week of July. Getting antsy...

[edenman]

First batch brewed and in the conical. Huzzah.

On the other hand, I forgot how stressful brewing on a weekday is. So many other things to do, and then there's the following workday hanging over your head. Also, I forgot to go buy fittings for the plate chiller, but I can't wait to use it next time I brew. I spent a good two hours chilling the wort this evening, and I ended up getting it down to 86 (bleh). Anyway, here's the newest member of the family.
 

[edenman]

Brewed a "wet hop" or "harvest ale" this weekend, with part of the hop bill coming from some fresh Cluster hops that I picked earlier in the day [thanks to jparrot]. The beer will be named Clusterf*ck, as the estimated IBUs should be somewhere in the 150 range.

Also, this.

[RWBooneJr]

I brewed my first batch of beer, a brown ale, a week ago and, when I went to bottle it, I discovered that the SG was a bit higher than anticipated. I started with a SG of 1.053 and finished with a SG of 1.022. I was expecting something in the neighborhood of 1.015. Anyone have an idea of what I should do? Nothing? More yeast and ferment again? Thanks.

[mdt]

I brewed my first batch of beer, a brown ale, a week ago and, when I went to bottle it, I discovered that the SG was a bit higher than anticipated. I started with a SG of 1.053 and finished with a SG of 1.022. I was expecting something in the neighborhood of 1.015. Anyone have an idea of what I should do? Nothing? More yeast and ferment again? Thanks.

What has the temp be where it has been fermenting? At what rate is it bubbling in the air lock? If things have come to a halt then, to borrow a phrase, relax, have a homebrew and bottle it up.

[RWBooneJr]

What has the temp be where it has been fermenting? At what rate is it bubbling in the air lock? If things have come to a halt then, to borrow a phrase, relax, have a homebrew and bottle it up.

The temp was good - about 68 degrees throughout. And, if you count the brew day as day 0, it bubbled like crazy on day 1, moderately on day 2, slowly on day 3, and then stopped. Everything besides the SG looks good, and when I popped it open for the first time on day, I was almost knocked over by what I think were alcohol fumes. So you think I should just chill for a few weeks and drink? It is already in a keg, but I was going to wait til this weekend to carbonate.

[southdenverhoo]

The temp was good - about 68 degrees throughout. And, if you count the brew day as day 0, it bubbled like crazy on day 1, moderately on day 2, slowly on day 3, and then stopped. Everything besides the SG looks good, and when I popped it open for the first time on day, I was almost knocked over by what I think were alcohol fumes. So you think I should just chill for a few weeks and drink? It is already in a keg, but I was going to wait til this weekend to carbonate.

bubbling airlocks are only a moderately accurate way to determine whether fermentation is complete. Since you are mentioning gravity readings I take it you have a hydrometer. I would always measure sufficient samples to assure myself that the gravity hadn't changed for at least 3 successive days before concluding that it was finished. Sometimes when confronted with a fermentation that seems to have stalled out early, people try to "rouse" the yeast by raising the temperature (i.e. move the fermenter to a warmer spot in your house) or by gently (and carefully if we're talking glass carboys) swirling your fermenter to get the yeast back into suspension. Or you could indeed throw in a sachet of an attenuative dry yeast, say S-05 or Windsor or Nottingham

It might help to know what yeast you used, and whether this is a kit using dried malt extract. Some brands of DME aren't as fermentable as expected, leaving you with a higher than expected FG. Or, if you're doing all-grain, high amounts of crystal and caramel malts can lead to a higher than expected FG, don't know how you calculated your anticipated final gravity; maybe you already took that into account.

Some people suggest a week of primary fermentation followed by two weeks of "secondary" or conditioning followed by 3 weeks to carbonate naturally, the "1-2-3" method. For most English styles, like brown ale, depending on the yeast, I usually find that a 5 day primary followed by 10-14 in a secondary vessel, i.e. off the original yeast lees, is enough, and instead of the three weeks of natural carbonation i often merely force carbonate over a period of 2-3 days. Since you say you have it in a keg I assume you a) already racked it off the yeast; have force carbonation capacity...and, I guess, c) have decided not to bottle it? You could carbonate it and drink it a little green (hard to be patient with your first one) or give it a few more days, to mature, a chacun son gout. Personally I'd let it sit at least 10 days after transfer; even if it's not fermenting violently enough to be visually obvious, the little yeasties are still alive and working, finishing things off, cleaning up and rounding out the flavors.

PS, you still are at 3.999% ABV, a little low but within style guidelines, I think, for a brown. Higher FG may just mean a little too sweet and a little more body than you expected.

[RWBooneJr]

Thanks for the help. I used the "True Brew" nut brown ale kit, which had a combination of malt and malt extract, and which listed the expected OG and FG in the directions. Aside from the SG, everything with the beer looks and smells great. (I also calculated about 4% ABV, which is fine with me and, I believe, fairly normal for a British beer.) Anyway, I was not planning to bottle the beer. I currently have the beer in a keg, off the lees, and I waited a full 7 days before touching the primary fermenter. I have not carbonated it; but I did add enough CO2 get rid of most of the oxygen in the head space of the keg (a typical soda keg, that is apparently a little larger than 5 gallons). I am planning to let everything sit for another 2 weeks before carbonating the beer. And I am planning to do this slowly, at low pressure, rather than force carbonating. Then, I was going to wait an additional week before tapping the keg (4 weeks total from the date I brewed it).

[southdenverhoo]

Cool. Well, you can "force carbonate" slowly, as I do, or you can do it fast, but unless you are adding priming material (sugar, malt extract, or krausen beer, or any sugar source) and letting the yeast do the work, it's "force carbonating".

If you are priming, expect it to take 7-10 days.

If you are force carbonating, slowly, i.e. by setting the regulator at a pound or two above your target pressure, that takes about a week or ten days too. This is what I do, only I might set it at 20-25 lbs just for the first 24 hours. I personally like to serve English styles at around 45-50 degrees and 10-11 PSI. More carbonated, perhaps, than a classic cask ale, but not by much. A good ten degrees cooler though, just my American palate. Warms up in the glass though.

If you do the slow force carbonation, be sure to do it with the beer cold, colder the better for CO2 absorption.

How does it taste? you did taste the hydrometer sample, right?

[bndcksnts1520]

Hey all . I was wondering how many people out there on DonRockwell.com are homebrewers. I got in to it a couple of months ago and I find that you can really get addicted to it. I thought this Topic would be a good place to throw up some recipes or maybe even get some of people together to try out homebrews and talk about some of the more exclusive beer places in the DC-Baltimore area.

I think it would be great if we could get some of the guys that own a few micro breweries in the DC-Baltimore area to get on here and give some of tehir advice on where to get some of their favorite beers and how tehy go out about their brewing.

This would also be a great place to get some of the folks out there who are curious but thinks its too much work to brew! It's not!!!

Feel free to post anytime of even shoot me an email if you have questions!

Patrick

[edenman]

Click

Always good to see another homebrewer on here. I've currently got a Belgian Cherry-Dubbel in the fermenter, a batch of Flanders Red going in a wine barrel at a friend's house, and a Double IPA on deck.

[thistle]

What a coincidence, I'm a 'born-again' homebrewer, took a few years off, but started pulling out my gear the other day, now that I have alot more space to work with (a garage! an extra fridge!). I hope to brew this weekend, if I can get organized. The one thing I would like to do is switch to kegging, rather than bottling, because it seems so much easier. I'm ready to jump in on any homebrew discussion...

[edenman]

The one thing I would like to do is switch to kegging, rather than bottling, because it seems so much easier.

Once you go keg, you never go back. One vessel to clean, one vessel to fill. Only downside is that it requires more fridge space (especially if you want to age stuff) but if you have a garage and an extra few bucks a month for electricity, there's no reason not to make the switch.

[thistle]

I know, I'm excited about making the switch, I've soaked lots of beer bottles in a bathtub w/ bleach, then ran them through the dishwasher on heat dry, but bottling was a tedious sticky process. Let me ask you, how do you like the plate chiller? I still haven't moved up to anything larger than 5 gallon batches, extract plus partial grain mashes, & I'm wondering if it's better than the immersion chiller-hard to clean? I'd also like to hear your opinion on the conical fermenter-are the advantages enough to get a small batch, 'pseudo' version like the Fermentap? Right now I have 5g & 6g glass carboys, a plastic 5g & 7g (which is also the bottling bucket)-I'd like to start a cider in the smaller glass one...

[edenman]

I know, I'm excited about making the switch, I've soaked lots of beer bottles in a bathtub w/ bleach, then ran them through the dishwasher on heat dry, but bottling was a tedious sticky process. Let me ask you, how do you like the plate chiller? I still haven't moved up to anything larger than 5 gallon batches, extract plus partial grain mashes, & I'm wondering if it's better than the immersion chiller-hard to clean? I'd also like to hear your opinion on the conical fermenter-are the advantages enough to get a small batch, 'pseudo' version like the Fermentap? Right now I have 5g & 6g glass carboys, a plastic 5g & 7g (which is also the bottling bucket)-I'd like to start a cider in the smaller glass one...

The plate chiller was a total pain in the ass to use/clean so I'm back to using the immersion chiller, but have invested in a pond pump so I can recirculate ice water and considerably reduce my water use and chilling time.

I love the conical but I wouldn't recommend it without some caveats: it's great for the brewer like myself who brews 10gal once a month at most...this way, the batches go into the conical and don't come out until it's time to keg. It's stupidly easy to clean (a major plus) but I'm still tinkering with an airlock system...the seal on the lid isn't completely airtight and occasionally if the foam rises to the ceiling, it leaks out the edges rather than going through the output tube I've got setup.

I've heard mixed things about the fermentap conversion kit. As long as you don't have too much trouble cleaning/racking with your carboys, I'd stick with those for now. I don't think it makes much sense to get a conical unless you're doing at least 10gal batches.

[thistle]

Thanks for the tips-I went out today & picked up a basic kegging setup at My LHBS , a weizen kit (this is the first kit I've ever used, but it'll be a quick jumpstart, I hope), some yeast for the cider, & a few odds & ends. This weekend, I'll be cleaning & organizing the garage, cleaning all my gear, & with any luck, brewing! Maybe after T'giving, I'll pick up a turkey fryer, for another burner & a lg. pot.

[thistle]

More questions-what did you use as a fermenter for large batches before you got the conical?-just split it between smaller carboys? Also, how are you using the pump w/ the immersion chiller? Since I've been out of the loop for awhile, I'm trying to catch up-I do have a 10 gallon Rubbermaid cooler, that I bought to use as a mash tun, w/ Phil's false bottom & sparge arm, but never set it up, I did my mashes in a spaghetti pot in the oven, then added it to the wort.

What do you think is the most important thing to get, if you're thinking about brewing 10 gallons? I think my biggest need right now is a large brewpot, I've done partial boils w/ a 5 gallon pot, then topped it off w/ water. The turkey fryer kit I saw at the store had a 7 gallon pot & a burner for $59. I saw the Blichman Boilermaker at the store today & was lusting after it, but don't think it's in the budget right now...

[edenman]

More questions-what did you use as a fermenter for large batches before you got the conical?-just split it between smaller carboys? Also, how are you using the pump w/ the immersion chiller? Since I've been out of the loop for awhile, I'm trying to catch up-I do have a 10 gallon Rubbermaid cooler, that I bought to use as a mash tun, w/ Phil's false bottom & sparge arm, but never set it up, I did my mashes in a spaghetti pot in the oven, then added it to the wort.

What do you think is the most important thing to get, if you're thinking about brewing 10 gallons? I think my biggest need right now is a large brewpot, I've done partial boils w/ a 5 gallon pot, then topped it off w/ water. The turkey fryer kit I saw at the store had a 7 gallon pot & a burner for $59. I saw the Blichman Boilermaker at the store today & was lusting after it, but don't think it's in the budget right now...

Before Conical (BC) I was splitting the 10gal batch between two fermenters, yes. The pond pump sits in the bottom of a bucket of ice water, and hooks directly into the immersion chiller. the output of the chiller goes back into the bucket, so it's a closed system and no water is lost (although I tend to let the output drain off until it gets down to the 150F range, to prevent melting all the ice at once).

And yea, being able to do a full boil is the best next step....you get better hop utilization, less risk of infection, etc. Of course, it takes longer to chill down, especially compared to topping up with cold water. I've got a 14gal kettle with output valve and thermometer coupling that MoreBeer.com used to sell. Really, the valve and thermometer are optional but definitely nice to have.

[RWBooneJr]

Always good to see another homebrewer on here.

I've got a hefeweizen, a nut brown ale, a pumpkin ale, a Frankfurt-style apfelwein, and a Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc in bottles and an oak-aged vanilla bourbon stout and a Sonoma Pinot Noir in secondaries. And I'm always happy to share recipes, tips, or beer.

As for keg vs. bottle, I actually started out kegging beer and switched to bottles. I like bottles, because they're more portable and its easier to keep a lot of different beers around.

[thistle]

Is your apfelwein EdWort's recipe from HBT? The last time I made cider (quite a few years ago), I used a Champagne yeast, but the guy at the homebrew shop recommended Wyeast 4766, for cider, so I went with that. I have a few different supermarket apple ciders & juices to use, do you use the Campden tablets 24 hours before you pitch the yeast? I may heat some of the ciders w/ some spices & maybe a touch of honey before I add it to the fermentor.

I'm also saving good bottles, because there are some things I would rather bottle than put in a keg, I think-like cider & specialty brews, easier to age them that way. I'm glad to see so many homebrewers out there, I have so many questions, since I've been out of the loop for awhile...

[RWBooneJr]

Is you apfelwein EdWort's recipe from HBT? The last time I made cider (quite a few years ago), I used a Champagne yeast, but the guy at the homebrew shop recommended Wyeast 4766, for cider, so I went with that. I have a few different supermarket apple ciders & juices to use, do you use the Campden tablets 24 hours before you pitch the yeast? I may heat some of the ciders w/ some spices & maybe a touch of honey before I add it to the fermentor.

Frankfurt apfelwein is different than a cider -- it is bone dry and almost flat. I use Edwort's recipe without the added sugar, which yields about 6% abv. I also lightly carbonate mine with 2.5 oz priming sugar (as a preservative, more than anything).

Apfelwein is the easiest thing in the world to brew. You don't need to do anything in advance except sanitize a carboy and an airlock. To it, add 2 gallons of cheap apple juice (any kind that has no preservative other than vitamin C), a packet of Montrachet wine yeast, and three more gallons of juice. Wait one month and bottle. It is drinkable immediately, but is better if you age it for 3 or more months.

[thistle]

I'm reviving this old thread, because I'm trying to start home brewing again-haven't done anything in awhile, but it's just like riding a bicycle, right? Never have gotten around to kegging, but fall is coming & I feel like brewing some beer-is anyone out there?

[saf]

fall is coming & I feel like brewing some beer-is anyone out there?

I am not a home brewer, but I live with one and help out.

We bottle - haven't ever tried kegging, but keep thinking about it.

[edenman]

I'm reviving this old thread, because I'm trying to start home brewing again-haven't done anything in awhile, but it's just like riding a bicycle, right? Never have gotten around to kegging, but fall is coming & I feel like brewing some beer-is anyone out there?

The kegging investment isn't for everyone, but if you brew often enough to get tired of bottling, it's great. I have brewed enough already this year that I'm going to have to slow down or risk going over the 100gal legal limit

[thistle]

OK, after losing out on an awesome homebrew deal yesterday on Craigslist, I'm thinking about asking about another-are the 4 gal. cornie kegs ok?-I guess you would bottle the extra? I may convert the extra frig in our garage for homebrew, but right now, we have a home reno project coming up (ripping out tile & carpet to put in oak in kitchen/family room) & I'm a terrible procrastinator-I think about things for awhile & then eventually, I get around to them-when I get around to homebrewing, I'll update & anyone that wants to come & watch me fumble will be welcome...I love beer-my favorite is wheat beer...

[edenman]

are the 4 gal. cornie kegs ok?-I guess you would bottle the extra?

The only cornie kegs I've ever seen are 5gal (perfect for a single batch). If you somehow found 4gal cornie kegs...you could bottle the extra, although that sorta defeats the point of kegging (not having to sanitize bottles and deal with a bottling bucket/whatever). I'd recommend just shrinking your batch size to fit your kegging setup.

[ol_ironstomach]

Slightly off-topic, but I'll just mention here that Maryland Homebrew has begun carrying some cheesemaking supplies, in addition to the beer and wine items. Nice folks, huge store, and the $8 straight bottle brush is still the best thing I've found for really getting into those plastic Sodastream bottles.