H20 homebrewer

Started by silicon_toad2000, August 30, 2005, 07:08:48 PM

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silicon_toad2000

August 30, 2005, 07:08:48 PM
hey h20, I thought I'd reply here rather than hijack a thread in the tech section.
I've only been brewing for about 4 years, I'm still trying to perfect a good lager. Im trying to make a cheap fridge controller so I can use lager yeast, active between 6 and 12 degrees C, in my beer fridge in the shed. I'm using the syrup extracts and experimenting with sugars and yeasts.
My local homebrew guy makes a 12 pecent alcohol lager, and its pretty nice too. I thought my brews snuck up on ya but his... after an hour of drinking you want to check every 10 minutes that you can still stand up and walk. I had two longnecks (700ml) and was sitting for an hour and a half, I stood up to go to the loo and it snuck up on me and knocked me over. nice beer.
One mans clunker is another mans blank canvas.

louthepou

#1
August 30, 2005, 08:14:19 PM
Mind if I tag along?  ;)

Gotta start doing that stuff again. Stopped when we moved in the house, kids got here...

You guys remind me that I still have all the equipment in the basement. Plus, the crawl space can stay at around 15 degrees during winter... Not perfect for everything, but not too bad?

Cheers!

Lou
Hi, my name is Louis, and I'm a Vision-o-holic

h2olawyer

#2
August 30, 2005, 08:18:08 PM
I've been brewing off & on for the past 15 years. ?Made lots of styles & various alcohol content beers.

I made a batch of mead (honey + water + yeast) while I was in law school. ?It turned out pretty good but I didn't have time to let it age properly before I graduated & had to move from San Diego back to Colorado. ?I knew I wouldn't have room to haul the mead, so I shared it with some friends. ?It had about 16% alcohol & thus there was a bit of an alcohol 'bite' to it. ?I used champagne yeast so the high alcohol content wouldn't kill it off before the fermentation was done. ?I read that if it had been able to age for 6 months to a year, it would have been really good. ?I want to try another batch soon. ?I can get some extremely light honey locally that should make some great stuff.

The lager I just finished was fermented in a friend's wine cellar @ about 60F. ?A bit warm for true lager but it turned out about 8%. ?It was just a simple kit beer from a homebrew shop in Denver. ?They make some pretty good kits & they're easy to brew. ?Chose it as a starter for getting a friend into brewing. ?Made that & a part syrup extract / grain India Pale Ale the same day. ?Final alcohol content on that one is just over 7%.

I normally krausen my brew for finishing rather than priming it with dissolved sugar or dried extract. ?It makes a much creamier head. ?I've got the ingredients for another partial grain batch & will likely be brewing that up Wednesday (US time). ?This one is an Amber Ale using 1/4 pound of wheat malt & 1 pound of crystal malt grains along with 6 pounds of amber malt extract. ?The hops are 1 ounce of Progress & 1 1/2 ounces of Willamette. ?White Labs British Ale Yeast will do the fermentation. ?Looking forward to this one. ?May add a little honey to get some more kick & promote fuller fermentation.

Also want to do a barley wine to be ready around Christmas. ?Tough to wait that long for something to finish but the end results are normally worth it.

Good luck with your lagering fridge! ?

H2O

If you have an accident on a motorcycle, it's always your fault. Tough call, but it has to be that way. You're in the right, and dead -on a bike. The principle is not to have any accident. If you're involved in an an accident, it's because you did not anticipate. Then, by default, you failed.

h2olawyer

#3
August 30, 2005, 08:24:28 PM
Great - more Visionaries as homebrewers!  I hadn't brewed in several years - since the local homebrew shop closed a few years ago.  I good friend of mine said he wanted to get started so I got all my stuff out of storage & started up again.  Going to try & have something in the fermenters on a regular basis now.  Nice to have a 5 gallon & a 6.5 gallon carboy.  Just short on bottles again.

I put the India Pale Ale into a pressure barrell I inherited shortly after I started brewing.  Never tried it out before.  Seems to work well so far.  Difficult to fit into a fridge, though.  Besides, the fridges I have available are used for other things so it would tend to be too cold for my tastes with this style.

Good luck getting the brewery going again!   ;D

H2O
If you have an accident on a motorcycle, it's always your fault. Tough call, but it has to be that way. You're in the right, and dead -on a bike. The principle is not to have any accident. If you're involved in an an accident, it's because you did not anticipate. Then, by default, you failed.

silicon_toad2000

#4
August 30, 2005, 11:22:20 PM
my last brew i made with a coopers lager tin of syrup (heard of coopers beer? its good beer and they're just down the road from me) with a dry ale yeast (they guy was trying to talk me into using a liquid yeast but it was a bit too pricey) with a fairly malty sugar mix. its best served almost frozen, better than most commercial beers i have tried.
Since I started homebrewing I can't stand most commercial beer, my favourite commercial beer is becks, i think its german but it tastes most like my best homebrew.
One mans clunker is another mans blank canvas.

h2olawyer

#5
August 31, 2005, 01:51:27 AM
I have heard of Coopers beer.  Never been able to find it here, though.

I normally use liquid yeasts.  They seem to be fresher & get the fermentation started more quickly.  They are a little higher priced but on a per case basis it's still cheaper than all but the real cheap beer in the stores.

Some beer styles are best served near freezing while others benefit from a bit warmer serving temp - yet still chilled.  Even after all the homebrewing & the large number of microbreweries & brewpubs around here, I still drink quite a bit of Coors Original.  Not a lot of flavor but it does a great job of cooling me down on hot days.

My first all grain brew was a german style wheat beer.  Don't remember how much alcohol - pretty weak, though.  It tasted great & was a perfect summer beer.  I believe the yeast was Red Star dry.  It gives the traditional banana & cloves after taste required in a true wheat beer.  Very refreshing.

Beck's is good German beer.  My tastes tend to run more toward British styles - Watney's, Harp & Guinness for example.  I have a recipe for a strong scotch ale I want to try one of these days.  Should be one of those sneak up on you beers like you mentioned earlier.

Prosit!  ;D
H2O
If you have an accident on a motorcycle, it's always your fault. Tough call, but it has to be that way. You're in the right, and dead -on a bike. The principle is not to have any accident. If you're involved in an an accident, it's because you did not anticipate. Then, by default, you failed.

silicon_toad2000

#6
August 31, 2005, 05:43:56 AM
yeah once i get my lager right, nice and crisp, clear and cold with a hint of ale fuitiness then i need to start thinking about brewing a winter beer that can be drunk nearer to room temperature than the freezer.
around here when I was younger you either drank "west end draught" or "victoria bitter" and if you drank one you would never touch the other, the kind of things wars are fought over, but now coopers has become big everyone will drink "coopers pale ale".its not bad, if you get a chance to try it, give it a swallow. there isa bit of sediment in the bottom of every bottle so you can mix the sediment in to make it a bit more bitter or dont mix it and leave it less bitter. I dont mix but some people do.
One mans clunker is another mans blank canvas.

h2olawyer

#7
September 14, 2005, 09:41:35 PM
Just got some more ingredients for another batch today.  Doing a traditional Octoberfest - seems like the right time for a fall malty brew!  Am bottling an amber ale tonight - should be ready to drink in about 10 days.

The place I buy from has Cooper malt extracts available.  Maybe that's where I remember them from.  Will likely try some in the near future.  They make some of their retail beer styles available as malt kits.  Cooper is the only combination brewery & malt extractor in the world.  Interesting bit of brewing trivia.

H2O
If you have an accident on a motorcycle, it's always your fault. Tough call, but it has to be that way. You're in the right, and dead -on a bike. The principle is not to have any accident. If you're involved in an an accident, it's because you did not anticipate. Then, by default, you failed.

silicon_toad2000

#8
September 14, 2005, 09:44:23 PM
the coopers heritage lager is nice, if they dont have that try the regular lager, not bad.
One mans clunker is another mans blank canvas.

h2olawyer

#9
September 15, 2005, 01:58:47 AM
Thanks for the tip,  I'll probably get around to brewing some this winter - easier to keep more consistent lagering temps for me then.  Just finished bottling the Amber Ale.  Got just over 2 cases of 12 oz. bottles.  Cost: $26.00 US.  Great beer @ $13 per case is a steal.  Similar quality from local microbreweries would be over $40 for a similar amount.  The Octoberfest will be a bit over $30 but it has more grains & more malt extract.

H2O
If you have an accident on a motorcycle, it's always your fault. Tough call, but it has to be that way. You're in the right, and dead -on a bike. The principle is not to have any accident. If you're involved in an an accident, it's because you did not anticipate. Then, by default, you failed.

silicon_toad2000

#10
September 15, 2005, 07:07:17 PM
yeah, gota love the cost of this stuff, even when you buy the fermenter and all the stuff for the first brew, it works out the same cost as buying the same amount from the shop.
you have inspired me, im going to get a brew going this weekend. before the weather warms up too much (spring here).
I'll use a malt extract can and brewing sugar from the supermarket and go to the homebrew shop for some ale yeast. I used to use the yeast in the kit but last brew i used a new yeast and a new sugar and i wasn't too happy with the result so I'll go back to the sugar i used to use and see what happens.
One mans clunker is another mans blank canvas.

h2olawyer

#11
September 15, 2005, 07:37:36 PM
S_T2K -

Try substituting dry malt extract for your sugar.  It makes a richer brew.  Cost may be a bit higher but aren't your tastebuds worth it?  I've never used sugar in any batch I've brewed.  I know some styles have it as an original ingredient but I haven't done any of those recepies yet. 

For finishing (carbonation) I krausen - save some unfermented beer in the fridge & add it to the fermented stuff when I bottle.  If you need, I can give you the formula for figuring it out.  Pretty simple with a hydrometer.  Or, if you have "The New Complete Joy of Home Brewing" by Charlie Papazian, its all in there.

Yeast is fascinating stuff - still no conclusions if it is a plant or animal.  Different strains produce very different qualities in beer.  The micro-biology department here at Colorado State University had a small brewery going for a few years in the late 80s.  Claimed they were doing yeast research.  Nothing like getting government funding to brew beer.  I've been using White Labs liquid yeasts.  They seem to work well & fermentation is evident within 8 ` 10 hours of pitching.

H2O
If you have an accident on a motorcycle, it's always your fault. Tough call, but it has to be that way. You're in the right, and dead -on a bike. The principle is not to have any accident. If you're involved in an an accident, it's because you did not anticipate. Then, by default, you failed.

silicon_toad2000

#12
September 16, 2005, 02:00:26 AM
yeah I've been using the 'sugar' its actually a specialised brewing sugar, part dextrose and part malt extract. there are diiferent grades fro pure dextrose for a really clear beer to beer improver 2 wich has a lot of malt extract in it.
I want to go back to the brewing sugar as that was what i used the last great batch that I made. this brew will be all the same as that batch except for the yeast.
using normal table sugar gives you a very cidery beer and is no good.
One mans clunker is another mans blank canvas.

h2olawyer

#13
September 16, 2005, 02:12:06 AM
I knew about the brewer's sugar & glad you're using it.  Didn't know about the different grades, though.  The place I get my supplies from has beer kits that come with sugar for priming.  Got a bunch of that stuff accumulating.  India Pale Ale is traditionally primed with sugar but my last of it I forgot to take any unfermented wort (gyle) out for krausening so I used dry malt extract instead.  Not as happy with it.  Krausening makes for a creamier longer lasting head.  Still a very hoppy, bitter brew - just like it's supposed to be.  ;D

H2O
If you have an accident on a motorcycle, it's always your fault. Tough call, but it has to be that way. You're in the right, and dead -on a bike. The principle is not to have any accident. If you're involved in an an accident, it's because you did not anticipate. Then, by default, you failed.
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