Newbie here, starting off big.

[MrSnuggles]

I need a hobby. I figured why not start brewing? It looks like good fun and a good excuse to sit around all day hanging out with the guys. I've been researching for a good bit of time when I found this forum. I've never done it before, but I'm confident.

I want to start off from scratch. That means even malting the barley myself. I've put together a basic instructional from my notes. Can someone read it over and tell me if I missed anything or any tips/tricks that might help?


BEER!
SANITZE EVERYTHINGGGGGG THROUGHOUT PROCESS(it's implied when necessary in instructional otherwise every other step would be sanitize)

Materials:
For maltingbowls, pans, pillow case etc)
Rolling pin
2 Large 4 gal. Pots
Strainer
Wooden spoon
2 Siphon hoses(5 ft)
Outdoor stove/burner
Fermenter assembly
Thermometer, Hydrometer
Bottles, caps and capper

Ingredients:
Barley
Hops
Brewers yeast
Primer sugars

Malting:
1) Wash and remove husk. (unwanteds float!)
2) Soak for 48 hours(Steep for 6 hours, drain, 8 hour rest, repeat)
3) Germinate 4-5 days(until shoot is 75-100% up the grain. Put in bowl/pot, cover and stir every few hours
4) Dry in sun or oven(~110 degrees until dry)
5) Break off roots(dryer and pillow case)
6) Roast 200 degrees 2-3 hours or until satisfied with roast

Mashing:
1) Crack grains with rolling pin until properly crushed
2) Heat on this schedule(1.5-2 qt/Lb.grain) 10 minutes@100(lower grain/water ratio), 30 minutes@140(by gently adding boiled water), 30 minutes@158(by turning up burner)
3) Drain wort(food grade filter bag used)
4)Sparge 1-1.5 qt water/qt wort(about 1:1 water/wort. Run hot water over the bag of grains, then "teabag" drained bag of grain for 15 minutes)

Fermenting:
1) Add Hops of choice(again, "teabagging")
2) Boil for 60 minutes on(finishing hops added if necessary following hop schedule)
3) Cool wort.
4) Activate yeast(2-3 cups 110 degree water, adding tsp sugar to make sure healthy)
5) Pour wort into carboy(aerate this time only*)
6) Add yeast solution
7) Plug carboy w/ stopper and the little bubbler guy who's name escapes me and watch.. for 2 weeks or so

Bottling:
1) Prepare primer(2/3 cup table sugar equivalent/5gal)
2) Drain carboy into bottling bucket (using siphon hose) containing priming solution
3) Drain into bottles and cap
4) Wait 2+ weeks

DRINK AND BE MERRY!

PS I'm still working on figuring on a recipe to follow

 

[MrSnuggles]

I know I should probably start off with extracts and such, but I have a lot of time to kill and I'm not worried if it turns into an epic fail. I'm just going to play around with a few small test runs anyway until I get it right. I plan on doing a simultaneous brew with pre-malted grain so if my process is flawed, I can tell if its in my malting or brewing. I will start a thread when I begin and hopefully make some friends that will steer me right throughout the process.

 

[phatuna]

check this out: [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eIGrsGPVA_Y]YouTube - All Grain Home Brewing (1 of 8)[/ame]

It is a series of 8 short video's that will likely help you visualize a portion of your process.

 

[COLObrewer]

PERFECT!! - One side note for you, it took me 11 days from start to end to malt 50lbs of barley (See "Happiness is, home malting" in the DIY section here)

 

[MNBugeater]

I love your enthusiasm, but I will challenge you to find 1 person of the nearly 30000 members here that went out and bought everything on your list (which is woefully incomplete) before they even brewed one batch.

Most people, myself included, bought items with a known plan to progress to larger operations and skills. So we plan on buying stuff that we can scale with, but even then some equipment is just temporary and you'll find some other use for it or donate it to a buddy to get them into homebrewing.

 

[rsmith179]

Man... Such high ambitions. Not quite sure if I would have it in me to do all of that. Not to knock your plans or anything, but don't you think the maltsters that do this for a living can make higher quality malts? When starting off brewing, you really want to perfect each stage of the process before moving onto something else.

Most guys start with extract or possibly mini-mash setups. This allows them to first understand the whole brewing process and the fermentation process afterwards. If you malt your own grains and end up with a crappy beer, how will you know what caused it? I know that you mentioned making two batches to see/taste the difference, but I would recommend taking baby steps.

If you do too much at once, you may think that brewing your own beer is "too hard" or doesn't provide good results. IMHO, I wouldn't go any farther than all-grain to start with. You'll have your hands full with that alone. I wouldn't worry about malting your own barley anytime soon, if ever. Just my two cents...

 

[simps984]

Notes:

On roasting:
You'll end up doing a lot of roasting, I think, because you don't brew with just one type of grain roast. For that matter, you'll do this whole malting process with a bunch of different grains as well.


On cracking grain with rolling pin:
You'll want to invest in an actual grain mill, I don't want to imagine what kind of punishment cracking 10-15lbs of grain with a rolling pin must be.


On your heating schedule: This can vary depending upon what type of beer you're trying to make.

Notes on your fermenting process:

You'll bring the wort up to a boil, THEN add your bittering hops (usually right as you get to a boil). Then you'll eventually add the rest of your hops as the boil continues.

You'll want to cool you wort to at least below 80 degrees F. As for activating your yeast, 110 degree water would kill it. I'd just order a "smack pack" from your homebrew shop, or an online retailer (NORTHERN BREWER or Beer Making and Home Brewing Supplies | MoreBeer).

After you pour wort into fermentor, you should reserve some for your hydrometer reading. This will give you the information necessary to determine when fermentation is complete, how to calculate ABV%, and to determine your brewery's efficiency.

The little bubbler guy is an airlock.

On bottling: You should dissolve your sugar into water that's been boiled for 20 mins, for sanitation purposes. You made note of sanitation above, but remember to sanitize bottling bucket, bottles, and bottle caps.

Dont forget to Relax, Don't Worry, and Have a HomeBrew, and welcome to the best hobby!

 

[davesrose]

That means even malting the barley myself.

I'm going to go ahead and say.....THAT IS WAY TO MUCH TO BITE OFF YOUR FIRST TIME!! Trying all grain first is one thing.....finding good enough barley seed, then malting it (and knowing what yields the best crystal, roasted barley, etc).....well that's why we have maltsters.

Even seasoned brewers I've heard that tried malting said it wasn't worth it. You get better results by buying the good quality/ modified malt you get from brewery supply places. If you want to try big, try all grain. IMO...malting is just insane :cross:

Start off by looking at an all grain recipe....go by that and it will also help you decide what equipment you need (crushing 8 or 10lbs of grain with a rolling pin isn't going to cut it....a barley crusher is a godsend....likewise you'll find your pots are not good for mashing most recipes).

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f12/recommended-recipe-locator-updated-31494/

 

[scinerd3000]

i must second the crushing of the grain with a rolling pin. Its not gonna work as well as you think and odds are your not going to be able to extract enough sugar to make it a viable option... Get the grain premilled via Austinhomebrew or northernbrewer or see if you can get your local home brew shop to do it which will make everything alot easier. Your going to have enough to worry about

 

[COLObrewer]

Na - just go for it, if it fails you can always feed it to the pigs/goats/chickens.

 

[Joos]

i must second the crushing of the grain with a rolling pin. Its not gonna work as well as you think and odds are your not going to be able to extract enough sugar to make it a viable option... Get the grain premilled via Austinhomebrew or northernbrewer or see if you can get your local home brew shop to do it which will make everything alot easier. Your going to have enough to worry about

+1 you'll have no idea how much sugar you should be extracting if you malted it.Not trying to piss in your cheerios man,but try an extract/steeping grains recipe to get your method down.then slowly move up.Making beer isn't hard to do.But even a simple recipe will give you ideas of what to do or not to do next time.

 

[dontman]

+1 for being too ambiitious.

I think once you've done your 20th batch you'll look back on this post and chuckle. OR You'll have long since given up brewing because you hated the results vs time invested.

Slow down, read a book or two, forget about malting, even pro brewers don't do that. And not because it is hard but because it is not even close to being worth the time and effort to get an inferior product. Start out with a couple recipe kits from a reputable dealer - Austin or Brewmasters. The biggest problem with your plan is that there are soooooooo many variables that if your batch turns out bad you'll have no idea where to even start to troubleshoot.

On the other hand, Pilsner Urquell malts their own and insists on it and has been doing so for hundreds of years. So maybe I'm just being a heathen dillettante wimp with my brewing obsession for not malting my own.

 

[The Pol]

I hate to say that it cannot be done, but, this is not going to go well for you. Much to ambitious.

I dare say, if you are assuming that you are going to crush all of your grain with a rolling pin, you have a lot to learn before you even brew with extract.

Malting your own barley?
Kilning your own malt?
Crushing it with a rolling pin?

 

[davesrose]

+1 you'll have no idea how much sugar you should be extracting if you malted it.

Good point...Man, if you're malting your own grains and then trying to crush them with a rolling pin....I'm imagining your effeciency is going to be very poor indeed. Maybe we're looking at 20 lbs worth of 2 row vs the 8lbs in a normal store bought/ adequately crushed malt.

On the other hand, Pilsner Urquell malts their own and insists on it and has been doing so for hundreds of years. So maybe I'm just being a heathen dillettante wimp with my brewing obsession for not malting my own.

Then again, Pilsner Urquell is a whole township that has had a few hundred years of learning to do. Wonder how many bad batches they went through before getting it right

 

[The Pol]

Mashing:
1) Crack grains with rolling pin until properly crushed BAD IDEA
2) Heat on this schedule(1.5-2 qt/Lb.grain) 10 minutes@100(lower grain/water ratio), 30 minutes@140(by gently adding boiled water), 30 minutes@158(by turning up burner) Why a 3 step mash????
3) Drain wort(food grade filter bag used)
4)Sparge 1-1.5 qt water/qt wort(about 1:1 water/wort. Run hot water over the bag of grains, then "teabag" drained bag of grain for 15 minutes)

Fermenting:
1) Add Hops of choice(again, "teabagging")
2) Boil for 60 minutes on(finishing hops added if necessary following hop schedule)
3) Cool wort.
4) Activate yeast(2-3 cups 110 degree water, adding tsp sugar to make sure healthy) DO NOT USE SUGAR, this is NOT good for dry yeast, that is yeast 101
5) Pour wort into carboy(aerate this time only*)
6) Add yeast solution
7) Plug carboy w/ stopper and the little bubbler guy who's name escapes me and watch.. for 2 weeks or so

Bottling:
1) Prepare primer(2/3 cup table sugar equivalent/5gal)
2) Drain carboy into bottling bucket (using siphon hose) containing priming solution
3) Drain into bottles and cap
4) Wait 2+ weeks

DRINK AND BE MERRY!

PS I'm still working on figuring on a recipe to follow

This is very overly simplified and some of the processes that you are looking to use dont make any sense to me. If you need a hobby, then take the time to learn about it first, then enjoy the JOURNEY.

 

[MNBugeater]

After you pour wort into fermentor, you should reserve some for your hydrometer reading. This will give you the information necessary to determine when fermentation is complete, how to calculate ABV%, and to determine your brewery's efficiency.

Slightly off topic:

But I didnt want this misinformation to get propogated without getting cleared up. You don't need to reserve any wort. You 'should' [although not necessary, but very helpful] take a gravity reading of your wort prior to pitching yeast and then again after a 1-4 weeks to determine accurately if fermentation is complete.

simps: If you meant take gravity reading as opposed to actual drawing off wort and saving, then we are talking the same procedure.

 

[simps984]

Slightly off topic:

But I didnt want this misinformation to get propogated without getting cleared up. You don't need to reserve any wort. You 'should' [although not necessary, but very helpful] take a gravity reading of your wort prior to pitching yeast and then again after a 1-4 weeks to determine accurately if fermentation is complete.

simps: If you meant take gravity reading as opposed to actual drawing off wort and saving, then we are talking the same procedure.

Yeah that's what i meant, just phrased it in a blanked up manner. cheers for the assist.

 

[humann_brewing]

I love your enthusiasm, but I will challenge you to find 1 person of the nearly 30000 members here that went out and bought everything on your list (which is woefully incomplete) before they even brewed one batch.

Most people, myself included, bought items with a known plan to progress to larger operations and skills. So we plan on buying stuff that we can scale with, but even then some equipment is just temporary and you'll find some other use for it or donate it to a buddy to get them into homebrewing.

+1 to this

I gave my mr beer crap to a friend and told him to start brewing, well he hasn't yet, but he came over while I brewed and even took notes.

 

[Vuarra]

All I can say is that I had read how to make beer from some internet site or another, and had the reaction, "I don't think that I can use my oven to stop the germinating process."

I've now done one Partial Grain extract (and the grain was rice, not barley), and while it makes sense, I'm not going to go to full extract for a while yet - it's just plain easier to use liquid and dry extracts. Once I know what I'm doing, I *might* do an All Grain.

Start small, then go less automated from there. That's my advice.

Don't forget, you can still do what you want to do.

 

[The Pol]

All I can say is that I had read how to make beer from some internet site or another, and had the reaction, "I don't think that I can use my oven to stop the germinating process."

I've now done one Partial Grain extract (and the grain was rice, not barley), and while it makes sense, I'm not going to go to full extract for a while yet - it's just plain easier to use liquid and dry extracts. Once I know what I'm doing, I *might* do an All Grain Extract.

Start small, then go less automated from there. That's my advice.

Don't forget, you can still do what you want to do.

I think perhaps you have misunderstood some terms. You are either doing Extract, Partial mash (some grain, mostly extract) or All Grain (all grain). All Grain Extract is an oxymoron.

 

[davesrose]

All Grain Extract is an oxymoron.

Although maybe a Dogfish 200 minute ale would be an All Grain Extract....if one dares to see how high you can get a beer

 

[malt_shovel]

Hats off to you for enthusiasm! With that sort of dedication, you will get top quality beer in the end no matter what.

There are easier ways, but as Prost once said "I took the one (road) less traveled by, And that has made all the difference"

Let us know how you get on.

 

[MrSnuggles]

Thanks for all the feedback. I took my time to read all of it.

I might start off saying that those of you that think malting is completely ridiculous are probably right. I'm anticipating that I will probably prove your point in my trials. I probably will end up buying my malted grains from a supplier beyond this project

Thanks for the bit with the cracking my grains. I read a bit on that, but a few youtube vids said they used a rolling pin so I figured it wouldn't be that bad.. then again, it is youtube. I'll be sure to keep that in mind

I agree with most of you that this is biting off a little more than I could chew... more like trying to swallow a whole frozen turkey for that matter. I'm kind of anticipating an epic fail, though I'll still strive for success. But it's just a project.. though an intense one. I just want to do it to say I've done it, then step back and do some figuring on getting a little more serious.

 

[Vuarra]

I think perhaps you have misunderstood some terms. You are either doing Extract, Partial mash (some grain, mostly extract) or All Grain (all grain). All Grain Extract is an oxymoron.

Not misunderstood.... just too much homebrew
But thanks for bringing it to my attention... it's been corrected

 

[The Pol]

Thanks for all the feedback. I took my time to read all of it.

I might start off saying that those of you that think malting is completely ridiculous are probably right. I'm anticipating that I will probably prove your point in my trials. I probably will end up buying my malted grains from a supplier beyond this project

Thanks for the bit with the cracking my grains. I read a bit on that, but a few youtube vids said they used a rolling pin so I figured it wouldn't be that bad.. then again, it is youtube. I'll be sure to keep that in mind

I agree with most of you that this is biting off a little more than I could chew... more like trying to swallow a whole frozen turkey for that matter. I'm kind of anticipating an epic fail, though I'll still strive for success. But it's just a project.. though an intense one. I just want to do it to say I've done it, then step back and do some figuring on getting a little more serious.

FWIW... there is A LOT of bad brewing information on YouTube. Hang out here, and get a book by Papazian. There are some crack heads on YouTube

 

[MrSnuggles]

I read most of this and it seems very legitimate.

 

[The Pol]

I read most of this and it seems very legitimate.

Palmer is up there with Papazian...

 

[jajabee]

Other than cracking the grains with a rolling pin, why not bite off something this ambitious if you've got the time and you're OK knowing that it may not end up being The Most Perfect Brew Evar? Like COLO said, he only took 11 days to malt his own grains, and that was 100lbs in freezing temps. 12lbs in more ideal conditions, being able to use your own kitchen oven, might go pretty smoothly!

For crushing the malts, I'd jump on the "use a mill" bandwagon... if you don't want to buy one (understandable!) you can probably find a local homebrewer who'd gladly let you use his mill for such a cool one-off experiment, or maybe the LHBS would let you crush your grain there? A bad crush is such a sure-fire way to end up with a disappointing batch, and I don't know how you could get a much worse crush than from a rolling pin.

Once you've got the wort from the grains, the rest is a piece of cake! Good luck, and definitely update this as you go.