Home Vinters and Brewers Unite!

[spikerS]

I figgured I was going to start a thread about wine making and home brewed beer, see how many other people were doing this, share experiences, tips and tricks, reviews and recipies.

I am by no means an expert, but if anyone has any questions about the process, I will try and find an answer for you as well.

I think that it would also be fun to do wine and beer swaps with other people as well.

Currently, I have 2 wines and 1 beer on the go. I just picked up a beer kit, so this will be my first batch, and as far as the wines go, i am doing a kit that was a hit at christmas as so many people wanted more of it, and another from scratch wine. I will post up some pictures later.

Just wondering what other beyonders are doing the same thing?

[Mitsu3000gt]

Making beer is something I really want to try as it's by far my favorite beverage, but don't currently make it....I've got a few questions for you to kick things off if you don't mind...

1) What's then initial investment like?

2) Can you home brew beer without yeast in the bottom of the bottle? All the home made stuff I've had apparently has the last fermentation step done in-bottle and it isn't filtered after so there is yeast left behind. It was fine, but I never drank the last inch of beer or so as it was full of yeast.

3) Do you need a temperature controlled environment to brew in? My condo varies from about 18-27 degrees C depending on the time of year (No A/C )

4) At what stage do you add in the custom ingredients, like fruit, maple, citrus, etc.?

I think it would be an awesome thing to get into, and regularly meet with fellow homebrewers to try different products, share recopies, etc.

Thanks!

[spikerS]

Originally posted by Mitsu3000gt
Making beer is something I really want to try as it's by far my favorite beverage, but don't currently make it....I've got a few questions for you to kick things off if you don't mind...

1) What's then initial investment like?

For my wine kits, initial investment was $100. I got it from Costco when they had their road show. came with everything to make about 60 bottles of wine. only had to buy the bottles.

For my beer kit, I paid $130 for it, and it came with everything to make 23L of beer, and included the plastic bottles.

2) Can you home brew beer without yeast in the bottom of the bottle? All the home made stuff I've had apparently has the last fermentation step done in-bottle and it isn't filtered after so there is yeast left behind. It was fine, but I never drank the last inch of beer or so as it was full of yeast.

You are right, the last fermentation step is done in bottle, so you will always have some sediment at the bottom. The reason for this is the yeast is needed to carbonate the beer. you can filter all of this out, and put your beer into a keg, but then to carbonate it, it will require being presurized and a seperate bottle for CO2 to carbonate your beer.

Good news is, the brewers yeast is actually very good for you!

3) Do you need a temperature controlled environment to brew in? My condo varies from about 18-27 degrees C depending on the time of year (No A/C )

Your temps are in the acceptable range from brewing beer and wine. They state that you should be able to maintain temps between 18 and 26. The higher the temp, the faster your product will ferment, and the opposite is true for a cooler temp.

4) At what stage do you add in the custom ingredients, like fruit, maple, citrus, etc.?

I have not gone as far as to try to add citrus or anything to beers yet, but as for my wine, it is the first ingredient to go in. Currently making ~25L of straight pear wine.

I think it would be an awesome thing to get into, and regularly meet with fellow homebrewers to try different products, share recopies, etc.

Thanks!

[spikerS]

i am also setting up a face book group for this as well, and have made it open, feel free to join it as well.

search for the following on facebook:

Calgary Home Brewmasters and Vinters UNITE!

I am thinking of running contests and such on there as well.

[Mibz]

Originally posted by spikers
i am also setting up a face book group for this as well, and have made it open, feel free to join it as well.

search for the following on facebook:

Calgary Home Brewmasters and Vinters UNITE!

I am thinking of running contests and such on there as well.

I get no hits, even going down to "Calgary Brewmasters". Maybe it just takes a while to index.

My buddy and I have been waffling on making our own wine. Do you have any kit recommendations?

[spikerS]

Originally posted by Mibz
I get no hits, even going down to "Calgary Brewmasters". Maybe it just takes a while to index.

My buddy and I have been waffling on making our own wine. Do you have any kit recommendations?

It might take a few mins to index, i just made it a few mins ago.

as for kits, looking back, i think i would do it over again an buy individual parts, and get some better quality products, as it can affect your product.

to get started all you need equipment wise is:

23L ITALIAN glass carboy. Plastic ones over time will leech chemicals into your wine, so glass is the way to go

large primary fermentor, plastic is ok here, as wine is usually in it for a relatively short period of time, just make sure it is food grade plastic.

Hydrometer

Long handled spoon

racking cane and tubing to siphon the wine between the carboy and primary fermentor

air lock and rubber bung

sulphite and bleach powders for cleaning and sterilizing

bottle brush for cleaning equipment.

and that is all you need to start with. when it comes time to bottle you will need a few other things like:

corker

corks

bottles


you will proably spend about 30% more by buying the pieces individually, but the kits are good, but they have lower quality parts in them.

[spikerS]

also, try this link for the FB group. when I get home tonight, I will finish setting up the group and posting a bunch of things up.
Calgary home brewmasters and vinters UNITE!

[Mitsu3000gt]

Thanks for the info Spikers. Looks cheap enough to try for sure!

[TurboMedic]

I'm a home brewer, have 3 beers in bottles at the moment......A milk stout (standard stout modded with lactose), a regular lager, and an apricot wheat.......Just about to start a Traditional Ale clone, just gotta get motivated.

I use Grolsch bottles for all of mine, amassed about 160 bottles thus far, so make a few batches, wait till they're drank up a bunch, and then start a new one so I have a few different kinds on the go.....

As for bottle conditioning, you can do an extra rack from your carboy to get rid of most of that sediment, as long as you know every time you do something to your beer you risk contamination.......Its not like wine where you can bulk condition it unfortunately..

I usually don't touch my beers for about a year after I bottle them, they get better with age (to an extent, they will turn eventually). I had a bottle of 9 year old chocolate stout that was jaw droppingly good...then one day a couple months later they all went to crap.....

[spikerS]

Originally posted by TurboMedic
As for bottle conditioning, you can do an extra rack from your carboy to get rid of most of that sediment, as long as you know every time you do something to your beer you risk contamination.......Its not like wine where you can bulk condition it unfortunately..

That is some really good advice! The more you transfer your products from 1 carboy to another, you expose your product to oxygen which can turn your product as well. according to producers 80% of the time that a beer or wine spoils is from contamination.

When starting, or transfering, it is REALLY important to make sure everything is VERY clean, and do not use soap, especially with plastic fermentors and plastic carboys. the plastic will hold soap particles and expose your wine and beer to them. It is best to use sulphite and bleach (pink stuff) to clean everything.

[Graham_A_M]

On my third batch with the MR. Beer home brewery kit. So far Im not impressed, the first batch was great, but it was only 3.5-4 % beer. I have the latest batch up to around 5-6% where I like it but it isn't the best tasting stuff. (Most likely a contamination issue though, so I shouldn't judge it just yet)

I know the guys at Grapes to Glass in Shawnessy. They really know wtf their talking about, so whenever I have questions I go to them.

Just a quick question, I bought a hydrometer for measuring alcohol content, but how do you use the fucking thing?

[spikerS]

Originally posted by Graham_A_M

Just a quick question, I bought a hydrometer for measuring alcohol content, but how do you use the fucking thing?

well, beside the SG reading, you have another table to PA or potential alcohol. I don't have one right beside me, so i know these numbers will be off.

If you initial SG reading is like 1.100, you have a PA of ~15% if I remember right. If you let it ferment over time, and get it to a SG of like 0.990 your PA should be ~-3.5%

so, you would subtract those 2 numbers together to get your final PA, in this case it would be (15)-(-3.5) to get a final PA of 18.5%. but the problem with that is, is that wine yeast will be killed off if the alcohol content gets about ~14%. I will research that tonight and see if i can clear that part up.

[Mibz]

Any material preference for the spoon, or is that being too nitpicky?

Maybe I'll stop by Grapes to Glass next time I hit up Mucho Burrito :P

[spikerS]

Originally posted by Mibz
Any material preference for the spoon, or is that being too nitpicky?

Lol, i think you are being too picky there. as long as the spoon is long enough to reach the bottom of what ever you are fermenting in, you should be golden. The spoons I use are all food grade plastic.

[canadian_hustla]

added!

I will lurk for now, but I am hoping I will get into it!

[TurboMedic]

Originally posted by spikers


That is some really good advice! The more you transfer your products from 1 carboy to another, you expose your product to oxygen which can turn your product as well. according to producers 80% of the time that a beer or wine spoils is from contamination.

When starting, or transfering, it is REALLY important to make sure everything is VERY clean, and do not use soap, especially with plastic fermentors and plastic carboys. the plastic will hold soap particles and expose your wine and beer to them. It is best to use sulphite and bleach (pink stuff) to clean everything.

And careful with Metabisulphate, its terrible to inhale the fumes of......Keep some in a spray bottle to spray sanitize some harder to clean parts....


Annnnnd when you don't use your carboys, clean them and sanitize them, throw about a litre or 2 of metabisulphate into the bottom, throw an airlock on it and instead of water use metabisulphate in it aswell and then your carboy should be good and clean and ready to use after a rinse! Saves you a step in the process and carboys are a biatch to clean.........The fumes alone should be good to keep things sterile...

[Kritafo]

http://www.thehomevintner.com/

Paul is awesome.

Both of these guys have been doing this forever.

http://www.thevineyard.ca/

Tom is very good as well.

Curious to know if anyone here does Mead? we are planning on ours after our berries are ready in June.

[logi]

Originally posted by spikers




I have not gone as far as to try to add citrus or anything to beers yet, but as for my wine, it is the first ingredient to go in. Currently making ~25L of straight pear wine.

a buddy and i have tried to add fruit into our homebrew. we let it ferment all together. we read theres 2 ways at 2 points you can add the flavour as you do the inital fermentation or when bottling you put the flavor in first the bottle it up.

when we added it in all together at the intial stage it worked out pretty well we used raspberries and pom juice and you could taste it jus not very strong which was good.

[theken]

I have made both. My wine was amazing. My beer I did not care for. I would rather buy beer

[cdnsir]

Someone gave me a tin of beer yeast(?) as a gag gift. I have zero use for it, you guys can have it if you want. It's for an Australian Lager and it's made by these guys.

http://www.beermakers.com.au/