The Official Home Brew Thread

[Kettle]

my Raspberry witbier came out pretty good in my opinion. It tastes like a witbier with a little bittersweet flavor from the berries, and it is very red.

i plan to do a pale ale next. not sure when though.

[mmmbeans]

hey guys, quick question... How do you control your fermentation temp?

i got an icecube cooler that i modified to fit a carboy but i still can't get it down as low as I want. Any suggestions?

[Kettle]

Read this tip in a book.

Put the carboy in something larger and surround it with water. Drape a t shirt over the carboy and let it hang into the water. The shirt will draw in moisture and drop the temp of the beer around 5 degrees. I read that you want the t shirt all the way up to the airlock and that you can also use a towel but it would me more likely to mold.

[mmmbeans]

i cut a hole in the top of an ice chest so my airlock could stick out, put water in the bottom and dropped some frozen water bottles in. was sitting at 78, got it down to 72 now. much better. just took longer than i thought it would to bottom out.

thanks for the suggestion.

[lymelizzard]

Here is a couple of pics of my first Lager. With the heat I've not been thinking about brewing so much as I cant find any place cool enough. Later around end of August mid of September time frame I will put on the next batch.

[thefuzz]

Thinking of going and getting a brew kit tomorrow.

Going to try my hand at this.

Any tips would be greatly appreciated.

[mmmbeans]

Here is a couple of pics of my first Lager. With the heat I've not been thinking about brewing so much as I cant find any place cool enough. Later around end of August mid of September time frame I will put on the next batch.

What were your lagering temps?

[mmmbeans]

Thinking of going and getting a brew kit tomorrow.

Going to try my hand at this.

Any tips would be greatly appreciated.

i can't offer you much as i'm really inexperienced as well.

the one thing i would say is buy a more sanitizer than you think you need. you're gonna burn through it and you don't want to put a batch at risk by trying to stretch your sanitizer further than it should go.

[charlotte49er]

If anyone needs beer bottles or wine bottles, I may be able to help you out!

[lymelizzard]

What were your lagering temps?

It was a few months back I want to say 70-73 it was a Coopers Kit so it was the yeast that came with the kit. It recommends a warmer temp I believe than the actual Lager yeast.

Is there something you see wrong with it?? I'm as far from a pro as they come so I'm open to criticism...........

[mmmbeans]

It was a few months back I want to say 70-73 it was a Coopers Kit so it was the yeast that came with the kit. It recommends a warmer temp I believe than the actual Lager yeast.

Is there something you see wrong with it?? I'm as far from a pro as they come so I'm open to criticism...........

nah, it looks fine to me. I don't know what the hell i'm doing, I just know lagers are generally "lagered" at lower temps.

How's it taste?

[lymelizzard]

nah, it looks fine to me. I don't know what the hell i'm doing, I just know lagers are generally "lagered" at lower temps.

How's it taste?

It tastes OK, It is only Lager kit I've seen that you can do at room temp........ It might be they send ale yeast with the kit.

[Kettle]

the coopers kit is the first one i did too. it's not really a lager. its an american light beer. depending on little things you do it might come out as good as a Stella, but when I did it I ended up with more of Budweiser.

@thefuzz...i'm sending a PM. maybe we can help each other out if our schedules allow.

[mmmbeans]

the coopers kit is the first one i did too. it's not really a lager. its an american light beer. depending on little things you do it might come out as good as a Stella, but when I did it I ended up with more of Budweiser.

@thefuzz...i'm sending a PM. maybe we can help each other out if our schedules allow.

fermentation cooler is hovering around 62 F. W00t.