anyone here have experience with a beer machine?

[ragin_acadian]

got one for christmas, i loaded it up with water and the mix today, but i'm looking forward to experimenting with it.

does anyone have suggestions?

[ogradda]

1. never even heard of it.

sounds like a fun present though.

[ragin_acadian]

2. it's about the size of a pony keg,

holds 2.6 gallons, has a tap for either bottling or drinking draft style, and a CO2 injector to carbonate the beer. all you have to do is pour in room temp water, the mix(comes in a variety of flavours), then wait 3-5 days for full fermentation, and then refrigerate for another 3-5. i think it's about $59.99 from cabela's, or you can buy a unit from amazon.com for $89.99.

anyway, i made my first batch tonight, the set came with a golden ale, but you have to buy any additional flavours from mr.beer.com or something like that. i'm looking forward to making some lagers, for black and tans, but was hoping that someone on here could give me some pointers on whether i could add additional malt to make it more powerful, or how to add honey, etc. to personalize it. also thinking about making my own labels for bottling what i don't drink.

[ogradda]

3. look around on google.

or see if your library has a book, or kick this tomorrow when more people are up and ask. i wish you lived close enough for me to come admire it but you're across the country dammit.

[ragin_acadian]

4. i wish you could come admire it, i'm still in shock that i'm going

to be making my own beer.

the instruction manual lists Dr. Michael Lewis as a professor of brewing sciences at the University of California at Davis......maybe i could take a class.

how do i kick a thread?

[ogradda]

5. just replying to it can kick it. but for fun some people go:

kick:kick:

[ragin_acadian]

6. just checked it,

when i woke up this morning, the vat had 3 pounds of pressure in it, now it's up to 8. it's aliiiiiiive!

[ogradda]

7. o dear.

am i to assume it's supposed to do that? the more pressure you have the stronger the beer maybe?

[ragin_acadian]

8. the yeast creates gas when it turns the malt sugar into

alcohol.

don't worry, it has an automatic pressure release valve, so i won't blow anything up.

wow, watcha doin up so late? i've got ragin heartburn, can't get to sleep.

[ogradda]

9. i'm on the west coast.

between midnite and 2am (my time) is my favorite time to be on here, actually. but the board dies down a lot i think most people here are on an earlier time zone. how soon will your beer be ready wasn't it 4 to 5 days? if you age it will it be better? i wouldn't be able to age this batch i'd be going crazy to try it :)

[ragin_acadian]

10. it's kinda dissapointing that there aren't a lot of late nighters

but the prudes get weeded out of the lounge, so good-oh.

it says 3-5 till full fermentation, at which point i get to do a taste test to see if all the sugar is consumed, then it goes in the fridge for another 3-5 for settling. i think that is about the extent of the aging process, i'll google some stuff tomorrow and see if it ripens with age.

the mix is still clumped, so i'd have to drink it with a spoon at this point, but i've done that with homemade kahlua before, so don't tempt me. heh.

it's mostly malt, so my next batch will be dumping in a packet of yeast, and some rich, chocolaty ovaltine, and see what happens.

[ogradda]

11. you're so lucky.

i got clothes and scratch tickets for christmas. my birthday's next month tho, i wonder what my brother would say if i told him i wanted a beer maker...one thing's for sure he'd be willing to help me with it:evilgrin:

[ragin_acadian]

12. man, that's a good idea! -scratch tickets.

did you win anything? i got the beer machine, and a sirius radio, my family had a one gift per person criteria this year since the economy is in the crapper.

tell your brother to buy you two, that way you can loan him one, or have a competition.

OMG

WE SHOULD FORM A DU BREWING GROUP!!!!!!!!!!!

[ogradda]

15. i won 25 bucks on the scratch tickets.

i'm gonna turn them in tomorrow for MORE scratch tickets. we did the cutdown on presents too, except for my niece who is young and greedy :) i think a brewing group would be great, too.

[ragin_acadian]

19. lemme know how you do on the ticket exchange!

once in awhile i do the lottery, but it's statistically pointless (even more than normal) to expect to get a winning ticket anywhere northwest of tallhassee.

[Kellanved]

13. wow

And I thought bread makers were a bad idea.
Should they find one of these in Iraq, the WMD bandwagon would certainly start anew. (and if the results are anything like the mixtures produced from the UK brew-your-own-mixes, then rightly so.)






http://www.beermachine.com

[ogradda]

16. hey thanks for the link.

right on!

[ragin_acadian]

17. how are the UK brew your own mixes?

pretty bad?

i had a bread machine, the bread was just hard to slice, i'd either end up with a normal size slice that would crumble apart in my fingers, or this enormous 3/4 inch slab that would hit my stomach like a rock. tried their french bread recipe once: it ended up being a three foot long saber without a handle.

[bettyellen]

14. i just read something a short time ago, that the water you use- it's

mineral content, makes a huge difference and was the biggest part of creating different "styles" of beer. somthing about IPAs being the first ones that stayed preserved well enough to ship abroad.. i forget where they are from, but in germany there's a law that you have to use local water. weiss is also because of georgraphy. so you could probably google yourself some inspiration looking up regional german beers or try any good local spring water to brew with. flavors i really like a light hand. have you tried magic hat beers? they are a bit artisnal, a lot of people love them.
i think you should retitle your thread "beer beer beer beer beer?!?!
the word machine is a bit of a turnoff, i would have found this fasterw/out the m-word! lol!

[ragin_acadian]

18. ah, the editing time has expired, otherwise i would be proud

to retitle anything, beer, beer, beer, beer.

magic hat beers? sounds cool, do you have a link, or are they a microbrewery?

i used my well water in the batch, it's below the hardpan, so it's filtered by limestone which makes it sweet tasting. i hadn't thought about the water before, thanks for the tip!

hmmm. i wonder if you could substite any other water based beverage?
orange juice for orange beer? now you got me thinking.

[bettyellen]

20. the site actually has a pic of a beer machine ! !! they are in vermont and

i met someonewho's husband works there and my friend gets a lot of great beer from them. they do sell it in nyc and hoboken, even on tap in some places, so it's a big microbrewery, i guess.
they make intense beers and ales. humble patience and number 9 are pretty poplular.
the site is freaky- EEEEKKKK!

http://www.magichat.net/

http://www.magichat.net/elixirs/index.php