re: Homebrewing: In-Process Thread

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Does it taste like death or like beer?

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Still taste mostly of sweet wort. Nothing offensive. Went ahead and pitched my bugs. I am just now getting the westmalle yeast from a couple bottles of homebrew dubbel to start kicking in the starter. I will pitch that tomorrow.

Looks like Zappa Dust Tres will turn out awright. Tasted a sample and all is well. Gravity is only down to 1.016 which is a bit high and probably due to my accidental high mash temps. But I don't taste any sweetness. Added some citra and cascade dry hops to the carboy.

Just got into homebrewing 3 weeks ago or so. I've made 2 extract batches and have already started stocking up on all grain equipment to give that a shot
I didn't order a kit, but instead did a ton of reading and ordered my version of a starter kit. I went with the plastic big mouth bubblers for my fermenters. I initially got 2 5 gallon and 1 6.5 gallon, already wishing I had gotten nothing but 6.5 gallons. Also went ahead and got a kegging set up with 2 kegs, a regulator, and splitter, etc. I have acquired a fridge/freezer that I plan to use as my fermentation chamber and a stand up freezer that I plan to make into a keezer with 4 taps.
First order:



I made a DIY stir plate and went with a yeast starter for my first brew:



First Brew (Midwest Supplies Gold Dust IPA):



Got a STC-1000 for my temp controller for my fermentation fridge, wired it up and it's been working great:



First brew fermenting at a cool 67 degrees:



Second brew (Midwest Supplies Kiwi Crossing IPA):







My order for stuff to complete my kegerator, stainless shanks (Perlick faucets, accu-flex tubing and quick connect fittings on the way), and stuff to attempt my first all grain brew (a Pliny the Elder clone):

My hydrometer samples have been very good, even shared them with a few other people who were kind of thrown off at first, tasting a flat, warm beer for the first time, but they all said it was tasty. I cold crashed my first brew last night and plan to keg it tomorrow and carb it up for a few days and see how it is. Can't wait!
And I do have a habit of jumping in feet first when I do things. I love beer and have wanted to try out homebrewing for a while and finally figured I had read up enough to pull the trigger. I'm hoping everything turns out ok.

Like I said. You sound like you're off to a good start. Some people need to ask what all the bubbles are on top of the beer to know that it's fermenting their first time. I'm sure it'll be pretty tasty for your first brew.

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Also got a starter going with some brett I got from rds. I think it's a crooked stave strain. Whatever it is, it was awesome in rds beer I drank the other day. That was an amazing beer.

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I don't know what he uses in it, but I agree that the beer is fantastic. I would make that my "house" pale ale in a heartbeat, as opposed to the one I have on tap now that just keeps going and going and going

I went upstairs to check on my saison this morning and there is still some airlock activity, after 9 days. I want to draw a sample to check the gravity and taste, but doing that from a bucket is a pain in the arse. Will probably move the bucket downstairs tonight and it will stay around 75 for a couple more weeks.

tell me more about this DIY stir plate.

one of the magazines I have at home have instructions for making one, but I don't remember the specifics or costs, and I'm curious as to just how much I would save to know if it would be worth it

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tell me more about this DIY stir plate

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I built one a few years back.

I had ZERO clue what I was doing and not a lick of wiring experience and it was fairly easy to assemble once you have all the parts.

If I didn't already have most of the parts on hand I probably would have just purchase one instead.

This is pretty much what I built, but I used a larger box so I could use a 5L flask.
LINK