Home Brew

[south_metro_fish]

I thought this might be a good place to start a discussion about home brewing. I am sure there is some FMrs out there that brew there own beer, because what goes better with fishing then an ice cold beer, other then an ice cold home brew. I my self have not had much luck or done much home brewing but would be interested in what others are doing and get some tips. I tried onetime with my dad a few years ago with a kit and it didn't really turn out. So what is a good way to get started with a first successful brew? Does any one use any ingredients they harvest or grow them selves? Any one want to share recipes or experiences? Just thought this might bring up some good info and conversation and I am interested in learning about it.

[KMR85]

Myself and a couple friends/classmates started an automated home brewery for our senior project last year. I say started because there was not enough time in one semester to get everything we wanted done. There are a lot of websites out there about home brewing and I would recommend taking a look at them. We got the idea from one of the guy's roommates who did a lot of home brewing with his gravity fed system (he is a member of FM). For simplicity and cost, a gravity fed system works great. I forget the name of the company that we got ingredients from, but I think it was Midwest Home Brewing or something like that. A good place to start is getting some kegs for the brewery. You only need 3 for the brewery, but an extra wouldn't hurt. I could post alot more, but I will wait and see what interest this thread sparks.

[south_metro_fish]

I have read up on how to brew but from what I have learned is the best info comes from real people.

[Phill Aldahl]

I have been brewing beer for a few years now and it has been really fun. I haven't done it a while now since I just haven't had any time and it has been too cold to do it in the winter, although I have before when it was 10 degrees out. I ended up with a 1/8" of ice on the doors and windows in the garage. I started with extract brews from kits which is what I think you are doing. I made decent beers, but I knew there was a better way out there. I did a lot of reading and found out that all grain brewing was the way to go. It is a lot more involved process, but it is worth it. I feel that my beers taste a lot better. Why wouldn't they? This is the way commercial breweries brew, just on a super small scale. Brewing with all grains also gives you a lot more control and freedom to tailor your beer to your tastes. With extract brewing all you have to choose from is extra light, light, amber, and dark extract to choose from for the base. You then add your specialty grains to get the color and taste. This works fine, but the only problem with this is that you don't know what ingredients were used to make the extract. Brewing with all grains you have complete control of what goes into your beer.

Here is a picture of my setup. The top keg is missing in the picture because it was leaking. If it were there the top keg would be used to heat plain water. The second keg is where the grains are added, and the third keg is where the hops are added.

Here are the ingredients for a peanut butter stout. Notice the largest bag. This is the base malt, which takes the place of malt extract in extract brewing. As you can tell from the other grains that this is going to be a dark beer.

Grains added into the keg ready to begin brewing.

Rinsing the sugars off the grains as the same time I am running wort (unfermented beer) out into the bucket.

Close of of the sparge arm. Sparging is the process of rinsing the sugars from the grains. As the arm spins it drizzles water on the grains evenly so you get a more efficient sugar extraction.

Hops ready to go in.

After the hops have been boiled and the wort has been cooled to the right temperature it is drained into the primary fermenter.

Ummmm Beer! The two buckets are primary fermenters. After it has fermented for 2 weeks it goes into the secondary fermenter (the glass vessel) for further aging and clearing.

I could go on and on about brewing since there is so much to learn. There are tons of great websites out there that I used to read daily and I really picked up the process from. With any good thing time and patience is key. Also if your first try at making beer wasn't a success, try again. You will get the knack for it. Sanitation is key. You need a very clean environment for your yeast to work how you want it to, otherwise you might have wild yeast or even worse, bacteria fermenting your beer.

[KMR85]

Phil, I figured you would chime in on this topic. Great pics too. Are you going to brew anything on 5th street this spring? I am trying to get to Mankato soon to pick up the rest of my stuff and do a little fishing with Tiny. I might have to swing by Luke's and grab the brewery that Pat, Ed and I worked on. I am sure he is sick of it sitting around. Too bad I don't have a place to store it yet.

[buddha]

Love the topic. I have brewed for years but it has been a while since I've made a batch and it will be nice get going again. This weekend is going to be a good weekend to get the stuff out of storage and take inventory and purchase some new stuff and start up a batch again.

[goblueM]

just brewed a chocolate coffee stout yesterday. pretty excited about it.

for all you newbies out there, don't be intimidated by those fancy pics above. That is an awesome setup but you don't need anything more than a big pot and a vessel to ferment in (and the accesories like sanitizer, bottle capper, etc) to get started brewing!

[catfishkid]

hey guys, can you only home brew beer or can you make shine as well? just curious. thanks.

[Phill Aldahl]

You CAN do shine with the proper equipment, but it is illegal, so I have never dabbled in it. Basicly all it comes down to is taking a fermented liquid and boiling off the alcohol and condensing it back down, yielding high proof booze.

[DARK30]

Ummm.... You drink some first

[catfishkid]

what is the difference between beer and booze? I had some one time ant it was the smoothest thing i had ever had except maybe some very expensive cognac. it would be a fun hobby to do, if it was legal. thanks anyways.

[Redlantern]

Beer is fermented, booze is distilled. Like already mentioned, it's illegal to make booze. Beer, wine, cider and anything else that is fermented can only produce a certain percent of alcohol. I forget the amount but I think it's around 18%.

[south_metro_fish]

Pill that is some great info and great pics. So you say that grains are better but for a first learning batch is it easier to use extracts. I am going to have to start figuring out everything I am going to need. I would assume for the basics you would need some sort of pot to mix and heat the ingredients and some sort of fermenting vesicle. I seen a friend using a long chunk of clear tubing running from the fermenting vesicle into a container with water. I am not sure what toughs things are called that I see on top of your vesicles, are they pretty cheap or would it be worth it to try something like that? I am interested in what the next proses is, how you get it into bottles and get it carbonated?

[Phill Aldahl]

Yes, I would start with extracts. For one they are easier, and two it gives you the chance to see if you like the hobby before you go all in with all the fancy equipment. If you do a search on the internet for places that sell homebrewing supplies all of them will have starter kits that come with almost everything you need to get started extract brewing. Just as an example this is what one of the kits came with. All you would need besides the things included would be a large pot.

6.5 Gallon Fermenter and Lid • 6.5 Gallon Bottling Bucket with Spigot 8 Oz. of Easy Clean No-Rinse Cleanser • Airlock (Keeps air out of the fermenter) • Hydrometer (Determines alcohol content) • Bottle Brush • Twin Lever Red Baron Bottle Capper • Bottle Caps • Liquid Crystal Thermometer • Bottle Filler • Racking Tube with Bucket Clip • Siphon Tubing

This kit was $60 and they range up to $135 if you start ordering them with the extras. I found the $135 to be a good deal because it comes with everything you need + 4 gallon stainless steel pot + 48 12 oz. bottles + a ingredient kit of you choice that comes with everything you need to brew your first batch.

The things on top of my buckets are called air locks. When you put your wort (unfermented beer) into the fermenter you don't want air to come in contact with the beer once the lid is closed or it will oxidize it. Fermenting beer also releases CO2 so you can't just seal it up or it would explode. These work much like the trap in your sinks where it has water in it and when the CO2 pressure gets high enough it will bubble the water up releasing the CO2. Your friend is wise for using the tubing from the fermenter to the cup of water. It is called a blowoff tube and it works on the same principle as the air lock only it just makes bubbles in the cup of water. When the beer first starts fermenting it can be quite vigorous. It can start foaming and even with an airlock attached it can push the airlock right out of the bucket or even dislodge your lid. This tubing gives the foam and CO2 a place to go. I once made a blackberry wheat and after the vigorous part of fermentation was done I put the airlocks on instead of the blowoff tubes. I then added the blueberries. With the added sugar from the blueberries it took off again that night and blew the rubber bung from the fermenter right off. Needless to say I ended up cleaning beer and berries off the floor and ceiling. Air locks are cheap so is tubing. I use both. Blowoffs for the first part of fermentation, once it has calmed down or I move it to the secondary fermentor I use airlocks.

Carbonating is accually quite simple. You siphon your beer from the fermentor to the bottling bucket and add the correct amount of sugar. The correct amount can be calculated on the internet. There are numerous different ones out there, they take into account the temp of the beer, how much beer there is, and the desired amount of carbonation. You then boil that amount of sugar in a little bit of water and add that to the bottling bucket as well. Then start bottling from the spigot. It is easier if you have tubing from the spigot to a bottling wand. Then you just leave the spigot open and press the wand into the bottom of the bottle which releases the beer until full, then depress from the bottom and you have your beer. Cap it with the capper and a bottle blank.

If you have any question feel free to ask them. I could talk about brewing beer forever as you can probably tell.

[south_metro_fish]

Thank you very much, I will have to get started then I am sure I will have more ?, I am glad there is someone so helpful on this topic in here.

[fish1time]

Awesome info Phill. I have just been doing 5 gal batches with extract and good results. That midwest brewing is a good place for suplies. How did you make the keg-kettles? I assume plasma cut but I realy like the built in thermometers. Any advise on building one?

[Phill Aldahl]

I made the keggles by using a dremel with reinforced cutting discs. It took a long time, but it was worth it to get a clean cut. No advise on building the thermometers, since I bought them. If I remember right I got them on [YouNeedAuthorization]. They are weldless, so I can take them off to clean or calibrate at any time.

[fish1time]

thanks! Are your spicket valves also weldless?

[Phill Aldahl]

Yep they are as well, but I did have some part machined so I can either get them welded or try my hand at soldering stainless steel. I didn't know it could be done, but after reading up on it I guess it can.