The Homebrew Beer Thread

[RootDKJ]

You guys have any suggestions before I buy my first kit? I've read the first part of the Papizan book, and poked around for a few days online. I've read this entire thread, and some of it was certainly over my head.

Apparently, the homebrew store options in my part of NJ are scant. Brooklyn is far, same for south Jersey. There is a place in Clifton (prob 35 minutes away) but the reviews say that they are almost completely devoted to home winemaking and beer is an afterthought.

So I've been looking for a kit online with reasonable shipping costs that will include everything I need to start. My thinking was to skip the entry level plastic fermenting buckets, mostly because I know how I am, and I will scratch the thing and then have bacteria problems. Therefore I was going to go with a kit that included a 5 gal kettle, 5 gal glass carboy, and 7.8 gallon plastic bucket for bottling. It is the third option ($159) at this link . The shipping costs are only $20 or so. I was thinking I could probably hunt around for a second glass carboy when the time comes that I want to dabble in secondary fermentation. I also imagine at some point I'll make/buy a wort cooler/chiller, but not right away.

Some questions:
1) Someone told me the smell involved with homebrewing is awful. Have you guys found that to be the case?
2) I am going to be doing everything inside. Anything I need to know?
3) If I go w a 5 gallon kettle and a 5 gallon carboy, do I need an overflow/krausen set-up?
4) What do you guys use to sanitize? I'd love to hear a quick description of how one physically sanitizes (do you use gloves? do you dry? where do you place equipment you have just sanitized?)
5) Since this kit comes with a bottling bucket, is it worth transferring from the carboy to the bucket before bottling? Or should I try direct siphon bottling from the carboy first? My thought was that if things were going well, having the bucket around could be versatile. In addition or instead of using it as a bottler, I could use it as a secondary fermenter or as a second primary fermenter if I wanted to have 2 batches going at once. Obviously, this would require me to bottle from the carboy for 1 of the batches, or to time it so I bottled the plastic batch first, then sanitize, then use it as a bottler for the carboy batch.
6) I know using an ingredient kit is cheating, but I thought maybe for the first 2 or 3 batches this would be a good way to go, learning how to use my equipment and perhaps adding a part here or there to make things run smooth.
7) How heavy is a full carboy? In my head, I boil and fill the carboy in the kitchen but then age and bottle in the basement.
8) Any advice on what temps in the basement should be? I gather it varies from style to style, I was thinking of starting with a pale ale kit.

Thanks guys, I didn't know this thread existed but, as I was thinking about it over the weekend, I figured some of y'all would be homebrewers, and this thread certainly did not disappoint.

Jay, there used to be a home brewing supply store on Valley Street in Maplewood (right by the high school ironically). Not sure if they are still operating.

 

[jaywbigred]

Jay, there used to be a home brewing supply store on Valley Street in Maplewood (right by the high school ironically). Not sure if they are still operating.

That would be convenient but I haven't seen anything in that area come up on any search or website I've seen.

However I did find this in South Orange. Never been to the Gaslight, may have to check it out.

 

[jaywbigred]

Hmm, okay, so if a full carboy only weighs 40-50 pounds, then at least for the next few months, couldn't you cool the wort just by carrying the carboy outside for a few minutes after you fill it?

 

[RootDKJ]

That would be convenient but I haven't seen anything in that area come up on any search or website I've seen.

However I did find this in South Orange. Never been to the Gaslight, may have to check it out.

Heh...Ryan's Place. Still smells like it used to when I was a regular at the bar there in the 90's. Their food is ok, but the beer is pretty good. Probably the closest option for a craft beer.

 

[ctenidae]

Hmm, okay, so if a full carboy only weighs 40-50 pounds, then at least for the next few months, couldn't you cool the wort just by carrying the carboy outside for a few minutes after you fill it?

Yes, but it still takes a lot longer than you'd think- remember, only the liquid in contact witht eh glass is chilling, and perversely packing snow around it doesn't help much, since the snow melts quickly, leaving an air gap. And as we all know, still air is an insulator...

 

[jaywbigred]

Yes, but it still takes a lot longer than you'd think- remember, only the liquid in contact witht eh glass is chilling, and perversely packing snow around it doesn't help much, since the snow melts quickly, leaving an air gap. And as we all know, still air is an insulator...

Let me see if I understand correctly.
1.) You boil your ingredients to make wort, and then at a given temp. it is safe to transfer to the carboy (what temp is this? I would guess you could transfer it while it was still pretty hot, depending on the siphon used?)
2.) You still may have to wait to add yeast because the wort is too hot.
3.) Once it is below 80 degrees you can add your yeast.
4.) The downside to the slow cooling of wort is ______________ ? More time out in the open for bacteria to enter?
5.) If you have already transfered to a sanitized carboy, is the extra wait time for the cooling that dangerous?

 

[ctenidae]

You can transfer the wort at any point. Usually post-boil you want to get it into a container with as little risk of contamination (ie a carboy) relatively quickly. However, boiling hot wort is not fun to screw up with. Once in the carboy, the risk of contamination is reduced, but not eliminated. The longer it takes to cool, the greater the risk- some bad bugs live in higher temperatures than yeast does. Not all that dnagerous, but if you can eliminate the risk, why not?

The way I see it, the biggest problem with a slow cool is simply the amount of time it takes. I almost always get started later than I meant to, it takes longer to get it up to a boil than I thought (depending on how many times it boils over, clean up slows things down), and so it's later than I wanted when I'm ready to pitch the yeast. Cooling the wort quickly (but not too- Charlie warns against using ice directly, though Alton Brown uses it) means you can go to bed sooner. If you put 180 degree wort into a carboy and left it at room temperature on the counter overnight, you probably still wouldn't be able to pitch in the morning, and that's a long time for bad bugs to set up shop.

One trick that works decently is to put your fill water in the freezer before you start brewing. You are using bottled water, right? Get it nice and cold so when you add it to the hot wort it cools things down a bit faster.

 

[BeanoNYC]

1) Well you could transfer at a hot temperature but it would be easier to fill the sink with ice water and drop your kettle in there or use a immersion chiller before transfer. I use a chiller and transfer around 80-90 degrees.

2) Each type of yeast has different ideal pitching temperatures but the main idea is not to kill the yeast by pitching while it's too hot. 80 usually the highest you want to do this at. I usually wait as I like to take a gravity reading in the 70's

3) See Above

4) A few things can happen if you cool slowly.

a) You're right, Nasties can get into the wort. (Not likely)
b) The beer can become cloudy as rapidly cooling the wort will reduce the amount of "cold break" protiens. (most likely)
c) Not likely again but you may get some off tastes from other chemicals forming in a warmer wort

Basically it's not big deal to slowly cool, but it's just bad form

5) See above. It doesn't really have much to do with nasties but more with breaking the growth of protiens and compounds that will cloud and give off flavors. It will still be drinkable.

 

[ctenidae]

Dangit, Beano, that's too technical!

In my experience, many of the things that you do for santiary purposes have additional positive affects. In the end, though, the one thing most certain to ruin a batch of brew is poor sanitation.

 

[BeanoNYC]

Dangit, Beano, that's too technical!

I guess your right. The simple answer is try your best to cool it quickly but ultimately. Relax, Don't Worry, Have a Homebrew. Basically be attentive, but be patient too.

Jay...you should check out homebrewtalk.com . Lots of great info on those forums.

BTW...I started the build on my keezer. It's going to be sweet!

 

[jaywbigred]

Jay...you should check out homebrewtalk.com . Lots of great info on those forums.

BTW...I started the build on my keezer. It's going to be sweet!

I joined HBT on Sunday, but I am trying to avoid being an annoying n00b over there. Figure I will wait until I brew my first batch, at least, before asking questions.

There seem to be a good # of instruction videos on Youtube, so I will probably watch them before each step.

And I had to google what a Keezer was. Very cool! we had 2 kegorators in college before one was stolen from our 3rd floor in the middle of the night while 11 dudes and 7 girlfriends failed to wake up (fantastic college story btw, classic)--but keezer looks like its taking it to another level.

 

[BeanoNYC]

I joined HBT on Sunday, but I am trying to avoid being an annoying n00b over there. Figure I will wait until I brew my first batch, at least, before asking questions.

There seem to be a good # of instruction videos on Youtube, so I will probably watch them before each step.

And I had to google what a Keezer was. Very cool! we had 2 kegorators in college before one was stolen from our 3rd floor in the middle of the night while 11 dudes and 7 girlfriends failed to wake up (fantastic college story btw, classic)--but keezer looks like its taking it to another level.

Look me up! Don't be afraid to ask over there. People are super nice.

 

[pro2860]

One trick that works decently is to put your fill water in the freezer before you start brewing. You are using bottled water, right? Get it nice and cold so when you add it to the hot wort it cools things down a bit faster.[/QUOTE]

I've been using tap water with ice for years and never had a problem...Usually takes less than 2 hours including cleanup and after a couple of weeks another 10 minutes to transfer to keg...I've never done bottles..:beer:

 

[BeanoNYC]

Jay. I just saw this thread and thought of you.

 

[jaywbigred]

Jay. I just saw this thread and thought of you.

A good read. Thanks! I have resolved to make sure I adhere to strict diameter requirements (as dictated by the size of my kitchen sink) when purchasing my brew kettle, as it seem wort cooling is much more effective with the ice and water sink technique than the snow/outside technique. Interesting stuff.

 

[BeanoNYC]

I have resolved to make sure I adhere to strict diameter requirements (as dictated by the size of my kitchen sink) when purchasing my brew kettle, as it seem wort cooling is much more effective with the ice and water sink technique than the snow/outside technique. Interesting stuff.

If you buy a 30 quart pot it should fit into most kitchen sinks. If it doesn't I would buy the size pot you want anyway. You could always fill a rubbermaid tub with water and ice outside to cool everything down. If you get the brewing bug you will eventually buy or make an immersion chiller.

 

[ctenidae]

Heh- if you get the bug you will eventually buy or make a whole range of things useless for any other purpose.

And you'll love it.

 

[jaywbigred]

Ok, my first batch (extract brew kit Pale Ale kit) is in the carboy.

Here is the thread documenting my experience. You guys have any insight to any of those questions?

http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/first-try-carboy-224290/

 

[jaywbigred]

Ok, my first batch (extract brew kit Pale Ale kit) is in the carboy.

Here is the thread documenting my experience. You guys have any insight to any of those questions?

http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/first-try-carboy-224290/

Just checked and we now have activity in the airlock and a nice little layer of foam on the top! Fermentation appears to be underway!

 

[BeanoNYC]

Just checked and we now have activity in the airlock and a nice little layer of foam on the top! Fermentation appears to be underway!

Awesome! I commented on your HBT thread, BTW. I'm not Beano over there.

Anyhoo. I finished my kegerator. Here's a shot of it. I posted more on HBT as well.