Rookie from Upstate NY (Rochester)

[thughes]

Been lurking (and learning) for a few months now, figured a formal introduction was in order:

"Hi, I'm Todd and I'm addicted to making tasty beer".

The GF hooked me with a Mr. Beer for Christmas this past year (ya, I know.....) and it's been downhill from there. After my introduction, I dove in with some True Brew kits; got a 12 pack each of the Porter and IPA left (turned out pretty good) and a case and a half of the Red Ale still in the pipe that gets better every week (scrapped the kit's dry yeast for some Wyeast Irish Ale in that one).

Moved to AG and did my first batch in March (simple 2 row Pale/Crystal 60 Sierra clone), still bottle conditioning (2 weeks now, hard to stay out of it). 2nd AG batch is in the secondary, same grain bill/hop schedule as first, just switched yeast (figure I'd stick to a simple recipe and change 1 ingredient at a time to get a feel/taste for how things affect the final product).

Finally got a batch of the obligatory Apflewein mixed up last night. Feeling a bit lazy this weekend so I'm doing an extract kit tomorrow: a True Brew Red Ale with Wyeast Irish Ale and a combination of Cascade and Amarillo (planning on trying some dry hopping too) in an attempt to replicate Ithaca's Cascazilla. Gonna be interesting to see how doing a full boil (thanks to the AG equipment) will affect the outcome.

Woohoo! I'm a brewer now.

 

[bierhaus15]

Welcome to the obsession, from Syracuse.

 

[DragonTail]

Welcome

 

[sicabeer]

Hello back from NY too,
Wow if your a rookie, then I'm just on the side lines.
Do you use New york apples to make your Apfelwein?

 

[brewslut]

welcome to HBT!!

 

[BigErn]

Welcome. Living in West Michigan but origionaly from Syracuse.

 

[CBK]

Welcome. Just getting ready for my first all grain batch.

 

[thughes]

Hello back from NY too,
Wow if your a rookie, then I'm just on the side lines.
Do you use New york apples to make your Apfelwein?

That's the plan come Fall. For now I just needed to get the first batch going so I used the cheapest juice I could find at the grocery store. There are a couple of local farms around here that press apples, so I will definitely be trying that once the local crop is in season. The good mills use UV light instead of pasteurization so the cider actually tastes like cider (instead of like apple juice). Stay tuned........

 

[sicabeer]

Please post pictures of it when you do.

 

[JJPicardo]

Greetings. I just got into this "hobby" this weekend. I bought a K6 brewing kit at Beers of the World and made my first batch of True Brew Oaked Imperial Stout. So far, it's fermenting like crazy in the carboy. Seems like things are going well.

 

[thughes]

Welcome to the "hobby" (heh heh). Trust me, won't be long before you'll have several fermenters going and a good supply of beer socked away. Hardest part is leaving it alone until it's really ready to drink!

 

[JJPicardo]

Welcome to the "hobby" (heh heh). Trust me, won't be long before you'll have several fermenters going and a good supply of beer socked away. Hardest part is leaving it alone until it's really ready to drink!

Yes, this I can already tell. I'm already looking to pick up a couple more glass carboy's and air locks so that I can get a couple other batches fermenting. And I'm thinking about kegging instead of bottling. I think I should slow down.

 

[thughes]

Unless you're adamant on having glass, I'd recommend the Better Bottle plastic carboys. The 6 gal models are only $25.00 at Beers o/t World (half the price of glass) and they are a lot lighter and easier to handle. I've got three of them I use for secondaries and 2 buckets for primaries (and they are all full right now.... ).

Thinking about kegging here too (I have everything but the kegs) but I need to get another fridge. OTOH, I kind of like having all those cases full of bottles stacked up in the basement, something satisfying about the mass quantity that you just don't get when looking at a corny keg.

 

[JJPicardo]

Unless you're adamant on having glass, I'd recommend the Better Bottle plastic carboys. The 6 gal models are only $25.00 at Beers o/t World (half the price of glass) and they are a lot lighter and easier to handle. I've got three of them I use for secondaries and 2 buckets for primaries (and they are all full right now.... ).

Thinking about kegging here too (I have everything but the kegs) but I need to get another fridge. OTOH, I kind of like having all those cases full of bottles stacked up in the basement, something satisfying about the mass quantity that you just don't get when looking at a corny keg.

I've heard that glass carboy's are much easier to keep sanitized then the plastic carboys, any truth to this?

Bottles do have a certain authenticity and allure to them. However, I'm thinking about building a bar in my basement, and nothing looks more authentic then having a half dozen or so taps lined up with your own brew in them.

 

[thughes]

I've heard that glass carboy's are much easier to keep sanitized then the plastic carboys, any truth to this?

Dunno, only run 3-4 batches through each one so far and haven't had a problem. Good sanitation practices would be more important than the glass vs plastic debate, I would think. Only issue with plastic would be if you scratched it but my beer only sits 2-3 weeks in the secondaries and then it's just a matter of rinsing, filling it up with water and oxyclean for a couple hour soak, then rinsing again. No brushes, no scrubbing, no scratches, no worries!

(Of course I am not an expert........)

 

[JJPicardo]

Dunno, only run 3-4 batches through each one so far and haven't had a problem. Good sanitation practices would be more important than the glass vs plastic debate, I would think. Only issue with plastic would be if you scratched it but my beer only sits 2-3 weeks in the secondaries and then it's just a matter of rinsing, filling it up with water and oxyclean for a couple hour soak, then rinsing again. No brushes, no scrubbing, no scratches, no worries!

(Of course I am not an expert........)

Oxyclean... hmmm that's interesting. Does this work well?

 

[thughes]

Does for me, usually a good rinsing gets the gook out of the bottom and leaves it pretty clean. The oxyclean is just for good measure. I do my primary in buckets and then rack to secondary after a week so I don't really have to worry about scrubbing a krausen ring from inside a carboy.

Buckets are cheap, so if they get scratched up from cleaning all the good stuff that primary fermenting leaves behind they simply get relegated to car/motorcycle washing buckets.