Homebrewers, anyone else out there?!?

crazy_skier · 10-15-2008

Well two of the older guys in my fraternity are getting me involved in their homebrew projects, and its actually quite fun! Last spring they did a few tweaks to one of their recipiets and scored 2 points below the excellent raing for the sam adams homebrew contest, so I'm hoping that I'll be able to brew something like that one day.

So, does anyone out here homebrew, and if so what are some of the better recipiets that you like?

Also, has anyone messed with lagers? Right now we are just going to be doing another ale since we dont have the room for a full dedicated fridge to do a lager, which would be awesome!

Spyderturbo007 · 10-20-2008

I used to do this about 2 years ago and it was a ton of fun. We have since moved into a house and our kitchen has been redone. I'm afraid of the wort staining the sink, so I haven't done anything since.

This is an excellent website and is filled with good recipies.

Here are a couple of my favorites:

Caramel Cream Ale

Malts
3 pounds extra light DME
3 pounds light wheat DME
1 pound Caramel 60L (steeped for 45 minutes at 150'-165')

Hops
1oz Cascade for bittering (60 minutes)
.5oz Saaz for flavor (20 minutes)
.5 oz Tettnang for aroma (end of boil)

Yeast
Wyeast German Ale

Extras
1 tsp Irish Moss (10 minutes)
4oz Lactose @ 15 minutes
2 oz real vanilla extract

Priming
>1cup Lactose
4oz vanilla (Be careful! This may be too much vanilla for some people.)
1.5 cups light DME

Affligem Noel Christmas Ale

Heat 1 gallon of watter to 155 F and add:

8 oz Belgian Cara-Munich Malt
4 oz Belgian Aromatic Malt
4 oz Belgian Biscuit Malt
2 oz British Chocolate Malt
2 oz Gamrbinus Honey Malt

Remove from heat & steep @ 150 for 30 minutes. Sparge with 1/2 gallon of 150 degree water. Bring water to a boil and add:

9.75 lbs Muntons Extra Light Dry Malt Extract
1 lb Belgian Clear Candi Sugar
4 oz Malto Dextrin
1/2 oz Challenger hops (bittering)
3/4 oz Styrian Goldings hops (bittering)

Add water until total volume in the brew pot is 3.5 gallons. Boil for 45 minutes, then add:

1/2 oz Styrian Goldings (flavor)
1/8 tsp Cinnamon
1 tsp Irish Moss

Boil for 10 minutes, then add:

1/2 oz Styrian Goldings (aroma)

Boil for 5 more minutes. Remove and cool wart & add cold water to obtain 5 1/8 gallons (19.5 liters). When wort is below 70, pitch the yeast.

1st choice: Wyeast 1388 Belgian Strong Ale
2nd choice: Wyeast 1762 Belgian Abbey II

Ferment for 7 days then rack to secondary. Beer will remain in secondary for approximately 6 weeks until clear.

For bottling, boil 1 1/4 cups Muntons Extra light DME in 2 cups of water for 10 minutes to prime it and let prime for approx 6 weeks.

Pumpkin Ale

5lbs of Caramel 10L (20 minute steep @ 150)
1.81 lbs canned 100% pumpkin (in grain bag with grains for 20 minutes)

(2) 3.3lb cans of Munton's Wheat LME
1oz Hallertau (60 minutes)
.5oz Tettnanger (20 minutes)
1 tbsp Irish Moss (15 minutes)
1 tbsp pumpkin spice (15 minutes)
.5oz Hallertau (5 minutes)

1 tbsp pumpkin spice seasoning in primary
Wyeast Special London (#1968)

I've only messed with Ales, since until now, I didn't have a basement that was cold enough to try a Lager. Now I have the basement, but not the sink.

Spyderturbo007 · 10-20-2008

Oh, and here are some of the other links I've found over the years that may help.

Hops / Grain / Sugar Selection Guide

Types of Hops

Beginner's guide to Brewing

Recipe Calculation Programs

The links above are mostly for creating your own recipes, which is my favorite part. The only downfall is you'll spend a couple hours on a new recipe and it will suck.

I have a really good recipe for a Spiced Holiday Ale at my house somewhere. It was one I came up with myself a couple years ago. Hopefully my brew book didn't get lost in the move. I'll see if I can dig it up for you sometime this week.

Keeping a "brew book" is the best advice I can give you. Kindof like a Lab notebook from college, but it will really help you in the long run if you start to get serious.

crazy_skier · 10-20-2008

thanks, the caramel cream sounds good!

The guys i'm brewing with have been writing and changing their own reciepts so I need to spend some time working on beginner stuff, instead of just jumping into this advanced stuff haha. what were some of your personal favorites?

Spyderturbo007 · 10-22-2008

If you are new, I would go with the DME pre-packaged mixes for your first couple brews. They are cheaper and will allow you to get a feel for the entire process of brewing. It takes a little practice to get the logistics of everything down. Believe me, you'll be stumbling over yourself the first time you brew by yourself.

Some recipes can be expensive, so just in case it doesn't work out with the pre-packaged mix, you won't be out a bunch of cash.

Just remember, the most important aspect of homebrewing is steralization. It doesn't take more than a couple microbes to turn your nice Ale into Vinegar.

As for my favorites, I posted a couple of them in my first post.

SnoEclipse · 10-22-2008

I'm a reliable 'home drinker' but have had a load of friends who homebrew.

One girl I know installed a cheap double laundry room sink in the garage alongside a cheap high-btu cook top (running from propane). Any mess and the garage just gets hosed out. Water comes from the outside hose connection but they've rigged up a double filtering thing from about $125- worth of parts from Menards (filter canisters, filters, some plumbing and quick disconnect fixtures, etc, etc).

When she and her dude aren't actually cooking up a batch, a plywood workbench top folds down from the wall and hides everything.

rabeb25 · 10-24-2008

I guess you could say I do