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| Home-Brew? (Read 405 times) |
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posted: 1/11/2007 at 7:46 PM |
There's an excellent wine/brew supply shop in Madison WI (where my parents live) and I got started using a couple different kits they sell (they're a little better than some of the beginners kits... they basically provide you the recipe and then sell you the different fresh components). I've only done two batches... a pale ale in the summer was first (turned out pretty good for my first) and I finished a nice "cream stout" in November.. I need to get started on another batch, though.. my friends drank up almost all of it! I think I'll try something a little more complicated (lager?) next and try selecting my own grains (but from a recipe).
Started this conversation with Trent in another thread. Are there any other home-brewers out there? How about wine-makers? I don't know why, but home-brewing just seems to me like it fits with the long-distance runner personality. Maybe it's that love of carbohydrate in all its forms. Am I wrong?
Trent, what kind of brewing do you do? Have any good recipes (preferably for a beginner with a primary plastic pale and secondary glass carboy set-up)? |
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posted: 1/11/2007 at 9:07 PM |
I'm interested, too. It would be about the coolest hobby ever! As a full-blooded, displaced Cheesehead I could totally get into making my own suds. A few years back I bought my brother that cheesy beer making kit that Bed Bath & Beyond carries. I'd love to buy some real beer making gear myself, though.
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Kirsten
• Ladies Locker Room •
.: 2008 Goals :.
• Run 1500 miles
• October 5 - 1st marathon - Milwaukee Lakefront - in my home state of WI
• PRs: 5k ~ 15k ~ 25k
• 1st trail race |
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| view log Funky Monkey |
posted: 1/11/2007 at 9:31 PM
modified: 1/11/2007 at 9:31 PM |
I have so much to say. I know that surprises you. Let me get to this in a bit...
For now, suffice it to say, stay away from them silly kits, it is MUCH more fun and very easy to do it with real equipment and whole grain... |
| It's all fun and games until the flying monkeys attack. |
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| view log Runs With Snowplows |
posted: 1/11/2007 at 10:12 PM |
| Quote from Trent on 1/11/2007 at 9:31 PM: I have so much to say. I know that surprises you. Let me get to this in a bit...
For now, suffice it to say, stay away from them silly kits, it is MUCH more fun and very easy to do it with real equipment and whole grain...
That's definitely what I would like to try. I'm guessing our basement (old, damp, cool) would be a great place to age beer or wine, too.
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Kirsten
• Ladies Locker Room •
.: 2008 Goals :.
• Run 1500 miles
• October 5 - 1st marathon - Milwaukee Lakefront - in my home state of WI
• PRs: 5k ~ 15k ~ 25k
• 1st trail race |
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downshiftbarbie view log |
posted: 1/11/2007 at 11:30 PM |
I make wine, the boyfriend makes beer. Wine making is really easy to do, the start up costs are relatively low (check Craigslist for used stuff) and you can buy a $60 kit that makes about 30 (yes, 30) bottles of wine.
My kind of hobby! |
| Some runners drag a tire. I drag a Great Pyrenees. |
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posted: 1/11/2007 at 11:36 PM |
| Quote from downshiftbarbie on 1/11/2007 at 11:30 PM: I make wine
I don't know anything about wine making... how long does it take from start to finish? Does it come out pretty tasty? I've only ever had one taste of home-made wine and it wasn't very good, which left me with the impression that it's more tricky to get it to taste good (Good = higher quality wine, not Carlo Rossi), compared to home-brewed beer (which in my experience is pretty easy to get a good taste without much experience). True? |
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| view log Funky Monkey |
posted: 1/12/2007 at 12:34 AM
modified: 1/12/2007 at 6:06 PM |
In my junior year of college, I spent the year in Paris. Wine was such a fundamental part of the culture there. I then came back to the states and realized that wine was fairly inaccessible and too expensive for a college student. I loved to cook, and one day it occurred to me that I could make the stuff myself. So on a visit home, I visited a local wine making supply shop (great place, in Louisville, KY) and loaded up on stuff. I spent $200 and got 4 dozen 22 ounce brewing bottles, a capper, a corker, a 5 gallon pot, caps and corks, a bunch of malt and grape extracts, thermometer, hygrometer and a few other things. And a book. No kit. But all the stuff I needed.
In the years since, I have migrated to making only whole grain brews and occasional wines when I have access to fresh unadultered juices, usually apple. I now have a grain grinder, four carboys and a pair of nested buckets to assist with sparging, but I do not have any fancy equipment. When I brew, it is just gentle heat on the lightly ground grain mixed in water for a while, then draining the water off with a round of sparging, then a quick boil with hops. Yeast in the morning. Beer later. I have used all sorts of different places, from a cabinet in the living room to a cool closet off the garage. Most of the time, the beer did not care and came out great.
First lesson I learned: Don't use grape extract / concentrated grape juice if you want something that you are willing to drink.
Second lesson I learned: While malt extract or powdered malts may make passable beer, this is your chance to shine and to do something interesting. Use whole grains. Period.
Third lesson I learned: Beer allows for far more creativity, customization, interest, and turns around a whole lot faster than wine, which is just yeast + juice. If you have access to fresh fruit, fresh fruit juice or a vineyard, make wine. Otherwise, beer is a whole lot more fun. (I make sparkling apple cider and several fruit beers every year from fresh juices and fruits, but beer is my mainstay.)
Fourth lesson I learned: DO NOT follow recipes and temperature adjustments like this is some scientific experiment. Brewing is meant to be fun and creative. If you follow the directions closely, you will go insane, loose the forest for the trees, and maybe achieve about 1% higher extraction than if you don't.
Fifth lesson I learned: Use live yeast and real hops. It is just a few bucks more but is far more natural and far better tasting. It allows the fermentation to start more quickly, and gives you far more options in terms of flavoring.
Sixth lesson I learned: Drink your last batch while you make your next. Invite friends over. They can help you grind the grain, stir the pot, sparge the wort and drink your old beer. They will usually leave as you are starting to hop the wort.
Seventh lesson I learned: Make lots of different beers, simultaneously if possible. That way you will have too much to drink and will be forced to let it age. And to invite folks over to make more.
Eighth lesson I learned: Have fun, experiment, add fruit or fruit juices, deviate from recipes and enjoy. The worst thing that will happen is that you will get something undrinkable and need to dump it. No problem, because then you get to make more.
Ninth lesson I learned: Hypersterilization is simply overrated. Beer, alcohol and acid are all antispetic. Ditto wine. Keep things clean, but don't freak out.
Tenth lesson I learned: Never run a marathon or you may risk getting addicted and running many many more. (hey, this is a running site) |
| It's all fun and games until the flying monkeys attack. |
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posted: 1/12/2007 at 9:31 PM |
| Quote from Trent on 1/12/2007 at 12:34 AM: Make lots of different beers, simultaneously if possible.
You know, you could bring a sample in the morning, if you wanted ... |
E-mail: JakeKnight2002@aol.com
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| view log Funky Monkey |
posted: 1/12/2007 at 9:32 PM |
| Quote from JakeKnight on 1/12/2007 at 9:31 PM: You know, you could bring a sample in the morning, if you wanted ...
You coming by for beer and pancakes after the run? |
| It's all fun and games until the flying monkeys attack. |
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posted: 1/13/2007 at 3:50 AM |
I've been reading a lot about this and have been wanting to do it for more than a year. The problem is I live in Arizona in an 800 sq ft studio apartment with a 100-lb dog. It doesn't get cold here, and the average temperature of my house is normally about 74-78 degrees, even in the winter, which is too warm for fermentation. I've settled on buying one of those gigantic football tailgating coolers and using that as a "tub" for my fermenter, which I'll keep in the bathroom away from the doggie.
I've got a 5 gallon stockpot already... |
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posted: 1/13/2007 at 11:29 PM |
I'm pretty sure that certain types of beer agree with warmer fermentation temps better than others... I'm just a beginner (see if Trent or a local home-brew shop can give you a suggestion) but I think ales generally do well? (maybe just since they have a pretty short fermentation time). My first batch was a pale ale and the recipe said anywhere between 60-75˚F is fine (and only for 7-10 days). You could always turn your AC on a little cooler for that time?
Actually, the easiest thing is probably to get all the gear/ingredients together and then take it all to a friend whose house is cooler (in a basement or something?). You can pay your friend rent for the space in bottles of home-brew.   |
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| view log Runs With Snowplows |
posted: 1/13/2007 at 11:44 PM |
So can anyone recommend some books or websites on the subject and how to get started with a very basic set-up? I think I'd want to try ales, first, as that's my favorite for drinking.
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Kirsten
• Ladies Locker Room •
.: 2008 Goals :.
• Run 1500 miles
• October 5 - 1st marathon - Milwaukee Lakefront - in my home state of WI
• PRs: 5k ~ 15k ~ 25k
• 1st trail race |
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| view log Funky Monkey |
posted: 1/14/2007 at 2:58 AM
modified: 1/14/2007 at 2:59 AM |
This is the book you want. Click. There is no other. This is considered the Bible. Period.
But again, this like other books will emphasize recipes and temperature control. Don't let it bog you down.
Ales do better at warm temperatures, lagers at cool. Ales ferment with the yeast on the bottom, lagers with it on the top. But it really does not matter too much, you do not need to have aggressive temperature control in most cases. I brew all mine in the room off the garage, which is perpetually in the high 60s. Regardless of whether I am brewing lager, ale or wine. |
| It's all fun and games until the flying monkeys attack. |
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| view log Runs With Snowplows |
posted: 1/14/2007 at 3:08 AM |
Thanks for that link, Trent. My birthday is in a month and I think I will ask for that. Any books you recommend for things like wine or hard cider? Speaking of cider, can one buy pasturized cider and make hard cider? We can get that cloudy cider almost year-round in these parts, but I wonder if pasturization would affect the ability to ferment it properly.
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Kirsten
• Ladies Locker Room •
.: 2008 Goals :.
• Run 1500 miles
• October 5 - 1st marathon - Milwaukee Lakefront - in my home state of WI
• PRs: 5k ~ 15k ~ 25k
• 1st trail race |
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| view log Funky Monkey |
posted: 1/14/2007 at 3:26 AM |
Here is your cider recipe:
Apple cider
Champagne yeast
mix.
wait.
bottle.
Any cider will do, pasteurized or not. I make this every year or two using cider I get from a farm in Indiana. |
| It's all fun and games until the flying monkeys attack. |
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