anyone here own a "real" brewing machine?

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foodgrade

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I just looked into The Grainfather I've seen advertised on this forum. What do you people think of it? I know it can get expensive but are these all in one ready to brew products worth it? Either that or go DIY type of setup.

I may go to a beer factory to watch how they brew beers. From what I understand there are 4 ingredients involved. I could only think of hops, malted grain and yeast. Would the other one be "alcohol" (whatever it may be)?
 
Does the "alcohol" come from yeast then? Does it need to be "boiled" at certain degree for alcohol to be extracted? When they say "yeast" would this be Brewer's Yeast?

I'd still like to visit a real beer brewing facility to see a hands on experience on how it's all done unless anyone here can show me a youtube video of how they brew beers.
 
by the way I looked at some DIY beer brewing supplies and seems as if I can get these at Walmart or even the thrift store for less...unless someone here disagree?
 
If this is a serious post, why don't you start here, or better yet buy the newer print version. Home systems run the gamut - there are certainly folks on here with systems that rival commercial brewing equipment, for others it may be as simple as a pot and a bag. I've actually gone simpler and in a sense downgraded some of my equipment in recent years to suit my needs. I would suggest rather than buying a big piece of equipment and then learning how to brew that you get some experience first then decide what methods and equipment you want to invest in. Fancy equipment will not by any means ensure good beer.

You can certainly visit a commercial brewery if you wish, but there are a lot of things that may not apply or translate differently onto the homebrew scale. If you look around there are a ton of online video tutorials, as well as sticky's with good info on the forums here (check the beginners forum and all grain forums).
 
Foodgrade, this website has all the answers you seek and more as well as books and youtube videos that are available for free. But I don't want to be "that guy" who just tells you to do a search so...

The basic process works like this.

Yeast eat sugar and produce ethanol (the kind of alcohol we drink) and carbon dioxide (CO2).

So as brewers we either convert the starch in malted barley to sugar, then boil it with some hops, then chill it and add live yeast. The living yeast eat the sugar and leave behind alcohol. Then we either bottle or keg that beer and carbonate it in one way or another and then we drink and enjoy.

Or

You buy malt extract which has already been converted to sugar, add it to boiling water, add hops and from there it's the same as above.

Good luck
 
Don't know where you are, but look into going on a craft brewery/nano brewery tour. Going on a Bud (or similar) tour won't show you anything useful. You can't throw a rock in NH without hitting a small brewery.
 
does it turn into alcohol ready to consume ASAP or must it need to be "marinated"?

Gameface said:
Foodgrade, this website has all the answers you seek and more as well as books and youtube videos that are available for free. But I don't want to be "that guy" who just tells you to do a search so...

The basic process works like this.

Yeast eat sugar and produce ethanol (the kind of alcohol we drink) and carbon dioxide (CO2).

So as brewers we either convert the starch in malted barley to sugar, then boil it with some hops, then chill it and add live yeast. The living yeast eat the sugar and leave behind alcohol. Then we either bottle or keg that beer and carbonate it in one way or another and then we drink and enjoy.

Or

You buy malt extract which has already been converted to sugar, add it to boiling water, add hops and from there it's the same as above.

Good luck
Click to expand...
 
Yeast metabolize sugar which creates the alcohol (and other byproducts)
This process is natural and takes time.
Look at it like this,
yeast eat sugar (which in the case of beer comes from the malted barley)
and they $hit alcohol.......
If you eat a huge omlet for breakfast you don't immediately poop it out....
Same idea applies to yeast.....they need time to convert the sugars into alcohol.
 
Gameface said:
Nice troll attempt. Thanks for the confirmation that you are in no way serious.
Click to expand...

I have seen this type of thread before. Sounds like a teenager trying to figure out how to get drunk. Must be lazy too, because it takes about 2 sec on google to find all this out.
 
So could I just put the everclear bottle on those beechwoods, or should I run them through a "real" chipper first???
 
This post along with @foodgrade 's other body of written work here on HBT should likely be the start of a new subforum. Perhaps a subformum of the brew-science area. (I like Ice or something equally subtle)

I'm no expert but if Walter White has taught us anything, all the ingredients of interest do seem to indicate a side interest in homemade methamphetamine.

Brew on foodgrade.
 
Guys, let's get serious for a minute here.

I brewed a TMNT SMaSH (Donatello style). The brew day went swimmingly... I crushed grains the night before and woke up bright and early to get to it. I flipped on the burner for the strike water and got my kid dressed and off to Grandma and Grandpa's house.

I had a drink when I got home, which was probably a mistake, because it was only 8:30. I kind of dicked around the house a bit and overheated my strike water, so I decided to take a shower instead of adding cold water.

Got out, threw away my can from the shower beer and told the wife it was time to mash in. She did an AWESOME job, poured it nice and slow while I stirred like a drunken whirling dervish. Hit my mash temp spot-freaking-on and insulated that sucker.

I had about 30 mins to kill, so I poured a ZD from the keg and proceeded to drink two more. I also watched about 10 mins of Bob's Burgers on Netflix, it was the episode where Bob (Jon Benjamin) makes a bunch of hilarious puns. Anyway, slammed some beers is the moral of the story.

So, I went to sparge and start the boil on my "first runnings." Sparged in my "sparging bucket" with 180° water. Couple o' dunks, and some more drunken stirring. It was super cool. Drank some more too.

BAM! Pre-boil OG... bang on. What up?

I started doing all the hop additions... all 1 oz, so it was tight not to have to weigh anything. Just all, BOOM! There's an ounce! How about another? BOOM! KI-YAAAIIIIII!!!

Well, when it came time to cut the flame, I grabbed my hopstand addition and popped it in the bag. Just then, my wife yelled that my kid was home and I spilled beer on my shirt... it startled me, ok? Show me a man that doesn't cower at the sound of his wife's voice, and I'll show you a damn liar.

Well, without thinking, my lizard brain dropped the hop bag in the kettle and I ran into the house.

I didn't say "Boom."

I know this was a mistake, so I went out about 10 mins later and yelled "BOOM!" at the kettle, louder than normal, since more is usually better.

I know it's a rookie mistake and I should have known better, but I was just so startled.

So, I guess my question is, should I dump this batch?
 
Psylocide said:
Guys, let's get serious for a minute here.

...RAMBLE RAMBLE I'M FRAID OF MY WIFE RAMBLE..

So, I guess my question is, should I dump this batch?
Click to expand...

Not just yet. Best to let it ferment out, package it, and send it to my lab for sampling/notes/pictures of your beer doing things they don't have where you live. Like looking at trees or something.
 
Psylocide said:
Guys, let's get serious for a minute here.


I didn't say "Boom."

I know this was a mistake, so I went out about 10 mins later and yelled "BOOM!" at the kettle, louder than normal, since more is usually better.

I know it's a rookie mistake and I should have known better, but I was just so startled.

So, I guess my question is, should I dump this batch?
Click to expand...

Where is the "I laughed my bollox off, like" button. Champion prose. Shower beer... champion, just tremendous.
 
foodgrade, it sounds like you have a nice budget. For the right price I am sure that one of the members here could hook you up with some premium brewing equipment.
 
fuzzy2133 said:
What is the proper vodka to hop ratio to make hop extract?
:mug: in advance
Click to expand...

Depends on how Russian you are.

cyka blyat!

68.jpg
 

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