First Homebrewing Blog

Ok, so you need to know a little about me.  I have been enjoying GOOD beer since I converted to the craft brew scene in November 2009.  I had always thought that home brewing was not for me because I enjoyed beer, but didn't think that brewing was what I wanted to try my hand at.  I was always a musician, and as a musician, you get very creative inspiration in bursts.  Well, it seems that after my musical project disbanded, I started researching brewing beer.  Turns out, I actually like the thought of being able to put my  creative twists on ideas for beer.  So, I had gotten my first home brew kit for my 28th birthday.  It is a True Brew home brew equipment kit with a fermenter, bottling bucket, and all of the hoses and accessories needed to begin extract brewing.  I also received a True Brew Irish Stout extract kit with my birthday gift.  So, naturally, I was excited to try it and I brewed my first beer.  I thought the process was much easier than expected, it just took time.  I let my stout ferment in the primary for 1 week and then bottled it.  Upon bottling, I brewed an IPA, recipe and ingredients were from a local home brew store.  I wanted an IPA to be able to see some of the brewing differences between a stout and an IPA.  This recipe seemed a little more involved, but not too much.  I brewed this batch and bought a secondary glass carboy fermenter with the intent of using the IPA for an extra week or 2 in the secondary.  I tried the stout about 2 weeks after the bottling and was getting a very watery / metallic taste.  I was slightly disappointed, but was not expecting much from my first brew.  I tried another bottle, a week later, the day before bottling my IPA.  It was better than the first bottle for sure, but still not anything to write home about.  I then bottled my IPA which had sat in my primary for 1 week and my secondary for 2.  Bottled and waiting for 3 weeks before trial, my IPA was looking good.  I got 48 12oz bottles of the stout out of that batch and 45 12oz bottles of the IPA in that batch.  For the IPA I bought a few extra tools.  I got the aforementioned secondary glass carboy, a metal strainer which I used from the glass carboy to the bottling bucket to avoid getting any sediment in the bottled brew, and some awesome new bottle sanitizers that squirt the liquid into the upside down bottle.  I definitely have to say that this has become a great hobby and, already, I have begun the conversion to all grain.  I figured, why get good at extract brewing, when my long run goal is all grain anyway.  I began building a mash tun.  I bought a 48QT rectangular cooler, from a youtube video I saw, and all of the brass fittings and accessories needed to build.  Upon building, I realized that the video was wrong to use brass as brass could have lead in it and is not he best to use for brewing.  I also used a galvanized wire to fit in the dishwasher hose I am using for the mash tun.  I read that galvanized wire is not good.  So, I bought copper wire and copper fittings to replace the galvanized wire and brass fittings.  Wish I knew sooner as I already spent the money on the brass and galvanized equipment as instructed in the video.  Guess I was mostly PO'd at myself for not researching first and just trusting the video.  Anyway, I could not find a copper pipe tee that was threaded on all three sides at local hardware stores.  So, I looked online and found nothing in copper.  I then searched for stainless steel 1/2 inch copper tee that was threaded and found 1 that looked like it was what I needed, so I ordered it.  It should come in next week.  So, my all grain mash tun will consist of a 48QT rectangular Coleman Extreme 5 cooler, a stainless steel dishwasher hose with copper wire inserted into it to avoid grain crushing, a stainless steel threaded tee, and all brass pipe fittings, nipple, and ball valve.  This is my first step to all grain.  Now I will need a bigger brew pot than my current stainless 5 gallon (maybe 8 or 10 gallon is what I'll get).  Then I will need a wort chiller and finally a propane burner.  I will eventually get a grain miller, but to start I will buy pre-milled grain until I can afford the miller / crusher.  So, this is where I stand currently.  I will send more updates as I get further along and brew again.  Time to enjoy some good brews from some loved breweries.  Cheers.