Home Beer - oops

[Slugger926]

I started a brew of Red Ale in the fermenter before Christmas and forgot about it.

I decided to start some brew for vacation and the summer last night, and realized I forgot about the Ale. It smelled okay, so I bottled most of it anyways.

Anyone think it will still be okay?

I will find out sometime next week, unless the bottles don't carbonate.

 

[GCracker]

It might be real bitter. Letting the brew sit on the trub too long will produce some strange flavors.

Other than that, I would think it would be ok.

 

[RIP - VTEnviro]

As long as there are no obvious signs of contamination, I'd say bottle it and go for it. The character of beer will change over time, but it will still be drinkable. I would imagine it will have a mellower, drier taste, with higher alkeyhol content.

 

[Wolverine]

That's awesome - an experiment in brewing that doesn't involve me getting covered with yeast sludge or cleaning up shards of glass. I'm very interested to hear how it turns out. May need a lot of time in the bottle would be my guess.

 

[Slugger926]

That's awesome - an experiment in brewing that doesn't involve me getting covered with yeast sludge or cleaning up shards of glass. I'm very interested to hear how it turns out. May need a lot of time in the bottle would be my guess.

I bottled it in PET bottles, and squeezed out all of the air before sealing. The bottles have pressurised, and are clearing now. I will probably throw one in the fridge in a day or two.

 

[Slugger926]

Turned out AWESOME!!! Debating on opening a second quart.

 

[RIP - VTEnviro]

The mrs. is stuck in the lab all day today, and we did all the chores and errands yesterday, so I was primed up to make a batch of Belgian honey ale today. I was gonna bottle my last batch while this one mashed and boiled.

Sadly I got to the brewshop and they are in the process of renovating and relocating the brew section. They are ultimately expanding, but everything was packed up at this point.

 

[mizzoueng]

I was going to brew up a wheat this weekend but the in-laws came down on brewday (Sunday) and I wasn't able to do anything.

I have two recipes, the wheat and a Bell's Two Hearted IPA Clone, which I have almost all the ingredients for. I did order 2 pounds of Tradtion pellet hops Thursday, so I will hopefully be getting them at the house today or tomorrow. Get 'em for real cheap, 5 bucks a pound! Last thing I need for the clone is yeast, but hoepfully my buddy at the local brewery will let me come pull off a growler of yeast from one of theie IPA fermenters.

I did get to bottle my Saison Friday, 49 - 12 ounce bottles and one 32 ouncer. Now I just have to wait 2 weeks to 4 months to get it to taste right.

 

[FLBuff PE]

bump

I brewed a Java Stout on Saturday...real dark ale, that you brew coffee and add to the wert when you move to the secondary. Should be pretty good. What do most of the brewers here prefer, liquid or dry yeast? Why? I've tried both, don't really have a preference. :beerchug:

 

[Dleg]

An engineer I work with (fed on loan) is a serious home brewer - maybe 4-6 batches per month - and he told me that he usually just uses the dry yeast, although he was pretty excited about the liquid stuff that I got in my package that I brewed at his place last year. He said he didn't feel there was any difference that 99.99999999999% of the population (including him) would notice.

I tasted one of his Java Stouts last year - that was some good stuff!

 

[RIP - VTEnviro]

I used the dry stuff a lot of times. It gives the same generic fermentation feel every time.

Get the yeast that is meant for the style of beer you are making. Get it fresh and cold and refrigerate it until its time to culture it. I've found the yeast makes the biggest difference out of any ingredient involved with the brew.

Just my 2 cents.

 

[wilheldp_PE]

I just bought a kit from my local homebrew shop, and plan on cooking up my first batch this Saturday (in celebration of not studying). I got a Brewer's Best English Ale kit. I plan on making a few of those before I start brewing all-grain recipes.

 

[RIP - VTEnviro]

^ My opinion is that those Brewer's Best kits don't do the trick. They sit for so long on the shelf that the ingredients get stale. Plus they don't really give you enough malt extract to get any flavor out of the beer.

If you want to make tasty extract beer and have a brewshop nearby: Get the ingredients fresh. Get leaf hops (not pellets) and yeast that are refrigerated. Use yeast specific for the beer you are making, not the generic packet. Get a little bit of specialty malt to steep before adding the extract. It gives color and flavor to it. Don't go skimpy on the extract. You may need 9 or 10 lbs to do the trick.

It will take an extra 20 minutes to collect all the ingredients at the shop and cost $10 or $15 more but the results will be far superior.

If you have to order a kit, try one from Midwest Supplies or Austin Homebrew or Northern Brewer. They do the work of selecting ingredients for you and the goods are fresh.

 

[kevo_55]

^^ I actually walked into Northern Brewer the other weekend. I've been past there many times but never gone in.

It is top notch, but it better be. It's on Grand Ave in St. Paul!!!

 

[ktulu]

I remember back when I first joined EB, there was some serious home brewing threads. They seem to have been buried. I always enjoyed reading them.

If a novice wanted to jump into the home brewing game, how much would it cost?? ballpark figure is cool.

 

[kevo_55]

Others might want to chime in but Northern Brewer has a kit as cheap as $74.

http://www.northernbrewer.com/starterkits.html

Ingrediant kits cost something like $25.

http://www.northernbrewer.com/beer-kits.html

:beerchug:

 

[RIP - VTEnviro]

You can get a decent equipment kit for extract brewing for less than $100, assuming you already have a large enough stockpot to boil your wort in.

 

[wilheldp_PE]

I remember back when I first joined EB, there was some serious home brewing threads. They seem to have been buried. I always enjoyed reading them.
If a novice wanted to jump into the home brewing game, how much would it cost?? ballpark figure is cool.

I paid about $200 for a two-stage kit (plastic fermenter and glass carboy for bottling) along with all of the required tools (thermometer, hydrometer, siphon, hand capper, etc.). It came with a Brewer's Best kit, which is why that is what I'm starting with. I may do my next batch from liquid and dry extracts, then work my way from there to all-grain.

 

[cement]

Java Stout

I might have to start drinking again.

 

[FLBuff PE]

I use Midwest Supplies out of the Twin Cities. Mashing intimidates me. I don't have any homebrew friends around me, and I don't want to try it on my own the first time. I really like Midwest's kits (combination of extract and grains.) I have them cursh the grains for me. I use galss carboys only, so when I go to the second stage, I will be tranfering from one carboy to the other. That will happen this weekend at some point. Cement, the alcohol content of my brew is usually around 3.2 (a recurring problem I have); not very strong at all. I don't want to be the one that pushes you back into the drinking, but if you want one, when you come to my side of the hill, I can make it happen.