Anyone here Homebrew?

Just curious. Here is my Brett IPA that I'm drinking as I brew an Am. Wheat:



Here is the Cascade bittering addition to the Am. Wheat:



Anyway, just curious as the NHC is about to take place. I'm entering a Rye Porter into the Specialty Category. Not expecting it to win, but interested in some feedback.

Who else has gotten into this extremely expensive, and obsessive hobby?

scaesare said:

Rye porter... nice! I really enjoy porters.. have about a third of a keg of my porter left.

I just kegged my Citra IPA yesterday. I have another week in the secondary fermenter for the oak bourbon stout before I can keg that.

Some pics of our last couple of brew sessions:

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Nice set of keggles there...I'm actually surprised that you have keggles, but your ferm control is a water bath. I use a chest freezer and Johnson Controls A419 as a ferm chamber. Not that there is anything wrong with what your doing...but it's just a lot easier than trying to control the temps in a water bath.

Currently on tap I have:

Brett IPA
Rye Porter
BA RIS

Aging a Rose Hip Tripel (5 months in)...which I plan on souring.

scaesare said:

Snip

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Ha, well thanks. It's actually the first time I've used Brett...though there is some doubt as to whether WLP-644 is actually Brett.

I can understand the space issue...I can only ferment 5 gallons at a time in the ferm chamber...and the wife still complains about the space it takes up.

I like you're portable set-up. I've considered putting something together...but I don't go anywhere It's growlers for when I do manage to venture outside.

jerjozwik said:

while I dont personally brew [or own a model s yet] I have started to grow hops for a homebrewer co-worker.
this photowwas taken at the end of last years establishing growth. this years vines have just started to break the surface.

I do age my own whiskey though!

his homebrew rig

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Aging your own whiskey counts, in the overall reach of "homebrewing." I also make cider, and wine.

I also grow hops...three of them will be in their 3rd year, and one in the 2nd, this coming summer.

My set-up:



What I got from my 2nd year Cascades last year:

jerjozwik said:

thats a pretty good haul, last year I only got a little over a half gallon bags worth. how tall are your posts, the look over 13 ft.

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I can't remember how tall I made them now...I want to say they are 12-13 ft. I designed it to give the hops about 18ft of growth...which still wasn't enough...as the Cascade went about 26ft last year. I believe I got just shy of 2 lbs wet, of the Cascade. The others varieties didn't produce anywhere near as much...but cutworms got my tettnanger plant the first year...so it was stunted.

rolosrevenge said:

I homebrew root beer. It is delicious. Though sometimes dangerous depending on how I try to carbonate it.

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The wife wants me to get into making soda, but I need a bigger kegerator as mine can only hold 3 kegs. My kids would probably appreciate it, as well.

jerjozwik said:

after the great success of my whiskey aging, i decided to age some huge arker in the barrel that had glenfiddich 15 in it for 6 months.

i am VERY pleased with the results. if anyone our there has had the privlidge of enjoying firestone parabola then they would know the ball park im hitting at. im no beer reviewer but it is damn good, similar booze / sipping quality of parabola but with a nice kick of spice from the glenfiddich.

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holy massive images, sorry.

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Nice. Are you not re carbing the beer? Also, how are you mitigating O2 exposure during the transfer to the keg?

jerjozwik said:

uh... hahah! welp this is why i dont homebrew! hard liqueur needs no such careful planing.
basically i dont know about any of that. i just transferred, after reading your post, all the "beer" into much smaller vessels and sucked out as much air as i could with those wine bottle vacuum doo-dads.

im bring the concoction to work today and tomorrow so it will pretty much all be gone in 24 hours.

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"Keg" should have been "Barrel"...

Anyway, well if you decide you enjoy aging beer in those barrels, you could purchase a simple Co2 system relatively cheaply. This could be used to both carbonate the beer, and flush out O2 from the barrel before transfer. Something to consider

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Curt said:

I started home brewing in 1982.

Almost 5 years ago, I moved up to becoming one of the owners of a tiny production brewery here in Rockville, MD, and this season we have started canning our beer. Fun times.

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Congrats on making a successful transition! I have two friends from HS that have each opened a brewery, and are doing quite well.

ThortsMD said:

Does wine count? I make about 50 gallons of wine from grapes from Eastern Wa and some from my Seattle yard each year. Who wants a taste?

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Sure. I also "brew" wine and cider.