Home Brew Kits

[northcrunk]

Originally Posted by Canehdianman

Mine were both chest freezers but I'll gladly help however I can.

Thanks. Do you find the freezer keeps it too cold or just right?

[Canehdianman]

Originally Posted by northcrunk

Thanks. Do you find the freezer keeps it too cold or just right?

You will need a temperature controller. I use an inkbird ITC-308 for it in my current keezer.

I let the freezer compressor handle the cooling and use a seedling mat to provide heat (although that is very rarely necessary).

[northcrunk]

Originally Posted by Canehdianman

You will need a temperature controller. I use an inkbird ITC-308 for it in my current keezer.

I let the freezer compressor handle the cooling and use a seedling mat to provide heat (although that is very rarely necessary).

Nice. I just opened my first bottles of mead yesterday and they have a nice carbonation. 5 days sitting in room temp and fully carbonated. I did the primary in the fermentasaurus, pulled off the trub from the collection bucket and bottled with coopers carb drops.

[str8jkt]

Have any other homebrewers considered a bottle trade with other people? I have been homebrewing for a while and hardly ever purchase bottled beer any more (usually growlers to try out the new local breweries from time to time).

I miss trying all of the different stuff out there. Was thinking if you could get a dozen people together you could set up a monthly swap. Setup a single collection site or house where people would need to drop off 12 bottles of their latest homebrewed beer by a specific date (ie the 10th of each month). Anytime after the 10th of the month you would swing back by and pick up your custom 12 pack of beer.

This of course could be scaled up or down depending on how many people are interested. If anyone missed a month you would just take back any extra beers you brought when you pick up your others.

Seems like a win/win other than having to travel to someones house or location twice a month (which may be out of the way for some members). Get 12 new beer to try out and even more valuable to me, would hopefully receive some useful feedback on your own beer from the other members.

Just curious if anyone has ever tried this or is interested in something like this?

[Aleks]

I probably would be into something like that. Depends, I brew more in the summer vs. the winter so my variety would be greater then.

Speaking of Keezers, this is mine. This was right after I built it a few years back, it has 3 taps now and is reasonably compact. I might be willing to part with it, I want to build a fridge style one to fit my garage, so you'd get the keezer, the temp controller, I'd probably throw in a couple of rear sealing taps (no shanks or anything else, just the taps), no lines or regs as I'll need to reuse all of that stuff. The tower is cooled from the main freezer too.



I also have tons of swing tops that I don't need to keep around but I seem to anyhow.

[Aleks]

Originally Posted by northcrunk

Yep the Fermentasaurus. I looked at the fast ferments but I wanted the option to pressure ferment and keg straight out of the fermenter once I get my kegging system set up. Oxygen free transfer is a really cool option for force carbonating sweeter meads. The collection ball on both units is top shelf and such a beautiful option.

Where did you get your fermentasaurus? I've been waffling on a stainless conical, but like the clear view aspect of the plastic
EDIT: NM, it looks like G2G has it close to my house. Sweet

[northcrunk]

Originally Posted by Aleks

Where did you get your fermentasaurus? I've been waffling on a stainless conical, but like the clear view aspect of the plastic
EDIT: NM, it looks like G2G has it close to my house. Sweet

Nice to hear G2G has them. I might go there to get the pressure kit later on.

Nice looking keezer by the way. I would buy it but I don't think it would work for what I want to do.

I like the bottle exchange idea but I don't brew beer much. I do brew mead in a beer style though.

[InglewoodFan]

Originally Posted by InglewoodFan

My wife bought me a cool brewing kit for my birthday. Just started my first batch of beer in decades this week. The kits are all grain, so I'm sure it will be a bit of a learning curve. Biggest problem I am having right now is finding a spot for the fermenter that is warm enough. Apparently cheap-ass me keeps my house too cold.

Update: for a first attempt this turned out pretty tasty. Going to start another batch today or tomorrow.

[str8jkt]

Here is my latest batch I finished labeling (My amber). Just finishing up the finishing touches on the latest label. I brewed a Mosaic Honey Wheat beer which I split as a half batch. One half getting dry hopped, the other half getting raspberries added. I then split the half batch in two when bottling to add lactose to half of the raspberry beers. Should get three different beers out of this batch.

Bottling my Marzen this weekend and brewing a Mosaic/Citra DIPA. Next up after that will be a Witbier I think.

[Nyah]

Originally Posted by InglewoodFan

My wife bought me a cool brewing kit for my birthday. Just started my first batch of beer in decades this week. The kits are all grain, so I'm sure it will be a bit of a learning curve. Biggest problem I am having right now is finding a spot for the fermenter that is warm enough. Apparently cheap-ass me keeps my house too cold.

I bought this as a gift for my Dad after seeing you post it and I have to say, the company Hub Town Brewing is incredible. Yeah it's a bit expensive and you could buy the components separately for less money, but the time & effort they put into the brew station was really appreciated and it really did make for an incredible gift. My Dad was really stoked about it. Not only did they custom engrave the wood, but also the bottles and glass that come with it. They have a bunch of different micro-batches that you can choose from. They obviously take a lot of pride in what they do, and it shows.

If you want to support a really great, local company, I definitely recommend them.

https://www.hubtownbrewing.com/

Here's photos of the one I ordered:

[InglewoodFan]

Originally Posted by Nyah

I bought this as a gift for my Dad after seeing you post it and I have to say, the company Hub Town Brewing is incredible. Yeah it's a bit expensive and you could buy the components separately for less money, but the time & effort they put into the brew station was really appreciated and it really did make for an incredible gift. My Dad was really stoked about it. Not only did they custom engrave the wood, but also the bottles and glass that come with it. They have a bunch of different micro-batches that you can choose from. They obviously take a lot of pride in what they do, and it shows.

If you want to support a really great, local company, I definitely recommend them.

https://www.hubtownbrewing.com/

Here's photos of the one I ordered:

So pleased to hear that you had a good experience, we went down and picked ours up from the owners and thought they were just awesome people. And super helpful.

[Aleks]

That Fermentasaurus works like a boss! I unfortunately ruined my one vessel, and had to order another one, but thats just cosmetic.

Turned around a batch of my Hibiscus Wit in 5 days to keg, that's incredible! Loved the pressure transfer to the keg as well and made cleanup a breeze by pushing starsan solution from a spare keg through the lines. I rarely have to clarify beers anyhow by settling in a primary (use whirlfloc or moss in the kettle), but if I did I'd just put gelatin in the keg before I close it up for the transfer (obviously after sanitizing, and before purging) and then let it settle in the Keezer before gunning the droppings out.

Now the Fermentasaurus doesn't handle heat well (yah, it says don't clean it greater than 50c, I clearly didn't interpret that well haha). I opted to not use a basket in my kettle this time as it was a small hop charge, bitter orange, coriander and hibiscus flowers. I whirlpool typically, but unfortunately the orange pieces caused clogs in my pump, which prevented me from hitting the chiller, so I was going to do what they do in Aus all the time which was seal and slow cool. Of course I wasn't thinking about the PET, so with the hot-ish wort it shrunk a bit and deformed a bit. I took a chance and set it up in a shower stall and committed to letting it pressure up in there, which worked great. Kept it at 16psi throughout the entire ferment with a spunding valve, hit my targets perfectly, and had no issues. I ordered another vessel from Ontario because of course nobody has them around, and its more for the accuracy of measurement for me than anything. I'll keep the deformed one as a spare anyhow.

Recent good finds I want to share with you guys.....

I hate measuring water on dip tubes or site glasses because at the volumes marked its just hard to be accurate. I picked up one of these, calibrated it (or, moreso measured its error %) and now have a way of dispensing the water I need within an acceptable margin of error. It measured exactly 10% generous, so if you want 18L, you dispense until it says 20L. It was consistent at every single attempt to measure I did at any volume and flow rate, so I'm confident in it. Saves a bit of time and convenience, keep it attached to my dedicated potable hose and sprayer

https://tinyurl.com/yd6ephko

I'd been searching for another pump, not wanting to pay chugger or march prices. Theres a bunch of homebrew stores in the US selling or reselling these pumps. They're available on Aliexpress for about $90 is what I paid shipped by DHL. They're dead quiet, reliable and easy to clean. These new versions are stainless head (the old ones were composite). Definitely worth a look if you're in the market for a recirc pump for mash, cooling, HERMS, etc.

https://tinyurl.com/yamw2lbl

[northcrunk]

Wicked Aleks. I love how quickly the fermentasaurus works. I can go from primary to drinking in less than two weeks with bottle conditioned mead. Just did my first braggot (half beer, half mead) and did a New England Style IPA with tons of Azzaca, Citra, Vic Secret, Simcoe and Mosaic. Used flaked wheat and 2 row malt and Mangrove Jacks london ale yeast.


I just got the hop rhizomes I ordered from Delaware yesterday so I'll be planting them and hopefully will be able to do a fresh hop IPA at the end of the season. Growing Cascade, Centennial and Williamette.

[wookster]

Please keep us posted on how the hop growing turns out. I've always been interested in trying to grow them.

[Fuzz]

They grow really well here. I planted a little rhizome aa couple years ago, it is going gangbusters. Make sure you have a lot of space and stuff for them to grow on.

[Aleks]

Originally Posted by northcrunk

Wicked Aleks. I love how quickly the fermentasaurus works. I can go from primary to drinking in less than two weeks with bottle conditioned mead. Just did my first braggot (half beer, half mead) and did a New England Style IPA with tons of Azzaca, Citra, Vic Secret, Simcoe and Mosaic. Used flaked wheat and 2 row malt and Mangrove Jacks london ale yeast.


I just got the hop rhizomes I ordered from Delaware yesterday so I'll be planting them and hopefully will be able to do a fresh hop IPA at the end of the season. Growing Cascade, Centennial and Williamette.

I assume you did the NEIPA non pressure? Dry hopping carb'd beer doesn't go so well usually.....I'm going to do a DDH next, and was going to use the regular cap on it.

[northcrunk]

Originally Posted by Aleks

I assume you did the NEIPA non pressure? Dry hopping carb'd beer doesn't go so well usually.....I'm going to do a DDH next, and was going to use the regular cap on it.

Yeah I did the NEIPA non pressured. I've seen people dry hop and then pressure ferment but I decided to do a short boil and hop at the 5 min and 1 min left mark and add citra before pitching yeast, dry hop on day 3 (Azacca and Vic Secret) at high Krausen and then do another dry hop after fermentation with Citra & Simcoe.

I used 2 row and flaked oats in the mash and the SG was 1.020. I added blueberry blossom honey to bring the SG to 1.050 so it's officially a braggot.

Smells so great. Way more trub than my meads usually have.

[northcrunk]

Originally Posted by wookster

Please keep us posted on how the hop growing turns out. I've always been interested in trying to grow them.

For sure. I was a little late and missed the season for most sellers but ended up finding some in Delaware for $30 for 3 varieties. Signed up for the waiting list for next season.

[Wormius]

A bit of a bump. I have a bumper crop of crab apples and was thinking of making a cider. I mashed some and pressed the juice from the apples and it is pretty delicious on its own (I didn't even add any sugar), I am wondering what kind of equipment I would need to start turning this into some cider. A couple of other questions - do I need to pasteurize the juice? Also if I can't get around to making cider now - can I freeze the juice until I am ready or will that have an affect on the finished product?

[Aleks]

Originally Posted by Wormius

A bit of a bump. I have a bumper crop of crab apples and was thinking of making a cider. I mashed some and pressed the juice from the apples and it is pretty delicious on its own (I didn't even add any sugar), I am wondering what kind of equipment I would need to start turning this into some cider. A couple of other questions - do I need to pasteurize the juice? Also if I can't get around to making cider now - can I freeze the juice until I am ready or will that have an affect on the finished product?

You need a bucket, literally, and some champagne yeast (danstar works). You can also use a carboy as a secondary if you like, but I stopped secondarying anything because its just not necessary. You can sterilize the fruit, and you should just for the prevention of off bacteria fermentation, you can find any number of ways to do this, usually campden tabs or such is what people will do. Yes you can freeze the juice as well to use at a later time.



When I did it with crabapples, I did add a bit of sugar to kick the alcohol content up a bit. If your cider ends up too dry, you can always backsweeten it with no issues.