Homebrewers

I made a hop spider tonight. It cost about $10 and took about 5 minutes to put together. I used 1/4 x 5.5" carriage bolts and a 3" to 2" coupler. The bag is a 1 gallon paint strainer. The bag sits about 1/4 inch off the bottom of the pot.

The 5.5" long bolts are perfect for a 5 gallon pot. I'm not sure of the diameter of 15 or 20 gallon pots but figure you want each of the bolts to be about half the diameter of the kettle.


WTF is up with the tiny pictures uploaded from my phone...
 

Attachments

  • ImageUploadedByTapatalk1325984459.156430.jpg
    ImageUploadedByTapatalk1325984459.156430.jpg
    6.6 KB · Views: 20
  • ImageUploadedByTapatalk1325984820.951453.jpg
    ImageUploadedByTapatalk1325984820.951453.jpg
    7.3 KB · Views: 20
Last edited:
Glenlivet12 said:
I made a hop spider tonight. It cost about $10 and took about 5 minutes to put together. I used 1/4 x 5.5" carriage bolts and a 3" to 2" coupler. The bag is a 1 gallon paint strainer. The bag sits about 1/4 inch off the bottom of the pot.

The 5.5" long bolts are perfect for a 5 gallon pot. I'm not sure of the diameter of 15 or 20 gallon pots but figure you want each of the bolts to be about half the diameter.
Click to expand...

This should be useful for brewing big IPA. Nice work.
 
skiphreaknj said:
how long does your beer "stay" in the keg? pros vs bottling?!
Click to expand...
If you keg, you can be drinking carbonated beer in as little as 1 hour with a bit of technique or depending on temp/pressure and vol of carbonation, 1-2 days.
Traditional bottling takes usually 14 days, and possibly longer when using priming sugar to develop your carbonation level.
Kegging is my prefered method, easier and I can adjust the carbonation level to taylor it to the style of beer more accurately...plus I'm drinking it quicker.
If I want to do 12oz/22oz bottles to give away/take to a party, I'll use the Beer Gun to do a couple of six packs or just fill up the 2L fliptop growler...bout as easy as it gets.

I bottle in liter EZ-caps or belgian 750's when I brew something that I want to sit for over a year...big IPA's, Belgian double/triples, Barley wines, Meads...stuff that needs a long rest to get it smoother. I just purge the bottles with co2 prior to filling and keep them cool (35-45 degrees). We just finished drinking a huge IPA that I brewed two years ago...still damm good.

I have close to 45 gallons of beer (six different styles) plus cellared commercials in my basement at present. My friends are like kids in a candy shop when the stop by and start off the visit by grabbing a glass and making a trip to the basement. Thats a good thing b/c I cant drink all I brew, plus it's cheaper than going to the bar..😉
 
FishFood said:
If you keg, you can be drinking carbonated beer in as little as 1 hour with a bit of technique or depending on temp/pressure and vol of carbonation, 1-2 days.
Traditional bottling takes usually 14 days, and possibly longer when using priming sugar to develop your carbonation level.
Kegging is my prefered method, easier and I can adjust the carbonation level to taylor it to the style of beer more accurately...plus I'm drinking it quicker.
If I want to do 12oz/22oz bottles to give away/take to a party, I'll use the Beer Gun to do a couple of six packs or just fill up the 2L fliptop growler...bout as easy as it gets.

I bottle in liter EZ-caps or belgian 750's when I brew something that I want to sit for over a year...big IPA's, Belgian double/triples, Barley wines, Meads...stuff that needs a long rest to get it smoother. I just purge the bottles with co2 prior to filling and keep them cool (35-45 degrees). We just finished drinking a huge IPA that I brewed two years ago...still damm good.

I have close to 45 gallons of beer (six different styles) plus cellared commercials in my basement at present. My friends are like kids in a candy shop when the stop by and start off the visit by grabbing a glass and making a trip to the basement. Thats a good thing b/c I cant drink all I brew, plus it's cheaper than going to the bar..😉
Click to expand...

Nice! I just made a carb cap for 1L soda bottles do I can sample new brews. Do you use a Blichmann? I just use a piece of tube slipped over my picnic tap, I have very little problems with it. But i cant purge the headspace for long storage.

In my keg I tend set the pressure and let it carb up over a week. The last pint always tastes the best anyway so Waiting a little longer doesn't bother me.
 
Last edited:
FishFood said:
I have close to 45 gallons of beer (six different styles) plus cellared commercials in my basement at present. My friends are like kids in a candy shop when the stop by and start off the visit by grabbing a glass and making a trip to the basement. Thats a good thing b/c I cant drink all I brew, plus it's cheaper than going to the bar..😉
Click to expand...

:worthless

i wanna see that!
 
Glenlivet12 said:
I just made a carb cap for 1L soda bottles do I can sample new brews.
Click to expand...

We used this last night to force carb our stout. Once we got the carb levels right it was absolutely fantastic! It was pretty cool to taste the beer as it rounded out with the addition of co2. Great idea Bill!
 
Whats your favorite recipe?

I'm hoping the MTBNJ homebrewers can help me come up w/ a new recipe.

Beers I've made:
several IPA's
winter ale
pumpkin ale
Hefe
Belgian Trippel

I assisted Fred w/:
Chocolate coffee stout
Balck IPA

Beers I'm Planning
-A blood orange wheat in April as my summer drink
-A barelywine in late summer which I would expect to be ready this time next year.

I'd like to stay away from those two styles for now but am open to just about anything else.


Limitations
I don't have the room for all grain currently🙁 I can handle partial mash recipes but a bulk of my beers have been extract.

Sooo....suggestions?:popcorn:
 
Glenlivet12 said:
I'm hoping the MTBNJ homebrewers can help me come up w/ a new recipe.

Beers I've made:
several IPA's
winter ale
pumpkin ale
Hefe
Belgian Trippel

I assisted Fred w/:
Chocolate coffee stout
Balck IPA
🙁
Beers I'm Planning
-A blood orange wheat in April as my summer drink
-A barelywine in late summer which I would expect to be ready this time next year.

I'd like to stay away from those two styles for now but am open to just about anything else.


Limitations
I don't have the room for all grain currently🙁 I can handle partial mash recipes but a bulk of my beers have been extract.

Sooo....suggestions?:popcorn:
Click to expand...


How about an American Amber Ale? Or an Ommegang Rare Vos clone?
 
McNeills Firehouse Amber

Steep 13oz. Crystal 80
6 lb muntons ex light dme
8 oz. Malto dextrin
1.75 oz E Kent Goldings (4.9 AA) 60 min
3/4 oz E Kent Goldings (15 min)
1/2 oz E Kent Goldings (10 min)
1 oz. E Kent Goldings (1 min)
1084 Irish Ale Yeast 21 days at 68 degrees
Secondary for 2 weeks
1/2 oz. Cascade dry hop last 6 days.
 
Ommegang Rare Vos

Steep:
7 oz crystal 60
4 oz Belgian aromatic malt
1 oz British chocolate malt

7.5 lb muntons ex light dme
1 lb clear Belgian candy sugar
2 oz styrian goldings @3.5aa (60 min)
2/3 oz styrian goldings (15 min)
1/2 teaspoon grains of paradise (15 min)
1/2 oz. Czech saaz (1 min)
1/8 teaspoon grains of paradise (1 min)

1762 Belgian abbey II for 31 days
 
ArmyOfNone said:
Those do like two great options! Pick one Ill do the other!
Click to expand...

That's a winning strategy.... Fred. 🙂

The Firehouse Amber is really good. I compared it side by side with the real thing and they were almost identical. The homebrew was a bit more full bodied . I haven't brewed the ommegang recipe, but its on my short list.
 
Wobbegong said:
That's a winning strategy.... Fred. 🙂

The Firehouse Amber is really good. I compared it side by side with the real thing and they were almost identical. The homebrew was a bit more full bodied . I haven't brewed the ommegang recipe, but its on my short list.
Click to expand...

I swear we need to get this MTBNJ homebrew club off the ground!

I am debating on finding a brew to do that is more drinkable all year. Like a nice "go to". But on the flip side I can make whatever I want to "go to" The red would be a good one I think if I so decided.

My short list looks like:

JPace's bad ass DIPA
Whichever Bill doesnt choose
Something yeasty and belgian
 
ArmyOfNone said:
I swear we need to get this MTBNJ homebrew club off the ground!

I am debating on finding a brew to do that is more drinkable all year. Like a nice "go to". But on the flip side I can make whatever I want to "go to" The red would be a good one I think if I so decided.

My short list looks like:

JPace's bad ass DIPA
Whichever Bill doesnt choose
Something yeasty and belgian
Click to expand...

If you want to give the red a shot go for it! I'll have to go through some of the DIPA before I brew another. I might wait and collect some bottles for the Rare Vos and just make the blood orange hefe my next brew.
 
Wobbegong said:
Ommegang Rare Vos

Steep:
7 oz crystal 60
4 oz Belgian aromatic malt
1 oz British chocolate malt

7.5 lb muntons ex light dme
1 lb clear Belgian candy sugar
2 oz styrian goldings @3.5aa (60 min)
2/3 oz styrian goldings (15 min)
1/2 teaspoon grains of paradise (15 min)
1/2 oz. Czech saaz (1 min)
1/8 teaspoon grains of paradise (1 min)

1762 Belgian abbey II for 31 days
Click to expand...

31 days in primary, could you use a different yeast to bottle?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom