Quote Originally Posted by swiggidy
Quote Originally Posted by kingnat
It's cool, man, I was just afraid you were going to go a bit snobby on me.
Dang.
Dude, don't sweat it, I'm glad you didn't mean anything by it, I didn't figure you would... I just want everything to be happy and well-buzzed in this thread. I'm not sure where I want to go in this thread... I think the starter equipment and ingredients is 90% of the battle. I just finished up talking with a graduate student at my school, who is going to buy some bulk Dry Malt Extract with me and another guy. We're picking up a 50 lb. tub of Light DME, for $3.20 /lb (shipping included) which is about $1 less than the local store buying a pound at a time.

It is his opinion that wet malt extract (the syrupy stuff from the can); is about 85% sugar and the DME is 100% sugars, and that we can make a 4% abv with around 5 lbs of DME. So my next beer will be no syrup, ALL DME with ~2 lbs of grains for flavor. I'm not really sure how much (if any) sugar extraction I'm getting from my grains, but I'm pretty sure it adds significantly to the taste.

I was a bit concerned about using ONLY light DME while still wanting to make darker more flavorful beers, and my guy says using only light DME with chocolate malt grain and the like should get things plenty dark (~ porter range at least). Any thoughts on this?

I still have a few weeks before hitting this up as I'm making a hard cider tonight. I'm a little nervous about it, as I read lots of stuff about the "proper" type of cider to use... my brewing buddy and I are trying to go dirt cheap... with some Sam Club's Cider that is both pastuerized AND has perservatives. I've read this is not a good idea, but it's so crazy cheap we HAD to give it a go. We're going to add yeast nutrient, when we pitch our yeast, and pass it through a filter to increase the oxygen in the cider (which is important for good yeast growth).

The plan is to put it in our bottling bucket, for primary fermentaiton, then transfer to the regular bucket for ~ 10day-2weeks. Then bottle with priming sugar, for a carbonated hard cider.