(09-07-2020, 07:57 PM)jfkbengals Wrote: I used to brew, and towards the end I was doing 5 gallon kegs instead of bottling.  I still have all my stuff, but don't have anywhere to properly ferment it, so I don't do it anymore.  I do occasionally get the itch to do it, but I really don't drink much beer anymore (bourbon is my deal), so it goes by pretty quickly.

(09-07-2020, 09:42 AM)fredtoast Wrote: I have a couple of friends whe were hard core home brewers.  One of them, Pete Atwood,  finally went in with a couple of his friends and started their own brewery.  They kept they regular jobs, but their brewery did so well that they now have multiple locations.

https://bikedogbrewing.com/

(09-08-2020, 03:08 PM)MileHighGrowler Wrote: I had a similar challenge when I lived in California for several years.  No basements, warm temps most of the year.  I started fermenting in a chest-freezer with a temp controller on it to hold it at 65* or whatever I needed.  The benefit of that setup was that I could also brew lagers more easily.  After I moved to Colorado with a basement that stays between 65-68* year-round, I finished converting that chest freezer to a keezer.  

I know they also make jackets you can put on the fermentation device (i.e. bucket for many!) that can cool or heat, but I've never used on.  

I will say that these days there are soooo many options for great beer, the "need" to homebrew is much less than it was a decade ago.  It's more about the cost savings for me and having fun creating recipes.  

(09-10-2020, 01:21 AM)Forever Spinning Vinyl Wrote: I first brewed in 1989, 4 batches helping a friend and 5th batch all by myself. All of them were Honey Ales and they were not bad but definitely tasted like home brew. This was only 10 years after Jimmy Carter signed the legislation to approve beer brewing at home so there wasn't much of a market or choices for equipment or ingredients. After realizing all of the equipment was out of my budget and I couldn't keep a space warm enough to ferment consistently without jacking up my gas bill, I gave up and I didn't brew again until about 7 years ago. Well, I can tell you, holy shit has the quality of equipment and ingredients exploded. All we had back then was dry yeast and absolutely NO European style Hefeweizen yeast. But now, it's completely different.

Lucky for me, my favorite beer, Bavarian Hefeweizen, is the cheapest and one of easiest recipes to brew. That's like a friend of mine whose favorite food of all time is a cheese pizza. Pretty much every pizzeria he goes to, his favorite meal is the cheapest on the menu. All I use is 6 lbs of Alexander's Wheat Malt Extract with no grains in a bag, 3/4 of an oz to 1 oz of hops and White Labs Bavarian Hefeweizen yeast. I haven't tried Imperial yet but I do know that EVERY Wyeast Hefeweizen yeast leaves an aftertaste that I'm just not that crazy about. I'm not sure how they are for other beers but when it comes to Hefeweizens, White Labs is heads above Wyeast.

White Labs Hefeweizen IV and Bavarian are the two that my friends all go "Yeah, Dude! That's that Franziskaner flavor right there." They are both very different reacting when they are fermenting. Hefeweizen IV will easily overflow more than any beer I've ever brewed. You might even lose up to a gallon of beer . . . 6.5 gallon primary fermenters are an absolute must when brewing with this yeast. I call them "sticky bubbles" that keep piling up until they blowout. The Bavarian, however, has what I call "watery bubbles" because they keep collapsing on top of each other and the krausened rarely gets more than two inches high on first ferment . . . if you put fresh wort on the yeast cake after kegging or moving to a secondary fermenter, it MIGHT blowout but most of the time it won't. If you are only going to have a single use of the yeast, you could easily use this yeast in a 5 gallon carboy and not have to use a blowout tube.

I might buy one or two of these here 7 gallon beauties before the end of the year. It would be great for my Hefeweizens. No more brushes or filling the whole thing to soak it. Just use a little bit of soapy water, a rag and wipe it all down. Big Mouth Bubblers are the future of home brewing, IMO. Currently $53.45 on sale(no idea on shipping) and it's normally $66.81. The strap comes with the carboy.
https://www.beveragefactory.com/draftbeer/home-brew/sd-7340j-glass-jar.html

(08-31-2020, 08:32 PM)MileHighGrowler Wrote: I've been brewing beer for almost 13 (lucky) years.  I started like everyone else, doing extract brews and bottling.  After batch 1, I started making my own recipes and within a year was doing all-grain brewing.  About 5 years in I FINALLY started to keg, and couldn't believe I ever bottled.  I came thiiiis close to opening a brewery about 8 years ago but my business partner got cold feet right before we got funding.  Looking back on it, the location and timing were perfect and we could have been really successful, but I'm glad I'm not spending that many hours a day brewing.  My favorite parts have always been creating recipes and sharing the finished product with friends.  The actual brewing is the necessary evil to bridge love A with love C.  

So, anyone else here brew?  Interested in trying?  Want to talk recipes/ingredients/equipment?  I'm up for answering any questions!  I've been around the block a few times when it comes to brewing beer, won some awards as well, but mostly just love to talk and help anyone out

(01-16-2021, 09:47 PM)kalibengal Wrote: If you are still interested in opening up a brewery You should check out the Torrance /Lomita in LA County California areas....Breweries were popping up all over the place Pre Covid and Im sure they will be around when things get back to normal. In Torrance, many are opening up in these business parks.... 

(01-19-2021, 07:31 PM)HarleyDog Wrote: As a big beer drinker myself, I have often thought about doing this. I have zero knowledge so I never go any further than saying, "I should start brewing my own beer." I guess one of my drawbacks is almost every microbrewery beer I've tasted sucks. My taste buds get mad at me. Now, after living in Germany, I do know that sometimes an acquired taste must be reached, but those were some good beers. Just haven't had that luck here. I loved some of the German beer. Some were dark and kicked your ass (well, until you were used to it) and some were light like pilsner, which I preferred mostly.

(01-21-2021, 02:46 PM)MileHighGrowler Wrote: But now I'm intrigued, because you say almost every microbrew you've had sucks... so what beer do you like?  What's your favorite? 

(01-21-2021, 09:06 PM)HarleyDog Wrote: I tend to switch from time to time. I've been a fan of Coors, Bud Light and Busch Light. I was heavy on Coors and Budweiser when I was in the Army. Then became a Bud Light drinking and then Busch Light. Then went to Miller Lite for awhile and back to Busch Light. I think my buds like crisp clean flavor. I haven't had any microbrew beers that didn't have a bite or after taste. Some strong, some light, but I don't like follow ups.

I had learned to love Doppelbock when in Germany, which has a huge aftertaste, but for some reason not into it now. But I'm 53 and I don't like surprises as much as I once did in my younger years.

(01-16-2021, 06:35 PM)Forever Spinning Vinyl Wrote: Inside my fermentation chamber.
Roll Call . . . from left to right
Pale Ale
American Hefeweizen
Bavarian Hefeweizen

(01-23-2021, 07:03 AM)Forever Spinning Vinyl Wrote: Update
The Pale Ale is now in the secondary fermenter in the back right. I decided to put a Steam Lager over the yeast cake in the fermenter that held the Original Pale Ale in the back middle and the American Hefeweizen is still fermenting away in the back left. The original Bavarian Hefeweizen is in the secondary fermenter on the right in the front and the new Bavarian Hefeweizen was poured on top of the yeast cake of the original in the front middle. Brewing up a Brown Ale either later today or tomorrow. In two weeks, I'll have three beers on tap and in three weeks I will have six beers on tap, five of which will be different. Thinking about a Dunkelweizen to go on top of the Bavarian yeast cake in a couple of weeks.