The Official Home Brew Thread

[TheSaint]

Okay, so all you guys get good at this, then I will throw some funds behind it when ready and we can start our own micro-brewery. Who wouldn't want to make beer for a living?

Every guys dream isn't it.

I think that is a very very difficult business to succeed at from a business standpoint. But I applaud anyone for even trying. I applaud you boys for even home brewing. I remember watching Beer Wars and the guy from Dogfishhead talking about how hard it was, but again,hats off.

I'm only half way thru this thread, but it's these kind of quality threads I enjoy reading on the huddle, rather than the 300th, Armanti Edwards wildcat/gimic play thread.

[lymelizzard]

This weekend I'm starting a Muntons light kit. I know not the most manly of beers but its for everyone else around the house that wan'ts a less filling beer. http://www.austinhomebrew.com/product_info.php?products_id=512

[Kettle]

@TheSaint. It is pretty hard, but its worth it. With these kits that I'm using it takes around 3 hours including clean up to put a brew together. Then, depending on how good you want your brew to be and how much patience you have, you'll wait anywhere from 2 to 6 weeks before you drink one. It has really satisfied the desire I always had to grow my own bud. Since this is legal and I no longer smoke, home brewing was a great hobby to get into.

Next weekend my wife is going out of town for a baby shower, and I have the whole weekend to myself. I plan to bottle my dunkelweizen Friday night, and then brew a Russian Imperial Stout on Saturday. I've been wanting to do that one for a while, and I found the kit in a brew shop today. It should come out great and somewhere between 8 and 9%.

[Kettle]

Got everything done that I wanted this weekend. Also, popped open my last liter of the nut brown ale that I made to kickoff the regular season. I hated to see it finished, but man it was good.

Next tasks are going to be labeling the dunkelweizen which I've decided to call Monkey Dunk. Gonna put together an image of an Ape slamming a basketball for that one. Should also be moving the stout into secondary next weekend.

[Kettle]

I bottled a stout this weekend. 7% ABV. I got 46 of them, and they should be good in a few weeks. I'm not sure what I'll do next. This really is a time consuming hobby with cleaning, brewing and bottling so I'm not even sure when I'll find the time to do another one. Hopefully within the month, but its hard when you have a family to take care of and other hobbies you want to devote time to.

[mmmbeans]

I just brew while I'm watching football... It's perfect.

[Kettle]

i'm guessing you're doing it inside on a stove then. i do it outside on a turkey fryer. it keeps the smell out of the house. plus when i watch football thats all i'm doing. thats 3 hours of the week the wife knows she is getting nothing out of me.

[mmmbeans]

yea, i do it inside. I love the smell.

[Kettle]

I do too, but the wife doesn't. I'd rather not listen to her complain about it. Plus cleanup is a good bit easier when you do it outside.

[mmmbeans]

I do too, but the wife doesn't. I'd rather not listen to her complain about it. Plus cleanup is a good bit easier when you do it outside.

understandable... I don't have the option to do it outside.

[Kettle]

I just ordered a wort chiller off Amazon. $52.44 shipped. The next batch is going to be my best yet.

[mmmbeans]

keep it cool while it ferments <70... made a HUGE difference for my brews.

[Kettle]

i've been able to keep it in the range the yeast calls for, but on the high end. fall is here though so i should be able to get it to the low end now. the wort chiller should make a big difference though because i'll be able to cool down faster. Now that I have it and a 36 qt pot i'm going to full-volume boils.

[mmmbeans]

yea... make a swamp cooler or something. When I dropped my fermentation temps from high 70s into the 60s my beer went from "pretty good" to "goddamn!"