quote:

Originally posted by Strambo:

quote:

Originally posted by Scurvy:
There's so much good beer here in Richmond, it has completely killed any desire I have to buy non-local beer or brewing my own.

I did it about 10 years ago with a buddy of mine and it was fun but with the craft beer revolution since then, hard to justify.

Well, when I'm brewing regular I can have 4 taps (1 is nitro) in my kegerator all stocked with variety of beer and hard cider for pennies on the dollar as compared to retail. My 5 gal. batches are between $20-$30.

I understand, I'm just saying it's not for me anymore.

I don't drink a lot of beer, certainly not enough to justify a 4 tap kegerator.

And your time is worth something. It's definitely not something to do for purely economical reasons.

If you enjoy it, more power to ya. One of our newest breweries was opened by a guy who was an avid home brewer to the point where people were willing to invest into him opening a place.

I kegged 5 gal of Apple Pie Amber a few days ago and am currently dry hopping a North East style IPA (more juicy, less bitter).

I still do mini-mash. I keep saying my next batch I'll go all-grain. Started saying that about 20 batches ago.

Very happy I moved to kegs a long time ago. Bottling sucked.

quote:

Originally posted by 9mmnut:
Do you guys brew from grain or use the syrup.

I do all-grain brew-in-a-bag. Cheaper than extract for not a great deal more in time or equipment.

quote:

Originally posted by Wino:
I kegged 5 gal of Apple Pie Amber a few days ago and am currently dry hopping a North East style IPA (more juicy, less bitter).

I still do mini-mash. I keep saying my next batch I'll go all-grain. Started saying that about 20 batches ago.

Very happy I moved to kegs a long time ago. Bottling sucked.

I went to kegs straight off. Once I went and read the directions, I envisioned all the ways a bottle could go poof making a mess for me to clean up.

Scurvy I don't want to live around Richmond but I damn sure envy you the brewers you have access to there. Answer, Veil, Isley, Hardywood, *sigh*

quote:

Originally posted by old dino:

quote:

Originally posted by tigereye313:

quote:

Originally posted by 9mmnut:
Do you guys brew from grain or use the syrup.

I do all-grain brew-in-a-bag. Cheaper than extract for not a great deal more in time or equipment.

Now that I am retired, and have a bit more time on my hands, I would like to learn and start using all grain.

I have contemplated a three vessel setup, but honestly my results with the bag are so good I haven't felt the need for the additional expense and storage space a more complex setup would require.

quote:

Originally posted by old dino:
Now that I am retired, and have a bit more time on my hands, I would like to learn and start using all grain.

The best way is to jump right in. But if you want a head start on the topic of your water, check out https://sites.google.com/site/brunwater/

It really helped me to dial in my water adjustments while being one of the better written intros I've read in my many books, from Greg Noonan to John Palmer.

quote:

Originally posted by old dino:
Your wife is in our thoughts.

My first batch of beer was done with the wort cooking on our kitchen gas stove ... and since I was not paying attention, and having a pot too small, the wort over boiled all over the stove. Needless to say my wife was not happy with the sticky mess all over nor the smell of the malt.

Since then I bought a propane turkey cooker and use that to boil my wort outside and of course the pot is much larger so no boil overs.

I have gotten good enough at brewing that my wife loves and looks forward to the beers that I make.

Casey

Same thing happened to me. Outside all grain now for me. I keep it kiss simple. One strike temperature. One sparge temperature. One batch sparge. For those with boil over problems try Fermcap S foam inhibitor. You still have to watch it during hop additons, but I have not had one boil over since I started using it. And, if your doing 5 gallon batches get at least a 10 gallon boil kettle. You'll thank me.

Kegged my APA this morning, gravity sample tasted great. I also ordered ingredients for OktoberFast ale.

I've been brewing beer since I was 15 and a junior in high school. Beer for us kids was hard to get back then. You could go down to where the bums slept on the park benches and get one of them to get you a few quarts. Balentine beer was 3 qts. for a dollar. Bum got to keep one and we got two. We needed a more dependable source.

Off I go to the library. Research fermentation. Imagine two or three kids going to the grocery store and loading a cart with 10 lbs. of sugar, yeast packs, and Blue Ribbon Hop Flavored malt. No questions asked.
We used big plastic trash cans for fermentation, We didn't have any fancy instruments, so we had to guess when the beer was ready for bottling. This lead to the bottles exploding from time to time. Wasn't the greatest beer, but what the hell, it was beer.

Since those days of the early 60's, I've been brewing off and on depending upon time etc. This morning I cooked up some Irish Red, it'll be about 6 weeks before it's ready. In the mean time, I have to empty some American Ale so I'll have enough bottles by then.

Pressurized my Klosch to 12psi for 2 weeks, then down to 4 psi. Now it is all foam. Released all pressure, let it sit for 3 days, repressured to 4, and still foam. Anyone have any idea what is going on?

quote:

Originally posted by DSgrouse:
Pressurized my Klosch to 12psi for 2 weeks, then down to 4 psi. Now it is all foam. Released all pressure, let it sit for 3 days, repressured to 4, and still foam. Anyone have any idea what is going on?

What temp and how long is your serving line?

ETA: I usually serve my beer in mid 40's-50* and use 6' or so of beer line. If I recall the exact science, if you pressurize to 12psi, you use about half that in feet beer line (6').
The beer line needs to be cold also.

Beer is at 40, and about 4 ft of line for 4 psi

I would try some longer line if you have it handy. If it's over pressurized, you can't release the pressure once. You have to keep doing it several times over those 3 days.

quote:

Released all pressure, let it sit for 3 days

But, 12psi for 2 weeks doesn't seem excessive so there might be something else going on here. Possible refermentation in the keg, or any number of things.
Also, whenever you pour, open that tap all the way. Anything less than full open causes a pressure point that is going to cause gas to come out of solution. You want the pressure to be consistent from the keg to the tap pour or you're going to get foam.
That's also why line length is important vs. the psi in the keg.

Thanks i will give it a go

I kinda cheat and use a Pico Brew machine. Right now I have a kolsch and a Mexican lager with a pale ale fermenting. It is fun to learn, just joined a club hopefully will learn more.

It would be fun, but my wife doesn't drink and I don't have any friends. Also have too many hobbies already.

However we both enjoyed the tasting room at White Labs in San Diego where you can taste the difference between yeast strains in the same kind of beer.

I get with my friend on his brew days to shoot the shit and have a few drinks but don't do beer myself. I do make mead however, very tasty stuff and I've only had one batch that didn't turn out delicious. It was a trial run of a blueberry melomel.

My best mead was fermented with passion fruit and blood oranges, called it my Bloody What Mead. It was damn good. From a 5 gallon batch I only have 2 bottles left of it.

I don't drink all that much in reality so I haven't made anything in about a year. Still have a case left from my last batch which used a spicy Meadow Foam honey and blood orange for flavor. Good but not great.

I've been brewing since the mid-90's, off and on. Currently have an American Pale Ale in the fermenter. I'm making a Citra IPA next.

My Christmas present will be a Grainfather all-in-one electric brewing system. For those of you who brew but don't seem to have the time, check out the Grainfather. It will allow you to do other things around the house while you brew.

Well the holiday brew is just smashingly good.