Same ingredients as bread - devastatingly better results.
I'm thinking about going BIAB with an electrical set up of some sort, so I can do it in my kitchen. Ol Man Dick over here doesn't feel like sweating it out outside. Fortunately a lot of my 20 year old equipment is still functional and applicable (mainly my kegging gear).
Gear. Recipes. Technique. Whatcha got?
Edited to add: from here out Hexbear Homebrewers will be known as The HBHBs.
hell yeah, mead is the laziest fermentation and that's why I love it. For a while there I was using 1 gallon jugs just lined up on a shelf, with staggered starts. When you polish off the one at the front of the line, clean out the jug, move it to the end of the shelf, pour in the ingredients and put on an airlock.
I have some retired 6 gal carboys and all the mead talk in this thread had me thinking I'm going to make some on the side.
I used to brew mead, usually a plain mead in a 5 gallon carboy and a buncha fruity 1 gallon jugs. Just 2-4lb of honey per gallon, some good yeast, and some adjuncts (I like frozen juice cans) and it's good in a month or two. Usually don't even bottle it, just siphon it off into a clean jug.
Now I'm in a weird position though, because :im-vegan: pretty recently but still have most of a 60lb bucket of honey from before. I think I might just do one last big brew with it, or I might just donate it to the shelter. Either way I need to learn to make fruit wines or something because brewing is fun.
Yeah, fruit wines would let you reuse the gear for sure! Never done them myself. I stick purely in the beer/ cider realm.
Never personally did beer, always just made wine and mead. My favorite meads were ones with hot peppers in them. I'm weird.
I did a beer once. It came out awful. Probably a mistake to go all grain my first round though. I kinda want to try it again but I can't do a full 5 gallon batch anymore due to my current living arrangement and I'm not sure a two gallon batch would be worth it.
I occasionally brew extract. Been planning to move to all grain once I start a new job. I have a saison that is just finishing fermenting and will bottle in the next few days
How'd you spice the Saison? I do all grain nowadays but never really tackled the Belgian styles at all.
Some beers add spices, but most not. For most most Belgian beers, the peppercorn, cloves, etc. flavors come from the yeast, you ferment at a higher temp so that it does not ferment cleanly. For most spices you usually add the the spices in the boil after the grains are taken out. But depending on the volatility of the spice, you can add them later in the boil.
Thanks, explains a lot. I also pretty much am at the whims of the seasons. So I can't get the temp hot enough right now to ferment dirty.
I brew semi-regularly. I do I guess BIAB setup. I have slowly splurged way too much with a Grainfather and a Brewbucket. I love being able to brew where I want, though I still brew outside a lot.
Edit: Brewing a bit of a experimental porter and everything went wrong brew day wise so. We'll see
My SO made some really lovely Honey Mead for me as she is 30 years sober this next year. What a stand-up babe. Down to my last bottle though.
Her "cizer" mead has such a strong aroma of fruits it's incredible, but you taste it and it's super dry. Really remarkable experience.
Hell yes. I use a grainfather. All in one brewing systems are incredibly convenient.
There's a smoking deal for a clawhammer on Craigslist by me. Dude wants to unload it for just a few hundred. I'm thinking about pulling the trigger.
I went electric all in one a few years ago with an anvil grainfather, i like the option of using higher voltage and general ease. The only piece of equipment i use from my old keggle setup is a mashtun i made out of large rectangle cooler and custom sewn brewbag. The mashtun allows me the options of using it as a large hot liquor tank, or mashing high abv beers that wont fit in the anvil.
I havent brewed in about a year though, the love for brewing got sucked out of me while working in a 60bbl production facility owned by two shitty business men.
I'm in the same spot! I used to brew all the time but the building I moved into makes it harder for me to do it outside. I'm thinking about going BIAB on the stove.
Let me know if you come across anything useful!
My favorite beer to brew was scotch ale. I could never quite get hops for pales right. Would love to try lagering someday but that's probably going to have to wait until I have the space for a fermentation chamber.
I've been doing BIAB 1-1.5 gallon batches and it works great on the stovetop. It's also nice because with the smaller batch size you can experiment more.
Definitely excited to do some smaller batches. I'd like to get into saisons, so experimenting will be key.
I'm eyeballing a clawhammer 120v system. My buddy uses a Brewzilla and he makes some killer stuff all in a very small space. All BIAB systems apparently are very similar functionally. I hate buying anything new so I've been monitoring FB marketplace and Craigslist daily.
We'll see.
I'll make another thread if I pull the trigger.
Hell yeah, thanks! I'm definitely excited about the smaller batch size. I used to do 5 gallons, which was great, but if I made a clunker it was hard to get through it all haha.
I messaged the guy last night. Looks like we're going to strike a deal. Bit of a drive but the price is right and at least I'm not buying anything new.
I've been home brewing since 2019 and really kicked it up during the pandemic. I just made an original Newcastle clone for my dad for Christmas that I still need to bottle, which I'll probably do today. I'll brew any style of beer though, I've done Mango Saisons, Fruited Milkshake IPA's, Belgian Stout, Black IPA's, Belgian Whites, etc. Never done a sour because I don't really like them but I'm looking into doing a kettle sour.
I've been brewing for around 15 years now, and I used to work at a homebrew store. Sometime in the next few weeks we'll hopefully have a homebrewing segment on Fuck It We'll Do It Live with some advice on starting out for cheap.
I tell everyone to start with hard apple cider, then try an extract-based wine or beer kit, and move up to all-grain brewing and kegging if you really like beer and want to make more complex recipes.
