I've actually been home brewing since April of last year and have not looked back since. It is one of the most rewarding hobbies that I have ever undertaken and I must say I have become quite obsessed (in a good way). I have made about ten or so batches so far and have learned a lot of do's and don'ts. I've graduated from a five gallon pot in the kitchen to a ten gallon pot using an outside propane burner.
This allows me to boil a full five gallon batch (about 6.5 gallons of water) without the need for adding additional water at the end of the boil. I've also started making yeast starters which helps to expand and strengthen the population of yeast cells before adding it to the main fermentation vessel.
This is a half gallon growler with a rubber stopper and an air lock to keep bacteria out! The beer that I used this one for is an IPA that will probably come out in the area of nine or ten % alcohol, which is why the starter is so important. If you under pitch your yeast, meaning not adding enough healthy cells, your beer won't properly or fully ferment the way it was meant to thus not tasting the way it was designed.
The IPA I made (which I brewed on March 12th) is known as 115th Dream Hopbursted Imperial IPA... that's a mouth full! It was a kit beer meaning that all the ingredients and directions came together in one neat little package. It used a pound of hops and fourteen pounds of fermentable sugars! Total time till you take your first sip is about two months or more, but well worth the wait. The kit was purchased from Northern Brewer, here's the link: http://www.northernbrewer.com/brewing/recipe-kits/extract-kits/extract-ale-kits/115th-dream-hopbursted-ipa-extract-kit.html
I set my ingredients and utensils out ahead of time for a nice smooth brewing session. Those copper coils you see there is known as a wort chiller and helps to cool the wort at the end of the boil. You basically hook a hose up to one or both ends which allows cool water to circulate in the brew kettle dropping the temperature quickly to the desired yeast pitching temp.
Watching the boil is important. You don't want any boil overs which will result in the loss of sweet wort (unfermented beer) and possibly hops. Hops are added at the beginning of the boil for bitterness, and at various times throughout the boil to add additional bitterness, flavor and aroma. If you look closely at the picture you'll see the melted thermometer face attached to the pot, left side above the ball valve. This burner gets amazingly hot, i've lost another thermometer and some valve covers to it's mighty flames.
After the boil is done, about an hour later, I transfer the wort to a six gallon glass carboy, pour in the yeast and attach an airlock. I usually use a similar airlock to the one in the yeast starter shot but I thought there might be a lot of activity during fermentation so I rigged up a blow off tube. The wort will ferment into beer for about a week or two then be transfered to a secondary fermenter to clarify and age for about a month. Yummy!
I am planning another brew this Saturday March 19th which will be a Honey Hefeweizen (wheat beer) of my own recipe. Similar process with a different but just as tasty result! Please let me know if you have any questions or comments about this beer or the brewing process. Thanks for reading.
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