/ck/ - Food & Cooking

I would like to start brewing something, but I'm 20, and gotta be 21 in murrka. Do you have any suggestions for a complete beginner?

>>4343395
>not making wine from grape juice in your closet at the age of 11

>>4343402
the closest i've done is this
it was shit. tried again with brewing yeast, came out tolerable

>>4343395
just wait. bread yeast will not taste anywhere near as good as brewer's yeasts. make some friends and have them buy you beer in the meantime.

Why yes I do anon. This is how I started.

First, get this,
http://www.brewersbestkits.com/equipment.html
the kit at the top. The wort chiller is recommended but not absolutely necessary for a beginner.

Next, get yourself one of these recipe kits. They come complete with all the ingredients and instructions that you will need.

http://www.brewersbestkits.com/recipes.html

Do enough til you feel comfortable crafting your own recipe. I did 2 kits before I started experimenting. Also, http://www.homebrewtalk.com/ is a wonderful forum to go to.

See if there's a local home brew shop in town, the people there usually tend to be pretty helpful.

Are you sure they card for that? I've never been and I'm a Merican as well.

>>4343412
the only friend I had who was of age decided to up and get cancer, the selfish shithead
>>4343416
Hey, thanks. I'll check this out when I don't have work in the morning.

I have nothing in the works because I have been having a hell of a semester, but I have been enjoying the last case of my batch of English brown ale. Beats Newcastle any day.

Ego-fapping aside, when summer comes around I will be brewing up a storm. I think I want to start on a Belgian pale ale and find some way to incorporate lavender flowers. That may risk making the beer too astringent, so I will be light-handed. This will hopefully be a quick beer to make.

Once I have that batch down I want to brew something heavier and darker, which I can let age a bit. May look into oaking with chips in my secondary. Possibly an old ale.

I've got a 5 gallon batch of mead going that started with 20 pounds of honey...it's been brewing for a long time, but still isn't quite finished yet. Should be around 18% when it's done, and i'll have over 20 bottles of it.

>>4343426
Lavender, interesting

>>4343434
sounds wicked

Nothing brewing at the moment, although soon I will be brewing a belgian pale ale or IPA (depending on the end abv and bitterness) with some honey. I don't have a set recipe yet, this one is going to be kind of experimental. It's going to have to be a partial mash since I don't have the equipment for 5 gallons of all grain yet. Not even sure what kind of yeast I'm going to use yet, but one thing is for sure... 7 oz of Citra hops. 5 oz pellets in the boil, 2 oz leaves dry hopping (pic related). That won't be all the hops I use though. I'll probably use some cascades as well.

>>4343450
Damn son, to hoppy for my taste but I'm sure many many people will like it.

>>4343434
I've yet to brew a mead, but I've made 4 batches of beer so far so I'm sure I can handle it. Any tips on how to get good deals on good honey for mead?

>>4343457
Wish I knew that myself

>>4343454
I'm definitely going for hoppy. hahaha.
I'm glad I was able to get my hands on the citra. They are god tier, but are usually tricky to get.

>>4343457
>>4343463
I have a local homebrew shop that sells it pretty cheap, but if you have any bee keepers in your area, you can get raw honey pretty easy.

Try googling homebrew shops in your area, call em up and ask if they sell honey, or know anywhere that would.

>>4343463
Well shet...

>>4343478
I only have one homebrew shop in my city and they sell honey, but it's not any less expensive than it is at most places. I think there are some local apple orchards in my area that have beekeepers but I'm not sure.

>>4343407
define tolerable?
If you did it again is there anything you would do differently?

Got a kit for some different brews for Christmas, but haven't started them yet because I'm moving in 2 weeks. I wanted to give it enough time to be perfect. I'll also have a perfect place to put it to ferment. So much for cabinet space and a real kitchen.

>>4343524
That hobo shit is gross. Spend just a bit of money buying shit on amazon and do it right.

i have 19L of spiced mead and 19L of apple cyser currently brewing in secondary, also have some apple pie cider in primary, almost ready to keg

>>4343457
>>4343463
>>4343478
>>4343482
I've always gone to a bulk discount store (costco, Sams or the like)

If you know anyone who works fro a restaurant, then ask if they can get bulk honey from their food vender

>>4343574
You normally get pasteurized honey that way, which, isn't bad, but I prefer raw honey, or honey from a single source.

>>4343574
I was wondering about sams club, I'll probably that a shot.

>>4343580
that's well and good, but I prefer pasteurized, filtered, and homogenized for consistency of product to product

that way I can control the flavors depending on the ingredients and not on chance

>>4343588
Fair enough.

>>4343540
The hobo shit has a certain charm of simplicity though. If you say it sucks, can you recommend a kit?

>>4343605
Start with this and the "frequently bought together":
http://www.amazon.com/Better-Bottle-Fermenter-5-Gallon-Container/dp/B001D6DPLG/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1364277637&sr=8-2&keywords=plastic+carboy

Get this yeast:
http://www.amazon.com/packs-KIV-1116-Lalvin-Yeast-Winemaking/dp/B004348K2Y/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1364277597&sr=8-1&keywords=k1v-1116+yeast

and some food grade tubing:
http://www.amazon.com/Vinyl-Tubing-feet-Food-Grade/dp/B000E62TCC/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1364277788&sr=8-1&keywords=vinyl+tubing

Then get some 100% juice, but nothing too acidic, and some water, mix it up, put it in the carboy after you've sanitized all your equipment and rinsed it very well, let it sit in a cool place till the yeast stops fermenting it in a few weeks, and siphon it off to bottles, avoiding as much yeast as possible when removing it from the carboy.

Sanitizer:
http://www.amazon.com/IO-Star--4oz/dp/B0064O83WS/ref=sr_1_4?s=industrial&ie=UTF8&qid=1364277943&sr=1-4&keywords=home+brew+sanitizer

>>4343524
tolerable meant that it was still probably garbage, but was a marked improvement over the first attempt.
kind of bitter and left a less than pleasant aftertaste, but I was 18 and looking for whatever. I'd like to think my taste has improved enough that I wouldn'be okay with it any more

I have 23L of Tempranillo that's being fined and stabilized right now...and in the next few weeks I'll be starting a Gewurztraminer in 3 separate carboys using a different yeast in each. It's for a fermentation project for one of my classes, so I'll most likely end up blending them all together unless one ends up significantly better.

>>4343450
yay hops!

heres mine. including magnum, citra, cascade, hallertau, hersbrucker, simcoe, northern brewer, chinook, centennial and shitloads of columbus

>>4344693

DRU tanks accompanied with cascade and columbus hops (pellet and whole cone).

10 gallons of my house IPA (Perle, Magnum, Cascade, Cascade Dry Hop), and 10 gallons of an English session ale. On tap, a Black IPA and a Stone IPA clone.

>>4344693
>>4344699

oh yeah, fermenting a batch of pale ale and maturing amber ale atm

>>4344713
Ivenever brewed, and only know a few who have but that is a nice setup.

>>4344699
>>4344713

is this your personal brewery or do you work for one?

either way, some more pics and info would be cool.

hey where can I find the archive? I got up to 60 and a couple of the 100's threads