Anyone else brew beer?

Fuzzy - How did you make the fully closed system. That is pretty awesome. Right now I brew 10 gal a week but we use open air converted kegs.

 

I just got starting in brewing. I'm still on the Mr. Beer kit. Once I get the hang of it I plan on making a step forward. I've made three batches so far. First one was not all that great but I'm still learning. I plan on getting some books on brewing for future reading.

 

Just ordered my fittings so as to convert a keg into a keggle. I have been helping a buddy do full grain brews for almost a year now and am getting the parts/pieces together to do my first extract brew in 2-3 months. Next will be the carboy and kegging equipment.

 

I'll preface with by admitting that i didn't read through this entire thread... if my questions already been answered tell me and i'll look back

for those of you who brew regularly, would it be particularly difficult to do in say an apartment? Being a college student (who is 21 so i'm not breaking the law... now ) i'd like to try it but don't have a ton of space

 

Don't waste your time with extract. And it's ALL grain, don't be an FNG.

 

He was a navy submarine engineer and a perfectionist; his beer wasn't a clone but tasted like Modello Negra. I wouldn't buy that brand at the store but it was a good beer. And he made lots of it. Usually 3 5 gal water cooler bottles at a time.

 

That's where I've made my last 3 batches and they all turned out great. I even have the disadvantage of being in Az heat, but where there's a will there's a way.

My last Ipa turned out amazing and have high hopes for the bourbon barrel porter. Ive got over a month into it and it still has 2 weeks before bottling.

Just need a closet and a big container for an ice bath to put the carboy/barrel in. Another trick I learned was to freeze bottles of water so you can reuse instead of buying ice. Its nothing fancy, but it gets the job done.

How to Brew is a great book that covers pretty much everything you'll need, that or homebrewtalk is a good forum

 

You are right - all grain. I'm going to do a couple of extract batches just because I don't feel like sitting around for a another couple of months waiting to get all the equipment together. I'd prefer to start using the pieces I do have and then go all grain once I get the final pieces in place.

I'm taking my time and getting the parts that everyone says they should have gotten the first time. My Chill-Out 40 plate wort cooler got here last week. Now I have to make a couple trips to the local store for the carboy, hoses/fittings, spoons, and other misc items. I'm a little behind schedule getting all my parts due to some bs that came up last month.

 

Back in the days when i lived in an apartment with my then fiance now wife, the bottom 2x2x3 space of the closet was for my brew. Having two 6-gal carboys i had a rotation going for almost a year. The minimum you need is just enough space to keep your must in the dark closet. The rest of equipment canbe anywhere else in the aprtment. As for a book, i went off of the Papazian book for years. even to this day after many books and forum subscriptions, i still refer back to the Papazian book.

 

I used the Chill-Out 40 Plate chiller today while brewing at my buddy's house. It worked great! He pointed to it and told his wife he wants one for his birthday, lol

I recommend it to anyone because of how much faster it is than the other methods and it saves a lot of space.

 

Here's the system I've been building:




I decided to automate my HLT and MLT temps so I added auto gas valves and wired up a control box:



Should be ready to brew in a couple weeks...

 

Looking good, I get HLT = Hot Liquor Tank, but MLT? Mash/Lauter Tun?

 

That is a good looking single tier. I need to get busy putting mime together.

 

Correct.

 

I have the Duda Diesel B3-23A 30 Plate Beer Wort Garden Hose Chiller

I went with the 30 because it's the 12in long model and the length actually has more to do with cooling efficiency than the number of plates.

 

Can't wait to use the new setup. Here is how I've been doing it:

 

I've read all the stuff; either way the chillers do the job with a lot less work than an immersion and a lot less water than a counter-flow.

 

Just found this and I'm glad I have somewhere to go to ask questions. I poured my first brew down the drain...I followed the instructions, my second batch is cidery...I followed the instructions again...the next batch I'll ignore the instructions....and use some different yeast and malt extract instead of Dextrose....maybe the third time's a charm?

 

Are you on any brew forums? There is a lot of good (and bad) info out there; but usually there are a lot of good "beginner" threads. That said; give us a run down on what you are doing.

 

By cidery do you mean sour? Any of them gushers or excessively carbonated?