How to brew your own beer - The All Grain method

[jimmy321]

The one I bottled on Thursday was in the FV for 12 days and is being left for 2 weeks to carb then it's ready to go.

The keg will be gently shaken then stored upside down for a day or two and put the right way up an hour before serving. I got that idea from Schneider's keg storing instructions and it works really well.

 

[Squid]

Dark Munich Larger with twice the hops

 

[FrenchTart]

What do you mean? Ridiculous in terms off too much? If so then calm down. Pretty tame hop amounts, and it calculates at 50 odd IBU which isn't much at all. More than drinkable session beer.

Sorry, I missed this at the time.

300g total as we made double the amount in that recipe.

Had a slightly early bottle today of it and it's actually delicious. Slightly lighter than Jaipur (more like Punk IPA's malt profile and Jaipur's hop profile if that makes sense?). I'm incredibly happy with how it turned out and wouldn't hesitate to make it again.

 

[seabiscuit]

Well this thread seems to have quietened down a bit recently. Hopefully thats because we're all too busy brewing.

Anyway, still far too early to brew with them (they're only less than a centimeter so far), but our first year Cascades are starting to flower....

 

[The_blue]

Just finished a brew. Recipe was basically left overs

 

[seabiscuit]

oh my god, you have got enormous hands.
or that's just a really small glass.

 

[The_blue]

I hadn't noticed that

It's a small glass...

 

[FrenchTart]

What do you mean? Ridiculous in terms off too much? If so then calm down. Pretty tame hop amounts, and it calculates at 50 odd IBU which isn't much at all. More than drinkable session beer.

Also, it actually ends up at 200 IBU

 

[Ahleckz]

Well this thread seems to have quietened down a bit recently. Hopefully thats because we're all too busy brewing.

Anyway, still far too early to brew with them (they're only less than a centimeter so far), but our first year Cascades are starting to flower....

Didn't realise that you were growing your own hops! That's awesome, when do you hope they'll be ready to harvest? Get some Amarillo growing.

 

[seabiscuit]

Would like to, but Amarillo is strictly controlled and owned by one company. So nowhere sells the plants.
We bought a couple of ornamental hops last year that are in a pot, just to see if we can kill them off. But they seem pretty hardy (well they're pretty much weeds), which is good because we're certainly not gardeners. This is really our first year trying with proper brewing hops. Just because we can mainly. The plants themselves weren't too expensive, about £8 each and we bought two Cascades. The first year people say that you don't get a large crop/harvest, and not always any at all, so it's great we seems to have quite a few starting to flower. This year we were only wanting them to lay down roots, so haven't really put anything for them to grow too tall. No idea how we're going to put in something 5m tall for them to grow up for next year though.
From what I've read online, will probably be able to harvest them in mid-September to mid-October. Different years and different areas can vary a bit.

edit/ Just been out to water them and more flowers have opened. There's got to be 100+ flowers on each plant. Will post occasional photo's as they develop into cones and the lupulin forms, and then start to dry, which is when you pick them.
I'm already thinking about a green hopped beer.

After these have been surprisingly low maintainance (once again, they are often considered a weed), just not sure if I can persuade MrsS that we should get some to grow next year...
http://www.willingham-nurseries.co.uk/hop3.html
Challenger, EKG and Northern Brewer sound tempting

 

[peige]

I've just started my first attempt at a beer brew. Have a kit and a basic brewing kit.

All mixed up and off today, waiting for some sign its working!

If all goes well I shall get more into this, loving the idea of brewing my own decent pint

 

[seabiscuit]

Brilliant. It's great to hold up a glass of beer that you've created and say "I made that". It can be really social if shared with friends. It can be even better if you brew with someone else, so sharing tips and ideas. Biggest thing to remember is to sanitise everything as much as you can.
Moving into all-grain isn't difficult, just takes longer and needs a little bit more equipment. Personally I'd get at least 3-4 kits under your belt before trying all-grain, just so you know what fermentation looks like and so it's a bit more familiar. But there have been people in this thread who have wanted to jump in straight away, and thats great too if thats what right for them.
I think it's an interesting hobby, and it's rewarding to make a nice drink knowing that it's at least as good as you'd get in a pub. And it works out considerably cheaper too. But the main thing is to have fun and enjoy making it, and enjoy the end result.
Lots of people in this thread will be very happy to help. I got so much advice and confidence to even try from TheBlue's posts, so thanks once again to him from me and MrsSeabiscuit.

 

[peige]

Thanks, yes enjoying it so far and looking forward to the end result

Had a wobble to start with when it didn't appear to be fermenting but a check this morning and its bubbling away every 6-10 seconds.

Confusing part for me was disparity between guides. The kit instructions said loose cover, then changing to closed fermetation after a few days but online guides said closed all thew way due to less chance of bacteria getting in. What difference could it make?

I was carefull to sanatise everything.

 

[seabiscuit]

OK, so while beer is pretty fresh in my glass, I mean mind, it's pretty incredible what three weeks can do....




So it will be interesting so see how they go from here. But as we don't know the AA% of them, we only intend to use them for late additions and dry hopping. After the obligatory green hopped beer. We might only have enough this first year for one, maybe two brews anyway. But to be perfectly honest, I wasn' even expecting that for the first year.

 

[Squid]

I feel a OCUK hop club coming on......

 

[seabiscuit]

Ooh, great. Are you growing them too? Or intend to?
MrsS has just bought me For the Love of Hops, so looking forward to reading that.

 

[Squid]

I pan to, i move rental places soon and there's a bigger and now south facing garden so thats the plan. not sure weather to plant or before winter...
Advice online is quite wide.

 

[jimmy321]

Ooh, great. Are you growing them too? Or intend to?
MrsS has just bought me For the Love of Hops, so looking forward to reading that.

Lots of useful information, if you have not read it I suggest Yeast. Unless you already know loads about the life of yeast it will improve your beer and understanding of brewing, it took mine to the next level.

I recommend everyone who makes beer reads it.

 

[seabiscuit]

Yeah, it's one I'll get eventually. And probably Water too, as it's by John Palmer. I'd like Graham Wheelers books too, but only one seems to be in print, and his Camra book is just delayed and delayed, so second hand copies can be expensive.

 

[FrenchTart]

Yeah, it is. It's a stirplate for making yeast starters. So say you harvest the yeast from a bottle conditioned ale, you can put it in there with some malt extract and the yeast will multiply rapidly. Then you can pitch it into your wort instead of a dried or liquid pack you've bought for £2-6. Gives you the chance to use a wider range of yeasts.
I keep thinking about making one, but if only there was some convenient place to easily get computer parts (can anyone think of anywhere?). I've got 4 bottles of Bengal Lancer that I want to harvest from to use Fullers yeast for a London Pride recipe, but for now will go for something much lower tech.

Well...after me being kind of confused about this originally my house mate recently built one of these from an old raptor hard drive. It works incredibly well (as much as it pains me to admit it..I was very dubious of the whole idea ).

Could save us a fair bit of cash for future wheat beers and belgians.