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First brew in about 4 years


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#1 Beejus McReejus

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Posted 04 May 2017 - 08:08 AM

Sweet Jeebers, I hope I remember how to do this.  It's gonna be a ghetto gravity brew as I disassembled/trashed my old wooden brew rig when we converted our garage to a family room.  I'll go with a batch sparge so I don't have to worry about an additional tier (no pump in my setup currently).  I also don't have a kegerator anymore, but I really don't want to bottle so I'm going to have to figure something out there.  I may just keg these and do a slow force carb and keep them at cellar temp.  Then put the keg on ice and share with some friends, and probably also bottle some from there.  Might have to get a dorm fridge and make a new small kegerator at some point.

 

The comeback brew will be my Skidmark Brown Ale, which is a lower ABV, English style brown.  I haven't made that beer in probably 10 years, and I'll tweak the recipe a bit compared to how I did it back then.

 

Wish me luck, I'm sure I'll be on here with some questions!  :cheers:



#2 neddles

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Posted 04 May 2017 - 08:15 AM

Fire away with the questions

 

post up a recipe

 

git u sum



#3 Beejus McReejus

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Posted 04 May 2017 - 08:32 AM

I think the biggest thing will be remembering the specifics of the process.  Like knowing with my mash tun, exactly what the strike water temp should be to hit my mash temp.  I'll push through, and worst case it will still be beer.   :)

 

I'll post the recipe once I figure out what hops I'm using.  But the gist of it is MO base malt, Munich, C-60/Chocolate/Special-B for color, and going with a dry yeast (Safale 04).  I don't have anything on hand to make a start, so I'm going in dry!

 

ETA:  I used a gift card my dad bought me to Northern Brewer for Christmas '12 for the grain/yeast.  I was a little surprised they still honored it.   :)


Edited by BJ Jazzy Jones, 04 May 2017 - 08:33 AM.


#4 Bklmt2000

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Posted 04 May 2017 - 08:33 AM

Welcome back to the fold, homie.



#5 realbeerguy

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Posted 04 May 2017 - 08:48 AM

:cheers:



#6 HVB

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Posted 04 May 2017 - 09:35 AM

You will go blind!



#7 Beejus McReejus

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Posted 04 May 2017 - 09:50 AM

You will go blind!

 

Another hobby I have already took care of that.  :D  



#8 Big Nake

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Posted 04 May 2017 - 11:08 AM

Good to see some people coming back to brewing after a break. I get it. Marriage, kids, work, etc. and homebrewing is typically way, way down on the list of priorities. Glad to see you back BJ... good luck with the first batch back. Quite a few things have changed and been debunked in the last few years so ask Qs if you have them.

#9 djinkc

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Posted 04 May 2017 - 11:10 AM

It'll be fun!



#10 ChicagoWaterGuy

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Posted 04 May 2017 - 11:53 AM

Good luck :cheers:



#11 Beejus McReejus

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Posted 04 May 2017 - 01:14 PM

Thanks guys!

 

Good to see some people coming back to brewing after a break. I get it. Marriage, kids, work, etc. and homebrewing is typically way, way down on the list of priorities. Glad to see you back BJ... good luck with the first batch back. Quite a few things have changed and been debunked in the last few years so ask Qs if you have them.

 

Yeah, kids really made it hard to find the free time to devote to a brew day.  I think my daughter was about 1.5 years old when I last brewed.  Now we have a 3 year old boy and another one on the way.  Getting rid of our garage really made it difficult as I don't have much room to store equipment easily.  I think my son will be pretty intrigued by the process, so it will be cool to have him help me stir the mash and add hops and whatnot.

 

I'm excited to see how things have changed too.  Since I haven't been brewing I haven't really looked at the beer forum either, so I'm way out of the loop on new techniques, processes, equipment, fads, etc.



#12 Area Man

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Posted 04 May 2017 - 08:05 PM

What kind of mash tun? I use a 10gal orange Igloo. I heat strike water to 18 degrees above my mash temp, and typically hit it dead on. If I overshoot, I add a few ice cubes at a time until it's right on.

 

Calibrate your thermometer(s) before you start. ;)



#13 Big Nake

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Posted 05 May 2017 - 06:02 AM

Thanks guys!
 
 
Yeah, kids really made it hard to find the free time to devote to a brew day.  I think my daughter was about 1.5 years old when I last brewed.  Now we have a 3 year old boy and another one on the way.  Getting rid of our garage really made it difficult as I don't have much room to store equipment easily.  I think my son will be pretty intrigued by the process, so it will be cool to have him help me stir the mash and add hops and whatnot.
 
I'm excited to see how things have changed too.  Since I haven't been brewing I haven't really looked at the beer forum either, so I'm way out of the loop on new techniques, processes, equipment, fads, etc.

When my kids were younger life was a blur. Weekdays were crazy and weekends were even crazier. I had to brew at 4am or so on weekdays. Brewdays would go until 8am or so and then I would take the kids to school and start working. It's much easier now with my kids 17, 19, 21.

I think the biggest changes that I can think of are some of the Brulosophy "exbeeriments" where Marshall challenged a lot of long-held homebrewing theories and boogeymen and determined that they were nonsense. I hope that the rest of the beer forum guys will help me remember some of these but Marshall did some nutty things that flew in the face of commonly-held no-no's and ended up making great beer. The bottom line: Many things we learned early on are just wrong... having solid grain in your wort when you boil, stainless v. aluminum, mash consistency, mash temp (in some cases), clarity, the best ways to hop to get that huge character, etc. Click HERE and go to XBMTS. Cheers BJ.

#14 Beejus McReejus

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Posted 05 May 2017 - 06:34 AM

Click HERE and go to XBMTS. Cheers BJ.

 

Wow, very cool stuff!  Thanks for the heads up on this.  I really have to stick around the beer forum, even if I'm not brewing.  :)



#15 HVB

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Posted 05 May 2017 - 06:57 AM


I'm excited to see how things have changed too.  Since I haven't been brewing I haven't really looked at the beer forum either, so I'm way out of the loop on new techniques, processes, equipment, fads, etc.

 

Cut your boil times down, 30 minutes is a good idea :)

Water water water

Hop additions in Hop Forward beers have changed from the old methods .. at least in my opinion...

 

ETA: you can even go no-boil!


Edited by drez77, 05 May 2017 - 06:59 AM.


#16 Beejus McReejus

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Posted 05 May 2017 - 07:02 AM

Cut your boil times down, 30 minutes is a good idea :)

Water water water

Hop additions in Hop Forward beers have changed from the old methods .. at least in my opinion...

 

ETA: you can even go no-boil!

 

I don't know if any of this is a joke or actual advice.  lol

 

Frealz, are people doing 30 min boils now?  How does that work with hop additions for bitterness/aroma?



#17 Big Nake

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Posted 05 May 2017 - 07:07 AM

Wow, very cool stuff!  Thanks for the heads up on this.  I really have to stick around the beer forum, even if I'm not brewing.   :)

There is a lot of stuff to keep up on. I'm in here everyday and not only are there procedural things that change constantly but there is also an endless list of new hops, grains and yeast strains to try too. Things are moving quickly, no question.

I'll also say this: I visit any number of brewing forums including AHA but this is my main board for a reason. There is a very good, very tight group of good brewers here. We have BJCP judges here. Martin Brungard (water guru) visits this board and comments on things. We have hopheads, Belgian-heads, lagerheads, etc. in here. We have electric brewers here with high-end setups and we have ghetto brewers here too. We have people who are very knowledgeable about equipment, draft setups, fridges, gravity dispensing and just about anything else you can think of. Rich (Schwanz) brews 1-barrel batches (31 gallons, right?), we have award-winning brewers and people who swap beer with each other so they know that the rest of the forum makes great beer. There is no BS in here and there are very few newbie or newbie questions although when there are newer people who have questions, they end up being snuggled righteously by the people in here (I mean that in the most innocent way possible). Any questions that come up are almost always answered properly here.

I don't know if any of this is a joke or actual advice.  lol
 
Frealz, are people doing 30 min boils now?  How does that work with hop additions for bitterness/aroma?

It's real. You just adjust your bittering. If a 60-minute boil with an ounce of hops gives you 30 IBUs, you just determine how big of an addition it will take to get to 30 IBUs in 30 minutes instead. Drez has also done a NO-BOIL batch. :o

#18 Beejus McReejus

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Posted 05 May 2017 - 07:12 AM

When I joined the greenboard many moons ago, I got the same feeling with the level of expertise and also the welcoming attitude from everyone.  I know a lot of folks migrated over here from the greenboard, but I'm sure there are a ton of new faces (that I don't see in the PH).  I'm glad it's still so active and accommodating.

 

:cheers: to you guys for keeping it awesome here!



#19 Bklmt2000

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Posted 05 May 2017 - 07:13 AM

This is the best group of brewers I've dealt with in my years of brewing.

 

Good diverse cross-section of experience as Brother Ken pointed out; we look out for one another.

 

I can't recall ever posting something and getting replies that were anything but helpful and sincere.



#20 Big Nake

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Posted 05 May 2017 - 07:17 AM

I can't recall ever posting something and getting replies that were anything but helpful and sincere.

Agreed. While everyone has their certain area, I feel like all of the areas are covered and where things intersect (process-wise, equipment-wise), the brewers here are as experienced, knowledgeable and helpful as anywhere else I've been. If you need to do something that you're not sure about, someone here has probably already been there.


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