bmckee56
Well-Known Member
So I finally got a friend of mine to brew beer. His father brewed beer and made wine in the past, but he never took an interest in it. This past labor day, SWMBO and I joined Ray (my buddy) and his wife on a motorcycle ride up to Slippery Rock, PA. We indulged in several of the local brews created by North County Brewing and he loved it all. We talked about my homebrewing experiences and the equipment I had and I suggested he come up and do an extract brew he could call his own. Well he did so this past Tuesday evening and we brewed up a DFH 60 Minute Clone Extract.
I think that I should have followed the typical extract process of steeping and brewing in a small pot then adding water to top up, but I think full boils are a better method in the end, so we did a full boil outside. He arrived and we began the process by endulging in one of my homebrews (California Pilsner). I had him steep some dextrine malt for 30 minutes and drain it into my 10 gallon brew pot, then we added 5 gallons of filtered water to the pot and got it close to but not boiling. We then added a portion of the DME (3lbs.) to the pot and brought this up to a boil. We added the initial hops (warrior) and watched the pot until we hit the 45 minute mark. We then added another 2.5lbs. of DME (being careful not to allow a boil over) and continued the boil until the 30 minute mark. At this time we added the remaining 2.5lbs. of DME and some Amarillo hops to the pot and stirred and watched until the 15 minute mark when we added whirloc and the Simcoe hops. At flame out, I connected my wort chiller and we cooled down the wort to 75F. whirl pooled and transfered to the primary and added some yeast nutrient. The S.G. of the wort came in at 1.072 after adding a bit of top up water to reach the final volume of 5.25 gallons. SafAle-05 yeast was pitched (dry) into the wort after we aerated well. The primary was covered and the airlock attached.
Then we sat back and had a few more homebrews. The beer is churning away nicely and airllock activity has diminished considerably. I will check the S.G. tonight to see the progress so far. He will return to dry hop with Warrior and Simcoe when the beer has reached the right level.
I have lots of equipment which I will be giving to him so he can continue his brewing experience at home on his own. He needs to invest in a few important items on his own, but I also will be setting him up with a cornie keg, regulator, tank (5lb.) and the gas in/out connections with hoses. He will be installing a tap faucet on his basement refridgerator (yes, I am giving him the faucet) so he can enjoy his first homebrew in the comfort of his home until he acquire all these things on his own.
I really enjoyed the opportunity to introduce a friend to homebrewing and look forward to making many more beers with him and possibly several other friends I am trying to recruit.
I am wondering though if I went to far to fast. With all the things I have helped him with and provided, he may feel that making beer at home is Easy and can be Fun. without a lot of hard work and investment needed.
By the way, clean up the next morning took me about 1 1/2 hours since we went right to drinking homebrew instead of cleaning up.
Salute!
I think that I should have followed the typical extract process of steeping and brewing in a small pot then adding water to top up, but I think full boils are a better method in the end, so we did a full boil outside. He arrived and we began the process by endulging in one of my homebrews (California Pilsner). I had him steep some dextrine malt for 30 minutes and drain it into my 10 gallon brew pot, then we added 5 gallons of filtered water to the pot and got it close to but not boiling. We then added a portion of the DME (3lbs.) to the pot and brought this up to a boil. We added the initial hops (warrior) and watched the pot until we hit the 45 minute mark. We then added another 2.5lbs. of DME (being careful not to allow a boil over) and continued the boil until the 30 minute mark. At this time we added the remaining 2.5lbs. of DME and some Amarillo hops to the pot and stirred and watched until the 15 minute mark when we added whirloc and the Simcoe hops. At flame out, I connected my wort chiller and we cooled down the wort to 75F. whirl pooled and transfered to the primary and added some yeast nutrient. The S.G. of the wort came in at 1.072 after adding a bit of top up water to reach the final volume of 5.25 gallons. SafAle-05 yeast was pitched (dry) into the wort after we aerated well. The primary was covered and the airlock attached.
Then we sat back and had a few more homebrews. The beer is churning away nicely and airllock activity has diminished considerably. I will check the S.G. tonight to see the progress so far. He will return to dry hop with Warrior and Simcoe when the beer has reached the right level.
I have lots of equipment which I will be giving to him so he can continue his brewing experience at home on his own. He needs to invest in a few important items on his own, but I also will be setting him up with a cornie keg, regulator, tank (5lb.) and the gas in/out connections with hoses. He will be installing a tap faucet on his basement refridgerator (yes, I am giving him the faucet) so he can enjoy his first homebrew in the comfort of his home until he acquire all these things on his own.
I really enjoyed the opportunity to introduce a friend to homebrewing and look forward to making many more beers with him and possibly several other friends I am trying to recruit.
I am wondering though if I went to far to fast. With all the things I have helped him with and provided, he may feel that making beer at home is Easy and can be Fun. without a lot of hard work and investment needed.
By the way, clean up the next morning took me about 1 1/2 hours since we went right to drinking homebrew instead of cleaning up.
Salute!
