Home Brewing

[FaulkSF]

Sub. This is great. I have always wanted to brew. I mean, I have done some Mr Beer kits and such, but I want to try something more like what you guys are doing and talking about. A lot of my friends are big into it. Also..... I really like beer.

Cheers!

Depending on what your budget is, you can get started with a turkey fryer kit, propane, buckets, capper, bottles and an extract starter kit. Or if you're serious and can afford it, you can purchase an all grain system.

It's a great hobby and Mrs Faulk likes it as it keeps me at home to help her take care of the little Faulks.

 

[RamFan503]

Depending on what your budget is, you can get started with a turkey fryer kit, propane, buckets, capper, bottles and an extract starter kit. Or if you're serious and can afford it, you can purchase an all grain system.

It's a great hobby and Mrs Faulk likes it as it keeps me at home to help her take care of the little Faulks.

Yep. @Faceplant I would suggest you try extract first and play with the malt, hops, and yeast before diving into all grain. A lot of the stuff you buy can be used with both processes.

Guess it depends on how fast you want to jump in, how much room you have for brewing and how much you want to spend. All grain costs more to get started but is far cheaper in the long run.

You can find inexpensive systems if you look hard. A lot of people buy the, use them once, and they sit in their garage until they get tired of tripping on them.

Join a couple home brew forums. They are often fun and you get a scoop on other people's mistakes. The members also tend to find great deals or are selling their stuff to upgrade.

 

[CGI_Ram]

My entire 6 gallon set-up is mostly used equipment, I bought cheap from a friend. It’s a good way to get started if you can find clean used stuff.

You can always resell it, too, if the hobby flames out.

I bought 1 gallon bottles for these mini brews. Reusing a lot of old gear for wine to do what I am doing now.

I will post pictures after I finish a few steps today. 5 gallons on go.

2 gallons traditional mead, one of them I will finish with pumpkin (likely)
1 gallon blueberry mead
1 gallon ginger mead
1 gallon apple cider

Those two bottles I posted earlier are into bulk aging now. I was surprised how good they both tasted after 4 weeks. I’ll give them another 4 weeks before considering a move to dispensing bottles.

 

[CGI_Ram]

Here they are.

The two on the right, are the two from my earlier posts. One of them I will leave as plain traditional honey mead. It’s starting to clear. Looks like 12-13% on that one, the blueberry slightly less, tad more sweet.

Both of those are conditioned. I can back-sweeten more if need be at bottling.

The cider I started yesterday. It will move to a jug in 4-5 days.

The ginger I chopped and boiled then added the boiled water to the must. Smells awesome!

The last one is another traditional that I will flavor later.

 

[FaulkSF]

Looks delicious @CGI_Ram ! How long do you plan on aging the meads?

 

[CGI_Ram]

I was shocked at how good the one far right already tastes. That’s just 4wks old.

So, I don’t think they need much time.

I will keep them another 4 weeks like that. Depending on the rate they clear (a lot of meads don‘t clear good) if they look to be flattening out in 4 weeks I will move to bottles, likely. But they could sit 8 more weeks or longer if I want.

My guess is I’m drinking one of those in a month or so.

 

[FaulkSF]

I was shocked at how good the one far right already tastes. That’s just 4wks old.

So, I don’t think they need much time.

I will keep them another 4 weeks like that. Depending on the rate they clear (a lot of meads don‘t clear good) if they look to be flattening out in 4 weeks I will move to bottles, likely. But they could sit 8 more weeks or longer if I want.

My guess is I’m drinking one of those in a month or so.

Right before you bottle, I suggest dropping the temp to about 50F for a day or two. The yeast will drop to the bottom and should help clear your Mead a bit.

 

[CGI_Ram]

Apple cider. This photo is sort of cool as it shows the color change in fermentation. It’s very active right now.

It sits like this (bottle below) at least 4 weeks.

 

[CGI_Ram]

Here we are 2 weeks later.

2 weeks ago.

 

[RamFan503]

Points for creative use of a hair band.

 

[CGI_Ram]

Points for creative use of a hair band.

Those darn corks always want to walk loose those first few hours. Its holding now. I just never took it off.

 

[FaulkSF]

Sorry I didn't grab more pics. I added about 25 oz of unsweetened coconut into the 4 gallons of stout last Saturday. Only problem was I couldn't fit it into a hop or grain bag, and fit it into the carboy. So it sat freely within the beer

Today I was able to transfer it to the keg using a hop bag to filter out the coconut and sediment. In the picture was the last of what I couldn't siphon from the carboy to the keg. And you'll note it's in"appropriate glassware".

Really nice flavor. Complex dessert stout, though I wanted to get more port flavor on it than what I am tasting. Keep in mind this is uncarbonated, which should be much better when I get some CO2 on it. I yielded about 3.75 gallons or 15 liters for those of you who don't imperial.

 

[FaulkSF]

Found a picture of the toasted coconut too

 

[CGI_Ram]

That looks great @FaulkSF. Damn good, actually.

Mine are aging in those same bottles. So no real change. I plan to bottle in a month. I will share pics then.

How do you plan to carbonate?

I have priming sugar and such... can do it that way... Or...

I have been eyeballing a 1-gallon keg, and charge with CO2, drink 24-36hrs later.

Since I am making small gallon batches, a small batch keg sounds cool. Fast, safe, easy too. It's sort of big for the fridge, but a lot of people put these small ones right in their fridge.

 

[CGI_Ram]

Oh... And instead of bottling I transfer straight to this keg. Drink that way.

 

[FaulkSF]

@CGI_Ram the important details! I kegged it yesterday. I usually go for a slow carb at about 11 psi for 10 days. Only problem is my psi gauge is busted on my regulator. So I'll just eyeball and test and adjust in a few days. Since it's a dessert stout, I really don't want anything more than a lt-medium carbonation.

That's excellent on the smaller sized kegs, I've seen some that are 1-2.5 gallon (4-10L). You should be fine on the carbonation as ciders and meads tend to be on the lower spectrum of desired carbonation (according to charts).

 

[FaulkSF]

Oh... And instead of bottling I transfer straight to this keg. Drink that way.

That's also less of a hassle too. There's also less chance of getting off-flavors by virtue of volume (4L keg v 12 bottles at 375mL).

 

[RamFan503]

From my home brewing days, I remember when I switched from bottling to kegging. It was real difficult to ever want to bottle my beer again. I ended up converting a chest freezer to a keg refer. It is super simple and you can have several styles all on tap with a pretty small freezer. A piece of 2x6 Cedar or Redwood, a drill, and a thermostat over-ride is pretty much all you need. You can make a keg refer in an hour or two.

 

[FaulkSF]

From my home brewing days, I remember when I switched from bottling to kegging. It was real difficult to ever want to bottle my beer again. I ended up converting a chest freezer to a keg refer. It is super simple and you can have several styles all on tap with a pretty small freezer. A piece of 2x6 Cedar or Redwood, a drill, and a thermostat over-ride is pretty much all you need. You can make a keg refer in an hour or two.

Haven't gone full keezer yet, but have the freezer with the controller. Like Stu said then you need to buy the towers and taps. I'm still on the cobras.

 

[CGI_Ram]

Here we go… I pulled them out for a photo. All are clearing up nicely.

They‘ve aged enough to be drinkable. Always can age more.

My mini keg arrives this week. My plan is to sweeten and keg the one on the far right. Carbonate it with CO2.

Decide from there how to finish the others, sweetness, carbonation or not, etc.

Now that I am in a good aged/drinkable inventory position, it is easier to be patient with future batches.

It is always difficult to sit and wait on the aging process, hardly tasting anything to keep the bottles full enough (low headspace) for bulk aging.

Pretty pleased with these, so far.

NOW

2 MONTHS AGO