Making Beer! (Episode 1)

[wjvaldez]

Beer is made with GRAINS. not cans of extracts. Sorry, but I'm totally dissapointed with this.

[eighthourlunch]

@wjvaldez Fair enough. If you've got the time for creating your own mash/malt, more power to you. A bit tricky for a beginner, though.

[koornbread]

You didn't boil the wort with that bag of steeping grains in there did you?

You shouldn't do that. The grain husks contain tannins that are extracted at temps over 180 deg. F. This will give your beer an unpleasant astringency.

[eighthourlunch]

It's been a while since I made this video. Actually I try to keep the temp at around 155 when I'm steeping the grains.

[eighthourlunch]

Which reminds me, I've got an oatmeal stout that ought to be ready to taste tonight. :)

[aidanxfriesen]

hey, Nice video. overall was it was good. to make it cool faster, mix all your grains and malts in a one gallon brewpot with two litres in it, and put four gallons of cool (not freezing cold) water in your fermenter or alepale, and then just pour the boil into the fermenter and stir it up. veiterzain=)

[oxman0313]

That is what I did and it was almost ready to pitch the yeast as soon as I dumped it. Great video

[ripped2645]

if you want it to cool quicker a good way is to put salt in with the ice water as it will cool it quicker

[dsr0116]

Need to add one more post because of the character limit. Couple points about the wort. Usually, you take your grain bag out before you boil your fermentable malt sugars. I also didn't see any boiling or aroma hops being added, so I assume you used hopped malt extract. Might be a good point with beginners that if your extract is not hopped, you generally add 1oz of hop pellets while you boil your malt, and then 1 more oz 5 minutes before the end of boil.

[dsr0116]

Thanks for starting this discussion for budding homebrewers! I've got a couple points to add:

#1: Everyone starting homebrewing NEEDS, "The Complete Joy of Home Brewing", Charlie Papazian (founder of the Association of Brewers). It's the bible for beginer or novice.

2: I notice there's discussion on cooling the wart. I agree that the easiest method is to pour it directly on ice. My fridge uses filtered water. If you use bottled water, you can put one of your jugs in the freezer.

[MadLuplin]

Sanitation is rule number one.

You should have sanitized the wine thief after you touched the bottom of it. Do not add your hydro sample back to the fermenter! Take your sample, pitch yeast, and seal it up. Then check your O.G. Use Star San, its expensive but the best sanitizer. Your on the right track. SANITATION #1 rule no joke. You have to be anal about it. Brew Strong

[eighthourlunch]

I hear you. I had just washed my hands actually, so I wasn't too worried. We use LD Carlson sanitizer and have been very happy with it. Generally we keep our area and equipment clean enough for surgery.

[hypnotstcollector]

I WOULDNT BOIL WATER. IF YOU DONT KNOW ITS GOOD...OR BUY BOTTLED WATER. BOILING MAKES WATER HARD. I WENT UP TO ABOUT 190f. i WAS IN Palo Alto,Ca,c.1976. The Bagel Factory was UNIQUE then and what a crowd. Well, their back door was my front yard. I got all ther free malt i wanted. so for 2 yrs i made beer. dark lagers and stout. 5-7%.my stuff allways 'gravitied out' around 8.5% ,no matter what.

[eighthourlunch]

Yeah, we use bottled. We're going to try for a slightly stronger heffeweizen next time around, but we usually come in around 5%. Most importantly, it just *tastes* good.

[hypnotstcollector]

I am on the Mormon Hierarchy's trail and I thought I would stop by for a brew on my way to the to the Endowment Hall to watch Miss Eliza Snow; they say she's a kick to watch on stage.

[eighthourlunch]

Ha!

[SaorsaAlbaGuBrath]

You dont want to waste any of that malt, dripping all over the sink lol also better to use a big spoon to stir no need to shake it. I recommend you rehydrate the yeast before pitching it, this will get the fermentation started alot faster of atleast stir it in.

[mattavina]

a good way of cooling the wort down fast is instead of using the 2 gallons added to the wort in the fermenter, put like two bags of ice in the fermenter and pour the hot wort on the ice. That usually cools it down to about 85 degrees, then you can add some cool water to bring it down further or let it sit. This take hours off the cool down time.

[eighthourlunch]

The only thing I'd worry about is the water being sterile...or do you boil the water before you freeze it?

As mentioned below, we're able to cool it down in less than an hour now using two bags of ice on the outside.

[mattavina]

yeah you can sterilize the water befor you freeze it

[perspex2000]

You can boil water and then freeze it in a ziplock bag in a ziplock bag (less potential for mess that way) Never add "normal" ice to the cooling wort.

[MartinsBrew]

I keep hearing people say it takes 4 to 6 hours to cool down.. It takes me a hour for 3 gallons... Just replace the water every 15 or so minutes..

Thank you for posting!

[eighthourlunch]

Good point. We've changed now. Two bags of ice, and we get it cooled in less than an hour.

[MartinsBrew]

I have a question, the home brewery in Reno NV says no bottled water and if you get bottled water you still need to boil it.. That said, all of your beers have come out clean.."but the one you add your taste to it lol"

[eighthourlunch]

Even with the bottled water, we boil the wart for a pretty long time--about 40 minutes at a rolling boil. We use the bottled water because it doesn't seem to be as hard. We haven't had any problems.

[MartinsBrew]

Sweet, thank you!!

[perspex2000]

Another thing you can do (if you have cold winters of course!) is to boil water and when it cools enough you can put in a sterilized sealed carboy and put it outside. Just don't let it freeze!

[south98178]

i built a counter-flow chiller with a garden hose and piece of copper tubing and a few copper fittings, and i can get my wort down to any temp i want it to be, just in the amount of time it takes to siphon it from the pot to the carboy. it took a couple of hours to make, including the trip to the hardware store for the parts, and i think that it cost me about $30, so i consider it well worth the investment of time and money.

[eighthourlunch]

I would love to see how you did that.

[eighthourlunch]

You have a good point unfun72. Actually, I was basing that on our first ever batch. We sterilized everything around the pot, so we weren't too worried and it worked. This last one actually took a couple of hours, and only because we ran out of ice. Thanks for watching!

[unfun72]

Did you say 5-7hrs to cool? cooling 3gals of wort shouldnt take THAT long, ecspecially with Ice in the water. It should be close to pitching temp within 30mins or so. Any longer and I would be scared of infection. But hey, if it works for you, AWESOME!

Brew Strong!