Beer
Posted: Tue Mar 27, 2018 12:12 pm
So I started brewing a couple of months ago. My daughters had bought me one of those 1 gallon beer kits for xMas but I didnt want to brew it until I had a temp controlled ferment place because of the swings in temps in our house.
I bought a $200 freezer from HomeDepot, an aquarium heater and a controller made by a company called Inkbird that has cool/heat outlets on it. You set the temp you want and it turns on and off whichever is needed to get towards the target temp.
Right off the bat I screwed the pooch drilling the hole for the wires in the side of the freezer and the woosh told me I just spent another $200. Once getting the new freezer I was more careful drilling the other shell then clearing by hand the hole through the insulation before drilling through. Success...
Armed with a temp controlled environment I set off on my 1 gallon brew, brewing was straightforward but lots of cleaning/sanitizing. Got the gallon of wort into the ferment bottle and put in the freezer set at 65F
and wait... and wait...
So a week or so later siphoned the no beer into bottles and added priming sugar and promptly began breaking bottles capping them. Ended up with a half gallon growler and 3 bottles to return to the fermentor to let the added sugar naturally carbonate.
And wait...
After a week had to try it, flat beer, damn. Wait another week and its great. Problem is I have just 2 bottles of beer and the 64oz growler. The growler is one of those spring lock glass bottles and apparently it did not seal as well as the capped bottles so it was flat too. Upside is that even flat was some of the bet been I have ever had (of course there's the I made it bias involved here).
It set me off though and since I have done several more 5 gallon brews and purchased ball lock corny kegs for avoiding the bottling end of things. The brews so far have been
Dead Ringer (Northern Brewers clone of Bells Two Hearted IPA) my favorite so far
Smithwicks Red Ale (also from Northern) Very good easy to drink beer
Caribou Slobber (Notherns clone of Moose Drool, a dark beer along the lines of Newcastle but more all around) Like this one a whole lot
The Nutty Irishman (From AiH, dark Milk Stout with Irish Cream and Hazelnut flavorings) This one is still sitting getting some age on it
Two Hearted (AiHs version of the same name) Just moved this one to the secondary.
Blue Moon (AiH clone of the same name) Next up for brewing, maybe today or tomorrow.
Will take some pictures and fill in some more on all of this as its been an adventure, all in all my beer budget remains about the same but my beer is much better quality. Lots of cleaning involved, wife is happy because the kitchen gets a good going over just before brewday and she always gets a kick at how deep I go into things. Going to be looking soon to brew something things for her as she doesnt drink beer, meed and cider are more her speed.
I bought a $200 freezer from HomeDepot, an aquarium heater and a controller made by a company called Inkbird that has cool/heat outlets on it. You set the temp you want and it turns on and off whichever is needed to get towards the target temp.
Right off the bat I screwed the pooch drilling the hole for the wires in the side of the freezer and the woosh told me I just spent another $200. Once getting the new freezer I was more careful drilling the other shell then clearing by hand the hole through the insulation before drilling through. Success...
Armed with a temp controlled environment I set off on my 1 gallon brew, brewing was straightforward but lots of cleaning/sanitizing. Got the gallon of wort into the ferment bottle and put in the freezer set at 65F
and wait... and wait...
So a week or so later siphoned the no beer into bottles and added priming sugar and promptly began breaking bottles capping them. Ended up with a half gallon growler and 3 bottles to return to the fermentor to let the added sugar naturally carbonate.
And wait...
After a week had to try it, flat beer, damn. Wait another week and its great. Problem is I have just 2 bottles of beer and the 64oz growler. The growler is one of those spring lock glass bottles and apparently it did not seal as well as the capped bottles so it was flat too. Upside is that even flat was some of the bet been I have ever had (of course there's the I made it bias involved here).
It set me off though and since I have done several more 5 gallon brews and purchased ball lock corny kegs for avoiding the bottling end of things. The brews so far have been
Dead Ringer (Northern Brewers clone of Bells Two Hearted IPA) my favorite so far
Smithwicks Red Ale (also from Northern) Very good easy to drink beer
Caribou Slobber (Notherns clone of Moose Drool, a dark beer along the lines of Newcastle but more all around) Like this one a whole lot
The Nutty Irishman (From AiH, dark Milk Stout with Irish Cream and Hazelnut flavorings) This one is still sitting getting some age on it
Two Hearted (AiHs version of the same name) Just moved this one to the secondary.
Blue Moon (AiH clone of the same name) Next up for brewing, maybe today or tomorrow.
Will take some pictures and fill in some more on all of this as its been an adventure, all in all my beer budget remains about the same but my beer is much better quality. Lots of cleaning involved, wife is happy because the kitchen gets a good going over just before brewday and she always gets a kick at how deep I go into things. Going to be looking soon to brew something things for her as she doesnt drink beer, meed and cider are more her speed.