Home Brewing...

  Don't over kill the water issue.   Some minerals are good.  It all  depends on the style of beer you are making.   Getting any clorine out is very important though.     
 
    Ughhh,   My brewery smells more like a fish cleaning station these days...

     Is anybody a member of a local Homebrew club?          Before I moved away, the Brew Angels in Stockton held a lot of competition events.          Maybe we could have  a  BOTY               Narrow it down to a beer style.   I prefer ales.

        Judges ?   

          Narrow it down to a beer style.   I prefer ales.

        Judges ?   

Scotch Ales~YES!!! Not Scottish..SCOTCH. Yes, there IS a difference.
All other ales are pussified.
Porters, stouts..that's where the real flavor is.
IPA's??? I'd rather drink perfume.
That is...IMHO. 
And I would GLADLY be a judge.

I haven't brewed YET. I can say that I have had Jim "Baitman" Port. It was the best beer my wife and I have had to date!!!! Other than that, we like Wheat beer; usually Blue Moon or Shock Top. I know I will probably hear it over those beers I just listed, but it is was it is.

  Don't over kill the water issue.   Some minerals are good.  It all  depends on the style of beer you are making.   Getting any clorine out is very important though.     
 
    Ughhh,   My brewery smells more like a fish cleaning station these days...

     Is anybody a member of a local Homebrew club?          Before I moved away, the Brew Angels in Stockton held a lot of competition events.          Maybe we could have  a  BOTY               Narrow it down to a beer style.   I prefer ales.

        Judges ?   

The best part of having pure water is that you have the opportunity to buffer the water to mimic the water of your desired region.   That being said,  the well water is so bad!  I had to spend a ton of money to get the nitrate out of the water so I could test for nitrates without contaminating the results. 

First treatment gets me to 48ppm TDS,  second treatment gets me to 0.

The first treatment water would probably be fine.  I should leave water buffering to experts.

The  Mr. Beer kit is what made me realize that there had to be a better way. 

   Mr Beer was created and marketed  to discourage people from brewing their own beer...  it's a conspiracy initiated by the brewing industry.

Mr. Beer is certainly more of a toy...but I've actually heard some pretty descent things about it considering it is what it is.  I don't dispute that an experienced person can make a lot better beer with a real kit and by controlling thier own recipe. 

From what I can see the bigger issues with Mr. Beer are that it only encourages partial boils and only does small batches...but the extracts are apparently the same as those sold for the "real" kits.

For someone like me, with no experience at all, it's been beneficial in that it helps me to understand the process a bit more before I fire up my onw kit in a week or two.  It's also been a lot of fun for Omar to see how it works.

Just like fishing, some of us fish with $10 walmart rods while others feel they have to use a $200 rod to catch the same fish.

In any case, my keggle will be picked up today and I'll be on my way to perfecting Bud Light Limon.  Prepare to stand by.

In Mr. Beers defense, the kit I was given sat in my garage for probably two years before I "brewed" it up. It was completely hideous and tasted more like bad cider. It did however give me the "bug" to learn more.
Does anyone use hopped extract?

My current pipeline:

(All 5 gallon batches)

Skeeter Pee
Apfelwein x 2
Orange Wine
Ruby Port
Blueberry Blonde

I made a Heffe that I kegged for my daughters graduation that was a big hit.  Next batch will be a Porter.  Brewing is awesome!

Ok dang it all this beer talk has gotten me wantign to brew a batch soon!. WIll have to get the dust off and get something. Might just have to get a rootbeer started with this heat and head over to More beer for a new batch. I will definitely not make the strong ones as much as I did before since that is what seemed to get me too drunk!  When you have a kegerator there is no need for an empty glass.  . I think I will also start a wine batch soon. The last one I did out of a kit turned out pretty tasty but I did not add the preservative and it become a good vinegar.   Unless you plan on drinking them fast make sure to add this if you do any wine. WIne seemed to be much easier than beer for sure just need to get a bottler. It would be a great thing to do this fall when the grapes are harvested is getting a wine brewing  chill.
Later
Jimbo

I just ordered an extract kit but then noticed that the instructions imply a partial boil, I didn't notice any other instructions for a full boil.

Would it be ok to do a full boil with the kit? I don't see why it wouldn't be ok but thought i'd ask.

Best advice is to follow directions when first starting out then deviate when you feel comfortable. Ask the guys at MOREBeer , they are very helpful. Doesn't take something small to go wrong then you end up with bad beer and NOBODY likes a skunky beer!

You'll be fine. Take into account the amount of evaporation loss over the hour. For me it's about 1.5gal. Hopping will probably be a bit different too, but you can find online calculators to adjust it. Just have fun with it.

I have made a lot of really good beers with a partial boil.  Just maintain the sanitation and temperature throughout the process and use good ingredients.

A quick tip I can think of that I wish I would've known when I started:

When you are going all grain, err on the side of including the trub post boil rather than  leaving it out and ending up with a watery beer.  You can always rack off the trub after 10 days or so, but if you loose volume and sugars by leaving all the trub in your boiling kettle you will regret it and will miss your OG every time.