So, I'm new to this and on a budget for now. Question.

[beerenstein]

Hi, I am starting to brew my own beer. I bought a can of hopped LME from my LHBS for a nut brown imperial ? I forget the brand. The store owner said the can was meant to have dry malt extract added to make the gravity on the label. He chose the correct DME, but I could only afford a 1lb bag of it and a 1lb bag of corn sugar in addition to the LME. I also had the idea to add brown sugar to my mix ~1lb. I brewed it up, poured it in my carboy, cooled it quickly , pitched the yeast, set it down, and realized I don't have an airlock. I made do by putting a Baloo over the top of my carboy. When it filled with gas, I let some pressure ou, thinking it would evacuate oxygen. Does anyone have experience with this? ??

 

[hannibalmdq]

I've seen some people just poke a small pin hole in the balloon. It'll keep some pressure and vent the bulk of it.

Some people don't even bother with airlocks until after ferment is complete.

 

[metanoia]

Does your LHBS offer any pre-made kits they put together themselves? Ours here has hundreds of them which typically include the necessary amount of LME, specialty grains, and hops for a brew, only leaving out the yeast. These are usually the cheapest option for beginners, and even better they usually discount the previous season's kits down to $20 when the next season rolls around. That's how I started and it's something to keep an eye out for if the budget is tight, I know what that's like; I started out using an old 5 gallon feta bucket from work as a fermenter and boiled in one of those crappy speckle enamel stockpots.

Keep us posted on how fermentation turns out!

 

[podz]

It won't be too "imperial" at about 5% ABV, but I'm sure it will taste fine!

 

[beerenstein]

I may poke a hole in the balloon when I get home. Maybe that will work. Metanoia, they are a very small LHBS and don't have kits like that. They have kits they've bought, but they were $35-$40. I wound up spending $27 total , including plastic carboy. Next batch, I'm gonna try an all-grain brew to save more money.

This past Saturday was 2 weeks. It fermented ferociously starting 3-4 hours after pitching, and lasted very visibly for about 4-5 days at a lesser degree. At around the 8th or 9th day, it started again, but at a much more controlled rate. it doesn't seem to be doing anything now. I'd read that some people were leaving it in primary for 4 weeks, then bottling straight from there. Thought I'd do this. Any reason not to?

 

[RmikeVT]

Sounds good, man.

You should see if you can track down a copy of Charlie Papazian's the Joy of Homebrewing. Its an older book, but he has some pretty rudimentary mash/lauter ton builds in the book involving drilling a bunch of holes in plastic buckets to make mashtuns. Seems pretty cheap. You might be able to find a copy at the library or a pretty cheap copy somewhere, its an older book.

All-grain is definitely the way to go to save money. The upfront cost might be a little higher for equipment, but it quickly pays for itself as long as you don't go overboard on expensive tuns, chillers and kettles.

My ingredient cost for 11g of packaged 1.056 porter I just brewed was somewhere around $25-$30 including propane costs. Thats close to a quarter a beer. That is hard to beat!

 

[number40fan]

Since you probably don't have a hydrometer, letting it sit will all but insure that it is done and ready to be bottled. You might be able to bottle it now, but waiting will not hurt a thing.

 

[beerenstein]

Podz, I forgot exactly what it was called, lol.

Rmike, I will definitely be looking into joy of home brewing. Thank you for the recommendation. Als, thanks for the statistics. I'll definitely be trying all-grain now.

Number 40, thanks for the input. I may just wait until I am ready to brew my first all-grain batch to bottle it. I'll be in a leg cast after this Friday, so I'll have plenty of time to scheme, research, and build what I need lol.

 

[beerenstein]

Pic of carboy as of yesterday. It's sitting in a pot.

 

[cernst151]

The store owner said the can was meant to have dry malt extract added to make the gravity on the label. He chose the correct DME, but I could only afford a 1lb bag of it and a 1lb bag of corn sugar in addition to the LME. I also had the idea to add brown sugar to my mix ~1lb.

I understand if you've hit your budgetary limit right now but Northern Brewer is having a pretty stellar sale through midnight tomorrow.
http://www.northernbrewer.com/promo...-beer-kits-for-14-92/?icn=NBHomepage&ici=1492
$15/5 gallon batch (plus yeast and priming sugar) is tough to beat. If I were you I'd sign up for their email newsletter. They're always having sales.

As another note. Someone earlier mentioned moving to all grain to save money. That will work long term but the equipment for traditional all grain is pretty expensive. If you do Brew In A Bag upgrading from extract to all grain only costs a few bucks for a bag, assuming you already have a large kettle. Good luck.

 

[myndflyte]

There is a free version of John Palmer's How to Brew book. It's a bit outdated but it'll at least give you a lot of information to build off.

http://www.howtobrew.com/

 

[beerenstein]

Cernst, thanks for the link. I will check it out when I get home. I've seen some videos on bag brewing, and believe this is the way I'll be going. I also plan on buying a hygrometer for the next batch. I am definitely going to check out the deal you mentioned, though.

Mynd, thanks. I'll be checking this out as well.

Thanks to everyone. You guys are awesomely supportive.

Until my first batch is thr, I'm stuck drinking this. It's the only dark beer sold in my area without driving 40 min . Needless to say, my beer will be going into these bottles. The label is plastic, so I can cut it off.

 

[Gareth68]

Before you try to poke a hole, put a piece of tape on the balloon....otherwise it will likely just pop.

 

[wilserbrewer]

Until my first batch is thr, I'm stuck drinking this. It's the only dark beer sold in my area without driving 40 min . Needless to say, my beer will be going into these bottles. The label is plastic, so I can cut it off.

Pretty expensive choice of bottles for someone on a tight budget....j/k enjoy!

While all grain brewing equipment can be expensive, it can be done on a very limited budget as well! You can rig a mash tun out of just about any cooler, or mash in your kettle BIAB style. Paint strainer bags work, but IMO polyester voile is better and not too difficult to sew a bag.

Cheap simple MT idea here...
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f11/ten-minute-cooler-mash-tun-conversion-125108/

Eventually down the road if you desire, buying grain in bulk by the sack, hops by the pound, and reusing your yeast will bring the cost of a batch down to peanuts.

welcome to the hobby!

 

[cernst151]

Until my first batch is thr, I'm stuck drinking this. It's the only dark beer sold in my area without driving 40 min . Needless to say, my beer will be going into these bottles. The label is plastic, so I can cut it off.

Obviously you can't cap those bottles so I hope you've been saving the screw tops. I've never tried bottling with screw tops but I've heard they don't seal well. Please come back and let us know how it goes. I'd like to know if those hold enough of a seal to carbonate.

 

[metanoia]

Obviously you can't cap those bottles so I hope you've been saving the screw tops. I've never tried bottling with screw tops but I've heard they don't seal well. Please come back and let us know how it goes. I'd like to know if those hold enough of a seal to carbonate.

I wonder if using some plumbers threading tape would help make a better seal on those kinds of bottles.

 

[cernst151]

I wonder if using some plumbers threading tape would help make a better seal on those kinds of bottles.

That might work. I have no idea. Make sure to sanitize after taping. Try some with and some without. Again, I'm curious what kind of results you'll get.

 

[soccerdad]

That beer looks good. Re bottling after 4 weeks, remember that hydrometers are cheap*Check the gravity to see that you are where you wanna be or that it has stabilized fully, and then bottle.

*Hydrometers are cheap, but buy them by the case. They jump off kitchen counters and commit suicide with great frequency.

 

[beerenstein]

I'll try some with, some without, and do the rest in coke bottles or something. I will try to get a hydrometer soon , but don't you have to take a reading before it ferments???

 

[doug293cz]

I'll try some with, some without, and do the rest in coke bottles or something. I will try to get a hydrometer soon , but don't you have to take a reading before it ferments???

If you want to determine alcohol content, then you need a before and after gravity reading. Even without an original gravity (OG) reading, a hydrometer is useful for determining if your fermentation is complete. You do this by taking readings two or three days apart, and when the last two readings are the same, fermentation is done. Making sure fermentation is complete before bottling will help prevent bottle bombs.

Brew on

 

[rodwha]

Something you can do to save a few bucks is to go to your grocery store or bakery and ask for their icing buckets. You can drill a 1/2" hole in the lid and push a standard beer bucket grommet for an air lock, and you can also make your own bottling bucket too.

 

[beerenstein]

Are these bubbles on top of the beer an infection? They've been there for a few days, and haven't multiplied or diminished. Can't decide if they're a bad thing or not...

 

[ButcherBoy]

No infection, normal appearance of beer. Congratulations!

 

[beerenstein]

Yay.

 

[beerenstein]

Ok, so my beer looks the same. Absolutely no changes. The bubbles at even the same size and shapes. Only difference is that the balloon on top has begun to shrink. I'm thinking about bottling this Saturday. What do you guys think ?

 

[cannman]

Ok, so my beer looks the same. Absolutely no changes. The bubbles at even the same size and shapes. Only difference is that the balloon on top has begun to shrink. I'm thinking about bottling this Saturday. What do you guys think ?

Generally you would see some more bubble action (see Photo)

I'm wondering if the balloon is causing an issue with pressure... in the photo, see how I have a plastic tube entering a pink glass at the bottom? after 12 hours, I have to adjust the positioning of the tube until the carboy can force out the c02 through the sanitizer in the jar... If its not done fermenting, you wont have beer, you'll have wort and no alcohol.

You can also try shaking it up to get the yeast going.

 

[beerenstein]

Saturday will be week 3. My beer had more bubbles than yours at day 5. It definitely ferm, but these few bubbles have just been staying on the top, in a sort of ring. They don't move unless shaken, and shaking doesn't cause more activity. ..

It was going furiously for awhile there. Lol.

 

[beerenstein]

Thanks for the pic, tho. I may end up doing a setup like thar.

 

[cannman]

I know you're on a budget, but next brew, make sure you have one of these to answer the great unknowns: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000E60U6Y/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

 

[MindenMan]

There are some that swirling your fermenter, for some reason is a bad idea. As long as the cap hasn't been removed, there should be no problems. When the fermentation is active, the CO2 produced is enough to push through the wort, and out the airlock. When fermentation slows down, the weight of the wort on the bottom of the carboy is in excess of 40 pounds, so a lot of bubbles are trapped in the trub, and as the temperature in the room changes there may or may not let CO2 to the top. My point is, without a hydrometer you can't be sure fermentation is done, but if you swirl your fermenter a couple of times a day and release the trapped CO2 in the trub, when no more gas is released while swirling then you know for sure fermentation is complete. Just my $0.02

 

[rodwha]

And when you can afford to buy an extra one as they break rather easily, and it will happen one day… Same goes for the floating thermometers.

 

[kh54s10]

At three weeks I would say any time now. Though getting a hydrometer and taking gravity readings will take the guess work out of where the beer is in the process.

With all grain you will need one.

With all the sugar you added I would think this will be a dry thin beer but it will be beer none the less.

Read up and keep at it. You can make beer more cheaply than you can buy it. (if you get all your equipment and stop buying the latest bling!) It will take a while to brew enough to pay off the investment in equipment though.

 

[beerenstein]

I will definitely have a hydrometer on the next batch. And, it's been so enjoyable this time I can only imagine how much fun it's going to be once I actually know what I'm doing, lol. I'll shake it up when I get home from work today.

 

[beerenstein]

Ok, so I shook my beer a bit when I got home from work, and popped a hole in the balloon. I am going to have surgery early tomorrow morning. If everything goes well with that and my yeast doesn't kick back off, I plan on bottling this weekend. This is what it looked like just after I shook it up.