Home Brewing Tips and Techniques
Precooler - I have a stainless steel wort cooler, but our ambient temperature in Florida can be in the 90s, so I got about 30 ft of copper tubing in a coil sitting in a bucket or cooler with about ten lbs of ice. The water from the garden hose goes through this first. Cools down the wort much faster and to a lower temp.
Additional wort cooling - I put the cooling pot in the plastic plant dish(see below) or shallow tub with ice in it and spacers under it so the ice water can contact the bottom.
Plant dish for primary - I put my primary in a plastic plant tray(usually terra cotta colored dish about 16" diameter by three inches high from garden dept) with blocks of 1 x 2 wood to keep it level and have room for overflow. This can also be used to cool an overheating wort. (I had a wine kit go to over 90 degrees once!) Wrap a towel around the bucket that is wicking up water from the tray and cooling by evaporation.
Windbreak for burner - I boil my wort in the carport.To keep drafts from slowing down the heating(My burner is an old slow cast iron antique) , I wrap a long piece of aluminum foil around the bottom of the pot extending down to the tabletop and secure with masking tape or clothespins. It is open by the control lever so I can see the flames and reach in with the lighter.
Prepare before boiling - I have a printed checklist with all the equipment and supplies that I need to remind me so I'm not running all over the house looking for stuff when the timer goes off. (will post separately)
Prepare water and ice beforehand - I store up ice for a couple days before starting. My cooler precooler uses about ten lbs of ice, so I save it up and put in gallon ziplocks beforehand. I also keep three or four gallon jugs filled with RO water to top off the primary. My RO system crawls to a trickle after two gallons. I also refrigerate them to help the cooldown process.
sharpstick wrote:
Prepare before boiling - I have a printed checklist with all the equipment and supplies that I need to remind me so I'm not running all over the house looking for stuff when the timer goes off.
This is for a basic extract kit. It's printed in two columns on a single sheet of paper. Feel free to use or modify.
Beermaking Prep
accumulate ice & water
precool water
________________ prepare burner
________________ warm malt syrup
________________ 2 gallons water to pot
________________ light burner
________________ add grain - heat to 160 - 170 degrees
________________ 20 minutes - remove grain
________________ bring to boil
________________ add syrup, dry malt, bit hops, ir moss
________________ return to boil
________________ 55 minutes - add finishing hops
________________ 5 minutes turn off heat
________________ cool to 70 degrees
________________ siphon into primary bucket
________________ add water to 5 gallons
________________ read SG (1.0_____ - 1.0_____)
________________ add yeast
________________ seal bucket
________________ xfer to secondary (optional)
________________ bottle at SG (1.0_____ - 1.0_____)
equipment:
brewing pot
burner & propane, foil,
level crate (my driveway is sloped)
lighter
scissors
digital thermometer
3 clothespins
tongs
spoon
wort cooler, drain hose, supply hose, precooling bucket or
cooler
primary bucket
cooling pan (for brew pot)
malt warming pot
funnel & holder
sieves
materials
2 days of ice
5 gal water
irish moss - 1 teaspoon per 5 gal
or whirlfloc - 1 tablet per 5 gal
isinglass - optional in secondary
bottling:
autosiphon
bottling wand
capper
bottles
caps
add finishing sugar
bottle
2 weeks to carbonate
3 weeks to age
1. I don't see any point in asking other brewers if a recipe sounds good. Try it! I was told (on another web site) over and over to never boil fruit for my beer, but I do it anyway. I don't care what they think. Ultimately, my beer was a pretty big hit. What does it matter if you came up with an interesting recipe, do you need approval? If you brew it and it sucks, then you learned something. I never ask anybody for recipe advice because I am always experimenting. Have any of you seen my herbal recipe here? I had quite a few brewers telling me it didn't sound very good, and this is one of the best beers I ever made.
2. Worrying about every single little thing. The fermentation temperature was 2 degrees off, did that ruin anything? What are you making? Beer or rocket fuel? I remember a user here a couple years ago absolutely paranoid about cleaning and wanted to sterilize every single thing. I assume that user went to medical school because apparently he was performing surgery, not making beer. Sterilizing is not necessary, and I do not know of a single brewery that does it. More importantly, you are making beer for yourself, not mass selling to the public. Don't stress the small things.
3. Learn from your mistakes. I have had bad batches, I have tried recipes that I was unsure about but figured I would try it anyway. Some turned out bad, most turned out pretty good. I have preached many times to never dump out a batch that you think is bad until you taste it and KNOW it is bad. Someone on here ignored advice and dumped out a batch, so no he will never know what it was like. Might as well just flush money down the toilet. I fermented a wheat beer at 80F once and I really thought it was hosed. It turned out to be one of the best batches I ever made. And even when you do make a mistake, learn from it. I guarantee every single brewmaster has made costly errors that were in the thousand dollar range.
4. Not trying something because it is untested. So what? Widmer Brewing in Portland experiments more than any other brewery I know of. That's what I do. So you have never heard of anybody using some exotic flower or seed in a beer, so it must not work. How do you know? Maybe nobody else has thought of it. I see so many brewers that only want to duplicate 15 different beers, not try something new. I always felt the point of brewing was to create.
5. Research topics before asking questions. Most long timers here have probably realized I don't ask for much advice. I don't know it all. I just research topics and learn as much as I can. When you research, you are probably going to learn quite a bit more and expand your knowledge.
cubx wrote:
14. Save your yeast slurry at the bottom of your primary and put it in a mason jar. Put some masking tape on it and label the type of yeast, date of storage, and how many uses it has had. This is going to save you money in the future so you won't be buying yeast every trip the store.
Sounds like an interesting tip... I have never heard about doing this before. I always thought yeast sinking to the bottom meant that it is completely dead already...
Can you or someone else(TM) please elaborate on how this works? How do you store it (refridgerated? frozen?) and how long will it stay alive? How do you bring it back to life before pitching? I assume you cannot bring the ABV up to a decent amount without adding fresh yeast to it? Also, do you boil it or something to make sure it doesnt contaminate your next batch?
islandhopper wrote:
[
Can you or someone else(TM) please elaborate on how this works?
Here is a quick reference that should ive you the basics:
http://hbd.org/carboy/yeast_washing.htm
Can you or someone else(TM) please elaborate on how this works? How do you store it (refridgerated? frozen?) and how long will it stay alive? How do you bring it back to life before pitching? I assume you cannot bring the ABV up to a decent amount without adding fresh yeast to it? Also, do you boil it or something to make sure it doesnt contaminate your next batch?
Don't freeze it. After I rack beer out of the fermenter, I just flip it over and pour the yeast into a clean jar, label it as described, and stick it in the refrigerator. It goes dormant at that point. How long it will last depends on the strain, and how many uses it has. I go 5 generations. Some of my strains have lasts almost 1 year, others barely made it 2 months.
As for bringing up the ABV without adding fresh yeast, actually, I never do that. I ALWAYS make a starter and add that to the yeast slurry. If I have a fresh Wyeast smack pack to use, I will make a starter for that, but as for reusing a strain, nope... I just combine it with a starter.
I boil the starter ingredients, cool it down to 80F or less, then mix it with the slurry, let it sit at room temperature for 2-5 days to colonize and increase strength, then pitch.
Hopefully webby doesn't mind me posting this link... here are a bunch of yeast videos.
http://www.freebrewingvideos.com/yeast.shtml
Here is some random advice for those who are either thinking about getting into brewing, are novices looking for ideas, or those who just want some new ways of thinking when it comes to making beer.
EXPERIMENT. Just because you have perfected a recipe, or like one that you found, who says it can't use some twists or just be improved? Change some grain, switch out some hops, add them at different times, try dry hopping your beer. ALWAYS experiment. Ever tried an herbal beer? I made my first batch last fall and it was great.
WHY ASK OTHERS FOR APPROVAL? I never understood why new or novice brewers post recipes and ask others "does this look any good?" What does it matter? Try it. I had a few brewers try and talk me out of making my herbal and fruit beers, but I did it anyway. I'm glad I did it. Who cares if others approve of what you want to make? YOU are brewing it, they aren't.
PARANOIA. I have not seen it much lately, but a couple of years ago here, I remember a few novices who felt they HAD to STERILIZE every single thing. Why? I have not been to or heard of any brewery of any size that sterilizes equipment. Star San and Iodophor are not sterilizers. They are sanitizers. But there brewers who absolutely paranoid about having a hospital grade clean room to brew beer. You are making beer, not performing open heart surgery. The best advice I can give is to clean and sanitize your absolute best, then not worry any more. But as for general brewing paranoia, it is common to be fearful when starting out... "am I doing this right?"... but don't be paranoid. The worst you will have a bad (but drinkable) batch, so learn from your mistakes.
COMPARE ANSWERS. Everybody gives bad advice at some point. If you are questioning an answer someone gave you, search the web for your question. I've had even a homebrew store owner give me really bad advice, but fortunately, I already knew he was wrong because I read the answer before. No brewer, not even Charlie Papazian, can know everything. Although I met one store owner who *thought* he did. Talk about arrogant.
BE WILLING TO FAIL. You will make batches that are excellent, and some that suck. We all do. Take good notes! If you aren't willing to accept failure once in a while, whether a batch is skunked, didn't quite turn out right, or was a complete disaster, then don't brew. Just like being in business... if you aren't willing to take risks, don't start a business. In my years of brewing, I've had to throw out a couple batches, and had many others that didn't turn out like I expected. Learn from it. Even the professionals make mistakes.
DON'T BE AFRAID TO GET HELP. No matter how smart any homebrewer or professional is, every single one of us started out the same as you did. We weren't born knowing all grain brewing, using salts, understanding the terminology, how a mash turn works, and so forth. Pick other folks brains. Over the past few years, I have never had any brewer who would not help. Most are happy to pass on knowledge. If you have any doubt about something, ask for help first.
BE UNIQUE WITH YOUR BEER. Why copy someone else? Maybe someone in a homebrew club makes a killer amber, oatmeal stout, or fruity IPA. I've seen other brewers try and copy it. Why? The first guy is known for his creation. Come up with something that you will be known for. Don't know how? Time and experience will teach you this. Learn your grain, hops, and yeast strains, then experiment.
GET USED TO BEING A JANITOR. That's pretty much what brewing is all about. 80-90% cleaning. If you hate cleaning, either get real accustomed to being a brewing janitor. or don't get started.
EXCUSES. I have spoken to sooooo many folks who want to brew, but they are full of excuses. No time, no place, no drive... either you do or you don't. If you want to brew, if you want to try a new recipe, if you want to experiment, make it happen. I used to invite people over to brew with me, but I found 95% had nothing but excuses of why they couldn't. That means they didn't want it bad enough. So how is this advice? Because coming up with excuses is easier than making it happen. If you want to know how to brew, how you go from grain to glass, create your own beer, it is only going to happen if you make it happen. Nobody else is going to brew it for you.
HAVE FUN. Even with all the cleaning, remembering numbers, times, charts, and other things, and waiting on your beer to finish fermenting, you are in this for fun. I've been involved in the computer industry (long resume) for 25 years, and brewing for 4 years. Making beer gets FAR more attention than knowing computers. I've given a few brewery tours, and women are more interested in learning that than how a computer works. Learn styles, what the difference is, how grain, hops, and yeast work together, and have fun showing others just how smart you are! (Yes it does work!)
I took my pre-fermentation hydrometer reading after pitching the yeast. Then covered the hydrometer test tube with plastic wrap and put it in a safe spot. This let me see the start up of fermentation as it occurred and reassured me that all was well in my sealed fermentation bucket.
Maybe most don't need this reassurance, but this was my first brew and I made a big mistake with my dry yeast: Left it hydrating in water for three hours. I was glad to have that visible fermentation test available to confirm that I had not done irreparable harm. It was great to see that stream of bubbles and head of white foam the next morning.
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