# Any Home-brewer's Here?



## imp (Jul 8, 2015)

Wine counts too! Brewing implies mainly beer, I believe. It's fun, if one is inclined to take a nip of wine now and then, or beer, good wine, that is or good beer, also, containing none of the crap commercial producers put in it, with the consent of the FDA!

Real beer contains 4 ingredients only: water, hops, grain malt, and yeast. Commercial producers are allowed use of 51 (at last count) artificial ingredients, mainly chemicals. 

Real wine contains only 4 also: water, fruit, sugar, and yeast. Commercially, sulfites are commonly added, a fact called out on just about every commercial label. Here is one of the nice labels my wife has made, adding to the fun!    imp


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## SeaBreeze (Jul 8, 2015)

I never brewed anything at home or made my own wine.  I tasted a couple of friends home brews over the years, and didn't like the way they tasted at all.  A lady I used to babysit for made her own red wine, that tasted pretty good to me for home made.  Nice that you and your wife are into this, I agree you eliminate all the chemicals and nasties they put into things these days, like the label too!


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## imp (Jul 8, 2015)

Thank you! Are you ready to "try your hand" at it? Great pastime! (Rewarding results, too!).    imp


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## Ameriscot (Jul 8, 2015)

My husband brews amazing beers in our garage. He brews several types including IPAs. He buys kits and usually has 3 kegs going.


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## imp (Jul 9, 2015)

Ameriscot said:


> My husband brews amazing beers in our garage. He brews several types including IPAs. He buys kits and usually has 3 kegs going.



I am not familiar with "IPA" term. I do my beer from absolute scratch, boiling water on the kitchen stove, to which I add Malt Extract, and Hops within a cloth sack, to avoid having to strain them out. After boiling of the "wort", as it's called, the liquid is placed along with brewer's yeast in a food-grade 5-gallon plastic pail having a sealable lid, fitted with a water-lock, which bubbles to indicate CO2 production. Fermentation takes 5 or 6 days, but I leave it 2 weeks or so, thus allowing complete clarification. 

I bottle using cleaned and sterilized commercial beer bottles, I like the green ones, caps are bought new very reasonably, about a penny each. A teaspoon of table sugar is added to each bottle before capping. That will provide just enough carbonation to occur, assuring a nice "head" when pouring, and never a burst bottle!

I figured this technical jargon might not be too terribly enticing for you, but perhaps your guy might like to read it. Curious about how the "kits" are made and work.   imp


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## Ameriscot (Jul 9, 2015)

IPA Indian pale ale. Very popular. Husband orders brewing kits. No rubbish in them. He likes the American hops the best.

I just drink it so I don't really know much about what he does except sometimes he asks me to weigh out 100 grams of sugar.

It's late now and time for bed so I'll get DH to explain his kits tomorrow.


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## imp (Jul 9, 2015)

Thank you, Scot! Sleep well!   imp


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## Ameriscot (Jul 10, 2015)

Good morning Imp. Mr Ameriscot said in the kits the hops is already included in the malt extract, which means the kit has concentrated wort which just needs dilution and addition of yeast.

He buys the kits online but they can be purchased in shops in Glasgow.


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## Ameriscot (Jul 10, 2015)

Imp, the kits my hubby buys:  http://www.the-home-brew-shop.co.uk/acatalog/Woodfordes_Beer_Kits.html

IPA's:  http://www.theguardian.com/lifeands...f-history-of-ipa-india-pale-ale-empire-drinks

We love to try new craft beers both in the UK and when we visit the US.  In Ann Arbor, MI there are 3 or 4 brewpubs we can walk to from my brother's house.  They brew their beer on site.

My taste in beer/ales has come a long way from when I thought Budweiser/Miller/etc were good beers, although I do like an ice cold Foster's.


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## imp (Jul 11, 2015)

Thank you so much for those links! The image was amazing. Basically, the kits are simply a pre-packaged group of needed ingredients, whereas I buy my stuff piecemeal. Does your husband boil the wort out in the work area?    imp


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## Ameriscot (Jul 12, 2015)

No he doesn't boil the wort, just dilute it.


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## imp (Jul 12, 2015)

This is a new one, on me, as I was under the impression that boiling is the primary supportive process of integrating the resins from hops into the malt/water mixture. Perhaps the malt containing hops already is pre-cooked in some way. The malt extracts as I receive them are thicker than molasses at room temperature, and barely pour from the can. I imagine it must take a lot of stirring to dissolve the malt in water without heat.    imp


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## Ameriscot (Jul 12, 2015)

imp said:


> This is a new one, on me, as I was under the impression that boiling is the primary supportive process of integrating the resins from hops into the malt/water mixture. Perhaps the malt containing hops already is pre-cooked in some way. The malt extracts as I receive them are thicker than molasses at room temperature, and barely pour from the can. I imagine it must take a lot of stirring to dissolve the malt in water without heat.    imp



I don't know the details but he does use boiling water to get the heat up and dissolve it.  And he uses some type of heater.


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