***OFFICIAL*** Footballguys homebrew thread (1 Viewer)

[moleculo]

So last Friday, I bought a new house that includes an unfinished basement. My plans are now to build a permanent brewery down there, roughly based on this: electricbrewery. It's gonna take a few years to put it all together, but should be really fun.

What is a rough cost for all the pieces for something like that?

multiple thousands the way he has his brewery configured. That's a very over-engineered, top of the line system he put together.

My system will end up being somewhere around a grand, plus plumbing/electrical.

 

[CletiusMaximus]

The last batch I brewed in early spring was meant to be a simple brown ale. I've been mostly doing very simple beers the past couple years to try to perfect my process - pale ales, smash beers and the like. After brew day I pulled up my recipe to enter the numbers and immediately realized that I had somehow mistakenly used way too much roasted barley. I think I had 10 oz and was supposed to have 2. The beer tasted horrible, but my neighbor told me to just put it away in the cellar until fall, which I did. I completely forgot about it until Saturday, when I was digging around in the beer cellar and decided to pull a bomber and put it in the fridge. Tried it last night and the roast has mellowed and its now a very good beer. Only thing is, I'm now calling it a porter, rather than a brown. A very dark and very roasty porter, but a good one imo. That's homebrewing!

 

[parasaurolophus]

Not sure if there is a more recent thread, but this is what came up in my search. Any FBG's still doing this? I have been having a blast with it. Been having to repitch a bit more than I would like, but I think that has a lot to do with the temp fluctuation in my basement. 

 

[Godsbrother]

I've been brewing for almost 30 years although I've been so busy I haven't had a chance to brew since February.   I am hoping to brew over the 4th of July weekend.

 

[CletiusMaximus]

 Been having to repitch a bit more than I would like, but I think that has a lot to do with the temp fluctuation in my basement. 

Have you tried a water tub? Its a pretty low-cost way to control temps, using an aquarium heater to bring it up a bit and frozen water bottles to bring it down. Adding oxygen also helps fermentation. I have a "wand" with the stone at the end that uses the small O2 canisters - kind of a pia but helps with bigger beers. 

 

[moleculo]

So last Friday, I bought a new house that includes an unfinished basement. My plans are now to build a permanent brewery down there, roughly based on this: electricbrewery. It's gonna take a few years to put it all together, but should be really fun.

update: I couldn't get my basement brewery plans approved (by my wife).  We finished the basement by adding a rec room, 2 bedrooms, and an office.  Adding plumbing for essentially another kitchen was gonna be quite expensive and we didn't feel that it  was worth it long term.

Instead, I had 240V run outside to my back porch - essentially a hot-tub outlet.  Into this outlet, I will plug in my electric rig and that's where I will be doing my brewing.

I'm in the process of building my rig right now - I spent all day yesterday wiring up the control box.  my plan is a 240V, 5500W electric BIAB keggle.  The entire rig will be on a simple stand that has everything built in.  I will be able to just wheel out the stand, plug it in, hook up the hose, and start brewing.  My goal is to be able to brew an all-grain in 3 or 4 hours (start to put away).

To document my build (and a myriad of other builds I have planned), I started a blog: makeitstout.com.  It's a work in progress (like everything else).  I don't have a whole lot there yet but it's still new.

 

[parasaurolophus]

Have you tried a water tub? Its a pretty low-cost way to control temps, using an aquarium heater to bring it up a bit and frozen water bottles to bring it down. Adding oxygen also helps fermentation. I have a "wand" with the stone at the end that uses the small O2 canisters - kind of a pia but helps with bigger beers. 

I have the wand too. I was hoping not to have to deal with the water tub, but I think I will have to. Never thought of the aquarium heater. Although it is really an aquarium cooler that I would need. When it was colder outside my basement was perfect. I have bucket heaters set to sensors so when the temp got lower they would kick on. As Ron would say, set it and forget it. Now that it is warmer I have two issues, the temperature and the humidity. The higher humidity is making my dehumidifier run almost full time which is causing warm exhaust which is adding heat. 

I wonder if I could use a tub and set up the wort chiller on an electronic sprinkler timer so when the temp got higher it would kick on and run hose water through. Then have the aquarium heater for if it got cooler.

 

[moleculo]

Not sure if there is a more recent thread, but this is what came up in my search. Any FBG's still doing this? I have been having a blast with it. Been having to repitch a bit more than I would like, but I think that has a lot to do with the temp fluctuation in my basement. 

what do you mean re-pitch?  Are you having problems with attenuation?

I can't imagine temp fluctuations in a basement causing that kind of issue.  I'd guess it's oxygen (like Cletus referred above), or possibly missing some nutrients in the water.

 

[moleculo]

I have the wand too. I was hoping not to have to deal with the water tub, but I think I will have to. Never thought of the aquarium heater. Although it is really an aquarium cooler that I would need. When it was colder outside my basement was perfect. I have bucket heaters set to sensors so when the temp got lower they would kick on. As Ron would say, set it and forget it. Now that it is warmer I have two issues, the temperature and the humidity. The higher humidity is making my dehumidifier run almost full time which is causing warm exhaust which is adding heat. 

I wonder if I could use a tub and set up the wort chiller on an electronic sprinkler timer so when the temp got higher it would kick on and run hose water through. Then have the aquarium heater for if it got cooler.

do you have room for a fridge?  That's what I'm using and couldn't be simpler.

 

[parasaurolophus]

what do you mean re-pitch?  Are you having problems with attenuation?

I can't imagine temp fluctuations in a basement causing that kind of issue.  I'd guess it's oxygen (like Cletus referred above), or possibly missing some nutrients in the water.

Yep. 3 of my last 10 batches have literally done almost nothing. Was not having any issues previously. Only change I can pinpoint is my basement is considerably warmer than it was the last 6 months on certain days. To give you an idea of swing, I did a black lager like 6 weeks ago and didnt have to touch the temp. Just sat with no issues right around 56 degrees. Beer turned out awesome. Two days ago my basement was 63. Yesterday my basement was 72 degrees. 

Edited to add: Repitched all three with a different yeast that was more temp tolerant and they all took off. 

 

[moleculo]

Yep. 3 of my last 10 batches have literally done almost nothing. Was not having any issues previously. Only change I can pinpoint is my basement is considerably warmer than it was the last 6 months on certain days. To give you an idea of swing, I did a black lager like 6 weeks ago and didnt have to touch the temp. Just sat with no issues right around 56 degrees. Beer turned out awesome. Two days ago my basement was 63. Yesterday my basement was 72 degrees. 

see, that's the thing though.  Yeast will work more when it's warm, not less.  Warmer yeast just cause more off flavors but attenuation would be higher.  Lager yeast at that temp is the basis of steam beer.

IMO there's something else going on.

 

[Godsbrother]

see, that's the thing though.  Yeast will work more when it's warm, not less.  Warmer yeast just cause more off flavors but attenuation would be higher.  Lager yeast at that temp is the basis of steam beer.

IMO there's something else going on.

Agreed.  Live yeast + fermentable sugars should result in a beer of some kind.    Is it possible you're pitching the yeast when the wort temp is too high?

 

[parasaurolophus]

Writing off the bad batches as bad yeast. Have had zero issues in the last several batches.

Currently have 4 finished batches hooked up in my upstairs keezer. Brown Ale, Milk Stout, Vanilla Bourbon Porter, and an Amber Ale. Have 3 IPA's, a stout, and a batch of cider going in the basement at various stages. 

Been enjoying steeping some of the debittered malts in with my tea and coffee. 

 

[ditka311]

Dialing this thread back up. 

Anybody here use their keg (serving keg) for secondary/dry hopping?

Been thinking about doing this and wanted to know if anybody else does this and anything to consider?

Sure, I can use the googles but that doesn't make conversation. 

 

[parasaurolophus]

Dialing this thread back up. 

Anybody here use their keg (serving keg) for secondary/dry hopping?

Been thinking about doing this and wanted to know if anybody else does this and anything to consider?

Sure, I can use the googles but that doesn't make conversation. 

Have one right now where i took a spoonful of citra in a mesh bag and threw it in there. No issues. I use a finer mesh bag so noting gets in the fittings/tubing.

 

[Jaysus]

Have one right now where i took a spoonful of citra in a mesh bag and threw it in there. No issues. I use a finer mesh bag so noting gets in the fittings/tubing.

 I do not do it often, but when I do, that is my method too.  I use a bit of fishing line to secure the bag to one of my pins so it does not clog the dip tube, or if I want to pull it before it gets grassy.

 

[parasaurolophus]

In an effort to make this as easy as possible I decided to buy and give this turkey fryer a whirl for mash and boil. After 4 batches I dont think I will go back. Maybe when I want to make a huge batch or something. I used two beach towels. One underneath and one on top during the mash. Just left the lid open for the boil. I was able to dial in the temp and keep it within two degrees at all times for mash. I put the grain into three mesh bags. I periodically stirred them. I just bought a submersible pump that I think I will be able circulate the wort easily going forward. I am not sure how durable the pump will be at around 150 degrees, but for 15 bucks, worth a shot. If it doesnt work, oh well, I will have to stir a bit. The bottom of the basin has a ball valve for easy drainage.  

It comes with a huge basket that you can lift up and actually prop to the side of the fryer and this gets the grain bags out of the wort. I let them drain for a while and then I twisted them until they formed a very tight grain ball. Then I took two plates and squished the grain bags together and squeezed out excess wort from the grain. I did not sparge. 

 

[heckmanm]

In an effort to make this as easy as possible I decided to buy and give this turkey fryer a whirl for mash and boil. After 4 batches I dont think I will go back. Maybe when I want to make a huge batch or something. I used two beach towels. One underneath and one on top during the mash. Just left the lid open for the boil. I was able to dial in the temp and keep it within two degrees at all times for mash. I put the grain into three mesh bags. I periodically stirred them. I just bought a submersible pump that I think I will be able circulate the wort easily going forward. I am not sure how durable the pump will be at around 150 degrees, but for 15 bucks, worth a shot. If it doesnt work, oh well, I will have to stir a bit. The bottom of the basin has a ball valve for easy drainage.  

It comes with a huge basket that you can lift up and actually prop to the side of the fryer and this gets the grain bags out of the wort. I let them drain for a while and then I twisted them until they formed a very tight grain ball. Then I took two plates and squished the grain bags together and squeezed out excess wort from the grain. I did not sparge. 

One of the guys in my club do "brew in a bag" and has produced some outstanding beers.

 

[parasaurolophus]

One of the guys in my club do "brew in a bag" and has produced some outstanding beers.

Been doing it for a while. It is not as efficient, but i really stopped caring about any of that a while ago. If i am going to spend hours doing something i dont care if i spend 4 dollars extra on grain. I actually started using paint strainer bags which are cheap at menards so i dont even bother cleaning the bags in the winter. I just toss them. When it is warm out i can hose them off. 

 

[heckmanm]

Yeah efficiency's a nice boasting point, but as long as it's predictable for your system, the $ is negligible on a homebrew scale.