New from downtown Halifax

[darndt]

Hey all,

I guess the polite thing to do is introduce myself, as I'll be snooping around on these forums.

I'm quite new to home brewing. So far I've tried a few Festa Brews, and a couple of those beer pouches. The pouches turned out quite terrible, tasting something like apples (they were supposed to be northern bitters?). I'm not entirely sure what went wrong with those ones. The Festa Brews were pretty good. Today I started my first partial grain: I picked up the ingredients for the "old peculiar" from noble grape and hopefully things turn out.

Realizing that bottling is a pain, I'm looking to get a kegerator since I think I'll be in this business for a while. That being said, I don't have an old mini-fridge to convert, and I'm not exactly the most handy person (though I'd like to get some practice). I'm sure many questions about this have already been asked, so hopefully I'll run across some good advice, but I'd love to hear your thoughts on the best approach if you're feeling chatty.

I'm a bit of a tech geek, and I'm working at becoming more of a beer geek. I'd love to get into using microcontrollers and sensors for my beer readings in the future, but for now I've got the old plastic pale, glass carboy, and some leftover bottles.

Cheers,
Dan

[LeafMan66_67]

Welcome!

[bluenose]

Welcome aboard

Sent from my HTC-X710a using Tapatalk 4

[jeffsmith]

[GuingesRock]

Hello.

[LeafMan66_67]

FYI: search for the "post a picture of your kegerator /Keezer" thread for some ideas on kegerator and Keezer builds.

[LiverDance]

[mr x]

[Keith]

The Festa Brews were pretty good. Today I started my first partial grain: I picked up the ingredients for the "old peculiar" from noble grape and hopefully things turn out.

I made my first partial grain a few weeks back which was the Honey Brown. It's all about going at a pace your comfortable with and building from there. Let me know how it turns out. That kit is on my list of items to try.

Realizing that bottling is a pain, I'm looking to get a kegerator since I think I'll be in this business for a while..

There is lots of information and different levels of expertise in this community. The forums are packed with all kinds of informations and recommend searching the forums. You will get tons of ideas and help. I'm in the process of building out my first Kegarator and have decided a fullsize fridge is the way to go.

EverwoodAve brewshop will probably be the most cost effective place to get most of your setup. https://www.everwoodavebrewshop.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Speaking of which I'll need to make a visit soon for my lines, connectors and taps.

I'd love to get into using microcontrollers and sensors for my beer readings in the future, but for now I've got the old plastic pale, glass carboy, and some leftover bottles.

It's not so much the gear you have, but the love for the craft. You will see some shiney setups, and others that use a gatorade juice container and a boat paddle. Post of pics once you get your Kegarator\Keezer complete.


Anyways, I'm kind of long winded, but welcome to the forums!

[akr71]

[Tony L]

Welcome to the Brewnosers

[chalmers]

Welcome aboard! Ask away, check the forum history, or however you feel comfortable getting info: we're here to help!
Maybe we can chat about your technique with the failed pouch batch, to be sure it was the pouch's fault and not something else in the method/system.
And I second the suggestion of checking out Everwood Ave for kegging (and lots of other brewing hardware and ingredients).

[pet lion]

The pouches turned out quite terrible, tasting something like apples (they were supposed to be northern bitters?). I'm not entirely sure what went wrong with those ones.

The apple flavour comes from acetaldehyde being produced. Two main issues would be the beer being too young or removed from the yeast before it had a chance to be converted to alcohol. Otherwise the oxidation of the ethanol turns it back in acetaldehyde.

The beer kits that have you add dextrose (corn sugar) seem to be prone to getting that apple taste.

You shop at Quinpool Noble Grape? I think I was working once when you were in. Or at least your name sounds familiar.

[darndt]

The apple flavour comes from acetaldehyde being produced. Two main issues would be the beer being too young or removed from the yeast before it had a chance to be converted to alcohol. Otherwise the oxidation of the ethanol turns it back in acetaldehyde.

The beer kits that have you add dextrose (corn sugar) seem to be prone to getting that apple taste.

Being moved from the secondary fermenter into bottles too early is very possibly the reason (if that's what you mean by being removed from the yeast too early). When I put in the priming sugar, the yeast got very excited. Maybe that was supposed to be my hint it was a little early? I didn't have my hydrometer for those batches, so I didn't manage to get a reading, and I'm still getting used to reading the "rate of bubbles" in my air lock.

You shop at Quinpool Noble Grape? I think I was working once when you were in. Or at least your name sounds familiar.

Yes I do. I've been in a few times recently, mostly picking up festa brews and looking at all the other things noble grape has to offer, with dreams of experimenting. Looking to be visiting for ingredients more often. I could have been shopping, or you may have seen me on the list of festa brews orders after you guys had that sale a couple weekends ago.

I made my first partial grain a few weeks back which was the Honey Brown. It's all about going at a pace your comfortable with and building from there. Let me know how it turns out. That kit is on my list of items to try.

Will do! it smells delicious so far

EverwoodAve brewshop will probably be the most cost effective place to get most of your setup. https://www.everwoodavebrewshop.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Thanks! I'll definitely give the store a browse. How do they deal with delivering temperature sensitive ingredients such as hops and yeast?

[Barr]

Welcome. There is a lot of great guys here with a lot of brewing knowledge. My brewing has improved a great deal since being a part of the brewnosers. Everyone wants to see the hobby grow so feel free to ask questions.

[chalmers]

Everwood Ave is local, so you can pick up at his place, or meet up somewhere that works for both of you. Otherwise, Dave does use ice packs for yeast (hops being constantly refrigerated is not as critical, though I'm sure they are stored in his freezer/fridge, and he would keep them cold in shipping if you specifically requested).