How many of us are also Homebrewers? Chit Chat Discuss How many of us are also Homebrewers? in the General forums; that's pretty cool. I expect Dh will want to get the basics down well first, but I can see him ...

[egalecki]

that's pretty cool. I expect Dh will want to get the basics down well first, but I can see him experimenting with saving yeast later.

How do you get the cruddy stuff out of the yeast from the primary? Or do you filter your wort through something when you pour it into the fermenter?

I'm fascinated by the beermaking process, and I don't even drink the stuff! How odd is that?!?

[Gromit]

Originally Posted by egalecki

I'm fascinated by the beermaking process, and I don't even drink the stuff! How odd is that?!?

What am amazingly happy thought: A wife that would make me homebrew, yet not drink any of it! Best of all possible worlds.

[egalecki]

Snort. I don't make it, I just help him out- I know where all my kitchen stuff is, you see.

I think my fascination is just an extension of my bread obsession. I do wish I liked beer. I just don't like the taste at all- and believe me, I've tried all sorts of different kinds. They all hit my taste buds in the "ick that's bitter" spot.

I'd love to try wine, but that'll have to wait for a while. Too many other things going on for now....

[Gromit]

Originally Posted by egalecki

I'd love to try wine, but that'll have to wait for a while. Too many other things going on for now....

I have done some homebrewing w/ my bro-in-law, but everything was at his initiative. My problem is that I actually like some of the "micro-brews" that can be bought from local stores, so I am a little lacking in motivation to make my own. (I can't say the same for local pizza, so I had to take matters in to my own hands there.)

Said bro-in-law recently made a batch of wine from store bought juice-in-a-box. I expected it to taste harsh and acidic. It was the opposite; it was very mild, with little flavor, and no bite whatsoever. My wife loved it for all of those qualities. I found it uninteresting.

[papavino]

Elizabeth,

As far as cleaning up the wort, I don't think that's too much of an issue. If you make beers that are similar in style with the same yeast, it probably won't be that noticeable. If you are making an IPA, then you want to make an Ordinary Bitter, it'll probably impart some undesired flavors. But you could go the other way around and make a bitter followed by an IPA. Or a stout. What little flavor and bittering compounds remain in a pint or quart of yeast cake is most likely insufficient to color the taste of a full-bodied beer.
Now that I have kegs, it's making me wonder how many beers I'm going to brew with my current setup. The cost for making a 5 gallon batch of IPA is about as much as getting one of my cornies filled at one of the local breweries. I think I'm going to have to step up to 10 gallons.

[papavino]

Here's a photo of the Italian bread I made with some remaining brewing grain. I made a sponge with a cup of water, 11 ounces (2 cups) of flour and 1/4 tsp. of yeast and let that sit for 3 hours to start to bubble. Then I put it in the refrigerator overnight. I then mixed 16.5 oz. of flour (3 cups), 1 tsp. yeast, 1 1/3 cups of water, and about 1/3+ cup of spent grains and let it sit for 20 minutes. Then I mixed in the sponge and some salt and let it rise for an hour, folded it and let it rise for another hour and folded it again. After letting it rise for an additional hour, I formed it and put it on some parchment paper, set my conventional oven to 500 F and let the dough rise for an additional hour. I placed the slid the parchment paper onto a pizza stone and baked it for 10 minutes. I then rotated the bread and turned the oven down to 400 F and put a small pot of water in the oven and baked the bread for another 35 minutes. I let it cool for a couple hours and it turned out beautifully. It'll be nice to make larger batches, because this one is going fast! There is so much wait time between steps, too.

[MK1]

It's good practice to start with lower gravity, less hoppy beers and work your way up when re-using yeast. Most people never re-use yeast from IPAs because the hop oils coat the yeast. Pour the whole layer of sediment into your container. After it settles some you can use the all but the bottom most layer. The lighter creamy looking yeast layer is the prime stuff. When handling yeast try to keep everything sanitary. A clean draft free room is ideal. Dust falls and is bacteria laden.
The best way to harvest fairly clean yeast is to leave the trub behind in the kettle. I use whirlpool immersion cooler in the kettle and rack very clean wort into the fermenter.
If you have an immersion cooler you can use it along with stirring the the whole mass of wort in a circular motion. After the motion stops and the wort sits 30 minutes, the trub stays in a pile in the center of the kettle and you rack from the edge.

Mark

[Chef]

Originally Posted by texassourdough

Since Papavino reraised this thread I will throw in a comment for those of you who make beer!

Reinhart's Whole Grain Bread book has a killer recipe for spent grain whole wheat that is simply incredible IMO. The challenge is getting spent grain from beer making...but for those of you who are...you should be freezing your spent grain in batch quantities (about a cup as I recall) and making that bread.

Bread is life! (and pizza is heaven!)
Jay

Well my Peter Reinhart Spent grain whole wheat bread is underway!! We helped a neighbor brew his first batch of beer today a pale ale. We saved the spent grain and I have started the two day process bread making process. Day one you make a biga and a soaker a total of 2 pounds of whole wheat flour!!

CAN"T WAIT TO TRY THIS!!!

[Chef]

Jay:

Thanks so much foe turning us on to this. The bread is FANTASTIC!! We blogged about it if anyone cares to see the process and try it themselves it is so worth the effort!!

[3G_]

Mad keen all grain brewer as well as WFO builder. Gotta live good food/wine and beer. The micro brewery market is tiny in Australia so i have to make my own beer if i want a variety of good beers.