Home brewers

[mgoncalves]

Hey guys, first off let me say I have the best girl around. She got me a Mr Beer home brewing kit for valentines.





I've been trying to learn as much as I can about what not to do, and I've come down to one last grey area that I'm not sure about. The kit says to use "pure, clean water", but not distilled water. I don't know what to do. Our tap water is city water with tons of additives (makes our toilets turn pink).



Any of you guys done this before? What kind of water do you use? I'm half tempted to take a drive up the mountain and get some fresh snow to use.





Thanks

Matt

 

[Hohn]

Matt, just get one of those PUR or Brita filters that either filter in a pitcher or filter onthe faucet and your water will be plenty clean.



My friend in Ft Collins is taking up the homebrew. His first batch wasn't too bad-- we decided to call it "Summer Wheatley".



If you've seen "Napoleon Dynamite", then you'll get it.



jlh

 

[mgoncalves]

"Napoleon Dynamite"

I feel dumber just from watching that movie :-laf :-laf

 

[TboneMan]

Find somebody with a "good" well out in the country. I have some friends that homebrew and have on "city water". They just fill their water jug somewhere else.

 

[outlawram]

Your best water would be water filtered by reverse osmosis. It removes 99. 9 percent of solids in water. You cant get any more pure water than that. Companies like Aquafina use reverse osmosis. Spring water is no good at all, maybe 200 years ago it was. Well water has way to much runoff. You can get a good reverse osmosis for 800 or you can get a cheap one at sears for 250. I install these everyday.

 

[TPCDrafting]

Matt, a friend of mine that was at our wyo tdr party a couple years back is a home brewer. He makes an amber that blows away anything you can find. I helped him make a batch and he let me name it. I called it Amber Alert, nobody thought it was as funny as I thought it was . There's a store here that sells ingredients, probably one down there also. Anyway Eric just uses his well water and hasn't had any problems. I'd stay away from any city water no matter what kind of filter you put on. There is an entire assosiation of home brewers up here, you might check around they might have one down that way.

 

[phloop]

I've been trying to learn as much as I can about what not to do, and I've come down to one last grey area that I'm not sure about. The kit says to use "pure, clean water", but not distilled water. I don't know what to do. Our tap water is city water with tons of additives (makes our toilets turn pink).



Any of you guys done this before? What kind of water do you use? I'm half tempted to take a drive up the mountain and get some fresh snow to use.





Thanks

Matt

Matt, the first thing to do is throw that mr. beer kit in the trash and go get a real home brew set-up. I guess the kit you have is good to see if you really want to get into home brewing. :-laf As far as the water question you asked, here goes. I would say the best option for you is to go buy a good bottled water from a grocery store as you are only going to use a gallon or two of water in that kit. Doesn't have to be spring water, just plain old drinking water. Do not use distilled water, and I would stay away from the reverse osmosis filtered water also. You want to have some of the minerals that are in the water to help the beer flavor.



One thing I suggest is to pick up the book, The New Complete Joy Of Homebrewing by Charlie Papazian. It's the book I was told to get when I started brewing and has a lot of good info in it. You can find it on ebay, at homebrew shops and on line. If you have any questions, you can shoot me a PM if you would like. I'd be happy to help.

 

[Billy Diesel]

If home brewing is going to turn into a hobby, you should really ditch the Mr Beer kit. Remember, this is a kit you can buy at Shopko!



Check out Midwest Brewing Supply, First kit on the page. That is a good setup for a starter. Then, when it is time to buy bottles, go for the 16-24 oz bottles. (less to fill up and cap!)



As for the water, my friends and I just use tap water, and it has always worked out, so far (knock on wood). I always have real good intentions of going out and buying the gallon jugs of water at the store... .



The best way I found to boil it is to use a turkey cooker. Just use a different pot than the one for your turkey!



Good luck.

 

[phloop]

The best way I found to boil it is to use a turkey cooker. Just use a different pot than the one for your turkey!



Good luck.

Just do not use an aluminum pot, it's not the best thing to boil beer in. Use SS or as a last resort, an enamal pot. Although that propane cooker that you set the turkey pot on works great boiling your wort.

 

[KBennett]

Where's sandbrew when you need him?

 

[mgoncalves]

If home brewing is going to turn into a hobby, you should really ditch the Mr Beer kit. Remember, this is a kit you can buy at Shopko!



Check out Midwest Brewing Supply, First kit on the page. That is a good setup for a starter. Then, when it is time to buy bottles, go for the 16-24 oz bottles. (less to fill up and cap!)

QUOTE]





I also have a kit that looks like the ones on that page. My dad did this years ago, and he donated his stuff to me. I haven't had much motivation to go through his kit, or find instructions on how it works. I plan to use the mr beer kit to brew and use the bottles that it came with for the first round and then switch over to the bottles I got from my dad (thick glass 16oz). If this works out where I start brewing regularly, I will look into using my dad's old kit if needed.



Thanks for the tips guys.

I am planning on building a "brew station" in the basement tommorow, and hopefully starting the first batch this weekend.





Matt

 

[TPCDrafting]

We'll be over in about 3 months. :-laf

 

[Billy Diesel]

Just do not use an aluminum pot, it's not the best thing to boil beer in. Use SS or as a last resort, an enamal pot. Although that propane cooker that you set the turkey pot on works great boiling your wort.

Ya, I probably should have specified the SS pot.

 

[Hvy-DCZ]

Matt,



Welcome to the world of homebrewing!





I've been brewing for quite a while. Like every hobby/lifestyle, there are many levels at which you can do this. Kinda like the CTD crowd. Just read people's sigs... Regardless of how far you intend to go w/ homebrewing I would recomend not starting until you read a good book, pretty much cover to cover. It's best to identify what type of beer/ale you really like first, and try to match it w/ a recipe in the book. Find your local homebrew shop and spend time there. Ask a bazillion questions, read a lot and then jump in.



I started out brewing using extracts. I'm about to start my first batch w/ all grain, which is more complicated.



If you plan to use only extracts, you can use tap water. It would be best to boil it ahead of time to 'release' the chlorine and florine. These aren't good for beer, whereas mineral content is good for beer. It becomes more critical if you go all grain. If you have friends/relatives that live out of town w/ a well that would be your best bet. If you plan to go all grain, you'll want to get the water you plan to use tested.



I live in Portland, OR and was able to search a gov't website and found a chemical analysis of our municipal water supply. You need to know what's going on at this level and adjust accordingly. Had to buy a pH meter for testing the wort. Can't wait to start brewing!



Sorry for the long rag... if you have specific questions, feel free to pm me.



If you really plan to get into this, money spent on kegging (early in the process) is really worth it. It saves boatloads of time and energy. Dumping 5 gallons of ale into a keg is nice! Being able to drink it the next day is even better. CO2 is a good thing.



... and like Billy said: Only use stainless. Don't use aluminum for anything. To sterilize, use Iodophor! Can't sterilize too much.



Happy brewing,

Derek

 

[phloop]

If you really plan to get into this, money spent on kegging (early in the process) is really worth it. It saves boatloads of time and energy. Dumping 5 gallons of ale into a keg is nice! Being able to drink it the next day is even better. CO2 is a good thing.

I have to second this, cornie kegs blow those pop tops away. After bottling a 5gl batch or two you soon realise that bottling your beer isn't a whole lota fun. And you can make a protable keg set up to take with you, nothing better than sitting around a campfire with a nice IPA on tap.



Maybe we need to get a TDR homebrew club going. Yes, beer and diesel does mix. :-laf

 

[mgoncalves]

I like the idea of kegging rather than bottling. I have always liked beer from a keg over any can or bottle.



No progress on the brew station yet, my "Best Girl" laid down the law about the garage today. At least I can park the Dodge in the bay we designed for it now .



So, tonight she's off to a bachelorette party and I'm going to be moving my tools down to the basement and planning to build tommorow. I have a 1" x 28"x80" piece of particle board that is rhino lined to use as my table top. Do you think that is big enough to expand a more serious brewing area on to later?? I'm trying to allow room to grow for this hobby, because I haven't met a beer I didn't like and I'm pretty sure I'm going to love making my own beer .



Tim, and any other beer loving TDR members are always welcome





Matt

 

[Hvy-DCZ]

That's a really tough question to answer... . It all depends on how much equipment you have and/or plan to get. Also really depends on what your heat source is.



If you have 1 big kettle and plan to stick w/ extract brewing, you're probably fine. The best cooling option for that setup is a 'wort chiller'. You can buy one or make one. Your call. Just a big coil of copper that you put in the kettle the last 15 minutes of the boil to sterilize. You have a garden hose hooked to each end. Run cold water thru until your wort hits the desired temp. Agitate once in a while and use a floating thermometer. Works great and pretty cheap. If you can, I'd recomend using a freestanding propane cooker. I have one and LOVE it. It cranks the heat when I need it to, and it's freestanding.



Once it hits the right temp you can siphon to your fermenter, aerate and pitch your yeast. Definately get an "Auto-Siphon". They are the best. Just don't use it on 200*+ wort. Ask me how I know, I just bought #2.



I use Dave Miller's 'Homebrewing Guide'. He's great! Also does the brewingtechniques, below.



Here's a couple links:

http://www.brewingtechniques.com/library/index.html

http://www.skotrat.com/skotrat/recipes/



Sorry it took me so long to respond.



Good luck,

Hvy

 

[phloop]

Hey Matt, how's the home brewing going? Haven't heard if it's gone good or bad. I want to thank you for helping get me back into the homebrewing. I looked at my records after making my batch of beer last night and realized that it's been 2 1/2 years since I made my last batch. :{ I forgot how much fun it is making beer, can't wait to try this one.