Hi All,
I'm thinking about trying my hand at homebrewing and I've got some questions for those of you who've got some experience:
1. Equipment/Ingredients. Is there a good source in the Hamilton area? If not, what's the closest?
2. Batch size. Most of what I've read so far talks about 5 gallon batches. Does anyone have any experience brewing smaller batches? I'd like to be able to experiment quite a bit and I don't want to have to drastically increase my consumption levels to do so. (I mean, I very rarely buy a whole case of *anything* so the prospect of having 50 or so bottles of the same homebrew to finish before I can try another batch is pretty intimidating.)
3. Suggestions for a recipe. I think I'd like to start with some kind of extract + specialty grain recipe. Likely a stout (I've heard they're harder to mess up for beginners?)? Any other ideas?
4. Temperature. Am I crazy to think about doing this in the summer? The basement where I plan to do the fermenting is pretty cool, but it's sometimes humid down there. Anything I should watch out for?
Cheers,
Josh
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First Homebrew Questions
HI,
I have been brewing for almost a year. Don't pretend to be an expert (yet) but I'll help as best I can.
1 - Better Bitters is a great store in Burlington ( betterbitters.ca). You can purchase pretty much everything you need there for a range of styles. They have a great recipe book that breaks down what you require for what style of beer (and many to choose from).
2 - 5 gallon is pretty much standard. Anything less woudl require some re-calculating of recipes
3 - Pale Ale is probably the simplest. Avoid Lagers unless you have cold storage as they require lower temps for proper fermentation. Again, Better Bitters has a wide variety to choose from.
4 - See above. You want a cool, dark area where it can be free of any and all light, germs and animals!
Cheers,
J
I have been brewing for almost a year. Don't pretend to be an expert (yet) but I'll help as best I can.
1 - Better Bitters is a great store in Burlington ( betterbitters.ca). You can purchase pretty much everything you need there for a range of styles. They have a great recipe book that breaks down what you require for what style of beer (and many to choose from).
2 - 5 gallon is pretty much standard. Anything less woudl require some re-calculating of recipes
3 - Pale Ale is probably the simplest. Avoid Lagers unless you have cold storage as they require lower temps for proper fermentation. Again, Better Bitters has a wide variety to choose from.
4 - See above. You want a cool, dark area where it can be free of any and all light, germs and animals!
Cheers,
J
I have done various smaller batches. I use the HBD recipator a lot. I have a couple of my recipes posted at www.geocities.com/jercraigs/ if you want to check them out. Some were much more succesful than others.
Tips from my experience:
- Unless your a major hop head, underhop your first brew a bit. Just to see what happens.
- do NOT add hops to an already hopped extract. (if you don't know, ask)
- do not be afraid to jump straight to "steeping" grains, its dirt simple. I wish I had done it. My first beer would have been better.
Tips from my experience:
- Unless your a major hop head, underhop your first brew a bit. Just to see what happens.
- do NOT add hops to an already hopped extract. (if you don't know, ask)
- do not be afraid to jump straight to "steeping" grains, its dirt simple. I wish I had done it. My first beer would have been better.
My friends and I have been homebrewing for a while now (me much less-so than the others) and we have a wonderful site which might help you out.
Take a look at www.biergotter.org and let me know what you think!
Rob.
Take a look at www.biergotter.org and let me know what you think!
Rob.
If you can't find anything locally, I have to give a link to paddock wood, they have heaps of stuff, and if you really want something easy, their extract kits are top-notch. I'd recommend any of the bitters or stouts/porters for a first timers, the black beers are especially good as they can hide hazes better than lighter beers. My first homebrewing mistakes included using cheap grocery-store kits and not being careful with sanitation. It's worth the extra couple dollars to get a good kit to start out with... once you get familiar with your brewing process, you can start tinkering with recipes.
If you move on to lagers you could always build something like this bad boy, it's basically a cooler that you can set to any temperature, provided you change the ice. When your cellar is humid, keep an eye out for mold on things, but other than that, my cellar has proved fine and it gets kind of damp sometimes. I'm not sure it's cool enough for lagers in the summer, so I plan on using a fermentation chiller if I get into lagers.
I just finished my first all-grain batch on monday, and I was surprised at how simple and cheap it was to get started... mind you, I had most of the equipment from my winemaking. If you buy anything, try and keep in mind that you might one day be doing all-grain, so if you buy a pot, try and buy one that holds more than 30 litres.
But, I'm no expert, so take everything I say with a grain of salt
If you move on to lagers you could always build something like this bad boy, it's basically a cooler that you can set to any temperature, provided you change the ice. When your cellar is humid, keep an eye out for mold on things, but other than that, my cellar has proved fine and it gets kind of damp sometimes. I'm not sure it's cool enough for lagers in the summer, so I plan on using a fermentation chiller if I get into lagers.
I just finished my first all-grain batch on monday, and I was surprised at how simple and cheap it was to get started... mind you, I had most of the equipment from my winemaking. If you buy anything, try and keep in mind that you might one day be doing all-grain, so if you buy a pot, try and buy one that holds more than 30 litres.
But, I'm no expert, so take everything I say with a grain of salt
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inertiaboy
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Pretty slick and very useful. Wish you guys were around when I used to live in Waterloo.Zithal wrote:Take a look at www.biergotter.org and let me know what you think!