riscit.info » Home Brewing

New Widget

riscphree — Sat, 12 Jun 2010 18:10:36 +0000

I added a small side widget to show what beers are currently in production and the status of the brewing efforts. So much beer!

New Brew: Coffee Stout

riscphree — Thu, 29 Apr 2010 17:21:28 +0000

The new riscbeer is almost done, it is a coffee stout. I’m bottling it on National Homebrew Day which is this Saturday. Here are some pics of the stout:

New Wort Chiller

riscphree — Sat, 03 Apr 2010 13:13:41 +0000

One problem I had with the first homebrew was chilling the wort (what the beer is called before you add the yeast), and to fix that problem you buy a wort chiller.

So I did, pretty cheap actually, only about $45.

The idea behind it is, cold water comes in, chills the beer, and the warmer water exists. Just a basic radiator setup. It’s designed to chill the wort in 10-15 minutes. Brewing a hefe weizen beer today, so we’ll see if it really does cool it in 10-15 mins. Last time it took us a good 30 minutes to get the wort below 80 degrees F.

Homebrew Success!

riscphree — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 21:35:54 +0000

Just a quick update to the homebrew beer project: it was a success!

I cracked one open after a week and it tastes very delicious.

I won’t be brewing anymore until after I get back from Atlanta/Las Vegas trip in March. Gives me a little bit of time to see what I want to brew next.

Time To Bottle!

riscphree — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 01:13:39 +0000

It’s now February 5th and time to check the beer again. If I get the same hydrometer reading as last time, it means it’s done fermenting and it’s time to bottle it. Let’s find out.

And it is. So now we bottle the 5 gallons tomorrow!

February 6: It took me quite a while to bottle all my 5 gallons of beer, and it gave me a tired back from sitting on the floor doing it. But here’s my results:

52 bottles of homebrew beer!

They have to sit in the dark and carbonate for 2-4 weeks. I’ll be trying one at two weeks and see how they are.

Homebrewing Continued

riscphree — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 22:13:32 +0000

It’s been 10 days since I’ve started the beer in the fermenter, so I decided to take a hydrometer reading. The purpose at this stage of the brewing process is to determine if fermentation has stopped. If it has, then you can proceed to prime the beer an bottle it for another two to three weeks. Primary fermenting is normally between two to three weeks as well, and at the end when it’s done fermenting (or you think it is) take two readings twp to three days apart to make sure it is done. If it isn’t done fermenting, there’s a good chance you’ll have some bottles of beer explode. The beer shouldn’t be bottled until the hydrometer reads below 1.006 or, again, your bottles might burst.

I started this beer with a starting gravity of 1.080 which has a potential alcohol yield of 10.8%.

Here is my hydrometer reading now: (clicking the pic enlarges it)

This reads 1.006. It’s only been fermenting for 10 days, so I think I’ll give it a few more days to see if it’ll get below 1.006 to be on the safe side. Then bottling time!

Edit: I forgot to mention, with the current reading, the estimated alcohol content is about 10.4%

Homebrewing

riscphree — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 20:43:16 +0000

I finally got around to brewing my own beer. I picked up a kit last week and got around to making it this past weekend. Here are some pics.

Steeping the grains

Pouring the hops in

Primary fermenting

It has to sit in the primary fermenter for about 2-3 weeks, at which point I then bottle the beer and allow it to carbonate/ferment for another 2-3 weeks. Then we drink it!

The beer I am making is a Trappist type beer, if you’re unsure what that here, here is a wikipedia link: Trappist beer

Edit: Here’s a pic of all the equipment I received to begin with and ingredients, before brewing.

Here is a pic of all the bottles I bought. It takes about 55 12oz bottles for 5 gallons of beer. I ordered theee cases of 24 bottles (which is a total of 72 bottles).