Thanks for this nice demonstration. I want to build a gallery of these setups with different sorts of beer up on my kitchen shelfs. This seems to be the only way to prepare some "isotonic" drinks in summertime, when it's got warm outside. As long, as there are no instant beers, to prepare ASAP .... 😁 Cheers from next door Schleswig-Holstein (Germany).
If you have a lemonade jar with a tap at home, you could use this as a fermenter. When the beer is done just put a piece of hose on the tap (it should reach the bottom of the bottle) and fill your bottles. That way you might reduce the oxigen 😊😊
Yes, definitely. 👍 Strangely, I don't have anything like that, other than my purpose bought brewing equipment, otherwise I might have done something like that. But that is kind of the reason that I made this video. It's to show that with just a couple of good ideas like yours, anyone can start brewing very cheaply. Good to hear from you. 🍺
Thanks for the question. In theory, you can add any yeast at all. Beer, cider, wine, mead and bread yeast will all ferment successfully. However, all yeasts have very different tastes, and you may end up with a bit of an unusual tasting beer. There are a number of wine yeasts that are suitable for beer, and some homebrewers use them interchangeably. So I guess the answer is yes, you can use it quite successfully, but if it's the wrong strain, it may not be the ideal taste for beer.
I inherited a whole bunch [several hundred pounds] of cracked [and dead] wheat that can not be sprouted [for malting]. Is it possible to malt the wheat by any other means since it is dead? [like adding packaged enzymes, or adding it on top of malted out grains] It would be a shame to have no use for it, since there is so much of it. I can grind it into a flour, or leave it coarse, whichever would work best [I realize that making a flour to it will make it really hard to strain, but not impossible, and I am not worried about the bran husk flavor, because I prefer that, personally], and I realize that it is a lot higher protein than barley or even a soft white wheat, so settling will be somewhat slower, but this too is fine. I just was hoping that maybe something like 'beano' or the addition of regularly malted barley would do to have enzymes to malt out the wheat. ~( 'w')/
It's not possible to 'malt' that wheat, but it is certainly possible to mash it. Beer such as Hefeweizen uses around 50% unmalted wheat. As long as you have around 50 % of something like pale malt or pilsner malt, then they will provide enough enzymes to convert the wheat starches to the required fermentable sugars. If you're really concerned, then mash for longer than the usual 60 minutes, but generally as long as your main malt has enough diastatic power, then 60 mins will work fine. Just because the wheat is cracked, doesn't mean it is crushed, so you may still need to run it through a grain mill, for brewing purposes. (don't mill it to powder, it'll cause all sorts of problems with a stuck mash) It is possible to use amylase powders to convert an entire grain bill of un-malted grain. I have no experience in this, but I know my distilling friends use it on a regular basis. You'll find plenty of information on distilling forums. One thing to be careful going down this route for beer is, many amylase powders are VERY aggressive, and will convert everything to simple sugars. This can lead to problems of beer tasting very thin, and lacking body. A really interesting question, I hope I've pointed you in a direction to help.
@@brewandbuildIs this amylase powder readily available in sufficient quantities that one need not buy containers of it every time they want to do a batch? While I do not know how large of a batch I will end up doing, I do have a jacketed stainless steel 30 gallon pressure vessel I can regulate the temperature in, and it has an observation port at the bottom, several inlet and outlet ports, a boltable lid, and a place to put a stirring mechanism up through the bottom. I was thinking maybe set up this container with the ingredients and set it to whatever heat is needed until it is done doing its thing [I suppose when one wants to check its brix?] because then I could either open drain, or add an inline filter, then reintroduce it to ferment, not sure. About 17 years ago, I mixed up some whole rolled oats that I had toasted, with some regular refined sugar, some brewer's yeast, and some yeast nutrient in a similar sized [about 25 gallons] HDPE berrel, in the basement of a house I was renting at the time. It made good 180 proof, but I never tried making beer out of it. While I can get sugar all day, I wanted to see if I could get into making actual beer, and I have so much of this stuff, I figure it can't hurt to try. Also, I can grind this wheat much finer if that is needed. Thank you for those pointers. 2 other questions would be: 1, if one wanted to toast the wheat, would they do that before malting, or after, and 2, would it be okay to add a milk caramel to a beer mixture? [I have 20 pounds of milk caramel from whey processing]
That 30 gal vessel sounds like it would make a good fermenter. Shouldn't need the stirring mech for brewing though. The amylase powder is in small sachets, and also in large containers. Which type you would need is getting way outside my realm of experience, and would require some careful research on your side before trying one. It sounds like an interesting project, but you might find the trial and error of trying to get a good finished product, is fairly time consuming, and may not be worth the trouble. But as I say, it will definitely be interesting along the way. As for toasting the wheat, you won't be able to malt it anyway, so you'll be toasting the product as you have it now I guess. The conversion stage will be done during the mash with the amylase, or with another base malt (in the case of something like a Hefeweizen) The milk caramel will be able to be used (I think, although I don't know the exact make-up of your caramel), but there are two problems I can potentially see. 1. There will be lactose in there. lactose will not ferment by most yeasts, so the caramel will stay sweet and could easily overpower the beer. I would say use with restraint at first. 2. If there are any fats left in the caramel then it will destroy any potential for head retention. Just my thoughts.....
hey your videos got me into brewing but i did 5 batches now but all of them tasted disgusting when i bottled them, and it doesnt seem to change over time
Oh no Sebastian, for me, that's terrible news. I'd love for you to have success here. Are you brewing in a bottle like this video, or are you using other equipment? Why is it disgusting? Give me an idea of what's wrong with what you're producing? Too bitter, too sweet, tasting off, sour, muddy, stale? Let's see if we can diagnose this a little.
@@brewandbuild thank you for the response. I brewing in a 10liter pot. The taste is like Desinfektion and also stale like it is very old, but also it has a strong yeast taste and sour. The worst thing is the lingering aftertaste in the mouth that doesn't go away. Maybe too much Oxygen in the fermenter because I'm making only a 5liter batch and too much light because my first tries were in a 10l pet bottle.
Phew, ok.... there sounds like you may have a few different problems contributing to this. I'll start by saying that if you are brewing in a bottle like this video shows, then there are limits to how far it can be taken. My brew worked because I kept the bottle size small, and this allows keeping the air out while pouring into beer bottles. The bigger the bottle, the harder it becomes to pour in one go, and not mix too much air (oxygen) when bottling. If you are no longer trying to use a drink bottle to ferment, then ignore the above. It does sound like there is a problem with oxygen exposure somewhere. That will cause a stale and cardboard type taste. It is important to mix air/oxygen into the wort at the time you are adding yeast, after this point however, oxygen is the enemy. When fermenting, keep all air out, never open the top to check the beer etc. When bottling, you need to eliminate splashing as much as possible. The really big problem seems to be the sour taste. This would indicate that you are getting an infection in the beer. It could be a scratch in the plastic of your fermentor, or maybe that you are not sanitising the fermentor properly. We all end up using brewing cleaners such as PBW or ChemClean, as they will easily clean off old brewing deposits and dirt. However you can clean successfully with dish detergent for a good many brews before the dirt will build up, but only if you can use a sponge on it. If it's in a bottle, then it's hard to rub clean. PBW/ChemClean will clean just by soaking and shaking. Cleaning is only one part. After things are clean, everything must get sanitised. Sterilised and sanitised are different. So, boiling your equipment will sterilise it for example, but as soon as it cools, it could get bacteria land on it, so it is not sanitary. This is where the no rinse sanitiser is necessary. Even if bacteria lands on something that has been sanitised, it will not survive. If you are sanitising already, then ignore the above. However, if you have a scratch inside your fermentor, you may never get the infection out, it's too well ingrained. The disinfectant taste may be the same infection, or it might be your water. A medicinal or disinfectant taste will develop if you have high amounts of chlorine in your tap water. Some water companies will put large amounts of chlorine at times in the water system. If this is the case, then boiling the water before brewing with it should remove that. The chlorine could also come from a chlorine based cleaning product you are using on your equipment. If this is the case, rinse it off VERY thoroughly. The last point I can make from your information is, it sounds like you are exposing the brew to light. The hops in beer do not like light, and direct sun exposure can cause 'skunking' in beer. A nasty taste and smell. You might have noticed I use a cardboard cover around my bottles to ferment. In my 'proper' fermentors, I also cover them with dark towels, or I ferment in a dark room. Light can ruin beer. I hope I have made some sense here. I've been up since 4am for work today, so I could be a bit confusing. If you have more questions, don't hesitate to ask. I would love for you to brew a good batch of beer.
@@brewandbuild Thank you for the elaborate answer. My kettle is 10Liters so I´m getting a 5 to 7 Liter Batch out of that. I got a Plastic Canister that is food graded and easier to clean now and can hold 10 Liters. Does it matter if it is to big for a 5 Liter Batch? Yes I´ll clean and rinse more thoroughly and i got star san to sanitise. For the oxygen i guess i´ll have to get an autosiphon, seems to best the best option and if i get it for under 15 € not too espensive. The water company gives out information about the chlorine and other stuff levels and chlorine is at 7 so super low i think, but better safe then sorry. I will boil it before or buy canisters. The new fermenter is not see through but ill just put a blanket around it to be sure. I´ll use Kveik Voss yeast so extra warmth cant hurt. Thank you for all your help and input. Ill try to improve all points. I think i can also borrow a refractometer from a microbrewery near by
It sounds like you are on the right track. I don't find the extra headspace to be a problem in a fermentor. I usually ferment 18 litres in 20 litre fermentors. However, if I think it might create a lot of krausen and blow off a lot of foam, then I ferment that 18 litres in a 35 litre fermentor instead. I never notice any significant flavour difference. Kveik is a good plan if you are in really warm temperatures. If your previous yeast was being fermented too warm, then you would have some harsh fusil alcohol tastes, but it still should not be sour or disinfectant like. Keep me posted how you get on.....
It's a good question, but if you are actually meaning "boil the grains", then the grains can't be boiled. At least they can't while we're converting the starches to sugar. The enzymes in the grains are the things doing the conversion for us, this happens roughly between 60°c - 75°c. Once we raise the temperature above that, the enzymes denature, and we get left with non-fermentable starches. You could just hold the temperature between those values in one big pot on the stove, and then strain that, as you say. That is essentially what we would call "boil in the bag". The reason I didn't do that, is that perhaps people don't have two big pots, one big enough to hold all the grain, plus water. I also did it this way, as it is sort of closer to how traditional 3 vessel brewing would be performed. Many ways to skin the cat.....
🙂Yes this would be a bad idea I'm afraid. I think you'd be very disappointed with the results. It's more like giving the grains a nice temperature controlled bath, rather than cooking them.
ok so ill cook in my pressure cooker pot with out the lid, add some hops then strain and cool it. lob it in my 6l water bottle add some yeast and try and make some hose water thing you did and hope for the best then lol. can I add some more water to the strained wort to get like the last dreg n whatnot of it out or is this a bad idea too? really apricate your replies thanks mate
Thanks for this nice demonstration. I want to build a gallery of these setups with different sorts of beer up on my kitchen shelfs. This seems to be the only way to prepare some "isotonic" drinks in summertime, when it's got warm outside.
As long, as there are no instant beers, to prepare ASAP .... 😁
Cheers from next door Schleswig-Holstein (Germany).
I love the sound of a gallery of setups. 🍺🍺🍺🍺
Maybe one day someone will perfect the instant beer powder, we can dream...
Good to hear from you.
Great video! This is as basic as it gets without compromising anything big. Great for beginners who want to try all-grain.
Thanks for that. I'm hoping there's someone out there that might get something useful out of it.
If you have a lemonade jar with a tap at home, you could use this as a fermenter. When the beer is done just put a piece of hose on the tap (it should reach the bottom of the bottle) and fill your bottles. That way you might reduce the oxigen 😊😊
Yes, definitely. 👍
Strangely, I don't have anything like that, other than my purpose bought brewing equipment, otherwise I might have done something like that.
But that is kind of the reason that I made this video. It's to show that with just a couple of good ideas like yours, anyone can start brewing very cheaply.
Good to hear from you. 🍺
Nice way to get someone hooked!
😂 If it helps someone find a new hobby, then I guess I could be blamed ....
Great Video.. Can i add Settled Yeast of wine for Beer..
Thanks for the question.
In theory, you can add any yeast at all. Beer, cider, wine, mead and bread yeast will all ferment successfully. However, all yeasts have very different tastes, and you may end up with a bit of an unusual tasting beer. There are a number of wine yeasts that are suitable for beer, and some homebrewers use them interchangeably.
So I guess the answer is yes, you can use it quite successfully, but if it's the wrong strain, it may not be the ideal taste for beer.
I inherited a whole bunch [several hundred pounds] of cracked [and dead] wheat that can not be sprouted [for malting].
Is it possible to malt the wheat by any other means since it is dead? [like adding packaged enzymes, or adding it on top of malted out grains]
It would be a shame to have no use for it, since there is so much of it.
I can grind it into a flour, or leave it coarse, whichever would work best [I realize that making a flour to it will make it really hard to strain, but not impossible, and I am not worried about the bran husk flavor, because I prefer that, personally], and I realize that it is a lot higher protein than barley or even a soft white wheat, so settling will be somewhat slower, but this too is fine.
I just was hoping that maybe something like 'beano' or the addition of regularly malted barley would do to have enzymes to malt out the wheat. ~( 'w')/
It's not possible to 'malt' that wheat, but it is certainly possible to mash it.
Beer such as Hefeweizen uses around 50% unmalted wheat. As long as you have around 50 % of something like pale malt or pilsner malt, then they will provide enough enzymes to convert the wheat starches to the required fermentable sugars.
If you're really concerned, then mash for longer than the usual 60 minutes, but generally as long as your main malt has enough diastatic power, then 60 mins will work fine.
Just because the wheat is cracked, doesn't mean it is crushed, so you may still need to run it through a grain mill, for brewing purposes. (don't mill it to powder, it'll cause all sorts of problems with a stuck mash)
It is possible to use amylase powders to convert an entire grain bill of un-malted grain. I have no experience in this, but I know my distilling friends use it on a regular basis. You'll find plenty of information on distilling forums.
One thing to be careful going down this route for beer is, many amylase powders are VERY aggressive, and will convert everything to simple sugars. This can lead to problems of beer tasting very thin, and lacking body.
A really interesting question, I hope I've pointed you in a direction to help.
@@brewandbuildIs this amylase powder readily available in sufficient quantities that one need not buy containers of it every time they want to do a batch?
While I do not know how large of a batch I will end up doing, I do have a jacketed stainless steel 30 gallon pressure vessel I can regulate the temperature in, and it has an observation port at the bottom, several inlet and outlet ports, a boltable lid, and a place to put a stirring mechanism up through the bottom.
I was thinking maybe set up this container with the ingredients and set it to whatever heat is needed until it is done doing its thing [I suppose when one wants to check its brix?] because then I could either open drain, or add an inline filter, then reintroduce it to ferment, not sure.
About 17 years ago, I mixed up some whole rolled oats that I had toasted, with some regular refined sugar, some brewer's yeast, and some yeast nutrient in a similar sized [about 25 gallons] HDPE berrel, in the basement of a house I was renting at the time.
It made good 180 proof, but I never tried making beer out of it.
While I can get sugar all day, I wanted to see if I could get into making actual beer, and I have so much of this stuff, I figure it can't hurt to try.
Also, I can grind this wheat much finer if that is needed.
Thank you for those pointers.
2 other questions would be: 1, if one wanted to toast the wheat, would they do that before malting, or after, and 2, would it be okay to add a milk caramel to a beer mixture? [I have 20 pounds of milk caramel from whey processing]
That 30 gal vessel sounds like it would make a good fermenter. Shouldn't need the stirring mech for brewing though.
The amylase powder is in small sachets, and also in large containers. Which type you would need is getting way outside my realm of experience, and would require some careful research on your side before trying one. It sounds like an interesting project, but you might find the trial and error of trying to get a good finished product, is fairly time consuming, and may not be worth the trouble. But as I say, it will definitely be interesting along the way.
As for toasting the wheat, you won't be able to malt it anyway, so you'll be toasting the product as you have it now I guess. The conversion stage will be done during the mash with the amylase, or with another base malt (in the case of something like a Hefeweizen)
The milk caramel will be able to be used (I think, although I don't know the exact make-up of your caramel), but there are two problems I can potentially see.
1. There will be lactose in there. lactose will not ferment by most yeasts, so the caramel will stay sweet and could easily overpower the beer. I would say use with restraint at first.
2. If there are any fats left in the caramel then it will destroy any potential for head retention.
Just my thoughts.....
hey your videos got me into brewing but i did 5 batches now but all of them tasted disgusting when i bottled them, and it doesnt seem to change over time
Oh no Sebastian, for me, that's terrible news. I'd love for you to have success here.
Are you brewing in a bottle like this video, or are you using other equipment?
Why is it disgusting? Give me an idea of what's wrong with what you're producing? Too bitter, too sweet, tasting off, sour, muddy, stale? Let's see if we can diagnose this a little.
@@brewandbuild thank you for the response. I brewing in a 10liter pot. The taste is like Desinfektion and also stale like it is very old, but also it has a strong yeast taste and sour. The worst thing is the lingering aftertaste in the mouth that doesn't go away. Maybe too much Oxygen in the fermenter because I'm making only a 5liter batch and too much light because my first tries were in a 10l pet bottle.
Phew, ok.... there sounds like you may have a few different problems contributing to this.
I'll start by saying that if you are brewing in a bottle like this video shows, then there are limits to how far it can be taken. My brew worked because I kept the bottle size small, and this allows keeping the air out while pouring into beer bottles. The bigger the bottle, the harder it becomes to pour in one go, and not mix too much air (oxygen) when bottling.
If you are no longer trying to use a drink bottle to ferment, then ignore the above.
It does sound like there is a problem with oxygen exposure somewhere. That will cause a stale and cardboard type taste. It is important to mix air/oxygen into the wort at the time you are adding yeast, after this point however, oxygen is the enemy. When fermenting, keep all air out, never open the top to check the beer etc. When bottling, you need to eliminate splashing as much as possible.
The really big problem seems to be the sour taste. This would indicate that you are getting an infection in the beer. It could be a scratch in the plastic of your fermentor, or maybe that you are not sanitising the fermentor properly. We all end up using brewing cleaners such as PBW or ChemClean, as they will easily clean off old brewing deposits and dirt.
However you can clean successfully with dish detergent for a good many brews before the dirt will build up, but only if you can use a sponge on it. If it's in a bottle, then it's hard to rub clean. PBW/ChemClean will clean just by soaking and shaking.
Cleaning is only one part. After things are clean, everything must get sanitised. Sterilised and sanitised are different. So, boiling your equipment will sterilise it for example, but as soon as it cools, it could get bacteria land on it, so it is not sanitary. This is where the no rinse sanitiser is necessary. Even if bacteria lands on something that has been sanitised, it will not survive.
If you are sanitising already, then ignore the above. However, if you have a scratch inside your fermentor, you may never get the infection out, it's too well ingrained.
The disinfectant taste may be the same infection, or it might be your water. A medicinal or disinfectant taste will develop if you have high amounts of chlorine in your tap water. Some water companies will put large amounts of chlorine at times in the water system. If this is the case, then boiling the water before brewing with it should remove that.
The chlorine could also come from a chlorine based cleaning product you are using on your equipment. If this is the case, rinse it off VERY thoroughly.
The last point I can make from your information is, it sounds like you are exposing the brew to light. The hops in beer do not like light, and direct sun exposure can cause 'skunking' in beer. A nasty taste and smell. You might have noticed I use a cardboard cover around my bottles to ferment. In my 'proper' fermentors, I also cover them with dark towels, or I ferment in a dark room. Light can ruin beer.
I hope I have made some sense here. I've been up since 4am for work today, so I could be a bit confusing.
If you have more questions, don't hesitate to ask. I would love for you to brew a good batch of beer.
@@brewandbuild Thank you for the elaborate answer. My kettle is 10Liters so I´m getting a 5 to 7 Liter Batch out of that. I got a Plastic Canister that is food graded and easier to clean now and can hold 10 Liters. Does it matter if it is to big for a 5 Liter Batch? Yes I´ll clean and rinse more thoroughly and i got star san to sanitise.
For the oxygen i guess i´ll have to get an autosiphon, seems to best the best option and if i get it for under 15 € not too espensive.
The water company gives out information about the chlorine and other stuff levels and chlorine is at 7 so super low i think, but better safe then sorry. I will boil it before or buy canisters.
The new fermenter is not see through but ill just put a blanket around it to be sure. I´ll use Kveik Voss yeast so extra warmth cant hurt.
Thank you for all your help and input. Ill try to improve all points. I think i can also borrow a refractometer from a microbrewery near by
It sounds like you are on the right track.
I don't find the extra headspace to be a problem in a fermentor. I usually ferment 18 litres in 20 litre fermentors. However, if I think it might create a lot of krausen and blow off a lot of foam, then I ferment that 18 litres in a 35 litre fermentor instead. I never notice any significant flavour difference.
Kveik is a good plan if you are in really warm temperatures. If your previous yeast was being fermented too warm, then you would have some harsh fusil alcohol tastes, but it still should not be sour or disinfectant like.
Keep me posted how you get on.....
cant u just boil the grains in one port then strain it?
It's a good question, but if you are actually meaning "boil the grains", then the grains can't be boiled. At least they can't while we're converting the starches to sugar.
The enzymes in the grains are the things doing the conversion for us, this happens roughly between 60°c - 75°c. Once we raise the temperature above that, the enzymes denature, and we get left with non-fermentable starches.
You could just hold the temperature between those values in one big pot on the stove, and then strain that, as you say. That is essentially what we would call "boil in the bag". The reason I didn't do that, is that perhaps people don't have two big pots, one big enough to hold all the grain, plus water. I also did it this way, as it is sort of closer to how traditional 3 vessel brewing would be performed.
Many ways to skin the cat.....
fantastic answer! thanks so much@@brewandbuild
so i thought about pressure cooking grains for 30 mins or so then straining. so this would be a bad idea then right?@@brewandbuild
🙂Yes this would be a bad idea I'm afraid. I think you'd be very disappointed with the results.
It's more like giving the grains a nice temperature controlled bath, rather than cooking them.
ok so ill cook in my pressure cooker pot with out the lid, add some hops then strain and cool it. lob it in my 6l water bottle add some yeast and try and make some hose water thing you did and hope for the best then lol. can I add some more water to the strained wort to get like the last dreg n whatnot of it out or is this a bad idea too? really apricate your replies thanks mate