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Plymouth here!
On Friday I through a pack of Lalvin EC1118 (I think) into a gallon of cider in the basement to see what'll happen. I've got 3 gal or so of a cyser that I made years ago that was rocket fuel. Its mellowing out now though. I've got some boubon soaked oak chips that I"ll add to samples of both, and I'll probably bring some up to deer camp along w/ my whiskies! K |
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Tried a different yeast with my standard recipe, Nottingham. Previously I had tried Nottingham with Apple Juice in a one gallon batch. It kept apple taste, went to about 5% abv and was praised as tasty by my four coworkers (my standard test panel). I have done so many batches with Montrachet and have a good supply of CRE (cider, ready to enjoy) time to revist the other yeast. I do not know if Nottingham will give me the 9-11%abv I have been getting with Montrachet. Recipe for this batch started 11-14-2010; 5.5 gallons Aldis Apple Juice 5lbs Aldis Corn Sugar 6 tbs Yeast Nutrient 8oz (vol) French Oak Chips 8oz cheap whisky (sterilize the chips) 1 Pkt Dry Nottingham Yeast Procedure; 1]Put 8oz Oak Chips in small bowl or measuring cup and add 8oz cheap whisky, soak for 1/2hr minimum or as long as you like. Some float, some sink, don't matter. 2]Sanitize 6 gal carboy with Starsan 3]Sanitize big funnel 4]warm 1/2 gal AJ in 8qt pot (pour in 1/3 of the 5lbs of sugar while warming and stirring, remove from heat the instant sugar turns clear and infuses into AJ 5]pour into carboy, it is ok if it is warm. The sugar usually infuses at about 85-90 degrees 6]repeat steps 4 & 5 till all sugar/AJ mix is in carboy. 7]Spoon in oak chips/whisky (easier if you do not use the funnel, they jam up pretty bad. 8]add 2 gallons of AJ (cools off mixture to safe temp for yeast) 9]Add yeast nutrient (keeps yeast from producing heavy Sulfur Dioxide, you still get a little smell of it though) 10]Add packet of yeast. 11]Add remainder of AJ. Keep at least 1" to 1-1/2" headspace in carboy because Nottingham makes a bigger krausen than Montrachet does. 12]Install clean/sanitized bung/gaslock filled with vodka, ......ferment. Some notes; -Original Gravity of this 5.5gal/5lbs Sugar is fairly consistently 1.080, so much so that I do not even take an OG reading anymore. -I have used good bourbon, cheap bourbon, good whisky and cheap whisky to do the job of soaking the chips for wine, cider and beer that calls for it. Very little if any of the booze taste comes through when you use chips, same goes for oak cubes. Something in this mix balances out or overpowers it and you do not get the flavor. I just want the oak flavor which still does come through. I use "Rich and Rare blended Whisky" which is like $17 for a 1.75L here (and also is not too bad with some Diet Vernors either) for my sanitizing soak. Also you won't find it in the brewing books to just throw your whisky in the "must", they just say put the chips/cubes in. I figured "I ain't wasting 8oz whisky but I also and drinking with a bunch of oak splinters in it either" so in it went many batches ago and I liked it. YMMV -Pay attention particularly to #11, Nottingham is top fermenting, makes about 1" thick krausen unlike the 1/8" thick foam on Montrachet. It will lift some wood chips up to the gas lock, jam it up and spray must on your fermenting bench  if you do not keep sufficient headspace.-It smells very slightly "sulphury" even with the yeast nutrient in it. The reason I started using YN is because Montrachet without it will stink you out of the house with very high volume of sulphur output, we are talking gas mask city here!!! -Took 24 hrs for the dry yeast to kick off with no starter, would have been quicker, did not feel like it, chastise if you must  -Nottingham makes a tan colored sticky slime that sits on top of the bright white krausen foam, not used to seeing that with Montrachet -I pull the gas lock and aggressively slosh the carboy daily, knocks the tan slime down, stirs the whole thing really good. I do it every day. If you don't pull the gas lock it will spray all your vodka out. YMMV Will report back in a week or so if the krausen is down (fermentaion slowing) or if anything changes. |
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Quoted:.
-I have used good bourbon, cheap bourbon, good whisky and cheap whisky to do the job of soaking the chips for wine, cider and beer that calls for it. Very little if any of the booze taste comes through when you use chips, same goes for oak cubes. Something in this mix balances out or overpowers it and you do not get the flavor. I just want the oak flavor which still does come through. I use "Rich and Rare blended Whisky" which is like $17 for a 1.75L here (and also is not too bad with some Diet Vernors either) for my sanitizing soak. Also you won't find it in the brewing books to just throw your whisky in the "must", they just say put the chips/cubes in. I figured "I ain't wasting 8oz whisky but I also and drinking with a bunch of oak splinters in it either" so in it went many batches ago and I liked it. YMMV If you want more oak or whiskey flavor to come through, don't add your chips until after primary fermentation is complete. The fast fermentation scrubs the volitale aromatics from the cider. This is why you wait until your primary is complete to add dry hops when brewing, or fruit if you want more flavor/aroma to come out in the final product. K |
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If you want more oak or whiskey flavor to come through, don't add your chips until after primary fermentation is complete. The fast fermentation scrubs the volitale aromatics from the cider. This is why you wait until your primary is complete to add dry hops when brewing, or fruit if you want more flavor/aroma to come out in the final product. K True and you can select a different toast level on your chips. |
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Just got done brewing 5 1/2 gallons of Dark Chocolate Milk Stout on my back yard redneck all grain brewing system. I split it into 2 different fermenters and and am using a different yeast in each one just to see what the taste difference is. Should be really tasty for Christmas!
I am bottling hard cider and an ESB and an IIPA I brewed on 11/2 tomorrow morning. |
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This thread is relative to my interests.
While not a brewer yet, I am on the look out for equipment. I picked up a 5 gallon stainless pot the other day and until I can get the rest of the equipment together to brew some beer I made a batch of apple pie moonshine. If you have never had it, I highly recommend it, taste like apple pie and kicks you in the ass. This is the legal way, I bought the shine from a liquor store, 190 proof grain alcohol. I picked up 1.75 liters for $34 and some change. Here's the recipe I found on the internet, although I strayed from it a little by adding about a half gallon of Honey Crisp apple cider that we had in the fridge and a bit more alcohol. Recipe Here We have been getting this all summer at our campgrounds and when I got together with a couple of my camping buddies yesterday after cooking this batch they thought it was better than what we had this summer. I took 3 quarts to my family get together last night and it was a hit, drank a quart myself and got pretty wasted. We were paying $20 a quart for this stuff over the summer, this ran me about $5.50 a quart including the new jars. 
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Quoted: This thread is relative to my interests. While not a brewer yet, I am on the look out for equipment. I picked up a 5 gallon stainless pot the other day and until I can get the rest of the equipment together to brew some beer I made a batch of apple pie moonshine. If you have never had it, I highly recommend it, taste like apple pie and kicks you in the ass. This is the legal way, I bought the shine from a liquor store, 190 proof grain alcohol. I picked up 1.75 liters for $34 and some change. Here's the recipe I found on the internet, although I strayed from it a little by adding about a half gallon of Honey Crisp apple cider that we had in the fridge and a bit more alcohol. Recipe Here We have been getting this all summer at our campgrounds and when I got together with a couple of my camping buddies yesterday after cooking this batch they thought it was better than what we had this summer. I took 3 quarts to my family get together last night and it was a hit, drank a quart myself and got pretty wasted. We were paying $20 a quart for this stuff over the summer, this ran me about $5.50 a quart including the new jars. Interesting. I'd love to try it, but the hippies in charge say I don't have the right to have grain alcohol. Guess I'll try Wadka  . |
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This thread is relative to my interests. While not a brewer yet, I am on the look out for equipment. I picked up a 5 gallon stainless pot the other day and until I can get the rest of the equipment together to brew some beer The only thing you need now is a couple 5 gallon buckets, rubber bungs and airlocks. This will run you less than $20. |
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Quoted:
Quoted:
This thread is relative to my interests. While not a brewer yet, I am on the look out for equipment. I picked up a 5 gallon stainless pot the other day and until I can get the rest of the equipment together to brew some beer The only thing you need now is a couple 5 gallon buckets, rubber bungs and airlocks. This will run you less than $20. Well that may get me brewing, but I still need to get it into the 60+ bottles I have and cap those off. I'm considering the econo kit or the step up with a carboy from Midwest. I have been watching Craigslist and just missed out on a sweet setup for $150 that had over $600 worth of stuff with it, and another smaller setup for $60. I figure I'll try extract brewing first and then progress from there. Until then I have taken quite a liking to the shine. 
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| Kits are by far the easiest way to get a good beer. They are tried and true and come with step by step instructions. You can get icing buckets free from most bakeries and a capper isn't much. You can do it cheaper than a whole kit if you really want to. Although, the kits from midwest are good quality and come with all you need until you progress to all grain if you ever choose to. You might also check to see if there any stores near you that sell brewing supplies. Might be nice to go handle the stuff before you buy it. I know if you have a Friar Tucks, the ones near me have brewing supplies or most cities have a store or two. |
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Quoted: Tried a different yeast with my standard recipe, Nottingham. ...snip... Will report back in a week or so if the krausen is down (fermentaion slowing) or if anything changes.  During Fermentation; Notice regular light colored foam under Tan colored sticky foam. In beer terms this is "krausen", not sure if there is a wine/cider term equivalent besides "foam" so just using that. Very distinctly different the two foams are. I swirled and agitated it daily and knocked all the foam down and it would be back looking like this in one hour.  After racking to secondary, only the light white bubbles are evident. Taste is delicious and all apple, faint and subtle oak note. I notice a decline in sweetness over the sample from 3 days ago but very slight. I will probably kill it at 8% and bottle. Got cases of drier cider and heavily oaked cider here, will be good to have some sweet stuff for warm drinks or just enjoying. |
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Brewed this Wednesday: Lions Blood Red Ale My 14yr old son, many time Assistant brewer, and his novice friend were on the mash paddle taking turns with stirring duty. Never used Kent Goldings before, very sweet smell, like candy. The color of the wort is deeeeeeep red, the extra 1lb of wheat did its job. First time on the mash paddle;  This is gonna end up around 5.5% abv and about 15 IBU so really low on the bitterness. Aside from the color it ought to be mild, crisp and easy drinking for all. I used Kent Goldings hops at 5.5 alpha. Inspiration was the deep red color color and mass appeal, we'll see in a few weeks. Ought to be unique. 11# 2-row 4# Munich 4# 60L 2# German Wheat 1oz KG 60min 1oz GK 30min will dryhop with 1oz more KG after primary is done Pitched dry with SafAle S-05, vid is from yesterday, today the krausen is 2" thick on both of them and furious churning and bubbling, love this hobby   note on the cider next to it; Been trying to perfect a sweet hard cider, 5g AJ, 2# bump of sugar, some yeast nutrient and a dose of Nottingham, getting real close to another favorite I think. It tops out around 7.5%, every tester so far has said WOW. |
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I made a batch of Bayou Johnny's pale ale today. I'm planning on making another batch Sunday.
I made a starter on Wednesday night. Let it cool overnight, and pitched the yeast Thursday morning. I got home, and the fermentation lock had blown off. It was plugged with krausen. At least I know the yeast is good. I guess next time, I need to measure the amount of LME I put in the starter.
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Krausen already dropping out after only 3 days, kinda surprised me. Gravity is down to 1.012  was expecting 5.5%, already 6+. Flavor is a touch more bitter than a BMC with a little floral+candy nose. About half the bite of a Sam Adams Boston Lager right now from the sip I tried and really, really red. It will be for serving to "normal" beer drinkers that are not used to the hop bombs I normally like. I will let it go the full two weeks in primary as planned. |
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Just started a batch of cider last night. It's Brandon "O"s Graff. The recipe is at homebrewtalk.com you basically brew a 1 gallon batch of beer wort lightly hopped, about .25oz of a 6%aau hops. Then add 4 gals of apple juice ( I use fresh non pastuerized no preservative local cider) & pitch a paket of safale 05. It ferments VERY vigorously and pushes a ton of krausen out through the airlock or blow off tube. I just pull the airlock, rinse sanitize & replace 2 or thre times during the primary. This stuff is very drinkable within about 3 weeks if you keg it. I can't make it fast enough!
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Quoted: Just started a batch of cider last night. It's Brandon "O"s Graff. The recipe is at homebrewtalk.com you basically brew a 1 gallon batch of beer wort lightly hopped, about .25oz of a 6%aau hops. Then add 4 gals of apple juice ( I use fresh non pastuerized no preservative local cider) & pitch a paket of safale 05. It ferments VERY vigorously and pushes a ton of krausen out through the airlock or blow off tube. I just pull the airlock, rinse sanitize & replace 2 or thre times during the primary. This stuff is very drinkable within about 3 weeks if you keg it. I can't make it fast enough! seen this over there too. What different hops have you tried in it? |
I received a brewers best beer making kit for my birthday!  Monday night another CRNA I work with (who is more experienced with this than me) helped me brew my first batch. It was Bear Tooth Stout. I think it came from Homebrewers.com. I keep watching the airlock bubbling slowly in my basement, and I'm impatiently waiting to try this.
How many of you skip the bottling step and go straight to a "corney keg" then carbonate it from a CO2 tank? My friend does this and I think that's the route I'm going to go. I can get a small freezer to put all this in and rig the controls to keep it at 39 degrees or so––I used to do HVAC so that part is the easy part for me  Plus I could keep more than one keg around at a time.
Although I live in PA, I'm a shamless lover of beer from Great Lakes Brewery in Cleveland. Anyone else out there a fan of GLB? I'd love to be able to make a version of their Dortmunder Gold at home. Any recipes are appreciated! |
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Quoted: ... I keep watching the airlock bubbling slowly in my basement, and I'm impatiently waiting to try this. ... I do that all the time no matter if it is wine cider or beer . Get a "Better Bottle" and watch the yeast go at it, my favorite. I am having some Nottingham Cider right now. It carbed up in the bombers even though I did not add any priming sugar.Lots of guys skip bottling and force carb in a keg. I prefer bottling despite the extra bit of work. |
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Quoted: I received a brewers best beer making kit for my birthday! Monday night another CRNA I work with (who is more experienced with this than me) helped me brew my first batch. It was Bear Tooth Stout. I think it came from Homebrewers.com. I keep watching the airlock bubbling slowly in my basement, and I'm impatiently waiting to try this. How many of you skip the bottling step and go straight to a "corney keg" then carbonate it from a CO2 tank? My friend does this and I think that's the route I'm going to go. I can get a small freezer to put all this in and rig the controls to keep it at 39 degrees or so––I used to do HVAC so that part is the easy part for me Plus I could keep more than one keg around at a time. Although I live in PA, I'm a shamless lover of beer from Great Lakes Brewery in Cleveland. Anyone else out there a fan of GLB? I'd love to be able to make a version of their Dortmunder Gold at home. Any recipes are appreciated! Sorry to hi-jack, so IM if needed ...Please elaborate for us semi-laymen . I would love to know an easy way to do this other than getting the analog temp-control thing. |
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Quoted:
Quoted:
I received a brewers best beer making kit for my birthday! Monday night another CRNA I work with (who is more experienced with this than me) helped me brew my first batch. It was Bear Tooth Stout. I think it came from Homebrewers.com. I keep watching the airlock bubbling slowly in my basement, and I'm impatiently waiting to try this.
How many of you skip the bottling step and go straight to a "corney keg" then carbonate it from a CO2 tank? My friend does this and I think that's the route I'm going to go. I can get a small freezer to put all this in and rig the controls to keep it at 39 degrees or so––I used to do HVAC so that part is the easy part for me Plus I could keep more than one keg around at a time.
Although I live in PA, I'm a shamless lover of beer from Great Lakes Brewery in Cleveland. Anyone else out there a fan of GLB? I'd love to be able to make a version of their Dortmunder Gold at home. Any recipes are appreciated! Sorry to hi-jack, so IM if needed ...Please elaborate for us semi-laymen . I would love to know an easy way to do this other than getting the analog temp-control thing.
With this |
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Quoted:
Quoted:
I received a brewers best beer making kit for my birthday! Monday night another CRNA I work with (who is more experienced with this than me) helped me brew my first batch. It was Bear Tooth Stout. I think it came from Homebrewers.com. I keep watching the airlock bubbling slowly in my basement, and I'm impatiently waiting to try this.
How many of you skip the bottling step and go straight to a "corney keg" then carbonate it from a CO2 tank? My friend does this and I think that's the route I'm going to go. I can get a small freezer to put all this in and rig the controls to keep it at 39 degrees or so––I used to do HVAC so that part is the easy part for me Plus I could keep more than one keg around at a time.
Although I live in PA, I'm a shamless lover of beer from Great Lakes Brewery in Cleveland. Anyone else out there a fan of GLB? I'd love to be able to make a version of their Dortmunder Gold at home. Any recipes are appreciated! Sorry to hi-jack, so IM if needed ...Please elaborate for us semi-laymen . I would love to know an easy way to do this other than getting the analog temp-control thing.
Not a highjack for me––we gotta keep the beer cool somehow
I was going to make my own relay just to play based on this, (I know that's a heater, but the PID temp controller will work in a wide temp range) but the reply posted by keving67 is so cheap I may buy one of them. Thanks for the heads up! Here are some links to discussions here in ARFCOM about this subject http://www.ar15.com/forums/topic.html?b=10&f=17&t=636169&page=1 I bumped this to the front, and here's a post on page 12 http://www.ar15.com/forums/topic.html?b=10&f=17&t=638662 These good folks are much better at typing instructions than me. One note, IMHO I think its important to include the little computer fan mentioned in one of the above links to move the air and minimize temp variations. Hopefully this isn't a rehash of the analog controllers you seem have to knowledge of, but instead will be something of interest. ETA: And I own page 4! A first for me
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I've got to get a few more lagers brewed in the next week or so as I need at least 6 weeks of cold weather for fermenting and lagering. I might get the amber lager done tomorrow, but will have to get some grain Moday to do the 10 gallons of Pils. Back to Ales after those. |
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Quoted: Ended up with the grandkids all weekend, so I didn't get to brew. Just now sparging on my amber lager. Brewing in the snow again. Glad to hear someone is brewing, been buried at work forever. Been promising the wife a batch of "her beer" light cream ale, bit of orange to it and been meaning to brew my Kolsch/ale hybrid since before Xmas. |
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Glad to hear someone is brewing, been buried at work forever. Been promising the wife a batch of "her beer" light cream ale, bit of orange to it and been meaning to brew my Kolsch/ale hybrid since before Xmas. Try this Kolsch recipe. I made a batch of it a while back and it was fantastic. http://www.beersmith.com/blog/2008/04/05/brewing-a-kolsch-beer-recipe-beer-styles/ |
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Quoted: Quoted: Glad to hear someone is brewing, been buried at work forever. Been promising the wife a batch of "her beer" light cream ale, bit of orange to it and been meaning to brew my Kolsch/ale hybrid since before Xmas. Try this Kolsch recipe. I made a batch of it a while back and it was fantastic. http://www.beersmith.com/blog/2008/04/05/brewing-a-kolsch-beer-recipe-beer-styles/ Did you ferment it at 60? I can maintain 65-68 but cooler than that would be tough for me. |
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Did you ferment it at 60? I can maintain 65-68 but cooler than that would be tough for me. Yeah, I did. I used WLP029- Fermentation temperature: 55° F and 68° F. So it will work @65*, but the cooler you ferment it at the cleaner and crisper it will end up. |
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Did you ferment it at 60? I can maintain 65-68 but cooler than that would be tough for me. If you can keep it at 65-68, put a t-shirt over it and place it in a shallow tub of water w/ a fan blowing on it. That'll lower your temp enough. Or just ferment at 65 and you'll be good to go! It will be cleaner the lower you go though. K |
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Check out what my hometown brew store guy does with no electricity, about 3 minutes from me.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kIkTNsw2fU4That's a pretty cool set-up! Me, I burn a lot of gas, waste a lot of cooling water, etc. SHTF, and I'm not going to be brewing long. That dude will! K |
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Within the last week, I've started a gallon batch of blueberry port, and five-gallon batches of hard cider and honey amber ale. Some ingredients I grew, some are from local farmers, some from the homebrew store.
Just bottled everything I started late last summer. Five gallons each of raspberry and hard cider, one gallon each of strawberry and pineapple. All but the pineapple were from fruit I grew myself. |
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I kegged my first batch (a stout) yesterday. Now I'm force carbonating it with 24 psi of CO2, I'm shooting for ~2.3 vol of CO2. Had some today, about 3/8 head, minimal carbonation so far, it'll take another day or so. I made an alpine amber ale yesterday and have it fermenting in the basement. Both kits are extract kits. With yesterday's batch, I made a yeast starter as per the Brewer's Network podcast––boiled water cooled to 70 degrees and placed into a sanitized ziplock bag. The yeast was added, and the air squeezed out, then mixed. I did this about 3 hrs before it was pitched in the wort.
Some Questions: ––The wort temp of my current batch is about 70-72 deg as per fermometer on the side. It's in the dark, in a 62 deg room––temp is stable give or take a deg in that part of the basement. How much should I worry about getting the temp down closer to 60 deg? Don't off flavors start if the wort is over 70 deg? ––Books––what are your favorties? I have Brew Ware, Brew Chem 101 & the newest printing (3rd ed) of The Complete Joy of Homebrewing. ––Anyone out there using the Brewer's Best kits? I ordered a Robust Porter kit yesterday. I'm working on a 3 keg setup––hopefully with enough extra room to lager a batch also––in a small freezer. Just wonder how this company kits are. Kudos to HomeBrewers.com: I ordered––among other things––a corny keg from them. I had fits getting the pressure release to seal!! (I think its an older type pressure relief, I haven't seen it pictured by the spare parts suppliers) I called them up and the guy I spoke with told me he'd send me another lid––free. I offered to buy a new lid if he'd send one with the new style pressure relief valve and make sure it had new valve in it––no dice––just told me I have another lid coming my way. Gotta love good customer service!
Edited: spelling |
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Some Questions: ––The wort temp of my current batch is about 70-72 deg as per fermometer on the side. It's in the dark, in a 62 deg room––temp is stable give or take a deg in that part of the basement. How much should I worry about getting the temp down closer to 60 deg? Don't off flavors start if the wort is over 70 deg? I wouldn't worry about it. If you are worried, get a larger tub the carboy can fit in. Fill tub with some water and perhaps some bleach or Star san and put your carboy in it. Put an old t-shirt over your carboy with the bottom in the water. It will keep your temps down. You can get real anal and put a fan on it to evaporate off the warmer fermentation temps. |
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Quoted:
Some Questions: ––The wort temp of my current batch is about 70-72 deg as per fermometer on the side. It's in the dark, in a 62 deg room––temp is stable give or take a deg in that part of the basement. How much should I worry about getting the temp down closer to 60 deg? Don't off flavors start if the wort is over 70 deg? I wouldn't worry about it. If you are worried, get a larger tub the carboy can fit in. Fill tub with some water and perhaps some bleach or Star san and put your carboy in it. Put an old t-shirt over your carboy with the bottom in the water. It will keep your temps down. You can get real anal and put a fan on it to evaporate off the warmer fermentation temps. Thanks, I hadn't put the little temp strip on the bucket for my first batch (I guess ignorance is bliss) we use them at work and I don't think much of them. But, I figured why not? Temp is down to 70 now, I know there's a little exothermic action happening in there; I think this time of year, I can keep it under control without the evaporative wet blanket method, but I may need to do that come summer. |
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Quoted:
I kegged my first batch (a stout) yesterday. Now I'm force carbonating it with 24 psi of CO2, I'm shooting for ~2.3 vol of CO2. Had some today, about 3/8 head, minimal carbonation so far, it'll take another day or so. I made an alpine amber ale yesterday and have it fermenting in the basement. Both kits are extract kits. With yesterday's batch, I made a yeast starter as per the Brewer's Network podcast––boiled water cooled to 70 degrees and placed into a sanitized ziplock bag. The yeast was added, and the air squeezed out, then mixed. I did this about 3 hrs before it was pitched in the wort. Some Questions: ––The wort temp of my current batch is about 70-72 deg as per fermometer on the side. It's in the dark, in a 62 deg room––temp is stable give or take a deg in that part of the basement. How much should I worry about getting the temp down closer to 60 deg? Don't off flavors start if the wort is over 70 deg? ––Books––what are your favorties? I have Brew Ware, Brew Chem 101 & the newest printing (3rd ed) of The Complete Joy of Homebrewing. ––Anyone out there using the Brewer's Best kits? I ordered a Robust Porter kit yesterday. I'm working on a 3 keg setup––hopefully with enough extra room to lager a batch also––in a small freezer. Just wonder how this company kits are. Kudos to HomeBrewers.com: I ordered––among other things––a corny keg from them. I had fits getting the pressure release to seal!! (I think its an older type pressure relief, I haven't seen it pictured by the spare parts suppliers) I called them up and the guy I spoke with told me he'd send me another lid––free. I offered to buy a new lid if he'd send one with the new style pressure relief valve and make sure it had new valve in it––no dice––just told me I have another lid coming my way. Gotta love good customer service!
Edited: spelling Regarding your fermenting temp. You're good to go up to the mid-seventies depending on what yeast is used. For an amber, I assume an american ale yeast. You'll be fine at 70. Never used brewer's best kits, but I've heard good things about them. I buy all of my supplies at Adventures in Homebrewing. Jason, the owner, is a great guy, and I've never heard a bad thing about his customer service! K |
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I used a few BB kits when I first started brewing. The only thing about them is you don't know how long they have been sitting on a shelf. That kind of matters with regards to the pre crushed grains, hops, and the yeast. And they can get pretty expensive for something like an IPA kit. If you order extract kits from Austin HB, they make everything up with fresh ingredients. Even the LME is right out of the drum. I ordered a few kits from them before I switched over to AG and was impressed with the beer that they made. |
The yeast was Danstar Nottingham––a dry yeast. It was what came with the kit. The temp this morning is 64 deg on Fermometer. I'm using a brewer's best bucket for a primary. I have a better bottle on the way to use as a secondary, I guess I got into this a little late find glass carboys at a decent price. A local furniture shop is selling them for $70––cause they're pretty . I know they're cheaper online, not sure they're worth getting into though.
I'll look into the places you guys mentioned––Thanks!!––I plan to stay with extract brewing for a bit to get my technique down (those that are common to both extract and AG brewing), and to have time to keep reading about the AG method. My second corny keg came yesterday, I'm waiting impatiently to be able to put it to good use
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I've had great luck with these folks:
Midwest Supplies Used their kits a couple of times back when I first started brewing, and was always happy with them. The Irish Red Ale is particularly good. |
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KEGERATOR SUCCESS!!
I bought a Johnson controller & small freezer (it was a scratch and dent so it was at a discount but with a compressor warranty) and have it wired and programmed to cool down to 35 and cut in again at 38 degrees. Very easy, but I've had a few years experience FWIW. My stout is now chilling in my garage. I should be able to get at least 3 kegs, the CO2, and have some room to spare with what I have now. I did buy a small fan too that I will wire to turn on only when the compressor is running, but I wanted to make sure I remembered how to wire everything up right first; adding the fan won't take much.
My stout is even more carbonated today; I think I'll stop here and keep about 10psi on it. I don't have much line pressure (loss) as I've only got a 5' hose and a picnic tap on it for now. The chart I have says 10psi at 35 deg is ~2.5 volumes CO2. This is turning out to be another potentially expensive hobby––one that rivals my black rifle disease But, oh it's sooo tasty
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Quoted:
I've had great luck with these folks: Midwest Supplies Used their kits a couple of times back when I first started brewing, and was always happy with them. The Irish Red Ale is particularly good. I've had good luck with them as well. I've done a Brewers Best kit, as well as a kit from Midwest. Both were good, with a lot of helpful info for starting out. I'm almost finished with my British ale now 
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Thanks for all the input regarding suppliers! Midwest supplies was mentioned on the GardenFork podcast when Eric made hard cider. Austin HB seems to be the most interesting of the bunch––I like how they will mix the extract to your order––and the grains as well.
It also seems I've become a founding member of a Homebrew club. I'll post recipes as I learn/brew them. While I'm still at the extract stage, I'm all but certain AG will be in my very near future
I'm not exactly sure how I became interested in stout's as I've always enjoyed a good lager, however, Jamil's Black Forest Stout seems like an interesting recipe to try after I get my lager brewed and fermenting. One question, however, do you do anything to the cherries to make sure they don't contaminate the beer? I've read the thread and it seems like they're just thrown in. So how does the hive add fruit to a recipe? Thanks |