Behind the Bar - The Homebrewers' Haven

Barmacral · January 16, 2015

Hi, all!

My boyfriend started brewing about a year ago. He has made a Rose Mead and is now working on a Habanero Mead.

He wants to start brewing beer soon, so I thought I would stop by and ask if there are any newbie tips for beer brewers I could pass along.

Thanks!

Tips:

For his first beer brew an extract recipe. This'll help him get a feel for what brewing is like and if he even wants to continue. Also allow him to keep his initial investments down until he's tried it. That is really the best tip I can give at this point. Brewing stores also often sell kits which come with all the ingredients and will generally turn out to be a good beer as long as steps are followed properly. Otherwise, sanitize lots and thoroughly, especially after the boiling is done. You don't want anything bad getting into the beer. This includes sanitising the yeast package before opening it.

MissoulaSquatch · January 16, 2015

A list would be handy, I honestly have no idea what non-american rare beers there are out there. The brewery I'm helping out at has one that I think should be considered a rare beer - it is a barleywine/quadrupal IPA that is really really good. Only catch is they are still very small scale and the beer is new so nobody outside of Sweden would know about it yet, and even within Sweden it has had limited release. Would that be something you'd have interest in?

Possibly, pm me the name/info (I'm sure we can dig something up on it).

I think as far as the rare stuff goes, we're leaning towards Belgian styles, most notably sours. We know there are a few very small brewery's out there making incredible stuff. For an example: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3_Fonteinen

I'll get a better list tonight from my fellow Cicerone..he knows a bit more about the rare Belgians than I do.

MagicAnatomist · January 16, 2015

Tips:

For his first beer brew an extract recipe. This'll help him get a feel for what brewing is like and if he even wants to continue. Also allow him to keep his initial investments down until he's tried it. That is really the best tip I can give at this point. Brewing stores also often sell kits which come with all the ingredients and will generally turn out to be a good beer as long as steps are followed properly. Otherwise, sanitize lots and thoroughly, especially after the boiling is done. You don't want anything bad getting into the beer. This includes sanitising the yeast package before opening it.

Thank you! He is pretty good about sanitizing when he brews mead, but I don't think he sanitizes the yeast. I will pass along this information. Thanks again!

MissoulaSquatch · January 17, 2015

Thank you! He is pretty good about sanitizing when he brews mead, but I don't think he sanitizes the yeast. I will pass along this information. Thanks again!

Yeah, the package should be sprayed with sanitizer (if it's one you cut open..if it's a vial, no need) and the scissors as well.

Honestly when it comes to great beer, clean/sanitary everything and healthy yeast are your keys to a great beer.

MagicAnatomist · January 17, 2015

Yeah, the package should be sprayed with sanitizer (if it's one you cut open..if it's a vial, no need) and the scissors as well.
Honestly when it comes to great beer, clean/sanitary everything and healthy yeast are your keys to a great beer.

He uses the packets so I should definitely tell him. Thanks, again! This is all really helpful. He is still in the beginning stages of learning (I just help him with the grunt work) so these tips are appreciated!

MissoulaSquatch · January 17, 2015

He uses the packets so I should definitely tell him. Thanks, again! This is all really helpful. He is still in the beginning stages of learning (I just help him with the grunt work) so these tips are appreciated!

HOW DID I FORGET THIS?

http://www.howtobrew.com/intro.html

This is my go to if I ever need to check something. It's a totally free book, online, easy to navigate. Homebrewers everywhere swear by it. Tell him to start reading, he'll be hooked, and by the end ready to go!

MagicAnatomist · January 17, 2015

Awesome!! Thanks!

Rooks · January 19, 2015

Tips:

For his first beer brew an extract recipe. This'll help him get a feel for what brewing is like and if he even wants to continue. Also allow him to keep his initial investments down until he's tried it. That is really the best tip I can give at this point. Brewing stores also often sell kits which come with all the ingredients and will generally turn out to be a good beer as long as steps are followed properly. Otherwise, sanitize lots and thoroughly, especially after the boiling is done. You don't want anything bad getting into the beer. This includes sanitising the yeast package before opening it.

This x10. Extract brewing is so much easier and quicker and you can brew great beer with it. All-Grain is fun if you really want to get into the nitty-gritty of the all the details, but I've made plenty of great beers with extract so don't feel like because you aren't doing exactly like the "big guys", your beer will be limited.

As for brewing itself, wife and I just brewed up a SMASH beer this weekend with 16lbs of Maris Otter and 4oz of Citra Hops with a final ounce that we'll dry hop later. Hoping it ends up around 9% ABV, basically a SMASH Imperial IPA. First time we've brewed in over a year. It was fun, but dang, if having a 14 month old running around doesn't make it so much harder to do. Between start time to end time was around 9 hours as it took us forever to get setup and cleaned up.

MagicAnatomist · January 19, 2015

You guys have been extremely helpful! He is always happy to hear your replies. :]

Barmacral · January 22, 2015

Rooks: that sounds pretty cool, I have never really considered a smash before. Out of curiosity why citra over all others?

Magic: if he has any other questions feel free to ask, we love helping others get into homebrewing. Also you should totally join him in his brewing adventures, it is a lot of fun.

MagicAnatomist · January 22, 2015

Rooks: that sounds pretty cool, I have never really considered a smash before. Out of curiosity why citra over all others?
Magic: if he has any other questions feel free to ask, we love helping others get into homebrewing. Also you should totally join him in his brewing adventures, it is a lot of fun.

Thank you! I have been helping him but have not taken any creative control. I want to get more into it but I go to school far away from home right now so I am waiting to be home full time before trying to get too deep into it.

MissoulaSquatch · January 22, 2015

This x10. Extract brewing is so much easier and quicker and you can brew great beer with it. All-Grain is fun if you really want to get into the nitty-gritty of the all the details, but I've made plenty of great beers with extract so don't feel like because you aren't doing exactly like the "big guys", your beer will be limited.

As for brewing itself, wife and I just brewed up a SMASH beer this weekend with 16lbs of Maris Otter and 4oz of Citra Hops with a final ounce that we'll dry hop later. Hoping it ends up around 9% ABV, basically a SMASH Imperial IPA. First time we've brewed in over a year. It was fun, but dang, if having a 14 month old running around doesn't make it so much harder to do. Between start time to end time was around 9 hours as it took us forever to get setup and cleaned up.

Normally, not a fan of SMASH beers..but I find your choice of malt and hops interesting..how'd you come up with those two?

Rooks · January 22, 2015

Rooks: that sounds pretty cool, I have never really considered a smash before. Out of curiosity why citra over all others?
Magic: if he has any other questions feel free to ask, we love helping others get into homebrewing. Also you should totally join him in his brewing adventures, it is a lot of fun.

Normally, not a fan of SMASH beers..but I find your choice of malt and hops interesting..how'd you come up with those two?

I'm not going to lie. The answer for me is basically, it's what the wife came up with. She's the "brewmaster" of the house. I just lift the heavy kegs and kettles when they need to be and of course enjoy partaking in the product. I think the answer is that she loves Citra Hops, and as for the malt, it's what a few friends recommended for a simple SMASH, but I'd have to let her speak to the reasoning.

Also, the main reason we are doing this is because (at least I feel) the quality of our beers has dropped significantly since we switched to All Grain. So many more variables, etc. and I think we are just getting overloaded. Hence, we did a simple one (SMASH) and wrote EVERYTHING down. Our OG actually came out where we expected this time so that was nice. Hopefully it tastes solid.

MissoulaSquatch · January 22, 2015

I'm not going to lie. The answer for me is basically, it's what the wife came up with. She's the "brewmaster" of the house. I just lift the heavy kegs and kettles when they need to be and of course enjoy partaking in the product. I think the answer is that she loves Citra Hops, and as for the malt, it's what a few friends recommended for a simple SMASH, but I'd have to let her speak to the reasoning.

Also, the main reason we are doing this is because (at least I feel) the quality of our beers has dropped significantly since we switched to All Grain. So many more variables, etc. and I think we are just getting overloaded. Hence, we did a simple one (SMASH) and wrote EVERYTHING down. Our OG actually came out where we expected this time so that was nice. Hopefully it tastes solid.

The All Grain theory is actually a good approach to this.

My recipes usually start off with notes from me about what style I'm going for, what fun things I'm trying and what I want to achieve overall. Then I go on to write the recipe. At the bottom I'll usually add notes about the fermentation process (anything worth noting for future reference), tasting notes and changes I'd like to try the next time I make it. Very very very detailed, with little room for error.

If you two are getting into experimenting a bit with your recipes, it may be a good idea to invest in a bunch of 1 gallon equipment then you can play around with the big batches you brew and from your notes you can take down what works and what doesn't work..learn essentially 5x faster (assuming you are making 5 gallon batches). I've been wanting to do this with my setup so I can try various fermentation experiments.

Barmacral · January 23, 2015

Yesterday I brewed a 1000 litre batch of beer. Not my recipe and I got a lot of help from the main brewer at the brewery, it was more so I could learn their system because he's got a baby due in about two months and I'll likely be covering for him while he's off taking care of that. Was a total blast, though it definitely takes far longer than brewing on my own 25 litre system. Monday I'll be brewing a 50 litre batch with the owner of the place so this weekend the two of us are coming up with recipes and we'll be comparing notes and making a final call Monday morning.

Rooks · January 24, 2015

The All Grain theory is actually a good approach to this.
My recipes usually start off with notes from me about what style I'm going for, what fun things I'm trying and what I want to achieve overall. Then I go on to write the recipe. At the bottom I'll usually add notes about the fermentation process (anything worth noting for future reference), tasting notes and changes I'd like to try the next time I make it. Very very very detailed, with little room for error.
If you two are getting into experimenting a bit with your recipes, it may be a good idea to invest in a bunch of 1 gallon equipment then you can play around with the big batches you brew and from your notes you can take down what works and what doesn't work..learn essentially 5x faster (assuming you are making 5 gallon batches). I've been wanting to do this with my setup so I can try various fermentation experiments.

Actually a good friend of ours just got some 1 gallon stuff. We've been thinking about it for awhile, but at this point, it might be better to let him experiment for awhile and then borrow his stuff.

Barmacral · February 2, 2015

Brewed again yesterday. Went with an American Blonde Ale, super simple and gave us a chance to try mashing out. Nothing definitive on whether it benefited us though. We did badly overshoot our original gravity by ten points, which I think is because we haven't tracked our brewhouse efficiency in the past. I've gone through and averaged what our efficiency is (though it is all over the map) and put in the average, we'll see how that goes in the future and I'll start tweaking it as necessary.

We bottled our imperial black IPA yesterday, it finished at 1.030 and we were shooting for 1.009. We're pretty sure we underpitched for it though, it was our first time using a yeast starter and the OG was higher than we'd shot for (again because of brewhouse efficiency). Our Imperial Stout is sitting at 1.026 right now, we're aiming for 1.005. Should we get another vial of yeast to pitch? We made the starter much larger than in the IPA but I think it may have still been too small. It has been about three weeks and I don't think it is going to get any lower in the next 5 that we're leaving it (oak aging until Sunday then transferring to another secondary to condition).

Rosiesan · February 26, 2015

Husband just transferred two batches this weekend. He's a light beer lover and he made two Aussie Light Ales. One he decided to mix in pureed strawberries and the other pureed black berries. We used fresh fruit and were told to sanitize the fruit by soaking them in vodka. In the end we had strawberry infused and black berry infused vodka. They are both delicious! I'm super excited to try this beer!

Rooks · February 26, 2015

As for brewing itself, wife and I just brewed up a SMASH beer this weekend with 16lbs of Maris Otter and 4oz of Citra Hops with a final ounce that we'll dry hop later. Hoping it ends up around 9% ABV, basically a SMASH Imperial IPA. First time we've brewed in over a year. It was fun, but dang, if having a 14 month old running around doesn't make it so much harder to do. Between start time to end time was around 9 hours as it took us forever to get setup and cleaned up.

So this turned out excellent! Super drinkable and great flavor. Very happy with this batch. Now to figure out the next recipe!

Barmacral · February 27, 2015

Husband just transferred two batches this weekend. He's a light beer lover and he made two Aussie Light Ales. One he decided to mix in pureed strawberries and the other pureed black berries. We used fresh fruit and were told to sanitize the fruit by soaking them in vodka. In the end we had strawberry infused and black berry infused vodka. They are both delicious! I'm super excited to try this beer!

Neat! I've also heard that you can rinse thoroughly and freeze the fruit, though it isn't a perfect option. Next imperial stout I make I'm actually going to do similar by sanitising oak chips with whiskey. Get some whiskey flavour in the beer and some oak flavour in the whiskey.

MissoulaSquatch · April 20, 2015

I'll just leave this right here..

http://1000bottlesofbeer.com/

Rooks · April 20, 2015

Good lord. 25k!?!? Be a fun collection to add to the beer cellar. Wouldn't be so good for my waistline though.

Barmacral · April 21, 2015

Whoa crazy. That would be so cool to have.

MissoulaSquatch · April 21, 2015

That 2009 Dark Lord hiding on there..that's worth well over $100 alone. I'm sure I could find a few people willing to pay $400-500 for that alone.

That's a VERY solid list of beers. Despite there being several I'd skip on..it's well worth the asking price.

For comparison, my "small" cellar (approx. 20 bottles) is pushing $1300 in value...lol

Rooks · April 22, 2015

That 2009 Dark Lord hiding on there..that's worth well over $100 alone. I'm sure I could find a few people willing to pay $400-500 for that alone.
That's a VERY solid list of beers. Despite there being several I'd skip on..it's well worth the asking price.
For comparison, my "small" cellar (approx. 20 bottles) is pushing $1300 in value...lol

Don't get me wrong. I know people will pay it. I'm just finding more and more that beers simply aren't worth it. Most beers I've aged more then 3 years, I've been strongly disappointed in. Hell, at this years Surly Darkness Day, I read about some guy paying well into that $500+ range for a 2007 Darkness, only to have it stolen from him in a mosh pit (yeah, yeah... couldn't have been the brightest bulb to bring a $500+ bottle into a mosh pit). Anyway, recently did a Vertical of the Darkness going back to 2008, and really anything pre-2011 wasn't nearly as good anymore. That said 2011 was the best in everyone's opinion. Not sure if that was just a great year for the beer or just that it was the perfect age for that beer who knows.

Anyway, I digress. My main point is I won't be aging much of anything longer then 3 years anymore and I won't pay a premium for super aged stuff. Most great brewers know what they are doing and know how they want it to taste when it hits the shelves. Who am I to argue? But hey... that's just my opinion and every is entitled to their own.

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