<a href="http://www.northernbrewer.com" target="_blank">Northern Brewer</a> and <a href="http://www.midwestsupplies.com" target="_blank">Midwest Supplies</a> are both great retailers. I'm fortunate enough to live close to both, and use both, depending on which is more convenient at the time. Never mail ordered from either, but I've heard great things about both of them in that respect - I believe Midwest may be a little cheaper.

I know they give at 10% discount to AHA members in the stores. Not sure if it applies to online orders or not, but might be worth checking, if you're a member.

What variety would you suggest for an APA? Cascade?

Ok just put my first wort in the fermenter. We'll see how it turns out.

I used a blonde ale malt extract and some honey along with the half the booster. Just using a MR Beer kit for now until I get a little practice. The shit actually smelled great though.

I hope it's tasty. I'll do this one day. No time for another hobby right now, though.

conrats and rep

Thanks

I just have one question... the only way i have to keep the temp stable is to ferment it in the house I have it in one of those soft coolers zipped up almost all the way. Could this be risking a huge mess?I'm going out of town for a week and I don't want that shit to explode all over my house lol.

Well, the fermetation (primary) is pretty violent, and can blow pretty good....

I once left for a few days and it blew just hard enough to blow all the water out of my air water -lock, and ruined a batch...i dont think you could make too much of a mess tho besides a little spilled brew

If you are past the violent stage, you SHOULD be ok....maybe just leave your heater at like 61 ?

When are you leaving??

Also you could build a bigger fermentaion lock thats more fail proof:

http://www.instructables.com/id/How-...ck-Not-a-ball/

I'll be leaving Friday afternoon. I think having it zipped in the soft cooler should prevent any major explosions. Hopefully if anything happens it will be contained in the cooler.

you should be good by then, especially if you build/use a larger water lock like the one above

Cool thanks man

Poured my first glass of dry hopped California Common/ Steam beer.

It is a hopped up version of Anchor Steam. I kept my house at 65 degrees for 3 weeks for this beer to ferment properly. Now I can finally reap the rewards (and turn up the thermostat).

I highly recommend dry hopping if you love that flowery aroma.

Sounds great. I need to order a brew kit. Haven't brewed in a few months. Last one I did was an amber ale. I wasn't as fond of it. I think I'll order another brown ale. That one seemed to go over pretty well.

Where do you order from?

My son just keg'ed his latest beer (Irish Stout) and when I return from this businees trip, I am looking forward to drinking it. Especially out of my christmas gift to him (kegging gear) :thumb:

I can't remember the name of the place I first ordered from, but I've been using Midwest Supplies the last few brews.

I made this Honey Brown Ale once from The Home Brewery. It was VERY good.

http://www.homebrewery.com/beer/beer-kits-ales.shtml (5th one down)

Man, I need to knock out a few batches. My carboys are out there collecting dust.

Me too. Been about 3 years since I've brewed.

I'm due too. I wanna try a lower alcohol/calorie beer (@4%abv, like a domestic "lite") with a nice hoppy kick and balanced malt taste. I have some research to do, but will run a small amount of biscuit, and maybe some amber grains to enhance flavor without hitting it too hard with malt sugars. I'm thinking of hopping it like a good western IPA. lots of citrus notes.

Have a batch of hard cider goin. Stinks like death.

Never tried that. The smell makes it through the air lock?

When the yeast is eating it produces co2 the air lock will release that co2 a few times an hour...


The air lock is basically an upside down cap that is under water that lets air escape but won't let air in.


I used to make beer 15 or so years ago... I may get back into it.

When I brew my beer, the gas bubbles out, but it never stinks at all.

NO TIME FOR THIS GUYS! SCOTT PIOLI! MATT CASSHOLE! CANDY RAPPER! TO ARMS!!!!

Exactly. We need to drink.

During the beginning parts of the fermentation, depending on the yeast, you can throw off a lot of sulphur. A lot of cider yeast does this. Won't effect the end product and nothing to worry about. Stinks like rotten eggs, though.

I never thought mine did either, I guess different combos of the organic stuff the yeast is eating gives off different smells .. I know I could never drink something that stinks..

Did you add yeast or go with whatever yeasts were in there already? I'm jealous.

My stepsons room is in the basement and he is super pissed.

I added yeast. Some Shit to make it super dry. Gonna make a batch of peary after we turn 640# of tomatoes into goodness.

Homebrewing should be a helluva lot easier that it was for me in the early 90's .... Look at all the places you can get recipes and stuff... Also there are alot nicer kits available now...

Bought from e.c.kraus direct.

I just can't seem to get that flowery/citrusy hoppy flavor in my IPA style beers.

I'm putting around 3 oz during the boil for flavor, then another 2-3 oz dry hop for aroma.

Aroma seems to be there, but the taste is lacking.

More hops in the boil? Any recommendations? I bought some Nelson Sauvin hops I am excited to use.

What hops are you using? Dry hopping usually does the trick for aroma, but you might want to do some 30-15min and flame out additions as well. That should boost the flavor profile.

Haven't used or heard too much about Nelson Sauvin hops. Let us know what you think.

Centennial. I probably need to boost the % a bit.

Any recommendations?

I have had beer brewed with Nelson hops. EFFING GOOD.

When you say %, do you mean IBUs? amount of hops? Alcohol? Centennial usually runs in the 9-11% AA ranges so I'm guessing you are getting around 100 IBUs which puts you more in the Imperial range. Is that what you are going for? What is your grain bill like?

I've done a nice single IPA with all Centennial (it was a 2 Hearted Ale Clone). Off the top of my head it was something like 5 oz all together; an ounce at 60, 45, 20, flame out, and dry hop. It ends up being around 60 IBUs with a OG around 1.060. Actually won a couple awards with that beer.

Centennial is one of my favorite hops, but if you want to get a wider array of flavors, you might throw in something else as well. If your going for the heavy floral/citrus Pacific NW feel, any of the C hops would be fine (Chinook, Cascade, Challenger). I'm also a big fan of Amarillo.

Thanks, this helps alot.

You had me at Two Hearted Ale Clone.

Haha, one of my absolute favorites.

I tracked down my recipe if you want to check it out:

10lb 2 Row
2lbs Vienna
8oz Carapils
8oz Crystal 15L

Mash 151 for 60 mins

Hop additions

.75oz Centennial 60mins
.25oz Centennial 45mins
1oz Centennial 20mins
1oz Centennial 5mins
1oz Centennial 1min
1oz Centennial dry hop 7 days

Yeast: Safale US05
Ferment @ 65 degrees for 4 weeks.

I guess I'll be joining you guys soon. Got a kit for Christmas. Haven't even attempted anything yet.

Funny that it has been about that long since I have come and visited you. Coincidence or not???

Do a lot of late addition.

Got a Kegerator last night and now I need to get the O2 bottle filled. Any help from the guys with kegging gear is appreciated.
Getting this setup has resparked my interest in brewing. Part of the reason I haven’t done it in a while is the hassle of sanitizing 50 some bottles to bottle my brew. If I could syphon it into one keg and let it effervesce there I’d probably do it more often.

You need to fill it with Co2 not O2. I'm in Wichita, but any welding or fire extinguisher place in your area should be able to fill it or exchange it. What else do you need help with? Is it home built or store bought kegerator? Do you have any kegs yet?

Ok, Co2, I was being lazy but you’re right there is a difference.
The reason I ask is there seems to be conflicting information on the internet as to whether a welding supply shop will have lubricant in the Co2, but thinking about it I can’t come up with any useful purpose that would serve to a welder.

Store bought, don’t have any kegs yet, just looking to get it setup and probably buy a keg of commercial beer just to try it out.
When I do get around to home brewing a batch I’ll most likely go with Cornelius Kegs but they have ball locks, one for gas in and one fluid out. How do you adapt that to a typical Sankey keg valve?

Is this a 5gal batch?

Ok, Co2, I was being lazy but you’re right there is a difference.
The reason I ask is there seems to be conflicting information on the internet as to whether a welding supply shop will have lubricant in the Co2, but thinking about it I can’t come up with any useful purpose that would serve to a welder.

Never ran into anything like that, but I have only heard of using welding supply place ancedotally, which I know a lot of people that do. I go to the Kansas Fire & Equipment here and get a 10lb filled for $14

Store bought, don’t have any kegs yet, just looking to get it setup and probably buy a keg of commercial beer just to try it out.
When I do get around to home brewing a batch I’ll most likely go with Cornelius Kegs but they have ball locks, one for gas in and one fluid out. How do you adapt that to a typical Sankey keg valve?

You have a couple choices, you can get some corny kegs that have the sanke fittings (called sixth barrels I believe). These are pretty expensive last I checked and I'm not that familiar with the functionality of them (cleaning, dissembling, etc.). I have seen some people convert ball lock kegs to sanke fittings, but am unfamiliar with that process as well. What I would do is take the sanke fitting off your kegerator hoses and put on ball lock disconnects. The only problem being you wouldn't be able to easily serve commercial sanke kegs in the future, as you would have to cut off the ball lock disconnects and reconnected your sanke fitting.

Yeah, 5 Gallons.

We’ve got two or three welding supply shops in town, suppose I should just go and ask.

I was kind of afraid of that, which I might still do but it would be a whole lot easier to switch from one type of keg to the other if I could build or buy some type of adaptor.
Regardless, thanks for your help. This gets me started. :thumb:

Got a Mr Beer kit as Christmas gift... tried it out, tasted like beer. Upgraded and started a stout this weekend and it's happily fermenting in the basement. The kit came with bourbon soaked oak chips and I'm thinking about adding some bourbon soaked cherries to this batch or a future batch (reading the debate on adding fruit to the primary or secondary).... maybe add some coffee.

Excited to see how it turns out so I can keep experimenting.

Also thinking about what I can do with the grain... tried making some bread with it, but didn't turn out very well... will try again though. Might buy a dehydrator so at least it'll last longer without needing to freeze it.

I picked up a silly blonde recipe, should be pretty good. Whenever I get some time to brew it.

I Have some honey wheat in the primary fermenter right now. Should be ready to bottle Saturday.

I made the jump to all-grain this year, and will be doing my third batch - a pale ale this weekend. i bottle, and ingredient costs are down to 55 cents a bottle, about half of what my extract recipe costs. I wish I had made the move earlier.

Its cheaper but obviously more time consuming. I have been doing all grain for about a year now. Still improving my efficiencies.

I'm doing 10gal of pale ale this weekend and if I have time since its a 3 day weekend I may do a 5gal Belgian double.

Belgian beers always seem to come out excellent.

I have a really good Pale Ale recipe and and pretty good IPA and a decent hoppy wheat beer I have been working on.

Im getting thirsty.

I recommend Beer Smith brewing software to anyone that does all grain or brews much. Its extremely valuable when working your numbers out.

Started a Young's Double Chocolate Stout clone.... mixed recipes/ideas from here and here to make granola with the spent grains (in this case, chocolate malt, flaked oats, and crystal 60), and holy crap it's delicious. Best use of spent grains yet, without having to grind it into flour.