brewing beer

my second beer, a modified extra hoppy pale ale, is bubbling in the fermentor right now. going to rack it to secondary, dry hop it, and start brewing a double chocolate cherry stout on thursday. going to put a cherry in each bottle

i know there are a few homebrewers out there. what are you brewing?

:afro:

 

just did all of that, now i have the pale ale in secondary and the double chocolate stout in the primary. going to probably do an english nut brown ale with local pecans

 

i don't do hops, too many hormones. All of my stuff is pre-1513 styles.

 

I was thinking about going to a local brewery tomorrow to buy a brewing kit, i'll let you know how my first batch turns out! double chocolate cherry stout sounds fucking amazing

 

i just got my first home brewing kit. not sure what primary and secondary even mean...
i have four different beers that i can brew - one at a time to get 2 gallons.
a wheat bear
a pale ale
an octoberfest
canadian lager

 

primary and secondary refer to the fermentation vessels. usually done in a bucket or carboy (a big glass jar). most beers don't need secondary unless you're letting the beer clarify (less cloudy beer) or adding hops, vanilla, fruit, etc to it.

otherwise you can usually just bottle from your primary fermentation vessel

:afro:

 

i don't think mine will need secondary then. but i do think i add hops at some point. obviously i haven't read the instructions. i might start today...then have beer in two weeks. but that's the minimum amount of time, not sure if it includes bottle conditioning..

how long does yours take from start to finish, NP?

 

it depends on the beer. i like to use a secondary, so it's usually one week in primary, one week in secondary, then three weeks to bottle condition before i can put them in the fridge to drink. my stout isn't going to secondary, so four weeks total for that. five weeks for the pale ale.

yours will probably be done in four weeks or so. definitely try to do some reading on the process. try homebrewtalk forums or beeradvocate homebrew forums. the canned extract (i'm assuming) that came with your kits won't make the best beer, but don't get discouraged. my first beer was a golden lager from a cooper's extract kit and it sucked balls. it's a good way to learn and make mistakes, though.

 

ok so yesterday i filtered and bottled my extra hoppy pale ale, added whole hop cones to the bottles, transferred the chocolate stout to a plastic carboy with 15 oz of cherries in it. then i brewed another 5 gallon batch of nut brown until 4 in the am. it's currently bubbling away now.

the pale ale will be ready to drink in 3 weeks

 

sounds good, man.

i'm pretty sure i might have contaminated my first batch. we'll see after it's all done though. i'm letting it "primary" for two weeks, "secondary" (in the bottle) for two weeks, and then condition for 3 weeks or so before i try the first one.

 

what makes you think it's contaminated?

 

it makes a big deal saying how you have to sterilize everything, which i did. but while i was stirring it, i'm pretty sure some splashed up and hit my hand..

 

probably won't cause a major infection bro

 

How'd it turn out?

 

i just started conditioning mine a couple days ago - half at room temp, half in the fridge. after 3 or 4 weeks i'll try one. just in time for patty's day. it might not be contaminated after all, since when i tasted it after fermentation, it tasted like flat beer.

 

conditioning in the fridge will leave you with flat beer. you added priming sugar to each bottle? this is the time where active yeast will eat the added sugar and force carbonate the bottle. keeping it cold will make the yeast dormant.

 

the pale ale is/was great. i only have a few bottles left.

the pecan nut brown ale and the black molasses stout are conditioning now. i'm going to bottle the double chocolate stout in a week. i decided to give it more time in the fermentor to mellow out.

i just brewed a super hoppy IPA and i'm about to pitch the yeast once it cools.


:afro:

 

yes i added priming sugar to each bottle. but then i let it carbonate for two weeks at room temp in the dark. then i started the conditioning - which can be done at either temp

 

hell yeah

 

whats a good home brewing kit for someone who's never done it to make like...smooth lagers?