The Bar Towel

Posted: **Sat Aug 20, 2011 4:23 pm**

It may sound silly, but you see, I really like gardening, I really like fresh local food, so I think I want to make a pumpkin ale with an extract, and with steeping grains, but with good fresh pumpkins (I may have to wait a couple weeks) and good fresh whole spices from the spice house in Kensington.

I figured if I use an extract with some steeping (I just read about it in How to Brew) I can hopefully make it really nice with some quality ingredients. Plus, I loves me some pumpkin ale. Also - there's a cool "heritage aspect" of fruit and veg beers. I have to believe that people brewed with things like pumpkins and berries, not just for flavour but as a way to preserve the harvest...anyway, blah blah blah.

Still lots of questions:

-Two fermenters? One fermenter? And why do I have a choice?

-Carboy vs bucket? Do I need both? 'cause my feeling is "bucket" with small kids around...

-Do I want something with a spigot?

-I still don't know what a racking cane is for

-I still have no concrete idea of what gravity is, and the small range of number and many decimals is kind of confusing?

-Can I prime in the fermenter? In the bottles? Do I want another bucket for priming (I don't think I quite get the sequence of bottling yet)

-Will my wife put up with this ? (She already puts up with "Veal Stock Weekends", canning days (tomorrow!), various meats and vegetables curing around the house, that I often smell like maple smoke after a day of ribs or pulled pork.

-Am I ready to brew with all these questions still?

Don't feel obligated to answer - just thinking out loud, plus I think I'll find the answers pretty soon...

Posted: **Sat Aug 20, 2011 7:19 pm**

JeffPorter wrote:It may sound silly, but you see, I really like gardening, I really like fresh local food, so I think I want to make a pumpkin ale with an extract, and with steeping grains, but with good fresh pumpkins (I may have to wait a couple weeks) and good fresh whole spices from the spice house in Kensington.

I figured if I use an extract with some steeping (I just read about it in How to Brew) I can hopefully make it really nice with some quality ingredients. Plus, I loves me some pumpkin ale. Also - there's a cool "heritage aspect" of fruit and veg beers. I have to believe that people brewed with things like pumpkins and berries, not just for flavour but as a way to preserve the harvest...anyway, blah blah blah.

Still lots of questions:

-Two fermenters? One fermenter? And why do I have a choice? 1 fermenter is fine, if yo pitch healthy yeast there is no need to secondary your beer. (unless you plan on adding pumpkin to fermenter after primary fermentation is complete)

-Carboy vs bucket? Do I need both? 'cause my feeling is "bucket" with small kids around... carboys are superior imo since they are less oxygen permeable but there is a safety factor involved like you've indicated.

-Do I want something with a spigot? not that necessary, spigots are hard to clean and sanitize. an auto-siphon with clip does the job just fine.

-I still don't know what a racking cane is for. transferring beer/wort from one container to another. primary fermeter to bottling bucket, kettle to carboy, bottling bucket to keg...

-I still have no concrete idea of what gravity is, and the small range of number and many decimals is kind of confusing? gravity is just that, gravity. if you take a hydrometer (gravity measuring device) and put it in distilled water you will find it has a gravity of 0. when you add sugar to water (grain or extract mixed with water = wort) the viscosity or gravity of the liquid increases. don't worry about the numbers, water will have a gravity of 1.000 but if you took 6kg of grain and mashed it with a couple gallons of water your gravity would increase to a complete guess of 1.055. when it comes time to ferment you will see this number start to go back down towards 1.000 because the sugar is being metabolized and turned into alcohol and CO2.

-Can I prime in the fermenter? In the bottles? Do I want another bucket for priming (I don't think I quite get the sequence of bottling yet) prime in a second vessel, what i used to do when i bottled was mix some priming sugar in water, bring to boil to sanitize and cool down to room temp. put new sugar liquid in the bottom of a second sanitized vessel and then rack beer into said vessel. gently stir to mix the sugar into the beer and then bottle.

-Will my wife put up with this ? (She already puts up with "Veal Stock Weekends", canning days (tomorrow!), various meats and vegetables curing around the house, that I often smell like maple smoke after a day of ribs or pulled pork. lol, this would assume women are reasonable. jk

-Am I ready to brew with all these questions still? maybe not but what's the worst that could happen? I would say that taking on a pumpkin beer to start might be a bit much, you may want to start off brewing a good base beer.

Don't feel obligated to answer - just thinking out loud, plus I think I'll find the answers pretty soon...

answered to the best of my ability in the quote.

Posted: **Sat Aug 20, 2011 7:26 pm**

Thanks for the feedback...I think you're right about taking on too much first time out...I'll practice for a year then maybe try a pumpkin next year...Maybe just a plain brown, porter, or pale extract to see how it goes...

Posted: **Sat Aug 20, 2011 10:31 pm**

As an unexperienced home brewer I thought I would add my 2 cents. Perhaps we can relate more because of my lack of experience.

JeffPorter wrote:
Still lots of questions:

-Two fermenters? One fermenter? And why do I have a choice?

One fermenter should be fine for the first (at least) few brews. Just don't leave it in the fermenter too long. I think the book your reading recommends bottling after two weeks which should be sufficient.

-Carboy vs bucket? Do I need both? 'cause my feeling is "bucket" with small kids around...

Carboy's are more fun too use as you can actually watch the beer ferment. But they can be difficult to clean. I used a bucket for my first batch.

-Do I want something with a spigot?

I'd definitely recommend getting two buckets, one for fermenting and a second for bottling. The second could have a spigot to make bottling easier.

-I still don't know what a racking cane is for

Correct me if I'm wrong BTers but I believe its simply the piece of tubing that you use to move the beer to a secondary fermenter or bottling bucket. All (or most) equipment kits will come with one.

-I still have no concrete idea of what gravity is, and the small range of number and many decimals is kind of confusing?

Honestly, before my first batch I kind of had an idea of what gravity was but I really didnt understand it. The book your reading has a good section of gravity.

-Can I prime in the fermenter? In the bottles? Do I want another bucket for priming (I don't think I quite get the sequence of bottling yet)

Fermenter - yes, but you may run the risk of exposing the beer to oxygen (oxidization) when your mixing in the the priming solution.
Bottles - yes, but to me this seems like a pain in the ass as you have to add a little bit of priming solution to each bottle and since no one is perfect you run the risk of some bottles being more carbonated than others.

I recommend (as above) using a bottling bucket for priming. It will (should) mix the priming solution with the beer more effectively without disturbing the beer too much.

-Will my wife put up with this ? (She already puts up with "Veal Stock Weekends", canning days (tomorrow!), various meats and vegetables curing around the house, that I often smell like maple smoke after a day of ribs or pulled pork.

lol, I have the same problem with my roomates. Im not sure there going to tolerate the malt smell in the house after the boil. but aw well eh.

-Am I ready to brew with all these questions still?

IMO your fine, I'd recommend your first batch be extract instead of the partial (steeping). But its up to you. For my first batch I followed that Cincinati Pale Ale recipe in the book your reading, I just added more hops.

Also, this was a helpful resource for me on my first batch.

Posted: **Sun Aug 21, 2011 7:00 am**

Again, thank - yes, I think I'm just going to keep it simple with the extract.

If I use just extract, does it matter about the style I chose...Just getting a little bored with PAs right now and wouldn't mind doing something a little darker.

Posted: **Sun Aug 21, 2011 10:53 pm**

A few more opinions on some of these points.

I always primary ferment in a bucket. I use a 6gal bucket for the extra head space and aim for 5.25-5.5 gal of wort in it. This has two advantages for me. 1. there will be some trub (gunk in layman's terms) and dead yeast on the bottom. When I rack (transfer) to secondary I can leave this behind ans still have about 5 gal of beer. 2. Buckets are much easier to clean and primary fermenting is the messiest. For secondary I use a 5 gal carboy. Lees airspace to oxidize the beer and easier to judge clarity when done. When you get more advanced, you may also appreciate the ease of harvesting your yeast from a bucket. but we can get to that later.

A racking cane is just a rigid tube on the end of a siphon hose. It makes it easier to siphon from one vessel to another. Generally you want to siphon because you want to transfer your beer with minimal agitation so as not to introduce oxygen and not to stir up the gunk mentioned above. You are transferring or 'racking' to move your beer off the gunk for secondary fermenting/conditioning or into bottles at the end of brewing.

Priming is adding sugar to feed the remaining yeast when you go to bottle. This give the yeast something to turn into carbon dioxide to carbonate your beer. Priming is done at the end of brewing and during the bottling stage. You can buy priming tabs (pre-proportioned sugar pills) to add to each bottle before filling or you can add sugar, usually dextrose (corn sugar) boiled in water and cooled to a bucket with your beer. From the bucket you would fill the bottles.

Finally, the wife will put up with it once she tastes your beer. Mine has no problem with me brewing as long as I do it often enough. Getting her to clean my equipment is another story.

Posted: **Sun Aug 21, 2011 11:00 pm**

JeffPorter wrote:
If I use just extract, does it matter about the style I chose...Just getting a little bored with PAs right now and wouldn't mind doing something a little darker.

Extracts are available in lots of variations, so you won't be limited by style, but you might not be able to really fine tune your recipe.

At this point I suggest not trying to brew a lager since making a good one will take the right (non-summer) temperatures and longer aging, which will make you wait seemingly forever to get some gratification.

I would also suggest holding off on a wheat beer until you get some experience with yeasts under your belt. Wheats are almost defined by the yeast.

In short, pick something you like and go for it. It's highly unlikely you will find away to cause any serious harm!

The Bar Towel

I've think decided on my first beer...

I've think decided on my first beer...

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Re: I've think decided on my first beer...