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LoneStarTiger 
LSU Fan
Lone Star State
Member since Aug 2004
6999 posts
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quote:
I'm hoping to as well. Keeping my eye on the weather.
I'm not afraid to brew on the porch while it's raining
I'm brewing a Mexican Praline Porter to rack onto rum oak cubes with a recipe based on Boo's Praline Dubbel and B's Pecan Winter Warmer
This post was edited on 1/10 at 1:19 pm
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TheOcean 
Florida State Fan
Tampa Bay, FL
Member since Aug 2004
23334 posts
| re: Home brewed beer (Posted on 1/10/13 at 1:20 pm to LoneStarTiger)
Some of you more experienced brewers should do a step by step guide next time you brew. I know I would love to see how to brew some more difficult beers.
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LoneStarTiger
LSU Fan
Lone Star State
Member since Aug 2004
6999 posts
| re: Home brewed beer (Posted on 1/10/13 at 1:56 pm to TheOcean)
i use extract, so my process is basically this:
heat water
steep grains
add water until you reach the amount you want to boil
bring to boil
add extract, bittering hops, other ingredients like honey or syrup or sugar
add flavoring and aroma hops as needed during boil
after 60 minutes, stop the boil and bring the temp of the wort down to 70-80 degrees as quickly as possible
transfer to fermenter
pitch yeast, stir or shake
top off with water
take original gravity measurement
put airlock/blow off tube on fermenter, wrap in a towel and put in dark closet
observe magic
I'm probably forgetting something really obvious though
I'm sure other places do it too, but if you order a kit from Austin Homebrew Supply, they give you step by step instructions to follow from beginning through bottling
This post was edited on 1/10 at 1:58 pm
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BugAC
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Member since Oct 2007
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| re: Home brewed beer (Posted on 1/10/13 at 2:02 pm to LoneStarTiger)
I use all-grain, my steps.
boil water
pour 1 gallon into mash and sparge tank to heat up tank, dump water
bring 1.25-1.3 gallons/lb of grain to 165.
pour grains into mash tun
add water to grains 1 gallon @ a time.
mix grains and water.
put top on mash tun (igloo water cooler)
wait 1 hour, checking temps every 15 minutes
slowly drain out about 1/2 gallon of wort and recirculate into mash until runnings are clear
meanwhile, have about 5-7 gallons of sparge water heating up to 170 degrees.
once recirculation is complete, fly sparge onto grains, keeping about 1 inch of water on top of grains.
drain wort into brewpot while flysparging
collect about 6.5-6.75 gallons of wort in brewpot.
Follow general extract brew guidelines after
follow hop schedule
transfer to fermenter
etc....
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Louie T
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| re: Home brewed beer (Posted on 1/10/13 at 2:06 pm to LoneStarTiger)
The lingo used in some of these threads makes this shite sound impossible
How hard is it for a beginner to do something other than a simple ale or lager? How long does it take to learn to brew stuff that's worthwhile? Sounds like the beginning stages are generally expensive, crappy beer
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TheOcean
Florida State Fan
Tampa Bay, FL
Member since Aug 2004
23334 posts
| re: Home brewed beer (Posted on 1/10/13 at 2:07 pm to LoneStarTiger)
Yeah, I used one of their kits.
Do you use kits or just buy the ingredients? Which is usually cheaper?
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TheOcean
Florida State Fan
Tampa Bay, FL
Member since Aug 2004
23334 posts
| re: Home brewed beer (Posted on 1/10/13 at 2:09 pm to Louie T)
quote:
How hard is it for a beginner to do something other than a simple ale or lager?
The pic I posted is a simple ale kit. I've invested ~5 hrs into this brew and another 4-5 reading/watching videos.
It really isn't difficult at all, just a slight learning curve. Most of these guys are doing some pretty advanced recipes and I still don't know wtf they are talking about.
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LoneStarTiger
LSU Fan
Lone Star State
Member since Aug 2004
6999 posts
| re: Home brewed beer (Posted on 1/10/13 at 2:09 pm to Louie T)
quote:
The lingo used in some of these threads makes this shite sound impossible
How hard is it for a beginner to do something other than a simple ale or lager? How long does it take to learn to brew stuff that's worthwhile? Sounds like the beginning stages are generally expensive, crappy beer
if you can make gumbo, you can make beer
my second batch was a blueberry wheat that I think is pretty damn good. The process was the same, but I transfered the beer, after a week or so in the fermenter, into another fermenter that had 7 lbs of blueberries. Thats it.
It sounds overwhelming at first, but it's easy
really easy
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TheOcean
Florida State Fan
Tampa Bay, FL
Member since Aug 2004
23334 posts
| re: Home brewed beer (Posted on 1/10/13 at 2:10 pm to LoneStarTiger)
Can you post the details for the blueberry beer? That sounds amazing
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LSUBoo 
Bowling Green Fan
My Posting Goes To 11.
Member since Mar 2006
54446 posts
| re: Home brewed beer (Posted on 1/10/13 at 2:10 pm to Louie T)
quote:
How hard is it for a beginner to do something other than a simple ale or lager? How long does it take to learn to brew stuff that's worthwhile? Sounds like the beginning stages are generally expensive, crappy beer
You can start straight off with something good, an extract kit would be the easiest, but you can also do extract with steeped grains pretty simply. An IPA would be easy enough, same with an amber ale or porter, or most other styles.
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BugAC
LSU Fan
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| re: Home brewed beer (Posted on 1/10/13 at 2:11 pm to Louie T)
quote:
The lingo used in some of these threads makes this shite sound impossible
It's really not hard at all. It sounds impossible, but it's quite simple.
I can't stress enough how important it is to read this book 
My first brew, was the first recipe they give you in the book. They give you the recipe and step by step instructions. The book basically starts you out with brewing your first beer, and as you go along, it explains more behind brewing the beer. But the first couple chapters jumps you right into brewing a batch. And as you go you learn why you are doing these steps. This was my first homebrew and it was excellent. I've brewed it twice, the second time with more hops and different strand of yeast. Both times it was fantastic.
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LoneStarTiger
LSU Fan
Lone Star State
Member since Aug 2004
6999 posts
| re: Home brewed beer (Posted on 1/10/13 at 2:11 pm to TheOcean)
quote:
Do you use kits or just buy the ingredients? Which is usually cheaper?
first three batches were kits
this batch will be just ingredients
you can use a kit and add to it and secondary ferment it on fruit/wood/other too to change it up
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LoneStarTiger
LSU Fan
Lone Star State
Member since Aug 2004
6999 posts
| re: Home brewed beer (Posted on 1/10/13 at 2:16 pm to TheOcean)
quote:
Can you post the details for the blueberry beer? That sounds amazing
used this kit from AHS:
LINK
after a week or 10 days or so in the primary fermenter (can't recall exactly but can look it up when I get home if you'd like) I racked it into the secondary with 7 lbs of blueberries. Left if for 2 weeks, then bottled.
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Louie T
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Member since Dec 2006
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| re: Home brewed beer (Posted on 1/10/13 at 2:17 pm to BugAC)
Thanks guys
The terminology is pretty foreign for someone that hasn't brewed before. Think I'm going to grab that book and give it a go
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BugAC
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Baton Rouge
Member since Oct 2007
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| re: Home brewed beer (Posted on 1/10/13 at 2:17 pm to LoneStarTiger)
quote:
after a week or 10 days or so in the primary fermenter (can't recall exactly but can look it up when I get home if you'd like) I racked it into the secondary with 7 lbs of blueberries. Left if for 2 weeks, then bottled.
Similar to my blackberry wheat. I used 5-6 lbs of blackberries that i cut in half and froze. Added them to the secondary and racked on top. Secondaried about 2 weeks.
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LoneStarTiger
LSU Fan
Lone Star State
Member since Aug 2004
6999 posts
| re: Home brewed beer (Posted on 1/10/13 at 2:19 pm to BugAC)
quote:
Similar to my blackberry wheat
not a coincidence
I took notes from all the questions you asked about sanitizing your berries and what-not
This post was edited on 1/10 at 2:21 pm
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Louie T
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Member since Dec 2006
28020 posts
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| re: Home brewed beer (Posted on 1/10/13 at 2:22 pm to Louie T)
How much cheaper, if any, do y'all think this is than buying decent beer in the long run?
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BugAC
LSU Fan
Baton Rouge
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| re: Home brewed beer (Posted on 1/10/13 at 2:24 pm to Louie T)
quote:
Think I'm going to grab that book and give it a go
It really is a fun hobby. And you will only buy more beer once you start homebrewing. I've found that my beer purchases have increased the more i knew about beer.
Some terminology that some use that might help you.
Primary = primary fermentation. This is where the bulk of your fermentation occurs and where your sugars are converted to alcohol via yeast.
Secondary = Secondary fermentation. Used to either allow a beer to clean up (become clearer, crisper), dry/wet hop (further hop additions), add fruit, oak, flavors, etc...
Rack - To transfer your beer from one vessel to another. I just racked into my secondary from my primary fermenter.
Wort - Young beer. This is the tasty, sugary liquid by product that comes before the yeast converts the sugar to alcohol.
Fermenter - Device, whether a carboy (glass fermenter), better bottles (plastic carboy) or steel fermenter.
Mash Tun - In all-grain brewing, this vessel is used to convert your starches to sugars from fresh grains
Sparge Tank - another vessel in all-grain brewing that helps in further extraction/conversion
Extract - Malt extract. Pre-packaged already converted "syrup".
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BugAC
LSU Fan
Baton Rouge
Member since Oct 2007
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| re: Home brewed beer (Posted on 1/10/13 at 2:25 pm to LoneStarTiger)
quote:
I took notes from all the questions you asked about sanitizing your berries and what-not
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Louie T
LSU Fan
Member since Dec 2006
28020 posts
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| re: Home brewed beer (Posted on 1/10/13 at 2:26 pm to BugAC)
Is it you that makes the grapefruit IPA? That's the one I want to try
This post was edited on 1/10 at 2:27 pm
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