Female brewers

[Geirfuglinn]

Hello Yooper, boss woman
You are right, of course it does not matter male or female, I just got curious after seeing many posts featuring disapproving wifes
In France it is sometimes difficult to find stuff, in the UK they sell malts from everywhere, not just British ones. Anyhow I have looked into it a bit more and I may try and get some grain here. I can get big bags of pilsner, amber, vienna, and smaller of others. A bag of Pilsner would cost me 38 USD, dont know about postage yet. How much do you pay for a bag like that in the US?

I think it will be worth for me to reuse yeast, for anyone I suppose really as it pushes the cost down...

Thanks for your answer, I am looking forward to this new adventure

 

[Yooper]

Hello Yooper, boss woman
You are right, of course it does not matter male or female, I just got curious after seeing many posts featuring disapproving wifes
In France it is sometimes difficult to find stuff, in the UK they sell malts from everywhere, not just British ones. Anyhow I have looked into it a bit more and I may try and get some grain here. I can get big bags of pilsner, amber, vienna, and smaller of others. A bag of Pilsner would cost me 38 USD, dont know about postage yet. How much do you pay for a bag like that in the US?

I think it will be worth for me to reuse yeast, for anyone I suppose really as it pushes the cost down...

Thanks for your answer, I am looking forward to this new adventure

Here, bags of UK or French grain run about $75 for 55 pounds. I can find deals by buying in bulk, and just paid $55 at one store. That's not so common though.

Cheaper US base grain is usually $40-50 per sack, 50 pounds.

Shipping is very expensive, so I do a road trip and pick up several sacks at a time.

For most beers, you'll want pale malt whether French or Belgian or US or German, etc. You probably won't need big sacks of amber malt or anything like that, just base grains. You will want some caramel malt/crystal malt, and maybe one or two others depending on what you're making. for example, if you're making a stout you'll want something different for specialty grains than you would if you're making an American pale ale.

For IPAs and APAs, those are super simple grainbills. Just base malt, with a pound of crystal/caramel malt in them for the most part. There are variations of course, but you could easily get by with that.

 

[podz]

I think it will be worth for me to reuse yeast, for anyone I suppose really as it pushes the cost down...

I reuse yeast for 3-4 times, but not more than that because it starts to mutate and change flavors.

Best thing to do is buy a 100-pack of centrifuge tubes with caps and then make up a starter, wash your yeast, fill your tubes and freeze them. Each tube can be used to make a new starter and you don't get the generational mutations that you do with reuse.

So, you could buy 4 of your favorite yeasts and do 25 tubes each. Doesn't take a whole lot of space in the freezer...

 

[Geirfuglinn]

Thanks for the advice podz! I think i will do the yeast washing as mentioned in the sticky of my Wyeast, which should give me a few more brews

 

[Geirfuglinn]

Hi again Yooper. I just found that on the French site ( bieres du monde) I can get the delivery for free on an order over 120 pounds ( where for a 55 pounds bag it was 20 usd). Thought thatw as pretty cool Sounds like I can gett he malts cheaper here, as I said 38 dollars for a 55 pound bag, the fre postage makes it pretty cool! So I will be placing a big order with them, thought to get 2 base malts, pilsner and pale ale. And. then of course some speciality grains. I saw they have Munich 15 and 25, never seen those 2 mentioned, always just Munich malt.
I will wait a bit though before I place the order, so I am sure to get all I need. Still need to see my brewing equipment which is coming Tuesday. Right now I only have a plastic keg and fermenter, but come Tuesday.... that will all change
Thanks again for your advice. I have seen some of your beer recipes and am thinking of having a go at them.

 

[Yooper]

Hi again Yooper. I just found that on the French site ( bieres du monde) I can get the delivery for free on an order over 120 pounds ( where for a 55 pounds bag it was 20 usd). Thought thatw as pretty cool Sounds like I can gett he malts cheaper here, as I said 38 dollars for a 55 pound bag, the fre postage makes it pretty cool! So I will be placing a big order with them, thought to get 2 base malts, pilsner and pale ale. And. then of course some speciality grains. I saw they have Munich 15 and 25, never seen those 2 mentioned, always just Munich malt.
I will wait a bit though before I place the order, so I am sure to get all I need. Still need to see my brewing equipment which is coming Tuesday. Right now I only have a plastic keg and fermenter, but come Tuesday.... that will all change
Thanks again for your advice. I have seen some of your beer recipes and am thinking of having a go at them.

That's great news, that you can get your malts at a good price.

When you're ready, you can order what you need. I'd check out a few recipes, to see which grains you'd be likely to need.

I assume you know that grains must be crushed, but I thought I'd point that out again so that when you get all your things together you make sure you have a way to crush the grain. I have a barley crusher, designed for brewing grains, but there are other options out there as well. A "corona" style mill can work well.

As far as equipment, some brewers go with "Brew in a Bag" (BIAB) to make it easier on equipment purchases. We have a forum for that, if that may be something you're interested in.

 

[Geirfuglinn]

Hi again Yooper. Yes thatw as exactly what i was going to do, check some recipes and look what grains I will most likely need. I can always just get 2 bags of pale ale malt if it is more likely I will use that one all thetimer ather than Pilsner/ blond.

With the equipment my partner will come home with on Tuesday is also a Valley mill for crushing barley A mashtun, boiler, cooker etc. So I think we should be all set up after that

 

[podz]

With the equipment my partner will come home with on Tuesday is also a Valley mill for crushing barley A mashtun, boiler, cooker etc. So I think we should be all set up after that

Hand crank will wear you out! Here's some more advice: remove the motor and a few pulleys plus pulley belt from a broken clothes washing machine and use it to power your grain mill. These are really nice motors because they are usually "universal", meaning that they can operate on either AC or DC power. Mount the whole thing on a piece of wood and put an on/off switch on it. This is really, really easy to do. If you want to get even more "cool", fix it up so the grain mill can be unmounted and replaced with a meat grinder. Old, hand crank meat grinders can be found pretty cheaply. Then you can grind your own meat for making sausage!

 

[Geirfuglinn]

Thanks for the advice podz! My partner is already thinking of ways to put a motor on the mill. I just let him do the grinding and I am sure a motor will be on it soon enough. Will pass your advice on to him... he is one of those people keeping old stuff around in case he may need a part from it. I think we have an old washing machine. A few months ago he managed to fix the fan and aircon in my car by using something of an old breadbaker.

 

[Yooper]

Thanks for the advice podz! My partner is already thinking of ways to put a motor on the mill. I just let him do the grinding and I am sure a motor will be on it soon enough. Will pass your advice on to him... he is one of those people keeping old stuff around in case he may need a part from it. I think we have an old washing machine. A few months ago he managed to fix the fan and aircon in my car by using something of an old breadbaker.

I hand cranked for years. It's not too bad with only about 10 pounds of grain. I now use my little drill, and for 25 pounds of grain it's really quick and easy.

 

[Geirfuglinn]

I think a drill was the intention... I saw that mentioned many places.

 

[rocketsan]

Oh, by the way, many of the females on this forum don't have an avatar or a name that says "I am a girl!" on them. Just looking through this thread, one woman has a picture of a car, one has a license plate, one has a dog, and so on.



I think it's great that we're just brewers here, and that gender isn't at all a factor. While many of us have become great friends, the fact is that we all have brewing in common and are at different stages from beginner to expert gives us all a great sense of camaraderie. After all, we're here for the beer!

Sure, but like a woman who can talk football or computers, there's something intriguing about a woman who can talk grains and yeast and not be talking about baking or bodily infections..


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[rocketsan]

Sorry iPhone double post

 

[unionrdr]

Yeah, I have to agree as well. Gender doesn't matter or bother me. My wife picked up on brewing quite nicely. Being a good cook I think helped a lot. She even said that brewing beer was a lot like making soup or something. And the smell doesn't bother her, now that she's learned what it smells & looks like at different stages. Ya gotta love that!

 

[Yooper]

Sure, but like a woman who can talk football or computers, there's something intriguing about a woman who can talk grains and yeast and not be talking about baking or bodily infections..


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew

Well, the Packers sucked today didn't they? And I just got a new computer................

But as far as bodily infections, um, nah. I got nothin'.

Just wait until I start chatting about the debranching of amylopectins in the mash, and that should really excite you. :cross:

 

[Melana]

Well, the Packers sucked today didn't they? And I just got a new computer................



But as far as bodily infections, um, nah. I got nothin'.



Just wait until I start chatting about the debranching of amylopectins in the mash, and that should really excite you. :cross:

I'm thinking about starting up my sourdough again..... And I made this cake over the weekend.....

 

[podz]

Just wait until I start chatting about the debranching of amylopectins in the mash, and that should really excite you. :cross:

You've said before that you're no chemist, but I'm starting to wonder ;-)

 

[william_shakes_beer]

I assume you don't have a beard... er..... do you?

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f14/beard-not-beard-hbt-facial-hair-analysis-poll-457140/

FWIW, my LHBS is owned and operated by a woman. (no beard)

 

[GrogNerd]

I love it when a girl starts talking soluble polysaccharides

it's so sweet

bada boom cha. I'll be here all week. try the veal. tip your waitress.

 

[brewkinger]

Ok ok.... I think that with all this female induced chemistry and science discussion that this thread might belong over in the Boneyard.

Yooper or another mod....?????

We better hope brewmcq or some of the other boneyarders don't stumble upon this thread!!!

Lol


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[Dontdropthebeer]

Not to hijack the thread but where in France are you? My wife is from the south (Aix) and I actually just got back from a visit there. We have been talking about moving there and I was contemplating how my homebrewing would be affected by living there (availability of ingredients mostly)

Bienvenue!


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[Temptd2]

Hey hey hey! Another female brewer here. Didn't know I was a "brewster" though til I read this thread. Have always referred to myself as "brewmeistriss" but whatevah ya calls me - I still love to brew some beer with KOTC (King of the Castle) - we're pretty good at it by now too, if I may say so myself.

Welcome aboard!

 

[unionrdr]

Interesting to note that in my research of the history of beer in my latest book, female deities like Ninkasi were like the patron saints of brewing to the Sumerians. Part of one poem to her from 3,900 years ago went, " Ninkasi, you are the one who pours out filtered beer of the collector vat. It is [like] the onrush of Tigris & Euphrates". Women & priestesses brewed them, some beers for religious rites only. So y'all have some history here!

 

[Geirfuglinn]

Hello Dont drop the beer, We are in the Charente Maritime, an hour from Bordeaux, so abit a different area. I found this site ccalled bieresdumonde and you seem to be able to buy many different grains there, not a big choice in yeast though. But enough to keep brewing I would think!

 

[Geirfuglinn]

Hello Temptd2 breiwmeistriss sounds good to me! I hope I will get good at it at some stage...

 

[Temptd2]

Hello Temptd2 breiwmeistriss sounds good to me! I hope I will get good at it at some stage...

Like anything else - the more you do it, the better you get at it! Keep after it and you'll learn so much and make some really good beer. We just started a Moondog Midnight Porter this morning. Can't wait to taste it in 5 weeks! LOL!

 

[alliemackie]

Oh hey, more female brewers. Brewsters. Whatever. Represent.

I brew with my SO, but I'm every bit as involved as him - we compliment one another's skillsets. He's numerical, I'm artistic. We both love the entire brewing process and we're huge beer nerds.

Tomorrow night I'm going to my first social meetup for our local Barley's Angels chapter, which is awesome. More female brewers and beer-lovers, locally? Yes please.

Though I do dig that thus far, despite being a male-dominated hobby, everyone's helpful, respectful and really awesome regardless of gender. So far, my gender hasn't played any negative role in the hobby or the people we've met. There are male-dominated hobbies where this would not happen. More reason homebrewing is awesome, I guess.

 

[Melana]

Welcome alliemackie! Glad to have you onboard!

 

[Geirfuglinn]

Hi ther Alliemackie, pleasure meeting you here Sounds like you and your hubby have a good brewing partnership there! With us it is more me planning the recipes and process and he helps with the practical stuff
I would love to have a brewing club anywhere here, but unfortunately no such luck in the Fench countryside.
I just ordered ingredients for 5 different brews which my partner will pick up in the UK Looking forward to brewing again next week! Just in time for a Christmas beer...

 

[clairecunn83]

Yeah, I have to agree as well. Gender doesn't matter or bother me. My wife picked up on brewing quite nicely. Being a good cook I think helped a lot. She even said that brewing beer was a lot like making soup or something.

Hi, guys! Fellow newbie female brewer here, as well!

Brewing is a LOT like cooking! I think many women make/would make excellent brewers due to their familiarity in the kitchen and knowledge of ingredients and cooking/baking procedures. My overall culinary enthusiasm is actually what got me into brewing. I have a personal motto: "If I can buy it, then I can make it!" I love learning new crafts and the challenges! My brewing/fermenting first started with kombucha and kefir, then moved to meads and wines, and recently into beer. I mean, it doesn't get much cooler than making your own booze! :rockin:

- Claire