I know we've got a few people on here into home brewing, so I thought I'd share my latest obsession and see what you guys think. So yea... I'm a proud new homebrewer! My first batch is actually still in secondary fermentation, so I have not even tasted it yet. Hopefully I'll get it bottled this weekend and then it's only a matter of time... *evil laugh* Here's some crappy cell phone pics of some of my equipment- This is my first batch in primary fermentation (in the bucket). I have a couple of "conventional" airlocks, but I rigged up what you see there with the Corona bottle at the recommendation of the guys at my local homebrew supply shop. The bottle is half filled with water, and the idea is that it will contain any mess that initial fermentation might puke up. I didn't have any problems, but I did find that this method makes for a clear, audible bubble sound, more distinct than the small plastic airlocks, which was nice because you definitely know that fermentation is active. This is my wort chiller that I rigged up. 20 foot of 1/2 inch copper tube ($ ouch $), braided nylon hose, and an adapter to attach it to my kitchen sink. We had the wort cooled from a boil to room temp in less than 30 minutes. Lastly, this is something I just built, it's a bottle drying rack. I wanted something to hold the bottles upside down to allow them to drip empty. I've seen stuff you can buy, but honestly what I've seen has been small and overpriced. I put this together for less than $20. That's 1.5" PVC and 3.5" stainless steel "extreme corrosion resistant" deck screws. It's 5' 2" tall and will hold 60 bottles, LOL. SO, it's almost as big as my wife and still more useful. I've got a bunch of other stuff: brushes, a bottle capper, a 30 qt brew pot, siphon equipment, etc. So I'm hoping with a little practice I can make some decent booze. If any of you homebrewers have advice, lay it on me!
The more I learn about beer making, the more I despise light American beers, haha. You'll have to make a trip up to Indy to try some yourself!
Dude, that is an awesome setup! Is the Gatorade jug your chiller? Do you prepare your own hops? I've just used pellets so far.
A friend of mine started out just like you. This is his setup now. It's an addictive hobby to say the least!
Keeps the grains and the water hot so it converts the starches into sugars. I mix in the grain, then water at 172 or whatever the recipe calls for. It will holds the temp pretty good. I had a crapy brew day a few weeks ago, I had to leave the mash sitting for about six hours and the temps stayed the same. I have 9 hop plants. Usually harvest in August. Last year was a bad year, only pulled about sixteen ounces of hops. The previous year was better, I managed a few pounds.
That's awesome that you grow your own hops. Most use the pellets, and there is nothing wrong with that, but growning hops at home is almost as cool as growing hash at home!
Very nice man. How many batches can you typically get out of the hops you grow at home? How big are the plants?
I'm surprised you use chillers.. I just get a couple gallons of distilled water and freeze them. Put them in before the wart and am ready for yeast in about two minutes, not twenty. And it's a hell of a lot cheaper.... Cool chiller setup though!
The thing I like about using the chiller is that it allows me to boil the whole ~5 gal wort at once and still cool it in a reasonable amount of time. Then (ideally) I don't have to add any more water after the boil, which reduces my chances of contamination. That's just me though, lots of people add water after the boil with repeatable success, so really either way works well. The ice thing is an interesting method, I've never head of that. It's actually pretty slick, I bet your wort cools down quick.
Ahhh makes sense now! I wouldn't mind doing that either.. But yeah the ice method works great and I've had continued success
Usually I use an ounce to an ounce and a half per recipe. I really do not like IPAs that much. So I do not go through them very quickly. The plants are kind of neat. They are a vine that starts growing about April or May. and reach about 30 feet in height by August. They can grow half a foot a day during peak growing time. Then by September the bines die and I cut them off at the ground.
Ah, I see, I see. What kind of hops are they in particular? I'm still learning a lot about this kind of stuff, the science and variety in hops alone is mind boggling. I'm an IPA guy myself, my first two batches should have a decent amount of hop to them, though I'm not going full blown IPAs, just bitter ales.
