Homebrew Beer Howto

guildofevil

I actually prefer a plastic bucket with a loose fitting lid to ferment in. You don't really need an airlock with beer but there is no harm in having one, of you want.

As you have done wine already, I assume that you have a thermometer and a sanitiser of some kind.

What beer are you going to brew first time out? Will you be using a kit or plain malt extract, with hops? If it is the second option you are going for, you will need a large pot too.

Blisterman

My first batch of homebrew is fermenting as we speak.
Quick question.
Is it better to leave the barrel closed, the whole time, or to open it (having thoroughly washed my hands), to stir it?
I don't have a hydrometer.

noby

Once fermentation kicks in I would advise against stirring. This could cause oxidation - giving an off-flavoured beer. THe only time you want to stir is when you pitch the yeast. That's when you want to get plenty of oxygen into it to give the yeast a good start.
Personally, I leave the lid loose on the barrel - this allows gas to escape, but keeps everything else out.

georgie59

Hi I did brew a couple of batches years ago but want to try again only last time I brought the kits at boots but tried the Derry store as I happened to be there only to be told that they didn't do them any more.

So problem is where do I buy them from????

And the quipment any where online as there is no where local

Thanks for looking and I hope someone can help

oconn

I just bought a hydrometer on Ebay ...turns out its a brewmaker hydrometer with wine version written on the tube...I presume its much the same as for beer....the markings are pretty small though...is this normal

Blisterman

My beer (which is a bitter) has finished fermenting, and I bottled it today.
I had a taste. It tasted really strong, like 8%+. Could it be that it has been contaminated, and I'm mistaking that for being strong? It tasted very much like an alcohol taste, but I could be wrong.
I don't have a hydgrometer(sp) to test it.

oblivious

It could be harsh alcohols developed in fermentation; do you know what temp you fermented at?

Also you could leave it in the primary for longer to allow the yeast to clean up the beer

Uthred

Havent really done any homebrew since college but fancied getting back into it and just wanted to clarify the procedure and equipment requirements below.

Equipment:
2 x 5 gallon plastic fermenters
Bung and airlock
Hydrometer
VWP steriliser
syphon w/tap
John bull country cider kit

Procedure:

1. Sterilise all equipment
2. Mix up the John bull kit (I've used this kit in the past with ordinary white sugar, would I be better off using brown sugar/raw cane sugar/DME ?)
3. Leave to ferment (Im slightly unsure on this step, do I just leave it for the time reccomended in the kit instructions (2 weeks IIRC)? Do I use the hydrometer at this stage and if so how?)
4. Syphon into second fermentation cylinder, leave for two weeks
5. Syphon into 1/2 pint bottles with 1tsp of sugar per bottle, cap, leave for three weeks.

Any extra suggestions on procedure or equipment gratefully accepted.

kenmc

hi Uthred,
you have the gist of it. I'd advise against white sugar, brown is better but dme is best, or another can of unhopped malt extract.
you can use the hydrometer to determine when the fermentation is finished by taking samples every second day, say from 5 days or so. if the reading is the same on consecutive readings it has finished fermenting. you can of course move from primary to secondary before the readings are the same, don't go to bottles until it has stabilized or you make bombs! I generally go 1 week primary, secondary till stable then bottle and leave as long as I can!
other than that you have it sussed.

by the way there's a new home-brew community on www.irishcraftbrewer.com, so come on over and join!
all the best
kenmc

Mezamo

Hi Guys,
I have my first brew in process made from a kit and in a king keg. It's been in for three weeks and I tried it last night!. Its not bad but there is alot of gas and the beer is flat and cloudy! I would appreciate it if you guys could give me some advice. Also is it possible to bottle the beer from a king keg??

Thanks,

Mez.:D

BrewMeister

I just started brewing and am running into small issues I could use advice on..

oblivious

BrewMeister wrote:

I just started brewing and am running into small issues I could use advice on..

Whats the problem?

Your over on Irish Craft Brewer

OOmilo

Do you know where in Wicklow or Dublin I can source campden tablets please?

oblivious

These lads sell them

http://thehomebrewcompany.ie/

you might get a faster response over here

http://www.irishcraftbrewer.com

Tom Ghostwood

I decided to make a few short tutorial videos on hombrew cider. I have come up with a cheap, easy and very effective way of pressing apples for cider making. Click on the link below.

Cider making tutorials parts 1-4:

If you've any questions or suggestions do get in touch.

Cheers,
Tom.

Blisterman

Decided I'd have another go at it.

Last beer was a bitter beer kit, ended up alright, but not really to my taste. Too malty, barely any flavour of hops. But my friends enjoyed it, or at least said they did.

This time, I've decided to go one step further and try using hops and Malt Extract as described earlier in the chapter.
I'm going to try and make an American Style Pale Ale, as Sierra Nevada Pale Ale, is one of my favourite beers.

I'm using North Down hops for bittering and Cascade for Aroma.

They're currently on their way to me
I'll keep you posted as I make it, and let you know how it turns out.
I've ordered enough ingredients for two batches. Anyone have any suggestions of how I could vary my brew, using the same ingredients to make 2 different tasting beers?

oblivious

The hops will have a massive impact, cascade or any American C hop's will give that classic citrus-grapefruit aroma. You also have the option of doing a English pale ale with the northdown alone? But the hop rate tend to be use at a lower rate.

You can also look at dry hopping after fermentation, especially with the cascade and this will give a differ aroma compared to just boiling them in the wort

Another small addition would be some crystal malt if you can get you hand on some, but no matter pale ales can be as simple as malt and hops. What yeast are you going to use?

If you want more info drop over to Irish craft brewer

oblivious

Hi Blisterman

If your interest here is a extract clone of SNPA, this is the thread its was take from if you are intested, its very long, Here

OG: 1.053
Color: 12.82 SRM
Bitterness: 37.5 IBU


1.0 lb. Crystal Malt 60L

5.5 lbs. Muntons Extra Light DME

0.5 oz. Yakima Magnum (Pellets, 13 %AA) boiled 60 min.
0.5 oz. Perle (Pellets, 9 %AA) boiled 30 min.
0.8 oz. Cascade (Pellets, 5.50 %AA) boiled 10 min.
2 oz Cascade (Pellets, 5.5% AA) aroma. 0 min.

Yeast : US-05 dry yeast or White Labs WLP001 California Ale

I used a boil amount of 3 gallons because I think that is fairly typical for us stove-top extract brewers.

I had to cut back on the Crystal quite a bit to get a lighter color. I also had to adjust the hops in order to get the correct IBU's.

Note: I was just using the free calculator and that only allows 3 hop entries. Thus the aroma hops are not factored in to these numbers at all. I don't think that matters for the IBU calculation at all, and if it does, it's extremely minimal.

RDM_83

Hi read a lot of this thread and has increased my desire to brew properly but different question at the minute, I'm going to brew a cheap,dirty,strong Ginger Wine, I've made it twice before a few years ago (using an old recipe i found folded up in a 2nd hand cookery book but basically the same as this but with maybe more sugar and I carried out secondary fermentation to make it very fizzy
http://welcometovoluntarysimplicity.wordpress.com/2006/12/06/lemon-and-ginger-wine/ )
but I've no longer got the container I used as a fermenting vat (it wasn't fermenting vat but large lidded food safe container) was wondering if anybody knows where to get something similar it would be great (know food containers from take aways have been mentioned in this thread but haven't seen any since I've been looking)
Thanks very much

ps if anybody has tried any similar easy things any hints would be appreciated (also hints on cider from apple juice)

Blisterman

oblivious wrote: »

Hi Blisterman

If your interest here is a extract clone of SNPA, this is the thread its was take from if you are intested, its very long, Here

OG: 1.053
Color: 12.82 SRM
Bitterness: 37.5 IBU


1.0 lb. Crystal Malt 60L

5.5 lbs. Muntons Extra Light DME

0.5 oz. Yakima Magnum (Pellets, 13 %AA) boiled 60 min.
0.5 oz. Perle (Pellets, 9 %AA) boiled 30 min.
0.8 oz. Cascade (Pellets, 5.50 %AA) boiled 10 min.
2 oz Cascade (Pellets, 5.5% AA) aroma. 0 min.

Yeast : US-05 dry yeast or White Labs WLP001 California Ale

I used a boil amount of 3 gallons because I think that is fairly typical for us stove-top extract brewers.

I had to cut back on the Crystal quite a bit to get a lighter color. I also had to adjust the hops in order to get the correct IBU's.

Note: I was just using the free calculator and that only allows 3 hop entries. Thus the aroma hops are not factored in to these numbers at all. I don't think that matters for the IBU calculation at all, and if it does, it's extremely minimal.

Thanks. I already bought my ingredients for the moment, but I think I'll definatly try that, or a modification of that in the future.

I'm actually boiling the water to brew at the moment. As soon, as it's fermenting I'll post up exactly what I've done.

oblivious

Blisterman wrote: »

I'm actually boiling the water to brew at the moment. As soon, as it's fermenting I'll post up exactly what I've done.

Hope it went well

oblivious

RDM_83 wrote: »

ps if anybody has tried any similar easy things any hints would be appreciated (also hints on cider from apple juice)

I have only made ginger ale and you can do it in a 2 liter plastic bottle. but you do have to careful to release some of the pressure that builds up as it can blow

Denijons are probably better for what you are ding and are available from grape and grain Dublin here

RDM_83

After a bit of scrounging around next doors lab I found a 19 litre watercooler bottle that should do the job, yeah I'm wondering if I do end up doing a secondary fermintation in glass bottles if there might be explosions (or would the cap just pop off) since when I previously did this plastic bottles were used (though I suppose could try and use my brain to work out volume of gas that will be produced but that doesn't take into account the fact that I want it sort of sweet+alcohol level yeast stops working at etc)
(my friend has a bottle capper though I do need to get crown caps)
I'm actually fairly regularly in the Killaloe area and one of those irish brew shops is in the area so next time I'm down might ring them about buying stuff direct, planning too move soon though so not looking to get large amount of stuff at the minute

EDIT: just remembered I think mate has hydrometer so hopefully bottling won't be problem

Blisterman

Ok, it's in the fermenting barrel as we speak.

My recipe was as follows

22 pints of water
1.6kg of John Bull Light LME
1.6kg of John Bull Amber LME
64 grams of Morris Hanbury Northdown Harvest Alpha 7.9% Hops
Boiled all together for 45 mins.
Added 20g of Brupaks Cascade Hops 6.8%
boiled for another 15 mins.

Added to 14 pints of preboiled and cooled down water in barrel.
Left in bath to cool down to about 38 degrees (I would have left it cool down a bit more, but it was getting late.)
Added Safale US-05 Dry Ale Yeast, which I had added to preboiled and cooled down water, with a drop of Amber LME.
The OG was 1.046 when corrected for temperature.

My only concern is that the yeast wasn't really foaming when I added it to the water. It fizzed a little upon adding it to the Water and LME. But that was it. No foam afterwards.

Could the yeast be dead? There's no sign of fermentation at the moment but it's less than 24 hours later.

oblivious

I would give the yeast a little longer, did you keep the yeast in the fridge or at room temp?

Blisterman

Well, after three days, there was little or no fermentation, so I added another pack. This time, it was foaming in the water, when I added it, so I think I should be grand.


Next Up: A Hefe Weisen

oblivious

Blisterman wrote: »

Well, after three days, there was little or no fermentation, so I added another pack. This time, it was foaming in the water, when I added it, so I think I should be grand.

Good work:)

You should keep the yeast in the fridge as it will preserve the number of viable yeast in the pack.

noby

Blisterman wrote: »

Well, after three days, there was little or no fermentation, so I added another pack. This time, it was foaming in the water, when I added it, so I think I should be grand.


Next Up: A Hefe Weisen

38deg may have been a little warm for the yeast. At least things are going now. Good stuff.

oblivious

Sorry missed the 38c part

Blisterman

Measured with a Hydrometer today at 1.014, so it seems fermentation is well underway.

I had tried to measure it on monday, but it actually measured higher than the OG. Is there a reason for that? I must have done it wrong. I measured it twice this time, with different samples, just to be sure.

Anyway, I gave it a taste, and I must say, it tastes superb even at this stage. Very like Sierra Nevada Pale Ale, which is what I was aiming for.
I'm going to leave it in the fermenter for another week before bottling it. Then, let it sit a few weeks to condition. I can't wait to try it when it's done.