Home Brew Kits

[Fuzz]

I make it in the kitchen, and leave the carboys in a corner. No way am I hauling them up and down. I do have to haul my supplies though. I hope to build a small kitchen in the basement one day, and hopefully find a single induction burner that can handle the weight.

[Aleks]

Lots to process there!

I have made in the Kitchen before, and haul stuff around in totes, both on 110v systems and when I had a 220v system with (I have a gas stove so I used the unused 40a plug under my cooktop) I've also done garage when I had my large 15gallon pilot system with 66K BTU burners, which is nice in the summer to crush beers and chill but sucks in the winter a bit. I've since developed my basement and built a dedicated brewing/project room that all of that is done down there. It has full plumbing, counter, faucet, and for water I have a RO water system that I have Teed off, the pressure tank feeds the fridge for delicious water to drink, and then I have the faucet installed in the brewing room that is direct from the filters, so I fill 5 gallon jugs with RO water the day before I brew and then alter them to whatever profile I'm after while I'm brewing! Fermentation happens in the garage in the temp controlled fermentation chamber/kegerator split I have in there, which is a converted side by side with ST1000's controlling each side, and C02 with individual regulators (4 for the kegerator side, and 2 for the chamber for additional capacity). Its also heated so if I'm doing a rocket speed kveik I can heat it to 30 degrees.

And for sanitization, again can't stress enough a spray bottle of star san. Harms nothing, can be sprayed on anything, and its easy to use. I also laid down towels and put clean stuff on the towels on the island and you can always spritz away during your brew!

[Nufy]

Tried one yesterday after 2 weeks in the bottle.

Taste was OK...Not enough carbonation.

Will wait another two weeks before trying again.

[Nufy]

How long will beer keep once bottled.

I discovered about 2 dozen leftovers from my last batch that I made a few years ago.

Chill and sample or pour out ??

[Aleks]

Originally Posted by Nufy

How long will beer keep once bottled.

I discovered about 2 dozen leftovers from my last batch that I made a few years ago.

Chill and sample or pour out ??

Depends on how it was handled during packaging. Usually oxidization is the biggest enemy provided you were doing everything right on the sanitization front. I've cracked beers that I brewed 5+ years prior and they were ok. You'll know, they just go bad one day. Try it and find out


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[Aleks]

Originally Posted by Nufy

Tried one yesterday after 2 weeks in the bottle.

Taste was OK...Not enough carbonation.

Will wait another two weeks before trying again.

What was your carbonation sugar dose? Did you use a calculator?

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[Nufy]

As per the instructions...3.5 oz priming sugar boiled in 2 cups of water.

Added to the bucket before I transferred from the carboy to bucket for bottling.

[Aleks]

Originally Posted by Nufy

As per the instructions...3.5 oz priming sugar boiled in 2 cups of water.

Added to the bucket before I transferred from the carboy to bucket for bottling.

Just for the sake of redundancy and because you can't really just go back and correct it afterward, use a calculator next time to figure out if that was correct. For c02 volumes you can use like 2.3 which is middle of road for most styles (if you want to be true to style, look up the correct carb level for your style and go from there, but for now 2.3 is fine). Punch your numbers and see if that was a correct amount for your volume, I don't know how much you made

https://www.northernbrewer.com/pages...gar-calculator

If you were 5 gal it looks like you were close enough. I would check the temp of where you're conditioning as well, if it's too cool you'll have a laggy second ferment as well

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[Fuzz]

3.5oz is about 100grams, which seems really low. For every 5 gal kit I have done it's been 220g for Calgary's altitude. The exception is my gluten free, which tends to over carbonate, and I do 180grams.


Now I'm trying to figure out why that calculator says to use so little?

[Aleks]

Originally Posted by Fuzz

3.5oz is about 100grams, which seems really low. For every 5 gal kit I have done it's been 220g for Calgary's altitude. The exception is my gluten free, which tends to over carbonate, and I do 180grams.


Now I'm trying to figure out why that calculator says to use so little?

The BF one calculates about the same too so it's probably not far off. Altitude should have little to no effect on the amount needed here. I'd still point to temp being the main culprit. If not enough temp add more time. The only other variable is if the priming solution wasn't distributed in the solution well enough. It usually requires a fair amount of gentle stirring even if you rack on top. If that's the case there could be some bottle bombs upcoming and he just picked a low sugar one.

For interests sake the Cooper's tabs are really handy with this kind of thing, just drop a tab in the bottle and fill. No worry about uneven distribution.

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[Fuzz]

Huh, the guy at Home Vintner had always said our altitude required a bit more sugar, regularly the kit needed 200g.


I always leave my big spoon in as I bottle, and stir gently every 6 bottles.

[Nufy]

I put the sugar mixture in the bucket and then transferred my beer before bottling so I am pretty sure it diluted properly.

My storage is a bit cooler than normal room temp so I'll wait another few weeks before sampling again.

[Fuzz]

Oh, ya, if your storage is cooler that will slow it down too. I keep mine upstairs around 20C before moving to the basement after 2 weeks, around 15.

[Aleks]

Originally Posted by Nufy

I put the sugar mixture in the bucket and then transferred my beer before bottling so I am pretty sure it diluted properly.

You'd be surprised! Even taking gravity post sparge with lots of convection agitation I have to stir good before taking my samples

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[agulati]

The first beer has turned out quite well. Did a blonde ale. The carbonation definitely is on the low end. Looks like it could be a combination of temperature and lack of stirring while bottling.

Have moved some to the fridge and some still in storage. How long can I leave the beers bottled in storage before I NEED to move them to the fridge?

Starting on the second one this Friday which is an oatmeal stout from Festa Brew.

[McG]

Originally Posted by agulati

The first beer has turned out quite well. Did a blonde ale. The carbonation definitely is on the low end. Looks like it could be a combination of temperature and lack of stirring while bottling.

Have moved some to the fridge and some still in storage. How long can I leave the beers bottled in storage before I NEED to move them to the fridge?

Starting on the second one this Friday which is an oatmeal stout from Festa Brew.

I just finished making this one (the stout)! We added a 1/2 cup of dry dark malt extract to the primary, and we use 1.5 cups of the same dry dark malt extract instead of dextrose as the priming sugar. Make sure to melt the malt, and be mindful of how much water you add else you might overflow your brewing bucket. Really, really good!

We normally have a pint or two prior to the actual capping of the bottles. For brewing context of course. It’s really popular and good job finding it.

[Aleks]

The only trouble with DME is that it is such a pain in the ass getting it dissolved and absolutely everything within 5 feet of it gets sticky

[McG]

Originally Posted by Aleks

The only trouble with DME is that it is such a pain in the ass getting it dissolved and absolutely everything within 5 feet of it gets sticky

Agreed and especially if you aren’t careful with the volume of water that gets used; I’ve been close to too much water to melt the malt. And patience to not put boiling water into a plastic pail or glass carboy.

I keep using it as appropriate (not every beer gets it) but it smells awesome and tastes even better!

[Aleks]

Originally Posted by McG

Agreed and especially if you aren’t careful with the volume of water that gets used; I’ve been close to too much water to melt the malt. And patience to not put boiling water into a plastic pail or glass carboy.



I keep using it as appropriate (not every beer gets it) but it smells awesome and tastes even better!

I agree it always smells so good

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[McG]

Sooooo....

Ciders anyone?

I’ve made a few brewers best and mangrove jacks but wondering if anyone else has faves? I’m partial to the one that tastes like Swedish berries which I think is brewers best mixed berry. The problem is that I made 3 the same day and no one can remember which was which. No explanation necessary about why we didn’t write down the names. Never miss that step again!