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Yeah table sugar is fine, you use so little that taste isn't really an issue.
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Jun 22, 2013 12:03
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| # ? May 30, 2024 00:26 |
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sc0tty posted:So have had my first homebrew fermenting away for three weeks and am up to bottling. I've just realised that what I thought was priming sugar that I bought turned out to be Beer Enhancer (Spray Dried Malt Extract Dextrose). Can I use this as a replacement for sugar for priming my bottles, or will I need to head out and buy something else? Is there anything suitable (that's not poo poo) that would be readily available from the supermarket I could use if needed? I'm a new brewer myself, but I would use what's specifically recommended as I wouldn't want to throw away the last 3 weeks of my time.
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Jun 22, 2013 15:45
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Unless you have a really good reason to not use table sugar for priming you're just wasting your time/money with anything else. Officially joined our local homebrew club last night and got in on the bulk grain buy. Maris Otter for .70$/lb? 
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Jun 22, 2013 17:19
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Bobsledboy posted:You can use this calculator http://www.homebrewing.com/calculators/?page=tools§ion=sugar to work out how much to prime your batch with. I normally just use table/baking sugar from the supermarket. Northern Brewer also has a good priming sugar calculator with a few more options for the sugar source and a lot of specific CO2 amounts for different styles. I always used the dextrose option when I ordered extract kits but now I just use regular sugar (sucrose). I spent quite a bit of time last week bottling various stuff. I now have 19 cases of beer, mead and cider sitting in my living room. The fruit trees at my orchard are looking pretty good with a few of them totally loaded with apples. I'm a little worried at just how much cider I might end up making later this year.
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Jun 22, 2013 18:45
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A friend of mine convinced me to try out home brewing, and there seem to be an awful lot of kits out there. Is the recommended kit in the OP still the way to go, or are there better choices?
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Jun 22, 2013 18:49
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That's a pretty great deal especially considering it comes with a recipe kit. I got a version of that kit when I first started and still use most f the parts today (and the DVD is funny/good info). Only thing I'd recommend is picking up a hydrometer pretty quickly, and of course more Starsan and caps with your next order.
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Jun 22, 2013 19:00
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Made my second batch. First time was with a kit I got for around 30bux. It ended up flat  This other one is overhoppy, but actually with a head! It was fun to do. http://imgur.com/gallery/24nHr has pictures and stuff about it. Really goddamn happy about it though, overall less cost than buying the beer regularly, and it is satisfying as hell to drink something I brewed. Will definitely buy more grains next week and do some silly poo poo.
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Jun 22, 2013 22:42
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Just finished bottling my second batch. I used the White House Honey Ale recipe and it tastes delicious warm and flat so I can't wait until it's ready to drink 
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Jun 22, 2013 23:04
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Cointelprofessional posted:Depending on the freshness, those dregs are great. I've got a clone that's been dregs only for the past year and it tastes wonderful. It's tart and roasty and I can't wait to bottle it. I only wish that Dark Dawn wasn't a seasonal release because everyone here can't seem to get enough of it. Their dregs are wonderful. I grew up in Traverse City, so whenever I am around the area I usually grab a bottle of that or Bam. It helps to be from the area in terms of freshness.
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Jun 23, 2013 00:59
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Luisfe posted:Made my second batch. First time was with a kit I got for around 30bux. It ended up flat Next time you might want to have your grains cracked/milled. Congrats on your success though!
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Jun 23, 2013 01:30
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fullroundaction posted:Next time you might want to have your grains cracked/milled. Congrats on your success though! That would help with the sugar extraction?
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Jun 23, 2013 01:39
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Luisfe posted:That would help with the sugar extraction? You mashed w unmilled barley?  Did you get a gravity reading?
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Jun 23, 2013 01:44
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LeeMajors posted:You mashed w unmilled barley? Yup, nope. First time without kit materials, so obviously still learning! Edit: I can easily get a table mounted mill for the next time haha. Luisfe fucked around with this message at 01:55 on Jun 23, 2013 |
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Jun 23, 2013 01:52
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Depending on where you order from most shops will mill it for you if you don't want I buy a mill. But yes it's essential for getting all those yummy sugars. Also pick up some US-05 or some other cheap neutral yeast. You'll be much happier with the results over bread yeast and you can reuse the cake if you're worried about the cash.
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Jun 23, 2013 02:27
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Also, a no-rinse brewery specific sanitizer like Star-San will be much better than bleach for disinfection. I certainly sanitized my fair share of batches with Clorox when starting off but if you don't rinse well enough the yeast will produce chlorophenols and give you a band-aid flavor. Chlorinated water or water with chloramine can do the same thing.
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Jun 23, 2013 02:41
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Luisfe posted:Made my second batch. First time was with a kit I got for around 30bux. It ended up flat Holy poo poo! You might want to start here or possibly here.
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Jun 23, 2013 02:50
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Galler posted:Holy poo poo! You might want to start here or possibly here. Can't say this enough, these two books helped me with stuff that I didn't even think of. 
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Jun 23, 2013 03:12
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Luisfe posted:Made my second batch. First time was with a kit I got for around 30bux. It ended up flat Bruinator posted:disinfection. I certainly sanitized.. Just to be clear for those learning, you aren't "disinfecting" you are sanitizing. Luisfe made the same mistake as well, I'm not ragging on ya. I know to some it may seem spergy, but there is some pretty clear differences. internet posted:disinfectants are products that destroy all organisms in 10 minutes during the AOAC Use Dilution Test, a test regulated by the EPA to determine the efficiency of disinfectants. internet posted:sanitizers are agents that destroy 99.999 percent of bacteria in 30 seconds during the Official Detergent Sanitizer Test Then there is sterilization which is like "scorched earth."
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Jun 23, 2013 03:54
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You mean you guys don't put your bottles in an autoclave before dunking them in Starsan???? I respect Luisfe for just jumping in and seeing what happens. I often spend too much time spergin and not enough time doing. Hats off to you for taking the plunge.
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Jun 23, 2013 04:03
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I just bottled a stout I made based on a recipe by Jo3sh. When brewing, I actually bothered to get out my hydrometer and take an OG reading. It was spot on his recipe, 1.052. Left it at 62-64F for a week then it sat at room temp for two weeks. Bottled it today and took an FG reading and it tells me 1.032 which seems super high from his FG of 1.014. Now, I did take the reading after adding the priming sugar which I know raises it a bit, and my beer temp was about 32F since I cold crashed it. But I don't think that would account for the entire difference? Did I just make a bunch of bottle bombs?  Edit: Maybe I should have stirred in the priming sugar better after transferring the beer, took the reading from the very last drops from the bucket that wouldn't fill an entire bottle which could have effected the reading. That or I've got a 3% ABV stout. Edit 2: Ok I used this calculator for my priming sugar: http://www.northernbrewer.com/priming-sugar-calculator/. It asks for "current temperature of the beer". This apparently gives me a significantly different reading than what the internet tells me I should have used, which was the max fermentation temp. So I guess I just made some flat beer instead of bottle bombs.  I'm going to stop googling now and enjoy a homebrew. Sirotan fucked around with this message at 21:47 on Jun 23, 2013 |
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Jun 23, 2013 21:12
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What are the preferred methods for clearing a beer that won't affect tastes,etc? If let my honey ale sit for 2&2 in primary and secondary,and people generally rave about it except for the clarity (jerks) If its a simple addition its not a problem for me at all
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Jun 23, 2013 21:46
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I brewed my IPA last night. Everything seems like it went OK except I ended up with more beer than I was expecting. Like three quarts more. I am not complaining, I just hope my fermenter lid stays on. I was trying to net 5.25 gallons and ended up with almost six. 14# Maris Otter 2 oz. roasted barley 2 oz. caramel malt 4.74 gal strike water calculated, increased to 5.75 because I had to add boiling water to hit target temp. 3.77 gal sparge water (4.77 calculated) 0.75 oz. Amarillo @ 60 0.75 oz. Simcoe @ 45 0.75 oz. Citra @ flame out (edit) US-05 Dry hop with additional 2 oz. Citra Predicted gravity was 1.074, actual was 1.070, probably because of all the extra water. I modified my outdoor propane burner to defeat the 20 minute timer. That made things more convenient. It was hot as balls in my garage. Keep track of your clean bottles. I just cleaned about 75 bottles because I couldn't remember which had been cleaned and which hadn't. (I store my bottles clean and sanitize just before use). PBCrunch fucked around with this message at 22:29 on Jun 23, 2013 |
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Jun 23, 2013 22:18
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Roundboy posted:What are the preferred methods for clearing a beer that won't affect tastes,etc? Gelatin works well for me.
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Jun 23, 2013 23:05
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Roundboy posted:What are the preferred methods for clearing a beer that won't affect tastes,etc? I cold crash most of my beers in a fridge at 34F for 24h to whenever I get off my lazy rear end and keg (could be a week+).
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Jun 23, 2013 23:40
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Galler posted:Holy poo poo! You might want to start here or possibly here. Will give it a read! Thanks for the links. Again, pretty much just starting, and even if I am loving up, it is still fun to do!  Honestly, really rather satisfied by it even if I did gently caress up and did not crush/mill the grains hahaha.
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Jun 24, 2013 04:47
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Wait, how long ago did you brew that?
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Jun 24, 2013 05:22
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Midorka posted:Wait, how long ago did you brew that? Boiled the thing a month ago, it's from the same batch as the one from the imgur gallery link. 2 weeks in the jug, 2 weeks inside the bottles.
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Jun 24, 2013 05:54
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I brewed a sour beer back in October, and have been gradually adding sour dregs (Tilquin, Jolly Pumpkin, Loverbeer, etc.) ever since, and it's only recently started to get properly sour. But in all that time, it's never developed more than a tiny, filmy pellicle. Until I glanced at it just now, and noticed the film had turned into a thick snowdrift covering the beer. This can only have happened in the last week or two, and hopefully it's a sign that all the bugs have really started partying in there.
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Jun 24, 2013 06:17
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Pelliciles tend to form as an oxygen barrier. I never had one on a sour until this current batch, and I realized its cause my airlock kept drying up.
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Jun 24, 2013 13:20
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My sour didn't have a pellicle until I opened it up to pull a sample. Now it has a crusty bubbly film on top and it's beautiful.
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Jun 24, 2013 13:57
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Roundboy posted:What are the preferred methods for clearing a beer that won't affect tastes,etc? Oh same boat here. I bottled my honey ale yesterday and it wasn't very clear. Tasted pretty good flat but its definately cloudy. Oh well, haters gonna hate; I'll enjoy my crisp cool, 5.6%, cloudy as gently caress honey ale all on my own.
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Jun 24, 2013 14:04
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Cold crash in the 30's + gelatin finings? http://www.northernbrewer.com/shop/gelatin-finings.html
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Jun 24, 2013 14:22
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Yeah I added the finings to my cart @ NB. just holding off after i try my chai experiment today or tomorrow to see if i need other ingredients as well. All this bottling + conditioning is making me really consider a keg setup.
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Jun 24, 2013 15:44
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Made 10 gallons of no boil Berliner Weiss yesterday! If this goes like last time, it'll be 3 months until it's quite sour. I still had half a gallon of woodruff syrup from last time that was pretty lackluster: too thick (1:1 syrup) and I steeped dried woodruff in it for a couple days, which didn't work very well at all. It was barely green and didn't have much flavor. I took this old stuff, doubled the volume with water, and boiled it for 10 minutes with 2 ounces of dried woodruff. It's very herbaceous and a dark tea color. I think I'm on the right track. The bright green stuff you can import from Germany for 70 drat dollars isn't even woodruff from what I hear, so I'm glad they started selling dried woodruff at brewstores.
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Jun 24, 2013 15:52
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Roundboy posted:Yeah I added the finings to my cart @ NB. just holding off after i try my chai experiment today or tomorrow to see if i need other ingredients as well. Its pretty tough indeed, especially during a solo bottling adventure. I actually work up a mild sweat. Hopefully by next batch I'll have enough bombers to rid all but a handful of those 12oz bottles.
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Jun 24, 2013 15:56
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When I spend money on equipment, I try to scratch whatever itch has been bothering me the most. I've decided that gravity is currently the most irritating part of my setup. What's the best of the best for fluid transfer pumps suitable for homebrewing, and then what's the best of the reasonably-priced ones? What characteristics should I value beyond hi-temp and foodsafe? Is there anything worth buying in a local big-box store like Home Depot? It would be convenient for today's work.
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Jun 24, 2013 16:15
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Marshmallow Blue posted:Its pretty tough indeed, especially during a solo bottling adventure. I actually work up a mild sweat. I'm just curious, what is it about bottling that is so much work for you? I did 1 or 2 batches a day over the course of a few days and it wasn't bad at all. The worst part was probably delabeling a few cases of bottles. The bottle tree with sanitizer injector is the most important thing to get for easy bottling. I don't have direct experience kegging but I remember someone here explaining how it wasn't actually any easier if you considered more than just the part where you rack the finished beer into a clean keg. I considered kegging for a while but I really like to have variety and bottles scale out much easier than kegs. Plus kegging won't be getting any cheaper in the future either as the supply of used kegs dries up.
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Jun 24, 2013 16:38
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Equipment would make things quicker. But currently: Clean all my potential bottles ^^^ this is time consuming becuase i can only do/fit so many at a time. Then on bottling day: Sanitize all the bottles and drain (again only so many at a time) Fill a bottle, stick the bottle wand somewhere sanitary --fish out a cap (should caps be dipped in starsan??) --place in the capper -- cap the bottle, set aside Grab a new bottle and repeat. Most of my stuff is 16oz ex cap, but i do have the rest in 12oz cap bottles and 22oz cap bottles, depending on what i intend to fill it just ends up very time consuming and i cant get a rhythm down
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Jun 24, 2013 16:52
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Brew day yesterday, it was fine. Did the base of the raspberry wheat (sooo easy) but I had some silly...sanitation mistakes because I got too drunk  Not really expecting any issues though hehe.Now to just wait for my stir plate and keg to arrive  So exciting.
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Jun 24, 2013 16:59
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| # ? May 30, 2024 00:26 |
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A great trick I've found for bottling is to use the sanitizing feature on your dishwasher. De-label and oxyclean your bottles, rinse them out, and put them in the dishwasher upside down so they don't fill up with water. Run it with no detergent and use the sanitize or steam setting. Fill them over the open dishwasher door to make cleanup even easier.
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Jun 24, 2013 17:01
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