|
Inspired by the President's recipe of all things I'd like to get into home brewing. I've read the OP and I'm reading the How to Brew book, and I had a question about starter kits. Is there a difference between this kit recommended in the OP (which is out of stock) and this kit? I'm not afraid to drop some more cash so I'm also tempted by the deluxe kit. Finally are there any brewer goons in MD? Any recommendation on local shops? It looks like there are these guys and these guys in MD and these guys in VA.
|
#
?
Sep 5, 2012 17:31
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 29, 2024 23:35 |
|
|
The out of stock kit includes a hydrometer which you'll definitely want. The deluxe kit has carboys for secondary fermentation and that's really unnecessary when you're just starting out. I'd get the essentials kit and the gravity testing upgrade for $21 that include hydrometer, sample jar and thief.
|
|
#
?
Sep 5, 2012 17:40
|
|
|
It seems to me that getting a job at a brewery isn't difficult at all. Practically every brewery in town is hiring. Granted, you're starting out washing kegs, but that's kind of an "in," isn't it? Also, Northern Brewer already has prefab Obamabeer kits: http://www.northernbrewer.com/shop/brewing/recipe-kits/white-house-recipe-kits/northern-brewer-s-white-house-honey-ale-beer-kit.html The amusing part of this for me is that there's no possible way they could have tasted the beer yet. Granted, they're pretty typical recipes and the chance they will produce an unpleasant beer is like zero. Angry Grimace fucked around with this message at 17:56 on Sep 5, 2012 |
|
#
?
Sep 5, 2012 17:52
|
|
|
What's a typical starting pay?
|
|
#
?
Sep 5, 2012 17:54
|
|
|
Splizwarf posted:What's a typical starting pay? http://www.stonebrew.com/jobs/#152 (Gives you an idea of what you would be expected to do at any entry level position) Stone Brewing posted:Assistant Brewer: 3-6 months related experience and/or training. This is an entry level position with potential for advancement to the right individual. The main responsibilities for this position include A LOT of cleaning, shoveling spent grain in the hot sun (on occasion), cleaning the spent grain and yeast area daily, setting up and then cleaning up taste panel, assisting with cask filling and packaging, scrubbing drains, running the floor cleaner, and pretty much anything and everything else that our brewers need assistance with. If you do a great job cleaning, you may be asked to assist with some Brewhouse operations (milling, mashing, boiling, etc), cellar-related operations (cell counting, yeast disposal, etc), packaging operations (keg cleaning and filling, carbonation, etc), and quality assurance operations (cell counts, pitch rates, test panel, etc). Must be able to accurately and legibly record daily record information, have excellent cleaning and organizing standards, and be efficient in the processing of all operations. A formal brewing education and/or work experience relative to the position is highly desirable. Angry Grimace fucked around with this message at 17:59 on Sep 5, 2012 |
|
#
?
Sep 5, 2012 17:57
|
|
|
Beer4TheBeerGod posted:kit recommended in the OP (which is out of stock) poo poo, it looks like I need to go back through my recommendations and update them. I just called NB and chatted with them for a few minutes about their kits - they said they have changed some things around, and I clearly need to check in on them again to be sure I am recommending useful things. Also - everyone be aware - NB tells me they have stopped offering the flat-rate shipping option. I'm not sure if I mentioned that in the OP, but that is something I will have to review in the next few days. They tell me they did lower a few prices here and there to offset the lack of the flat-rate option.
|
|
#
?
Sep 5, 2012 18:02
|
|
|
Welp, greener pastures hooo. Seriously, I bought literally everything there even though some of it was more expensive because of their shipping deal. They must've stopped it recently too, I just got an order delivered last week. How did you find out? e: looks like it's all over the internet now that I knew to look for it. 
|
|
#
?
Sep 5, 2012 18:10
|
|
|
Splizwarf posted:They must've stopped it recently too, I just got an order delivered last week. How did you find out? I called them up and mentioned this thread and said I would be updating my FAQ once I had reviewed all their kits again, and the dude just mentioned that they had stopped doing the flat-rate shipping and suggested I might want to make a note if I had mentioned that. Nice guys at NB, they are well worth doing business with if it makes financial sense for your particular order and shipping destination, but for me Morebeer makes more sense (unless/until they kill their free shipping option) for items I order online.
|
|
#
?
Sep 5, 2012 18:16
|
|
|
To me, it always sounded like working at a brewery pretty much stripped everything out of brewing that I enjoy. Then again, I have a well paying job I really enjoy, so I guess that doesn't mean much.
|
|
#
?
Sep 5, 2012 18:21
|
|
|
Welp. I ordered from NB because of that shipping. $8 for about anything and I always got it within 3-4 days of placing the order (good timing and living a state and a half away from the warehouse.) I would like to support them because they do good things for the community (brewing tv) but I've got to save money where I can. I've had good luck with morebeer which is usually cheaper and there's free shipping on orders over $56 or whatever it is. Only problem with them is getting liquid yeast when it's hot (because I live halfway across the country) but a couple ice packs and a lot of thermal mass from all the grain mostly solves that issue.
|
|
#
?
Sep 5, 2012 18:24
|
|
|
Jo3sh posted:I called them up and mentioned this thread and said I would be updating my FAQ once I had reviewed all their kits again, and the dude just mentioned that they had stopped doing the flat-rate shipping and suggested I might want to make a note if I had mentioned that. It would appear that one of my local stores (Annapolis Home Brew Shop) offers $7.95 shipping. I literally know nothing else about them but I thought I should mention that. Cpt.Wacky posted:The out of stock kit includes a hydrometer which you'll definitely want. The deluxe kit has carboys for secondary fermentation and that's really unnecessary when you're just starting out. I'd get the essentials kit and the gravity testing upgrade for $21 that include hydrometer, sample jar and thief. I was curious about that, since it's part of the White House recipe. What does secondary fermentation do? EDIT: Speaking of the White House brew, they have a video and it turns out that they must have bought their starter kit in Annapolis. I thought that was kind of cool. Beer4TheBeerGod fucked around with this message at 18:36 on Sep 5, 2012 |
|
#
?
Sep 5, 2012 18:28
|
|
|
MoreBeer still has free shipping on orders bigger than $59, and they're one day's shipping from me, so I almost never use Northern Brewer anymore. However, I have done business with NB in the past and have been pleased - they're just too far away. I still get their catalog, however, and I've noticed they've really revamped their stuff in recent months - they've added Brew in a Bag kits, 3 gallon kits, 1 gallon kits and even put out a Maris Otter LME. Kind of neat. Then again, I've had good dealings with every bigger brewing supplier - William's Brewing occasionally has items that they don't stock at other suppliers, for example, super fat corny keg O-rings that seal even without pressure (which some of my kegs won't do) and those oxygenation wands (which are way easier to deal with vs. a stone attacked to tubing). MoreBeer has also done right by me by keeping a lot of hops in stock - they buy a lot of Simcoe, Citra, Amarillo, etc. and occasionally stop selling them so they will have them all year. Practically, they always have them and they ship fast with really good packaging. I don't see MB really killing free shipping unless something goes awry - it's limited to bigger orders and even at NB large items like carboys were exempt from flat rate. Beer4TheBeerGod posted:It would appear that one of my local stores (Annapolis Home Brew Shop) offers $7.95 shipping. I literally know nothing else about them but I thought I should mention that. Angry Grimace fucked around with this message at 18:49 on Sep 5, 2012 |
|
#
?
Sep 5, 2012 18:43
|
|
|
Beer4TheBeerGod posted:I was curious about that, since it's part of the White House recipe. What does secondary fermentation do? It gets repeated often but "Secondary Fermentation" is an incredibly misleading term. Nothing special is really happening, and it should really be renamed to "bulk conditioning" The idea is to let the beer age off of the yeast cake - but this is only something you should worry about if you have a batch that will need to age for months or even years. Beers can condition up to a few months in the primary vessel without issue, and most beers will be out of your primary within 2 weeks much less months. The other reason people typically rack their beer into a secondary vessel is for dry hopping, adding spices, or fruit. Even then it isn't truly necessary - you can just chuck those into your primary after the fermentation has died down - though the act of racking does tend to mix up whatever you are adding into the beer better and it also prevents anything that would sink to the bottom from being "swallowed" by the trub. When you're starting out you shouldn't even worry about racking to a secondary vessel, you will only introduce more chances for error / frustration / infection. If you wan to dry hop, just chuck them right in the fermenter after a week or two of fermentation. You'll work your way up to more complex recipes that may actually require a secondary conditioning vessel in due time.
|
|
#
?
Sep 5, 2012 18:56
|
|
|
Super Rad posted:The other reason people typically rack their beer into a secondary vessel is for dry hopping, adding spices, or fruit. Even then it isn't truly necessary - you can just chuck those into your primary after the fermentation has died down - though the act of racking does tend to mix up whatever you are adding into the beer better and it also prevents anything that would sink to the bottom from being "swallowed" by the trub. For a good example of this reasoning, doing this with cacao nibs in a week and a half and don't want them to just vanish into the trub. For another example, this time the reverse, I just flat don't do secondaries unless the recipe has a stated reason. e: IIRC, in "How To Brew", Palmer's explanation for why to ignore boilerplate "then rack to secondary for another 2 weeks" instructions is that they're often a vestigial organ from bygone days with shittier yeast. It's intended to prevent autolysis (yeast suicide/detonation) from making GBS threads up your brew during secondary fermentation/conditioning, but he suggests that autolysis is about as common as polio now thanks to Science! and good handling practices. Splizwarf fucked around with this message at 19:26 on Sep 5, 2012 |
|
#
?
Sep 5, 2012 18:59
|
|
|
Okay, well that all makes a lot of sense. I think since they're local I'm going to swing by the Annapolis store and pick up Their Deluxe 1 Stage kit and an ingredient packet. Should be fun!
|
|
#
?
Sep 5, 2012 19:04
|
|
|
I probably was one of the first ones to suffer from the new NB shipping policy. I ordered a starter kit and a few other things like hydrometers, spoons, etc. for a total of about $130 worth of stuff. My shipping came out to $19. I'm still waiting on the stuff that I ordered LAST Tuesday!  It should be here tomorrow.The Austin Homebrew Supply free shipping deal this week was a nice thing to have though!
|
|
#
?
Sep 5, 2012 19:13
|
|
|
To all the guys discussing pro brewing, would you be interested in an Ask/Tell thread about it? I've been considering making one and I'd see if I can lure some of the other brewgoons into it. I attended the Siebel Institute myself, which was well worth it for many reasons, but the largest benefit is probably the networking and the job-finding resources it provides. Even with that, however, it took me a year to find an actual brewing job, during which I skated by pretty marginally and did some volunteer work. Be prepared for a tough first few years if you plan on going into brewing, since it's a very competitive job field, with extremely physical (and occasionally dangerous) work for not a whole lot of pay. It's an incredibly satisfying career though.  And even with all that, I'm still homebrewing.  On which note, I have an oatmeal golden mild that I plan on brewing this weekend that I'm looking forward to.
|
|
#
?
Sep 5, 2012 19:17
|
|
|
Ubik posted:To all the guys discussing pro brewing, would you be interested in an Ask/Tell thread about it? I've been considering making one and I'd see if I can lure some of the other brewgoons into it. I'm very interested.
|
|
#
?
Sep 5, 2012 19:20
|
|
|
That would be cool to read for sure.
|
|
#
?
Sep 5, 2012 19:25
|
|
|
Beer4TheBeerGod posted:Okay, well that all makes a lot of sense. I think since they're local I'm going to swing by the Annapolis store and pick up Their Deluxe 1 Stage kit and an ingredient packet. Should be fun! If you want to make a daytrip out of it, I'm having a Brew Day the Sunday after next (the 16th) in Fredericksburg, VA. Bottling two and expect to be brewing 3 or 4.
|
|
#
?
Sep 5, 2012 19:30
|
|
|
Splizwarf posted:If you want to make a daytrip out of it, I'm having a Brew Day the Sunday after next (the 16th) in Fredericksburg, VA. Bottling two and expect to be brewing 3 or 4. I could see that being a lot of fun! That's about an hour from my house.
|
|
#
?
Sep 5, 2012 21:04
|
|
|
RiggenBlaque posted:To me, it always sounded like working at a brewery pretty much stripped everything out of brewing that I enjoy. Then again, I have a well paying job I really enjoy, so I guess that doesn't mean much. For probably a majority of homebrewers, yeah it would. For the right people, it's a blast no matter what. There are ups and downs like anything, but it's consistently enjoyable and just a great career. I don't think many people work in a brewery as a career that don't love it. There are better paying jobs for people who don't do it at least partially for the love of the work. I've done work here and there in my work off season, and my real (eh) job isn't really panning out in a realistic time frame, so this winter I'm going to be looking for brewery work again and it may turn out permanent this time.
|
|
#
?
Sep 5, 2012 21:26
|
|
|
Hypnolobster posted:For probably a majority of homebrewers, yeah it would. The guy that taught me homebrewing says craft brewery work is basically the best job ever and everything about it is awesome. Granted, he co-founded the company and gets to do poo poo like fly to Germany to inspect brewing equipment and hop yards, so his experience is probably better than mine would be if I went into it.
|
|
#
?
Sep 5, 2012 21:27
|
|
|
Beer4TheBeerGod posted:I could see that being a lot of fun! That's about an hour from my house. PMed, let's hang out / make beers / drink beers.
|
|
#
?
Sep 5, 2012 21:35
|
|
|
You can learn a lot about women from beer/beer from women. Never go for just a pretty face. Finch's Threadless IPA is a gorgeous can and a really awful IPA. It's just a big pile of unbridled barley sugar, almost starchy, way too thick, big fat piney hops and bitterness with no subtlety. Bleh.  I do this all the time and I never learn. Never ever go for just the pretty face. Hypnolobster fucked around with this message at 02:09 on Sep 6, 2012 |
|
#
?
Sep 6, 2012 02:07
|
|
|
What do you guys use to make your labels?
|
|
#
?
Sep 6, 2012 02:17
|
|
|
Sharpie. I like the chisel tip kind.
|
|
#
?
Sep 6, 2012 02:19
|
|
|
Hypnolobster posted:You can learn a lot about women from beer/beer from women. I tasted all 3 of the main Finch's cans during a tasting and my local store, and I have no desire to ever pay money for any of them. See this article: http://timeoutchicago.com/restaurants-bars/bars/7541649/finchs-beer-co-and-the-business-of-beer quote:It was that intense focus on market research that birthed Finch’s latest brand: an eponymous beer company hitting the market by mid-April. “The beer came out of my love for developing brands, for developing products,” he says. “I wanted a product that sold itself and I looked at other things, but beer was something that, when I did the research, showed it was a good time market-entry-wise.” So unlike Pipeworks (another local Chicago brewery) who are making marvelous beers without a lot of marketing (and who got into the game out of a love for brewing), Finch's was essentially started by some marketing executive looking to cash in.
|
|
#
?
Sep 6, 2012 02:20
|
|
|
Beer4TheBeerGod posted:What do you guys use to make your labels? 3"x5" these for my kegs:  And 1"x1" these for my bottles: 
|
|
#
?
Sep 6, 2012 02:22
|
|
|
My mind is a mental trap and I just remember what is in each bottle or keg. This keeps any visitors honest because are they getting the pale ale or just a decoy bottle of malt vinegar?!? Kidding aside I never have more that a couple to a few brews around at any given point so I haven't even had to do some sharpie cap style labeling.
|
|
#
?
Sep 6, 2012 02:33
|
|
|
As part of their general community awesomeness, New Belgium lets our club keep a barrel (innoculated with the various critters that go into their sours like La Folie) full of beer at the brewery. Today we pulled out a nice rich porter that had been sitting in a Leopold Bros whiskey barrel for a little over 6 months. Even flat and warm, it is really really good  Starts off very sour, then you get chocolate and coffee notes, with an oaky tannic finish. Really looking forward to getting this packaged so I can properly enjoy. Some folks put ~50 gallons of a traditional lambic recipe into the barrel to sour for a year, but I wasn't in on that part of the project.Our very own barrel. First the time club has used this one, the whiskey character is very faint but we got a lot of oak.  Rackin' off (uh huh huh huh :beavis:)  50 gallons fills a lot of carboys/kegs  New Belgium is massively expanding their barrel aging program. Here you see, like, a third of their insanely huge foeders.  130 hectoliters of sour beer, no big deal. 
Docjowles fucked around with this message at 03:06 on Sep 6, 2012 |
|
#
?
Sep 6, 2012 02:51
|
|
|
crazyfish posted:So unlike Pipeworks (another local Chicago brewery) who are making marvelous beers without a lot of marketing (and who got into the game out of a love for brewing), Finch's was essentially started by some marketing executive looking to cash in. Bingo. I have yet to have anything I really enjoy from them - the best they get so far is their golden ale, which is okay but nothing remarkable. This seems to be the consensus of everybody I know, too, especially about the Threadless IPA being terrible. On the subject of labels, I generally don't label my beers and just keep tabs on them by cap color (you can get lots of differently-colored caps from Midwest Supply and other places) and a letter sharpie'd on the cap indicating the style or name. Sometimes if I split a batch and experiment with the two different halves, I'll use the same letter for both but use different colored caps. If I'm bringing beer to a Chicago Beer Society event or something, though, I use an Avery template to print paper labels to stick on there. They don't look bad, but they don't last long if you put them in a tub of ice.
|
|
#
?
Sep 6, 2012 03:10
|
|
|
A fellow goon I know has a vinyl plotter. Those are going on my oktoberfest.
|
|
#
?
Sep 6, 2012 03:20
|
|
|
Hypnolobster posted:For probably a majority of homebrewers, yeah it would. I'm not trying to come across as a dick, but I'm actually really interested in knowing - to people who are looking for jobs in the brewing industry, what do you currently do? I can only imagine looking for a brewery related job if I absolutely despised what I do now, as it would entail an absolutely massive pay cut, and I don't even make what I consider a higher-end salary.
|
|
#
?
Sep 6, 2012 03:36
|
|
|
I'm making a left-overs beer which seems to fit an ESB but has a heavy German component. I already have most of the grains (all except for the two pounds of munton's crystal), the hops, and the yeast. Am I making a mistake here? I'm pretty sure the grains will work out, and probably the hops too. http://hopville.com/recipe/1646278
|
|
#
?
Sep 6, 2012 03:58
|
|
|
I don't know if 20+% crystal malt is standard in an ESB but it seems like an awful lot to me.
|
|
#
?
Sep 6, 2012 04:28
|
|
|
I thought crystal malt was meant to be used in moderation?
|
|
#
?
Sep 6, 2012 04:29
|
|
|
Yeah sorry to dogpile but 2lbs of crystal is a looooot in a 5 gallon batch unless you explicitly want it to finish super rich and sweet. Especially paired with already flavorful base malts like Munich and Vienna. If you must, mash that at like 147*. Interesting hop schedule but it should work ok, it's not like you're throwing Citra or Sorachi Ace or something totally out of left field in there.
|
|
#
?
Sep 6, 2012 04:52
|
|
|
Late to chiming in, but I'd love a pro brewer ask/tell. As to what I do and why I want to get into pro brewing...I'm one of those perpetual college students with no direction in life. I should be finishing a degree in business this year, but ever since I realized I didn't actually want to be an engineer my freshman year I've been slowly plodding through school working $10-12 an hour jobs for like, 7 years. When I picked up a brewing kit on an almost whim with a friend and made my first batch, I realized that brewing was basically all the parts of engineering that I actually like. It's been the first thing I've actually been able to see myself both doing and enjoying for a career.
|
|
#
?
Sep 6, 2012 07:16
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 29, 2024 23:35 |
|
|
Daedalus Esquire posted:working $10-12 an hour jobs Hope you don't mind taking a paycut to start work at a brewery I'd participate in an ask/tell thread, although nobody wants to work in packaging so I probably wouldn't have much to contribute.
|
|
#
?
Sep 6, 2012 09:22
|
|
