Is that the 7.1 cu ft Haier or a bigger one?
Looked at the 7.1 today, seems small but seems like I can easily lift something over the edges.
Yes 7.1
Is that the 7.1 cu ft Haier or a bigger one?
Looked at the 7.1 today, seems small but seems like I can easily lift something over the edges.
If you don't want to go with glass carboys, and would prefer a spigot, then look no further than the very German Speidel
fermenter!
If you go with any fermenter with a spigot be prepared for an infection. There is no way to keep them totally clean during the fermentation period.
Really? I'm on batch 8 of beer in a fermenter with a spigot. No infections.
How long do I have to wait for my first one?
There is no replacement for experience... No amount of reading or research can replace the experience of doing something, failing and learning from it.
Lagers are not only more advanced a beer to brew, they can require a bit more equipment to do exceptionally well. Only you can decide the amount of investment you wish to make up front before brewing a single beer... Most beginners start with a modest investment and try to learn good techniques before making large equipment investments. Ales are more forgiving, extract is more forgiving. When you get into all grain lagers and replicating a commercial style you enjoy the number of variables you must master is pretty much out of reach to the novice Brewer.
The stubbornness or diligence in study is largely irrelevant here. You need practical experience.
It is also true that there can be many ways to get to the same destination and it is through experience that a Brewer learns which techniques do and don't work for their system, their style, the ingredients available and so forth....
I would suggest focusing less on the end product you're aiming for and more on mastery of the techniques and your equipment. Brewing a variety of styles is part of the learning process and allows you to both make mistakes and achieve success.
It will take quite some experience and time to master the variables necessary to reproduce an augusteiner helles- grain bill, grain source, grain grind, water chemistry, mash temperature and duration, fermentation schedule, yeast profile, hop additions, IBUs, original gravity, attenuation, lagering process, CO2 volumes, equipment efficiency, temperature control and about 100 or more other variables... Not the least of which is that the beer you are trying to replicate is made commercially and you are using a Homebrew system to try and make a version at the 5 or 10gallon level. It's not like baking a cake where all you need to do is scale the ingredients to the right batch size.
Brewing is part art, part science and part luck. You dont make beer, yeast make beer, you make wort. And right now you've never made wort, and yout have no experience or idea how augusteiner makes their wort.
The recipe you use with your ingredients and your equipment could be different than what augusteiner uses to make a beer that tastes and looks and smells just like theirs. That is the magic experiment of brewing. It is not just a destination, it is the journey you take and the many decisions you make getting there.
So I strongly suggest finding a brewing club in PA or buying a kit of some sort to eliminate some variables from your first brewing session and start brewing and you will soon then realize what many of us already know... Wanting to do it and doing it are two different things. And you may also find that you can create a recipe and brew all your own that in time and with experience surpasses what can be reasonably produced on a commercial scale.
Speidel has some great brewing equipment you should check out. I use two of their fermenters and they work great. I also have a 20l Braumeister on the way shortly.
If you go with any fermenter with a spigot be prepared for an infection. There is no way to keep them totally clean during the fermentation period.
I have the red & white Italian spigots on my fermenters & bottling bucket. Save for the old Cooper's Micro Brew FV, it uses the Cooper's style screw in one. I take'em apart every time & soak in PBW, scrubbing them inside with a set of three aquarium filter lift-tube brushes. Then rinse well, sanitize with Starsan, & re-assemble wet to the bucket.
They don't cause infections if you keep them clean & sanitary. When I brew my dampfbier & kottbusser, I use as many German grains, extracts & yeast as I can get over here to keep them more authentic flavor & aroma-wise. But I use the processes that've worked for me. So I think that is what you need to figure out. What particular processes that'll work in your situation.
Wow, I love your drive to get an understanding of the brew process. I got into homebrewing as a chance to replicate the great wiezen beers I had enjoyed in Bavaria years ago. And your mention of Augustiner brought back memories of drinking the Weihnachtsbock at the brewery. Good luck on your brewing.
One thing I found when I started, which you are experiencing now, is information overload. Many of the pieces didn't seem to fit together. What helped me was to start brewing simply, then I kept going back to Palmer's book after brewing a batch or two and re-reading sections of it. "Ah, that what is means to mash at a lower temperature.!" "That's why pH makes a difference."
Getting started and then revisiting the literature made things come together. Study is great. But if you can match it with experience, it will become knowledge and wisdom. Have a good brew career!
Best advice ever is to start out doing a couple extract kits. Easy, fun and helps with understanding the whole process.
Once you get comfortable with that, then you might consider doing a batch when you go back to Bavaria. I did this myself after discovering Augustiner, but keep in mind they have thier own well and are not using "Munich" city water so even then we can never produce an Augustiner vollbier helles "exactly" they way that the KG does and that is part of what makes them the Champagne of Bavaria.
By contrast, the Paulaner brewery on the Isar river has a channel diverted into the brewery itself so again just what you consider "Munich water" can really vary.
When next you visit München, please visit the Forschungsbräuerei across the river in Neuperlach.
http://forschungsbrauerei.de
They are the only 'micro-brewery' in MUC and the family that owns, runs and brews is very happy to talk about the biers they make and helpful explaining the process they undertake which is way more than you will ever get from the Augustiner boffins. They are also very knowledgeable about thier water so could help ya gleen some insight with what you have you work with in PA when ya cross that bridge......not to mention they are second only to Augustiner Landesbergerstrasse in every measurable way which i'd call excellant company indeed.
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