Former wine maker, aspiring beer brewer

[browning348]

I’m looking for a simple 1-2 gallon beer recipe. I like pretty much all styles of beer. Dark, light, hoppy, bitter, etc. Pale ales, stouts, and porters are my favorites. Looking for suggestions of recipes to get the process down. Thanks in advance

 

[RM-MN]

In the black bar at the top of every page on HomeBrewTalk is a section called Recipes. Click on that and take your pick. Recipes are scalable to whatever quantity you want.

 

[Lefou]

For other ideas, BYO has great info.
For styles and hints I sometimes use Kegerator.com. Choose "Learning Center" on the homepage menu bar.

 

[Yooper]

I was a long time winemaker before starting to brew. Since you make wine, you likely have everything you need to make a batch of beer, except for a brew pot. For a one gallon batch, you'll need a pot that holds about 2.5 gallons ideally. And a stove that can boil that size volume.

Do you want to start with all-grain, or an extract beer for your first? Both are fairly straight forward, but many find extract a bit less bothersome for the first few batches.

 

[browning348]

I was a long time winemaker before starting to brew. Since you make wine, you likely have everything you need to make a batch of beer, except for a brew pot. For a one gallon batch, you'll need a pot that holds about 2.5 gallons ideally. And a stove that can boil that size volume.

Do you want to start with all-grain, or an extract beer for your first? Both are fairly straight forward, but many find extract a bit less bothersome for the first few batches.

I’ve ordered an extract kit for a brown, but will eventually go to all grain. I would like to get the hang of it and eventually make my own styles, try to get creative without getting too complicated.

 

[browning348]

And yes I have all the equipment from making wine and a pot big enough to do 1 gallon batches until I decide to move up to larger and need bigger pots.

 

[browning348]

I was a long time winemaker before starting to brew. Since you make wine, you likely have everything you need to make a batch of beer, except for a brew pot. For a one gallon batch, you'll need a pot that holds about 2.5 gallons ideally. And a stove that can boil that size volume.

Do you want to start with all-grain, or an extract beer for your first? Both are fairly straight forward, but many find extract a bit less bothersome for the first few batches.

Fast forward 2 weeks....mixed up a mr beer irish stout and its coming along nicely. It should be ready to bottle in a few days. I also have an all grain brown that I tried my hand at last Sunday. Everything went good, 8 hours after pitching yeast there was a burst of activity that carried for about 30 hours, then just stopped. My question is, is that normal for beer? Or do I have a stuck fermentation? I know my wine was always steady for about a month. I have some yeast nutrient, should I add some to kick it back in gear?

 

[RM-MN]

Ales often do a fast ferment. They don't carry on like wines because they don't have that much sugar to work with nor do they get slowed down by the amount of alcohol that a wine would.

 

[browning348]

Ales often do a fast ferment. They don't carry on like wines because they don't have that much sugar to work with nor do they get slowed down by the amount of alcohol that a wine would.

So what about the nutrient? Yay or nay?

 

[Nebraskan]

I would pass at this moment. Sure sign of struggling fermentation is the smell of sulfur as in rotten eggs type. Usually indicative that the yeast is not happy with the level of free available nitrogen. Add it too late, though and there are not enough yeast that would benefit, and more often than not, other micro organisms will increase because of it.

 

[browning348]

Ok, I’ll ride it out and see how it is in about 10 days.

 

[RM-MN]

So what about the nutrient? Yay or nay?

When you make wine, the must is lacking the nutrients the yeast need for propagation. Wort already has that nutrient (free amino nitrogen) and just needs oxygen. Your beer should be doing just fine.