Starting to get serious

[BBKing]

So I've been brewing about a year now, got a good kit last Christmas.

Since then I've been brewing no more than 3 batches a month. Obviously, I'm no pro but I think I have the very basics covered.

My usual routine is 7-10 days in primary followed by a week in secondary and AT LEAST a week in the bottle (I know it should be more).

I'm slowly stepping away from the kits (dont laugh old timers) but I'm not quite there yet. Instead of those damn Brewers Best (which have been missing ingredients on more than one occassion) and moved on to Midwest Supplies kits so that I can get used to Wyeast and White Labs yeast in a (semi) controlled enviroment.

I've got a Russian Imperial Stout thats bubbling away quite wonderfully, a plain wheat sitting in bottle (bottled on Saturday morning), and a decent American Pale Ale I'm drinking on now.

Since I'm only 24 and the youngest in my family, I still get good Christmas presents :rockin: and I've asked for bottles bottles and bottles. My plan being setting half of my brews away in my moms basement (at 68 degrees) until I have a month-month and a halfs worth stocked up, then drinking off that and setting full batches away.

Sorry for the long post, but I was just wanting to let everyone know where I'm at and see if anyone had any advice for me in taking my next step into the wonderful world of brewing.

BBKing

 

[Spludge]

Nice work man, half the fun of brewing is progression. I would recommend building a mashtun, sounds like your more then ready. Think about primary longer and skiping secondary unless your shooting for clarity. Happy brewing!

 

[david_42]

Nothing wrong with kits. I've been brewing 8 years and about half my batches are clone kits. I like variety and many times I'll buy a clone kit. Some times, I'll buy just because the name is interesting or someone on the board has mentioned a local beer. Who could pass up "Whistling Pig Red"?

It also matters that the "L"HBS isn't very local. Shipping is often cheaper than driving.

 

[Revvy]

When someone posts a "what's my next step" thread, I usually post about my progression, not that I think it's the "right way" but it kind of overlaps both technique and knowledge.

If anything it will give you an overview of different methodolgies in brewing.

The next step many make for cooper's style kits is to using an extract with steeping grains kit/ They are better quality and the steeping grains give the beer bigger depth of flavor than a straight extract beer.

After I did some of those, I started playing around with non kit recipes from this site, and I also started playing around with recipe formulations....I started using free online recipe calculators like this one, Beer Calculus . homebrew recipe calculator which helped me understand how the different ingredients affect each other. FIrst I started typing in these recipes and playinig with them to see what a pound of such and such grain did to the SG of the beer, or how this hop made the beer more or less bitter.

At the same time I started reading more and more about the different ingredients I was using....I found that googling the names helped get me a lot of info on them, plus reading articles and catalogs and books about it.

The BJCP style guide was a big help too, learning the numbers, OG, FG, IBU, SRM's ranges for different styles. BJCP Style Guidelines

Next I formulated a couple of my own recipes and played around with that, making them better or different.

My next step after that was transfering some of my recipes from extract to partial mashes, where I would get the largest amount of my fermentables from mashing my own grains, and then adding some extract.

Around this time I also played with harvest my own yeast, both washing and bottle harvesting.

After that I made a cooler and started doing 2.5 gallon All grain brews, converting those Partial Mashes to All grain, and brewing them on my stove top...

After that I got a turkey fryer and wort chiller so I can do full volume boils and started brewing all grain, brewing some of the recipes on here, and creating my own...

I also still do some extract with grain recipes, Partial Mashes, and 2.5 gallon stove top brewing, depending on my mood.

This winter I tried my hand at brewing lagers instead of ales, since I discovered a few that I like and was able to have some form of temp control....

I also tried my hand at brewing some strong ales, and playing with different yeasts, then my usually clean ones, trying yeast that added their own character to the beers.

A good thing to do is to try brewing Single Malt and Hop Beers where you brew very simple beers to get an idea of how different hops work with them, or different yeasts...it's a really good way to again get an idea how, like cooking, diffeent ingredients play off of each other.

As you can see, I didn't just jump from one technique like extract to all grain, I also tried to learn as much as I could about ingredients and recipe creations as well.....An I also tried to perfect my processes, like bottling, yeast harvesting, things like that...

I still have a long way to go, there's a ton of stuff to learn, different ways to brew to explore, and new styles to try and brew as well...

There's a huge amount of things you can do in this hobby.

Hope this helps!

 

[BBKing]

Thanks for the ideas and encouragement guys

 

[Token]

You brew three batches a month? Criminey, I'm jealous! Now I get why you want bottles, bottles, and more bottles!

Be sure to check out the recipe database here. LOTS of great recipes. All formats too (extract, partial, all grain)

You'll learn lots here. I sure have!

 

[Surly]

I enjoyed Revvy's, "progression". I like this hobby and consider that type of reflection a benefit in developing the hobby for me.

I and a bunch of other people formed a brew club and we set up a forum board. On it, I have started a thread that in effect is my own, "Progression" and I discuss with myself where I want to take this hobby.

Some might call it journaling and others note taking. The effect I believe is long term and allows us to look back on experience and set goals then for the future.

Sorry for the hijack.

 

[BBKing]

You brew three batches a month? Criminey, I'm jealous! Now I get why you want bottles, bottles, and more bottles!

Be sure to check out the recipe database here. LOTS of great recipes. All formats too (extract, partial, all grain)

You'll learn lots here. I sure have!

Lol, somehow it doesnt seem like enough brewing sessions

I see what ya mean about learning a ton here. I lurked awhile, finally registered, then lurked some more before feeling that I could post without making an ass of myself, lol. The knowledge of some people here is just astounding!

I look forward to be a regular poster now.

Cheers!

 

[ReeseAllen]

Although there's nothing wrong with sticking to extract/kits if that satisfies you, it always makes me scratch my head when I hear about people who brew for months and even years without expanding their knowledge/technique/equipment beyond that point.

What's the next step? Well, the good news is that you don't have to go just one step at a time. There's no rule saying first you need to do a canned kit, then an extract batch with specialty grains, then a mini mash, etc. before you finally work your way up to doing a full-blown 5+ gallon all-grain brew. AG really isn't that hard to pull off, it's just a matter of doing some research and investing in the right equipment. My first AG attempt came about a month after the day I bought my starter kit from the LHBS, and it was one of the best beers I've ever made. Haven't looked back since.

 

[osagedr]

Thinking about stepping it up myself. Would like to do a few smallish batch partial mashes then turn to AG.

 

[BBKing]

Although there's nothing wrong with sticking to extract/kits if that satisfies you, it always makes me scratch my head when I hear about people who brew for months and even years without expanding their knowledge/technique/equipment beyond that point.

What's the next step? Well, the good news is that you don't have to go just one step at a time. There's no rule saying first you need to do a canned kit, then an extract batch with specialty grains, then a mini mash, etc. before you finally work your way up to doing a full-blown 5+ gallon all-grain brew. AG really isn't that hard to pull off, it's just a matter of doing some research and investing in the right equipment. My first AG attempt came about a month after the day I bought my starter kit from the LHBS, and it was one of the best beers I've ever made. Haven't looked back since.

I hear what you're saying about doing kits kits and nothing but kits for as long as one brews. I couldnt imagine NOT stepping it up.

 

[BBKing]

Thinking about stepping it up myself. Would like to do a few smallish batch partial mashes then turn to AG.

At this point in time I'm looking at learning how different yeast is going to affect different types of beer.

I'm sure that brewers could debate until they're blue in the face about what effects beer more, but in this brewers eyes, its all in the yeast.

I just wanna learn in a controlled (sp) enviroment that I know will produce decent beer. Plus, I have family that likes my beer, and I like to keep them actually WANTING what I produce

 

[ReeseAllen]

Experimenting to learn how different ingredients affect the beer is exciting.

My current set of experiments are several ~1 gallon SMASH (single malt and single hop) brews. I'm looking to learn to distinguish the taste of each individual kind of malt and hop, at least the kinds that are most often present in the styles of beer I like to drink and brew.

#1: US 2-row with Amarillo
#2: Maris Otter with Amarillo

#3: German wheat with Hallertau
#4: Belgian white wheat with Hallertau

Right now I am brewing as I type this:

#5: Vienna with Amarillo
#6: Vienna with Hallertau

Photo is attached. Batch #5 is boiling on the left, #6 is mashing on the right.

 

[dracus]

What do you ferment a gallon batch it.

I personally would love to start doing some smash brewing.

 

[ReeseAllen]

They sell 1 gallon jugs for about $6 each at one of the homebrew stores I go to. The mouth is the same size as a carboy so I can use my regular rubber stoppers and airlocks.

 

[SmilinGoat]

i'll be making the change this coming fall. i'd like to do it sooner, however my kitchen tiny, and i dont really have a proper storage room. 420sq ft apt. ($900usd/m!)college towns are horrible.

anyway, a bigger kitchen with more than 3ft of counter space will make it a lot easier, plus we are getting a 900sq ft apt when we move, which will have plenty of room for storage as well.