Explaining how to make malt for your all grain home brew.

James travels to Bastrop, Texas, home of Chris Colby – editor of Brew Your Own magazine. Chris shows off his barley field and potted hops.

When brewing with molasses, keep the following points in mind:

You may want to cut the quantity back a bit to keep flavors within the circle of modern taste preferences.

Molasses (treacle) is high in iron. Flavors imparted by iron can become objectionable in high amounts.

Bitterness yielded by cooked molasses balances out some of the sweetness of the malt.

Happy Brewing!

Is the product of dry yeast that different from liquid yeast cultures?

Yeast is very important to the end result of your beer.  Dry yeasts are cheap and convenient but they tend to be less pure than liquid cultures and there are fewer choices available.  The huge variety of liquid yeasts these days is really wonderful.  For best results, always make a yeast starter and aerate the wort well after pitching.

Types of yeast available to home brewers
(clockwise from top left)

Wyeast liquid yeast in a foil self starting pouch (available in 2 sizes), White labs liquid yeast in a 35 ml tube, Wyeast liquid yeast in a 150 ml tube, dry ale & lager yeast’s (Vierka Lager, Edme Ale, Munton’s Gold Ale, and Danstar Ale) , and dry wine yeast (Red Star and Vierka Mead).

If you are New to the Home Brew Community like me, and have not made the leap to all grain you probably have started to analyze the ingredient choices out there.

The Question:
What are the advantages/disadvantages to using liquid or dry malt extract?

The word on the street:
Dry/liquid extract is pretty much a toss-up.  Dry has longer shelf life and is usually a little easier to handle.  Results are very similar.  The key is what is available with the characteristics you want.  Shipping of dry is lots cheaper.

So it seems that it is a preference/cost thing.

If anyone has more insight/experience after using each and why they prefer one over the other.  I would love to hear about it.

If you’re a home brewer, growing your own hops can be a fun way to expand your hobby. James Spencer from Basic Brewing Video gives some tips.

Many home brewers graduate from bottling to kegging as a method to package and serve their beers. James Spencer from Basic Brewing Video introduces us to the Corny keg.

The mint julep is a mixed alcoholic drink, or cocktail, associated with the cuisine of the Southern United States.

The mint julep is well-known as the traditional beverage of the Kentucky Derby, a position it has held since 1938. Each year almost 120,000 juleps are served at Churchill Downs over the two day period of the Kentucky Oaks and the Kentucky Derby.^[4] For over 18 years, the Early Times Mint Julep Cocktail has been the designated “official mint julep of the Kentucky Derby”.

At the 2006 Kentucky Derby, Churchill Downs served custom-made mint juleps at a cost of $1000 each. The mint juleps were served in gold-plated cups with silver straws, and were made from Woodford Reserve bourbon, mint imported from Ireland, ice from the Bavarian Alps, and sugar from Australia. The proceeds were used to support charitable causes dedicated to retired race horses.

In May 2008, Churchill Downs unveiled the world’s largest mint julep glass. Churchill Downs, in conjunction with Early Times, commissioned the Weber Group^[5] to fabricate the 6-foot (1.8 m) tall glass (7.5-foot (2.3 m) if the mint sprig is included). The glass was constructed from FDA food-grade acrylic, heated and molded into the shape of an official 2008 Derby glass. It had a capacity of 206 US gallons (780 l; 172 imp gal), and distributed the mint juleps at the Derby with an elaborate pumping system concealed within the “stir straw”.

Information Taken from wikipedia.org

An often overlooked application for a Cornelius Keg is to use it as a fermenter.  There are many advantages to fermenting in a Cornelius Keg and turning your Cornelius Keg into a fermenter is actually pretty simple.

Most home brewers will ferment in either a plastic bucket or a glass carboy.  The problem with plastic buckets is they are easy to scratch and scratches lead to little hiding places for bacteria.  Cleaning and sanitizing plastic buckets becomes critical and if you’re not careful can easily lead to foul tasting beer.

Glass carboys offer a much better fermenting container but they are hard to handle.  Especially when filled with wort they can become heavy and very hard to handle.

Enter the Cornelius Keg.  With a little modification you can have a stainless steel fermentation container that is easy to use and handle.  One thing that most home brewers don’t realize is that Cornelius Kegs are listed as 5 gallon kegs but will actually hold closer to 6 gallons by volume.  This extra space is just what you need to make fermentation in the Cornelius Keg easy and clean.

2 Tricks for Turning Your Cornelius Keg into a Fermenter:

1. Remove the gas (IN) fitting on the Cornelius keg. You will need a wrench or socket to fit the fitting. Remove fitting. Clean and sanitize the area. From your local beer supply store get a grommet to fit the hole with a 3/8” inside diameter after installation. This will allow you to use an air lock or blow off tube in your Cornelius keg fermenter. A blow off tube is recommended due to the krausen that is produced with today’s yeast strains being used. Sometimes an airlock can get plugged with the krausen and cause a mess. Clean and sanitize as usual and ferment away.
2. Remove the cap from your corny keg. Drill a 1/2 diameter hole in the center of the cap or take it to a friend and have it done. Remove any burrs from the drilling operation. Clean and sanitize the cap. Get a standard grommet used in bucket lids, sanitize and install in cap. This will allow you to use an air lock or blow off tube in your Cornelius keg fermenter. A blow off tube is recommended due to the krausen that is produced with today’s yeast strains being used. Sometimes an airlock can get plugged with the krausen and cause a mess. Clean and sanitize as usual and ferment away.

With these two simple tricks you can turn an ordinary Cornelius Keg into a stainless steel fermenter and start fermenting like the pros.

Article From http://www.cornykeg.com

I am new to the Brew your own community. And like most ppl. with a new hobby I spend way to much time trying to perfect my new passion. I have been searching on line for ways to work smarter and not harder as well as stay on my wife’s good side by not breaking the bank. I have been looking at a number of different brewing systems and fermenters all of witch are way outside of my price range.
I was super interested in the Conical Fermentation Vessels by Blichmann and the brew-magic fermenter by Sabco.  Both of these fermenters are well out of my price range, however I stumbled across the  Sanke Fermenter Conversion Kit for just around $80. With this conversion system I can have a hi-end fermenter as well as stay on the wifes good side.