Home brewing thread

ckravitz

I suppose this could have gone in the craft beer thread, wasn't sure if that would be hijack-ish...

I'm a noob and just bottled my first gallon brew today using an all-grain 1 gallon noob kit. A simple IPA. Got another gallon in the fermenter, that one a honey citrus ale.

Any other home brewers out there? Beer, spirits, cider, wine makers? Whats's in the fermenter and what kind of cool brew set ups do you have?

I can see this being a very addictive hobby!

mca47

I've always wanted to try it. Seems like it would be a lot of fun!

peacefrompaul

Thinking about it! A former roommate's dad made some really tasty (and ass kicking) home brews

he.who.forgets

I've had a kit for about a year, and I'm embarrassed to admit, I've only brewed a single batch of beer. Did a Belgian Tripel infused with a little bit of cinnamon, nutmeg, and vanilla. It turned out good but really strong. If I remember correctly the ABV was about 12%. Got two other extract kits ready to go (a milk stout, and an IPA), just havent had the time. Good luck with future brewing, it's definitely a lot of fun.

ckravitz

mca47 wrote:

I've always wanted to try it. Seems like it would be a lot of fun!

I'm really digging it and I am shocked at how easy it is to get started. It can certainly get much more complicated but the kits make it pretty straight forward to dip your feet in.

peacefrompaul wrote:

Thinking about it! A former roommate's dad made some really tasty (and ass kicking) home brews

Exactly, I can already see where you can tweak things here and there to suit the tastes you are going after. It's pretty neat.

he.who.forgets wrote:

Good luck with future brewing, it's definitely a lot of fun.

:thumbup:

Kel Varnsen

I have been homebrewing for about a year now and I just made my 13th batch on the weekend. I started out doing premade 1 gallon all grain batches. They were fun but it was kind of boring that someone else basically coming up with the recipies and you had no idea what grains/hops were going in your beer.

I did three of those then I started doing Brew in a Bag Homebrewing. I usually make smaller batches 1 or 2 gallon. Which is nice since it is the perfect amount of beer for just me. Plus I can do it on my stove, and with BIAB you only need one pot. I like smaller batches since if I make something bad at most I only have 20 bottles of it.

The batch on the weekend was an all vienna malt IPA using just Columbus hops. It is the third Vienna IPA I have made, and the other two turned out really good (a cascade one and a galaxy one) so I am looking forward to this one. For this one I tried using leaf hops for the first time which was kind of different.

shep

I bought a home brewing kit from northern brewer last july...

My 7th 5-gallon batch is currently in the fermenter, it's a Hefe that I'm making for the girlfriend as everything I've made so far was all kind of centered on me.. I've done a brown ale, IPA, Pale Ale, smoked porter, a wheat ale/pale ale hybrid, and now I've got the hefe in the fermenter... oh and the first batch was supposed to be a pale ale, but it turned out somewhere between a brown ale and a pale and very over-carbonated...

I'm still extract brewing, but I've gone partial Mash for the last 2 batches... I want to go all grain, but I don't really have the space right now for all the equipment. Thought about brewing in a bag - thinking about getting a new pot/propane burner to start doing this in the backyard.... but probably won't happen for a little while, as I have a super busy April/May coming up and probably won't get to brew again until july...

the hobby is a lot of fun! I really enjoy doing it and sharing the beer with all my friends. Every time I make a batch now I give away about 1/2 of it so that I can brew another batch sooner... trying to get the experience levels up so that when I get a little more space for an all grain setup I've got lots of styles under the belt...

ckravitz

shep wrote:

I bought a home brewing kit from northern brewer last july...

My 7th 5-gallon batch is currently in the fermenter, it's a Hefe that I'm making for the girlfriend as everything I've made so far was all kind of centered on me.. I've done a brown ale, IPA, Pale Ale, smoked porter, a wheat ale/pale ale hybrid, and now I've got the hefe in the fermenter... oh and the first batch was supposed to be a pale ale, but it turned out somewhere between a brown ale and a pale and very over-carbonated...

I'm still extract brewing, but I've gone partial Mash for the last 2 batches... I want to go all grain, but I don't really have the space right now for all the equipment. Thought about brewing in a bag - thinking about getting a new pot/propane burner to start doing this in the backyard.... but probably won't happen for a little while, as I have a super busy April/May coming up and probably won't get to brew again until july...

the hobby is a lot of fun! I really enjoy doing it and sharing the beer with all my friends. Every time I make a batch now I give away about 1/2 of it so that I can brew another batch sooner... trying to get the experience levels up so that when I get a little more space for an all grain setup I've got lots of styles under the belt...

Very cool! And I agree it's a heck of a lot of fun.

I'm personally 4 days away from cracking my first bottle from my first brew I did a month or so ago (IPA). Got another batch of cold crashing in the fridge for a bottling session tomorrow (Grapefruit Honey Ale) and yet another batch in the fermenter I brewed up this past Saturday (Apple Ale). Finally, just ordered the grains, hops, and yeast online today for "Centennial Blonde" which sounds like it will make my BMC friends happy

I find myself perusing things like large stock pots, high btu propane burners, and chillers ... these are items I couldn't have cared less about just over a month ago but are somehow completely fascinating now, haha.

weekapaug19

^^^^ keep it in the bottles longer if it doesn't come out good. that's one of the biggest mistakes I made when I first started, drinking them too early.