Any homebrewers?

[ncbluedot]

Been brewing for 7 years. Mostly extract with specialty grains. Been growing Cascade hops in the backyard for 5 years. I also make cider, meads and cysers (cider and honey together). In fact I racked a cider and cyser to secondary fermenters last night. Another 6 months of aging and the will be ready to bottle or keg.

Been looking at the electric all in ones myself (grainfather picobrew...etc). I've also been thinking about moving off my single stage press but both haven't happened.

[offensivename]

Been brewing for 7 years. Mostly extract with specialty grains. Been growing Cascade hops in the backyard for 5 years. I also make cider, meads and cysers (cider and honey together). In fact I racked a cider and cyser to secondary fermenters last night. Another 6 months of aging and the will be ready to bottle or keg.

Been looking at the electric all in ones myself (grainfather picobrew...etc). I've also been thinking about moving off my single stage press but both haven't happened.

I have a picobrew zymatic (it's broken but I have it) and I'm waiting for their new Z to get shipped so I can start using one again. I like their product a lot, it works great and makes good beer in a small self contained package. I'm a big fan of the 2.5 gallon size because it lets me play with new recipes and not get stuck with 5 gallons of meh beer. Right now all I have is my 10 gallon system which limits my ability to play around with new recipes, but it does make a lot of beer. Just made 10 gallons of porter yesterday while loading some 577/450.

[ncbluedot]

Visited a "micro brewery" (office space that poured growlers from a keggerator) that used a pico brew for same thing, making small batches to perfect his recipes. His beers were tasty enough.

[ncbluedot]

Purchased the Brewers Edge all in one. Did a Single Malt and Single Hop (SMaSH) beer with Pale Two Row and Citra. Turned out okay but cloudy. Swearing off bucket fermenters due to my last Cyser got a bug, $70 of product down the drain. Next purchase, stainless steel fermenter, more to come.

[offensivename]

Stainless is the way to go, easy to clean, doesn't break, fairly light, usually has handles if its carryable. I'll never go back to glass or plastic.

[ncbluedot]

Agree, had a 3 gallon carboy break in my pantry. First and last glass carboy I ever owed.

[Buck13]

Probably going to brew a batch of my "Children's Beer" tonight. It's all-grain with only 3.5 to 4 pounds of grain in a 5.5 gallon batch. Very low cal, low carb, low alcohol, but it actually tastes kinda like beer. The point of it is to have something that you can drink two or three pints of and not really be able to detect any effects (other than needing to pee). What would have been called "small beer" and consumed for breakfast as a healthier alternative to water before the availability of safe municipal water supplies.

I don't really give it to children! I just jokingly refer to it as such.

[ncbluedot]

The last craft brew house I visited (Natty Green) had a table beer on special. 4% at $4 a pint. I actually passed as it had chamomile in it (yuck). Still it was an interesting change if paste in this DIPA, NEIPA world we are currently living in.

[offensivename]

Did my yearly bottling for the national competition tonight. An english porter and an american lager, last year the same beers did OK but had some astringency, used a different brewing setup this year to see if I get different results.

[40Rounds]

Yup. I used to do about 60 gallons a year. About once a year I end up doing a big batch of session beer for some occasion, like 15 gallons of Cream Ale for a family reunion picnic or something. Mostly I do less, alternating batches of big beers in 2.5 gal kegs and small beers in 5 gal kegs.

I keep one of each on tap, and one of each on standby. When the taps kick, I plan a brew day. I have an RO water system and run a metal shelving unit configured into a gravity fed combination of electric hot tank, cooler mash tun, and propane keggle boiler. I have a couple Better Bottles, but still prefer my old glass carboys for ferments.

Currently on Tap:
Biere Des Fleurs - A Biere de Garde with only 4 hop IBUs of goldings, and additional bittering provided by lavender, heather, chamomile, rose hips, dried hibiscus, and coriander. 8% ABV
Good as Gold - A session strength Pale Bitter of Maris and Munich with 30 odd IBU of Liberty hops. Roughly 4.3% ABV

On Deck:
Throwin' Shade - Salted Caramel Russian Imperial Stout made with homemade dulce de leche and sea salt at knockout, 55 IBU of Magnums, and a 10-ish ABV.
Easy Like Sunday Morning - Traditional Dark Mild of Maris Otter, Dark Caramel, and Chocolate malt around 3.8% ABV (really high dough in temp to get that extra body on a low-grav beer)

Next in the brewing schedule:
Bretty White - Mixed ferment, single pitch (Bret Brevis and Belle Saison) in a traditional Witbier grainbill, and about 25 IBU of late boil Hallertau Mittelfrueh. 4.3% ABV
Donkle Punch - Golden Helles Bock 50/50 Pilsner and Munich (Decocted), 22 IBU Saaz and Hallertau, Swiss Lager Yeast and Dry American Lager yeast. 7.5% ABV

[40Rounds]

Probably going to brew a batch of my "Children's Beer" tonight.

I'm a big fan of always having a lower alcohol beer around for lawnmower and woodshop purposes.
My favorites are Dry Irish Stouts, Shilling Ales, Patersbiers, and a Lacto-wheat that we call Eine Kleine Sauer Brauer.

[ncbluedot]

I finally ordered an Anvil SS fermenter as I have been threatening to do since my last Cyser caught a bug in a plastic bucket back in January. Funny thing when pay pal processed the order the payment was sent to Blichmann Engineering. Soooo, I guess Anvil is Blichmanns home brew market label. Good to know!

Got all the ingredients to make a Kolsch on its maiden ferment. Will prolly order the cooling system once it arrives so I can appropriately cold crash before bottling.

[ncbluedot]

Brewed my KOVID Kolsch yesterday put it in the new fermenter and I hear it bubbling away.

[offensivename]

I'm up to 15 gallons of pandemic brewing. I have a 10 gallon batch of American Lager I hope is actually fermenting (should probably check its gravity), a 2.5 gallon batch of Porter that should be just about done and a 2.5 gallon Rye IPA going. Got the grain for another 2.5 gallon batch waiting on my fermenters to free up.

I finally ordered an Anvil SS fermenter as I have been threatening to do since my last Cyser caught a bug in a plastic bucket back in January. Funny thing when pay pal processed the order the payment was sent to Blichmann Engineering. Soooo, I guess Anvil is Blichmanns home brew market label. Good to know!

Yeah, I stopped with the plastic a long time ago (except the rare wine I make, I'll just buy a new bucket to do those). Stainless is all I have left. I think I remember seeing the Anvil fermenters at a homebrewcon a few years ago. They seem nice, still prefer my SSBrewtech stuff though.

[Hasaf]

I got a "Mr Beer at Christmas, however it hasn't been warm enough lately. I will probably get started on a batch in the next couple of weeks.

[ncbluedot]

Yeah, I stopped with the plastic a long time ago (except the rare wine I make, I'll just buy a new bucket to do those). Stainless is all I have left. I think I remember seeing the Anvil fermenters at a homebrewcon a few years ago. They seem nice, still prefer my SSBrewtech stuff though.

I went in on a SS Brewtech fermenter as a retirement gift (my suggestion) and it was awesome but it reminded me of the Mercedes Benz and BMWs you see in Europe, yes they are awesome small 4 cylinder hatchbacks, but they are still small 4 cylinder hatchbacks. For a 5 gallon SS fermenter, the Anvil was at a very good price point but definitely not a Brewtech.

This is my second all grain batch, after brewing for over 7 years (with DME and specialty grains), I'm a noob again.

[ncbluedot]

I got a "Mr Beer at Christmas, however it hasn't been warm enough lately. I will probably get started on a batch in the next couple of weeks.

Would love to hear how it turns out. I've heard of the "kit and kilo" (of sugar) they use to sell back in the day. Mr Beer sounds similar. During prohibition they use to sell bricks of raisins and a pack of dry yeast with instructions "do not mix yeast and raisins with two gallons of water or it will make alcohol".

Be careful, Mr Beer today all grain hop head tomorrow.