Home Brewing Beer

[Drawingablank]

I have decided to start dabbling with home brewing some beer and since I recall several eplayans mentioning this, I was hoping for some advice.

I was wondering if anyone could recommend a good online resource for home brewing as well as having a couple basic questions.

I received a brewing kit as a gift, but it seems like I will probably want more knowledge / expertise / beer than that kit will provide. My first batch is ready to bottle any time but the kit said letting it go 14 days will improve it so I will wait a bit longer.

Since my 110+ year old house is poorly insulated, I am having trouble maintaining the mix at the recommended 68 - 72 degrees F. and it has been holding steady at 66 degrees. Will this affect the length of time needed to ferment?

My other questions is: once bottled, how long will it take the reaction with the sugar to carbonate it?

[Ugly Dougly]

Is it lager? Then, yes, keeping it for a while *after fermenation has stopped* will help it. Doesn't seem to help ale, though.
As long as it has stopped fermenting, keeping it 66 deg instead of 68 is not going to hurt it I think.
Geez, I don't know about carbonizing, I usually kreuzen it with a bottle of unfermented wort, and that may take more time.

Great fun though!

[thisisthatwhichis]

I'm no expert, but I usually let my bottles sit for 3 months or so, before trying it. I've found if they are in a dark place, at room temp, they taste better with more age... up to 18 months is the longest I have made it without drinking them all....

66 degrees is a little cool, but you may be alright. If you have trouble during the winter with temp, use one of the cold fermenting yeasts.....


Happy brewing!!!!

[thnkfl]

I was wondering if anyone could recommend a good online resource for home brewing...

I've had good success with most brew supply stores selling mail order, except my near-local outlet in Flagstaff. They usually pack the order incorrectly but have made up for it, alas, after the fact. I think they enjoy the hobby a bit too much.

I've never had problems with dry yeast. Occasionally I do with live yeast but that's probably been my fault.

You can let the wort sit in the primary fermenter longer than necessary. Necessary being at least a week. I've had it sit for a month without problems.

Siphon it into a secondary fermenter if you like, adding more hops or whatever.

Make sure EVERYTHING is sanitized! you will get off-flavors if not.

I do believe that the beer tastes better if you put it into "bomber" style (22 oz.) bottles instead of the smaller 12 oz ones. Probably something to do with the greater volume has on the maturation process.

Once in the bottle, you can choke the stuff down after only two weeks. After three weeks it will taste better. I usually let it sit in the dark for four to five weeks. You will notice a tremendous improvement in quality by letting it sit a month or so. The beer (I brew ale, not lager) should continue to improve up to about 2-3 months. After that it starts to decline. Drink it within four months. Do not refrigerate the beer until you are ready to drink it -- refrigeration halts the maturation process.

If the weather is too warm, try this... Set your fermenter in a galvanized washtub containing cool water. Add ice if necessary to achieve the fermenting temperature you desire. Wrap the whole thing with towels or an old coat to keep out light, keep in the coolth.

Don't forget the labels! View some of mine at http://www.wildapache.net/randhunt/zymurgy/index.htm

The book, Joy of Brewing, is an excellent resource.

Happy brewing!

[Drawingablank]

Thanks for all the advice. I will pick up that book.

I really like those labels - especially the Brew 52 and Not ready to drink ones. I am already thinking about making some myself. Do you print them on regular label stock?

Do you all use the premixed brewing stuff (just heat and pour then add yeast), or do you make your beer from raw ingredients and a recipe?

[thisisthatwhichis]

I've tried a bunch of recipies and various ways of brewing. Our Homebrew store provides "tried and true" recipies with the malt, grains, hops etc... then you pick your yeast. They are the easiest, and always turn out good.

It is fun to do a full mash, though, from time to time......

[thnkfl]

The labels were printed on letter size label stock that can run thru a laser printer. I was using a Xerox color laser printer at the local print shop. Ink jet printers do not have the color vibrancy nor the sharpness of laser. And ink jet inks will wash off in water.

I usually use the beer kits that have you boil the wort for an hour. I have a camping burner that uses a large propane cylinder. It can bring 5 gallons of water to a boil in about twenty minutes. Big improvement over stovetop! I've tried all grain brewing whereby it's necessary to sparge the grains for an hour or so but decided it didn't make that much difference. I may yet make a cylindrical sparger that is 3-4" in diameter, 5-6 feet long to make the process easier...who knows?

I haven't tried any custom recipes. Would sure like to know what they use to make Arrogant Bastard, tho...

Cheers!