First try at beermaking

[nursejohn]

Should the sugar be dissolved in hot water or does it matter? I am going to bottle tomorrow. Thanks.

 

[smurfe]

Determine how much you need and dissolve it in a couple cups of water and boil it for about 15 minutes, let it cool to the temp of the beer and then add it to the bottling bucket. Rack the wine to the bucket to mix it well and then bottle.

 

[Travisty]

Determine how much you need and dissolve it in a couple cups of water and boil it for about 15 minutes, let it cool to the temp of the beer and then add it to the bottling bucket. Rack the wine to the bucket to mix it well and then bottle.

I would do the same except I would rack your beer to the bottling bucket instead of your wine.

 

[nursejohn]

I am going to bottle this evening when I get home from work. I will take your advice on boiling the water, but tell me, what is that for? What does boiling the sugared water do? Thanks.

 

[Travisty]

John, boiling sanitizes the sugar water. I suppose you could also say it eliminates dissolved O2 from the water to, though I'm not sure that's a big issue since the bottle conditioning process should scavenge a chunk of the O2 anyway.


My guess is that you would probably be okay without boiling, but why take the chance right?

 

[smurfe]

It sanitizes the water and boils off chlorine in the water.Here is a link to a page from my Brewing God John Palmer's great website How To Brew. I always recommend anyone that brews beer to buy this book. He has the first edition free online. Take a look. It will answer any question you may have. Feel free to look over the entire site over what is on just this page.




http://www.howtobrew.com/section1/chapter11-4.html

 

[nursejohn]

Thanks for the replies. I'll let you know how it goes.

 

[Pablo]

I'll be happy to test anything you make.

 

[nursejohn]

Well, I have successfully completed my first attempt at beermaking. We made it a family project. My oldest son and his wife came over to help my wife and me. We really enjoyed the family time. We bottled 56 bottles. Only 56 because the siphon hose came off the spigot while we were bottling and we probably spilled 2-3 bottles on the floor!

Anyway, it looked great and smelled great.Thanks again everbody for all your help.

 

[smurfe]

Congrats on your first beer. Don't worry about the spills. I have made many a batch and I still make a mess when I bottle. I guess that is why I hate bottling.

 

[Travisty]

Yeah, bottling is the worst part of homebrewing if you ask me. My bottle wand love to stick open on you and spray beer all over the floor if you're not carefull.

 

[mattsbrewery]

My best beer investment ever was the keg setup. Only one container to clean/sanitize, and beer on tap! Makes sharing, aging more difficult (more temptation). You can also force-carbonate which is awesome!

I also have a Beer Gun to bottle off of the keg, but that's really messy since the beer is already carbonated. I only used it for a six-pack here and there to give away.

 

[vcasey]

I also have a Beer Gun to bottle off of the keg, but that's really messy since the beer is already carbonated. I only used it for a six-pack here and there to give away.

This is the way we plan on bottling my sparkling maple mead. And yes a keg system is very nice!
VC

 

[Wade E]

I agree, if you can afford it do the keg thing.

 

[Travisty]

Yeah, one of these days I will invest in a kegging set up. It's only a matter of time, especially since I'm stepping up to 10 gallon batches soon. Also, MoreBeer.com has kegging set ups on sale right now. If I hadn't just ordered a grain mill, I would probably be all over that! I may still do it since the sale lasts the entire month I believe.

 

[nursejohn]

I have an update on my first beer. I did as the instructions said and chilled a couple of bottles to check the carbonation. My oldest son and a friend came over and tried it out. They both said it tasted great. My son said that I should have chilled another 6 or so.

. One last question, I poured the beer into a glass as the instructions said to, without stirring up the sediment,but if you drank it straight from the bottle and stirred up the sediment what effect would that have on the taste? Thanks again everyone for all of your help, John.

 

[Wade E]

I actually like the little bit f creaminess it adds thus another reason I like Wheat beer as they are typically cloudy even commercially.

 

[smurfe]

There is nothing wrong drinking the sediment. I do it most all the time. It might add a tad of yeast taste but normally I don't notice it.

 

[DrtDoctor]

Look into mini tap systems like tap-a-draft, I love mine and very easy.

 

[gaudet]

Looking to start my venture into the HomeBrewing industry. I am going to go with a true brew kit for an irish stout for my first forage into extract brewing. I should get it on Friday.......