What are you brewing?

I'm rockin' around with my little Mr. Beer kit (yeah yeah laugh all you want)! I just finished bottling an Irish Stout/Brown Ale, and started brewing an American Devil IPA and a Sticky Wicket Oatmeal Stout with some molasses in it. That was at the suggestion of Q_the_Cop, and he says it's working for him.

It shouldnt start carbonating or anything right? If I brewed it with molasses in the wort already, am I going to be waiting longer for it to finish fermenting??

It won't start carbonating until it's in something that is holding the CO2 in. It might take a little bit longer with the molasses, but probably not. Do you have a hydrometer?
 
A huge RIS...13ish% ABV will be aged in a bourbon barrel with vanilla and coffe.

Pics here: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2313817&id=11316157

Oh, and what we drank during the making of said stout:
Boulevard Saison-Brett, Russian River Temptation, Great Divide Wet hop, Captain Lawrence Flaming Fury, Founders Harvest ale, My Double IPA, Ølfabrikken Porter, Ken Schmidt / Maui / Stone Kona Coffee Macadamia Coconut Porter, Bell's Java Stout, Surly Darkness, Goose Island Bourbon County stout, Surly Furious, Surly Coffee Bender, and a night cap of Cave Creek Chili beer!
 
I'm rockin' around with my little Mr. Beer kit (yeah yeah laugh all you want)! I just finished bottling an Irish Stout/Brown Ale, and started brewing an American Devil IPA and a Sticky Wicket Oatmeal Stout with some molasses in it. That was at the suggestion of Q_the_Cop, and he says it's working for him.

It shouldnt start carbonating or anything right? If I brewed it with molasses in the wort already, am I going to be waiting longer for it to finish fermenting??

It won't start carbonating until it's in something that is holding the CO2 in. It might take a little bit longer with the molasses, but probably not. Do you have a hydrometer?

No Justin, but I wouldn't know where to stick it in my little Mr. Beer keg...
 
A huge RIS...13ish% ABV will be aged in a bourbon barrel with vanilla and coffe.

Pics here: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2313817&id=11316157

Oh, and what we drank during the making of said stout:
Boulevard Saison-Brett, Russian River Temptation, Great Divide Wet hop, Captain Lawrence Flaming Fury, Founders Harvest ale, My Double IPA, Ølfabrikken Porter, Ken Schmidt / Maui / Stone Kona Coffee Macadamia Coconut Porter, Bell's Java Stout, Surly Darkness, Goose Island Bourbon County stout, Surly Furious, Surly Coffee Bender, and a night cap of Cave Creek Chili beer!

Where'd you get the barrel again?

I'm rockin' around with my little Mr. Beer kit (yeah yeah laugh all you want)! I just finished bottling an Irish Stout/Brown Ale, and started brewing an American Devil IPA and a Sticky Wicket Oatmeal Stout with some molasses in it. That was at the suggestion of Q_the_Cop, and he says it's working for him.

It shouldnt start carbonating or anything right? If I brewed it with molasses in the wort already, am I going to be waiting longer for it to finish fermenting??

It won't start carbonating until it's in something that is holding the CO2 in. It might take a little bit longer with the molasses, but probably not. Do you have a hydrometer?

No Justin, but I wouldn't know where to stick it in my little Mr. Beer keg...

Haha, you'd just pull a sample out into your test jar/hydrometer case.
 
Here are some photos of my current brews. My bottles are carbonating:
IMG00043-20091109-2014.jpg


And here is my Oatmeal Stout I'm brewing. It's been 24 hours and the bubbles are going crazy inside there, but it smells sickly sweet... I hope all is well:
IMG00040-20091109-2013.jpg


Here is my IPA. Lots of floaties in there, as the process does it's thing:
IMG00041-20091109-2014.jpg



I also found a homebrewing shop here in my town, so it is only a matter of time before I get to Alan's level! :D
 
Here are some photos of my current brews. My bottles are carbonating:
IMG00043-20091109-2014.jpg


And here is my Oatmeal Stout I'm brewing. It's been 24 hours and the bubbles are going crazy inside there, but it smells sickly sweet... I hope all is well:
IMG00040-20091109-2013.jpg


Here is my IPA. Lots of floaties in there, as the process does it's thing:
IMG00041-20091109-2014.jpg



I also found a homebrewing shop here in my town, so it is only a matter of time before I get to Alan's level! :D

You should set your goals much higher, Jonny.
 
Well gents, I just bought a Mr. Beer last week and have my first batch going. I will be bottling next week sometime. I think I will be upgrading fast. At William's Brew they have a kit with Wort Chiller and a pot(Forgot the size) for around $200. I think this is a pretty good deal.

What do you think?
 
Well gents, I just bought a Mr. Beer last week and have my first batch going. I will be bottling next week sometime. I think I will be upgrading fast. At William's Brew they have a kit with Wort Chiller and a pot(Forgot the size) for around $200. I think this is a pretty good deal.

What do you think?
The Williams kit looks pretty good to me!
I'll be kegging three beers this weekend, a Bitter, a Porter and a brew from a book called " Old British Beers and How To Make Them", the recipe is from 1880, should be real good, then I have to lager a Helles and have that ready for the family at Xmas.
Cheers
 
Well I went to the Home Brew store and they told me that I should go ahead and bottle my first batch. That was a hell of a process. I did not know that I need to put my hops in a grain (steep) bag, so I have some hops leaves floating in the bottled beer. I guess you learn something with every brew!!! I hope I can at least enjoy a couple of brews. I will be brewing another batch on Sat, then will be buying the kit from William's.
 
Well I went to the Home Brew store and they told me that I should go ahead and bottle my first batch. That was a hell of a process. I did not know that I need to put my hops in a grain (steep) bag, so I have some hops leaves floating in the bottled beer. I guess you learn something with every brew!!! I hope I can at least enjoy a couple of brews. I will be brewing another batch on Sat, then will be buying the kit from William's.

Not sure how you get the wort into and out of a Mr. Beer, but I pour mine through a sanitized sieve on it's way into the fermenter which serves two purposes:

1) it gets all the hops chunks out
2) it helps aerate it

You can also put a nylon paint strainer on the end of your racking cane to filter out the hops.
 
I will do that next time.

Will it be ok if after week 1 in the Mr. Beer, I add the rest of my hops in a muslin bag and leave them until I bottle?
 
So I cheated, and cracked open my first homebrew after 3 weeks fermenting, one week carbonating, and one day conditioning. I just had to try it, and holy moly is it GOOD! I'm very happy with it. :thumbs:

It was the St. Patrick's Irish Stout with Creamy Brown recipe, and lord is it good. Very smooth flavor, malty, and I can taste the nuttiness flavor. It is a bit carbonated for a stout, but its just the right way that I like it. I used molasses instead of corn sugar in this half of the batch, and have yet to taste the other half made with corn sugar. Either way, I feel pretty accomplished and I think I finally "get it."

Slainte!

IMG00064-20091118-0209.jpg
 
Sounds good, Jon. My first doesn't taste all that great (it's not bad, just not all that good), so I'm really looking forward to my stout.

Congratulations on a successful first brew! :thumbs:
 
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