Greetings from Fairfax Virginia

[Roaster]

I'm a new member and a new brewer, so I've just started learning the craft.
I started making wine, and after 50 gallons or so I've started making my beer as well.
I like the taste of El Guapo but it's expensive abv 7.5% and ibu 70. Give it a try if you like hoppy happy.
I'm making a 4 gallon batch of Cult Classic American Ale from an extract kit, and another batch of Wicked Irish Stout to start finding out what I like in homemade. I'm shooting for 5.9% in both batches.
I use a bicycle-tire inflator with CO2 cartridge to blanket my bottles and vessels when transferring, to push out oxygen, but I'm planning to get a big bottle of nitrogen to use for that purpose. I used to do HVAC work and we use N2 for a purge gas.
I'm retired now but still hold a master license for HVAC. My daily driver is a 1989 F150, which I restored and repainted last year. My other car is a homemade 1965 Cobra Factory Five kit car with a Ford 5.0, because I took a road-course driving school where they used the Cobras.

I'm glad to see a forum for beer brewing because I'm sure it's the best way to find out technique and get ideas.

Is it possible to use Agave nectar as a priming sugar?

I'm headed for the beer 'frige.

[LouieMacGoo]

Glad you found us and welcome to the obsession, er hobby This is a great group of brewers and everyone here is always willing to help answer questions. BTW the Cobra has always been one of my favorite automobiles. I'm very jealous.

So, to answer your question, yes you can use agave as a priming sugar, it's chemically equivalent to high fructose corn syrup but more expensive and for the small amount you would be using it really wouldn't contribute much flavor-wise.

[Beer-lord]

Welcome Roaster. You'll fit in great here. Can't wait to hear how your brew turns out.

[HerbMeowing]

BeerBorg members are here when you need us and here when you don't.
Welcome aboard.

[RickBeer]

I'm a new member and a new brewer, so I've just started learning the craft.
I use a bicycle-tire inflator with CO2 cartridge to blanket my bottles and vessels when transferring, to push out oxygen, but I'm planning to get a big bottle of nitrogen to use for that purpose. I used to do HVAC work and we use N2 for a purge gas.

Terrible idea.

You do not need to purge fermenters before use. You never need to do a secondary. A homebrewer does not need to purge bottles before bottling. Using a bottle filler, we fill from the bottom up. Your bicycle-tire inflator has not be sanitized inside, has it?

You're just starting, so focus on the basics - sanitation and following the directions.

[John Sand]

Hi Roaster, welcome aboard!
You sound like a guy who can do just about anything, that's going to be a great help in brewing. Study and practice will yield great beer.
I like your car selection, though I'm a MoPar guy. Last year I sold my 1979 Chrysler 300 and moved up to the 21st Century. Now I'm driving an '06 Dodge Magnum.
Keep us posted on your brewing adventures.

[berryman]

Hello and Welcome to The Borg. I use to make a lot of wine too as a helper with my dad many years ago and still make some wine now once in a while but mostly beer. Ask questions as needed and post on your progress. Have fun.

[mashani]

Welcome to the Borg. Just so you know all the points RickBeer raised are true, you really shouldn't be messing around with your CO2 purging the way you are, your going to end up infecting batches of beer for no good reason. There is no good reason to do this, regardless of "stuff you read on the internet".

[Roaster]

I do respect the info, and I admit I get a little carried away at times and need to be brought back to earth every now and then. I was just thinking about how to eliminate oxy, in case it's important. The proof is in whether the beer is drinkable and I enjoy it. Probably doesn't matter for much, but when bottle caps tout oxy absorbing gaskets, somebody cares.
I will gladly not bother if it does no good, and I'm told to aerate the wort anyway to make the yeast happy.
So ... follow the instructions. What I've seen so far covers a lot of different thinking, and it's not that simple for a neub to get it right or know what's right. Rick says no secondary fermentation is necessary, but my instructions say otherwise. I respect experience, but I can't follow the instructions and take the advice too. I figure it can't hurt to rack it and lay it up for a couple weeks, even if it doesn't really help. I expect it's subtle.
I'm not being contrary, just have questions. There are obviously a lot of different recipes. Do they all get handled the same? The instructions I got in the kit for steeping the grain were terrible and vague. I like details. Specific instructions.
Which raises the question, how does beer change with age? Can I get some opinions? I haven't even brought my first batch to fruition yet, so It'll be a while before I can see for myself.
I expect it's hard for experienced brewers to be able to relate to the uncertainties of a knob not knowing anything. I welcome all the criticism/help I can get.
Tell me your favorite beer.

[bpgreen]

Using a secondary used to be pretty common, but has fallen out of favor in recent yearss. The thinking used to be that it was important to get the beer off the trub soon so it wouldn't produce off flavors. But more recent thinking is that home brewers don't need to worry about the risk of off flavors from the trub and that transferring to the secondary is more likely to lead to introducing oxygen at the wrong time and/or to lead to more possibilities of infection.

Instructions that come with kits were often written yearrs ago and never updated, so they'll still recommend using a secondary. I've been brewing for more than 10 years and I've never done a secondary.

There are differences in brewing some beers, such as the yeast used, the fermentation temperature (which is often driven by the yeast choice and/or what you want the yeast to add to the flavor). If you're using a kit, the kit will include a yeast and a temperature range for the fermentation.

Most beers will improve with age, to an extent. But if therre's any "infection" or oxidation, at some point, the beer can start to suffer. I've had beers that were in the bottle more than 6 months and they kept improving the entire time. But I've found beers that were more than 5 years old and I was disappointed in them (although at least some of that is likely due to my taste in beer changing). Flavors meld together and the yeast continues to consume less desirable compounds and convert them into more desirable compunds.

Some beers are better with shorter conditioning times. One such style is wheat beer. I don't brew many wheat beers, so I forget why they benefit from a short conditioning time. Another example is IPA. Hop flavors tend to fade over time, so if you're looking for a strong hop presence, longer conditioning times will reduce that.

One thing that many people underestimate is cold conditioning. It's important to refrigerate your beer for at least 3 days so the CO2 is fully absorbed. But giving it even more time can benefit it, as well. Cold conditioning offers different benefits from warm conditioning. I had read that, but discounted it, because I thought that the yeast had to be active to help with conditioning. Then I had an unexpected business trip and had beer sitting in the fridge for 2 weeks and it was definitely better than beer that was refrigerated for only a few days.

Note that kegging with carbonation from a CO2 canister seems to turn many of these conditioning tips on end. I'm not really sure why, but many people go from fermenter to tap in a few days (with the "shake, rattle and roll method") or about a week (with the "set it and forget it" method).

As an aside, if you ask 100 brewers the best way to brew, you will likely get more than 100 different and often contradictory answers.

[bpgreen]

I just noticed that you asked "what's your favorite beer?"

Mine is the one I'm drinking now.

[HerbMeowing]

... thinking about how to eliminate oxy, in case it's important.

Been bottling for many years doing nothing special and having no oxidation issues. Concentrate your efforts on clean and sanitized bottles and buckets.

Secondaries? Few bother racking to a secondary. Old school technique and largely obsolete

How does beer change with age?

Flavors mature and eventually fade over time especially when highly hopped. The bottles will fully carb in ~14 days and can be drunk; however ... I found extract-based recipes are more better between 6 and 10 weeks in the bottle.

Tell me your favorite beer.

My favorite beer is the IPA I brew myself.

[Roaster]

Excellent info here. On a similar note, how important is it to eliminate the sediment after boiling? I can see the hops continuing to add, but it seems uncontrolled. Is filtering the wort worth anything?
I'd love to hear some procedures for steeping. If the temperature is not to exceed 170 for steeping, then would it be meaningful to remove the grain detritus before boiling? Supposedly makes bitterness to overheat the grain, but there can't be much to talk about. Just thinking out loud.
Thanks again for the replies.

[mashani]

Excellent info here. On a similar note, how important is it to eliminate the sediment after boiling? I can see the hops continuing to add, but it seems uncontrolled. Is filtering the wort worth anything?
I'd love to hear some procedures for steeping. If the temperature is not to exceed 170 for steeping, then would it be meaningful to remove the grain detritus before boiling? Supposedly makes bitterness to overheat the grain, but there can't be much to talk about. Just thinking out loud.
Thanks again for the replies.

I haven't filtered my wort in forever. It has been demonstrated that some break material going into your fermenter is actually helpful for fermentation, not detrimental. Just use some whirfloc and/or cold condition the beer for a few weeks after it's carbed up if you want it to be clear. So I wouldn't worry about it.

A small amount of grain and/or grain dust isn't going to give you any noticeable problems. IE little bits that get through your steeping bag or what not. But if you talking a half a pound of the stuff, then it's probably not good.

My brewing philosophy is keep it simple. If I am not absolutely certain that it makes better beer, I won't bother with it. Much of what people do - things we might call "old school" as such - those extra things... they often come down from methods to solve "commercial brewing scale problems" - but at our scale don't really make better beer, just add more work and/or more things to stress about for no reason.

[Roaster]

Straining was such a slow process it's probably more trouble than it's worth. The batch I cooked tonight I just let it settle for a minute and tried to leave most of the sludge behind.
I just sent the first few bottles of my first batch to the fridge, taste testing day by day. So far no odd flavors so I made beer first time. It's perfectly clear after one week in the bottle and not too shabby. Perfectly carbonated. Half the batch stays out for a couple more weeks before getting cold.