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briang's OFFICIAL BYO (brew your own) thread where Matt is a Pro Brewer .... we knew him back when!

22,811 2,637 December 17, 2008 at 09:18 AM in Chat (2) Slickdeals
everyone else has theirs.... i want mine.

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Community Wiki

Last Edited by daveotero November 11, 2009 at 10:51 AM
Here it is folks..... add your links.

Good vendors to order from:

www.rebelbrewer.com Almost always the cheapest shipped
www.northernbrewer.com
www.morebeer.com
www.freshops.com
www.austinhomebrew.com
www.midwestsupplies.com
[midwestsupplies.com] Accepts paypal
http://homebrewheaven.com


Recipe Database:
Award Winning Recipes, Including Denny Conn and Jamil Z. [beerdujour.com]
Brew 365 Recipes [brew365.com]
Tasty Brew's Recipes [tastybrew.com]

Hop Information:
Hop Union PDF [hopunion.com]
Oregon Hop Commission [oregonhops.org]

Beer Calculators:
ABV and Calorie Calculator [probrewer.com]
Hydrometer Correction Calculator [hbd.org]
IBU Calculator [tastybrew.com]
Bottle Priming Calculator [tastybrew.com]
Mash Calculator [rackers.org]


Equipment How To's:
Create your own Mash Tun [lustreking.com]
Create your own 3-Tier Brew Sculpture Simple Schematic [imajininteriors.com] Pic [homebrewtalk.com]

Great Beer Radio:
The Brewing Network [thebrewingnetwork.com]

All Grain Brewing Info:
Sparge Methods [hbd.org]
Step by Step Video [homebrewtalk.com]
All Grain Home Brewing (1 to 8) [youtube.com]

Keg dimensions for use in determining refrigerator and chest freezer sizes:
http://www.wortomatic.com/article...Dimensions

Terminology & Abbreviations:
Home Brewing Wiki [homebrewtalk.com]

What you'll need to start:
A stainless steel (preferably) stock pot, at least 3 gallon capacity. Aluminum will do.
A basic brewing kit. Northern Brewer item #7601 [northernbrewer.com]
A recipe kit [northernbrewer.com]. I would suggest a porter or a stout for your first brew, as dark brews are very forgiving of beginner mistakes. I would suggest using US-05 dry yeast.
A fermometer, NB item #7411 [northernbrewer.com]
Starsan Sanitizer, NB item #7930 [northernbrewer.com]
I would *highly* suggest some Fermcap-S, unless you like scrubbing nasty gooey dried up wort off your stovetop, NB item #9136 [northernbrewer.com]

263 Comments

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> bubble2 4,502 Posts
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hammondc
01-16-2011 at 01:44 PM.
01-16-2011 at 01:44 PM.
First homebrew batch is in process. Waiting on water to come to temp to drop in my grain bag.

Sanitized the fark out of everything.

Quote from Mavtech :
The chemistry of the water isn't real important when you are using extract or even partial mash. But, it's extremely important when you go all grain. Also, when you go all grain, your supplies get much cheaper. I buy my base malt and hops in bulk. My 2 row is 75 cents a pound ($1.39 in store) and my hops are less than $1 per oz. ($2-$3 in store)

I am going to do a few runs (like 10 or so) or partial mash before attempting all grain.
Reply
Last edited by hammondc January 16, 2011 at 01:45 PM.
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> bubble2 26,586 Posts
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Mavtech
01-16-2011 at 02:04 PM.
01-16-2011 at 02:04 PM.
Quote from hammondc :
First homebrew batch is in process. Waiting on water to come to temp to drop in my grain bag.

Sanitized the fark out of everything.
There is no need to sanitize anything before the boil in case that's what you mean. You only need to sanitize anything that touches the wort after the boil.
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> bubble2 4,502 Posts
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hammondc
01-16-2011 at 02:10 PM.
01-16-2011 at 02:10 PM.
Quote from Mavtech :
There is no need to sanitize anything before the boil in case that's what you mean. You only need to sanitize anything that touches the wort after the boil.
Yeah....first batch and I am paranoid as hell.
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> bubble2 26,586 Posts
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Mavtech
01-16-2011 at 02:31 PM.
01-16-2011 at 02:31 PM.
Quote from hammondc :
Yeah....first batch and I am paranoid as hell.
LOL. I know how you feel. The first batch is a bit intimidating. Boiling is the best santizer. In fact, when you boil wort, it's actually sterile. That's better than sanitized.
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hammondc
01-16-2011 at 03:00 PM.
01-16-2011 at 03:00 PM.
Just had my 'boil-over' cherry popped. That was fun. Only lost about 1/4 cup though.
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> bubble2 26,586 Posts
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Mavtech
01-16-2011 at 03:05 PM.
01-16-2011 at 03:05 PM.
Quote from hammondc :
Just had my 'boil-over' cherry popped. That was fun. Only lost about 1/4 cup though.
That can get messy. Was it when you added the hops? That's when I cut the heat. I then bring it back to a rolling boil after the hops are mixed in.
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hammondc
01-16-2011 at 03:07 PM.
01-16-2011 at 03:07 PM.
Quote from Mavtech :
That can get messy. Was it when you added the hops? That's when I cut the heat. I then bring it back to a rolling boil after the hops are mixed in.

Yep....Dumped the bittering hops and KABLAM! Pulled it off the heat and stirred a lot. Boiling nicely after the heat break. My house smells like boiled peanuts
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> bubble2 11,718 Posts
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mattman688
01-17-2011 at 06:49 PM.
01-17-2011 at 06:49 PM.
i always let my wort boil for 10 minutes before i add my bittering hops, usually reduces my chances of boilover... and i have my anti-foam drops ready on hand incase....
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hammondc
01-19-2011 at 02:29 PM.
01-19-2011 at 02:29 PM.
OK....so....school me on moving the wort to a secondary. It has been bubbling along nicely in a brew bucket now for about 72 hours.
1.Should I move it to a secondary (I have a glass carboy)
2. Whats the point of using a secondary?
3. When should I move it
4. Part of the idea is to leave the trub in the primary, correct?

k, thanks
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Last edited by hammondc January 19, 2011 at 02:35 PM.
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Mavtech
01-19-2011 at 03:06 PM.
01-19-2011 at 03:06 PM.
Quote from hammondc :
OK....so....school me on moving the wort to a secondary. It has been bubbling along nicely in a brew bucket now for about 72 hours.
1.Should I move it to a secondary (I have a glass carboy)
2. Whats the point of using a secondary?
3. When should I move it
4. Part of the idea is to leave the trub in the primary, correct?

k, thanks
There are a bunch of different theories on secondary fermentation. Some people live by it. But, a large number of home brewers don't even do it. If you are bottling, I suggest using it. If you are kegging, you can skip it since the keg can be used as a secondary.

1) Not yet. Primary fermentation is normally not done until 7-10 days depending on style. Go by final gravity readings instead of the airlock.

2) To finish off any fermentation, to further separate and clear out the beer.

3) After 7-10 days or when you get to your target gravity.

4) Correct. To help with this, I free hand my siphon. I hold it just under the top of the beer while it's moving to my secondary/keg. Only at the end is the tip of the siphon down in the yeast cake.
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> bubble2 19,213 Posts
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AggieMom
01-19-2011 at 03:21 PM.
01-19-2011 at 03:21 PM.
DH's yeast stirring contraption is a success! Whee Need to get him a stir bar. He bought some cheapo magnets at Home Depot - should I get him some stronger ones for the fan? I know I need to order a stir bar. Any suggestions on that?

Any comments on a refractometer? I was looking at this one for him: http://www.northernbrewer.com/bre...w-atc.html

Pros/cons?
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hammondc
01-19-2011 at 04:10 PM.
01-19-2011 at 04:10 PM.
Thanks Mav. I will let it roll then until Saturday or so and do a FG reading. How do you pull the sample for the reading? Since it is in the bucket, I can't just drop the hydrometer in since I will not be able to read it.
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hammondc
01-19-2011 at 05:06 PM.
01-19-2011 at 05:06 PM.
OH.....and if I wanted to add brown sugar, would I do that while it is in the fermenter?
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mattman688
01-20-2011 at 07:52 AM.
01-20-2011 at 07:52 AM.
Quote from hammondc :
Thanks Mav. I will let it roll then until Saturday or so and do a FG reading. How do you pull the sample for the reading? Since it is in the bucket, I can't just drop the hydrometer in since I will not be able to read it.
either buy a wine thief or a turkey baster, sanitize it and then draw your sample from the beer.

if you add brown sugar to the fermentation you are either going to reactivate the fermentation which will primarily just dry out your beer and boost alcohol....or if your yeast got lazy its going to make it too sweet... if your yeast became inactive, you can try swirling your carboy to stir up the yeast and see if that wakes them up, or you can repitch fresh yeast(i would wait because usually yeast gets excited easy by simple sugars).... If you do choose to add brown sugar, bring some water to a boil, stir the brown sugar in boiling water, then dump it in... that will help dilute the sugar and sanitize the sugar as well.
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> bubble2 4,502 Posts
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hammondc
01-20-2011 at 08:09 AM.
01-20-2011 at 08:09 AM.
Quote from mattman688 :
either buy a wine thief or a turkey baster, sanitize it and then draw your sample from the beer.

if you add brown sugar to the fermentation you are either going to reactivate the fermentation which will primarily just dry out your beer and boost alcohol....or if your yeast got lazy its going to make it too sweet... if your yeast became inactive, you can try swirling your carboy to stir up the yeast and see if that wakes them up, or you can repitch fresh yeast(i would wait because usually yeast gets excited easy by simple sugars).... If you do choose to add brown sugar, bring some water to a boil, stir the brown sugar in boiling water, then dump it in... that will help dilute the sugar and sanitize the sugar as well.

OK Were you talking about adding brown sugar to the primary or secondary fermentation? I do not want to add heaps of brown sugar, just enough to sweeten it up a bit. Midwest Brewing says 1/2 - 1lb, but it should have been added with the malt extract. It is a English Brown Ale.

I do not think the yeast is inactive. It has been about 3 1/2 days and I am getting bubbling in the primary about every 20 -25 seconds. It seems to have slowed a lot since day 2, but I understand that is normal from the How to Brew book (J. Palmer).
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Last edited by hammondc January 20, 2011 at 08:12 AM.
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