OT: Brewing my first batch on Saturday

udp · Post by **udp** » Thu Jan 10, 2008 7:41 pm

After 15 years of dreaming of brewing my own IPA, I am taking the plunge on Saturday. Any home brewers have advice for a total novice? I've got a basic starters kit, so I'm following a recipe that uses liquid malt extract and then adds grains and hops. Hopefully, in a month I can tell you I have something drinkable.

Moody · Post by **Moody** » Thu Jan 10, 2008 7:58 pm

Nice, I have really been digging the Saint Arnold Elissa IPA and Dogfish Head 90 Minute IPA lately.

Good Luck!

bgc · Post by **bgc** » Thu Jan 10, 2008 8:47 pm

My pal makes mead and beer. He does a good job, has good results. I believe he made a slightly suspect batch of beer once...caused some problems. Other than that he is pretty good and finds it interesting. A time honored thing, that is for sure. A real craft. Enjoy.

Lazos · Post by **Lazos** » Thu Jan 10, 2008 8:55 pm

I've made mead, plum, and elderberry wine numerous times and beer once from a kit. I've liked the wine that I made. Just be careful about those beginner starter kits. The one I tried had me heating the can of malt extract (in the can) in the same water that was used for the beer! It was okay, but it sorta made the beer taste like a tin can . . .

Jester's Honour · Post by **Jester's Honour** » Thu Jan 10, 2008 9:03 pm

I'm a brewer of beers and apple cider. I have my own 3 keg system too.

Oh the joys of not bottling.

An IPA is a great beer to start with, the heavy hoppiness will cover small mistakes well.

My main suggestion is proper sanitization. Don't neglect this _very_ important aspect of a successful batch of beer.

Also, a real IPA should age in the secondary for at least 2 months, it's a malty and hoppy brew which will be very harsh if not allowed to mellow. Time will make it so much better. Mmmm.

Okay, I'm off for a pint of IPA right now.

Just to clarify a point. I'm talking a real IPA for the above suggestions, not the American Light style known here in Canada as Alexander Keith's. That is _not_ an IPA.

Tone Deft · Post by **Tone Deft** » Thu Jan 10, 2008 9:07 pm

this thread is making me thirsty.

good IPA:

dhilsabeck · Post by **dhilsabeck** » Thu Jan 10, 2008 9:52 pm

Use good water.

Get big bottles. The bigger the better. You'll find that bottling can lose its charm after your third or so batch. Unlike JH, i don't have room for a 3 keg system, let alone a 1 keg system. Instead I use tap a draft:

http://www.northernbrewer.com/mini-kegs.html

I know it's kind of weird in concept but It's nice for a couple of reasons. I only have to clean a few bottles and you can have draught beer (as much or as little) without a kegging rig. You can also have one co2 and one nitro cartidge for super small bubbly foamies, but I haven't tried that yet. I usually do one or two of these bottles plus a couple six packs for giving away bringing to friends houses, etc/

+1 on sanitation. I use "one step":

http://www.northernbrewer.com/sanitizers.html

KEEP RECORDS OF YOUR RECIPES/TECHNIQUES, LESSONS LEARNED and so on!!! And use a sharpie to lable your bottle caps so you know what does and doesnt' work for you.

Enjoy the fruits of your labor. It's an enormously satisfying craft.

roby · Post by **roby** » Thu Jan 10, 2008 10:12 pm

What would you guys recommend to get started? Ever since my bandmate opened his Belgium beer bar I've been thinking beer and making beer and all that. Sounds like something I could really get into...

suburbanbather · Post by **suburbanbather** » Thu Jan 10, 2008 10:22 pm

I brewed my own beer once with one of those cheap starter kits. I brewed IPA and it turned out a little on the sweet side, but still good. It was easy to brew, but to me the whole process was did not make it seem like the effort. The beer turned out pretty good, but I'd rather just go the store and pick up some Belgium like Nostradamus, Three Philosophers, or Duvel.

Like Jester's Honour said, make sure EVERYTHING that the brew touches is sanitized. Also, use bottled water, absolutely positively no tap water.

suburbanbather · Post by **suburbanbather** » Thu Jan 10, 2008 10:27 pm

roby wrote:What would you guys recommend to get started? Ever since my bandmate opened his Belgium beer bar I've been thinking beer and making beer and all that. Sounds like something I could really get into...

IPA

Jesse · Post by **Jesse** » Thu Jan 10, 2008 11:25 pm

-- Use two or three times the malt (like two of those big cans)
-- Brew your own yeast, or use the expensive liquid yeast (which you can keep alive by brewing your own 'keeper' bottle.
-- Keep everything super clean, the tiniest amount of bacteria can make an off batch.
-- Related to last tip, get a huge pot -- big enough for all 5 gallons of your kit -- and boil all the water -- not just a bit with added cold water. Got to sterilize.
-- Be patient. A month for primary, a month for secondary, 2 months in the bottle. That said, I never had that much patience

but put aside a few bottles and you'll thank yourself.
-- Get a hobby that lets you sit around for 4 hours while the wort cools (how I got into football).
-- Send 1 case to Ableton HQ: C/O Artist relations
J

theque · Post by **theque** » Fri Jan 11, 2008 1:13 am

don't be tempted to go silly with the sugar for that little extra alcohol content.

udp · Post by **udp** » Fri Jan 11, 2008 2:12 am

Hey, thanks for all the advice! My parents and I own a seasonal Ice Cream store, so we have an extra Cornelius Keg. My plans are to hook that baby up to a CO2 tank and serve it from there. Any advice on conditioning in the keg? The recipe calls for a 1 to 2 week primary fermentation then a good month or more secondary fermentation. It has you add whole hops to the secondary. I am excited about this recipe, because although it uses malt extract it also uses a grain mash. So I get to experience mashing and sparging, but it's not critical if I don't get every last drop from the grains. Any advice on pitching the yeast? I am using liquid yeast, so any advice on growing it for future use would be appreciated.

forge · Post by **forge** » Fri Jan 11, 2008 2:13 am

Jesse wrote: -- Brew your own yeast, or use the expensive liquid yeast (which you can keep alive by brewing your own 'keeper' bottle.

when I started brewing I spent ages looking around the net for info on where yeast came from and how do do what you said - I found nothing - how do you brew your own yeast?

@UDP - IPA stands for 'india pale ale' and it was originally brewed specifically for the Brits in India because it was notoriously difficult to export beer without it going bad and I guess the climate in India made it difficult to brew in those days

so as others have said it probably makes for a quite harsh brew when it's young

but if you consider that IPA is an ale, ale is probably the easiest to brew because the top fermenting yeast used is much more tolerant - it can handle much greater variation in temperature - I think it's from 18C up to 40C - while Lager uses bottom fermenting yeast that is much less tolerant wiht a max temp of about 32C IIRC

personally I really like real Ale - it's probably the thing I miss most about England - and I usually buy the 'real ale' kit - particularly because I live in a hot climate and so it's not to big a deal if it stays warm

so for that reason I'd start with a simplle Ale as it's the easiest to brew and probably wont be too different to an IPA as you dont need to export it to India by ship in a wooden barrel for a month so it will be ready to drink quite quickly

in fact I have even drunk ales right from the tap without bottling it after it;s been in for a week - Ales are that flexible - that's what they used to do in in the olden days and with real ales freshness is a good thing - if you drink real ale in country pubs in England they have to use up the keg within a week or it starts to lose its freshness - but you wont have that problem with sealed bottles

so for a first brew I'd definitely recommend a real ale, or dark ale or stout

someone recommended to me once that instead of sanitising with chemicals just use really, really hot water - I started doing that and had good results -

I will never use that sodium metabisulphite again - I once cleaned the barrel with it and didnt rinse it properly (kind of thought leaving it in a bit would "make sure" ) and when I opened it the gas that came out gave me an instant, quite frightening asthma attack- very, very dodgy stuff

I also got fed up with the bottling and started using 2 litre soft drink bottles, and provided they are well rinsed enough in very hot water then they are fine - of course bottles that just had water in will be the best as there will be no lingering coca cola taste or whatever that requires lots of rinsing

so my advice is start off simple wih a real ale, dark ale or stout, then when you start getting a feel for it start being more adventurous

you just inspired me to put on a stout I've had in the cupboard for months!

udp · Post by **udp** » Fri Jan 11, 2008 2:27 am

^^ Hey Forge! thanks for the advice. It's kind of funny, part of what's inspired me to finally take the brewing plunge is that the last store to buy decent ale in this small town I live, has closed. Sad really. There may be a deli opening up soon which will carry some beers, but I don't know that the owner ( a friend of mine) will listen to me and carry really fine craft beers. We'll see. At any rate I figure I can smoke a fine cigar whilst the wort is chilling. Cheers!