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dadshomebrewing said:
you guys are going to shame me into an all grain setup and a mash tun.
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It's still a BIAB for me but I transfer into the mash tun to maintain temps. A little chilly out today and it will hold a lot better in there!
 
dadshomebrewing said:
i do exactly the same thing... i'm too lazy (and cheap) to put the valves into the igloo cooler
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that's frigging funny because I just added a valve this morning and I've had it for 2 years. I'm thinking now.. Was that worth the 15 bucks...heck that's a batch of beer lol
 
divrguy said:
Hey cheese, I have you but I heard you say you can't hear me.. I checked my mike it's on is your volume up?
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Ill try again I'm a minute. Just coming to the end of my boil

image-2338690978.jpg
 
cheesecake said:
boooo everyone must be busy today
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Wow I have tried from phone on ustream and google and I can't get voice To transmit from the phone. Ill have to try pc in a few. Just getting brew into the fermenter
 
dadshomebrewing said:
because Lovie is giving up. Cutler was getting killed behind that line. Marshall short armed a couple catches.

they took cutler out to keep him alive
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that offensive line is terrible....they need to fix that issue next season. im not a cutler fan but i do feel bad for the guy.
 
cheesecake said:
Mashing in for my 2nd batch of the day.
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Cheese I wish I could have figured out the issue with the streaming.

Btw, my brew house is a 10x12 shed. I heard ya say something in the stream about it. I've been working on it for a few years now and it makes a nice little brew house. Now drinking one if my back IPA's man I love this style of beer!

image-983120259.jpg
 
divrguy said:
Cheese I wish I could have figured out the issue with the streaming.

Btw, my brew house is a 10x12 shed. I heard ya say something in the stream about it. I've been working on it for a few years now and it makes a nice little brew house. Now drinking one if my back IPA's man I love this style of beer!
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yeah i have a thing for black ipa's
 
cheesecake said:
could you please post that recipe?
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I actually did, but I can't remember what page it ended up on. Here it is again from my notes. I know the name is lame, but I haven't thought of anything that's right for the recipe yet.

Blueberry Wine
OG: 1.160
FG: 1.020
ABV 18.7%

In primary:
1 qt rw knudsen just blueberry.
1 bottle mama's choice whole blueberry syrup. I can't find the bottle, but it was about 12 oz.
About 1.3 lb of sugar. I didn't actually weigh my sugar first, so this is estimated.
1 tsp dry distillers yeast.
1 tsp yeast nutrient.
1/2 tsp yeast energizer.

In secondary:
1/2 tsp powdered bentonite.
2 old pennies

Here are my actual notes:
my notes said:
10-27-2012 10:00 pm: Mixed up blueberry wine. 1 qt rw knudsen just blueberry. 1 bottle mama's choice whole blueberry syrup. About 1.3lb sugar. Gravity 1.16. Higher then I intended. Syrup has corn syrup in it. Probably won't ferment dry.

11-11-2012 12:00 am: FG 1.020 18.7%. Funny smell to it, reminds me of the weirdness from the cherry limeade. Kinda nasty muskiness. Added 1/2 tsp bentonite. Split into 2 bottles, needed the 1 gallon jug.

11-12-2012 11:30 pm: Funny smell still present. Probably H2S. Added an old penny to both bottles. Shook them like hell. Smell is gone. Awesomeness. Will let these settle out again and bottle. Stuck in fridge to cold crash.

11-22-2012 7:00 pm: Bottled 1/2 blueberry wine 4 12oz bottles.
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I always use yeast energizer and yeast nutrient when I make wine or cider, I only make notes about it if I'm using amounts that are different from my standard setup. The same goes for the yeast.

I drank the other 2 quarts of this after it had settled in my mini fridge. I was :tank: for about 3 days off of it.

Doing this again I would probably use 1 1/2 tsp of yeast nutrient, that would probably take care of the H2S issue.
 
cheesecake said:
Why did you use a distillers yeast instead of a wine yeast?
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huntingohio said:
wine yeast will most likely poop out between 12-16% its not meant to brew in the neighborhood of the 20%abv faux liquors
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Yup, pretty much.

I really overshot my OG target. I was aiming for 1.1 and had planned to use a champagne yeast. When I saw how high the OG actually was I decided I'd better use a yeast with a higher alcohol tolerance or the end product was going to be disgustingly sweet.

Distillers yeast is also the least fussy yeast I've ever used, and I didn't feel like making a starter.

Oh, 1 tsp of dry yeast comes out to about 4 grams. In case your interested in the pitching rate.
 
It looks like i will be brewing a batch of wine now. No water or heat? just mix the stuff together?

Also I brewed up a gallon caribou slobber this weekend. wow, had to use a blow off tube on it. it was active and flowing in seven hours if that. luckly i had had it in a pan so no mess. next up is centennial blond biab.
 
Mooglebass said:
It looks like i will be brewing a batch of wine now. No water or heat? just mix the stuff together?
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Sorry, didn't explicitly mention water. Water to your desired volume.

You don't need to boil as the juice was pasteurized before it was bottled and your opening the bottle and pouring it directly into the fermentor. Both the sugar and the syrup are so hydroscopic that it's virtually impossible for anything nasty to survive in them.

It's a good idea to rinse the juice bottle with some of the water you are going to add to the wine, that way you get all the flavor out.

Basically, pour everything into the bottle and shake it until the sugar has dissolved. Take a gravity reading and add more sugar if you need it. It's better to be a little conservative on the sugar and add more if you need it. That's easier then trying to dilute if you overshoot.

Then you add your nutrients and yeast. Install your airlock, and your done.

All in all, it usually takes me 30-45 minutes for the whole process. That includes cleanup.
 
I got my syrup from big lots, so it might have been out of production when I bought it.

Pretty much any good blueberry syrup should work just fine though. As long as it doesn't have potassium metabisulfide or potassium sorbate. If you want something a little different you could easily use another flavor of syrup, raspberry would probably be nice too.
 
How do most of you buy your ingredients for 1 gal batches? Do you store some and wait on other ingredients? I was thinking of getting a few small 1 gal kits but deciding on shelf life of ingredients.
 
dp_brew said:
How do most of you buy your ingredients for 1 gal batches? Do you store some and wait on other ingredients? I was thinking of getting a few small 1 gal kits but deciding on shelf life of ingredients.
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I have a food grade 5 gallon bucket from Lowes ($5-6) with a lid that I store all my grain in. My yeast is in the fridge, and hops are in the chest freezer (double bagged in freezer bags). I usually have a 10lb bag of base malt and then one pound bags of special malts.

I would buy bulk, but I live an hour from the closest beer store, so I like to have supplies on hand.
 
Great thread guys, I've been following it for a while. I'm currently on my 3rd all grain batch, 2 being 1-gallon, the middle one being a 3-gallon. I must say that I've enjoyed the one gallon batches better due to my limited space and perceived "ease" of production. I also like that I can make many different batches and hopefully improve my process each time. This 3rd batch now in primary fermentation (Belgian blonde with some agave nectar) was by far my smoothest batch yet. On a related note to the previous replies, how are the one gallon brewers scaling down their recipes? I obviously know to scale down 1/5 or 1/10 depending on the original recipe, but how do you account for the .25 lbs on the original bill? Do you convert to oz and scale it down from there? Thanks so much in advance, I am definitely loving this new hobby! Happy brewing.
 
JWB said:
Great thread guys, I've been following it for a while. I'm currently on my 3rd all grain batch, 2 being 1-gallon, the middle one being a 3-gallon. I must say that I've enjoyed the one gallon batches better due to my limited space and perceived "ease" of production. I also like that I can make many different batches and hopefully improve my process each time. This 3rd batch now in primary fermentation (Belgian blonde with some agave nectar) was by far my smoothest batch yet. On a related note to the previous replies, how are the one gallon brewers scaling down their recipes? I obviously know to scale down 1/5 or 1/10 depending on the original recipe, but how do you account for the .25 lbs on the original bill? Do you convert to oz and scale it down from there? Thanks so much in advance, I am definitely loving this new hobby! Happy brewing.
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Yea that's why I like Shopping at Midwest because they do 1/2 lb specialities... AHS and Rebel does ounces on some stuff but rip you off.

That's why a good LHBS store is nice, although I feel like an ass askin for an ounce or two of grain seperately milled.
 
Sometimes I just do metric measurements instead as it's easier to scale down. With rgards to buying tiny amounts of specialty grains, I always buy at least 1lb at a time from my LHBS and keep the remaining grains for future batches.
 
Fantastic ideas, thanks so much for the responses. Regarding buying one pound at a time of specialty grains, do you get them milled there and just keep them in a cool, dark place? If so, how long do they keep? My LHBS has been great with measuring and milling 1/4 lb before, but I agree that I do sometimes like an ass for doing so. Thanks again... It's awesome to have such a collective group of people so willing to share ideas, processes, difficulties, etc. for the general good of brewing.
 
i buy my grains milled, at either a half pound or pound, at a time... for some very specialized stuff i get 1/4 pound milled.

the lhbs is excellent about it.

they know i'm a one gallon brewer, and they are cool.

heck, i'm there every other week
 
I buy specialty grain unmilled by the pound and store it in labeled mason jars. I buy base grain in bulk and have that stored in airtight 5 gallon buckets and mill my own grain.
 
rawkstar320 said:
I have a food grade 5 gallon bucket from Lowes ($5-6) with a lid that I store all my grain in. My yeast is in the fridge, and hops are in the chest freezer (double bagged in freezer bags). I usually have a 10lb bag of base malt and then one pound bags of special malts.
Click to expand...

exactly what I do.

I spend a night every so often and create 3 to 5 "kits" of my own. measure out the grains etc and bag them in ziplock bags (uncrushed) then measure out the hops and reseal them in plastic bags (2 oz zipper bags) and store the small bags in a freezer bag in the freezer until brewday. then when I get a chance I grind the grains ( I also use a corona mill) and spend an evening usually twice a month on a wednesday brewing.
 

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