One other question about your beginner's kit - wouldn't I need at least a 2 gallon fermenter to get 22 beers?
d'oh! You are correct. about 10.6 from a 1 gallon. that's my bad, even my first batches I made 2 gallons! heh.
The beginners kit has a 2 gallon bucket for headspace, but a 1 gallon fermenter.
The first batch we did together last year was a Bells two hearted clone, and to be honest, it turned out fantastic. I've tasted some of his others and they are hit and miss. The hoppy beers are usually pretty good. Last Saturday we bottled our second batch - a Green Flash Hop Head Red clone. We shoot for 10 gallons but have only ended up with about 8 each time. Not sure why we can't hit the volume correct - may be a flaw in our technique, or a leak somewhere during the cooling stage. On this last beer, he said the activity in the carboy stopped after only 4 days, so what's the use in fermenting any longer? I didn't have an answer for him.
As far as sediment, the first batch didn't have much, but this second one is bad already. After just two days in the bottle, every bottle has 1/2 to an inch of sediment. Yeah, I agree, time to get started on my own. Thing is I don't want to mess with small batches and I don't want to do extract. Wife is not going to go for $500-1000 plus in all grain equipment to do it right, so I think my best bet is to find a new partner - one who is more in line with my OCD personality. And to start accumulating quality equipment one piece at a time.
Airlock activity is never a proper sign of what's going on in your fermenters. For you two to be doing all-grain, it seems he didn't do much research on fermentation. . .odd. And yes, AG equipment can add up VERY quickly. >_<* and yeah, if you won't budge on extract, or smaller batches it looks like you'll have to find a new brew buddy who already has all the equipment and your same mindset, though it seems that would be more difficult than even building your own equipment. Good luck though!
If you're going to be leaving your beers in primary and skipping secondary (which truly is optional with most beers) I HIGHLY suggest leaving them in primary for 21 days before bottling. You will absolutely end up with a better product! RDWHAHB--
I have 5 gallons in the primary, bubbling away. Last year's batch is almost all gone.
I'm going to start 5 more gallons in the spring.
Excellent! Traditional, I'm assuming? Do you go drier or sweeter? I tend to run middle of the road with 15 pounds in a 5 gallon. Just racked it into secondary tonight, actually. Planning on making another 5 gallons very soon, can never have too much mead on hand. How long do you usually let yours sit before sampling? The longer the better, but I seriously have trouble letting them sit for TOO long. hahaa. but congrats on makin' mead! As close to the nectar of the gods as we can get!
Excellent! Traditional, I'm assuming? Do you go drier or sweeter? I tend to run middle of the road with 15 pounds in a 5 gallon. Just racked it into secondary tonight, actually. Planning on making another 5 gallons very soon, can never have too much mead on hand. How long do you usually let yours sit before sampling? The longer the better, but I seriously have trouble letting them sit for TOO long. hahaa. but congrats on makin' mead! As close to the nectar of the gods as we can get!
I let the last batch sit for a year before drinking. 6 months in the primary, then racked to a secondary and topped off with water and honey.
I have a cabinet where I keep the carboy. If I can't see it, I don't have to fight the urge to crack it open and DRINK THE SWEET, SWEET NECTAR OF THE GODS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
those couple of people talking about getting into the hobby for $40 and using 1 gallon fermenters.. honestly, it's close the same amount of work to just do a standard 5 gal. batch. 1 gal gets you 10 beers, those could be gone in a weekend. (Hell, maybe gone in one night if it's a good one!)
spend the $100 at defalcos, get a 5 gal starter kit. that kit comes with your first two extract batches.
Quote:
Originally Posted by dnett
Thanks much. I will definitely try them out for hops. Are they cheaper on yeast too? I assume due to shipping that it's still better to get grain from DeFalcos.
yeast is $7.99 about everywhere in the US. I re-pitched for the first time my last batch, worked great. most vigorous fermentation i've ever had. As for grain, the farmhouse place loses their good price in the shipping. defalco's is high, but no shipping.
austinhomebrew however has free shipping on $100 or more. so buy a bag or two of bulk grains and you can really save.
only been brewing for about 6 months but have started losing confidence as nothing has really turned out the way i wanted it to. I've done 5 batches now, and just about all of them have tasted way too yeasty and not matter how consistent I try to stay with my priming/carbonating stage, the beer either turns out nearly flat, or waaaayyy too carbonated!
I'll try again soon, but any advice would help...what are ya'll doing for filtering the yeast out?
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