Topic: Homebrewers Unite!!

[DavePhipps]

I'm just using baking yeast for the first batch. I  started this on a whim and used what was laying around the house.
I just found out today where to get some wine, champagne, and beer yeast around here.
I'll be experimenting with differeent yeast as I go. I might even try the wild yeast fermentation method, using and apple starter.
BTW in a pinch, a baloon with pin holes in it works as an airlock.

Been reading up on distilling, and I wish it was legal to home distill. Easier than beer and love the taste of whiskey.

[gar]

I homebrew too... been making beer from extract kits (milled grains in bag, hops, cans of malt) on and off for a decade.  Your kit with the 5gal bucket looks very familiar.  I also use a 6 gal glass carboy as a secondary fermenter.  I bottle because I am cheap, but would entertain kegging instead if I could make one inexpensively.

Let's discuss what kits are the best, and where to get them. 

One of my favs was a "dortmunder" ale.  I bought the kit from Grapeandgranary http://www.thegrape.net/browse.cfm/2,1352.html

[Gordon]

I homebrew too... been making beer from extract kits (milled grains in bag, hops, cans of malt) on and off for a decade.  Your kit with the 5gal bucket looks very familiar.  I also use a 6 gal glass carboy as a secondary fermenter.  I bottle because I am cheap, but would entertain kegging instead if I could make one inexpensively.

Let's discuss what kits are the best, and where to get them. 

One of my favs was a "dortmunder" ale.  I bought the kit from Grapeandgranary http://www.thegrape.net/browse.cfm/2,1352.html

I don't generally do kits.  Prefer to make/use my own recipes most of the time, but I get most of my supplies from http://www.austinhomebrew.com/.  I haven't lived in Austin since '03, but it's where I started brewing and these are the guys I got my start with, so I like to keep buying from them. 

Kegging equipment really doesn't cost that much.  The most expensive piece is the regulator for the CO2 tank.   All you need to get going with kegging is the tank, regulator, and a 5gal Cornelius keg.  Other than that it's just some tubing and a 4 dollar plastic faucet, if you don't want to get into the chrome, fridge-mounted faucets yet. 

[Inkscars]

Went for the kit for cheaper replacement of all the little things and the double fermenters.
Drank damn near all those "empty" bottle though.  I figured out, you actually save money to buy bottles you can reuse, because it has beer already in it. I'm pretty sure my beer drinking habit is keeping me from achieving my goals on my diet, but. A woman can onl sacrifice so many things! 

[cb350twin]

you guys seen the Mr. Beer kits? saw one at walgreens and was wondering if it any good.

I have "The Beer Machine" I have tried making beer with the mix once and it turned out way to sour. I think bacteria somehow got into it Even i followed all the instructions and properly sanitized it. What I REALLY  would like to do is make beer from scratch where you boil the wort on the stove like Ink did. But most repices are made for a much bigger kit (Like Ink's) then my little 2.6 Gal "Beer Machine" Maybe I'll just have to stick to a mix again.

[Inkscars]

Drank one last night out of the batch.
Whoa. Well It's stout alright. It drinks easier than guiness, but the ending is very.... pot roasty. 

[tsp37]

I've been a home brewer for a maybe ten years but recently started making fermented grape juice. If I could let it age long enough to clear I might call it wine.  I haven't been able to keep any longer than maybe five weeks after mixing up a batch.  It looks muddy, still tastes yeasty, but packs a kick.  After experimenting with 1 gallon batches I started my first 5 gallon batch a couple of weeks ago.  If I can produce it fast enough, it might get a chance to age and earn the title "wine".

My sole source of supplies: http://homebrewery.com/

[mmtsquid]

tsp - go buy some clearing agent - works like a charm.
super kleer K.C. is about the best I ahve found, and it's dirt cheap.
Will clear 5 gallons pretty well in a few hours, perfectly overnight.

[goon 1492]

Ok so I am a comlplete nube, can we get a walk through of one of ya'll next batch so I can learn and coerse my wife into letting me do this, I bet I can eventually give boulvard unfiltered wheat a run for its money....
Not really that's good stuff, I can try though with the will of you and you and you and you.
ummmmmm beeeeeer.

[Inkscars]

Wheat is next. If we had made wheat that #$%* woulda been gone 2 weeks ago. Goon, expect a present deposited in your truck bed soon. and im not talking air filter thingy.

[Dusthawk]

Fuzzy, glad to see another Mead Maker out there, lol.

I have been making Mead with a friend for about 6 years now and we currently have 20 gallons ready for bottling. 10 gallons of which have only aged about a year or so but the other 2 Carboys have been aging for much longer, one for almost 2 years and the last one for over three. Two Carboys are plain, the oldest and one of the youngsters, the 2 year is spice and the other youngster is a berry, I think strawberry or raspberry.

As soon as they got done fermenting out we decanted into cleaned carboys after filtering so they could age unmolested. We bottle usually but we haven't found a good supplier for the Flip top bottles we use and buying Grolsch bottles from Ebay is even more expensive than buying from a brewery store.

I can't wait to start bottling the 3 year old Mead, for the way we make it 3 years is about the minimum aging we like to do. When you make Mead, you find that it will never go vinegar and in our experience it always gets better with age, no exceptions. I just finished off my last bottle of our very first batch from February 2003 and it was like drinking honey flavored silk, it aged out beautifully and probably the best Mead I have had so far.

We also have a new website we just started called www.themeadmakers.com but we have a lot of work to do on it before we get it up and going. Eventually we hope to have tons of links to everything from honey and yeast suppliers we prefer to bottling and fermenters. There will also be a whole section for our recipes, including our Signature Rose Mead. Another aspect of Mead Making we will venture into is producing Webinars for as many episodes as we can make covering all aspects of making mead including different recipes as well as different styles including a wonderful sparkling Mead that dances joyfully in the mouth. I will let you all know when we get it really rolling.

[UnCrash]

I brew.  wild fermented Cider, Ales and did an amazing Lager last winter.  My basement stays a steady 60 degrees so I didn't think I could do it, but had an idea one day...

I filled my glass carboy with water and let it sit on the cement floor all night, and measured the temperature the next night. 55 Degrees!  My foundation is poured on top of ledge, so the floor was colder than the air temp, chilling liquid in the carboy more than the ambient air.

The Lager was from a kit with a smackpack of a higher temp nice Lager yeast.

The beer was so good I would buy it to drink.

[goon 1492]

Yum! I got a new nicer filter plate waiting also. Kept forgetting to tell you.

[Inkscars]

Woot!