Topics

1

Extract/Partial Mash Brewing / Planning my second batch on your suggestion. -- Vanilla Hefeweizen?

« on: January 17, 2013, 11:04:03 AM »

My very first batch is 38 hours into fermentation, and on the suggestion of folks here I'm starting to plan my second batch.  I like Hefeweizen beers quite a bit, and found our LHBS has a recipe kit for one http://www.austinhomebrew.com/product_info.php?cPath=178_452_42_163&products_id=318

I'm wondering if anyone here can suggest other options that might be better for a new brewer like myself?  Also I'd really like to experiment with adding vanilla bean to the Hefeweizen (which I guess technically makes it a wheat beer, and no longer a Hefeweizen.) but I'm not sure how much vanilla bean I should add, or at what point in the brewing process.

Any advice is welcome.  I'm pretty sure I'll be brewing this one several times to get it right, but starting off with something other than a hot mess would be great!

Thanks for all the help so far!

2

General Homebrew Discussion / Apartment Home Brewing

« on: January 16, 2013, 11:58:02 AM »

I posted earlier that I just got my first batch ever into the primary fermenter last night.  I'm happy to report the air lock is bubbling away, so I guess the yeast is at least kind of alive and well.

Looking ahead to my second batch, the electric stove in our apartment was able to bring three gallons of water, and extract to a boil but it took it quite a while.  Have any of you looked at, or used something like this 1800w Induction plate

How do these compare with standard apartment fare large electric burners?  I know ideally I would look at a propane powered burner, but here in Texas that means I need to be at least 25 feet away from the building, and while I'm not opposed to that, it also means doing all of my brewing downstairs and then lugging the fermenter up to the third floor.  I'm not opposed to this, but if it can be avoided I'd like to.

Any sage advice you can offer will be appreciated.

Thanks!

3

General Homebrew Discussion / First Time Home Brewer.

« on: January 15, 2013, 10:28:03 PM »

Technically it all began when I was in Wisconsin for Christmas.  I decided I wanted to start brewing my own beer.  When I got back to Austin, Texas one of the first places I stopped was Austin Home Brew who gave me a free copy of Zymurgy Magazine which turned me on to the American Home Brewers Association  I quicky signed up to become a card carrying member.

Today my journey continued when I went back to Austin Home Brew Supply where I picked up my first ever home brewing kit.


I also made sure to pick up what they recommended as a first recipe to get started.  Something they called "Texas Blond Ale"


I read somewhere that it's important you do a little yeast farming, while you're brewing.  As a result I enjoyed the last of my Real Ale Brewers Cut Black Quadrupal which did a good job of getting me motivated to learn how to brew great beer!


I won't bore you all with the rest of the details since I'm sure you've all done this yourselves a bunch of times, but I'm excited.






Now begins what will likely be the longest month and a half of my life.

I'm a big computer geek.  Specifically I work with Unix like operating systems.  As a result I've decided to call my first batch "PID 1" which is the Init process, or first process.  Of course if I managed to screw this up somehow I can always rename it /dev/null (the bit bucket)

In case anyone is at all curious about what I did. I have a slightly more detailed post on my site here: http://lnoldan.com/first-time-home-brewer-pid-1/