Howdy from NC

[electronjunkie]

Drank a couple of amazing Belgian style ales but they are so damn expensive and hard to find!

Anyway I've always wanted to brew my own beer and I guess this nudged me into finding out how to do it myself.

I already roast my own coffee, good stuff and cheap too.

Can I make less than 5 gallons like just one gallon? or is that not practical. I'd like to brew a gallon at the time so if I screw up I am not out so many ingredients. It also seems like it might be easier to start with that quantity as I would not need so many damn bottles and I am not that heavy a drinker (yet).

 

[slowbie]

Welcome! I'm about to move to NC myself in a couple of months. It would be possible to make just one gallon, but it would probably require you to get a good scale right away because of the small amounts of hops you'd be working with. The main reason people don't typically do smaller batches AFAIK is that it takes just as long to make a five gallon batch as a one gallon batch. So if you have the time, there's nothing wrong with one gallon batches.

Also, as a word of encouragement, as long as you get and use a good no rinse sanitizer, start out with tried and true recipes before you try something crazy like PB&J beer, and don't let your fermentation temperatures get too out of control, it's very likely that you will come out with drinkable beer.

 

[electronjunkie]

Thanks for the reply slowbie. NC has it all mountains and beaches man, but too many pine trees for me. What part of NC?

I'm not interested in anything but tried and true recipes right now, mainly Belgian but I'll try something cheap 1st of course

 

[skeeordye11]

Welcome electronjunkie. Go over to American Brewmaster and tell them what you're trying to do and they should steer you in the right direction. I know they have a Belgian Blonde extract kit over there, but it is for a 5gal batch, but I'm sure they can get you set up to do it on a smaller scale. Happy Brewing!
http://www.americanbrewmaster.com/

 

[slowbie]

I'm moving to Raleigh to start grad school at NC State. Also, I'll second the above poster and say that kits can be a great place to start. If you know specifically what style you want, you can probably find a kit at one of the online stores. That being said, once you have a good batch or two, don't be afraid to find other recipes and stray away from kits. Kits are just nice because you know you have everything you need and you don't have to worry about forgetting something. It's also nice to have written directions the first time you brew IMO. But plenty of people have started without them, so don't feel like you have to start with kits either.

 

[electronjunkie]

Thx guys I intend to read that online book in the FAQ and some more on the forums before I go out and buy anything. I jumped into RC heli's too quick and bought junk from a hobbyshop that didn't know the 1st thing about Collective Pitch RC helis.

BTW slowbie I went to NCSU for a Masters in EE, what are you there for?

 

[slowbie]

Thx guys I intend to read that online book in the FAQ and some more on the forums before I go out and buy anything. I jumped into RC heli's too quick and bought junk from a hobbyshop that didn't know the 1st thing about Collective Pitch RC helis.

BTW slowbie I went to NCSU for a Masters in EE, what are you there for?

Masters in EE. Hoping to continue to my PhD though.

 

[bosox]

I started my first batch of beer with a beer kit and they're great. They give you very detailed instructions and everything is pre-measured for you, as they are most of the time anyways.

I'd suggest to you a book that someone here suggested to me 2 months ago called "The Complete Joy of Home Brewing" by Charlie Papazian. I have the 3rd edition and it's great. It breaks up brewing into beginner stages, intermediate stages, and advanced. Breaks down some basic information about beer and homebrewing, and gets more advanced from anything to specific traits of hops and malts and grains to at least 100 different recipies of world class beer. Great book, helped me infinitely in understanding the brewing process.

Like others said, brewing 5 gallons is just more convinet then brewing 1. Plus the beer you bottle has a very long shelf life, and doesn't need to be drunk(drank?) quickly at all. 5 Gallons only comes out to about 50 bottles.

Anyways, good luck

 

[electronjunkie]

Thx bosox, I went ahead and got that book. We'll see where I go from here. I intend to start off with smaller batches. My friend tried to brew his own beer, and while it was good, he had a hard time getting it right the 1st few times and as long as the ingredients keep I'll just divide it up.

 

[DragonTail]

Welcome

 

[Barc]

Welcome!

I might suggest doing at least 2 or 3 gallons at a time. 1 gallon will yeild about 9 - 10 12 oz bottles. And if you're brewing Belgians, the time spent brewing will only be a drop in a very large bucket of time waiting for the beer to "finish." Even if you only drank 1 beer a week, you'd still be pushing it to get another batch done before you'd be out; a typical rule you'll see on here is 1 week in the primary, 2 weeks in secondary (actually combined into a 3 week primary by lots of folks), and 3 weeks in the bottle to carb. Midwest's Tripel recommends a full year in the fermenter before bottling, fyi.

Anyway, do what you like! That's one of the joys of homebrewing; you're never really "wrong."

 

[electronjunkie]

I guess I'll go ahead and make 2 1/2 gal. I am still reading through the online book and trying to wrap my head around the different stages and theory behind them.

I read threw deathbrew's all grain pocedure and it seems doable. All my friends got brew kits about 10 years ago and everyone's tasted exactly the same. I'm sure this was due to the extract at the local store was of poor quality at the time.