Hey all from San Diego!

[joknatson]

Hi everyone!

I'm a brewing-nubblet in San Diego. Just got started at the beginning of the year and have been lurking through this forum for just as long. I was prompted to sign up by my absolute need of help and discussion and idea-bouncing and all of the other etceteras you can think of.

I have two needs: knowledge and beer. Both are satisfied by brewing, and it's a great group activity so brew with me or invite me to brew with you!

 

[joknatson]

Did I mention I have LOADS to learn? =\

 

[Farwalker]

Welcome!! well theres loads of info on here what have you brewed so far yo?

 

[joknatson]

Thank you thank you. I started with a blue moon clone for the girl...didn't work out very well...found it's way into the SD sewer system. After that...
1. a pale that tasted of smokey corn and failure
2. a bastard wheat that wasn't terrible
3. an IPA that also tasted of smokey corn and more failure
4. an IPA that tasted AMAZING...then 4 days later when I went to bottle, tasted like a sour mash. I nearly cried, it was an awesome west coast style IPA for about a day.
5. Now I have a proper german hefeweizen in primary (just brewed sunday). Pretty excited about this one, had a fantastic brew day.

How about yourself?

 

[Farwalker]

Best brew so far is my english ale first batch then a corona clone. Then for some reason I had an american steam that tasted of band-aids
oh man one sip o that and the batch went down the drain XD I think it got contaminated at bottling with bleach I came in after leaving my bottling
bucket for a moment and there was a glass i was using with a little bleach in it for sanitizing that was on the floor, didnt quite know if any got in the
beer so i bottled it anyway hehe MISTAKE! Ive got a Honeyweizen and an american lager in the fermenters right now.Get to bottle my lager today whoot whoot!

 

[joknatson]

That's what I did with my last IPA. Bottled it anyway, but it didn't even carbonate. Whatever soured it must've attacked the yeast as well. Wretchedly undrinkable. I suppose my best so far was my bastard wheat, simply because it was reasonably drinkable.

Is bleach a viable sanitizer? I have to admit I've never heard of its use in fermentation. I'm an iodophor guy myself; cheaper than StarSan, just as long as I don't spill or splash it.

 

[gsector]

Generally, star san is regarded as the best, iodophor a close second, and bleach is tough to work with. If you find you are throwing out lots of batches due to possible sanitation troubles, you might want to try star san, its way cheaper than throwing out 5 gallons of beer.

 

[SteveBrewSD]

I soak used bottles in bleach for awhile (1 week+) to get the labels off and then clean, rinse, and dry them. Then soak them in iodophor to sanitize them before bottling. It has worked well so far!

 

[joknatson]

Oh man. I soak 'em for an hour in hot water and scrape 'em with the dull side of a butter knife. This has brought the realization that some breweries use what appears to be GORILLA GLUE on their labels (Karl Strauss) while other labels nearly fall right off (Ballast Point).

Kirkland beer from Costco is a great deal as well. You get a box of 24 beers, the bottles are perfect for homebrewing, all for $18! And the labels aren't that much of a burden either. Finally, the box they come in is great for bottle storage.

 

[Farwalker]

I use bleach for all of my sanitizing, but you gotta really rinse the crap out of it!
Its prolly easier for me cuz I have my hot water tank turned all the way up so hot as heck water and a lil bleach works for me, Im nowhere near a home brewing shop so I use it. Ive not had a batch infected yet except for the mishap stated above