SilverZero
Well-Known Member
Warning! Epic-length post ahead!
I just wanted to share my experience from my first batch for anybody who wonders if they can really brew beer in their garage (or kitchen). I'll start by saying I was at an advantage having a really nice selection of equipment borrowed from homebrewing friends, but I did the learning and the brewing myself. You can do it, too!
I settled on a simple SNPA clone for my first batch, but I did it all grain because I'm a scientist at heart and because I had the gear for it. It was not hard at all. I hit my mash temps right on, double-batch sparged right where I wanted it, and ended up with fantastic efficiency right out of the gate. I did a yeast starter on a stir plate. I hit my OG, got a full boil with no boil-over, got my hops in at all the right times, and got a good 5.5 gallons in the primary with no trouble. The yeast did their job quite well.
I had one hiccup with the first day or so fermenting above 70°F, but I got it in a swamp cooler with a fan and ice blocks, and it was mid-60s for the next two weeks. The yeast ended up blowing off even inside the 8-gallon carboy (use a blow-off tube!) but it was in the swamp cooler bin so no harm done. After two weeks, I racked to a secondary 5-gallon carboy with an airlock because I needed the big one for another batch (otherwise I would have stayed in primary the whole time). At this point I tasted and found it smelled fruity as all get-out, but I could tell there was beer in there when I actually got it on my tongue. The FG was right around where I figured it would be, but I wanted it cleaned up so I gave it another week in the secondary.
Two days ago, I racked into a bottling bucket while my 50 bottles were sanitizing in the dishwasher. Tested my FG and found it right on, and the taste was, well, like really good (but flat) beer. Woo!
I got the bottling bucket on my counter right next to the dishwasher, and measured the volume. 5.1 gallons. Yeah, I was overflowing when I put my auto-siphon into the carboy too quickly, it was that full. I did the calculations for my priming sugar (sucrose, not corn sugar), boiled it, cooled it, and got it in the beer. Stirred it up well but gently and let it diffuse for about half an hour while I got my caps in a little bit of sanitizer.
For bottling, I tried something that ended up working really well. I cut a short (3" or so) length of 3/8" tubing, slipped it over the spigot of my bottling bucket, and put my bottling wand (spring loaded!) right on it so it was basically attached to the bucket and hanging over the end of the counter. I set my bench capper right above the dishwasher (my dad had one in his shop from years ago) and got to work. What I did was open the dishwasher and fill 8 bottles at a time, because that's how many fit on the counter between the bucket and the capper. When they were full, I closed up the dishwasher and capped those 8 bottles, setting them aside. I'd then go for another round. With the bottling wand on the bucket, I could do the filling one-handed, and get the next bottle ready to go while it was filling. With the spring-loaded wand, I could just release the tension of pushing the bottle up against it right when the beer hit the mouth of the bottle and it would stop immediately, I lost maybe a milliliter from 4 or 5 bottles, the rest were spot on.
And now I've got 45 bottles and 4 bombers conditioning. The last hurdle is seeing if they blow up or undercarb, but I'm optimistic at this point.
I know this sounds like bragging, and it kinda is, but I also wanted it to be a record of how somebody with just "head knowledge" of brewing can do the whole thing from beginning to end and really have great results. I owe a TON to this community for answering all my questions, usually before I even asked. If you're wondering if you can do it, I just want to say that you CAN!
So do it!
I just wanted to share my experience from my first batch for anybody who wonders if they can really brew beer in their garage (or kitchen). I'll start by saying I was at an advantage having a really nice selection of equipment borrowed from homebrewing friends, but I did the learning and the brewing myself. You can do it, too!
I settled on a simple SNPA clone for my first batch, but I did it all grain because I'm a scientist at heart and because I had the gear for it. It was not hard at all. I hit my mash temps right on, double-batch sparged right where I wanted it, and ended up with fantastic efficiency right out of the gate. I did a yeast starter on a stir plate. I hit my OG, got a full boil with no boil-over, got my hops in at all the right times, and got a good 5.5 gallons in the primary with no trouble. The yeast did their job quite well.
I had one hiccup with the first day or so fermenting above 70°F, but I got it in a swamp cooler with a fan and ice blocks, and it was mid-60s for the next two weeks. The yeast ended up blowing off even inside the 8-gallon carboy (use a blow-off tube!) but it was in the swamp cooler bin so no harm done. After two weeks, I racked to a secondary 5-gallon carboy with an airlock because I needed the big one for another batch (otherwise I would have stayed in primary the whole time). At this point I tasted and found it smelled fruity as all get-out, but I could tell there was beer in there when I actually got it on my tongue. The FG was right around where I figured it would be, but I wanted it cleaned up so I gave it another week in the secondary.
Two days ago, I racked into a bottling bucket while my 50 bottles were sanitizing in the dishwasher. Tested my FG and found it right on, and the taste was, well, like really good (but flat) beer. Woo!
I got the bottling bucket on my counter right next to the dishwasher, and measured the volume. 5.1 gallons. Yeah, I was overflowing when I put my auto-siphon into the carboy too quickly, it was that full. I did the calculations for my priming sugar (sucrose, not corn sugar), boiled it, cooled it, and got it in the beer. Stirred it up well but gently and let it diffuse for about half an hour while I got my caps in a little bit of sanitizer.
For bottling, I tried something that ended up working really well. I cut a short (3" or so) length of 3/8" tubing, slipped it over the spigot of my bottling bucket, and put my bottling wand (spring loaded!) right on it so it was basically attached to the bucket and hanging over the end of the counter. I set my bench capper right above the dishwasher (my dad had one in his shop from years ago) and got to work. What I did was open the dishwasher and fill 8 bottles at a time, because that's how many fit on the counter between the bucket and the capper. When they were full, I closed up the dishwasher and capped those 8 bottles, setting them aside. I'd then go for another round. With the bottling wand on the bucket, I could do the filling one-handed, and get the next bottle ready to go while it was filling. With the spring-loaded wand, I could just release the tension of pushing the bottle up against it right when the beer hit the mouth of the bottle and it would stop immediately, I lost maybe a milliliter from 4 or 5 bottles, the rest were spot on.
And now I've got 45 bottles and 4 bombers conditioning. The last hurdle is seeing if they blow up or undercarb, but I'm optimistic at this point.
I know this sounds like bragging, and it kinda is, but I also wanted it to be a record of how somebody with just "head knowledge" of brewing can do the whole thing from beginning to end and really have great results. I owe a TON to this community for answering all my questions, usually before I even asked. If you're wondering if you can do it, I just want to say that you CAN!
So do it!
