Home brew

[Dartgod]

I know there are some other home brewers on here; Bwana and TJ for starters.

I'm brewing my first batch ever today. It's a German wheat. Looking forward to tasting this bad boy in about a month!

[Marcellus]

Originally Posted by ChiefGator

I admit I like the taste of hops, but putting hops in at 60 minutes seems like a huge waste. Fifteen minutes before the end of the boil is generally as early as I will add them.

You need to have some level of bittering hop to offset the sweetness. 60 minute hops are just that, for bittering and add very little flavor.

You don't use any 60 minute hop additions? I know that's been done but that's still a rarity.

Since you don't get any real hop flavor from 60 minute hops just bitternes some breweries actually use a hop oil concentrate at 60 minutes rather than actual hops. First wort hopping is another thing popular now where you add hops before the boil and some people even put hops in their mash.

Best bet is to use a strong bittering hop like Magnum for your 60 minute addition so you use less and its a bit cheaper.

[KCUnited]

I've pretty much settled into a small amount of FWHs and big steep additions for my hoppy beers, nothing in between. Adjusting my water and adding my first round of dry hops before fermentation is complete have made the biggest impact on improving my hoppy beers.

[Marcellus]

Originally Posted by KCUnited

I've pretty much settled into a small amount of FWHs and big steep additions for my hoppy beers, nothing in between. Adjusting my water and adding my first round of dry hops before fermentation is complete have made the biggest impact on improving my hoppy beers.

Yea FWH while providing flavor and a more smooth bitterness is basically your 60 minute addition.

I have been doing 7 days fermentation then adding hops for 5 days and then cold crash and keg. I can get a beer into the keg and drinkable in as little as 2 weeks. Thats the nice thing about force carbing. You can crank it up to 40psi for a day and have a drinkable beer pretty fast.

Less time if there is no dry hop.

[Marcellus]

We need to arrange a CP Homebrew beer swap. That could be fun.

[KCUnited]

Originally Posted by Marcellus

Yea FWH while providing flavor and a more smooth bitterness is basically your 60 minute addition.

I have been doing 7 days fermentation then adding hops for 5 days and then cold crash and keg. I can get a beer into the keg and drinkable in as little as 2 weeks. Thats the nice thing about force carbing. You can crank it up to 40psi for a day and have a drinkable beer pretty fast.

Less time if there is no dry hop.

I ferment for 7 days as well and add my first round of dry hops at roughly ~1.024, which is about 36 hours into fermentation with my prefered yeast and leave them til I keg. I like the biotransformation I get from certain hops while the yeast is still active and I can pop the top on my fermentor to add them while its still producing CO2. After I keg, I've found it dependant on the yeast for when it's best. I brew a lot with Wyeast 1318 and I've found that 3 weeks in the keg is it's sweet spot.

[KCUnited]

Originally Posted by Marcellus

We need to arrange a CP Homebrew beer swap. That could be fun.

I'd totally be down for that, but I've yet to successfully bottle an IPA without oxidizing it, so I keg everything. Anyone have experience using a keg gun to bottle?

[KCUnited]

I've seen other forums do something where everyone agrees upon a style and ingredients until they come up with a recipe. Everyone brews the same recipe then shares their thoughts/experience. I'd be down for something like that to. We could come up with a CP beer.

[Zebedee DuBois]

Originally Posted by KCUnited

I'd totally be down for that, but I've yet to successfully bottle an IPA without oxidizing it, so I keg everything. Anyone have experience using a keg gun to bottle?

Just used a blichman beer-gun for the first time on the last batch. We filled about 90 bottles. Had to fiddle with the keg pressure a little to find the optimum delivery flow - but overall we were very pleased with the performance.

[Ming the Merciless]

Originally Posted by KCUnited

I've seen other forums do something where everyone agrees upon a style and ingredients until they come up with a recipe. Everyone brews the same recipe then shares their thoughts/experience. I'd be down for something like that to. We could come up with a CP beer.

I'd be game , I have a small setup but I do mainly extract with some grain infusion. I have about 12 gallon capacity per run.

[KCUnited]

Originally Posted by Pawnmower

I'd be game , I have a small setup but I do mainly extract with some grain infusion. I have about 12 gallon capacity per run.

Word. I brew 3 to 3.5 gallon batches. I use the BeerSmith software Marcellus linked which can convert to extract, so we should be able to provide an all grain/extract recipe.

If a few more people are interested we/I/someone can create a separate thread. With my small capacity, I struggle to brew bigger beers, but something crushable might be better for a CP beer on Sunday's. We can cross that bridge later though.

Speak up if you're interested.

[KCrockaholic]

Finished my first brew night at about 11pm. Started around 8pm. My hop schedule was

1oz Chinook at 60
1oz Chinook at 15
1oz Chinook at 5
1oz Cascade at 0

1lb sugar at 2m

Brought the temp down to 83 degrees before entering the fermentation carboy. Added yeast. Sitting now in the closet trying to keep the temp steady with a water + frozen water bottle bucket.

My OG was 1.050 or something close to that. I'm a dumb dumb though. The first wort I used was from the 2.75 Gal batch from the kettle before I added the other water. I sawa 1.130 OG and nearly shit myself. Then quickly realized why. Anyways, I'm looking forward to the coming weeks of seeing how this one turns out.

I could've done a couple things differently but it's my first batch. Trial and error.

I'll be dry hopping with Citra after 5 days. Maybe Saturday. Quick question. Should I dry hop in the primary or secondary?

[KCrockaholic]

Originally Posted by KCUnited

Word. I brew 3 to 3.5 gallon batches. I use the BeerSmith software Marcellus linked which can convert to extract, so we should be able to provide an all grain/extract recipe.

If a few more people are interested we/I/someone can create a separate thread. With my small capacity, I struggle to brew bigger beers, but something crushable might be better for a CP beer on Sunday's. We can cross that bridge later though.

Speak up if you're interested.

I'd do it. I plan on my primary carboy always being full of something.

[ChiefGator]

Originally Posted by Marcellus

You need to have some level of bittering hop to offset the sweetness. 60 minute hops are just that, for bittering and add very little flavor.

You don't use any 60 minute hop additions? I know that's been done but that's still a rarity.

Since you don't get any real hop flavor from 60 minute hops just bitternes some breweries actually use a hop oil concentrate at 60 minutes rather than actual hops. First wort hopping is another thing popular now where you add hops before the boil and some people even put hops in their mash.

Best bet is to use a strong bittering hop like Magnum for your 60 minute addition so you use less and its a bit cheaper.

I don't really like my beer that bitter I guess. I absolutely love the fresh taste of hops though, so I will heavily hop it in the last bit. I think I have done 30 minute boils.

Haven't yet done a dry hop.

I do agree as well.. if you are going to let hops boil for 60 minutes, I would go for the cheapest hops.. don't waste some good German Tettnang or any noble hops really.

[Dartgod]

Originally Posted by KCUnited

I've seen other forums do something where everyone agrees upon a style and ingredients until they come up with a recipe. Everyone brews the same recipe then shares their thoughts/experience. I'd be down for something like that to. We could come up with a CP beer.

I'd be down for something like that. It's been a few years since I brewed, but still have all the equipment and I need a reason to get it out.

[KCUnited]

Cool, I think that's 4 of us interested.

I'll nominate Springfield Watch Party as a name for the beer.