Home of the BrewNosers

So here is a question for you pros ...

As I mentioned on Saturday I've done Festa kits solely.
I have been adding my own flavours into their kits such as flavours to their wheat kit or my vanilla blonde lager I have made.

But where do I go to now?
It's not like I can just jump into grain brewing and making a mash and everything.
Not like I even have the equipment.

So what would be a good way to ween off the festa kits?

Partial grain. You can steep the grains in a bag, in a pot, on your stove (at the temp you want, so get a thermometer ~$5). Then take out the grains, bring it to a boil and add hops based on the style. 60 min hops will only add bitterness, whereas last min hops will carry more flavor (follow a recipe the first time). In the last few min, add your malt extract (adding the malt at flame-out will increase your hop utilization). Add it to your carboy then mix with cold water to bring to your volume. You will probably want to invest in a hydrometer too (~$6).

Good luck!

WARNING: If you are using glass, cool it down from a boil before you add it to your carboy... lost beer and shattered carboys are reasons to cry.

So do you mean not using a festa kit at all?
or is this in addition?
like mix the festa wort with what i boil?
and make like 2 carboys full?

No festa kit at all. Search for a partial grain recipe of ... (brown, stout, red, or whatever style you want). You can buy malt extract (liquid is cheaper) from lots of places, but if you are in Halifax noble grape is a great place and they will crush your grains, and put a whole recipe together for you. Just let them know you need the grains in grain bags.

Once you get used to partial grain, you can convert many all grain recipes to partial by a simple conversion of the 2-row malts used. That will come in a few months, for now just find a tried and true partial grain recipe. Search on here, HBT, or just google one.

Its a great way to get to know what grains do what and have more control over your end product without having to build a brewing rig.

ah ok i get it
my father in law used to brew with malt extract
he never understood how i could just buy the festa kit
sounds like a plan
thanks Liam

NG has extract with steeping grain kits, that will get you on the go. All you'll need is a stove and a pot.

mgc wrote:You will probably want to invest in a hydrometer too (~$6).

Make that a few hydrometers! In my operation, they're a disposable commodity...

hmm good to know
I've also started brewing wine

currently i find the Festa time based brewing to work perfectly
I've never been too concerned about having a hydrometer

thinking wine for sure changes that
but also not using a kit

good direction fellas
thank you

A hydrometer is a cheap and effective way of gauging one of the biggest variables in alcohol production (wine, beer, or distilled). When you shift away from festa brew, it will allow you to tell how much sugar you have and how much alcohol you have. That ratio you control with the mash temperature (the temperature that you steep the grains at) . I would recommend getting one if you plan on learning from your mistakes, it is a really easy quality control.
I have never broken mine, but some people do regularly (as derek said) so maybe get a second just in case. That is also a good argument for getting a tube to test your gravity in (~$5), so if you break it you don't have to worry about ruining your beer. If you become obsessed, soon you will want to get a refractometer and do away with the hydrometer.

Downs wrote:thanks Liam

actually i'm liam... but his picture looks a lot like me.

partial grain is good... i always found it had a slight off-flavour, but maybe i was just doing it wrong. it went away since i started all grain. your experience may vary

CorneliusAlphonse wrote:

Downs wrote:thanks Liam

actually i'm liam... but his picture looks a lot like me.

partial grain is good... i always found it had a slight off-flavour, but maybe i was just doing it wrong. it went away since i started all grain. your experience may vary

I find its not perfect too (although nothing compared to the effects of fermentation temps), but I find it much more appealing then kits.

CorneliusAlphonse wrote:

Downs wrote:thanks Liam

actually i'm liam... but his picture looks a lot like me.

gees sorry dude
I did think that was you based off of the picture
now I'm totally confused as to who is who

thank you EVERYONE
there

Heh, that happens. It's funny as you start to know people better by their user name then their real name. That is also why I put my real name in my sig, just to keep it clear. mgc isn't as memorable as mr. x or LiverDance.

nice
i just saw your "Graham" now
doh

mgc wrote:A hydrometer ... will allow you to tell how much sugar you have and how much alcohol you have. That ratio you control with the mash temperature (the temperature that you steep the grains at) .

Surely a hydrometer doesn't help you much there? It tells you how much you've extracted from the grain, but not whether that is fermentable sugar, unfermentable sugar or starch. Only your thermometer is really going to help with that. Unfortunately, I'm hard on thermometers, too! I really need a good quality, submersible, thermometer.

mgc wrote: I have never broken mine, but some people do regularly (as derek said) so maybe get a second just in case. That is also a good argument for getting a tube to test your gravity in (~$5), so if you break it you don't have to worry about ruining your beer. If you become obsessed, soon you will want to get a refractometer and do away with the hydrometer.

All the hydrometers I've bought recently (say, the last 4 at least - I really am hard on hydrometers...) have come in a plastic tube that's fine for testing in. Everything I've read suggests a refractometer isn't an improvement over a good hydrometer.

Downs wrote:

CorneliusAlphonse wrote:

Downs wrote:thanks Liam

actually i'm liam... but his picture looks a lot like me.

gees sorry dude
I did think that was you based off of the picture
now I'm totally confused as to who is who

LOL. I've been her since Jimmy set up the site, and I can't connect half of the forum names to members.

If I can remember from the Lion's Head - Liam was next to you, then Brian (LiverDance), Robert (MrX), can't remember who was on his right (Poutine!), sorry. Jimmy at the far end, other side, Chris (Chalmers), me (Derek), and Kyle (KMcK). Now, you're probably as connected as I am [and until Liam posted to this thread, I had no idea who CorneliusAlphonse was]

derek wrote:

mgc wrote:A hydrometer ... will allow you to tell how much sugar you have and how much alcohol you have. That ratio you control with the mash temperature (the temperature that you steep the grains at) .

Surely a hydrometer doesn't help you much there? It tells you how much you've extracted from the grain, but not whether that is fermentable sugar, unfermentable sugar or starch. Only your thermometer is really going to help with that. Unfortunately, I'm hard on thermometers, too! I really need a good quality, submersible, thermometer.

I was thinking about OG to FG readings. If your FG is high (and its not a fermentation issue) then you have lots of unfermentable sugars, or starch. Although I am a little unclear on what starch does to your density.

derek wrote:

mgc wrote: I have never broken mine, but some people do regularly (as derek said) so maybe get a second just in case. That is also a good argument for getting a tube to test your gravity in (~$5), so if you break it you don't have to worry about ruining your beer. If you become obsessed, soon you will want to get a refractometer and do away with the hydrometer.

All the hydrometers I've bought recently (say, the last 4 at least - I really am hard on hydrometers...) have come in a plastic tube that's fine for testing in. Everything I've read suggests a refractometer isn't an improvement over a good hydrometer.

You are probably right on accuracy, but I was thinking about how easy it is to use a refractometer (and how little wort it requires). Maybe I am mistaken, I have never used one for brewing, only soil analysis which is a very different beast. My apologies if I was misleading on the refractometer comment.

Maybe (Probably?) we're too dumb, but LD and I are still trying to figure out how to use the refractometer we bought... Well, not how to use it, but what to trust. Comparing that to our hydrometer samples can be a frustrating exercise in futility. Calibration and temperature corrections still don't help... Maybe we just got a dud.

chalmers wrote:Maybe (Probably?) we're too dumb, but LD and I are still trying to figure out how to use the refractometer we bought... Well, not how to use it, but what to trust. Comparing that to our hydrometer samples can be a frustrating exercise in futility. Calibration and temperature corrections still don't help... Maybe we just got a dud.

I don't rely on mine much either. I still use it, but more for a 'ball-park' measurement on the first runnings and pre-boil gravity. A quick measurement that tells me how far (or not) I am from my target pre-boil gravity while the 'real' sample cools in the fridge. Besides, you don't really get a good taste of the wort by licking the glass slide...

akr71 wrote:I don't rely on mine much either. I still use it, but more for a 'ball-park' measurement on the first runnings and pre-boil gravity. A quick measurement that tells me how far (or not) I am from my target pre-boil gravity while the 'real' sample cools in the fridge. Besides, you don't really get a good taste of the wort by licking the glass slide...

LOL. I guess getting a near-instant pre-boil gravity is a pretty significant advantage.

I've been impressed with my refractometer. But I only use it for unfermented worts. Compares very well with my hydrometers.

mr x wrote:I've been impressed with my refractometer. But I only use it for unfermented worts. Compares very well with my hydrometers.

What are you using Rob?

Sandy

Ebay junk from Hong Kong.

mr x wrote:Ebay junk from Hong Kong.

Just got mine in the mail the other day, but have yet to use it or calibrate it. Feels like it's decent quality construction though.