New guy with a question or 12

[1911A1]

I've brewed and bottled twice before, but both was from a kit I bought from celler-homebrew.com and this mini-brewery, The Cellar Homebrew :: Brewing :: Home Breweries / Beginner Beer Making Kit :: Original Cellar Mini-Brewery

Those kits are ok, the beer tastes good, but I want to brew from scratch. Those kits come with a can containing a very thick liquid. I can't remember what that is now, but again I want to brew from scratch and make everything, no canned stuff. Unless perhaps that's the way it's actually done. ??

Also, I'm wanting to keg it instead of bottling. So here's the questions I have.

Is that mini-brewery good enough or is there a better alternative? Or does it even matter how it's done?

With my last batch I had to dump it because it saw that water was gathering on my stoves vent hood and dripping back into the pot. So I'd rather go with the propane burner. Is there a specific type that's recommended or will one of those turkey fryers do the job?

Ingredients... Where is the best place to buy them?

Kegs... Where do you get these and how different is this method than bottling?

Sediment... How do you get rid of it? I've used fermenters and secondaries, but still ended up with sediment in the bottles. Am I doing something wrong or is that just the way it is with home brews?

Thanks in advance.

 

[MNBugeater]

You are covering quite a diverse range of information and I suspect thats why no one has replied yet. I'll try to give you the 30,000 ft view of your scenario, but I would really suggest getting some basic understand first.

Here is a good free starting point.

How to Brew - By John Palmer
This is a great resource to get all those questions answered as is this forum, but your questions span 4-5 different sub-forums.

In reference to your "...from scratch.." approach. This would be all-grain brewing. The syrup you mention is liquid malt extract. All-grain takes a step or more back to the barley itself and creating your wort (extract + hot water) directly from the barley (i.e. Scratch). Yes, you will need some extra equipment from what your current kit contains, but nothing lost, you can still use everything. But don't fret, all grain can be done on the cheap...cooler for mash tun, homemade false bottom or manifold, etc. These terms may seem foreign but after you do a little reading of Palmers book they will make sense.

As far as kegging goes, it CAN be simpler but of course many of us make it more complicated very easily. You are looking at a temperature controlled fridge/freezer, CO2 tanks, kegs, hoses. Again..it may sound complicated but it isnt really.

Here is a good sticky on where to get ingredients.
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f12/homebrew-supply-websites-701/

And another about the ingredients
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f12/ingredient-guides-redux-107308/

Feel free to continue to ask questions but do a little reading first, it will help narrow down your questions to specific issues and for big overviews check out the correlating threads.

Welcome

 

[Munsoned]

This is one of those posts that will probably need a number of members to chime in on before you get all your answers. The info I can offer is this:

1) the canned liquid you used was probably LME (liquid malt extract). You can continue to use it (lots of people do), or you can try DME (dry malt extract), or try your hand at all-grain brewing. See the sub-forums on this site on extract brewing and all-grain brewing for some basic info.

2) I use a turkey fryer (along with a lot of other folks). It works great, although you may be more at the mercy of mother nature than you might like--my last batch took me three weeks to schedule b/c of weekend rains, e.g.

3) You can buy ingredients from your local home brew store (if you have one). There are a LOT of internet stores too. Austin Home Brew, Northern Brewer, Midwest, to name just a few. There are also vendors that post on this site--keep an eye out for them too.

4) Can't help you on the keg stuff (I'm still bottling), but I can say that the sediment in the bottles is most likely yeast, and it's totally normal in home brewing.

 

[kryolla]

Is that mini-brewery good enough or is there a better alternative? Or does it even matter how it's done?

That is a basic kit with plastic buckets as fermenters which is good enough

With my last batch I had to dump it because it saw that water was gathering on my stoves vent hood and dripping back into the pot. So I'd rather go with the propane burner. Is there a specific type that's recommended or will one of those turkey fryers do the job?

Water dripping back in is okay because the boil will kill all organism just wipe it every now and then or put another fan to blow the steam

Ingredients... Where is the best place to buy them?

AHS, midwest, northernbrewer or local home brew store

Kegs... Where do you get these and how different is this method than bottling?

AHS, midwest, northernbrewer or local home brew store

Sediment... How do you get rid of it? I've used fermenters and secondaries, but still ended up with sediment in the bottles. Am I doing something wrong or is that just the way it is with home brews?

cold crashing, gelatin, or filtering but since you are bottling you will always get inactive yeast in the bottom of your bottles

 

[bull8042]

Looks like you have been given plenty of references to read to get you started and answer some of your questions, so no use in repeating that. But I will take the opportunity to say welcome to HBT.

 

[1911A1]

Thanks for all the good info and thanks for the welcome, bull8042.

Looks like I still have a lot of reading to do. I'll probably stick with the kit stuff for a while until I feel comfortable enough to invest in the extra equipment needed for all grain.

This all came about when I decided to buy a kegerator and start buying by the keg. Then I decided I wanted to start brewing my own again. It seems to me with kegging you just pour the beer in the keg instead of bottles and skip the priming sugar since the CO2 will carbonate it. Or am I missing something?

Also, I remember after bottling I had to let the beer sit for a few weeks. The instructions said the longer it sat the better. Does the same apply to kegging or is that sitting period for bottles for the carbonation?

 

[dzlater]

I'll make a quick suggestion go to the library and see if they have any books on brewing and the read them.

 

[Trencher]

1911A1 - You're right on track to full-blown obsession within a few short months. Welcome!

Exactly right on the keg carbonation, but you still have a few options. Letting the beer sit under pressure for a few days to a week will carbonate it, or you can crank up the pressure and shake the heck out of it to be ready to drink in a few minutes.

When bottling, the beer has to sit for 2-3 weeks in order to carbonate properly. However, just because your beer carbonates more quickly in the keg doesn't mean it won't benefit from age. Dark, heavy beers will still age well in a keg.

Even if you're brewing extract, go ahead and get the turkey fryer and a wort chiller. You'll make significantly better beer and get more utilization from your hops. Then when you're ready to start mashing, there's not much more equipment to buy.

Can't wait to hear about your first double decoction!

 

[jescholler]

Since you already have a few batches under your belt, and you probably have the process down, I would recommend "Designing Great Beers" by Ray Daniels. His book is split into two parts. In part 1, he covers all of the things that go into making beer, and how they affect the beer (grains, hops, yeast, water). In part 2, he gives good direction on how to develop your recipe for many different styles.

One thing I learned from HBT is to never dump your beer until you have conditioned and aged it (and probably let it age for many more months). I've heard of beers tasting bad after 3 weeks in the bottle, but tasting great after 4. I also just read a thread where someone had mold on top of their beer in the carboy. They racked the beer off the mold and it was their best beer ever.

Good luck, and show us your 1st recipe you develop on your own!

 

[1911A1]

Thanks again for the help and suggestions.

Once I get my kegerator running I'll have to reinvest in a mini brewery setup, the gas burner, etc...

I'm really fond of Porters, stouts and ales. I would love to be able to clone Sam Adams Creme Stout. Any tips in that direction would greatly appreciated.

Once I get that down I'll experiment with it a bit to make it my own.

 

[Zen_Brew]

1911A1. I just got back into brewing myself after about 20 years. There is a lot to process, but the wealth of knowlege and experience here is amazing.

If you are looking to clone specific commercial beers, no problem. The search function is your friend. Seach these forums and google. Odds are you will find a couple recipes. If the recipe is listing grains, something like 8 lbs two row malt, that isn't a problem. Once you learn a couple basic formulas and styles of malt and grain you can convert most recipes from grain to extract with fair accuracy.

Also earlier you mentioned you would have to stick with kits. You don't have to limit yourself to kits. Among other things you often aren't getting the best yeast in a kit. Kits often have those lovely hops processed right into them rather than getting them fresh and adding them to your boil, and that is no way to treat such a powerful flavor enhancer. Kits also sometimes tend to sit longer on the store shelves so you don't know how fresh the ingredients are. You can buy extracts, which basically means a company has already extracted the goodies from the grain for you. Of course you pay a bit more, but it is a nice way to start out and experiment. There are dry and liquid malt extracts that parallel the grain you would be using in all grain method.

If you have the time to read, question, and read some more, in no time at all you'll have the basics down.

Cheers

 

[1911A1]

That's good to know about the extracts. The kits I used I provided the yeast and the hops I had to boil or steep then add it to the wort. I think that's the right terms for what I did.

A friend gave me the link to this site on my forums and I have been reading and searching for 3 days now. Just joined last night. The more I read the more I want to do. I think once I figure out all of the terminology and abbreviations for things I'll be ok... But I'm sure I'll have a few more questions at least

 

[Zen_Brew]

It's not a bad idea to find out where your local home brew supply stores are either. Other than a good source for ingredients you need, they are usually dedicated brewers themselves with a wealth of knowlege. When I first looked for local stores I tried yahoo yellow pages and they didn't do a good job at all. I think it found 1 or 2 and there are a lot more than that in the Seattle area.
So a search on Yelp.com helped me find several more.

 

[Cheeto]

1911A1,

eventually you will want to look in to brewing software,

not only to help you design recipes, but to also help you track what you have brewed and you inventory of brewing supplies.

Many of the Brewing programs will also help take some of the effort out of keeping track of the formulas needed to figure out ABV/ABW, IBU's sparge volumes and many many others, some will even tell you the volume of your fementer's and how many bottles you will need.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f84/software-available-42935/

Here is a large list of available software !
Many of them have a free trial, test many of them
Brewing Software - Home Brew Forums
here is a complete sub-forum just for brewing software

Welcome to the Obsession

and to Welcome to Homebrewtalk.com

-Jason

 

[dances]

I am still new to brewing but I can highly recommend a Cornelius Keg (5 gallon one preferred).

You can force carbonate if you need but I tend to prime it and leave it (I did cut the liquid out tube shorter to prevent sediment pick up from the bottom).

 

[beerkrump]

+1 for "How to Brew". Just Google it and read away. Your current questions will be answered and new ones will pop up.

If you have a LHBS, go there. Not only do you save on shipping, but you'll find good advice and maybe other local brewers who can help.

As for brewing "from scratch", take small steps toward your goal and familiarize yourself with the processes and products that make your beer great.

And always RDWHAHB.

 

[Trencher]

+1 for skipping the kits. Find a recipe you like, convert to extract if necessary (this is where software becomes very useful) and buy the ingredients individually. Try using extra-light DME exclusively and getting all color and flavor from steeped specialty grains. That way you'll know exactly which grains gave you the color and tweak them if you want a little different hue or flavor. DME also stores better than LME so you're less likely to get a "stale" bag at the LHBS.