Posted: 10/17/2011 12:01:20 PM EDT
And so begins the random homebrew equipment/beer thread! Belgian Blonde on the left, Orange Mead in the middle, Dunkel Wheat on the right.  I need some more taps in my fridge.  The Dunkel Wheat when it was finished. This was a test glass, I took this beer to a homebrew festival, hence the non-correct glassware. (It was very poorly recieved by the judges at the homebrew festival, but much loved by the public. Most of my judge's cards said, "Too dark for the style." Dumbasses.) |
|
I love it. 
|
|
That is brilliant! Is that built on a chest freezer? |
|
I really like the spray on chalk board top. Cheers |
|
Quoted:
I love it. +1 - I really need to make sure to allow for room for a keezer in my next house. I've got a 2 product kegerator going now, but don't think the boss will approve of a keezer in the dining room. |
|
Quoted: That is brilliant! Is that built on a chest freezer? Yep. Got a cheap chest freezer off craigslist. Used the Rustoleum chalk paint on the lid so I can write the beers on tap. Then I just used appliance paint on the rest of it. It was a bisque color.  I can't take credit for thinking that up. There is another forum out there that has a million examples of chest freezers made into keezers. |
|
Quoted:
Home made grain mill I just finished last month....
http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d195/jhooks/100_0673.jpg http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d195/jhooks/100_0666.jpg Brutus 10 I built about 3 years ago.... https://fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/10519_104251362920523_100000069781241_115198_3176244_n.jpg Very nice. Can't wait till I'm in a house so I can go all grain. I could do it here but it would be a pain and I'm OCD about space, Until then I will continue The partial mash route. |
|
Distilling water? |
|
Well, I just did my first brew this past Sunday, so I don't have much to show for it other than my 6 gallon carboy in my fermentation box. It is an "American Wheat Beer" extract kit from Northern Brewer. It's still hot here, so I fabbed up a ferm chamber out of (2) layers of 3/4" R-max insulation board, and am using a dorm fridge to keep it around 62-64 deg.   Does everything look ok so far? |
|
Quoted:
Distilling water? Of course.... |
|
Quoted: Quoted: Home made grain mill I just finished last month.... http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d195/jhooks/100_0673.jpg http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d195/jhooks/100_0666.jpg Brutus 10 I built about 3 years ago.... https://fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/10519_104251362920523_100000069781241_115198_3176244_n.jpg Very nice. Can't wait till I'm in a house so I can go all grain. I could do it here but it would be a pain and I'm OCD about space, Until then I will continue The partial mash route. thanks.. 
|
|
Quoted: I want to try that JOAM now, but nobody has 1 gallon glass jugs in stock online.This is a mead I cooked up 2 months ago http://i238.photobucket.com/albums/ff179/j_ringsaker/a8870ff8.jpg http://i238.photobucket.com/albums/ff179/j_ringsaker/b00932ac.jpg http://i238.photobucket.com/albums/ff179/j_ringsaker/83030409.jpg This is a Dunkle Wiezen I was keging. That's my little helper.. http://i238.photobucket.com/albums/ff179/j_ringsaker/20cc475d.jpg My neighbor brought me home 80 feet of square tubing from work! Brutus 10 is now in the works! Luckily my LHBS (well, it's an hour away) has some in stock. I can't wait to make some this weekend. Do you think it will be mellow enough to drink on Christmas Eve if I start it Sunday? |
|
Quoted:
Quoted:
I want to try that JOAM now, but nobody has 1 gallon glass jugs in stock online.
This is a mead I cooked up 2 months ago http://i238.photobucket.com/albums/ff179/j_ringsaker/a8870ff8.jpg http://i238.photobucket.com/albums/ff179/j_ringsaker/b00932ac.jpg http://i238.photobucket.com/albums/ff179/j_ringsaker/83030409.jpg This is a Dunkle Wiezen I was keging. That's my little helper.. http://i238.photobucket.com/albums/ff179/j_ringsaker/20cc475d.jpg My neighbor brought me home 80 feet of square tubing from work! Brutus 10 is now in the works! Luckily my LHBS (well, it's an hour away) has some in stock. I can't wait to make some this weekend. Do you think it will be mellow enough to drink on Christmas Eve if I start it Sunday? I tried it Monday and the peach was much smoother than the orange. It could use some mellowing, that's for sure, but it's more than drinkable. You may get lucky if you pop it open on Christmas. I was really fortunate with my jugs. I had one that was originally a Frank's Red Hot bottle I got at BJ's 15 years ago and I bought the other from my LHBS. This summer, I bought 5 at a yard sale for $1 total!
Well, I bought 6, but 1 didn't make it home. 
|
Here is a stir plate I built.
Here it is zipping away with an erlynmeyer flask before the LED and potentiometer 
Here's a 1 gallon jug with PBW. It loves the stir plate. No throwing the rod. 
I tried a 25ohm potentiometer, but it had little variance in the speed. I bought the next one up, a 5k and it has no range. On, minimally slower and off. I have a 500ohm on the way. |
|
Quoted:
Here's a pic of force carbed apfelwein. This batch was made using champagne yeast, as an experiment. I think the standard Montrachet yeast yeilded a better brew 
http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y97/seattleducati/DSCN3339.jpg I'm grabbing my Montrachet tomorrow. |
My meager beginnings.
Far right is the pumpkin mead I started a couple of days ago. Right center is the JAOM I'm letting sit for a while. It needs to be racked again. The 4 green Grolsch bottles are what's left from the first carboy of JAOM. The empty jug of Riunite Raspberry wine is being saved for future endeavors. |
|
Quoted: My meager beginnings. http://i738.photobucket.com/albums/xx22/bigsaxyone/100_1376.jpg Far right is the pumpkin mead I started a couple of days ago. Right center is the JAOM I'm letting sit for a while. It needs to be racked again. The 4 green Grolsch bottles are what's left from the first carboy of JAOM. The empty jug of Riunite Raspberry wine is being saved for future endeavors. I hate to break it to you, but I think black mold is forming on your airlocks.  How much pumpkin did you use in your mead? |
|
Quoted:
Quoted:
My meager beginnings.
http://i738.photobucket.com/albums/xx22/bigsaxyone/100_1376.jpg Far right is the pumpkin mead I started a couple of days ago. Right center is the JAOM I'm letting sit for a while. It needs to be racked again. The 4 green Grolsch bottles are what's left from the first carboy of JAOM. The empty jug of Riunite Raspberry wine is being saved for future endeavors. I hate to break it to you, but I think black mold is forming on your airlocks.
How much pumpkin did you use in your mead? I just checked with a flashlight. It must be the lighting or the angle or something. There are a couple of small black spots on the wall that are fruit flies. The whole damn town gets a swarm of them every fall and they can smell the mead. The cap should keep them out and the vodka in the airlock should keep any microbes they're carrying from getting past. I used one small (16 oz?) can of pure pumpkin puree. I thought about using the stuff pre-mixed for making pie but decided to go plain and add my own spices (a little cinnamon and clove). |
|
Quoted:
Just remember, this is NOT cider, it's wine. I think people, like my neighbors think as soon as you say "apple wine" that it's apple cider and sweet; I would say it comes out as dry as a chardonay. Godd luck, it's stupid simple, so if you fuck it up 
 Back sweeten with diet sprite (non fermentable sweeteners) I usually keg five gallons, then drin off about two liters and then add the sprite. makes it perfect. |
|
Quoted:
Ok, here's a pic. Hopefully this weekend's attempt at DFH 60 min clone.
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-wdaSE73OdO8/Trx3sLVSDKI/AAAAAAAAC8Y/hF_DisStB7s/s800/IMG_1027.JPG Let us know how that comes out. I want to try that soon. Posted Via AR15.Com Mobile |
|
Quoted:
Quoted:
Ok, here's a pic. Hopefully this weekend's attempt at DFH 60 min clone.
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-wdaSE73OdO8/Trx3sLVSDKI/AAAAAAAAC8Y/hF_DisStB7s/s800/IMG_1027.JPG Let us know how that comes out. I want to try that soon. Posted Via AR15.Com Mobile Is that the whole kit? Seems like it's missing some grains (I know you're going with an extract kit). Also, I'm interested in how it comes out as well; hopefully it beats spending $80-90 for a 1/6th barrell at Specs. Also, where'd you order that from? I will probably trying the AHS version so maybe we can have two reviews of differing kits. |