Fellow INGO Homebrewers!

[REWSTER]

EVILKID. we should get together and brew sometime your only one town over.

 

[indybuell]

Just ordered my kits for this coming St. Patty's Day. I'll have three beers ready. 1. California Common (All Grain) 2. Bavarian Hefeweizen (All Grain) 3. Cream Ale (All Grain).

It's going to be a good time!

 

[Percolater]

Enjoying a new batch of Chamomile beer (it's supposed to have aphrodesiac effects). Too early to consider it a success

 

[billyboyr6]

Thanks guys. I will check out all the mentioned places and go from there.
Mmmmmmmmmmmm. Beeeeeeeer.

 

[jetmechG550]

Here's something handy for those of you that get around or like to venture out and check out shops and such.
The Beer Mapping Project

 

[jetmechG550]

Great Fermentations in Indy is one of the best shops I have been in. Very knowledgable staff and very friendly. Also for anyone new or anyone looking to have a bit of a refresher, they offer a new brewers class

 

[radonc73]

I know I will be looked down at for this but if you go to communities.mrbeerdotcom there are some great guys over there and it isn't all Mr Beer stuff. If you want to learn about the process I would say start there, where you end is up to you.
I have brewed several recipes lately and am getting ready to do my first 5er of Hefe.

 

[Sailor]

Homebrewtalk.com is great for info and recipes but, I got banned cause one of the sponsors never shipped my product and when I complained over and over on the forum in the right section I got banned. Kegcowboy avoid them. I still go there though for recipes though.

 

[jeeper038]

I use 100% Citra, but I am not sure I can find anymore now. Anyone grow hops? I would like to try especially the ones that are hard to find.

I have another bigger IPA that is still a little green in keg #2 now. Its a Centenial/Amarillo beer.

If my hop order comes tomorrow I may brew this weekend also.

I was able to get 1lb of Citra before it was all sold out this year. I am planning on using 100% whenever I get around to brewing this one.

 

[jeeper038]

Great Fermentations in Indy is one of the best shops I have been in. Very knowledgable staff and very friendly. Also for anyone new or anyone looking to have a bit of a refresher, they offer a new brewers class

I agree. I try to support them as much as I can. I have bought most of my equipment and grain from them over the past couple years.

 

[TTravis]

I'm in Plainfield as well, if you ever need a hand with anything while brewing (or whatever) hit me up. I'm fairly new to home brewing and had plans to expand this year until I went and screwed up my foot and leg. Back to normal now

I'll take you up on that offer. I need to clean out some space in my garage and start accumulating the equipment I will need. I also need to warm the wife up to the idea. I am sure she would never drink anything that did not come from a store.

 

[TTravis]

Cider is EASY! I always have cider on tap. Buy some apple juice (I use the Sam's Club brand) and put it in a fermentation vessel of some sort that you can attach an airlock to. I like to add two compact cups of brown sugar for a 5.5 gallon batch. Then add some brewing yeast. Do not use bread yeast, it is two completely different things. I like a yeast called Nottingham for my cider, it is available at every home brew store and online. Let it ferment for about 10 days (or until gravity readings are consistent, usually takes about a week)

Two newbie questions.

I have some 3 and 5 gallon plastic "Aqua Systems" water bottles sitting around. Would these work for fermentation vessels, or should I get something glass?

Please tell me more about what you use and how you go about measuring gravity.

Thanks,

Tom

 

[jetmechG550]

I'll take you up on that offer. I need to clean out some space in my garage and start accumulating the equipment I will need. I also need to warm the wife up to the idea. I am sure she would never drink anything that did not come from a store.

My home brewing really changed my wife's palate for beer. Find clone recipes for beer she likes and tweak it. Mine went from not knowing what hell an IPA was to pretty much always ordering one when we go out.

 

[JoshuaW]

Two newbie questions.

I have some 3 and 5 gallon plastic "Aqua Systems" water bottles sitting around. Would these work for fermentation vessels, or should I get something glass?

Please tell me more about what you use and how you go about measuring gravity.

Thanks,

Tom

The ones that are labeled #1 and #2 recyclable are okay, if I recall. You can normally get plastic carboy (typical brand name "Better Bottle") at the homebrew store for less than $30, and a glass one for less than $40. They all are fine, just make sure you get an appropriate stopper for it that will fit an air lock. Some people will loosely put some sanitized foil or something on the top, but a stopper and airlock are less than $5, spend the money.

A hydrometer is what you would use to measure gravity. They are pretty cheap (Beer and Wine Triple Scale Hydrometer : Northern Brewer). You can get various test tube type things to put your sample in so you can measure as little as possible. I use a wine thief, which works to draw the sample out and allows you to measure it in the same vessel. You take your sample at the beginning (that is your "starting gravity") and again at the end (your finished gravity) and the difference will tell you how much alcohol is in the finished product. It also helps gauge when fermentation is done. When the yeast have finished processing the sugar the gravity will stay consistent. When it is consistent for a couple days you can be certain that it is done fermenting.

I want to add a note about the yeast selection for my cider recipe. Nottingham is a very neutral yeast that is not particularly sensitive. It doesnt really put out any "off" flavors unless you ferment it at really high temperatures (room temp is fine). It also leaves you with a cider that is very drinkable right after fermentation, although it does still benefit a little from aging. There are a lot of other yeasts available, and many that are specific for cider making (Nottingham is a beer yeast), but for your first time, I would avoid anything else. It will make a good cider that is drinkable almost immediately, and having something that wont take up much time and still taste fantastic is probably the best way to get your wife sold on brewing.

 

[littletommy]

I know I will be looked down at for this but if you go to communities.mrbeerdotcom there are some great guys over there and it isn't all Mr Beer stuff. If you want to learn about the process I would say start there, where you end is up to you.
I have brewed several recipes lately and am getting ready to do my first 5er of Hefe.

There's a huge thread on homebrewtalk.com about the Mrbeer. It's amazing how many home brewers got started with that kit! And the fermenter that comes with it is pretty handy for making cider and other non beer stuff.

 

[JettaKnight]

My home brewing really changed my wife's palate for beer. Find clone recipes for beer she likes and tweak it. Mine went from not knowing what hell an IPA was to pretty much always ordering one when we go out.

Ditto, except my wife has a taste for sours.

I have some 3 and 5 gallon plastic "Aqua Systems" water bottles sitting around. Would these work for fermentation vessels, or should I get something glass?

Some brewers use PETE bottles (listed as recycling "1 PETE") instead of glass because they're cheaper, they're lighter, they don't shatter when dropped. They're good, but make sure you clean them well because scratches in plastic can harbor bacteria. Also, plastic will leach in air, so long term fermentation is not desirable.

Also, an economical choice is plastic buckets made from HDPE. This has been done for decades, and I did all my primary fermentation in one for years too. Al you really need is a small hole in the lid where you can insert a stopper with an air lock.

Please tell me more about what you use and how you go about measuring gravity.

There's two ways: a hydrometer and a refractometer. The hydrometer works well, it floats in the liquid and indicates the specific gravity by reading the line at the top of the liquid. The caveats are that the liquid must be at 60F or adjusted using a formula. Plus, they're fragile - I don't know how many I've broke. The refractometer uses light to measure UNFERMETED sugar content. It works very fast and requires only a couple of drops. But, refractometers are expensive.

 

[JoshuaW]

You can get refractometers fairly cheap that are still accurate, the problem with all refractometers is they do not show an accurate picture of fermentation progress/post fermentation. I do like mine for measuring mash progress and during boil to check where my gravity should be when boiling down.

 

[radonc73]

There's a huge thread on homebrewtalk.com about the Mrbeer. It's amazing how many home brewers got started with that kit! And the fermenter that comes with it is pretty handy for making cider and other non beer stuff.

It is SO easy and once you start really going with it you can tweek the Mr Beer recipes to find out what you like and if you brew a style you don't like you have less than a case of it. When it gets down to it it is just a fermentor and you can take it as far as you want but Mr Beer got alot of peoples feet wet.

 

[REWSTER]

i started out with the MRbeer kits, the main thing is time. MB's directions say something like 1 week fermenting 1 week in the bottle and drink. id do a minimum of 2 weeks in the fermenter and 2-3 weeks in the bottle. i found the MB kits to get a lot better with time in the bottle. one batch i had a 6 pack that i let sit about 4 months and it was 10 times better.

 

[radonc73]

I go 3 in the fermentor and 4 in the bottle myself, but I have noticed that leaving it unmolested for as long as possible. Also if you go out and buy the 5 gallon setup and all the supplies you have a chunk of money at once and if you don't have the process down right it could get frustrating quickly.