Homebrewers - Whats in the fermenter?
 

I am going to try to knock out some pale ale this weekend. Any one else brewing?
MIke

Re: Homebrewers - Whats in the fermeter?
 

I haven't brewed in a year....I need to dust off the brew kettle.

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Nothing until after april 15. :(

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An IPA currently....just bottled an oatmeal stout about a week ago.

Re: Homebrewers - Whats in the fermeter?
 

Bottled a DIPA last weekend.
Bottling a honey red tomorrow
Have an amarillo hop pale ale that I mutated with 2.5 lbs of honey and 30 oz of golden raisins down for a long nap in secondary
Have a chocolate russian imperial stout that developed an infection 8 months ago sitting in the corner. I haven't been brave enough to taste it yet. I might end up being okay. I've been meaning to check it out but haven't had any bottles ready for the slight chance that it is actually good.

Re: Homebrewers - Whats in the fermeter?
 

16 gal of Central Coast Syrah. Just freed up a 6 gal carboy so I'm going to start beer soon, looking for a good kit now.

Re: Homebrewers - Whats in the fermeter?
 

Once I get my outdoor station set-up for spring time brewing, I'll cook up a Bell's Two-Hearted Ale clone.

Aging a DFH 90 Minute IPA clone that I'm not that happy with. It's settled down & clarified very nicely, but for some reason the profile is more like an old ale or Barleywine than an IPA. Too fruity. :mad:

Re: Homebrewers - Whats in the fermeter?
 

Great thing about homebrewing even when your not happy with it it is still beer.

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I am going to make a Mexican inspired beer after this pale ale with some agave nectar I picked up, we will see how that comes out
Mike

Re: Homebrewers - Whats in the fermeter?
 

I'm pumped! Last year I planted some hops rhizomes--a pair of Cascades & a pair of Nugget. They had decent growth, nothing spectacular, although I wasn't expecting much since it was their first year and they had to establish a root system.

Was just walking around the "herb" garden and noticed substantial growth already from the Cascades mound--easily 4", and these things hadn't even broken the surface last weekend!

http://i262.photobucket.com/albums/i...sozei/Hops.jpg

Hop vines can grow 12"/day thru the middle of summer. I'm hoping for a good harvest this year :dance:

Re: Homebrewers - Whats in the fermeter?
 

You'll have to keep us updated.....at least make sure you post pics of any hop harvest you have this year.

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Congrats. Be careful using first year hops in your brews. Most people recommend only using them for dry hopping until the third year harvest. Can't seem to remember the specific issues, but I'm pretty sure it has to do with the flavor being raw/off when they are new...

Re: Homebrewers - Whats in the fermeter?
 

Just put 5 gallons of American pale ale in the fermenter. Watching it bubble!

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Dang....makes me want to get back into homebrewing!

Re: Homebrewers - Whats in the fermeter?
 

dont personally make beer but I do dable in mead

In the primary I have a lambic braggot
In secondary I have a belgian triple braggot, and a habanero capsicumel
and ready to bottle I have a peach melomel

Re: Homebrewers - Whats in the fermeter?
 

I'm excited. I found out late yesterday that I made it through the first round of the National Homebrewer's Competition. Took 1st place in category 19 (strong ale) for the northeast region with a score of 37 for my old oak ale (the same one I gave away on the contest board last month). I now go up against 29 others for the category finals.

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Congrats Bud! Are you bottling? If so I would love to try it!

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Unfortunately this one went really fast. I'm brewing it again with a few tweaks to the recipe in July, which means it'll be ready to drink next April...

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Congrats, Brian! 37 points is a nice score. I hope they still give out those cool first round awards--would make a nice framed addition to your brew house! :tu

Keep us updated on your beer's progress :gl

Re: Homebrewers - Whats in the fermeter?
 

Ive got a nut brown kit batch in the secondary right now. I managed to ruin my second batch so I figured I better keep it cheap till i get another batch I dont ruin. My first batch ever tho, was a pretty awesome IPA. Excited to keep going with this.

Re: Homebrewers - Whats in the fermeter?
 

I've made a blackbery cabernet but I haven't tried beer.

Re: Homebrewers - Whats in the fermeter?
 

So it's 2 1/2 months later, and this is how my Cascades look:

http://i262.photobucket.com/albums/i...Hops062809.jpg

http://i262.photobucket.com/albums/i...ops062809b.jpg

I believe the vine system is supposed to stop growing ~ mid-July, when the plant goes into flower to produce the hops cones. I did have a support system attached further up the side of the house, but we just finished residing so that had to go. Gonna have to set up a sturdier trellis system next year!

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in the past month I've brewed a American Style Pale Ale, a Hefe and a Dunkelweizen. Not sure but What do you think should be next??

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Kegged an American Brown and APA today.

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Waiting to empty a keg so I can free up a fermenter. Any DFW people up for drinking a IIPA, Double Stout, or (not mine) fruit flavored ale?

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I put an American Wheat in the fermenter last night. Im going to transfer to Secondary in a few weeks and add a can of Oregon Raspberry puree, to make a Raspberry Wheat.

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Good Choice with the Hefe. Not sure as I am no expert, but aren't the "extras" added in the initial boil?

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No, you want to have the flavor remain as intact as possible so you add the fruit after the main fermentation is completed. The canned fruit doesn't need to be boiled as it is already hot filled.

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Again I am no expert but am trying to understand. So the canned fruit wouldn't add germs or bacteria and ruin the beer?

Re: Homebrewers - Whats in the fermeter?
 

Canned fruit is thermally processed in the can to kill anything that could spoil it. It is not as clean as commercially processed green beans, say, because you don't need as long/hot a process because the fruits has low pH, but you still don't need to worry about bacteria or wild yeast in the canned fruit products.

I just clean off the top with soap and water, rinse, open, and pour in.

The processing of the canned fruit can be done 2 ways. One would be to heat up the fruit to 83C or so, can it, seal it, then invert the cans. We call this hot fill. The heat from the hot fruit will kill microorganisms in the can.

The second would be to fill the cans cold, then after heat them so the internal temperature reaches 83 or so. This is similar to the Pasteurization process that they use for beer.

In either case, the fruit is clean enough to use directly even though it has not received a 12D commercial sterilization process.

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My American brown is finally tasting good after 4 weeks in the bottles.

I hope to get a porter of some sort brewed tomorrow night.

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I think I got it. THANKS! Would it add any dicernable amount of ABV boost with the added sugars?

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It will increase the alcohol, depending of course on how much you add. Adding a 3# can of non sweetened fruit puree to a 5 gallon batch won't increase the alcohol that much. The other reason you don't boil that I forgot to mention is that you can set the pectins present in fruit and create a permanent haze. OK in a wit or hefe but in that light blueberry lager not so much.

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Bottled a Sierra Nevada Pale Ale clone last weekend, and now trying my first attempt at culturing yeast from this batch and some real deal Sierra Nevada Pale Ale. Kitchen looks like a lab at this point. Was going to just "wash the yeast" in the ferminter but decided to just try and go all out. And since I decided to do that, figured I would try to culture from the real thing too.

Will brew again next weekend if I can get the yeast up and going :). Should be interesting to see how the yeast has adapted to my brewing environment and how far it might stray.

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I started my HopHead IPA this weekend. Its bubbling away in the fermenter and smelling great, I cant wait to dry hop this sucker and bottle it!!

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Got an American Bock, conditioning in bottle for one more week.
And a German Celabrator on deck. :banger
Cant wait to start developing my own recipes.

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I dryhopped my IPA today with 2oz of Cascade Leaf Hops!!
I cant wait to drink this sucker in another month!

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That is some good looking stuff there man :banger

I've only dry hopped with Cascade once but I was really happy with the result. Let us know how it turns out.

- Rob

Re: Homebrewers - Whats in the fermeter?
 

Can't wait to hear how this turns out!

FYI, I've found that dry-hopping with pellets works better than whole hops. The outcome of the beer is about the same, but it's a lot easier to get them in & out of the carboy, and to siphon off the beer. :2

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Havn't seen much love for the Homebrewer thread soooo
Bought all the stuff for a Chocolate Porter. It's a recipe not a kit as I am getting board with off the shelf kits :sleep: soooo bought all the stuff.

After purchasing I noticed the biggest expense in the brew was the DME and the LME.
Any suggestions on the best place (ie cheapest) place for such things?

Re: Homebrewers - Whats in the fermeter?
 

TAX Trick in NY

Also I was told (in NY anyway or maybe just my county not sure) that....

--If you buy a kit with bottle caps in it you get taxed on the whole kit.
--If you buy a kit without them or just the ingredients you don't. Who knew?

So buy buying the ingredients I saved rouglly 6 bucks, can taylor the brew to my taste and still have leftover grains for the next batch. :tu

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So did some searching on Homebrewtalk.com and found the following info for DME and LME

http://dmemart.com/ cheap and free shipping 11.99-12.99 per 3lb bag DME
www.austinhomebrew.com has good prices generally and has 7.99 flat rate shipping
www.morebeer.com free ship over 59

Here's a more complete list of online stores. I have not ordered from any of them but many form homebrewtalk have.

Online Homebrew Suppliers
Annapolis Homebrew Supply
Annapolis, MD

Austin Homebrew Supply
Austin, TX
Large selection of recipe kits available in extract, mini-mash, and all-grain versions, including many commercial clone kits. Equipment and ingredients also available. Flat shipping.

Beer-Wine.com
Woburn, Massachusetts
I used Beer-Wine.com this week and was very happy with the service and speed of the delivery. I put in a order for some liquid malt extract to test them out and 2 hours after I put in my order online I received a email that it had been shipped, received it on thursday. All this was with the cheapest shipping option. ~ crum

DeFalco's Home Wine & Beer Supply
Houston, TX

Freshops
Philomath, OR
"Purveyor of fine hops, hop oil, and hop rhizomes"

Homebrew Adventures
Charlotte, NC

Homebrewer's Outpost
Flagstaff, AZ

HopTech
Dublin, CA
Hop supplier recommended by HomeBrewTalk users

Michigan Brewing Company
Webbersville, MI

MoreBeer
Concord, CA
Free shipping for orders $59 and over

Midwest Supplies
Minneapolis, MN

Northern Brewer
St. Paul, MN

Williams Brewing Supply
San Leandro, CA

Re: Homebrewers - Whats in the fermeter?
 

I am doing a Coffee Porter right now.
Yesterday I cold pressed 2 cups of coarse grind Starbucks Italian Roast and added the coffee to secondary. Smelled amazing!!!

Re: Homebrewers - Whats in the fermeter?
 

Good luck with that! One of the things I found out with my first coffee porter is that coffee has a detrimental impact on head retention--I think it's something about the oils. If you're bottling, you might want to prime with a bit extra sugar. Mine took about 6 months longer to mature as well, but once it did--:banger I used Starbucks Sulawesi. Great stuff--in fact, I still have a few bottles from my very first batch of it... more than 12 years old!

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Man this sounds good. I got to get me some brewing equipment again one of these days!

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All you really need is basically 2 5-gallon buckets and a big pot. it's EEEE-ZZZZ

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Yea. I had a couple of 6 gallon carboys and a 7.5 gallon SS pot a while back taking up space ( I hadn't brewed in a few years) in the garage, so I passed them on to an at the time co-worker who was into brewing. He left the company and has dropped out of sight since.

One day...

Re: Homebrewers - Whats in the fermeter?
 

Doing a Lost Abbey Cuvee de Tomme (sp?) clone this weekend. I've got a Saison going now, and a Christmas Spiced(lightly) beer, and sort of an Imperial Brown Ale as well (it was an Imperial Stout Recipe that I cut back on the roasted grains a bit).

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I was planning an English IPA for this weekend, but my malt didn't get here in time. Finally going all grain!

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I just drank the last few bottles from my first home brew. I made a stout that I added orange and chocolate to. For the orange I used zest and for the chocolate I used cacao nibs. It was a bit smokier than intended and the orange wasn't as prominent as I would have like, but considering it was my first brew ever I think it came out really well.