Good Afternoon!

[Mase]

Good Afternoon!

A little about myself... I have been reading and watching videos off and on for years, but in earnest the last 6 months (as now I have the time since my son is now in college). In January, we (my wife and I) took the plunge into home brewing and enjoying every minute of it.

Equipment-wise, believe it or not, I started off with purchasing a new small chest freezer (idylis), chest freezer and built my keezer. I wanted a way to keep the beer rather than bottling as that part never interested me. Once the keezer was built, we purchased a brew kit (carboys, hydrometer, thermometer, auto-siphon, etc., etc.) and jumped right into brewing. Late January was our first beer brew date, and we just finished our third brew day this past Sunday.

Our first brew was a Caribou Slobber (extract) from Northern Brewer and there's probably only a pint or two left in the keg already. Our second brew was a Vanilla Porter (Partial Mash - Northern Brewer), and it just went into the keeper three days ago. Our latest beer was the Dead Ringer IPA (extract - Northern Brewer) and as I mentioned earlire, we just brewed that this past Sunday.

And yes! I did say my wife and I, as she is just as in love with homebrewing as I am.

We are preparing to do our first All-Grain as our next batch and looking for any suggestions (seasonally considerate) for our first all-grain.

I have been reading these forums for quite some time, but finally decided to take the plunge and introduce myself as the latest noob on the forums.

Looking forward to interacting with you all and CHEERS!

 

[CRUNK]

Welcome, it is March, you brew a marzen.

 

[GFHomebrew]

Welcome to you both. Put me down for a nice balanced pale ale. Good luck with your brewing endevours.

 

[Mase]

The Marzen sounds like a great idea Crunk, but I'm not able to ferment at lagar temperatures (yet), but will add that to the growing list of brews we want to make. Love me some Pale Ales Trailben, thanks for the suggestion and appreciating the welcomes!

 

[jeffpn]

How many chest freezers do you have for homebrewing? You mentioned chest freezer twice in your original post.

 

[Mase]

How many chest freezers do you have for homebrewing? You mentioned chest freezer twice in your original post.

Rather than editing the original post, I have one freezer (idylis) that we converted to the Keezer. My bad, and thanks for the catch!

 

[jeffpn]

That's what I figured. Just wanted to be sure. If you are like me, you'll have a nice little collection of freezers in your basement after a while. I have 4. One of them is for the wife. The other three are mine! Two 5 cf freezers for fermenting. One 10.2 cf that houses 8 kegs and 6 taps.

 

[Mase]

The only downside of building the Keezer first is that we figured we only needed one big enough to hold two kegs and a CO2 bottle. Wrong! I was actually on Craig's List today looking for a used fridge that I can temperature control to be a fermenter and for cold crashing. Never thought I would be suffering from freezer-envy. Cheers!

We just had a Shocktop Wheat beer after dinner last night... not a fan at all. It seems that some, like this one tastes like dishwater, where others have a great flavor (Sam Adams - Cherry Wheat)

 

[Mark D Pirate]

How efficient are freezers running at ferment temps though ? A refrigeration mech I know told me compressor wouldn't like the temps so stick with a cheap fridge that'll still get to just above freezing

 

[jeffpn]

Set to 55°F (12.8°C), my ferm freezers run about once every 8 hours.

 

[Mase]

I'm glad we digressed as this is good info and from what I am reading, if I get another Johnson controller I can lager and cold crash with one refrigerator.

 

[jmcnamara]

Welcome! How about brewing something light and citrusy for the coming spring? (Assuming you have proper seasons, unlike those Aussies!)

 

[jeffpn]

I'm glad we digressed as this is good info and from what I am reading, if I get another Johnson controller I can lager and cold crash with one refrigerator.

You're a lucky guy. We never digress! Such good fortune.

 

[GFHomebrew]

I recon a freezer holds temperature much better than a fridge. My fermentation freezer and my keg King keezer sit side by side one another and I hear the fridge cycling more often than my freezer.

 

[Ozarks Mountain Brewery]

Congrats on your first few beers I assume by now you've been bitten by the home brew bug and want to further your exploration, don't be afraid to ask were always willing to help

 

[Mark D Pirate]

Welcome! How about brewing something light and citrusy for the coming spring? (Assuming you have proper seasons, unlike those Aussies!)

. Shall we start that up again ? Our head of state has hair that's not actually an alien symbiote controlling his actions to make us an easier invasion target

 

[Mase]

Welcome! How about brewing something light and citrusy for the coming spring? (Assuming you have proper seasons, unlike those Aussies!)

We've been bitten by the IPA/Citrus bug, hence the Dead Ringer, Two-Hearted Ale clone currently in the Primary fermenter. Considering our next brew day in the next couple weeks will be an All Grain, any recipe suggestions for a fairly easy Citrus IPA? And living in Pennsylvania (US), we have proper seasons!

I recon a freezer holds temperature much better than a fridge. My fermentation freezer and my keg King keezer sit side by side one another and I hear the fridge cycling more often than my freezer.

I was initially thinking that the freezer might struggle at higher temps as in lager ferment temps in the 50's, but your experience suggests it doesn't (and that actually makes sense as the compressor doesn't care what temp it is), and the freezer, I am guessing, is better insulated. Re-looking at Craig's list, there are plenty more chest freezers than refrigerators refrigerators and cheaper too. That being said, my Idylis from Lowes was pretty cheap brand new, so I might just purchase another one. At least they will match!

Congrats on your first few beers I assume by now you've been bitten by the home brew bug and want to further your exploration, don't be afraid to ask were always willing to help

Definitely been bitten by the home brew bug, and will reaching out for help (and offer help where I can as well), as we are learning so much, and the more we learn, the more questions we have. The guys (and gals) at Northern Brewer know me by name at this point.

 

[jmcnamara]

. Shall we start that up again ? Our head of state has hair that's not actually an alien symbiote controlling his actions to make us an easier invasion target

Touche, sir. Well played

 

[Mark D Pirate]

Sorry ...I digressed again didn't I ?
My bad

 

[Mase]

If i were to apologize for my digressions, i'd get nothing done but apologizing all day long! I think i am a professional squirrel chaser.