/diy/ - Do It Yourself

How are you doing tonight?

Also, what is the hardest part of homebrewing?

Have you had anything explode on you?

>>130640
I've got a touch of the flu. Thanks for asking.
The hardest part for me is deciding what to make. I love all kinds of beers and mead, but some more than others.
Yes I've had a couple of bottle bombs, one batch of Sgt. What'shisname I lost 6 bottles from over priming. I once lost a $50 bottle of meadowfoam show mead becasue I didn't leave enough headspace. But those are the only times I've ever had explosions.

>>130642
Hope you get well soon, and I wish you all the best with everything. Right now I have to go pickup my girlfriend at the airport. Have a great one guys!

>>130639


Hey mate, question from New Zealand.

I want to make some beer for me and my friends. We are big piss drinkers. Whats the cheapest/easiest way to get a few dozen big bottles of liquor that doesn't taste like a homeless man's taint

10 lbs of 2 row malt
2 oz bittering hops (your choice)
10 gallons water
Yeast of choice (Lager tasted better, but takes longer)

Heat 3 gallons of water to 150 degrees F (sorry, not conversant with metric conversion) add a mesh bag full of crushed malt. Steep for 30 minutes agitating grain like a tea bag.

After 30 minutes is up, remove grain, squeezing out any remaining juice from the bag. bring water to a boil for 60 minutes adding 1/2 oz of hops as soon as it reaches boil and every 15 minutes after that.

After an hour strain hot wort into a large pail and add the rest of the water, cooling to 75 degrees F. Add yeast, cover loosely and store in a cool, dry place for 2 weeks.

After 2 weeks, siphon off all the clear beer into another container and cover loosely, storing in a cool dry place for another 2 weeks before bottling. If using Lager or pilsner yeast store in a cool (<50 degree F) dry place for 3 months before bottling.

What was the first thing you brewed?

>>130652

Fucking awesome man, Im going to save this shit

>>130653
Sgt, Whatshisname's Egyptian Extra Stout (pic >>130639).

It was an all grain, foreign stout, with lots of hops. Sweet, Biscuity, sour and hoppy with a mild bitterness profile. I took the name for a Kipling poem. Foreign stout was meant to be shipped out of Briton, for the various colonies (India, the Cape, Australia) and I tried to envisioned what a stout sent to her majesty's forces in Egypt would taste like.

>>130655
It'll not be Chechvar, but it'll taste like beer and get you lit.

What country?
Name of the brewery?

>>130663
USA
Current idea for the name is Midgard Brewing

With mead, whats the average primary fermentation time? Do you need to rack it into a secondary demijohn/brewing bucket or can it go straight to bottles once initial fermentation has stopped?

Favorite thing to brew?

I don't really know anything about brewing but it seems interesting so my questions might be goofy. I was thinking of trying to make some cider myself.

>>130674
Fermentation time? a few weeks, mayhap a couple of months. But to get a great mead, not just a quick mead It takes YEARS of lagering (aging) for all the complexities and character to fully develop. More if you're involving oak.

>>130676
So far my favorite thing has been the Sgt. What'shisname. I've never made cider, but I'm considering adding a cidery to my brewery. I do enjoy cider quite a bit. Favorite so far is Woodchuck's Farmhouse Cider.

>>130680

Ah cheers, guessing the aging can be done in either the bottle or second clean container [barrel, demijohn or w/e]?

Using plastic "brewing buckets" or w/e right now [first foray into brewing, produced acceptable results on my first batch of cider] so I imagine it wont add any character in aging. With my cider I just transferred it to bottles after fermentation had stopped...

Where did you learn and how long did it take?

>>130639
Why aren't you posting this in /ck/ where the Homebrewmen are?

Can anyone post the cider brewing pic? Saw it a couple of days ago but couldn't find it flicking through threads.

>>130712
It's a faulty info pic. Don't use it.

>>130712
>>>/ck/3350674

There's the latest Homebrewmen thread. Read those comments before trying that info pic. It's at the top of that thread.

>>130687
I started out with plastic buckets and then moved to glass carboys, then I went back to plastic buckets again. I usually age in a third container alltogether.

>>130691
I have posted this in /ck/, they're even slower than here.

>>130742
If you really want to do something like this, here's how you do it.

Ingredients
5 Gallons of pure, all-natural apple juice (no preservatives) (any style of apple)
Brewer's Yeast of choice (I recommend both englich cider yeast [http://www.northernbrewer.com/shop/cider-mead-sake/cider-making/wl-english-cider.html] and Brettanomyces lambicus [http://www.northernbrewer.com/shop/wyeast-brettanomyces-lambicus.html]) from northernbrewer.com
5 lbs of brown sugar
5 oz. Honey

Tools
2 Brew buckets
siphon hoses
bleach (for sanitizing)
3 gallon cookpot
Carb-lock
Thermometer
10 2 liter soda bottles

Heat sugar and 2 gallons of juice together until the sugar is completely dissolved. Pour juice and sugared juice into a brewbucket and cool until 75 degrees.

Pitch the Cider yeas and seal the bucket, installing the carb-lock. Store in a cool dry place for 2 weeks. After 2 weeks, siphon cider into the second brewbucket, pitch the Bret. Seal, install carb-lock and store in a cool dry place for 2 weeks.

Once fermentation has stopped (i.e. the carb-lock stops bubbling) siphon the cider off into a sterile brewbucket and gently stir in 5 ounces of honey. Once the honey is well blended, siphon the cider into sterile 2 liter bottles and seal storing in a cool dry place for a week or two, then chill and serve.

>>130776
>Carb-lock

Also known as an airlock.

>>130639
What was the most difficult hurdle going from home brewer to commercial brewer to overcome?

>>130798
Money. Specifically the lack of it.

>>130691
Actually I learned from this place: http://www.howtobrew.com/sitemap.html

and it only took a few days of reading and a day of so of shopping and brewing.

hahaha story of my life.
Another question.
I want to try my hand at making a few gallons of mead.
I have seen it posted to let it sit for a year after primary fermentation.Your thoughts?

Shit, I just started this thread without lurking >>130796

anyways, would you say that this is a good mead recipe, or is there a better one you would recommend?
http://celestialmead.wordpress.com/2010/06/29/an-idea-is-born/

do you grow any of your own ingredients?
If you don't and you would like too, which ones would you start with?

>>130802
A Great Mead can take years to age properly. But it's drinkable as soon as the fermentation is over.

>>130803
That seems like a variation on the Ancient Orange Cinnamon mead at gotmead.com

>>130807
I wish I could grow my own ingredients. When I start, I'm gonna start with hops.

Well Sir Sourdough, I have enjoyed this Thread and thank you for starting it.
Have a good day, sir.

>>130812
Awesome! Thanks for that link dude