My other hobby.....Making beer!!!

[Rbeckett]

Been deep in the chem lab toda. Boiled a starter batch of dry malt extract to supply sugar to a colony of yeast I am growing for a brew I plan to cook off tommmorrow. If you have never brewed homebrew it is fascinating to watch and see all of the changes that take place from beginning to end. You start with 3 cups of water and add Dry malt powder (or hunks) and bring it to a rolling boil for 15-30 minutes to trigger the protiens to clump up and kill all of the bacteria in the liquid. Then you place the sterile liquid in a flask and cover it with aluminum foil while you crash cool it to about 70 degrees. This will cause the hot break and the cold break (Protiens, unwanted) to fall to the bottom. strain the remaining liquid back into the flask and add the dry yeast. Allow 10-25 minutes for the dry yeast to become wet and then turn on your stir plate to continously mix and aireate the mother culture. Once the culture begins to thicken and the yeast begin to multiply continue to stir for approxamately 18-24 hours. Observe the yeast slurry occasionaly to verify that you see small bubbles in the liquid and continue stirring again. When your full batch has been boiled for an hour and you have added all of the hops and additives you are using you merely pour the 5+ gallons of sweet wort into a fermenting bucket, and add the slurry. Seal the lid and install the air lock and leave it alone for a minimum of 2 weeks. Test the Final gravity and see if it is still falling by checking it three consecutive days and when the gravity stabilizes add priming sugar and bottle the product. Allow it to age in a cool dark place for a few more weeks and enjoy a cool and refreshing adult beveridge when your done in the shop. I make a few batches a year to give to freinds for birthdays and other special occasions. The funny part is I do not drink, so I do all of the work just because it is interesting. It's kind of like making a chess set on the lathe and I dont play the game. But it is fun, educational and very interesting to observe all of the things that happen along the way. It's been over a year coming to this point because I am designing and building a handicapped freindly home brew tower and control system. So in addition to chem, I have to weld, do electronics and pneumatics with a touch of Reverse Osmosis and plumbing to go along with everything else to make a complete system....Pics are coming soon.

Bob

 

[davidh]

its my birthday, its my birthday. . . . . . . .

I had to do it.... sorry.

I have thought about it but good as it is, I would probably become a dam drunk......................... thanks for sharing.

 

[November X-ray]

What a coincidence - my other hobby used to be drinking beer, but I gave that up once I got married and kids came along!

 

[jgedde]

Bob, that's a hobby of mine too! My last batch was a Thomas Hardy Ale clone. It used 18 lbs of malt (for 4.5 gallons), two kinds of yeast, etc! Initial gravity was 1.073! It didn't last long... I drank a lot of it right from the secondary and most never made it to bottles...

John

 

[Ray C]

Bob... You're like a culinary machine! Home made sausage, BBQ -and now brew too. You are d'a man!

 

[strantor]

I've done a handful of LME/DME beer brews, but mostly I make wine & mead. I have a batch of blueberry mead I'm ready to bottle, a batch of super hard maple cider that needs to condition, and a strong spiced mead that is really taking its time in primary. I'm gearing up to do my first all-grain brew, an APA. I already got the grains and hops. I got super big pot, burner, all that stuff. Only thing I need is to make a wort cooler and come up with a filter for my mash tun (ice chest).

 

[Tony Wells]

Hey guys, we just had a 34 year brewer from Molson join.....maybe he can give a tip or two. I'm sure he'll see this thread at some point.

 

[DMS]

This thread is making me thirsty... :drink2:

 

[Rbeckett]

Well..... So far the starter batch of yeast I made has been an epic fail. It has been well in excess of 24 and almost 48 hours and not a sign of the fiirst bubble yet. Rechecked the Grav this morning at 6 AM and it was stillll a whopping 1.030, so I will give it a bit longer and have a look under the microscope and do a cell count on the hemocytometer. Definately a huge dissappointment, but I didnt waste any extracts because I was waiting for the starter to make before I boiled the rest of the batch and grains down into sweet wort. Darn it...... Gotta figger something else out now. May be that since I take so many antibiotics I kill everything that I want to grow. Just hafta wait and see.
Bob

 

[Rbeckett]

I've done a handful of LME/DME beer brews, but mostly I make wine & mead. I have a batch of blueberry mead I'm ready to bottle, a batch of super hard maple cider that needs to condition, and a strong spiced mead that is really taking its time in primary. I'm gearing up to do my first all-grain brew, an APA. I already got the grains and hops. I got super big pot, burner, all that stuff. Only thing I need is to make a wort cooler and come up with a filter for my mash tun (ice chest).

I made a manifold out of 1/2 CPVC in the shape that fits the bottom of my "Cooler" tun and cut slots about every 1/4 inch along the bottoms od the tubes. There is a thread on HBT that has all the measurements and build info for round and square coolers of all descriptions. Or you could use a 9 dollar bazooka screen from Bargain fittings and have a complete tun rather quickly too. I have both since I have a 5 and 10 gallon round jobsite cooler for each different use. I guess I should shoot some picks of my stainless immersion chiller too.

Bob