Okay, so I want to make a beer.

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Tubba

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So far, I've made an apple wine and am halfway through a plum wine, all more or less done from scratch.

I'm primarily, however, a beer enthusiast, and long to get into that. The fermentation, bottling, racking etc processes are all easy to me - the difficult part is the mashing.

I'd like to do all-grain mashing (The BIAB process looks good, there I basically do everything in the same pot, right?), since fermenting malt extract seems a bit, well, pointless. I like to at least have the illusion of control over the result of my beer.

So, I've got MOST of the necessary equipment - Erlenmeyer flask, home-made stirplate, a bucket (currently used, but it'll be free soon), 2 5-gallon BetterBottles, 2 and 5-liter jugs, hydrometer, etc. All I really need (apart from beer yeast, hops and malt) is a big pot, perhaps a malt grinder. I figure I need as large a pot as 30l to do all-grain mashing?

As it happens I'm a real ale (darker, and red, in particular) fan, as far as I can understand, those are comparatively simple to make - a few recipes to look at would be nice.

Thanks for any input, making beer seems a good deal more difficult or at least involved, than making wine...
 
I wouldn't be opposed to doing a batch with extract, or at least a partial mash. To get yourself in tune with the boil/chilling process.

To go AG you'll need:
-a pot at least 7-8 gallons (assuming a 5 gallon batch). If you are doing BIAB, definitely go bigger because you'll be mashing in the BK and need plenty of room for your boil volume + the grains.
-a chiller, an immersion chiller will run you around $50-$70, I wouldn't try a full boil without it
-a scale if you want to do non-kit recipes
-a burner to heat 6.5 gallons to a boil

If you don't want to do BIAB and want to do a regular mash you'll need to put together a mash tun. You don't need a crusher to start, you can order/buy your grains crushed. Your efficiency will go up when you're crushing your own though!

There ya go, that gives ya an idea. If you don't want to do it all at once, grab a partial mash kit and do a partial mash and partial boil on the stove top then chill in some ice water. Then you can slowly build it up.


Good luck
 
Get Palmer's How to Brew from amazon.com or the like.

Read it - or at least the first 1/3 of it and scour over this site.

Then get a kit and brew the kit the way Palmer tells you to do it (except maybe consider no secondary).

This is the best way to start.

Darker and red beer can mean any number of different beers and the color does not dictate how easy something is to brew . How to Brew will also give you an intro to the types of beer you would like to make.
 
An immersion chiller is basically just a copper tube in a spiral which you immerse in a cold liquid, right? Seems easy to build and copper tubes are dirt cheap.

A burner, interesting, never thought of that before. Well, that removes one issue, that of pot size, and a modern induction tray would give me good control of the heat level.

Let's see... I can get 36l (that's just under 10 gallon), which is what I was aiming for. Next step up would be 50l, 13 gallon. 13 gallon is a pretty big step up in price (1200 SEK (about 200 USD) cf 1700 SEK (about 275 USD)) but not indebatable. The 50l has a greater radius as well and may call for a larger induction plate. How large would I need? I'm not sure I'll need to make quite as much as 5 gallons, I was thinking along the lines of 4 gallon (makes a nice and even number of liters).

ayoungrad: I specified real ale - as I understand those are brewed with more traditional and less complex mashing schedules.
 
http://homebrewtalk.com/wiki/index.php/Chiller
I don't know about Sweden, but the price of copper has SKYROCKETED here, I found that by the time I invested in a tube bender, I was probably better off buying one pre-made.

A 36L would probably be pretty good if you are only doing a few BIABs, it probably couldnt handle more than 12-13lbs in a BIAB recipe
 
I don't think there's much of a risk of me making a 13lbs of malt recipe in the near future... I'd probably make two different batches instead.
 
I really don't recommend going through all the trouble of brewing just for one beer. Try to start off making a six-pack at least.
 
Listen to bottle bomber. Your time is worth more. Really the difference between a 5gal batch and 50 bbl isn't much. But most of our wives won't allow that un the back yard
 
I really don't recommend going through all the trouble of brewing just for one beer. Try to start off making a six-pack at least.

Lol, I was thinking of making somewhere in the neighbourhood of 10-15 liters.


But I think I may start off brewing from extract anyway, just to get a feel for it.
 
You're going to need better bottles bigger than the two 5G ones you have. That's if you're ever going to do a 5G batch. Then you'll need something in the range of 6.5-7G for the needed head space.
 
Actually, they're 6-gallon. I found an online ad for someone selling damejeannes and brewery bottles very close to me. A... tad on the expensive side, but probably negotiable. Dunno size and condition yet, they forgot to include pictures of it... Sent them an e-mail, anyway.

Also, I have two BB:s and some smaller glass jugs, nothing preventing me from using two vessels besides the hassle.
 
I do smaller batches all the time. If you are the only one drinking it and the whole neighborhood doesn't join in everytime you bottle something, 3.5 gallon batches are fine. You just have to brew a bit more often, which can be an inconvenience.

BTW, I BIAB exclusively and I can attest that 12-13 lbs of grain is the maximum without getting into crazy winches and stuff like that. You can always dunk sparge if your kettle cannot contain all the necessary water for the whole batch.

Don't forget you can use ale pails too. At 10$ a pop (for the pricy ones) they simply cannot be beat.
 
Yeah, for my primary fermentation I use a 30l plastic bucket. Damejeannes are mostly for bulk storage (they're nice to look at), so perhaps size isn't much of an issue.
 
Yeah, for my primary fermentation I use a 30l plastic bucket. Damejeannes are mostly for bulk storage (they're nice to look at), so perhaps size isn't much of an issue.

Yeah, unless you are planning on high gravity ales from the get go, bulk storage isn't a necessary thing to think about right from the beginning. Most ales do fine with a primary only schedule. With beers, 99% of the manipulations happen before the wort goes into the primary vessel, which is the complete opposite of wine, where you have to rack and fuss about with secondaries for months.
 
Indeed. I do make wine as well, so a damejeanne or two will surely come in handy at some time anyway.


So, where was I. Right, a scaled-down version of the pale Ale described here: http://www.howtobrew.com/section1/chapter1-1.html

I'm not sure how much to scale it down, I was thinking half or 2/3:rd of the recipe. My biggest pot is about r15x15, meaning like a brewpot except shorter. It's 12 litres, I believe, which is a bit over 3 gallon.
 
So do a partial boil of 2.5 gallons,& chill it in an ice water bath down to pitch temp. Then top off in the fermenter with spring water or the like to the recommended total amount for the batch. Very common method.
 
So do a partial boil of 2.5 gallons,& chill it in an ice water bath down to pitch temp. Then top off in the fermenter with spring water or the like to the recommended total amount for the batch. Very common method.

+1. I started out this way. You can use extract to make up for the loss of gravity (you are topping off with water after all). A full boil is ideal, but it's just that, ideal. Good beer can be made by topping off.

You'll have to adjust for hopping though. I think Beersmith has an option for that or something.
 
Are you suggesting a partial mash here? That's an interesting method. But perhaps I should go all-extract för my first shot at brewing?

Ah, I think I see. You suggest making a full-size batch, but using less water while brewing? Okay, remember, I'm new to this. I need instructions and a fairly precise (or easily adjustable) recipe. Beersmith is a tad overwhelming, too.
 
You boil 2.5 gallons in the brew kettle. If your using,say 3lbs of DME with an LME can,then add half the DME to the boil,mix it in good. Then add your hops at,say the last 20 minutes,then 10 minutes,for example. Then take it off the heat,& add the rest of the malts,stirring to completely incorporate. Then chill kettle in an ice water bath to get it down to pitch temp.
Then pour it into the fermenter & top off with the right amount of water.
 
OP: taking the receipe you linked to. Here is the 'cooking'/'brewing' part I assume you can keep everything sanatized. Everything that touches your malt mixture - called wort - after you start cooling your wort until you drink it should be sanatized as you go.

Ingredients
3-4 lb. Pale malt extract syrup, unhopped
2 lb. Amber dry malt extract
12 AAU of bittering hops (any variety) For example, 1 oz. of 12% AA Nugget, or 1.5 oz. of 8% AA Perle
5 AAU of finishing hops (Cascade or other) For example, 1 oz. of 5% Cascade or 1.25 oz. of 4% Liberty
2 packets of dried ale yeast

This is what I do - I get out my 4 gal - about 15L pot, fill it to about 1/2 full. Heat it until boiling, take it off the heat - electric stove - not induction, radiative coil. Add the can of malt (3-4 lb. most likely 3.3 lb. Alternative use 3lb of dry malt if liquid not available). Add bittering hops and boil about 1 hour.
At 55 mins in the boil/5 mins from end, take off heat put in Dry malt (2lb Amber) and the finishing hops.

at 60 mins take off and cool in an ice bath. (tub, sink wherever) I usually have to swap water and some times stir with a sanatized spoon - you need a instant sanatizer. I know in wine you use a lot of meta bisufate or whatever, but here either idaphor or star san should be used.

At about 90F (~30 C?) pour into my sanatized fermentor, and top off with water to 5 gallons, Hopefully in Sweden, your top off water will be colder than 70F/21C. This will further depress the temp of your wort. You want to pitch yeast at about 68F/20C.

After toping off is done, stir it well to mix the wort and water. The denser wort will sink and the water will float on it. After 2 or 3 days with yeast, it will have mixed just fine, but it makes it hard to get an accurate OG without stirring it well first. Also this helps aerate the wort. If you have a degassing whip for a drill for wine making, it could be used here provided you don't cause an overflow of the wort by getting it spinning so fast it climbs over the sides.

The rest of the instructions on link should get you through making this. Palmer proofs his yeast - while not strickly needed, it often helps, making a starter often helps more. Don't worry about it if you are pitching more than 11g of dry beer yeast, that is general enough to at least make the beer. Better beers can be made by pitching the right amount of yeast. He also warns about the boil over - if this threatens, it is usually with in a few minutes after you've added malt. Just take the pot off the stove till the foam dies down and put it back on. Stiring helps, but with Dry malt, taking off for a few minutes is the only solution I've found (or a much bigger pot)

Good luck
 
DME doesn't give me more than 3/4 inch or so of foam. Steeping grains go nuts with foamy hot break. 6 pounds of malt is ok. 90F (32.5C) is a bit too hot to pitch yeast. It should be down to 70 ish (21C)for the average ale to avoid off flavors. 6 lbs of malt won't require 22g of ale yeast. That'll give an OG in the 1.04x range. That'd be over pitching.
 
Thanks, AC, that helps a LOT!

I'm familiar with sanitization and I have a few products - Star San, as mentioned, ChemiPRO Oxi or something like that, an oxidizer anyway, and finally good old household bleach.

Hm, yes, I think I can pull it off. Well, in a day or two when I'm solvent and can get the necessary ingredients.
 
DME doesn't give me more than 3/4 inch or so of foam. Steeping grains go nuts with foamy hot break. 6 pounds of malt is ok. 90F (32.5C) is a bit too hot to pitch yeast. It should be down to 70 ish (21C)for the average ale to avoid off flavors. 6 lbs of malt won't require 22g of ale yeast. That'll give an OG in the 1.04x range. That'd be over pitching.

Thanks! Since I almost always do steeping grains, this explains some of my foaminess.

And I didn't mean to imply pitching yeast at 90F/32.5C while most yeast would live, it would create an undesireable flavors. I only ment that when it was in that temp range it could be put in the fermentor. If you have about 2.5 gal at 90F and combine it with water at 50F you should get something around 70F/21C which would be pitchable. - I've gone as high as 75 to 80 on pitches, which can create off flavors.
And yes using 2 packs of 11g yeast would be to much. I think yeast used to be sold more in the 5g pack size which would make more sense for when Palmer wrote the book.
 
Could be,the cooper's ale yeast in the 7g size is the smallest I've seen nowadays. I remember buying brewer's yeast back in the 70's that were something like 10g or so.
I just like to get starters/re-hydration water close to pitch temps,just to be sure myself. To me,it seems to be better for the yeasties. I get a nice krausen by pitch time.
 
By the way, I've ordered the necessary ingredients, should have them by Monday. I'll put progress updates in this thread.
 
My wort is cooling in the bath tub right now! Brewing went great... well, minus one little thing, ehm...


You know how when materials get hot, they expand? And with an uneven heat distribution, the expansion will be uneven? And how this can cause hard and brittle things to break?

Well, apply the above to boiled-for-sterilization water, siphoned into a glass carboy. Yeah... I do amazingly stupid things sometimes. Now the carboy will have to make a garden decoration instead.
 
The reason for why it went as such was basically that I was going to pour it into my fermentation bucket at first, but then I realized it was scratched to hell and back, and infested with some hard-to-get-out goo; They're heat resistant as hell, and could've handled the water - you can even boil wort in them. But as I found it unusable, I had to resort to either carboy or BetterBottle. I wanted to use my new carboy, so I cleaned it out, and then I forgot that I would have to chill the water before pouring it in.

I have, as I said, more carboys, but I don't have any bungs that fit them. So, BetterBottle it was. Of course I remembered this time that BetterBottle can only handle 60 degrees C, and took appropriate precautionary action.


Well, that's one mistake I won't make again.
 
Wort seems to be tagging along, was a bit of kräusen when I woke up this morning, but it was gone after I came back home. It's taken a coffee-with-milk or toffee colour.
 
Wow! I took a gravity measurement, and according to it, it's already fermented 20-23 points! I had to calculate the starting gravity from the extract since I didn't measure it before I started fermentation, but since I just used extract it should be fairly accurate.
 
Typically the gravity drops really quick - like 80-90% of what it will drop in the first 2 or 3 days. It then does the last 10 to 20% in the next few days until it is complete. There are several reasons for this.

1. the CO2 and extra preasure from it disolved in the beer makes it harder for the yeast to absorb sugars.
2. there is an intial bloom of yeast, but as the food decreases, there are less that stay alive/active to eat.
3. something else I've forgotten.

but the long and short it isn't linear, but a lot of decrease once active fermentation starts (usually 12 to 24 hours after pitch) slowing down after that.

As for your boiled water.... you only need to boil top off water, not the water for the 'boil' itself. there is a preboil/during boil and post boil. Everything touching the wort preboil doesn't need sanitation, everything post boil does. During the boil the 2 gallons of water will get sanatized and then your topoff water (about 3 gallons) can be boiled as you did, or you if you trust your tap, you can just use that. It is a matter of clean tap and no clorine at the tap. And careful with the carboys - there are a few horror stories on the forum about breaking them and bodily injury.
 
Mine take 2-4 days to go through initial fermentation,by & large. But those last few points can take up to 2.5-3 weeks to get a stable FG. Then 3-5 days after that to clean up by-products & settle out well.
The yeast start to go dormant & drop out after initial fermentation. I think few actually die,or we'd all have some DMS issues with many dead yeast cells. Another old myth dispelled on here some time ago.
Keeping ferment temps in the proper range is another step to great beers. Along with time & patience,which always go hand in hand.:mug:
 
I'll have a look at the gravity again this weekend, then check if it's stable once I get my bottling bucket. It doesn't feel meaningfull to wait weeks for an extract-brewed 4.4% pale ale.
 
Each brew is different,so it can take that long to reach FG & 3-5 days to clean up & settle out well. But that isn't a constant,it can go faster. but it should taste good at that point too. If it doesn't,then give it a couple more days. Beer is like pit bbq,it's done when it's done.
 
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