4 Beers a Brewin

Well yesterday I did A LOT of brewing/beer work.
Lets run through the day:

7:15 wake up

8:00 practice guitar

9:30 clean get things ready

10:00 Start brewing the Irish Red (midwest extract kit)
Throughout the grain steeping and boil time I delabled half of my remaining bottles.
Not to much work with the new delabling/sanitizer I picked up on Saturday.

1:00 Close the lid and put the air lock on the primary with the Irish Red looking good (used irish moss for the first time in this one)

1:05 Start the Hop Head Double IPA (another midwest extract)
This time I used a Whirlfloc tab, I bought both just because I wanted to try them both and compare the results somewhat, time will tell.

I had a friend helping on this one (if I were a betting man, I'd bet he'll be ordering the same kit as me real soon, as long as his wife is cool with it).
So through the steeping/boil on this one we finished all the rest of my bottles.

I've got a really good feeling about this beer, I did my first full boil with it with 0 issues. It looks and smells great.

I ended up cleaned up and finished around 430ish.

Long day a brewing, it really kicked my butt.
I had to drink a few cups of coffee to make it properly through the night (and band practice which was at 730).

All in all a damn good brew day.
I think this hobby is gonna be one that sticks, so long as my beers turn out good.:rockin:

Don't feel too bad. I'm planning on doing 3 back-to-back batches this Saturday.

Always good to have a beer buddy though, to help with the little things. A beer babe is better, but more expensive.

llazy_llama said:

Don't feel too bad. I'm planning on doing 3 back-to-back batches this Saturday.

Always good to have a beer buddy though, to help with the little things. A beer babe is better, but more expensive.

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I think I could do 3 back to back.
As long as I wasn't bottle scraping in between like I was on Sunday.

I've got around 15-20 bombers and over 100 12 ozers done so far.
Sucky part is thats not even close to enough for the batches I've got going.
So I either need to go out and buy some, or DRINK DRINK DRINK to get more bottles

What was your delabeling process?

dmbnpj said:

What was your delabeling process?

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Filled one side of the sink with HOT water and the delabeling/sanitizer stuff.
Let it soak for a bit.
Then get to scraping/pulling/scrubbing. (i just used this short square metal utensil i found in a drawer)
Lots of labels just fell off, some took a little more elbow grease to get off.

Dark Horse labels are impossible. Well not the labels but the glue. Its just turns into a sticky mess and I think without the proper solvent is impossible to get clean.

Hmm, havent heard of delabeler solution. Find that at the brew store?

I was thinking of using goof-off.

dmbnpj said:

Hmm, havent heard of delabeler solution. Find that at the brew store?

I was thinking of using goof-off.

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Yeah I found it at a Brew Store somewhat near where I live.

I heard the scent free oxiclean is just as good though.
I plan on picking some up next trip to the store to give it a try.

Is the stuff you are using one-step cleaner?

I put two scoops of oxyclean in a rubbermaid tub along with 48 bottles, filled with water and let set for 3 days. Came back, opened the lid to find all these nice Samual Adams labesl floating ontop.... BLAAAM!! oxyclean is amazing.

dmbnpj said:

Is the stuff you are using one-step cleaner?

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Nope, I got it from these guys: Homebrew Shop | Beer And Wine Making Supplies, St. Charles Illinois

I did buy some one step but I also bought the label remover stuff too.
Doesn't look like they have it on their site, I'll check it out when I get home.

Oxyclean free works like a champ. What Runyank didn't mention though, is that Sam Adams labels are famously easy to remove. If I've got some Sammy bottles to delabel, I just use hot water, or maybe a little one step that I have left over.

For everything else, I use Oxyclean Free.

I thought the two easiest to remove have been Victory and DFH bottles.
Both are easier than Sam Adams IMO.

I haven't tried Victory or DFH, neither is available in my area. With Sam Adams, I've had them fall right off after taking them out of the fridge, just from the condensation on the outside of the bottle. My personal theory is that Jim Koch is just looking out for his homebrew homies, and using cheap glue.