Congratulations on becoming a father! I was only doing extract brewing when I became a father. It's been a few years since I actually did any brewing, but I've been itching to get back into it.
Funny story, when I started, I was looking for a large glass carboy for cheap and someone suggested checking an antique store. I went to one nearby and found a perfect one for $20 I think? It had a very old sticker on it from a water company. When I got home I did some research online. Turns out the company was originally a beer bottling company and during prohibition they started to bottle water!
It would be lovely to get some nice glass carboys, but they're expensive here (Scotland), and the plastic bucket fermenters are just so easy to clean, it's hard to see past them. There's also the bonus that a 5 gallon bucket fits perfectly in the fridge I use for fermenting!
Wow are you me? I've been considering selling my equipment the last few months for this exact same reason. An 8 hour brew day isn't in the cards for me anymore with a 2 year old. I hadn't thought of swapping back to extracts. This would shave a few hours off the brew for sure. I made about 20 different recipes using extracts several years ago and noticed that the best ones tended to be lighter. I don't have any recipes since extract brewing is rather straightforward but after being spoiled with all grain for years I'd suggest sticking with ambers, cream ales, or similar. Always add a bit more hops than you would with all grain since extracts in large quantities can add a tininess that you want to control for. Thanks for the idea too!
Thanks for the tips, and a good shout about the hops, I'll bear it in mind. Amber ales tend to be my go to session beer, so we could definitely cope with making a few of those!
I'm genuinely not sure if the couple of hours saved will make it realistic, but it was the only way of significantly cutting the time down we could think of.
Good luck yourself. I'm really in my fatherhood journey, but enjoying it so far!
If you have the money, consider an all-in-one system like Grainfather. Brew days can be 4-5 hours without rushing and most of the day can be handled via a programmable controller.
not entirely answering the question, but hot tip: one can screen the grain to remove the finest flour. adds a bit of labour but i find it’s not too bad. this is craft brewing after all 😄
I use a Braumeister, and grind size is a bit of an issue. Too coarse - bad efficiency. Too fine - dough. My recommendation would be to check what Brezilla recommends. Braumeister has a recommended size on their website. And use that as a starting point. Go a bit finer if efficiency is still bad. Try the size on the Braumeister website if Brewzilla does not have any. I grind at my local homebrew shop and their mill says ‘7’ ish.
Also, even if AIO, during the mash I usually stop 2-3 times and open up the malt pipe and give it a good stir. Improves efficiency for my setup.
Also, true, for smaller grains like rye or specialty black grains, do grind them separately, and way finer to make sure they don’t slip by.
The fresh fruit should work. Are you asking if a bottle of wine would give you yeast? The answer is generally no. Most wine has stuff added to stop fermentation. It may also be filtered to remove yeasts, etc.
If you can’t get/don’t want to use lab yeasts (dried in bag), the best bet is to start with about 1l of fruit juice or wort, put it in Mason jar or some container with larger opening and let it sit outside in garden or on a window over night.
Put it inside, let it ferment completely (it will take about 7days) in somewhat warm room (20 - 25°C). Taste it and smell it if it is good (no off smells and off flavors like acid, bitter or rotten). And use it as starter.
I messed with yeasts about 2 years ago with petri dishes, isolates, microscope and stuff but this basic recipe will do it. Bear in mind that it is about 50/50 if you get good or bad strains so make multiple batches and use only the most promising ones.
Yeasts are pretty much everywhere so you will most likely catch something, but you don’t want any bacteria or mold.
I will try to find yt vids about this (someone recommended me sth on reddit) and post them there.
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