Any brewers in the Conway Area?

[BowAholic]

I'm using mine right now... brewing an American pale/amber ale...

 

[Rockin_P]

Thanks guys! I really didn't see the point myself if it was going to be used for the boil. Just wanting to try and do this right the first time!

 

[estricklin]

Thanks guys! I really didn't see the point myself if it was going to be used for the boil. Just wanting to try and do this right the first time!

Probably the oilfield in me coming out, but I would say if your having doubts just go ahead and drill the hole and put a blind plug in it or a small valve, you can always use it for whatever you want later.

Oh and as for drilling holes, DON'T! Go to harbor freight or something and get one of those cheap conduit punches, about 1,000,000 times easier.

 

[Rockin_P]

Probably the oilfield in me coming out, but I would say if your having doubts just go ahead and drill the hole and put a blind plug in it or a small valve, you can always use it for whatever you want later.



Oh and as for drilling holes, DON'T! Go to harbor freight or something and get one of those cheap conduit punches, about 1,000,000 times easier.

I want to all grain and I want to go ahead and buy big enough now so I don't have to buy again later. I have a 10 gal cooler mash tun and looking at a 15 gal. Brew pot and HLT.... I want the thermometer and sight glass on the HTL but just didn't see the need for it on my boil pot.

 

[hawgwild81]

I want to all grain and I want to go ahead and buy big enough now so I don't have to buy again later. I have a 10 gal cooler mash tun and looking at a 15 gal. Brew pot and HLT.... I want the thermometer and sight glass on the HTL but just didn't see the need for it on my boil pot.

I'd put a sight glass on the boil pot. Just my 2 cents. But I like to know what I've got in the pot. If I need to keep sparging or boil longer. I think you could do without the thermometer, but I think you might wish you had the sight glass.

 

[Rockin_P]

I'd put a sight glass on the boil pot. Just my 2 cents. But I like to know what I've got in the pot. If I need to keep sparging or boil longer. I think you could do without the thermometer, but I think you might wish you had the sight glass.

I wondered about that.... That is why I want one on the HTL to keep up with how much was going in. I take it that doesn't always work?

 

[Rockin_P]

Kettle screen on the valve in the boil pot?? Thoughts...

 

[estricklin]

Kettle screen on the valve in the boil pot?? Thoughts...

I would say yes to that too.

As for the sight tube it beats the hell out of the tape measure/yard stick method. A lot of people drill a separate hole, but you can just put a Tee and a another valve on your drain valve.

 

[hawgwild81]

I wondered about that.... That is why I want one on the HTL to keep up with how much was going in. I take it that doesn't always work?

My thought is if it's on the boil kettle, you really don't need one on the HLT. You can stop the sparge when you reach your desired level. To me it would be more beneficial on the boil kettle.

 

[estricklin]

My thought is if it's on the boil kettle, you really don't need one on the HLT. You can stop the sparge when you reach your desired level. To me it would be more beneficial on the boil kettle.

Yep, plus it's really nice to know how much total volume you ended up with post boil.

 

[Rockin_P]

Ok... Do any of y'all make or have labels for your bottled beer??

 

[BowAholic]

Ok... Do any of y'all make or have labels for your bottled beer??

Eric has done some... I hate cleaning bottles so I just put a round sticker on the cap... there was a thread where a guy posted his hang tag templates...they were pretty cool.

 

[hawgwild81]

I just use a silver sharpie and write on the bottles.

 

[estricklin]

Deleted. Double Post.

 

[estricklin]

Ok... Do any of y'all make or have labels for your bottled beer??

Here are just a few of my labels below. I don't make a label for every beer, but sometimes when I feel like it I will. As you can see I made a template in photoshop. It took some time to make the template but once I made it, adding the artwork for a different beer each time is pretty simple. Sometimes I don't even do artwork but just do plain black labels on a white background in the center of my template. I started using some generic label making websites online, kinda the free stuff, but wasn't happy with the selection.

You can print your labels on regular paper and use milk and a cue-tip to make them stick to the bottle. After your done, they come off with water VERY easy. I've also bought label stock and printed them onto that, takes more time to stick them on and you'll have to soak them like commercial labels (although not as hard to get off) to remove them. Sometimes I will shrink the label size down to save time and paper and make it about 1x2 inches on the bottle.

If your designing you own label the tricky part is making sure your labels end up being printed in the right size. Have to make sure they aren't stretched or anything wacky. In photoshop I set the size of the project in inches so I wouldn't have this problem. I let windows default printing (whatever you call it) handle my printing (and NOT photoshop) and it's simple. I set the number of items per page and uncheck the box that says something like "fit to page".

The hardest part of this process is cutting the darn things out. You'll want to invest in either a good comfortable pair of siccsors or one of those paper cutters with the handle. If you download/design a label with a rounded edge it REALLY sucks to cut them out.

There are plenty of other ways that you can use to identify your beer. Bob's method with the sticky labels for the caps works good. You can tape them, use funky caps for different batches like American flags or pink ones. You can even make a mark with marker on the cap; I used to do shapes. So the Canadian Pale Ale was a star, the porter was a circle....you get the idea.

There are a lot of other ways to zazz up your bottle presentation too. You can use corks instead of caps (at your own risk). You can leave the corks sticking part of the way up on things that aren't carbonated. You can cap or cork, then dip the top in wax, then use a stencil of some sort to put a mark in the wax. You can also buy shrink wrap capsules for the top of your bottles, just dip them in boiling water for about 1-2 seconds and they shrink right up around the cap/cork and neck of your bottle.

For me the labels is just kind of for fun, I only do it every once in a while, like on a batch I'm really proud of or that I'm going to be giving away a lot of.

If you want to learn how to make your own templates with photoshop, give me a shout I can hook you up with EVERYTHING you need to learn photoshop. You can use MS Paint too, and, well other various similar software.

As you can see I'm not an artistic type, but I have fun trying!

 

[Rockin_P]

View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1428071434.758436.jpg
My 1st... Cheap free one just playing around. I have been using the sharpe. Just playing around and wondered what you guys did.

 

[Rockin_P]

Eric yours look good!!

 

[BowAholic]

dang... looking at all of those different beers made me thirsty!
Bob

 

[Rockin_P]

dang... looking at all of those different beers made me thirsty!
Bob

Exactly!!!

 

[estricklin]

View attachment 268483
My 1st... Cheap free one just playing around. I have been using the sharpe. Just playing around and wondered what you guys did.

Probably the first beer EVER to be brewed in Q town haha. Good lookin label! Makes me want an IPA.

 

[Rockin_P]

View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1428129343.947844.jpg
Still playin'...

 

[estricklin]

View attachment 268710
Still playin'...

Sure you don't wanna call it "Easy Street" since your in Quitman?

 

[BowAholic]

cool... I guess I'm going to have to learn how to do this too... :rockin:

 

[Rockin_P]

cool... I guess I'm going to have to learn how to do this too... :rockin:

Labelizer.com. It's easy and has some freebies,,,

 

[BowAholic]

Labelizer.com. It's easy and has some freebies,,,

Didn't find that one but maybe you meant this one.. beerlabelizer.com
I just joined and it's easy enough for me...
thanks.

 

[Rockin_P]

Sweet!!! @BowAholic

 

[estricklin]

My new 12x24 brew shed is up, all they have to do is come back and install the 6ft bay door on the end! I have to get my electrical service upgraded from 125 amp to 200, and run the plumbing and electrical out there. Also wanted to build some work benches and places to store bottles. Really excited about it, but a little bummed I had to put my electric brewery build on hold.

Having a Smithwhick's tonight, cheers!

 

[BowAholic]

My new 12x24 brew shed is up, all they have to do is come back and install the 6ft bay door on the end! I have to get my electrical service upgraded from 125 amp to 200, and run the plumbing and electrical out there. Also wanted to build some work benches and places to store bottles. Really excited about it, but a little bummed I had to put my electric brewery build on hold.

Having a Smithwhick's tonight, cheers!

awesome about the shed! I actually went to Old Chicago the other day and had a Smithwick's ... tasty brew.

 

[BowAholic]

Sweet!!! @BowAholic

thanks! I had no idea how easy it could be...

Bob

 

[estricklin]

thanks! I had no idea how easy it could be...

Bob

Would love to get together on my week off and brew a batch, I'd be happy to bring my tun/pot/burner over and we could each brew or something. I haven't brewed in weeks and I'm "jus startin to get the itch". Also have a guy at work who's started homebrewing and is wanting to watch someone brew.