Brew your own beer?

bobpbx

bobpbx

Piney
Staff member
Oct 25, 2002
14,721
4,908
Pines; Bamber area
Old Crazy said:
$49 six-pack? Eh, that's not too bad. I unsuccessfully brewed a batch of cranberry mead (a fermented honey wine) that cost me $2,000.

Having a 5 gallon glass water bottle with a tube on top of it running into a pot of water (to blow off the CO2 during fermentation) is not the most attractive thing to have in your living room, so I kept it in my bedroom closet. Unfortunately while I was away at work one day some of the cranberries got jammed in the blow off tube, the pressure built up, and the 5 gallon water jar filled with the red liquid inside exploded.

That night when I got home from work I noticed something red streaming down the stairs to the first floor. Upon investigation I traced the source of the liquid up the steps, down the hallway, into my bedroom, and finally my bedroom closet. When I opened the closet door it looked like somebody had been shot at point blank range with a 12 gauge shotgun in there. The red cranberry juice stained every square inch of the closet and ruined five suits, my favorite suede jacket, and most of pants and shirts.
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That is quite a story! Your heart must have really sunk that day. I get that same feeling whenever I get home from work and the pool circulation hose has blown off the pump and drained about 4,000 gallons of water into the yard. Not as bad as ruining all your shirts and suits though. Just be thankful it was contained in the closet, and didn't blow all over your living room.

Another thing that happened to me one time; Buddy had cut his ear on briars on one of my trips. He was bleeding pretty good cause he had shredded the tip of an artery. I stopped the blood carefully and gave him a nice bath in the tub, cause he had bled all over his fur as we walked home. I pulled him out of the tub and dried him off a bit and stood back to look at him. He immediately shook himself as dogs do when wet. The artery opened up again and he sprayed blood on my floor, walls, and ceiling. I started leading him out of the bathroom in a panic and he did it again! Blood on the door and mirror this time. What a mess!
 
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Banjo

Scout
Apr 17, 2005
76
0
S.W. Missouri
I'm not an expert on making beer by any means, but the first batch I tried making was at a friends house. We had the sugar and water mix sitting on the stove in a pan waiting to add it to the batch. One of his roomates came down and started puttering around the kitchen. Come time to add the sugar and water, the pan was gone. The roomie thought is was just dirty water in the pot, and washed it. Knowing nothing about brewing beer, and that was the only powdered suger that came with the kit, a call to their Chem professor gave us the suggestion to use honey, and an approximate amount. To make a long story longer, it worked great, and was the best of the three or four batches I made back then. Am itching to get into again, but we really have no room to keep the fermenting tub. Someday.....
 
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G. Russell Juelg

Explorer
Jul 31, 2006
284
51
Burlington County
Here's a simple recipe that wasn't very expensive, and it made an excellent beer. I bottled it about two weeks ago and it tastes better every day (especially if not too cold):

6 lbs. Northern Brewer Munich liquid malt extract
1 lb. crystal 60
ale yeast
hops to your liking (I let the malt dominate)

I steeped the crystal and boiled it with half the LME for an hour, then put the other half of the LME in at knockout. Used an ordinary dry yeast. I let it stay in the fermenter two weeks.

I think the wort was a little too warm when I pitched the yeast, because I got a huge amount of foam and had to take the bubbler off and clean it a couple of times. That had me worried, but everything turned out just fine. Also, this beer is just now starting to clear up.
 
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G. Russell Juelg

Explorer
Jul 31, 2006
284
51
Burlington County
chemicalcraig said:
Russell,
You ever get to brew that pale ale?
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Yes, I did. Last Thursday. Used Deer Park bottled water. I got the mineral specs off the internet, and used Palmer's nomograph to see what I might be able to do. I cut my recipe in half, and I used only base malt. I followed a mash schedule of 104, 140, 158, with a 30 min. rest at each temp. Used Brewer's Gold for bittering and a little bit of Cascade for flavoring. The wort was a lot sweeter than I expected. Primary fermentation was vigorous. It looks like it's gonna come out fine.

Also, the other day, I made another half recipe with four pounds of base malt and a pound of malt that I had toasted myself. This is still in primary phase, and it looks pretty healthy.

I'm tempted to do a full 5 gal. batch this Saturday!
 
C

chemicalcraig

Scout
Mar 10, 2008
54
0
russell juelg said:
Yes, I did. Last Thursday. Used Deer Park bottled water. I got the mineral specs off the internet, and used Palmer's nomograph to see what I might be able to do. I cut my recipe in half, and I used only base malt. I followed a mash schedule of 104, 140, 158, with a 30 min. rest at each temp. Used Brewer's Gold for bittering and a little bit of Cascade for flavoring. The wort was a lot sweeter than I expected. Primary fermentation was vigorous. It looks like it's gonna come out fine.

Also, the other day, I made another half recipe with four pounds of base malt and a pound of malt that I had toasted myself. This is still in primary phase, and it looks pretty healthy.

I'm tempted to do a full 5 gal. batch this Saturday!
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Sounds great. Any idea how your efficiency is? I suspect it would be pretty high with that kind of mash. I never trusted myself to do any home malt toasting. My brother does it often, but being a scientist I rely heavily on numbers. If I don't know exactly what lovibond a malt is I start to get anxious. I've sent some IPA to pinelandspaddler for the next pbx outing. I'd like to try some of that pale ale. I'll be in NJ in late june.
 
G

G. Russell Juelg

Explorer
Jul 31, 2006
284
51
Burlington County
chemicalcraig said:
Sounds great. Any idea how your efficiency is? I suspect it would be pretty high with that kind of mash. I never trusted myself to do any home malt toasting. My brother does it often, but being a scientist I rely heavily on numbers. If I don't know exactly what lovibond a malt is I start to get anxious. I've sent some IPA to pinelandspaddler for the next pbx outing. I'd like to try some of that pale ale. I'll be in NJ in late june.
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No, I'm flying by the seat of my pants. I'm like the box of rocks when it comes to math and science. I have read and re-read certain portions of Palmer's book, and I just don't get it. I definitely need to get educated though, before I try to do an all grain porter or stout.

I checked out the promash software, and that seems like a really cool way to go. Do you use anything like that?

I might bottle up the first batch (all base malt) this Sunday. I've been snitching a little sample, now and then, and there's nothing sophisticated going on there, but damn if it doesn't taste good! I'll bottle the next batch in another week. I will definitely keep a couple of bottles around for you and pinelandspaddler. We should get together for a canoe trip.
 
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