Home Brew Kits

[agulati]

Swing top vs caps? Looks like you guys are using swing tops. Our first batch, we just got crown caps and a capper

[Nufy]

Originally Posted by northcrunk

Clear and green glass is the worst choice for bottling beer unless you like skunky beer. Get some flip top weiss beer bottles or buy some from the wine warehouse. $20 for 24 500ml or 12 1L PET bottles. They have glass too but after having a couple kveik bottle bombs I only use swing tops or PET plastic for homebrewing.

Why is that.

I know about dark bottles but after bottling I keep them in the case and away from sunlight.

Case to fridge and then to glass...

[Fuzz]

Sunlight through green glass will make it skunky. I also wrap my carboy in a towel so the sun can't hit it. But I'm fine bottling with them, because I keep them in the dark. Never had a skunky home brew this way.


I hate using the capper, takes more time and the Grolsch bottles are typically bigger so I fill fewer of them.

[Wormius]

I like the Groslsch type because you can check carbonation and stuff on ciders and fiddle around a little bit more.

[Aleks]

Originally Posted by northcrunk

Clear and green glass is the worst choice for bottling beer unless you like skunky beer. Get some flip top weiss beer bottles or buy some from the wine warehouse. $20 for 24 500ml or 12 1L PET bottles. They have glass too but after having a couple kveik bottle bombs I only use swing tops or PET plastic for homebrewing.

Yah you need to store green and clear differently for sure, but nobody in their right mind should be storing their beer in a lit area anyhow. Sunlight is bad any which way, so dark cold room and you'll be fine

[Aleks]

Originally Posted by agulati

Swing top vs caps? Looks like you guys are using swing tops. Our first batch, we just got crown caps and a capper

If I were going to use bottles it would be swing tops (convenience), or PET screw tops, for the aforementioned bottle bomb prevention. You can tell when a PET is overcarb'd

[Fuzz]

I used the PET initially, but the screw tops don't always hold pressure after 6 months or so. Or they didn't for me.

[Aleks]

Originally Posted by Fuzz

I used the PET initially, but the screw tops don't always hold pressure after 6 months or so. Or they didn't for me.

Who keeps beer that long

[Fuzz]

I usually make mine in the winter, so I make a bunch to last until the next winter.

[Tron_fdc]

Go get a Cornelius keg set up. Forget washing bottles, and with a kegerator you have beer on tap.

Embrace the weight gain.

[agulati]

Originally Posted by Tron_fdc

Go get a Cornelius keg set up. Forget washing bottles, and with a kegerator you have beer on tap.

Embrace the weight gain.

Definitely an eventual goal. Want to do a couple of batches first to see if it’s something we get into though, before investing more.


Want to move on to Brew kits (with ingredients picked to create a wort), so kettle etc is next on the list.

Eventually move on to from grain, and then maybe kegging.

[Aleks]

The move to all grain was one of the biggest and best jumps in brewing good beer. Kegging was great for convenience and I hate bottles, and there is a quality aspect to is as well as I find beers that are bottle conditioned tend to taste different. That works for some styles, but if you're after a good clean beer, that secondary ferment to carb it tends to shift the taste. Even if you don't want to dispense from kegs, changing to a process of force carbonation and then gunning into bottles is also good, which I've done with beers I don't want taking up one of my taps for.

After that the big jumps came from pressure fermenting and oxygen free transfer. Its all worthwhile to get something out the other end that friends and teammates pine over getting to whenever they can, and that are indistinguishable from beers you'd buy in the store. Recipe creation, experimentation, all are just great fun.

I've had a roughly 15 year adventure in brewing and have done literally every transition and process shift possible, so if there is anything you want to try just ask and I'll give some perspective on it!

[Nufy]

Starting tomorrow with a Brewers Best Honey Brown kit from Amazon.

Gonna mix the wort in a sanitized bucket and then transfer into a glass carboy for fermenting.

Back into the bucket for bottling.

I have a collection of flip top clear and brown bottles to start...then will finish in whatever corona bottles are required.

Wish me luck.

[Nufy]

Tick tick tick from the bubbler on the fermenter...

Something is happening...

[Wormius]

I tried using some gelatin to clear up some cloudiness, but is there something better? This didn’t work 100%.

[Fuzz]

I use whirfloc and never have any cloudiness.

[guzzy]

i really like Brewhq.com for all kits. I started last year with partial mash kits where you basically steep 2 lbs of grains in water before adding malt extract. I had some luck with this but found all beer had that syrup-y taste. I moved to all grain now. Much better results.

Brewhq sells both all grain and partial mash. If you spend over $100 it is also free shipping. Packages range from $30-50.

[Aleks]

Originally Posted by guzzy

i really like Brewhq.com for all kits. I started last year with partial mash kits where you basically steep 2 lbs of grains in water before adding malt extract. I had some luck with this but found all beer had that syrup-y taste. I moved to all grain now. Much better results.

Brewhq sells both all grain and partial mash. If you spend over $100 it is also free shipping. Packages range from $30-50.

I would encourage people to buy local. Grapes to glass is an amazing store run by an awesome guy who really tries to make sure he has everything for the beer scene. The grain selection, hops selection, yeast selection is just amazing as well as gear. I get that the kits are convenient, but you can find recipes allover online (homebrew network) or within recipe programs (brewfather, beerSmith), and go there and measure and crush the grain you need. Places like that need to stay open to make this hobby sustainable!

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[guzzy]

Originally Posted by Aleks

I would encourage people to buy local. Grapes to glass is an amazing store run by an awesome guy who really tries to make sure he has everything for the beer scene. The grain selection, hops selection, yeast selection is just amazing as well as gear. I get that the kits are convenient, but you can find recipes allover online (homebrew network) or within recipe programs (brewfather, beerSmith), and go there and measure and crush the grain you need. Places like that need to stay open to make this hobby sustainable!

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haven't bought from Grapes to Glass yet but i have bought equipment, accessories and grains from Vineyard near Chinook. They were pretty good and very helpful

[northcrunk]

Originally Posted by Aleks

I would encourage people to buy local. Grapes to glass is an amazing store run by an awesome guy who really tries to make sure he has everything for the beer scene. The grain selection, hops selection, yeast selection is just amazing as well as gear. I get that the kits are convenient, but you can find recipes allover online (homebrew network) or within recipe programs (brewfather, beerSmith), and go there and measure and crush the grain you need. Places like that need to stay open to make this hobby sustainable!

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I second Grapes to Glass. I get all my malt and most of my hops there. Beersmith is worth the investment. Grapes to Glass will even crush your malt for you if you don't have a mill.