Delayed Double Post.

For hops I'd go w/ the classic Centennial or Cascade. We use a lot of Falconer's Flight and get nice grapefruit notes from it as well, but you can always check this link out too for other ideas:

https://www.hopunion.com/aroma-wheel/?aroma=Citrus

As for malt, I'd say either your favorite basic domestic 2-Row or Maris Otter if you want a little more malt backbone.

Other than that, I've always had really, really good results "dry-hopping" w/ citrus zests. It's a technique that isn't used nearly enough IMO but produces fantastic (and obviously authentic) aromas.

Oops and totally forgot about Citra! Always a winner.

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I've always had really, really good results "dry-hopping" w/ citrus zests. It's a technique that isn't used nearly enough IMO but produces fantastic (and obviously authentic) aromas.

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I haven't heard of that. That sounds like a great idea.

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Other than that, I've always had really, really good results "dry-hopping" w/ citrus zests. It's a technique that isn't used nearly enough IMO but produces fantastic (and obviously authentic) aromas.

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Hmmm, I'm going to have to try that with my next IPA. Was thinking about a SMASH with Amarillo down the line.

The one down side is that the oils are pretty volatile and will fade fairly quickly. Just means you need to drink it faster though, so not a huge problem.

jock - any guidelines/recommendations on how much zest to use in a 5-gal batch? Sounds like a great idea, may try on my next IPA or saison.

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The one down side is that the oils are pretty volatile and will fade fairly quickly. Just means you need to drink it faster though, so not a huge problem.

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Yeah, I don't see the problem here!

Another successful brew day in the books. I'm starting to get pretty good at the BIAB process, maybe I'll stick with it after all. Might just need a new bag soon.

Pitched at around 6:00pm Saturday night, and yesterday morning it was already going strong. Glad I used the blowoff tube, that's for sure! Trying to keep it as close to 68 as possible.

I forgot to come back and post about brewing the Gose. It went pretty well. I decided to hedge my bets and use both acidulated malt and lactic acid since my wife is big on sours. I ended up using maybe 2 tablespoons right before pitching. I didn't measure pH, but keeping an eye on it through fermentation, that was just right. I carbonated it on the high side, and it is damn fine with spicy food if I do say so myself. This is definitely getting brewed again this summer, maybe even a 10gal batch to make sure we always have some on hand.

With the holidays coming up, I likely won't get to brew until the new year so I'm brainstorming my next recipe. In light of a few of this board's recommendations, I'm thinking some kind of Red/Rye IPA. I figure something that will look good in a glass for Valentine's Day.

Sour Peach and Black IPA were both big hits with the holiday family crowd.

Good to hear. I've got 3 kegs ready to go for NYE (hefe, RIS, DIPA), we'll see how it goes!

Possible chest freezer buy on craigslist. working with the guy to check it out in the next couple of days. 12 cu ft, so can be either fermentation chamber or the base for a keezer build.

You guys that use chest freezers for fermentation chambers, how do you raise the temps if you need to (in winter, or for warmer fermentation)?

I have heard of reptile coil but I just use a heat lamp plugged into my stc1000.

Think about putting a PC fan in the chamber to move air around and dont place the heat lamp too close to the lid. It will melt the plastic.

I have a paint can with a 60w bulb mounted inside that generates a fair amount of heat. Works great with the STC-1000 temp controller.

Yeah, I have heard of the light bulb in a paint can deal, wasn't sure how well it worked. I've got an STC-1000 already, just need to get the freezer then do all the wiring.

It's worked fine for fermentation in the 60s and low 70s. Haven't tested higher temps for a saison. Might need another can for that during the winter.

For fermentation, do you measure the temps of liquid or just the air temp?

I'm planning on taping it to the side of the carboy and them putting some kind of insulation over it, so it's at least close to measuring the actual fermentation temp, since that can vary from the air temp.

I am thinking of switching over to all grain brewing. Just wondering what most of your guys setups are for this. Also where do you find the best deals for your equipment. Tia

I'm still working on building out my all grain setup. Craigslist is great for deals if you are patient.

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For fermentation, do you measure the temps of liquid or just the air temp?

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I'm using air temp. I wrapped some bubble wrap around the sensor to minimize the swings of the freezer compressor and the paintcan light.

Here's a shot of my dual fermentor system. STC-1000s control the temps. Picked up the freezers at Lowe's.

I do the BIAB method for all grain, which is basically a full-volume mash (no sparge) in one pot. I got my mash tun/brew kettle on amazon. 16 gallon Bayou Classic with ball valve. It was around $160 if I remember right. It works great for me so far.

Craigslist also works, as Sooner Born mentioned, as there are always folks getting out of the hobby and selling their stuff.

Got my chest freezer this weekend, now just need to get the STC-1000 all setup and wired.

I built a simple 10 gallon mashtun similar to this one, and it works great! The only downside is you will need to replace the stainless steel braid every once in a while since it can get dinged up if you don't stir the mash carefully.

I did my first all grain in a converted 10 gallon cooler I got off craiglist and the fittings from bargainfittings.com. It held temp amazingly.

I brew in a keggle I made. Keg from CL and fittings from bargainfittings.com

Ferment in a freezer from CL with an STC 1000 from amazon

Keg in kegs from homebrewing.org. Periodically they have sales on loose handle kegs. In the 7 I own, only one acctually had a loose handle. And it works fine.

Keezer made from a CL freezer, STC from amazon, fittings from kegconnecton.com and left over wood and insulation. The CO2 tank was also from CL.

In Houston right now there are a few people on CL selling whole set ups for way cheaper than you can piece mill it together.

Good Luck

So I'm needing a bit of a advice as a brand new home brewer. Just did my first batch from a kit I got for Christmas. It was a 1 gallon all grain American ale. Here is the recipe http://www.saltcitybrewsupply.com/diy1g/instructions/Amber_Ale_Instructions.pdf

I followed the directions as best as I could as a rookie but know I made some errors and need tips on how bad they actually were.

Started doing my mash in the 2.5 gallon pot i planned to boil in but the temperature got away from me and rose above the target 150. Probably got to about 165-167 at max before I got it to drop back down to the target 150.

Finished the mash and sparged. Boiled to schedule but apparently the volumes in the recipe weren't enough because I finished with around 2/3-3/4 of a gallon. My OG ended up being around 1.08 (rather than the 1.051 spec in the recipe). Not realizing at the time that I could dilute at that point I went ahead and cooled the wort to 74, pitched my yeast, and put it in the 2 gallon bucket with the airlock in place.

At this point it has been fermenting for almost 4 days and primary seems to be wrapping up. ( or stalling?) so my main question is at this point with such a small volume should I a) rack it to my 1 gallon glass Carboy and try really hard to not contaminate and maybe try to purge the headspace with a co2 cartridge b) leave it in the bucket for another 2-3 weeks, bottle and hope for the best or c) I ruined it in my crappy first brew day so throw it out and start over so I don't waste a month waiting for an undrinkable product?

Thanks for any advice for this rookie brewer

First off, welcome to brewing! If you end up sticking with it, you'll be hard pressed to find a more rewarding hobby.

Congrats on starting out with a high quality kit! Whoever gave that to you either is a brewer them self or did some research. I'm reasonably experienced (going on 7 years brewing) and wouldn't hesitate to make a scaled-up version of that recipe for myself. US-05 is my workhorse yeast, as it's reliable, easy to store, and neutral enough to work in a variety of styles. Assuming you started with decent water, you should end up with good/great beer from this kit!

Ok, so your mash got a little hot. Judging by your OG reading, you had plenty of sugar in your finished wort, so this did not negatively affect starch conversion. However, you may have extracted some additional tannins from your grains at those higher temps, depending on the length of time those grains sat at elevated temps. These increased tannins will result in higher astringency/dryness/bitterness in your finished beer, but you didn't overshoot the mash temp by TOO much, so I'd expect this change to be barely noticeable.

Your final volume was lower than expected, resulting in a heavier wort. Water loss from grain bed absorption and evaporation is difficult to forecast, and depends largely on your equipment and technique. This is especially true for small kits. Most home brewers learn to adjust water volumes from experience with their own equipment, so use this first brew as a learning experience and plan to use more water next time.

Moving forward, I would personally leave the beer in primary for another week or so, until I was sure fermentation is complete. US-05 typically takes less than a week in my experience. The day before you plan to bottle, move the fermenter to the location you plan to rack from and don't touch it until bottling. This will allow any sediment you kicked up from moving the fermenter to settle. Use about 1/3 less carbonation sugar when bottling to prevent overcarbonation (you have about 1/3 less volume to carbonate). After bottling, try to resist the temptation to sample your beer before it has time to carbonate. In general, the longer it sits in the bottle, the better it will be. I would wait at least 3-4 weeks before opening the first one.

In short, your beer will be fine. Heavier and possibly dryer than expected, but these errors could result in a tastier beer than what you'd get if you had a perfect brew day!

Great, I'm glad to hear I likely didn't completely ruin my first go at it. Because i really enjoyed it. Thanks for all the feedback, it's very helpful. And just to make sure I didn't misunderstand, you would recommend leaving it in the bucket all the way till its ready to bottle and not worry about racking to the Carboy for secondary?

Also, my wife's favorite beer is coors light, anyone have a recipe for something relatively simple to make that would have a somewhat similar flavor profile if perhaps fuller? Because I feel like if I can brew something she like it may help my case for really getting into this hobby

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And just to make sure I didn't misunderstand, you would recommend leaving it in the bucket all the way till its ready to bottle and not worry about racking to the Carboy for secondary?

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Yes. Secondary fermentation is not really needed for the majority of ales, and in this case you'd lose even more of your final volume to racking losses. Racking to secondary really only helps to cut down the trub that winds up in your bottles, since the secondary fermenter is one more place for trub to end up. If you don't disturb the primary fermenter prior to bottling and you're gentle when siphoning the beer out, you'll be fine.

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First off, welcome to brewing! If you end up sticking with it, you'll be hard pressed to find a more rewarding expensive hobby.

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Secondary fermentation is not really needed for the majority of ales, and in this case you'd lose even more of your final volume to racking losses.

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Yep, and even more importantly is the substantial O2 pickup which is essentially impossible to avoid on 95%+ of homebrew setups.

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Also, my wife's favorite beer is coors light, anyone have a recipe for something relatively simple to make that would have a somewhat similar flavor profile if perhaps fuller?

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Most people find it hard to believe, but light lagers are some of the hardest beers to make from a technical standpoint because there isn't much for off-flavors to hide behind. Your best bet would be something like this IMO:

http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f62/cream-three-crops-cream-ale-66503/

Very light but tasty recipe.

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First off, welcome to brewing! If you end up sticking with it, you'll be hard pressed to find a more rewarding expensive hobby.

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Truer words have never been spoken.

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Most people find it hard to believe, but light lagers are some of the hardest beers to make from a technical standpoint because there isn't much for off-flavors to hide behind.

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Agreed. As much as we craft beer lovers like to rail on the big guys, Their consistency and scale of brewing those lighter lagers is mightily impressive.

Others have already covered your questions, so I'll just give you another welcome to the hobby addiction!

Thanks y'all, I'm excited to get into this hobby, because guns and woodworking weren't consuming enough of my time and money...

one last getting started question for y'all. With the consensus that transferring to a secondary fermentor is more risk than its usually worth, would you recommend doing all my fermenting in the 1 gallon glass carboy or the 2 gallon bucket or is there really any difference/benefit to one over the other outside of volume?

Thanks