/homebrew/ general

[Anonymous No.10896155]

Hey /ck/, I know some of you must be interested in home brewing.

I’ve got interested in the idea of brewing my own beer about a year ago now, but I’ve still never done it nor have I even bought the kit. But I’m suddenly starting to get it in my head again and think I’m ready to take the plunge. Any of you have previous experiences with making your own beer? Any of you brew regularly?

My main motivation for brewing is that I want to make something close to pic related. A strong dark Belgian ale. I’ve seen clone recipes on the internet and surely once you’ve got the required skill it’s a simple case of following instructions down to the smallest detail, however i would start with simpler extract beer kits to get me started and brew some simpler beers first

Any general beer chat is also welcome

[Anonymous No.10896167]

>>10896155
jeez ive got almost an identical story

bump

[Anonymous No.10896211]

>>10896167
Iya lad

What’s held you back so far?

[Anonymous No.10896595]

Hoped there would be more interest than this :(

[Anonymous No.10896790]

>>10896155
Would homebrewing mead be easier or harder than beer?

[Anonymous No.10896826]

>>10896155
Chimay red was my gateway into brewing.
Belgian beers are actually quite easy to do a pretty good job at. Go to your local brewing supply house, tell them what you want, and they'll set you up with a proven recipe and ingredients.
A heavy beer like that will take a long time to ferment, and even longer aging - months, maybe as much as 6 months. So you probably should first do a lighter faster-aging beer that you can drink in only a few weeks. That will give you a practice run on a cheaper beer, and something to drink while you wait for the tripel to ferment and age. I would make a standard strength ale, ca 4.8abv, using chimay yeast and only a little candy sugar, to get a lighter bodied chimay red, which will give you a feel for making the general style and be good to drink by mid August, then once that is bottled start your tripel and it should be good by Christmas or New Year.

[Anonymous No.10896837]

>>10896790
Mead is trickier. Honey doesn't ferment well, and tends to take a year or more to age to something drinkable, it's more like a wine than a beer in that regard.

[Anonymous No.10896880]

>>10896826
Unfortunately there arent any homebrewing shops local to me so I’m gonna have to use the internet as my only resource. But yeah like you say, I want to start off with something easier with my ultimate aim being to brew something close to the Chimay blue. So I think that’s a good idea, try to brew a lower alcohol version of a Chimay red to begin with. Can I achieve that with a malt extract to start with though or do I have to go all in with all grain?

The Chimay blue isn’t a tripel though btw

[Anonymous No.10897089]

>>10896880
Use DME not a syrup. Chimay is lightly hopped, most syrups are pre-hopped and have too much for a chimay.
Blue is the quadrupel? Chimay Red was the only Chimay I liked (but I *really* liked it) and the only one I ever made. If this thread is still up when I get home I'll haul out my Belgian Ales book and see if there's anything non obvious or difficult about Blue that isn't there for Red. But Red is simple to clone, the important thing about the flavor is the yeast, and Chimay yeast is readily available since Chimay doesnt filter so they have live yeast.

[Anonymous No.10897110]

>>10896880
The only advantage of whole grain is you can control the mash bill exactly - national award winning homebrews are made with syrups and DME all the time.
And for chimay the yeast and candy are the most important things about the style. I'd add a small amount of grain to steep in the wort to improve flavor and body, but that's cheap and easy and needs no special equipment, it's like steeping tea except the teabag has grain in it.

[Anonymous No.10897457]

Homebrewing is a great hobby. My only suggestion is to start with a beer style that isn't so ambitious. I'd start with a beer that has a lower ABV and can hide some off flavors. Maybe a pale ale or a porter. Then once you get the hang of it you can tackle more difficult styles.

[Anonymous No.10897801]

>>10896880
I brewed a chimay when I first started brewing with extracts but I used the Briess unhopped extracts. The cool thing was I cultured the yeast from the bottom of a chimay bottle and built it up to 1/2 gallon of starter so I had the real chimay yeast. It wasn't hard, but it took several days and transferring from the original bottle after adding sterile wort to a larger bottle with sterile wort. Tasted very much like the original chimay.

[Anonymous No.10898296]

>>10897801
I've done that myself just to see if it would work (it does). But OP should know this isn't necessary, since Chimay yeast isn't some big trade secret, the commercial yeast suppliers have their own cultures and prepackaged Chimay yeast for sale, and that's really his best option especially for a newbie.
>>10897457
This is a good point. Chimay yeast produce serious esters, which gives it the complexity and fruitiness, but can get overpowering unless you keep a tight grip on fermentation temperatures. Most British yeasts are better behaved even at much higher temperatures, and would be a better choice until he has some practice controlling fermentation temperatures.

[Anonymous No.10898321]

>>10896155
Long time home brewer and distiller here, AMA.

[Anonymous No.10898689]

>>10896211
buddy, if I knew the answer to that, I could change the world.
My guess is always fear and/or laziness.
Some would argue, they are the same thing.

[Anonymous No.10899271]

I would recommend that you start with a basic kit and do a brew or 2 that way to build confidence before you get into the nitty gritty.

[Anonymous No.10899291]

>>10896155
PLEASE GO TO FUCKING 420CHAN YOU STUPID NIGGER IT A PERFECT FUCKING BOARD FOR YOUR ALCHOHOLIC OBSESSION YOU FUCKING NIGGER DIE DIE DIE I WILL SHIT DOWN YOUR FUCKING NECK YOU SUBHUMAN NIGGER I HOPE A FUCKING COCKROACH CRAWLS OUT YOUR LIVER AND YOU ARE IN INTENSE PAIN FOR FUCKING YEARS YOU FAGGOT SIP NIGGER ALCK NIGGER FUCK YOU GO HERE


https://boards.420chan.org/drank/

[Anonymous No.10899295]

Rate my homebrew beer fridge

[Anonymous No.10899326]

>>10899291
I hadn’t considered your point of view anon, and you raise some interesting points. That said, suck it up, buttercup.

[Anonymous No.10899609]

>>10899295
i wouldnt know how to rate that, but how did you talk your wife into letting you have that?
Also, how much more beer do you drink now that you brew your own beer?

[Anonymous No.10899635]

>>10899295
Is that 3 5 gallon kegs? It's not pretty, but that's still pretty based. Living the dream, anon.

[Anonymous No.10899954]

>>10899609
Wife, ha ha , good one.
I don't drink that much more than I did before I got it. I used to bottle my brews and it was a major pain in the ass. With the kegs I can keg a batch in around 20 minutes where as bottles would take a few hours to do the same amount.

>>10899635
Yep, 3 X 5 gallon kegs.

[Anonymous No.10900017]

>>10898321

What was your first batch? Have you ever made a Berliner Weisse? Any books/online guides you would recommend?

[Anonymous No.10900057]

>>10897089
>>10897110
>>10897457
>>10897801
>>10898296
Thanks for all the information and suggestions

Yeah the blue is the 9% quadruple, the strongest Chimay. Though I do love all of the Chimays it’s definitely my favourite.

It’s tempting to want to dive straight in but yeah, you’re right, I’d probably just mess it up and should start with the easier styles

>>10899295
I’m jelly not gonna lie. Gibsmedat

[Anonymous No.10900127]

>>10900017
First batch? Traditional pale ale.
I’ve never made a wheat beer.
There is no book or online guide that will teach you so well as just brewing.

[Anonymous No.10900442]

>>10896155
Pick up John Palmer's How to Brew. It'll give you all the info you need to get started. Info from beer kits is often outdated or designed to be easy, but not necessarily right. Pretty sure you can read most of this book online too.

[Anonymous No.10900829]

>>10900057
>I’d probably just mess it up
It's hard to mess up beer so bad that it isn't still better than most commercial stuff. But high gravity beers are expensive to make, and take a long time to ferment and age, so you really want them to come out right. Also you can make 3 or 4 batches of lighter beers in the time it takes to make a quadrupel or barleywine, so you will gain experience faster by doing the lighter beers first, and ensure that $100 mashbill for your chimay blue clone produces 5 gals of something that closely resembles chimay blue.

[Anonymous No.10900930]

>>10897089
Dorée Goud is the best Chimay but I'm quite sure that one's not easy to make.

[Anonymous No.10901055]

>>10899295
What state are you living in, aus anon?

[Anonymous No.10901370]

>>10900829
Hmm why is it so much more expensive to produce one like that then?

[Anonymous No.10902763]

>>10901055
Queensland

[Anonymous No.10902795]

>>10896167
>4 pack
what fucking heresy is this it comes in 6 packs and tallboys

[Anonymous No.10902799]

>>10902763
Tassie here, I’ve never actually tried the home brand brewing kits. Any good?

[Anonymous No.10903006]

>>10902799
I'm from Tassie, used to live in Hobart.

I made the home brand kit as an experiment, all up it cost me $12 to fill a keg.
It tastes ok. It's a good base to work with if you want to add grains and hops.

[Anonymous No.10904103]

I’m not sure if this is the right place to ask this, but do any of you all know a place that can ship yeast in discreet packaging? (or at least one without a big brewing label on it) The only homebrew store in my area only has a handful of yeasts, and I want to make sure I can get what I need without other people wondering why I’m ordering a bunch of homebrew stuff

[Anonymous No.10904250]

>>10898689
Honestly, my preferred outlook to have when starting a new hobby is "fuck it". Once you don't care if things turn out okay, the more you'll get out of the process.

[Anonymous No.10904252]

>>10902795
Ive only ever seen it in 4 packs and single 750ml
(im in cali)

you must be in canada?

[Anonymous No.10904515]

To do Belgians decently you have to commit to doing all grain. The inexpensive way into this is Brew In A Bag. Look it up.

Also get yourself a copy of Brew Like A Monk, most beer writers do next to fuck all primary research, makes reading anything a bit of a minefield, this book and its author are seemingly rare exceptions.

[Anonymous No.10904522]

>>10904515
all grain or partial mash*

[Anonymous No.10904549]

>>10903006
I need to get back to Tassie. Did uni in Hobart. The big island sucks.

[Anonymous No.10905280]

>>10904515
no you don't - he isn't making a stout for chrissakes. For a chimay style beer, DME with partial grain mash is fine, the primary style characteristics come from the chimay yeast, the candy, the prolonged boil, and the minimal use of hops, and none of that needs the headache and equipment investment of all grain.

[Anonymous No.10905526]

>>10905280

[Anonymous No.10905564]

>>10896155
>general

[Anonymous No.10905602]

Not beer, but it’s picking time and I’m looking for good fruit+spirit ideas. Just picked a huge load each of raspberries, redcurrants, blackcurrants and sour cherries. Later to come is mulberries and blackberries.
Any good ideas for mixtures or bases that aren’t gin?

>pic related, last year’s redcurrant and cherry, sorry for crazy phonepost size

[Anonymous No.10905630]

>>10905602
make a melomel with them. I've made raspberry, sour cherry, and blackberry meads that were fantastic. melomels don't have the fermentation issues that straght meads have.

[Anonymous No.10906283]

Just started drinking 5 gallons of cream ale that I made on fathers day. Currently have 5 gallons of stout sitting in primary