Hello From Central florida

[CourtHouseBrewing]

I just started brewing with my 23 year old son. He is in school nearby and comes home to brew with me. I got him (OK, us) a complete brew kit for Christmas and off we went. First to brew was a Double IPA Kit that came with the brew kit. It was in the primary for one week then racked to the secondary and dry hoped for one week then bottled. Having never done this we let all the stuff from the brew boil stay in the Primary, oops. After one week in the bottle we chilled and drank our first brewed beer together. I’m not sure if it came out right or not but it was very hoppy and tasted and smelled great. I think as our first try anything would have tasted great. We then did an Imperial Blonde Ale that we think is too dark and now we are trying a Pilsner which I messed up. The fridge we just got (We live in florida) didn’t go on because I cut the shelves off the door that closes the switch to make the unit come on so the 6.5 Gal carboy would fit. Oops again. I put a toothpick in the switch this morning realizing my mistake and I’m hoping I didn’t mess this up. It spent about 12 hours at 75oF. It is now on its way to 55oF. We look forward to getting better at this in time and with lots of great help from everyone here. Hope this is a good introduction for this group. Thanks for letting me join.

 

[Jdancer]

I am also in Florida, so I feel you on the fermention temp problem. Did you end up with a decent product? My friends and I have many questions about the best why to brew with lower temp yeast. Makes me that much more jealous/homesick of the "real winters."

 

[CourtHouseBrewing]

I am also in Florida, so I feel you on the fermention temp problem. Did you end up with a decent product? My friends and I have many questions about the best why to brew with lower temp yeast. Makes me that much more jealous/homesick of the "real winters."

We have conditioned our 5th batch now and so far they are all awesome.
The Pilsner just went into the fridge after being bottled conditioned. I can't wait to try this one. The Sasion Ete is ready to dry hop. It got cool again here in Orlando so I put a heating pad around it for a week. From everything I hear this is the best beer to brew in the Florida heat. I also pick my yeast not only for what I'm brewing but for the temp range I think I can keep it at. Swamp coolers also work but I think in the humidity here it's not a great choice in the house. Mold grows everywhere here so I don't like to add water to the air. I like a lot of the mods people have done here to enlarge the small refrigerators. I am thinking about making a box that uses my small fridge to hold three 5 gal batches at a time. I only need it to make 68oF and I have had this fridge cold crash the Pilsner to 33oF so it should work fine. Good luck and keep brewing.

 

[Valk0001]

Welcome to the HBT from another Floridian. Whats the old adage...Relax have a Homebrew. If its good to you then its good to go.

 

[CourtHouseBrewing]

Enjoying a Pilsner right now that we cooked up on 2/4/12. First Taste, I love this hobby, Burb, Excuse me.