Any Home-brewers?

[MileHighGrowler]

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

[*bengalfan74*]

My dad tried both beer and wine gosh I was just a kid, mid 70's. I didn't turn out well, lol. I've kicked around giving it a go. I can a lot of veggies and stuff. I might look into it a little deeper this fall ?

[fredtoast]

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/

[jfkbengals]

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.

[MileHighGrowler]

(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.

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.  

[MileHighGrowler]

(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/

I was in the Sacramento area when I was going to start my brewery, but left before Bike Dog opened.  If I ever get back out there visit, I'll have to check them out!  Huge beer scene in that city in terms of interest and consumption.  They supported a lot of California and Oregon breweries when I was there but didn't have many local options at that time.  It exploded after I moved away.  

[jfkbengals]

(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.  

I never cared about savings, just the joy of creating something tasty!

[Forever Spinning Vinyl]

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

[MileHighGrowler]

(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

Just in the years since I started brewing, the equipment and ingredients have grown leaps and bounds.  The hobby grew immensely for a while there, which also contributed to all the nano and microbreweries you see everywhere now.  

I love a good hef.  I'm not a big clove flavor fan in mine, preferring the banana notes.  I use White Labs 300 or Wyeast 3068 and ferment on the warmer side of what I'd ususally do, at low-70s (compared to mid-60s).  Wherever I'm fermenting smells like banana bread.  Heavenly.  I use a combo of wheat malt and pilsner malt (grain).  Switching to grain, your already cheap beer could drop another few bucks per batch!  Have you ever considered trying all-grain?  The "brew in a bag" method is a great way to give it a test run if you're interested! 

Speaking of yeast and fermentation... I've got a wit fermenting at the moment in my favorite carboy (more below).  It's an 8 gallon fermenter holding 5.5 gallons of beer, and the krausen on that yeast routinely hits the top.  It also takes a good 7-10 days to ferment, compared to a lot of ale yeasts that are mostly done in 3-4 days.  

I switched to the Spiedel carboy about 5 years ago.  Like the big mouth, it's got a, well, big mouth.  It's plastic, handles on the sides.  I swapped out the plastic spigot with a stainless spigot.  It's all super easy to clean, easy to move around, never have to worry about breaking it, don't have to siphon.  It's been awesome.  When I keg, I put the Spiedel on the counter, run a hose straight down into my keg and I'm done in just a few minutes.  

[Tiger Teeth]

I've dabbled in Meade making. Not real successfully though. I still have a batch this fall to drink while we're on our way to the Superbowl! Honey Meade done right is awesome.

[Forever Spinning Vinyl]

Inside my fermentation chamber.
Roll Call . . . from left to right
Pale Ale
American Hefeweizen
Bavarian Hefeweizen

I brewed all three on Wednesday and either on Tuesday or Wednesday, I'll brew three more of the same kind of beers. I'll put each of these pictured into a five gallon carboy as each new brew is ready and then put each new brew on top of the old yeast cake to save money on yeast. That'll give me six beers on tap in about three to four weeks. I have room for up to eight kegs and if I fix one kegerator I bought from someone for 50 bucks, I'll have room for 10 kegs. I'd still need to buy two more five gallon kegs to pull that off . . . and I really want to do that.

I'll probably kill off the Pale Ale and American Hefe yeast after the 2nd round but keep using the Bavarian Hefe a couple more times as that's my favorite style of beer. This is the first time I have ever made an American Hefeweizen so we'll see how it goes.

[kalibengal]

(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

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.... 

[MileHighGrowler]

(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.... 

They definitely are!  I lived in south OC for a few years, and moved to Colorado back in mid-2016.  While I lived there it was a thriving but cutthroat beer scene in SoCal.  I have a great friend who owned and ran a brewery in northern OC and I couldn't believe the stories he'd tell (and other brewers I met from LA/OC/SD would confirm) about guys putting holes in competitors beer lines at tap houses and bars when they went to swap kegs and all sorts of things.  Anything to get the tiniest leg up.  Since I left, the number of breweries in SoCal has increased even more (and it has in Colorado as well, and Cincinnati, and many other cities), but I find most of the beer to be pretty mediocre.  Where it really works is when you're in an area close to people's home where they can walk/bike and it becomes a neighborhood hangout.  That's where I see a lot of the middle-of-the-road breweries here staying afloat.  They don't distribute, their beer is just okay, but they've got a loyal following because it's like having a buddy around the corner who brews and you get to hang out and see your friends and neighbors.  

But for me the ship has sailed.  I had an offer for a building and capital to get it up and running a few years after my first attempt died, and I turned it down.  What I love is creating recipes and then sharing the beer.  I don't actually enjoy the brewing that much.  And I really don't want to juggle all of the hats of finance, marketing, operations, legal, etc.  I'm happier now just doing it as a hobby and I finally realized that.  

What are your favorite spots in LA?  

[XenoMorph]

my dad brew his own or attempts to... Last batch wasnt that great.

I have some friends that were big into brewing but dont know if they are still on it or not.

it was too much work for me lol.. Or too much waiting.

Still waiting for someone to brew the beer they had in beerfest.

[HarleyDog]

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.

[MileHighGrowler]

(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.

It's enough work that you have to at least somewhat enjoy the process to go through the effort.  The wife has an uncle who exclusively drinks Coors Light and he's asked me about brewing before.  I've always told him it's cheaper and easier to buy it at the store than try to recreate that beer at home.  It's just not worth the effort.  To me, at least, it's less about the economy of it than being able to brew something you love, being able to brew creatively or being able to brew something you just can't find on the shelves.  If a brewery is making great beer, even at $20 for a 4-pack, I'd rather support the local business than just make a clone in my garage.  

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? 

[HarleyDog]

(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? 

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.

[MileHighGrowler]

(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.

Ha, fair enough on not wanting surprises as much!  

It's funny because I find a lot of people tell me they like "pilsners" only to try to try one that's made to European specs (Czech or German) and not like it at all because those styles are drier and hoppier than expected.  We've kind of bastardized what a pils is here in the US.  

If you're primarily drinking BMC (Bud, Miller, Coors) or anything with "light" in the name, I recommend against trying to brew it at home.  You're going to be hard-pressed to duplicate what they're doing on the mass scale.  I follow with some mild interest the attempts of many to nail it, and it's usually a LOT more attempts to get it right than you'd maybe guess.  They're also all lagers, which is considerably harder for someone starting to brew to get right.  From a price perspective, you're probably looking at about $.40 per beer homebrewed vs $.70 packaged, ready to drink.  You'd have to drink a whole lot of those for that price to add up jus to cover equipment costs.  For what it's worth, I always have a case of Coors Banquet in my fridge at home as my "project beer."  It's not worth the hassle of trying to brew that when it's so relatively cheap already made, and having cans when I'm working around the house or yard is easier than trying to pour a glass.  

But I'll tell you that all my BMC loving neighbors and friends love it when I brew my cream ale every year for the 4th of July.  It's a beer style effectively created in the US by German immigrants to mimic their lagers, but for various reasons (I won't bore you with the technical details) it's not really like the European lagers, and more closely aligned to the macro brews of today.  This style mostly disappeared with Prohibition and there aren't many of them around on the market today (because people have no idea what they are) beyond a few more well-known (like Genesee).  I've got an old Little Kings Cream Ale tap handle my grandpa had collected that I like to put on when I'm serving that beer, too.  It's the perfect lawn mower beer.  

The final nerd point I'll offer is that depending on the breweries where you get beer, sometimes their CO2 levels aren't quite right and lead to a harsher aftertaste.  And for lighter beers especially, brewing them so simply yet tastefully is really an artform, and any minor thing in the brewing, fermentation or packing process will impact the taste.  

[Forever Spinning Vinyl]

(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

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.

[MileHighGrowler]

(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.

You change anything in your grain bill on the American vs Bavarian hefe, or just the yeast?  

I've never really gotten into using a secondary.  Even if I'm aging on oak or adding fruit, I don't find the beer is ever on the yeast for more than 5-6 weeks, and I've never had an issue with that length of time (those beers are also usually higher gravity, but not always in the case of fruited beers).  I know most people swear by the method or were scared into doing it because they heard a horror story but I like to save time in transferring, avoid accidental oxygenation and reduce the number of vessels I need.  I'm curious if you've ever had an issue or just secondary out of habit/precaution?