Homebrewing

For xmas I splurged and got the anvil 10.5 gallon brew machine with all the bells and whistles. Still waiting on grains to ship since there isnt any good home brew places around me, or none that I found yet. Dying to give this thing a go.

The shit changed so much from back when I used to brew hardcore in the 90s. They have programs that scale your recipes to whatever size you want to brew. But I suggest getting a few used corny kegs, they can be had for like $50 ea and make home brewing so much easier. Plus now its all the rage of fermenting lagers under pressure at room temps, so a keg and a smaller batch of like 3 gal or so would be perfect for a fermentor, or just split up a 5 gallon recipe into 2 kegs to ferment under pressure. Then you can just serve the beer right out of the fermentor. They have little floaty things that draw the beer from the top. So you can get a perfect lager in like a few weeks instead of lagering the shit in your fridge for months and worrying about oxidation transferring from primary to secondary, infections etc.... And also fuck bottling, I got rid of bottles by my 3rd or 4th brew. Back then in the 90s they used to sell those used cornys for cheap as hell. I think I got 4 for like $100 used.

So drove my ass out like 1 hr to find the ONLY fucking brew store in the entire Detroit metro area. But I had to brew one out today. Anyway made a Blondie American ale. Had my kid help me, he seems to be all into it. We had to clean the shit out of the Anvil kit out of the box so it took a bit longer than it should. Pius we had to clean the shit out of our 6.5 gal carboy which has been sitting in the basement for the better part of 30 yrs.



Only problem is I dont have a hydrometer LOOOL. It was supposed to be delivered today by Amazon but they pushed it back till tomorrow. Oh well, I mashed at 152, checked PH and it was good, did a mash conversion test with iodine after 1 hr and it was all converted. Anvil did a great job at keeping mash at 152, it was amazing really. Its boiling right now. Only thing Is I will not know Original gravity and Final Gravity or the Alcohol content (Which is like the most important thing to know!!!!). But it should be close to the recipe which is 5% or thereabouts. But really I just wanted to test the system and see how shit worked. WhichIm impressed. Im only on 120v and the times were not that bad to get up to temps. 40 min for mash and about 50 min to get to boil from ash out temps. Which is not bad considering I didnt have to do shit other than set some temps on the control panel. Maybe in the future I will get a dedicated 240v circuit which will make this shit even faster.

The boil and mash volumes are fucked in the above recipe, I have to adjust that next time. The mash volume was like 4 gallons, I sparged with 170F 2 gallons to get 6 gallons pre boil. 90 min boil should end up at 5 gal or so. That felt good in the mash. So the ABV should be slightly higher if my efficiency was at 70% or greater. I also squeezed the mash with a plate to get more of the runnings out. So efficiency should be higher. I have been reading that at home brew type volumes people that brew in the bag squeeze the shit out of their bags with no discernible effects so I did this with my mash pipe.

Next time I will do the same recipe but instead of the mash pipe I will use the brew in the bag which came with my Anvil kit. See how thats different. Too bad I cant get the hydrometer redings to see the actual efficiency.

So turned out really nice. Can taste and smell the cascade hops with a little honey flavor of the grains. It’s only been in keg for 5 days so it still needs to clarify some more. But that’s noob shit, I don’t mind some yeast in my beer. Not bad for my first brew in like 25 yrs. By my calcs it should be about 5.6abv to 6.0abv.

Here is one I brewed up last weekend. Supposed to be a bud light clone for my wife. The trick in getting it to be a "light" beer with like 75% less carbs is to add 1/4 tsp of Amylase enzyme formula into the fermentor. Which supposedly breaks down all the left over starches into fermentable sugars. It supposedly makes the beer dry and crisp just like the "light" commercial beers.

Its been bubbling away for like 5 days now and still bubbling so its doing its thing. I will prob keg this thing up mid next week and let it lager for a few weeks. I hit the OG DEAD NUTZ on this brew since I measured it this time. So good to know my shit is working as intended. The Anvil system really makes shit EZ to brew.

Here is the recipe...


Instead of the lager yeast I used the US-05 ale yeast again, but I bought enough shit to make 2 batches so next up will be trying to really lager this shit. See which one she likes better. I have a feeling I will be brewing this stuff a lot.

Rod-138 said:

Hey dudes. I’m getting back into it and can bottle, but me neighbor bought mini kegs as an option. I don’t know how to do the C02 shit, but I heard it’s not bad, anyone have a link to a good beginners guide?

probably stick to bottles till then

Click to expand...

Not really difficult. Just need to get all the parts and lines to set it all up. First thing is the C02 tank. I got mine online brand new sale 5lb for $50, and the regulator was $50 more. But those are one time purchases. Next was filling the thing with co2, which I have an airgas place 3 miles away. Unfortunately they only do trade ins, so I had to trade in my brand new tank for a filled up used 5lb C02 canister. But I dont really care since I will trade that one in too, so who cares? The cost to trade in was like $20. Other places to fill them up is welding shops too. That will usually last you a good while. Even if youre brewing all the time you will get 6 mos to a year out of 5lb one.

Next up is all the other bits and pieses, the keg connectors, the lines and all that. You will have to investigate that yourself. They sell kits on amazon for the gas and the beer side. Which have all the connectors and shit.

You will have to pressure test the kegs. Put some pressure in them and start spraying star-san solution on all the connectors and the lid and see if you get any bubbles. If leaky you might need new seals. They sell seal kits on amazon. Then clean and sanitize the shit out of them using PBW and star-san.

Then I just transfer the beer into a sanitized keg, making sure not to splash the beer and introduce oxidation. Best way is to fill the damn thing up with star san and warm water like 1/2 way or more, shake the shit out of it, and just push the star-san out using the co2. Then depressurize it and the keg will be filled with Co2 so you can then transfer the beer into the keg knowing its filled with Co2 rather than o2. (C02 is heavier than air so it will naturally keep the keg filled).

Then it needs to get cold. So you will need some type of refrigeration. Some use old fridges, some use old box freezers. You want that shit as cold as it can get before freezing. I have my fridge set at like 34F. Then dial in your regulator to whatever you want your carbonation to be and the temp it will be at. They have charts online. Then set and forget for a week or two. Then to dispense you will need a 5 foot line and a spigot. Release the pressure, set pressure to like 7psi and dispense. First glass will prob have some settled yeast so thow it out, and then continue to pour glasses. when done make sure to set your PSI to wahtever your chart says so you keep it carbonated at right level.

Kegging was a seroious game changer with brewing beer at home. The bottleing thing got old REAL fast. You can still bottle some beers right out of the keg if you want. They sell special wands that fill the bottles with C02 first, then diepense the already carbonated beer into the bottles. Then all you do is cap the shit and done. Those wands cost like $50-$80 depending which one you get.

So my light pseudo lager has been carbing up for a week now. Its not cleared up yet but holy shit it worked. Final gravity was 1.002 which ends up being like 4.7% ABV and like ~5 carbs per 12 oz. That amylase shit worked! So pumped. Im getting a nose of light biscuit grains from the pilsner malt and it finishes with a nice biscuit flavor on the tongue along with that Hallertauer hop flavor.

The hopping of this recipe got fucked up because my cat ate a fucking hop pellet which dropped on the floor. The fucker got all sick, his temp shot up and he started panting and shit so after the boil stopped it sat there for a good 1-2 hours at a high temp while we were tending to the cat, taking him outside to cool down and shit. I had no idea that hops were toxic to pets. SO the bitterness is a bit higher than I wanted but its still really really good.

Dont worry, the cat is fine, but reading abut this shit online because like WTF? Right? Supposedly hops are highly toxic to cats and dogs. More dogs than cats because usually cats wont eat the shit but my cat is more like a dog and whatever drops in the kitchen hes trying it. So please be careful with hops and pets. The shit can kill your pet. I dont think my cat ate enough to fuck him up but we had to tend to him all evening, taking him outside in the brisk 5F air to cool down and shit. Then for the next week he was all fucked up sick, lethargic, but he ended up bouncing back to full. thank god!

So yeah the brew day was all fucked up at the end because kitty decided to partake in some light hopping but it all ended up good in the end.

Like i said, it needs one more week to clarify more, but I hate waiting, lol. But I think I will this time. Really really good beer. Its like a bud light but the gourmet version with 100% more flavor and aroma.

Next up was the lager version of this above beer. I brewed this Monday of this week and used the good ole 34/70 lager yeast, but did it at room temp which is about 66F. Here is the recipe...



I wanted this one to be a bit stronger than the 4.5% of the above so I added 1lb of vienna malt. Because why not, right? Other than the addition of the Vienna and the 34/70 lager, plus the finish hops as Saaz, it was basically the same as above.

OG was 1.046 and FG was 1.006 but I think its still fermenting a bit when I kegged it tonight. ABV as it stands right now is 5.3% but I think it will go lower still in the keg while conditioning. I started ferment at 68F, yeah I know, lager but fuck it, It started bubbling within 2 hours, and this was with dry Fermentis packet. It got up to 74F while high ferment Which is 2F more than they recommend of 72F max but whatever 34/70 is supposed to be a really clean yeast so well see. It fermented HARD for the first 3 days and then it slowed a around Wed and then it was kegged tonight, Sat. The room was filled with yeasty smells and bit of apple.

While kegging and taking FG, I tried it and it still had that apple type smell, so yeah its and off flavor, but I think it will clean up well with some conditioning.

But honestly, thinking back, the US-05 did really well on this recipe. And if you dont have the lagering temps of 55F or a pressure fermentation vessel, I think the way to go is just use the US-05 for this light beer. Yeah its not a TRUE lager, but honestly tasting it tonight I was really surprised how clean the above beer in my last post was and how crispy it endeed up being just like a lager.

I will give this a few weeks of lagering and see how it turns out. Either way its still beer and it will get drank in my house. So no worries.

So the keg of the good shit is gone! took all of like a half a week to kick that shit between my wife, the kid and I. So good and so cheap too. If you price out all the ingredients its like $20 for 5 gallons. Which is like 2 cases. Would be even cheaper if I used normal rice instead of brewers rice (already cerealized) and boiled it ahead of time and if I bought the whole 55LB of the pilsner malt. Prob less than $15 that way if not less. But whatever, its still cheap as hell if you buy it by the pound.

Anyway, got 2 more batches coming from online brew store. Hopefully will brew this up this weekend. I think this is my new house special. Easy to make, tastes better than ANY light beer you ever had. No hang overs or headaches either. Its quick to ferment and does not need any special ferment temp, just room temp. US-05 is the GOAT. that shit puts in some work and everything I brewed up so far is so clean tasting. No off flavors or yeasty phenols. Perfect for lighter style American beers.

The lager is still laggering for the next week or so but Im afraid im gonna tap that shit too. So hard to wait, lol.

Im thinking of using some wild black rice for this one time. It will still add a light flavor and sugars, but it will turn the beer a dark purple color, lol. Might be cool looking. A light American beer that looks like a Bock or Stout? I wonder how much of this color would translate to final beer?

The lager…
Took 2 weeks to mellow out but right now it’s perfect!