Brewing Beer at Home

[Hopeful]

Thought I would pop in this thread and say hello since I also enjoy homebrewing. I have been doing it for 4 years now. I have attended 2 National Homebrew conferences which are always a blast.

I currently brew 10 gallon all grain batches on a single tier keggle system. I usually brew with a friend, and we split the 10 gallon batches. I recently built a RIMS tube system for controlling mash temps.

Homebrewing combines my love for cooking and drinking beer!!

 

[Chuckanut]

I am impressed with the number of home brewers we have. For now, I have decided to not pursue it further. I have other things on the plate and doubt I could devote the time and money it requires. But, things change over time and the idea of brewing my own good beer, and inviting my friends over to sample it, seems very, very nice.

 

[Ronstar]

I always hate pop ads, but one just popped up on my screen in this thread -

Brew Dogs premieres on Sept. 24 on the Esquire channel(whatever that is)

Brew Dogs Official Site | Esquire Network

 

[hakuna matata]

But, things change over time and the idea of brewing my own good beer, and inviting my friends over to sample it, seems very, very nice.

This is why I started. I was wondering what hobbies I could/would have as I moved into retirement and thought about the things I enjoyed doing. One of those was drinking beer with my friends. So I started homebrewing a couple of years ago now, and have done about 18 beers so far. All have turned out very well with the exception of two (one didn't carbonate and the other was too bitter--unfortunately it is my current one, but I am letting it age to see if that improves it!), and the one that exploded on my kitchen floor (but that is another story!). But I enjoy inviting a friend or two over and serving them a great beer -- it is very satisfying I have to admit. Plus I always have beer on tap at home, what isn't to like about that?

 

[bo_knows]

Homebrewing is great. I just started up a batch of Apple Wine in my fermenter the other day. I've brewed Beer, Apple Wine, and Mead. It's certainly a great hobby, and if you brew in standard 5 gallon batches, you're going to need some friends to help out with consumption

 

[sengsational]

Homebrewing is great. I just started up a batch of Apple Wine in my fermenter the other day. I've brewed Beer, Apple Wine, and Mead. It's certainly a great hobby, and if you brew in standard 5 gallon batches, you're going to need some friends to help out with consumption

That's for sure! (the part about needing help with consumption). My problem is that too many of my buddies are also brewers and keep inviting me over to drink their latest (leaving my beer unconsumed and leaving me with with no room for new batches)

 

[ERD50]

... Generally, though I "keg" and "bottle" at the same time (wash and sanitize only 3 big bottles, put 4.8 gallons into the big bottles). I can drink from them as if they were kegs (which they really are, since they last many months in the fridge). ...

I've bought two of those Tap-A-Draft bottles, but have not used them yet. I've been playing around with my own tap designs, I have one that has worked well on mini-kegs, and I just found a super-easy way to adapt it to these jugs (which have the same neck size/thread as 3L PET soda bottles. But I just tried an alternate method that is even cheaper/easier - but I need to run it through a few cycles to assure it is reliable.

With my design, you can use a standard kegging CO2 source, cheaper in the long run than those little cartridges. I'm also working on a cheap way to use a paintball tank, w/o the expensive regulators and adapters.

A question for you - do you find the beer can sit in those Tap-A-Draft jugs for 6 months or so w/o oxidation? I know people get concerned about oxidation through plastic - but I'm not convinced it is a real-world issue. I've read that these jugs are identical to what Miller/Coors 'home draft' comes in.

-ERD50

 

[GalaxyBoy]

True - Hard to be a beat a DIY hobby having an end result that you can drink, and at a fraction of the cost at the store.

I recall an ad running in the homebrew magazines a few years back that said something like, "In case of nuclear attack you'll be a heck of a lot more popular than the guy down the street who collects stamps."

 

[Amethyst]

And I got one for T-shirts, with a picture of a young woman bending over with her huge milk factories just about popping out. Bleagh. I guess the Pop-Up God assumes anybody perusing a beer thread must be male, and hetero at that.

Amethyst

I always hate pop ads, but one just popped up on my screen in this thread -

Brew Dogs premieres on Sept. 24 on the Esquire channel(whatever that is)

Brew Dogs Official Site | Esquire Network

 

[Meadbh]

And I got one for T-shirts, with a picture of a young woman bending over with her huge milk factories just about popping out. Bleagh. I guess the Pop-Up God assumes anybody perusing a beer thread must be male, and hetero at that.

Amethyst

I got an ad for Spokane Industries, makers of craft distilling tanks (1100 Litres). That is a gross overestimate of my capacity!

 

[Ronstar]

I recall an ad running in the homebrew magazines a few years back that said something like, "In case of nuclear attack you'll be a heck of a lot more popular than the guy down the street who collects stamps."

I'm sure our place will be popular in case of nuclear attack - After brewing 10 gallons today, my stockpile is 20 gallons in kegs and a case of bottles.

 

[sengsational]

I've bought two of those Tap-A-Draft bottles, but have not used them yet. I've been playing around with my own tap designs, I have one that has worked well on mini-kegs, and I just found a super-easy way to adapt it to these jugs (which have the same neck size/thread as 3L PET soda bottles. But I just tried an alternate method that is even cheaper/easier - but I need to run it through a few cycles to assure it is reliable.

With my design, you can use a standard kegging CO2 source, cheaper in the long run than those little cartridges. I'm also working on a cheap way to use a paintball tank, w/o the expensive regulators and adapters.

A question for you - do you find the beer can sit in those Tap-A-Draft jugs for 6 months or so w/o oxidation? I know people get concerned about oxidation through plastic - but I'm not convinced it is a real-world issue. I've read that these jugs are identical to what Miller/Coors 'home draft' comes in.

-ERD50

My buddy knew the Miller/Coors rep when my town was selling 'home draft' units (sadly, we are no longer a test market). But he'd pull the date expired kegs, dump it, and I got lots and lots of bottles and taps for $3 each. The brewing closet with my cardboard shelves:

Even though I've got tons of MHD taps, I'd be interested in seeing your design for a tap alternative. I don't pay much for CO2 (just 2 bucks to deliver 5 gallons if I don't force carbonate). I don't mind the extra expense since I like the "freedom" to toss a keg in an insulated box, no hoses, no regulators, and head out to an event.

The TAD bottles are very similar to the MHD bottles. If you have insomnia, you can check out my you tube posts (I'm known as sengsationa1 over there ... ending in a "one" because I lost the email address associated with the user name spelled "the right way").

I've made the same observation about the 3L bottles (I get 'em at the dollar store and dump the pop).

As to the "freshness in plastic concern", I think it's not a concern. Although oxygen can migrate through plastic, it's on the parts per billion level with the MHD and TAD bottles (not sure about 3L soda bottles...they're not the same layers). I routinely have beer in these bottles for many months, both tapped and capped. I've tapped a few that were over a year old without oxydation. You get the same kind of age profile, as far as I can tell, as storing in glass. But you might want to check out the video about the MHD bottles failing when I had a highly carbed beer in one. The failures were MHD, not the new TAD bottles, which have a rounded bottom, not one with molded-in "feet".

 

[ERD50]

...
As to the "freshness in plastic concern", I think it's not a concern. Although oxygen can migrate through plastic, it's on the parts per billion level with the MHD and TAD bottles (not sure about 3L soda bottles...they're not the same layers). I routinely have beer in these bottles for many months, both tapped and capped. I've tapped a few that were over a year old without oxydation. You get the same kind of age profile, as far as I can tell, as storing in glass. But you might want to check out the video about the MHD bottles failing when I had a highly carbed beer in one. The failures were MHD, not the new TAD bottles, which have a rounded bottom, not one with molded-in "feet".

Thanks, I did come across your youtube videos, will check them out in more detail later.

I'l post some info on the tap design when I get it checked out a bit more. Either here, or on youtube, and/or one of the brew forums, but I'll cross-ref it here when I do.

Here's a couple tricks to avoid dragging a full CO2 source/regulator set up with you for portable dispensing:

A) Bring 2/3rd to 1/2 full jugs, and (optionally) punch the CO2 pressure up bit from normal serving pressure (Say 15# rather than 10-12). There will be plenty of reserve pressure from the head space to push the beer out the tap, and it won't have time to over-carbonate.

B) Fill an empty jug to 25# CO2, and use that to 'top off' the the CO2 on the full jugs when the pressure drops in them. This is easy to do with my tap set-up.

-ERD50

 

[Chuckanut]

I recall an ad running in the homebrew magazines a few years back that said something like, "In case of nuclear attack you'll be a heck of a lot more popular than the guy down the street who collects stamps."

And even more popular than the guy down the street who has stashed away his gold bullion.

 

[sengsational]

And even more popular than the guy down the street who has stashed away his gold bullion.

Moving around 50lb bags of malt tends to be a problem though, and the shelf life is pretty short, given the guaranteed vermin that always seem to come with such collapses. If you really want to be helpful after the collapse, learn how to malt your own barley. I don't know anyone that does that or even knows how.

Here's a nice little video (the real reason I revisited this thread):

How to Make Beer, the Animation. on Vimeo

 

[braumeister]

learn how to malt your own barley. I don't know anyone that does that or even knows how.

Malting is not rocket surgery.
1. Wet the grain and let it begin to sprout.
2. Dry it.

As with most agricultural processes, timing is everything. The combinations of wetting time, drying time and drying temperature can produce hundreds of different types of malt.

A friend of mine once decided to make his own malt.
He bought some seed barley and planted it.
At harvest time, he wanted to simplify the process, so he used his wife's washing machine and dryer to automate the malting process.

It was several years later when SWMBO finally stopped reminding him about his experiment.

 

[Chuckanut]

Knowing that we have a number of engineers here. And that some of them do their own home brewing, I thought some people here would enjoy this episode of Science Friday. In it engineers study why beer foam prevents the beer from sloshing out of the glass when bumped.

Under the Influence of Beer Foam

 

[Ronstar]

Knowing that we have a number of engineers here. And that some of them do their own home brewing, I thought some people here would enjoy this episode of Science Friday. In it engineers study why beer foam prevents the beer from sloshing out of the glass when bumped.

Under the Influence of Beer Foam

Thanks for posting!