Home Brewing

[Jerseyprophet]

I got a home brewing kit for christmas (thanks mom), and my first batch was done fermenting on new years. I started it on Christmas.

I put two tsps of sugar in the bottles to allow for a second fermentation in the bottle for another 7 days for the carbonation.

My question is this, to anyone who brews their own beer (if any) - my uncarbonated batch seemed OVERLY pale in color and there was a sedimentary yeast at the bottom of the fermenter barrell. Is this normal? I sampled a glass and it resembled Blue Moon in it's cloudiness, and had a fruity finish. Very drinkable. As thin as a domestic light beer, but the flavor and body of a Lager. I'm concerned at it's thin-ness, and alcohol content. I used regular cooking sugar as the fermenter with the yeast, and used 3 cups for a 4 gallon batch. I did the math and it shouldve come out to be 8.8% ABV but it seemed almost non-alcoholic. Maybe I didn't use enough sugar?

The batch I made was a German style pale ale, whispering wheat and a German grown hop that has a real evergreen mint smell that I can't remember the name of. I called the batch "Old Country Ale".

[Turambar]

And here I thought I'd find a thread about programming...

Cool new toy though.

[Jerseyprophet]

Thanks man. Im a huge beer geek (partly because of the career I have) and this was just what I wanted to try my hand at. Beer brewing is actually pretty fascinating if you learn about the history of it. It's cool, I started researching and in my area (southern New Jersey) there are historic houses that people bought and found actual speak easy bars hidden in their basements! Imagine how incredible that would be. You buy a home (the one I'm referring to was bought in Merchantville, NJ -- an old town with lots of Victorian style homes dating back to the early 1900's) and you find a hidden wall and behind it a bar that old mob lords and town figureheads drank in! Old bottles that are nothing short of pieces of history collecting dust around the bar. That's amazing! You know....prohibation is the reason we have malted chocolate? The breweries needed a way to make money during that time, and they sold their malts to candy makers. Neat =)


I just wanna get this right though. I'm not happy with the outcome

Then again, the beer is still carbonating. I was tasting it flat. Flat beer always sucks. Even a champion beer like Sam Adams' Cherry Wheat would blow if it was flat. Maybe I'm just not being patient enough.


When I get better at brewing I'm going to make a beer called "Jersey Devil Lager" (copyright ) and Im going to use purely hops/wheat/barley grown in native jersey soil. I want it to be similiar to Yuengling Lager, but with a little more flavor.




....or maybe I just need to find a girlfriend lmao.

[Kaliden]

When I get better at brewing I'm going to make a beer called "Jersey Devil Lager" (copyright ) and Im going to use purely hops/wheat/barley grown in native jersey soil. I want it to be similiar to Yuengling Lager, but with a little more flavor.

I don't even drink but I'd buy that, just because it sounds awesome.

[Daydreamer]

I don't really know much about the subject, but I remember in the Good Eats episode about brewing Alton pointed out leftover yeast in the very bottom and said home brewers should pour their brew into a glass before they drink and leave about half an inch left in the bottle because yeast would be there and it's completely normal.

And I second that the name you chose is awesome.

[Khamsin]

Fine, then I'm going to make a beer sometime called Apocalypse or The Eliminator or Ryko Stout, or even just Map's Sash Draft for some cheap canned or happy hour tap beer.

[wyrmtung]

I don't really know much about the subject, but I remember in the Good Eats episode about brewing Alton pointed out leftover yeast in the very bottom and said home brewers should pour their brew into a glass before they drink and leave about half an inch left in the bottle because yeast would be there and it's completely normal.

And I second that the name you chose is awesome.

I remember this episode. I always refer to "Good Eats" when I want to figure out where I went wrong. Need to get down to the science of things, especially with beer.

Here's the episode for you, JP. Hope this helps.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?do...27078421700337

[aru]

here was a sedimentary yeast at the bottom of the fermenter barrell. Is this normal?

absolutely normal. most beer is filtered to give it a "clean clear" look, but you'll find that some of the best beers in the world are unfiltered. this is typical of a hefeweisse, some lambics and a bunch of other styles that are bottle fermented(conditioned).

if you used wheat or rice as a main element in your mash then i wouldnt be too concerned about it being pale, that's just what it does. rice lagers from japan like sapporo or kirin are very light due to using rice and belgian wits like hoegaarden and hefeweissens like franziskaner or weihenstephaner are light from the heavy use of wheat. color doesnt really represent how a beer will taste either. i just had a chimay for new years, it looked like a typical porter or stout but had a light, clean taste which completely suprised the people i shared it with.

Maybe I didn't use enough sugar?

depending on the yeast that you use, at a certain point they will choke and die on their own waste (yum!). so if the yeast that you used could only survive a 8.8% alcohol environment then you could dump as much or as little sugar in your batch as you wanted, it wouldnt change a thing because they are all dead at that point and all you're doing is sweetening your beer.

if you didnt know about beeradvocate.com yet you should definatly check them out and read/post on their homebrew forums. i'm sure you'll find all the information you need there, but if you dont they'll probably point you in the right direction. you can also see if your library or bookstores by you carry books by michael jackson. he's one of the top authorities on beer and his books are pretty easy reading. just dont let anyone see the author's name if they notice you reading to avoid the retarded jokes people try to come up with.

[Tajin]

And here I thought I'd find a thread about programming...

Cool new toy though.

same

[Popeh]

I had an uncle who made Homebrew was I was much younger, always went round to help when he was due to make/finish some. Never let me drink any though ; ;

Might be different to yours, probably most likely was but he used a barral over bottles but I belive it's made in the same way.

One very noticeable memory I have was the amount of crap at the bottom of the fermenting barrel when it had been piped over to the dispensing barrel for additional fermanting (with sugar). He used some float measuring thing to test when it was ready for this second stage but I can confirm that a light colour and heavy sediment is part of the process.

Don't be unhappy with it until it's ready.

[Amarok]

Good Eats has an episode on how to brew your own beer and exactly how to do it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vlv1wBy7Z5w

[aru]

I remember this episode. I always refer to "Good Eats" when I want to figure out where I went wrong. Need to get down to the science of things, especially with beer.

Here's the episode for you, JP. Hope this helps.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?do...27078421700337

Good Eats has an episode on how to brew your own beer and exactly how to do it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vlv1wBy7Z5w

[wyrmtung]

I remember this episode. I always refer to "Good Eats" when I want to figure out where I went wrong. Need to get down to the science of things, especially with beer.

Here's the episode for you, JP. Hope this helps.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?do...27078421700337

Good Eats has an episode on how to brew your own beer and exactly how to do it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vlv1wBy7Z5w

I take full blame on this one. I posted without first reading all the future posts of this thread to make sure I don't double post. :D

[Amarok]

I remember this episode. I always refer to "Good Eats" when I want to figure out where I went wrong. Need to get down to the science of things, especially with beer.

Here's the episode for you, JP. Hope this helps.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?do...27078421700337

Good Eats has an episode on how to brew your own beer and exactly how to do it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vlv1wBy7Z5w

I take full blame on this one. I posted without first reading all the future posts of this thread to make sure I don't double post. :D

I didn't read the thread because I am not really interested in the subject but I remembered the Good Eats episode. My bad.

[Jerseyprophet]

Thank you greatly guys, especially Aru. I appreciate the tips. It's day four in the carbonation process. Three days left and I'll see.

For Jersey Devil Lager I'd like to try Honey as the fermentation ingredient. See if it effects the flavor at all, or thicken the overal brew a tad.

[Kiro]

Send me some of that shit when you finish it, rofl. I'm dead serious.

[aru]

no problem.

you should post pics of your setup and some of the steps along the way. would be interesting to see the results.

not to squash your intentions, but good luck finding jersey grown hops/wheat/barley. i dont know how it is down south, but i havent seen a place in sussex county that sells any (not that i've been looking much either though). according to nj's department of agriculture, seems like slim pickings for hops and, especially, barley in the entire state's farmer's and roadside markets.

i love honey, and it is pretty easily fermentable. just be careful of how much you use. i'm trying to think of a beer made with honey that i enjoyed and am drawing a blank (not that i've had that many, but still...). blue moon had some variation made with honey and i dont know how else to describe it other than just simply bad. i've also found meade to taste pretty horrible too so maybe i'm just predisposed to dislike fermented honey, but just as a warning (which you may already be aware of) know that it's not just a replacement for the sugar that you've been using and it can and will impart it's own taste and have an effect on the mouthfeel.

[Jerseyprophet]

Sam Adams Honey Lager?



And by the way;

Blue Moon is owned by my company, Coors Brewing Co. =)

AB (bud) is coming out with their take on our Blue Moon called Shock or Spike Head. I can't remember the details they gave us in the meeting. It's almost identical, but I tasted it and it wasn't as good. And I don't just say that because CBC pays my salary Egh, Miller tried the same against Modelo Importers (Corona) with Miller Chill. In our market (southern NJ and Philly area), Chill caught on for about a month and then the novelty wore off when retailers didn't want it placed next to Corona with the imports -- since it IS a domestic, and therefor they make about 10 cents on the sale like other domestics.

That's my job, catagory management. Boring at times, but interesting as well at others since my job in a nutshell is to take a "pepsi" drinker (miller/bud) and get them to enjoy "coke" (Coors) using grocery store marketing concepts applied to Liquor retailers.


Anyway -- pictures of the setup will follow a little later, with ingredients and all. Once I do my dishes and clean up the kitchen that is lol. Hey, I'm a single guy. When my dishes are all dirty, I use paper plates haha. Only time I really clean is if I'm having a date come by. At least I'm honest =)

[Jerseyprophet]

Here you go Aru, the setup:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...phet/beer1.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...phet/beer2.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...phet/beer3.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...phet/beer4.jpg





I cracked open a carbonating brew for the pics ....completely flat, no head at all. Creating beer is so much fun --- and so f'n frustrating. Oh well, back to the drawing board.

[SilverBreeze]

Awwww

I guess it's a learning experience. Lets see how the next batch comes out