Starting a friend out in brewing

[Owly055]

A neighbor of mine has been enthusiastic about my home brew virtually since I started. He's been bugging me to help get him get started. The first brew was two weeks ago, and we made shift with what he had. It's fermenting in a Home Depot bucket...... Tonight it's ready to move to cold crash, and shortly bottle. The second brew is in a brew bucket I had. He's been working with my supplies. I put the first two recipes together based on what I had on hand. He's now purchased a couple hundred dollars worth of grain and equipment including brew buckets. (this Tuesday).

I've got him started with Brewers Friend, and numerous references including descriptions of malts and hops. Today he informed me that he had made up a recipe using my hops and his grain....... I have over 20 varieties of hops totally about 7 pounds on hand. It's a creditable recipe using Magnum, Nelson Sauvin, and Motueka..... One I know will make a good beer.

I don't ever use recipes...... I've only ever used a recipe once in 104 brews so far..... He's starting out the same way........Not many people start out crafting their own recipes. I did from day one, the only recipe I've ever brewed from other than my own was a Mosaic Rye Wit.... about 20 brews into my brewing career. It's exciting to see an enthusiastic newbie diving in this way.

Sunday will be brew day 3 for him....... and he will do it alone, and handle it well. I've taught him not to panic when things don't go quite right, to "think on your feet", but being a cowboy, that's second nature. Livestock behavior, weather, etc.... are all only marginally predictable.

Mid week, we will split brew number one between a tap-a-draft bottle and 500 ML EZ cap bottles I'm no longer using much. The Tap-a-Draft will be precharged on my welding bottle, and use the CO2 cartridge for serving pressure only. It will allow him to try his brew without waiting 3 weeks or so. Most ordinary beer, especially with lots of hops is best "green" anyway.

It is always rewarding to hear comments like "I can't get anything as good as what you brew in the store", or "I've never tasted a beer you've brewed that wasn't good"........ Though I taste the flaws in my brews......


H.W.

 

[Rhumbline]

That's a great thing you're doing.

 

[Owly055]

Last night we split the 2.5 gallon yield from my friend's first brew between a Tap-a-Draft, and 8 pint bottles..... again making shift with what was available, doing it in his kitchen. Because we fermented in a Home Depot bucket after discovering his pot was aluminum, I used an autosiphon to transfer to a 3 gallon ice tea jug he had purchased for cold crashing. The transfer to the Home Depot bucket (one of my grain storage buckets) from his aluminum boil kettle with spigot left virtually all the trub behind, and the brew was crystal clear. He's decided to transfer all his brews to secondary as a result.

I was pleased when he showed me his first home crafted recipe done on Brewer's Friend, and we sat down and talked about it, and tickled it a bit, adding some crystal, and adjusting the hop additions a bit. It was well thought out I felt, a great first attempt. He also showed me his first hop order from Yakima Valley Hops...... Over $100!! With an interesting array of well chosen hops based on a print out of hop descriptions I gave him.

At 8:00 AM today I got a call asking me to precharge the Tap-a-Draft so he could sample his brew tonight while a friend's brewing.......... 2 weeks from brew day to first tasting is a bit quick, but the bottle conditioned copies 3 to 4 weeks down the road will give him an idea of what it will be like matured a bit. I use a 50 lb CO2 bottle which I use for welding, to precharge the tap-a-draft bottles using a carb cap.

I've seldom seen anybody jump into something with this much enthusiasm. The real challenge will be reducing total brew day time, or making it manageable by integrating it with other things, splitting the brew day, cutting boil times, and other measures. My most recent brew day was 2 hours 17 minutes start to finish designing my recipe, crushing grain,.... all the way through cleanup and put away, including a full hour boil, as well as dunk sparging. Experience shows that using a 20-30 minute mash, and cutting down boil time, I can consistently hit 2.5 hours

The next stage is my "mash while you sleep" system using a reverse flow pumping system, timers, etc. Crush and measure your grain, put it in the grain tube, set the timers, and go to bed. When you get up, it's time to boil. I don't see any point in automating the boil... if you can't commit an hour and 20 minutes to boiling chilling, and clean up, perhaps brewing isn't for you............. The real problem with automating the boil, and hop additions is detecting the boil. I don't feel you can do it with any accuracy by actual temp measurement, only by measuring temp rise... When the temp quits rising, you are boiling. That requires "logic", rather than simple measurement, and I have a mental block when it comes to programming a microprocessor........ Detecting the boil is the ONLY thing that requires more than simple temp sensors and relays......

Howard





H.W.