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kyled

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I have had a home brewing kit for a few years (actually a Christmas gift for my dad that he was too afraid to use) and I have never used it.

I have made wine with my in laws recently and decided it's time to give beer a shot. I'm not sure what about 80% of the terms I see here mean so any help would be appreciated.

Also, I'm trying to make the pumpkin Mead in a pumpkin I saw here tomorrow night. I figure it's a good bridge between wine and beer.
 
The stickies in the beginner forum are a great place to start. Also check out howtobrew.com which is an online (albeit slightly outdated) copy of a book written by a respected member of the homebrewing community. Further, you can check out The Complete Joy of Homebrewing by Charlie Papazian
 
Welcome! My only immediate concern for you is that if the ingredients are "a few years" old you may not have the greatest results...not because u did something wrong, but because your ingredients are stale. At a bare minimum, I would order fresh yeast. Have fun & keep us posted!
 
UKFreak said:
Welcome! My only immediate concern for you is that if the ingredients are "a few years" old you may not have the greatest results...not because u did something wrong, but because your ingredients are stale. At a bare minimum, I would order fresh yeast. Have fun & keep us posted!

The kit didn't include any ingredients, only 2 5 gallon buckets, hoses, a syphon and a capper.
 
heh heh, "Magical World" reminds me of Badrinath's comment in Beerfest:

"I wish it were winter so we could freeze it into ice blocks and skate on it and melt it in the spring time and drink it!"
 
Go to one of the mail order suppliers and read through the extract kits and find one you think you'd like and go for it. Tons of info on this site and good podcasts can be viewed at Basic Brewing, and Brewing TV will make you more comfortable with the process.
 
Well, you're probably going to need/want a few more things to make your kit truly functional for brewing and fermenting beer. Other things will make it far easier and pleasant. I don't think any of us are able to give you a simple, easy answer to your question other than just learn for yourself.

The resources above will help, but thought I'd toss in Palmer's book "How To Brew." It was my preferred reference when learning to brew and provided me an easy to grasp foundation that grew with me as I was learning. I read that, cover to cover...probably twice...before I bought a single thing or brewed my first batch. But that's how I roll. I also read Papazian's book. I've been brewing for over three years and I still occasionally refer to both, so they're good investments.
 
Glad to hear you are thinking about brewing. A lot of great advice already given, I'm late to the party as usual. Best advice I can give (which has already been said) read some from Papazian and Palmer, they are homebrewing legends. Start with them. Some of the info provided is a little outdated in regards to yeast but everything else is spot on.

Sounds like you have the basic equipment set up. Now school up. It will pay off in many ways. I got to admit one thing that bugs the crap out of me is when new brewers come on here with zero time spent educating themselves in homebrewing. (Don't worry, I'm not thinking you fall into that category.. not at all)

Brewing is not hard but does come with some terms, a fellow ought to know the basics before starting. That doesn't take a lifetime of study. A few hours reading CP and JP will be rewarded by good beer. Then you can spend a lifetime making it perfect! :mug:
 
My wife seems opposed to it til we get into our new place after January 1st, is there a book on that?
 
Ha ha.. I wish there was. My wife doesnt drink beer but she see's how happy brewing makes me and my happiness makes her happy. You could try that angle.

Then again, I'm the last person you should probably take marriage advice from. Folllow it at your own risk!
 
Oh my wife loves beer, in fact we met at a bar that deals exclusively in craft beer so that's no problem. She just doesn't want a mess in perhaps the first place we will ever get a security deposit back from
 
So how many extract batches should I try before doing a non extract batch?
 
My only concern is that you started with a lager, which needs lower temperatures and takes forever to get a taste of (which is not only frustrating, but if you messed anything up you don't find out for a long time). Do you have a place where you can keep the beer cold? If you can, a small dorm sized fridge where you can lager it after primary fermentation is great.

Might suggest you pick up a heffeweizen or saison (depending on the temps in your place this time of year) in the mean time. Both are quick fermenting yeasts that can be enjoyed very young.

I'd try at least 5 batches at extract, to make sure you really enjoy doing it before you invest the energy it takes to get a proper all grain set up going.
 
So how many extract batches should I try before doing a non extract batch?

That's a question none of us can accurately answer for you. I was perfectly happy with most of my extract batches. I did it for over three years, probably over 50+ batches in that time, and just recently moved to all grain. Eventually I just became bored and wanted "more" from brewing, particularly the ability to brew styles I couldn't with extract. So, I finally decided this year to make the jump to all grain. It's mostly a monetary investment and a growth in your process, so whenever you feel it's right to go there is when it's right for you.
 
I started with Partial Mash brewing, and that's pretty easy to jump to from extract. It's PM to All Grain that's harder (which I did as well).

My SWHBO was complaining about my brewing gear today. She was also holding a homebrew pulled from my kegorator. When she said it, I just pointed to the glass and that seemed to do it.
 
My only concern is that you started with a lager, which needs lower temperatures and takes forever to get a taste of (which is not only frustrating, but if you messed anything up you don't find out for a long time). Do you have a place where you can keep the beer cold? If you can, a small dorm sized fridge where you can lager it after primary fermentation is great.

Might suggest you pick up a heffeweizen or saison (depending on the temps in your place this time of year) in the mean time. Both are quick fermenting yeasts that can be enjoyed very young.

I'd try at least 5 batches at extract, to make sure you really enjoy doing it before you invest the energy it takes to get a proper all grain set up going.

Not to worry too much, the BB Kit has yeast that allows it to ferment as an ale as well as a lager depending on the temperature. Either way it's going to be a good beer :cross:....
 
all grain brewing is not that hard,but you should not feel any rush to have to do it. I made some very good beers with extract kits as have others.Main thing is work on the fundamentals.
 
all grain brewing is not that hard,but you should not feel any rush to have to do it. I made some very good beers with extract kits as have others.Main thing is work on the fundamentals.

Exactly. I made the move to All Grain quickly because there wasn't enough going on in Extract brewing for me. That said I have yet to have a flawless brew day. Something always goes wrong. This last time I forgot to add the bittering hops until 50 minutes into the boil.

Even with all of my mistakes I have still made some really tasty beers. Hopefully I can try again for that perfect process on Monday.
 
Continue with extract until you feel comfortable with the process. Sanitization, boil, cooling, cleanup, prime and bottling. These are where many batches go wrong, both extract and AG. Using an extract kit you can pretty much guarantee that unless you forgot to add a container of extract, you will hit the proper OG. AG presents additional variables that need to be controlled. For some the appropriate transition point will be the second batch. For me it was about 1 year.
 
I have to bottle my first partial mash today. We'll see how good it is come thanksgiving. The yeast settled out,but it's still abit cloudy from the fine crush I did. Should settle out by drinkin time though. Mash temps seem to be the biggy in pm or ag.
 
I will oppose the patience posts. GO FOR IT! There are so many great ways to do all-grain. BIAB, cooler MLTs, direct-fire, electric.
If you go to partial mash, it's like half a baby step to do BIAB. Yes, there will be a learning curve, but that is the hobby part of it right?

That being said, I started with partial mash kits for about a year -10 or so batches. But I was always put off by the limitations of extract(especially the color and fementability fluctuations).
If the BIAB technique had been a little more developed when I started, I probably would have gone that route.

Makes ingredients a little cheaper and there are only about a million great recipes on here.
 
Even though I've only done one pm so far,I can already see the limitations of biab. I'm thinking of switching from the muslin grain bag from the kit to the 5G paint strainer bag to fit the BK with my cake cooling rack in the bottom. That way maybe I can get away with a less fine crush & cut some of the cloudiness. I thought maybe with the paint strainer bag stretched over the top of the BK,I could stir the mash & do some kinda different take on vourlofing?...maybe with a baster,or just soak the grain bag in the pot of sparge water as others here do?
 
all grain brewing is not that hard,but you should not feel any rush to have to do it. I made some very good beers with extract kits as have others.Main thing is work on the fundamentals.

I concur. There is no good reason to switch to AG until YOU decide you need to. As long as you are using fresh ingredients and proper methods extract brewing can rival AG brewing for finished beer.

That said, once you are comfortable with extract brewing processes (aerating wort, pitching proper yeast, transferring wort, fermentation temp control, etc.) there is nothing except a very small investment in equipment to stop you from going AG. It's actual a lot easier than most people think it is until they do it.

The hardest part is buying the necessary equipment. You can save considerably by doing BIAB. The small batch method doesn't require a large kettle and possibly the burner upgrade to boil a full batch. Most people can do a 1/2 batch on their stove like extract.

A turkey fryer setup is really all you need to get started on full boils and they run around $60 (Maybe less if you can find some good sales or CL listings after the holidays!)

But the most important things to know and follow are all the same no matter which method you use to make wort.
 
When I took a gravity reading today my hydrometer submerged completely for about 10 seconds then came back up. Should I be concerned?

Also I siphoned into a glass carbony from a plastic bucket today, is there a good method to not lose my hydrometer while taking a reading in it?

Also if it helps I am 7 days in
 
Seems as though I might be going against the grain here. I did extract with steeping grain kits the first few beers. Then switched to all grain. All grain is not an exclusive club for elitist, well not in my book anyway.

Maybe with the couple extract/steeping grain kits I made my process was poor. I never got thrilled about the flavor of them and even trying other people's extract beers wasn't to thrilled.

Extract is a great place to learn the fundamentals but call me an a@@. It doesn't make great beer.

That's my experience. Counts for nothing. Maybe the extract beers I made (only a couple) or the ones I tasted from other brewers just weren't done well. I'm biased I suppose. Would love to taste a great extract brew... just haven't yet.
 
When I took a gravity reading today my hydrometer submerged completely for about 10 seconds then came back up. Should I be concerned?

Also I siphoned into a glass carbony from a plastic bucket today, is there a good method to not lose my hydrometer while taking a reading in it?

Also if it helps I am 7 days in

Yes. Invest in a hydrometer test tube. About five bucks for a plastic one.
 
So I appear to be ready to bottle. Hydrometer readings have stopped changing. But I only have about a dozen bottles. Any suggestions on how to get more? Also anyone used the Mr. Beer plastic bottles?
 
So I appear to be ready to bottle. Hydrometer readings have stopped changing. But I only have about a dozen bottles. Any suggestions on how to get more? Also anyone used the Mr. Beer plastic bottles?

Buy craft beer with "pop-top" bottles. Clean them and re-use. Ask your friends to save bottles (and 6-pack holders!) for you. Travel to a nearby college or university and raid the recycling bins. Once the word gets out that you need bottles, the flow becomes pretty steady. I generally have at least 2 batches bottled (52 bottles per batch) and enough empty bottles for 1-2 more batches at any given time. At this point my inventory contains at least 200 bottles. I usually find myself running short on 6-pack holders and empty beer cases. I have now started asking my friends/family to save these for me. In response, I got a delivery today of 5 empty cardboard 6-pack holders and one 4-pack container.

Ask, and ye shall receive!
 
First bottling is tomorrow. How can I tell if its carbonated and ready to drink?
 
First bottling is tomorrow. How can I tell if its carbonated and ready to drink?

You could do what us old timers do and wait 3 weeks and try it. Chances are it will be ready by then.

Or you wait 1 week and try it, and try a bottle a week until you feel it's ready.

Or you could sanitize a 20oz soda bottle and bottle some in there and check the firmness. Once it's nice and hard you just chill it in the fridge and crack it open and try it. It's a nice gauge for carbonation. :mug:
 
Or you could sanitize a 20oz soda bottle and bottle some in there and check the firmness. Once it's nice and hard you just chill it in the fridge and crack it open and try it. It's a nice gauge for carbonation. :mug:

+1 to this. I often bottle one beer in a soda bottle to use as a carbonation gauge. It allows you to track the carbonation level without opening numerous beers before they are ready. In my experience with this method, it takes about 3-5 days after the soda bottle gets "rock hard" before the beer is fully carbonated. It is a super-easy way to track the progress of your bottle conditioning.
 
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