I live in the city of Detroit, ride a motorcycle when weather permits. Compared to some, I am an avid jogger. Compared to others, I am not.
I am an extract/partial grain brewer. I brew four to six batches a year and I'm up to seventeen now. I take notes for every recipe. I enjoy short brew hours (not day). I use dry yeast but I don't hydrate it and I don't make starters. I follow the manufacturer's recommendations for the yeast strain and tweak them according to the recipe's style. One time I did use a smack-pack (that's as crazy as I get).
I only open the primary once: three weeks after brewing to verify FG. I do only use the plastic fermenter, with an airlock, and I’ve totally avoided ever needing a blow-off tube. Anyway, it's always three weeks no matter which style. I have hit my numbers, almost exactly, every time.
Much of this success I owe to the website here, so thank you.
I've only shanked one which, as you might logically expect, was the very first batch. I cut the muslin bag open mid-steep and stirred the grains around because they didn't seem to have enough room to steep. I somehow realized that this was a mistake, took who-knows-how-long to skim them out of the pot and into another muslin bag—a truly messy business. I know there are differing opinions, to a degree, about what I did next: I squeezed the grain bag until it was bone dry. But after everything I had done to ignore beer-making protocol, did it really matter? I recall putting many trays of ice cubes directly into the wort to cool it off (seemed like a solid idea at the time). Other than that, I kept checking the gravity, daily. I recall filling the carboy up to the neck with water, three or more times, because it kept bubbling over. I thought it was just a part of beer making. In retrospect, it was because I transferred to the carboy two days after the primary.
I think what follows is my most innovative error. I can’t believe I had almost forgotten! It had to do with my using the racking cane in a manner that defies logic. Instead of just starting a syphon with a gentle motion, I actually used the racking cane as a pump, literally. I had a good length of rubber hose attached from the proper end all the way to the bottom of the carboy. So far, so good. However, I stood over the primary and pumped the top piece up and down for the whole five gallons—“Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!” It took quite a while and it was a whole lot of aerating at the wrong time. I remember thinking, while I was pumping away, “This doesn’t seem like a very valuable tool, if you ask me. In fact, it’s rather tedious and tiring.”
In spite of all the abuse I inflicted, amazingly, that first batch was still drinkable, kind of like a Newcastle but without brewing two separate beers and combing them or whatever their method is. For the record, I was trying to make a Bass clone.
I was given a complete set of equipment by someone retiring from home brewing. This guy started back when it was first legal here. I was lukewarm to the idea but since I love cooking and literally all of the equipment fell into my lap, I said, "Sure, this is cooking. I like cooking. I'll give it a try." It turned out that I did (like it), though I think my relatives enjoy the benefits a bit more, which is just fine with me.
Well, that’s my origin story. I’ll keep reading and so forth but I don’t know that I’ll post much because everything I know is already answered.
By the way, cooking-wise, I do love a good Detroit style pizza (Buddy’s Pizza, Cloverleaf, Loui’s, Detroit Style Pizza Co.). I realize, most, if not all of you, will not be familiar with this but it is sooo good. IF it doesn't violate this website's protocol, I would happily discuss spreading the joy of this style (via recipes) to the UK (I hope that's a proper address but I'm not going to Google for etiquette's sake).
And, yes, Doctor Who rules! It's my wife's and my favorite show.
Thanks,
David
I am an extract/partial grain brewer. I brew four to six batches a year and I'm up to seventeen now. I take notes for every recipe. I enjoy short brew hours (not day). I use dry yeast but I don't hydrate it and I don't make starters. I follow the manufacturer's recommendations for the yeast strain and tweak them according to the recipe's style. One time I did use a smack-pack (that's as crazy as I get).
I only open the primary once: three weeks after brewing to verify FG. I do only use the plastic fermenter, with an airlock, and I’ve totally avoided ever needing a blow-off tube. Anyway, it's always three weeks no matter which style. I have hit my numbers, almost exactly, every time.
Much of this success I owe to the website here, so thank you.
I've only shanked one which, as you might logically expect, was the very first batch. I cut the muslin bag open mid-steep and stirred the grains around because they didn't seem to have enough room to steep. I somehow realized that this was a mistake, took who-knows-how-long to skim them out of the pot and into another muslin bag—a truly messy business. I know there are differing opinions, to a degree, about what I did next: I squeezed the grain bag until it was bone dry. But after everything I had done to ignore beer-making protocol, did it really matter? I recall putting many trays of ice cubes directly into the wort to cool it off (seemed like a solid idea at the time). Other than that, I kept checking the gravity, daily. I recall filling the carboy up to the neck with water, three or more times, because it kept bubbling over. I thought it was just a part of beer making. In retrospect, it was because I transferred to the carboy two days after the primary.
I think what follows is my most innovative error. I can’t believe I had almost forgotten! It had to do with my using the racking cane in a manner that defies logic. Instead of just starting a syphon with a gentle motion, I actually used the racking cane as a pump, literally. I had a good length of rubber hose attached from the proper end all the way to the bottom of the carboy. So far, so good. However, I stood over the primary and pumped the top piece up and down for the whole five gallons—“Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!” It took quite a while and it was a whole lot of aerating at the wrong time. I remember thinking, while I was pumping away, “This doesn’t seem like a very valuable tool, if you ask me. In fact, it’s rather tedious and tiring.”
In spite of all the abuse I inflicted, amazingly, that first batch was still drinkable, kind of like a Newcastle but without brewing two separate beers and combing them or whatever their method is. For the record, I was trying to make a Bass clone.
I was given a complete set of equipment by someone retiring from home brewing. This guy started back when it was first legal here. I was lukewarm to the idea but since I love cooking and literally all of the equipment fell into my lap, I said, "Sure, this is cooking. I like cooking. I'll give it a try." It turned out that I did (like it), though I think my relatives enjoy the benefits a bit more, which is just fine with me.
Well, that’s my origin story. I’ll keep reading and so forth but I don’t know that I’ll post much because everything I know is already answered.
By the way, cooking-wise, I do love a good Detroit style pizza (Buddy’s Pizza, Cloverleaf, Loui’s, Detroit Style Pizza Co.). I realize, most, if not all of you, will not be familiar with this but it is sooo good. IF it doesn't violate this website's protocol, I would happily discuss spreading the joy of this style (via recipes) to the UK (I hope that's a proper address but I'm not going to Google for etiquette's sake).
And, yes, Doctor Who rules! It's my wife's and my favorite show.
Thanks,
David
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