Homebrew General

my dad bought me a kit for my 21st birthday. the time commitment isn't huge, typically takes maybe 6 hours on brew day, then you let it ferment for 2 weeks, then another 3 hours or so to bottle/package it. you can save a lot of time by buying more equipment but those times are for the minimum set-up.

I'd recommend guying a 5 gallon starter kit, they're around $100 brand new, and usually come with everything you but a brew kettle (8 gal aluminum pot. can find at smart and final, walmart, or a mexican market as a tamale steamer for ~$35)

amazon.com/DP-GFZY-7I2K-Homebrew-Gallon-Glass-Carboy/dp/B01467U8KY/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1494358970&sr=8-4&keywords=5 gallon homebrew kit

seems like a pretty solid one with free prime shipping.

the fruited sour recipe I posted is pretty much exactly what you are asking about as far as berliner weisse. ingredients are relatively cheap since its low abv and minimal hops.. and if you have acess to free or cheap fruit its even cheaper.

if you're starting from scratch i'd read the classic homebrewing books, some are a little outdated but the info for the most part is good. I'd honestly ignore the recepies since they have almost all been improved upon. how to brew by john palmer comes to mind.

homebrewtalk.com is also an awesome place to go for quick feedback, recipe ideas, and technique advice.

so you brewed 2 days ago and it is actively fermenting? should be fine as long as you are careful siphoning it out.

Does anyone have thoughts on what kind of beer I should brew for the gf? I figure something fruity would be nicer to drink than something like a coffee stout. For reference, she is mostly a wine drinker, but more out of passivity, so I thought it would be nice for her to try something else. Any styles or recipes I should look into?

Yeah, it's fermenting perfectly fine. I'm planning on transferring it to secondary after 7 days and letting it go for another 14 before bottling.

Have you ever experimented with amylase powder? I'm trying to get a very dry ~9% beer and not sure how to get past the residual sugar that would be left over using regular ale yeast. So i added 1/2 teaspoon to one of the half full bottles and hoping that it is noticeably dryer than the other one. If this doesn't work what would you recommenced I try next?

I would suggest you take her to a nice taphouse and try a few flights to see what she actually likes. It seems like an inefficient strategy to brew full batches of beers just to see if she likes one. Experment with what is out there on the market already then attempt a clone and adjust to her liking.

>Added yeast to the bottle
Are you trying to make champagne? Hope there isn't much sugar left, or the yeast isnt too strong, else it'll pop the cap.

That's a fair call, user. I don't know why I didn't think of that. Also an excuse for a date/activity to do. Thanks

blonde ales are pretty safe, but boring. if she likes light beer that might be a good route to go.

I'd recommend trying a belgian witbier. grain bill of half pilsner, half wheat malt, ferment warm (upper 70s to low 80s) with belgian yeast. french saison from whitelabs is a favorite of mine. you can skip the spices and simplify, I think they're unnecessary.

what's the purpose of transferring to a secondary? in my experience, it just adds oxygen exposure and risk of contamination with no real benefits.

I've never used amylase powder, no. what yeast are you using? adding a higher attenuating yeast can sometimes work, but not always. usually you're stuck with what you've got. can always try rousing, warming up, or adding more yeast/sugar.

I just started homebrewing maybe 4 days ago.

I already have 5 gallons of American pale ale and 5 gallons of amber ale fermenting, and I have ingredients for another brew waiting to go in the fridge.

I want to experiment with a high ABV, almost malt liquor brew next.

How else do you expect the beer to carbonate?

To clarify basically. I usually don't bother but considering I want a crisp and dry beer I want to look as clear possible, and i assume the clearer it physically is the more clear and crisp the flavor will be?

cool. good luck, sounds like you're really into it.

tips on high gravity beers:
oxygenate before you pitch the yeast very well. otherwise you will underattenuate. yeast nutrient isn't a bad idea.
overpitch your yeast. on a 5 gal batch, consider using 3x the regular pitch if the projected abv is at or over 10%
you'll need to use sugar or DME to get over 8% or so, so plan on that.

ahh gotcha. to get clear beer, usually you use a highly flocculating yeast and fine or filter. cold crashing for an extended period of time (at least a week at 35F) also helps a ton.

using gelatin and a solid cold crash will give you brilliant results.

Thanks for the advice.

I've got a pound of dextrose to add to the 7lbs of malt extract. I don't plan on getting the ABV too high, so I probably won't use a yeast nutrient, I'm just going to use some US-05 and hope for the best.

I currently have 20gal of cream ale inside the fermentation chamber.

For a dry beer that high in abv you need to make use of grains that produce easily fermentable sugars like rice or corn or use outright corn or cane sugar.

You can also mash at lower temps like 140F so most of the starches are converted into smaller chain sugars. Don't use champagne yeast as it only ferments fructose (simpler sugars) and will not ferment maltose.

If i use corn or rice sugars how will that impact the flavor profile of the beer? I'm specifically looking to clone rhinegeist knowledge.

Corn and cane refined sugars add nothing flavor-wise to the beer, they just make it more dry at the finish because those sugars are 100% fermentable. You can get up to 90% attenuation with the right yeast and corn/cane sugar for big beers.

If you substitute malted barley with corn or rice in the grainbill though, there might be some faint flavor contribution in there. Think rolling rock or corona.

How long does it take to get a room temperature 5 gallon keg down to serving temperature in the fridge?

I'd estimate 6ish hours or so from 75-42F. can be faster if you can lower the fridge temp to freezing for the first hour+

My roommate and I do homebrew, but every time bottling say comes around, there's a sizeable amount of sediment at the bottom of each barrel. What's the best way to get it out?

You can get another vessel and rack the beer into that to move it off the trub and then use finings and cold crash if you want clear beer.

I've never bothered, it's pretty easy to avoid the sediment at the bottom of the barrel, at worst you might end up with lots of sediment in one or two bottles at the end of bottling.

As far as I understand most people transfer the beer to a second bucket so they don't stir up a bunch of sludge off the bottom.