Home Brewing

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bpgreen
Posts: 3871
Joined: January 3rd, 2009, 2:28 am
Location: Utah (Wasatch Front)
Grass Type: Western, Streambank, Crested wheatgrass in front (with blue grama added in the heckstrips), sheep fescue in back; strawberry clovetr in both
Lawn Size: 3000-5000
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Home Brewing

Post by bpgreen » November 29th, 2022, 2:19 pm

I mentioned spreading spent grains on the "what did you do on your lawn" thread, and it sparked some interest.

In order to keep that thread to lawncare, I decided to create a new thread for home brewing.

How many home brewers do we have here? Wine and mead makers can feel free to chime in.And if you're not a brewer, but you're interested in it, feel free to jump in.

I started with Mr Beer, which was basically open a can, add water and yeast, wait a few weeks and bottle.

Then I started buying LME(Liquid Malt Extract) in bulk at mt LHBS (Local Home Brew Store) and designing my own recipes.

Later, I started doing mini mashes, where I'd use LME for the bulk of the fermentables, but add some malted barley that I'd mash.

A few years ago, I bought an elecric system that allows me to mash in my kitchen, then do the hop boil in the same container. Brewing this way is called all grain.

I also grow my own hopw (but not nearly enough for all of my hops needs).

The last few batchess I've made have included wundergrains (basically leftovers, so kind of a mystery).

One side benefit of brewing all grain batches is that I use about 15 lbs of malted barley per batch and the spent grain (the grain after the sugars are converted and rinsed out) get spread on the lawn.

edslawn
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Re: Home Brewing

Post by edslawn » December 3rd, 2022, 9:41 pm

Great thread! I'm just a consumer, but curious.

bpgreen
Posts: 3871
Joined: January 3rd, 2009, 2:28 am
Location: Utah (Wasatch Front)
Grass Type: Western, Streambank, Crested wheatgrass in front (with blue grama added in the heckstrips), sheep fescue in back; strawberry clovetr in both
Lawn Size: 3000-5000
Level: Experienced

Re: Home Brewing

Post by bpgreen » December 3rd, 2022, 11:44 pm

edslawn wrote:
December 3rd, 2022, 9:41 pm
Great thread! I'm just a consumer, but curious.
By that, do you mean that you might like to try it yourself, or that you're curious about the process, or . . .?

How much do you want to know?

edslawn
Posts: 475
Joined: July 2nd, 2019, 9:22 pm
Location: South Central PA
Grass Type: Northern Mix
Lawn Size: 20000-1 acre
Level: Some Experience

Re: Home Brewing

Post by edslawn » December 5th, 2022, 12:46 pm

bpgreen wrote:
December 3rd, 2022, 11:44 pm
edslawn wrote:
December 3rd, 2022, 9:41 pm
Great thread! I'm just a consumer, but curious.
By that, do you mean that you might like to try it yourself, or that you're curious about the process, or . . .?

How much do you want to know?
Sorry, I meant curious about the possible content in this thread. I haven't brewed beer myself but know friends who have and it always seemed like a complex process. The Mr. Beer tip is interesting, so I am looking at this.

bpgreen
Posts: 3871
Joined: January 3rd, 2009, 2:28 am
Location: Utah (Wasatch Front)
Grass Type: Western, Streambank, Crested wheatgrass in front (with blue grama added in the heckstrips), sheep fescue in back; strawberry clovetr in both
Lawn Size: 3000-5000
Level: Experienced

Re: Home Brewing

Post by bpgreen » December 5th, 2022, 4:47 pm

It's actually not all that complex, but all grain and partial mash brewing are time consuming.


bpgreen
Posts: 3871
Joined: January 3rd, 2009, 2:28 am
Location: Utah (Wasatch Front)
Grass Type: Western, Streambank, Crested wheatgrass in front (with blue grama added in the heckstrips), sheep fescue in back; strawberry clovetr in both
Lawn Size: 3000-5000
Level: Experienced

Re: Home Brewing

Post by bpgreen » December 6th, 2022, 1:19 am

There's another system similar to Mr beer. Brewdemon.com.

Actually, brewdemon was started by former mr beer employees after coopers (an Australian company) bought mr beer. So it's probably closer to the kits I started with in terms of ingredients (but different equipment).

edslawn
Posts: 475
Joined: July 2nd, 2019, 9:22 pm
Location: South Central PA
Grass Type: Northern Mix
Lawn Size: 20000-1 acre
Level: Some Experience

Re: Home Brewing

Post by edslawn » December 6th, 2022, 11:58 pm

bpgreen wrote:
December 6th, 2022, 1:19 am
There's another system similar to Mr beer. Brewdemon.com.

Actually, brewdemon was started by former mr beer employees after coopers (an Australian company) bought mr beer. So it's probably closer to the kits I started with in terms of ingredients (but different equipment).
Brewdemon actually looks a little more interesting than mrbeer. I sent to my wife as a xmas gift idea!

Thanks for sharing!

bpgreen
Posts: 3871
Joined: January 3rd, 2009, 2:28 am
Location: Utah (Wasatch Front)
Grass Type: Western, Streambank, Crested wheatgrass in front (with blue grama added in the heckstrips), sheep fescue in back; strawberry clovetr in both
Lawn Size: 3000-5000
Level: Experienced

Re: Home Brewing

Post by bpgreen » December 7th, 2022, 1:46 am

edslawn wrote:
December 6th, 2022, 11:58 pm
bpgreen wrote:
December 6th, 2022, 1:19 am
There's another system similar to Mr beer. Brewdemon.com.

Actually, brewdemon was started by former mr beer employees after coopers (an Australian company) bought mr beer. So it's probably closer to the kits I started with in terms of ingredients (but different equipment).
Brewdemon actually looks a little more interesting than mrbeer. I sent to my wife as a xmas gift idea!

Thanks for sharing!
I hope it's ok to mention other (non lawn care) forums. If it's not allowed, feel free to delete the post and accept my apology.

There's a forum full of people who started with mrbeer years ago, and people who've gone with brewdemon more recently. Beer Borg. The name comes from the idea that once you start, you get hooked and are assimilated.

Feel free to join the forum and introduce yourself (you can just make a short post saying that you've asked for a kit for Christmas and you're looking forward to using it) before you actually get your present. There's a discount if you mention the Borg when you set up an account at brewdemon. You can get it after the fact, but it's easier if you do it when you sign up.

It has been pretty quiet recently, but it usually gets more active after Christmas as people get brewing kits as gifts.

Many of the people there have gone the same route I did, starting with the kits where you open the can, add yeast and water, then progressing to adding steeping grains and/or doing partial mashes, and eventually doing all grain. But we all still remember when we were using the prehopped extract kits and we all remember how many questions we had at the time. Some sites are less friendly to new brewers.

My username there is the same there as it is here.

edslawn
Posts: 475
Joined: July 2nd, 2019, 9:22 pm
Location: South Central PA
Grass Type: Northern Mix
Lawn Size: 20000-1 acre
Level: Some Experience

Re: Home Brewing

Post by edslawn » December 9th, 2022, 8:01 pm

Got it... I'll check it out.

bpgreen
Posts: 3871
Joined: January 3rd, 2009, 2:28 am
Location: Utah (Wasatch Front)
Grass Type: Western, Streambank, Crested wheatgrass in front (with blue grama added in the heckstrips), sheep fescue in back; strawberry clovetr in both
Lawn Size: 3000-5000
Level: Experienced

Re: Home Brewing

Post by bpgreen » January 15th, 2023, 3:28 am

So

Did Santa bring you a brewing system?

edslawn
Posts: 475
Joined: July 2nd, 2019, 9:22 pm
Location: South Central PA
Grass Type: Northern Mix
Lawn Size: 20000-1 acre
Level: Some Experience

Re: Home Brewing

Post by edslawn » January 18th, 2023, 9:03 pm

bpgreen wrote:
January 15th, 2023, 3:28 am
So

Did Santa bring you a brewing system?
No brewing system :no: ... plenty of good beer, though. I've got the brewing system on my wish list for upcoming birthday.


Image

Green
Posts: 6837
Joined: September 14th, 2012, 10:53 pm
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Grass Type: KBG, TTTF, TTPR, and FF (various mixtures)
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Re: Home Brewing

Post by Green » February 14th, 2023, 9:37 pm

bpgreen,

If you're on here lately and see this, I wanted to ask if you had any experience with the company "Morebeer.com". Apparently they also have some physical store locations. Asking because I'm looking at purchasing some Potassium Carbonate for use in a "home brew" Summer foliar lawn fertilizer. It looks like buying the dry compound costs a lot less than buying a gallon of fertilizer already bottled. And this company seems to have the best price on it. I saw some mixed reviews online in a beer-making forum, but more good than negative comments, and a lot of people like the company for consumables. (The ones who had issues were buying equipment, mostly.) Have you heard of this company? Thanks.

bpgreen
Posts: 3871
Joined: January 3rd, 2009, 2:28 am
Location: Utah (Wasatch Front)
Grass Type: Western, Streambank, Crested wheatgrass in front (with blue grama added in the heckstrips), sheep fescue in back; strawberry clovetr in both
Lawn Size: 3000-5000
Level: Experienced

Re: Home Brewing

Post by bpgreen » February 15th, 2023, 1:57 pm

I've bought quite a bit from them and always had good results. They have free shipping on most things for orders over $59 (I think that's the threshold, anyway; I stocked up awhile ago and haven't ordered recently).

If I remember correctly, they've got locations in different parts of the country, so shipping it's usually pretty quick. It can take longer if the locations near you ate out and they have to ship cross country.

Green
Posts: 6837
Joined: September 14th, 2012, 10:53 pm
Location: CT (Zone 6B)
Grass Type: KBG, TTTF, TTPR, and FF (various mixtures)
Lawn Size: 10000-20000
Level: Experienced

Re: Home Brewing

Post by Green » February 15th, 2023, 8:54 pm

Thank you for the experience!

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