Joined: Oct 2005 Gender: Male Posts: 400 Location: Mobile, AL Karma: 7
Imperial Ale « Thread Started on Feb 12, 2006, 4:14pm »
Ok, here's some pictures to help visualize making a batch of beer.
First, choose you favorite kit from your local brew supply shop. In this case, it is Imperial Ale, which from what I have read was originally brewed in Russia for the working class, i.e. more bang for the buck if you know what I mean.
Here's the equipment for the creation of the wort. a 1.5 gallon Stainless Steel Pot (DO NOT USE ALUMINUM!!) and the first stage fermentation bucket.
Note dextrose (brewer's sugar) on the left, you have to take out 3/4 cup for priming before you bottle. Also, the extract can is in some warm water on the right to help get all the contents out of the can, it's alot like corn syrup when it comes out.
Bring the wort to a rolling boil for 15-30 minutes, here, the mix and sugar has been added. If you have an electric stove, be sure to stir alot with a sanitized plastic spoon since you might burn the extract that settles to the bottom before it starts boiling.
Here's a pic of transferring from the carboy to the bottling bucket with spigot. I didn't have a picture of transfer from bucket to carboy, sorry.
Then finally, you'll need a helper to fill the bottles while you get clean bottles and transport the full ones to a flat surface somewhere. After that, cap em and wait a week.
Hope this helps you all that are on the fence on whether or not to start your own brewing. Just imagine the first time you fired up you cooker, you didn' thave a clue what you were doing, did you . I would never admit to that You have to give it a try and figure out what works best for you. Heck, I'm only on my 5th batch of my rookie year, plenty more to follow
Joined: Jan 2005 Gender: Male Posts: 1,391 Location: cartersville georgia Karma: 22
Re: Imperial Ale « Reply #1 on Feb 12, 2006, 4:29pm »
you make it look very doable. so it goes from the SS pot to the fermenting bucket to the carboy to the bottling bucket then into the bottles?how long in the fermenter bucket and how long in the carboy?
Joined: Jun 2004 Gender: Male Posts: 2,860 Location: Gainesville, Georgia Karma: 24
Re: Imperial Ale « Reply #2 on Feb 12, 2006, 4:49pm »
a week to 10 days in the fermentation bucket the way i do it. I have a tester that will show you exactly when the fermentation is done but you take the risk of contamination by taking off the lid so I just wait until I don't see any more CO2 coming out of it. Then to the other bucket and into the bottles ASAP.
Joined: Oct 2005 Gender: Male Posts: 400 Location: Mobile, AL Karma: 7
Re: Imperial Ale « Reply #3 on Feb 12, 2006, 4:55pm »
That's right EM, the only other thing I do is put the beer in the carboy after 3-4 days in the bucket for a secondary fermentation and clarification. It's alot easier to test once in the carboy, what EM is talking about is a hydrometer, which tells you the specific gravity of the beer, each kit gives an estimate of the s.g. when it should be done and ready to bottle, this also gives you an idea of the alcohol content.
Joined: Jan 2005 Gender: Male Posts: 1,842 Location: Thorndale Pa. Karma: 19
Re: Imperial Ale « Reply #4 on Feb 12, 2006, 6:58pm »
i know the homebrew is great, but it looks like alot to do when you already have "alot to do" especially when you have a great micro-brewery very close to home. i don't want to sound like i'm trying to detract from what you guys are doing (cause i'm all for it) i just don't have the time or space for that right now. hopefully someday down the road i will. for now i'll enjoy watching the experiments keep up the good work fellas!!
Joined: Oct 2005 Gender: Male Posts: 400 Location: Mobile, AL Karma: 7
Re: Imperial Ale « Reply #5 on Feb 13, 2006, 7:39pm »
Desi, unfortunately our local microbrew house shut down a couple weeks ago, they hadn't been paying their power bill and got locked up. To top it off they had around 2,000 gallons of beer ready to go for Mardi Gras and now it is all spoiled.
As for time, I know I went a little off the deep end the other night, sorry. I estimate 2 hours a week will keep my supply going, plus an hour trip once a month to the local homebrew supply shop to stock up. I think once I get a good stock up, I can level off and do a batch about every 2 weeks. Right now I'm drinking all the profits and can't seem to catch up. I'm going to be travelling two weeks in the next 4 so that should help the stock build up!!
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to fill the bottles while you get clean bottles and transport the full ones to a flat surface somewhere. After that, cap em and wait a week. ![[image]](http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f193/dnice93/bottle.jpg)
. I would never admit to that 
You have to give it a try and figure out what works best for you. Heck, I'm only on my 5th batch of my rookie year, plenty more to follow 
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keep up the good work fellas!!