New User, Northern Connecticut

[CAlexander]

Hey guys,

Glad to find this place. I've just recently started brewing, spent a lot of time talking to the guy at the local brew shop and I've gotten some great tips from Brewing Made Easy by the Fishers and The Complete Joy of Homebrewing by Papazian. Still, there is a lot of things I've got to learn.

My first 2 batches were from Brewer's Choice kits, an Irish Stout and American Microbrew Style Pale. The kit's are great because you aren't getting any premade ingredients but everything has been gathered for you. This weekend I'll be making my first batch from a recipe (I'm looking to make a Rasberry Wheat.) I'd like to stick to recipes from now on, moving away from the 'boxed sets'.

Now that I've introduced myself, I'll fire a few questions out

When is it necessary to do a secondary fermentation. Most of the recipes I run into perform a secondary fermentation, but in the 'Joy of Homebrewing' they say it's usually unnecessary. What's the deal?

I see a lot of people including Irish Moss in thier wort by default. Is this typical?

How big is the difference between a glass and plastic fermenter? I've currently got a plastic for my primary and a glass for my secondary. Will this impact the quality of my beer?

As we know, the toughest part is waiting. How long do you typically wait after bottling beer before you crack one open? I've heard 2 weeks before it's drinkable, 4 weeks for best quality. I've also heard 4 months for best quality. Just wondering what you guys typically encounter.

Do you guys generally move on to all-grain? I've read about it a few different places and it seems to greatly increase the difficulty level of the entire procedure. What are your thoughts?

Thanks for the help guys. Again, glad I found this place.

Connor Alexander

 

[Castle Meadow Brewery]

Hey whats going on? What part of CT are you in? I'm in Newtown.

As for your list of questions....

1. The majority of fermentation happens in your primary carboy. The secondary is mainly for clarifying and aging of beer. A good rule is the 1-2-3 method. 1 week in the primary, 2 weeks in the secondary, & 3 weeks in the bottle.

2. Irish Moss (a.k.a Carrageen) is used to help clarify the beer. It's usually added about 15 minutes before flame-out.

3. Glass or plastic has been the battle of choice between home brewers forever. There are pros and cons to both. Glass is heavy and breaks. Plastic can scratch and maybe pick up odors. There are equal arguments to these statements such as: "well just don't drop it" & "well just don't scratch it". It's personal preference.

4. As for waiting after bottling. You have to read what the recipes call for. Some beers are ready right after carbonation. Some are ready after 1 month. What I do is.... I drink at least one beer per week after bottling starting on day 4. That way I can see and taste the development of my beer. It's a good learning process. The first beer on day 4 is relatively flat and green. 1 week later is pretty carbonated and the flavors are all coning together. Week 2 and the beers pretty done carbonating and really has started to mature. By week 3 I'm usually full bore into the batch drinking it regularly making mental notes for how each beer tastes different from the last.

5. And now the all-grain vs. extract brewing... I would stick to extract brewing to get your feet wet. See how everything works. Take time to read and research. Both methods produce great beers. There's nothing really magic about all grain if you just follow the directions. The only big difference is TIME. Be prepared for an all day event for all-grain brewing,including cleanup and prep. I was getting ready to make the switch to all grain, but the guys at the Home brew shop talked me out of it. They knew I had a couple of young kids running around including a 14 month old and the SWMBO wouldn't be much too happy with me in the garage brewing all day. Glad I did. I'm happy doing extract. I always add some specialty grains to the recipe to pull off a lil mini-mash thing anyway.


Well I hope my long winded rant helps you. I found this place only about a month ago and it's great. Good people ready to help you out no matter how simple the question is.

Glad to have you

Alex

 

[CAlexander]

Hey whats going on? What part of CT are you in? I'm in Newtown.

I'm up in Vernon, near Manchester. There are a couple good homebrew stores right near me in East Hartford and Hartford.

4. As for waiting after bottling. You have to read what the recipes call for. Some beers are ready right after carbonation. Some are ready after 1 month. What I do is.... I drink at least one beer per week after bottling starting on day 4. That way I can see and taste the development of my beer. It's a good learning process. The first beer on day 4 is relatively flat and green. 1 week later is pretty carbonated and the flavors are all coning together. Week 2 and the beers pretty done carbonating and really has started to mature. By week 3 I'm usually full bore into the batch drinking it regularly making mental notes for how each beer tastes different from the last.

That's what I've been doing with my first batch. It's on week 2 now, so I'm starting to crack open a couple this week.

5. And now the all-grain vs. extract brewing... I would stick to extract brewing to get your feet wet. See how everything works. Take time to read and research. Both methods produce great beers. There's nothing really magic about all grain if you just follow the directions. The only big difference is TIME. Be prepared for an all day event for all-grain brewing,including cleanup and prep. I was getting ready to make the switch to all grain, but the guys at the Home brew shop talked me out of it. They knew I had a couple of young kids running around including a 14 month old and the SWMBO wouldn't be much too happy with me in the garage brewing all day. Glad I did. I'm happy doing extract. I always add some specialty grains to the recipe to pull off a lil mini-mash thing anyway.

Oh I'm planning on waiting quite some time. Extract brewing is very rewarding and most of the recipes that I'm finding in books and online are extract recipes. I'm sure in time I'll try some all-grain recipes, but I want to be well into making my own extract recipes first.

Well I hope my long winded rant helps you. I found this place only about a month ago and it's great. Good people ready to help you out no matter how simple the question is.

Thanks for all of your help!

Connor Alexander

 

[c.n.budz]

If you're in the vernon/manchester area you should check out Zok's in willimantic and while you're there go to the Main St. Cafe, lots of great microbrews on tap

http://www.willibrew.com/