Messages

301

General Homebrew Discussion / Re: New to Homebrewing

« on: July 02, 2010, 05:45:17 AM »

My kit came yesterday and I'll be out most of the weekend, but with monday off, I'm thinking it'll be the perfect time to brew the first batch of "Mad Scientist"

Edit:  My fiance has already requested her own batch of beer... Something along the lines of a blue moon.  Doesn't need to be an exact copy, but something with an orange-citrusy flavor (I guess even something along the lines of a magic hat no. 9 but with orange), so if anyone knows if this is too difficult to do yet, or has a link to some kits, let me know. 

302

General Homebrew Discussion / Re: New to Homebrewing

« on: June 30, 2010, 07:36:49 AM »

Cooler or tub
Frozen soda/juice bottles swapped out twice a day



You can even get fancy and put a cover on it



You'll have to experiment but one bottle will keep it around 10 degrees below ambient for long enough to go to work

This is perfect!  Thanks for sharing, and thanks for welcoming me to the message board.  The Kit should arrive 7/1, which i guess is tomorrow, so hopefully I will be brewing soon.  Eventually I would hope to move to better temperature controls and the like.  And my fiance likes having the idea of beer always on tap when we buy a house :-)  Right now I will go with simple.

And as for lagers and ales, Ales have always been my favorite come to think of it, so that's what i'm starting with.  I'm a big fan of Triumph's Amber Ale at the moment. 

303

General Homebrew Discussion / Re: New to Homebrewing

« on: June 29, 2010, 09:56:24 AM »

Hey thanks for the advice!

I'll definately look for a cooler/fan set up or something to fit the fermenter in and keep it cool with some ice packs/towels etc.  The upside of it is, that it is dark, and I will be starting off with an ale.  My fiance already said I should get something to put the fermenter in. 

 

304

General Homebrew Discussion / New to Homebrewing

« on: June 29, 2010, 08:41:08 AM »

Hello,

So i'm about to begin my journey into the world of homebrewing.  I'm a research chemist, and I love beer, so what better way to combine the two things I love, science and beer.  I purchased a starter kit with an ale recipie, now I'm anxiously waiting for it to ship.

So I have a few questions:
Space for me is limited in a 1 bedroom apartment.  I have a walk in closet in my living room that I cleared out a corner for storing my fermenter.  My only concern is that during the summer months in NJ, temperatures have been in the upper high 80s to upper 90s.  My apartment is air conditioned but it's not running all the time.  With a temperature of about 80F, am I going to run into problems during fermentation? 

My second question:  How important is it to boil the amount of water it says to start?  Is it ok to boil less and add the malt to that, and then bring it to volume while cooling it down? 

Is adding ice into the fermenter a viable option for cooling down the batch before you add yeast?

I can't wait to start. 

Thanks,
Tim