Getting back into beer brewing

[44man]

I didn't know i used a bad word. Female dog reference. But with teeth! Grease on the stove left for her---OH MY!
Now I am in a pickle, used to put my sparge bucket on the old dryer. It failed so we bought a new washer and dryer, LG and I do not dare put anything on the dryer. I now need to make a rack.
Those fellas carried the old stuff from the basement and the new down with a STRAP. No furniture dolly. DARN!

[MaryB]

Trying one of my first 1 gallon batches. Needs at least another week to fully carbonate but not bad at all. Caribou Slobber form Northern Brewer. Dark brown ale with LOTS of chocolate and coffee notes but not real bitter. Being such a small batch I did not calculate ABV but I am guessing over 5% by taste(it has that alcohol burn of higher gravity beers). This is a good all around drinker so I may do a 5 gallon batch of it!

Working towards all grain again like I used to brew. Figured out that if I set aside a corner of the garage for brewing I can use my cherry picker for heavy kettle lifting to spare my back. Going to add a small 120 volt water heater out there(will be nice for cleanup after painting, working on the truck etc too!) that I fill with the garden hose when needed and drain it down when not in use. I might trench water into there but it would be a major pain to deal with 3 foot thick field stone in the basement to get outside. Going to build a brew tower to make things easier than the way we used to do things! Sparge water top burner, middle burner the mash kettle with a false bottom for sparging, bottom burner the wort boil. Use gravity to run things and only lift the boil kettle to transfer to the fermenter(not sure if I can build things tall enough to avoid this). Converting a fridge to a fermenting fridge(I have an old one that got to cold all the time, add outboard temp control and ignore that) that should be able to hold 2 6.5 gallon fermenters at once. It can stay in the garage too and I will do all my brewing out there!

[44man]

Two or three turkey fryer stoves would be nice but I hardly have room in my garage to use the table saw. Boat takes too much room. I boil between it and the huge Grizzly drum sander, right at the open door.
I use the bucket in the basement with a hot water tank coil and thermostat on it to heat sparge water. I am limited to room.

[reloader28]

Glad your beer turned out good for you.
I darn sure have plenty of room and have thought of building a tower setup, but I keep thinking that everything works fine the way it is on my one turkey fry so leave it alone.
I did make beer once last winter on my wood cook stove just to do it. That was kinda fun actually though it took a little longer to get up to a boil.
Made a batch of beer a couple weeks ago and man is it good. I think I'll make a batch of my nut brown ale this weekend since I'm down to about 8 bottles left.
I have 3 gallons of plum wine in the fermenter and it should be ready to put in a secondary this weekend so that I can start a 3 gallon batch of apricot wine. I'm also going to start a 10 or 12 gallon (not sure which yet) batch of loganberry wine.

My middle daughter is getting married in July so I'll be brewing a bunch of beer before then and hopefully this wine will be good enough by then. We have a pile of family and friends coming from Wis for it and staying a few days so I gotta be prepared. Already getting meat for the smoker rounded up.

[44man]

Had an adventure getting spring water for a batch. I got there and it was windy, set my 6 gallon jugs down next to the stream that was flowing like crazy. Wind blew a jug in and I could not catch it. I took off running around the house to find a water fall into a pond, then a stream into the river. I seen my jug at the top of the falls so went around but at the top, the thing was in the pond so back down again to retrieve it. WOW, bad knees made it hard. Hard as heck to carry the jugs to my Polaris but got 3 filled and another 6 gallons in gallon jugs for Carol's orchids.
I did not know there was a falls so beautiful, need to get a picture for you.
Anyway I have 24 gallons for beer since I had one full before. The water is so good you can scoop it out of the stream and drink it, a brewery wanted to buy the property.
This water converts grain better then any else.
I am going to make Imperial Stout. Need to hold off a while, expecting a snow storm soon. Dogs have to be out in the pen with the door open in the garage.

[MaryB]

I need to send in a water sample to see what all I am going to need to do to treat it. Right now it goes through a Brita filter to get rid of the chlorine and clean up the taste a bit.

[44man]

My well water goes through a softener but is still full of lime and salt does not help. I live close to an old lime stone quarry that flooded. Water tastes good but will not mash good. The spring water is wonderful and I was told it is an under ground river from PA. There is nothing I can add to the water from my well. I will wait hours with little conversion but the spring water takes an hour only.
It is not the beer taste alone, it is the conversion that sucks.
Then I learned to never rinse anything or a batch will spoil. I use "B" Brite and just drain it, never rinse or bad things get in. Chlorine might kill the nasties but you don't want the stuff in beer either. To run a whole batch through a Brita would be crazy.
Sorry about your city water Mary, not the best. Darn you should have some of the water I get! The people that own it let me get water and if I owned it I could be a billionaire selling bottled water or opening a brew house.

[44man]

Water makes your beer. I read about Coors. etc, but most filter water through extensive filters and add stuff to get it right. I remember beer companies that used lake water in Ohio but most went belly up. Had one in Cleveland, can't remember the name. As kids we played at the place. Lake Erie was poison back then.walk the shore and see turds floating. Water pickup was from 5 miles out and the Cuyahoga river went that far. Black slick from steel mills that caught fire once. Ever see a river burn? We drank that junk! Ate fish. Most of our families died from cancer.
Then the zebra mussels got in and the lake is pristine, you can see 40" deep. They clog the water intakes and are invasive but they cleaned the lake.
I grew up there where air was red and ate paint off houses. Ford built a foundry and you could not breath the air and it ate the paint off cars. Imagine the water!
Look at Flint today with lead pipes for water. They changed to a water that dissolved lead faster. Poisoned people. They blame the Mayor but who knew? Why was there lead pipes in the ground?
What is in NY?

[MaryB]

So far I have been playing with extract kits with added grains for taste so no worries about conversion. The Caribou Slobber is tasty(and potent!) but could stand another week in the bottle or even longer.

[44man]

Has to be better then Llama spit! My friend made some stuff no animal could drink. He even took my spoiled beer home.
You make interesting stuff!

[MaryB]

Friend of mine had a bunch of leftovers from extract brews so he tossed it all in a pot and cooked it down, tossed in half packets of mixed leftover yeast. He was mad because he didn't write down what was in it! Turned out pretty dang tasty!

[44man]

Lady down the road found me a packet for a Beer Machine, Canadian Red. Makes 28 bottles but I need to figure the water amount since there is a fill line in the machine I don't have.
Says just add water but I boil and cool it first.

[MaryB]

2 - 2 1/2 gallons.... as a rough guess, this says 3 gallons https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=...Ak0nyW8fXBnW1A

[44man]

2 - 2 1/2 gallons.... as a rough guess, this says 3 gallons https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=...Ak0nyW8fXBnW1A

Thank you. I have to change my timing belt in my 4 Runner soon. Got the kit for $157 plus anti freeze and spark plugs, PCV valve, etc. less then $200. I have estimates from $300 with my parts to over $1000.
Like making beer, we get good stuff with some work. Carol asks me why I want to do the car work myself. I can do it is why. I don't trust hillbilly work. Maybe corn mash but don't charge me $300 to change a belt. That is $500+ with my parts when a dealer is $600 to $700. Do I trust a shade tree guy? Carol did not complain when I changed her front axle, bearings and brakes. Not when I bought a 22 ton press to install bearings either. Harbor Freight sale. I bet I can seat boolits on it!
I have the tools but have to make one for the camshaft pulleys. I know the hill billy will not change camshaft seals. Might not change crankshaft seal either.
No shortcuts with beer either.

[MaryB]

Why I want to get back to all grain brews. Not only is it cheaper if I buy in bulk but I control the flavors. I will make a trip up to the brew store and pick up 150 pounds or so of grain then I can mail order the yeast and hops as needed for the freshest ingredients. Still need to invest about $500 or so before I am set back up for all grain brewing.

[drfroglegs]

I do 3 gallon all grain batches, it's the perfect about for me as I end up with a case and a 6 pack I always give to my brother.

I do all grain with a 5 gallon insulated cooler. Paid about $30 for the cooler and it works really well! Craigslist is great for all grain supplies.

[MaryB]

I will have to check Craigslist... I figure I will need to do a batch every 6 weeks and maybe fill in with some I gallon experimental batches... I have 5 1 gallon fermenters so I can have a lot of different styles going at once. Also have 2 6.5 gallon. Need to add a valve for easier bottling though. Trying to siphon with just 2 hands is NOT easy!

[44man]

I do 3 gallon all grain batches, it's the perfect about for me as I end up with a case and a 6 pack I always give to my brother.

I do all grain with a 5 gallon insulated cooler. Paid about $30 for the cooler and it works really well! Craigslist is great for all grain supplies.

Dang, not enough, even a half mug now and then with a good beer will deplete that fast. I had 5 gallons of scotch ale and the keg went empty so fast i thought the grinch came in! the last fizzle out of the hose is heart breaking.

[MaryB]

2 beers a day will kill a 5 gallon batch...

[MaryB]

Brew #2: Chinook Ale. Really tasty stuff even with my nasty water(I am going to have to find a water source...). I got a water report from the supplier for the town, suphate is HIGH... 405 mg/l... works okay in the IPA's where bitter is expected but I do like a change of pace now and then!

The Chinook: Pours with an orange colored head, nice lacing left behind. Aroma of pine and grapefruit, bitter is dead on for a single hop IPA and alcohol content was 5.2 before bottling.

I plan on growing some hops and I think Chinook made the list.