What are you brewing?

[martym]

I did some reading on this last night. Very interesting! I applaud you all for doing this.
The only way I would be able to do this is if I had someone to walk me through the steps. Hands on. I am no good with written directions/instructions.

 

[eightysixCJ]

Bottling a different all-grain amber ale tomorrow.

Tom

 

[bahomebrew]

All grain, all the time.

I've stayed away from the all grain brew. I keep telling myself I don't have the space. It would require more equipment, and I've got quite a bit already. The beer is pretty fresh and tasty, so is it worth it to go all the way? I feel like all grain is like straight razors for me. Eventually I will get there(and I did just get a straight razor, so maybe all grain is not so far away).

Also, with the keg, I've thought it would take a bunch of the guess work out of carbonation and all of the bottling. By your description, it was life-altering. Another thing to put on the list of to do. I just need to get a full on kegerator and figure out where to keep it.

 

[StanStill]

I've stayed away from the all grain brew. I keep telling myself I don't have the space. It would require more equipment, and I've got quite a bit already. The beer is pretty fresh and tasty, so is it worth it to go all the way? I feel like all grain is like straight razors for me. Eventually I will get there(and I did just get a straight razor, so maybe all grain is not so far away).

Also, with the keg, I've thought it would take a bunch of the guess work out of carbonation and all of the bottling. By your description, it was life-altering. Another thing to put on the list of to do. I just need to get a full on kegerator and figure out where to keep it.

Honestly I'm probably not the best one to ask, because I've only made one extract brew, and it was fairly recently. Came out fine, I just didn't feel like spending the extra couple hours dealing with the mash. The guy who taught me how to brew is big on the igloo cooler mash tun method, so I was his excuse to upgrade to a bigger one so I could inherit his old one. For me it's just part of the process. I like the smell of the mash...I pour the hot liquor over the grains by hand a half gallon at a time to sparge. I think of it more like making coffee, vs making instant coffee. It definitely adds about 3 hours to the brew process, so if you like your beer and your method, I'd say stick with it.

As for the corny keg, it really is a game changer... bottling day goes from cleaning and sanitizing 50 bottles and caps, filling each one individually, overfilling about 10% of them and getting dribbles all over the floor and hands, to sanitizing one keg, putting it all in there, and closing it. If you 're in a hurry, you can agitate the keg while it's under pressure to get it carbonated in about 15 minutes (though I've never tried it) or just put it under pressure and wait 4-5 days. I have an old fridge in the basement that I use for beer. Eventually I'll put a tap in the side of it, but for now it just has the picnic spout.

 

[bahomebrew]

Thanks for the advice. I'm now moving things around trying to figure where the new igloo will fit. I am also shopping kegerators and weighing the options for diy vs prefab. Kegerators! Mount up!

 

[The Nid Hog]

I've been on the road for a couple of weeks and I'm getting ready to get home and do some bottling. I have a sour Belgian strong ale that's been on Japanese plums, plus an extra stout. Can't wait to get them ready to go.

I've stayed away from the all grain brew. I keep telling myself I don't have the space. It would require more equipment, and I've got quite a bit already. The beer is pretty fresh and tasty, so is it worth it to go all the way? I feel like all grain is like straight razors for me. Eventually I will get there(and I did just get a straight razor, so maybe all grain is not so far away).

You might want to try brew in a bag (BIAB) as a low-cost way to make the transition. I'm not adverse to an extract beer--in fact, I think they work great with sours or to top off a solara. That having been said, I do think that there is a difference in flavors, especially if the grains are more to the forefront in the style. And there's always the danger of that extract "twang." BIAB lets you get your feet wet without building a mash tun or getting any of that other gear. For the most part, I do BIAB for lower gravity beers and pull out my mash tun when I'm brewing something stronger.

 

[StanStill]

Thanks for the advice. I'm now moving things around trying to figure where the new igloo will fit. I am also shopping kegerators and weighing the options for diy vs prefab. Kegerators! Mount up!

A friend did this

And it worked great! He got the freezer from Home Despot for $139 and stuck a johnson controller on the side. Currently only has 2 taps, but he's got room for 2 more.

 

[Doug57]

I've got a Grapefruit Sculpin clone working away in primary fermentation.

 

[bahomebrew]

You might want to try brew in a bag (BIAB) as a low-cost way to make the transition.

Great idea. I already do a bit of that with a mini mash before the boil. Shouldn't be too hard to ramp up the amount of grain and use sacks. I'll try it next time. I'm still thinking about the igloo, but this will give me some room to experiment while I work out what I'm going to do and where it will all happen.

A friend did this (see above) And it worked great! He got the freezer from Home Despot for $139 and stuck a johnson controller on the side. Currently only has 2 taps, but he's got room for 2 more.

That looked a lot easier than some of the fridge conversions I've watched. Using the wood to avoid drilling into the actual freezer is a great idea, but maybe a little insulation glued to the back of the wood would be a good idea. What am I thinking?! I really have no space for a giant freezer like that. A small fridge will be pushing it.

 

[StanStill]

Just happened upon 60 ft of 1/2" copper tubing at The Home Despot for 36 bucks! For those not familiar with copper tubing prices, the best price I've seen for this much copper is easily twice that (I think it was a mistake honestly, but who am I to question the wisdom of the brewing gods and this gift they bestowed on me?) So anyway I'm planning to make a monster immersion chiller with it. The one I have is probably 20 ft of 3/8" tubing, and it tends to take about 30-40 minutes and who knows how much water to cool down the wort. I've seen people online brag that they can cool it down in under 10 minutes with something this size, so we'll see!

Also I've been brainstorming about some way to push ice water through the chiller to help speed it up further, or more importantly, to get the wort down to 50 for lager pitching. Anyone tried anything like this?

 

[eightysixCJ]

Also I've been brainstorming about some way to push ice water through the chiller to help speed it up further, or more importantly, to get the wort down to 50 for lager pitching. Anyone tried anything like this?

That was a good deal and sounds like a good plan. I have a 1/4" S.S. chiller and plan to make a larger diameter and longer one with copper tubing. I use a large plastic bin I fill with water and ice blocks I make and use a small 110v pump with garden hose fittings. With this setup I get 5-6 gallons down to 70* in 20-30 minutes. A large setup with should speed things up nicely.

Good luck!

Tom

 

[martym]

My Stetson is off to you guys.
You are some inventive, dedicated, determined, and highly motivated individuals!!

 

[StanStill]

My Stetson is off to you guys.
You are some inventive, dedicated, determined, and highly motivated individuals!!

It's not nearly as complicated as we might be making it sound. Plus who wouldn't want 5 gallons of beer?

 

[Parjay]

I have a Zombie Dust clone in primary. We had a cool weekend that turned warm, so here's hoping that a 70+ degree fermentation doesn't result in too many off flavors.

 

[OtherMoe]

Have brewed a couple English Premium Bitters the last couple weekends. I think a Dusseldorf Alt will be up next as I have me some Spalt hops I need to use......... Plus i just can't get enough Alt

 

[tdmwiener]

Chocolate stout, added some coffee beans to the mix, I think I'll roast them first next time

 

[galopede]

In the middle of a four day apple pressing for cider at the moment! My friend and I only have a small press and one go a day is enough. It's the scratting that's the hard part, using a knife and food processor to pulp the apples!

We have a friend with a cider apple orchard on her smallholding. She sells the apples to Weston's cider company. They arrive with the tractor with the tree shaker and any that don't fall off, we pick when Weston's have finished!

Took the SG of the first batch of juice and we should get around 8.5% BV out of it! Nice!

Gareth

 

[eightysixCJ]

In the middle of a four day apple pressing for cider at the moment!
Gareth

Sounds great!

Tom

 

[nymtber]

Brewed my first all-grain batch today, using BIAB process. Hit my volumes great, gravity was just a little low, but within acceptable range (65% efficiency). Just a nice easy Porter, should be a good beer! Everything else went fine, I have my boiling/sanitizing/fermenting process down pat at this point.

I've brewed extract for 6 1/2 years, always 5 gal batches and always partial boils, topping off with bottle water after. I bought a 10gal brew kettle, to do full boil extract but decided I would give BIAB a shot. Glad I did, I can now control one more aspect of brewing! I see a grain mill and a sack of 2-row in my future!

Now to find a way to dispose of all the grain... my neighbor owns the field that surrounds half my property, might ask if its ok to spread it out for the deer

 

[eightysixCJ]

6-gallons of Apple Wine fermenting. Bottled 5-gallons of 2016 Apple Wine today.

Tom

H-B.O.M.B.