Home brew

[BKLYNCyclone]

Sounds like you are advanced.

I just checked out that maxout guy. That's no longer a home brew, that's a brewery!

I know... Just when I think I'm starting to get carried away, I found his set up. The restaurant tables/steam sink-burner well is sick... He's up to 1 BBL capacity, which is nuts. Assuming he entertains quite a bit as I have no idea how you get through that much beer. I figure I have $2-3k invested all in over 5 years, with about $1-2k in the next 5 left before I stop expanding and just enjoy it. (I'd love to set up a 5 gallon electric brewery in my basement for quick and easy batches. Not too bad for $500 a year in a hobby (+ grain, hops and yeast). My brother spends 2k a year on golf.

 

[dmclone]

Just got back from Minneapolis and went to MidwestSupplies. WOW! They have everything. Picked up a 6 gallon better bottle, Yeast Starter Kit, and a few other accessories. I also picked up a little beer I couldn't find locally.

View attachment 19582

 

[TykeClone]

Just got back from Minneapolis and went to MidwestSupplies. WOW! They have everything. Picked up a 6 gallon better bottle, Yeast Starter Kit, and a few other accessories. I also picked up a little beer I couldn't find locally.

View attachment 19582

One that I didn't see there is Alaskan beer. I've found that in places in MN, and they make some good stuff as well.

 

[Clonefan94]

I know... Just when I think I'm starting to get carried away, I found his set up. The restaurant tables/steam sink-burner well is sick... He's up to 1 BBL capacity, which is nuts. Assuming he entertains quite a bit as I have no idea how you get through that much beer. I figure I have $2-3k invested all in over 5 years, with about $1-2k in the next 5 left before I stop expanding and just enjoy it. (I'd love to set up a 5 gallon electric brewery in my basement for quick and easy batches. Not too bad for $500 a year in a hobby (+ grain, hops and yeast). My brother spends 2k a year on golf.

Thing is, there is officially a limit on how much a homebrewer can brew. If you have a family, it's 200 gallons a year. Granted, doesn't sound like a lot, but at a 1bbl capacity, that's less than 7 brewing sessions a year. I'm not calling any of these guys out as I know most of them do it as a group and share their labors amongst many people. But if you are like me, a 100 - 200 gallon brewer, you don't need anything like those guys have put together. In fact, I joke with co-workers all the time. If I didn't have to move evertything up before and back to the shed every time I'm done brewing, I'd shave 2 hours off my brew day. If I had one of those set ups, it'd be tough not to come home from work and brew, just because I could. The end product would beat the **** out of playing COD any day

 

[BKLYNCyclone]

For any of you that have an extra carboy around and don't have time for a full brew day:

I saw Ed Wort's Apfelwein thread on homebrewtalk a couple weeks ago and decided to give it a go. Dumped 5 gallons of apple juice into a carboy, 2 lbs of brown sugar (dissolved into a few cups of applejuice and brought to a boil with some yeast nutrient), and a packet of red star montrachet yeast directly into a carboy yesterday. Costs about $23 all in, (can be cheaper depending on the cost of apple juice). Takes about 20 minutes from start to finish. I actually also added a frozen can of apple juice concentrate as well as that supposedly enhances the apple flavor per brewer's comments.

Should come in around 9%+ abv... It's so easy that I did one 6 gallon carboy last weekend, and a 5 gallon this weekend. The yeast is a lot different than I'm used to. No Krausen whatsoever. You can literally fill the carboy up to the neck and slap an airlock on (it bubbles like soda, strange for us beer brewers). Sounds like this stuff is supposed to spectacular after 8 months of aging.

The original recipe calls for corn sugar, but I'm hoping to maintain some residual sweetness from the unfermentable portion of brown sugar (if any). The original version is apparently very dry, with the booze receding and the apple coming forward at around 8 months. People rave about this stuff at the 8 month mark.

The first batch is bubbling almost as fast as the batch I just started. I figure I'll rack to kegs in a month or 2 and forget about it. I have that extra gallon in the first batch that I'll force carb in a couple of soda bottles with the carbonator caps so I can try it young. Tempted to pour another 5 gallons of apple juice directly on the yeast cake after racking to the kegs, but the yeast is 59 cents a pack, so not sure it is worth it.

Anyone have any experience with this? I'll probably crack the first one in October for football season, and the 2nd at thanksgiving for the family gathering.

 

[TykeClone]

Anyone have any experience with this? I'll probably crack the first one in October for football season, and the 2nd at thanksgiving for the family gathering.

I've done this and it is good.

be very, very careful with it.

 

[BKLYNCyclone]

Thing is, there is officially a limit on how much a homebrewer can brew. If you have a family, it's 200 gallons a year. Granted, doesn't sound like a lot, but at a 1bbl capacity, that's less than 7 brewing sessions a year. I'm not calling any of these guys out as I know most of them do it as a group and share their labors amongst many people. But if you are like me, a 100 - 200 gallon brewer, you don't need anything like those guys have put together. In fact, I joke with co-workers all the time. If I didn't have to move evertything up before and back to the shed every time I'm done brewing, I'd shave 2 hours off my brew day. If I had one of those set ups, it'd be tough not to come home from work and brew, just because I could. The end product would beat the **** out of playing COD any day

I gave up on COD... I played with my brother and his friends, and I was the "birddog." My job was to run out and get killed so they could find out where everyone was hiding. I got the occasional lucky kill (I went in with grenades flying), but it lost its appeal. Plus, I got tired of racist homophobic 10 year olds spouting their mouths.

Anyway, my goal is to brew 10 gallons a month. To even get through that, I'd have to split it out with my brother. I've started to do a lot of aged beers (and the apfelweins) now that I have more capacity. I'm hoping to get my brother back up here in a month and brew a 10 gallon batch of surly's bitter brewer, and a 5 gallon batch of an imperial ipa that I'll secondary in an oak barrel. Would love to get a 10 gallon batch of a black ipa in as well, but that's a heck of a lot of work.

 

[BKLYNCyclone]

Just got back from Minneapolis and went to MidwestSupplies. WOW! They have everything. Picked up a 6 gallon better bottle, Yeast Starter Kit, and a few other accessories. I also picked up a little beer I couldn't find locally.

View attachment 19582

I've had everything (beer-wise). All are pretty good, but what are the blue cans of Surly. I've never seen them before (I live here) and can't find it on their website. Also, the central waters dipa is very good. Not a fan of milk stouts though. I prefer a malt sweetness balanced by hops, which is why I would annihilate the back in black and leave the left hand for my wife.

Also, I really like Odell's Myrcenary and their double mountain standard bipa. Not sure if that's available in Iowa, but if you can get it, definitely try it. (4 pack bottles). Their regular ipa is very good too.

 

[dmclone]

For any of you that have an extra carboy around and don't have time for a full brew day:

I saw Ed Wort's Apfelwein thread on homebrewtalk a couple weeks ago and decided to give it a go. Dumped 5 gallons of apple juice into a carboy, 2 lbs of brown sugar (dissolved into a few cups of applejuice and brought to a boil with some yeast nutrient), and a packet of red star montrachet yeast directly into a carboy yesterday. Costs about $23 all in, (can be cheaper depending on the cost of apple juice). Takes about 20 minutes from start to finish. I actually also added a frozen can of apple juice concentrate as well as that supposedly enhances the apple flavor per brewer's comments.

Should come in around 9%+ abv... It's so easy that I did one 6 gallon carboy last weekend, and a 5 gallon this weekend. The yeast is a lot different than I'm used to. No Krausen whatsoever. You can literally fill the carboy up to the neck and slap an airlock on (it bubbles like soda, strange for us beer brewers). Sounds like this stuff is supposed to spectacular after 8 months of aging.

The original recipe calls for corn sugar, but I'm hoping to maintain some residual sweetness from the unfermentable portion of brown sugar (if any). The original version is apparently very dry, with the booze receding and the apple coming forward at around 8 months. People rave about this stuff at the 8 month mark.

The first batch is bubbling almost as fast as the batch I just started. I figure I'll rack to kegs in a month or 2 and forget about it. I have that extra gallon in the first batch that I'll force carb in a couple of soda bottles with the carbonator caps so I can try it young. Tempted to pour another 5 gallons of apple juice directly on the yeast cake after racking to the kegs, but the yeast is 59 cents a pack, so not sure it is worth it.

Anyone have any experience with this? I'll probably crack the first one in October for football season, and the 2nd at thanksgiving for the family gathering.

I now have an extra 6 1/2 gallon glass carboy. i may have to give this a shot. I notice that you use brown sugar?

 

[00clone]

The first batch is bubbling almost as fast as the batch I just started. I figure I'll rack to kegs in a month or 2 and forget about it. I have that extra gallon in the first batch that I'll force carb in a couple of soda bottles with the carbonator caps so I can try it young. Tempted to pour another 5 gallons of apple juice directly on the yeast cake after racking to the kegs, but the yeast is 59 cents a pack, so not sure it is worth it.

Anyone have any experience with this? I'll probably crack the first one in October for football season, and the 2nd at thanksgiving for the family gathering.

I've done pasteurized cider when it's in season...just 5 gallons of cider and champagne yeast, and it's nummies...WRT apple juice, I've heard you have to be careful of preservatives that can inhibit the yeast...true/not true?

 

[TykeClone]

I've done pasteurized cider when it's in season...just 5 gallons of cider and champagne yeast, and it's nummies...WRT apple juice, I've heard you have to be careful of preservatives that can inhibit the yeast...true/not true?

Yep - preservatives are designed to kill things that would "spoil" the apple juice - things like yeast.

 

[BKLYNCyclone]

I've done pasteurized cider when it's in season...just 5 gallons of cider and champagne yeast, and it's nummies...WRT apple juice, I've heard you have to be careful of preservatives that can inhibit the yeast...true/not true?

Absorbic acid is okay as it doesn't inhibit anything in the amount present (sold as a beer additive to preserve freshness as well). Most of the juice you buy that says 100% apple juice only has that in it. Check the label though to be sure. I went with brown sugar on a hunch that it might maintain a little sweetness compared to the corn sugar which will ferment completely out. Even though it isn't technically a cider, I'm going for the cider taste and I'm trying to avoid back sweetening it with splenda or lactose. Pretty much certain that my family will be plastered on turkey day... I'm either going to have to give them smaller glasses or make sure they understand that each glass is 2 beers, or 3 if they're using my imperial pint glasses. I've heard lots of warnings about this stuff knocking people on their butts as it goes down easy and packs a punch.

Now I just need to get my keezer done... (my dad's old chest freezer is in my garage waiting to be transformed). Need to find tasteful ISU graphics for it.

 

[Clonefan94]

I gave up on COD... I played with my brother and his friends, and I was the "birddog." My job was to run out and get killed so they could find out where everyone was hiding. I got the occasional lucky kill (I went in with grenades flying), but it lost its appeal. Plus, I got tired of racist homophobic 10 year olds spouting their mouths.

Anyway, my goal is to brew 10 gallons a month. To even get through that, I'd have to split it out with my brother. I've started to do a lot of aged beers (and the apfelweins) now that I have more capacity. I'm hoping to get my brother back up here in a month and brew a 10 gallon batch of surly's bitter brewer, and a 5 gallon batch of an imperial ipa that I'll secondary in an oak barrel. Would love to get a 10 gallon batch of a black ipa in as well, but that's a heck of a lot of work.

Oh, I'm definitely done with COD as well. Just making the point that if I had an indoor electric brewery like some of these guys have. I'd easily be brewing a couple of times a week. Don't get me wrong, drinking the stuff is the best part, but for me, the act of brewing is just about as good. Not that I would drink anything close to that amount. I'm at about 10 gallons a month now as well and that has put me at a bout a 15 gallon pipeline with three 5 gallon brews on tap.

I do have a tendancy to get paranoid though, when a keg kicks and I put a new one on tap. For some reason, in my mind, if it's not in the pipeline, it's gone and I have to fill that spot right away. I have a couple of standards I like to stick with. My IPA and Amber Ale are pretty much friend favorites. So, it seems like I'm constantly brewing those 2. (I'll admit, I like them as well) So, I get wrapped up in brewing what I know I like and not venturing out into other styles enough.

 

[colbycheese]

I've fermented apple juice to make cider several times, and it works great. I usually buy a box of Mott's Apple Juice from Coscto, ~$20 for 6 gallons, and it doesn't have any preservatives. I've also added cinnamon sticks to the secondary which was awesome. I haven't tried back-sweetening yet, but I might give it a try the next time I brew. I also want to try adding a frozen cranberry juice concentrate container to my cider. I think that may turn out pretty well.

One thing I've also adopted among my homebrewing methods is to only bottle my cider in the short, stout bottles (Sierra Nevada-style bottles) so that it's easy to recognize a bottle cider, and not beer that I keep in the long-neck bottles. This comes in handy when I'm camping and reaching into a dark cooler, or when I'm two sheets to the wind at home in front of the fridge... just an idea.

Also, why do people keep separating the word "homebrew" into two words. Microsoft doesn't like it as one word, but it is the accepted way in the homebrewing community.

 

[dmclone]

I need to slow down or I'm going to fill my basement with beer. I have a Surly Furious clone that I bottled 2 weeks ago, I have an American Wheat from NorthernBrewer that's been 10 days in a primary, I picked up a Fat Tire clone at Midwestern last week, and now you guys have me wanting to do this Apfelwein.

 

[dmclone]

One thing I've also adopted among my homebrewing methods is to only bottle my cider in the short, stout bottles (Sierra Nevada-style bottles) so that it's easy to recognize a bottle cider, and not beer that I keep in the long-neck bottles. This comes in handy when I'm camping and reaching into a dark cooler, or when I'm two sheets to the wind at home in front of the fridge... just an idea.

I've used this company twice to come up with my custom tops. They both turned out really good.

BottleMark Custom Bottle Caps: Custom Bottle Caps/Crown Corks for Home Brewers, Craft Breweries, Scrapbookers, and More

 

[BKLYNCyclone]

I need to slow down or I'm going to fill my basement with beer. I have a Surly Furious clone that I bottled 2 weeks ago, I have an American Wheat from NorthernBrewer that's been 10 days in a primary, I picked up a Fat Tire clone at Midwestern last week, and now you guys have me wanting to do this Apfelwein.

Go for it! Should be in great shape when football/fall comes around. I've got one extra better bottle left that I'll probably drop another batch of this stuff in a few weeks, the goal being able to actually age one batch properly while still getting some on tap for the football season. Gotta plan ahead! The first warning of apfelwein seems to be, "Be careful" since the ABV is so high. The second warning is to "make sure you get another bath going shortly after the first as it goes fast and you'll always want it on tap I've got 30 gallons of various things fermenting out right now, but about 20 gallons is for long term aging. Adding a 15 gallon plastic (10 gal capacity for fermenting) diy conical in the next month to do my "house" beers in. My goal is to use all my glass and my oak barrel for long term fermentations such as apfelwein, brett beers, oaked imperial beers and then just get by on the conical and the 2 better bottles I have.

 

[BKLYNCyclone]

I've fermented apple juice to make cider several times, and it works great. I usually buy a box of Mott's Apple Juice from Coscto, ~$20 for 6 gallons, and it doesn't have any preservatives. I've also added cinnamon sticks to the secondary which was awesome. I haven't tried back-sweetening yet, but I might give it a try the next time I brew. I also want to try adding a frozen cranberry juice concentrate container to my cider. I think that may turn out pretty well.

One thing I've also adopted among my homebrewing methods is to only bottle my cider in the short, stout bottles (Sierra Nevada-style bottles) so that it's easy to recognize a bottle cider, and not beer that I keep in the long-neck bottles. This comes in handy when I'm camping and reaching into a dark cooler, or when I'm two sheets to the wind at home in front of the fridge... just an idea.

Also, why do people keep separating the word "homebrew" into two words. Microsoft doesn't like it as one word, but it is the accepted way in the homebrewing community.

The cranberry idea is genius... Guess I know what is going in my last empty carboy next weekend.

 

[dmclone]

I've fermented apple juice to make cider several times, and it works great. I usually buy a box of Mott's Apple Juice from Coscto, ~$20 for 6 gallons, and it doesn't have any preservatives. I've also added cinnamon sticks to the secondary which was awesome. I haven't tried back-sweetening yet, but I might give it a try the next time I brew. I also want to try adding a frozen cranberry juice concentrate container to my cider. I think that may turn out pretty well.

One thing I've also adopted among my homebrewing methods is to only bottle my cider in the short, stout bottles (Sierra Nevada-style bottles) so that it's easy to recognize a bottle cider, and not beer that I keep in the long-neck bottles. This comes in handy when I'm camping and reaching into a dark cooler, or when I'm two sheets to the wind at home in front of the fridge... just an idea.

Also, why do people keep separating the word "homebrew" into two words. Microsoft doesn't like it as one word, but it is the accepted way in the homebrewing community.

Couple of questions.

How many cinnamon stick did you use? When did you put them in?

I put it in the primary last night but I'm not seeing any action from my airlock today. Is this normal?

 

[ianoconnor]

I've got about 6 gallons of edworts apfelwein in bottles now. I think I "brewed" it in Aug. I'd have to go back to my log to check for sure. I def wanna try a 1/2 apple, 1/2 cranberry juice version sometime.

I brewed edwort's robust porter two weekends ago. The dude makes some of the most popular recipes on HBT.