Beer Homebrewing

[jonctd]

If anybody takes the time to brew your own beer, where do you get your ingredients?
I am looking at william WEIZENBEER BREWING KIT.
I have all the hardware(from a friend)
I have the fermenting bucket,bubbler, wort chiller,ss pots,bottle tree,caps,capper, thermometers, hydrometers, etc.
I am just beginning so a simple complete kit is what I'm looking for.
Oh what kind of sanitizer should I get?

[Dennis]

Don't you have a local (or semi-local) homebrew shop? There are at least two within 25 miles of me and I live in a pretty small town. That is where I got my ingredients from. You might also contact a microbrewer if you have one near you as well.

Dennis

[Namdnas]

I recommend Steve at Blackstone Valley Brewing Supllies. He's local to me, and I've been friends with him for a long time. He really, really knows his beer. Apparently, they haven't got the web site up yet, but it's coming.

Give him a call, explain to him what you've got for equipment, and talk about what you'd like to brew. I'd guess he can put the ingredients together for you and ship them out. I get all my recipes from him. Some are his, some well known and some are mine. He stocks and grinds the grains, and supplies to many guys who do full sparge/mash brewing. I am a less serious brewer, so use liquid extracts, but I digress. Either way, I'm sure you can discuss your way into a recipe you like. His prices are great too. I am in no way affiliated with him financially, though I occasionally get a free beer or two when I walk into the shop. Tell him John from the Porkettas sent you (Porkettas are a local thing, but suffice it to say much more beer, garlic, potatoes and pork than you should ever consume). It's a small place, but on any given night, there's a bunch of guys in the shop drinking his or their own homebrews. A nice drop-by atmosphere. He's not open on game nights during football season.

also, I just realized you're in Mass. Might be close enough for a drive depending where in Mass...

Regards,
John

Blackstone Valley Brewing Supllies
407 Park Ave
Woonsocket, RI 02895
(401) 765-3830

I found a brief link (http://local.yahoo.com/details?id=10315207) about them via Google

[MaduroMan_wcp]

Williams has a big following with my home brewer amigos....
check out their web site, they have scads of info for 1st time brewers.

[scoopster]

Agreed with all the advice above - go local if you can. If not there are a lot of decent on-line suppliers.

I dearly miss St Pats of Texas. They only sell stuff for big operations these days.

I can vouch for Beer & Wine Hobby in Woburn, MA (http://www.beer-wine.com/). They are in my backyard but also have a pretty good on-line operation as well. Great people.

[ratcheer]

Is there still a Zymurgy magazine? If so, they will have tons of info on where to get stuff.

Tim

[AACJ]

I have one by my house called "The Weekend Brewer." The guy there really knows his stuff and always has something brewing in some stage or another on display at his shop. The only problem is he is the only person there and if he is busy helping another customer (usually a new homebrewer), it could be 1/2 hour or more before he can even sell me what I need. He really wants to make sure his customer knows what they are doing, something I respect him for. But I know to go in there during the slow times in the morning and I will usually be the only customer there.

[jonctd]

I have wanted to get to my local home brewing store.(about 45 minute drive) but it's been 2 months since I acquired my kit and haven't had time to get there, that's why I was thinking about ordering it.

My favorite beer is Dunkelweizen, but may start out with a stout or porter first.
I will call a few places and go re read my Williams catalog.
Just wanted to get your opinions, they haven't steered me wrong with shaving stuff.
:biggrin:

[HlSheppard]

My local store is "Cap n Cork," however I'll second Williams!

[tsv]

I can recommend Great Fermentations in Indianapolis IN. Great people great products. I brewed their Monty Python Pale Ale, Spectacular! Here is a link to their sight:

http://www.greatfermentations.com/home.asp

Good Luck with your brew!

[Musky]

Northern Brewer and Midwest supply are my suppliers of choice. I have also used Homebrew Heaven and Texas Homebrew Supply for sacks of grain on sale. As for sanitizer I highly recommend StarSan, do not fear the foam it only needs about 2 minutes of contact time. Also use PBW for cleaning pots and carboys.

Just brewed a British Pale Ale this weekend!

Cheers,

Nate

[Namdnas]

Another related suggestion. IMHO, If you can, go local and get wet yeast. Blackston carries White Labs, but there must be others. They cost a few bucks more than dry packets, but I can I have had much better luck with them. By luck, I mean no bad or off-tasting brews. I don't know if wet yeast ships well, you'd have to ask. - John

[HawgFlies]

I usally shop locally, but I have had good luck with www.morebeer.com
I also agree with using wet yeast, I've had better luck with it. MoreBeer will ship wet yeast. They will also reccomend which yeast to use with a particular kit.

[_JP_]

I have never had a problem with any dry yeast that I used. I would pitch it into a cup or so of cooled wort while the rest of the batch was cooling down from the boil.

[Justme-]

Try http://www.home-brew.com/
Strange Brew in Marlboro.

[WildBill]

I get all my equipment and kits from Williams Brewing online.
I've done 2 batches already.
Weizen is next.
My friends can't believe I made it- The beer is awesome!

[FloppyShoes]

Local's the way to go. I have found the richest kits actually have the pellets of hops in the malt. Check out http://www.brew-monkey.com/ they have local listings and such I think.

[_JP_]

Hops in pellet form is good. Whole fresh hops is even better, the smell of them is awesome! I still remember the weekend when I stayed overnight in a Schloss (castle) in Rotenburg, Germany. The hill that the Schloss was on top of was covered with wild hops. Ahh... the smell of it! :001_tt1:

[Frank7580]

Hi Jon,

I'm a bit late in responding and there is a lot of good advice that's already been posted. Don't be afraid to give brewing a shot. It's a lot of fun and the product that you turn out will almost always rival what you can purchase.

Stouts and other dark ales are a good place to start. These styles are very forgiving of mistakes, should you make any during the brewing process. However, you should always brew your preference... if you want to go for a dunkelweizen do it, you will be pleased. If you'll permit me I have a bit of advice on this one. If you enjoy that tangy, sour-ish, yeasty flavor in your weizens make sure that you get your fermentation temperatures up into the mid 70s. I just finished a Barvarian hefe weizen and kept it going between 72 and 75 degrees for the entire ferment... It's the first time that I've gotten those yeast flavors to develop.

Also, you might want to check out this site (http://forum.northernbrewer.com/). There's a lot of good knowledge on this board if you can weed through some of the trash.

Happy brewing.

[jonctd]

Hi Jon,

I'm a bit late in responding and there is a lot of good advice that's already been posted. Don't be afraid to give brewing a shot. It's a lot of fun and the product that you turn out will almost always rival what you can purchase.

Stouts and other dark ales are a good place to start. These styles are very forgiving of mistakes, should you make any during the brewing process. However, you should always brew your preference... if you want to go for a dunkelweizen do it, you will be pleased. If you'll permit me I have a bit of advice on this one. If you enjoy that tangy, sour-ish, yeasty flavor in your weizens make sure that you get your fermentation temperatures up into the mid 70s. I just finished a Barvarian hefe weizen and kept it going between 72 and 75 degrees for the entire ferment... It's the first time that I've gotten those yeast flavors to develop.

Also, you might want to check out this site (http://forum.northernbrewer.com/). There's a lot of good knowledge on this board if you can weed through some of the trash.

Happy brewing.
Frank,
I will give the warmer temp a try!
thanks for the link! :thumbup:

[johnmw1]

Just out of curiosity, what % of alcohol do your beers run at? From memory when I was home brewing it used to be about 5-7% alcohol content here in Oz. Can you import beer making supplies from different countries for different types of beers?

Cheers
John

[Frank7580]

Howdy John,

With home brewing you really have the freedom to run the gamut regarding how strong you want to make your brews (within reason... many yeasts will not survive long in a very high alcohol environment).

Of course brewing higher alcohol or higher gravity beers has its drawbacks. You need much more base malt to start with which raises the cost (especially with extract brewing). You need more yeast cells to complete the fermentation which often adds another step in the brewing process. Additionally, higher gravity beers also need to be aged longer than average strength beers in order to reduce some of the harsh flavors that are usually present in young, strong beers.

I made a good malty IPA that weighed in at around 7.2% ABV. This was brewed back in January and the beer is still improving noticeably every few weeks that it sits. The latest beer that I brewed, (two weeks ago) will end up around 5.5% ABV and should be ready to drink by the end of April. Everyone has their preference but I think the "sweet spot" between great flavor and short aging is between 5.5% - 6.0% ABV.

[Namdnas]

A corollary to that is using lower temperatures. If you can count on a few months where an area of the house is going to be in the 40s. Breezeways, garages, etc... come to mind, then you can make a try at lagers as well. They ferment at lower temperatures, so brewing them during the winter works well. - John