Homebrew Beer Howto

gaz wac

ok, I just relised i cant multi quote tee hee.

Ok, good to use coke bottles...cool. Yea that link to the bottles is excatly what im looking for ( didnt see them...i shouldnt be let near a computer ). Ill be storing my bottles in a press in the kitchen once bottled so i reckon white will be ok !!

Thaanks again...cant wait to get started

fjh79

hi people ive just bought a home brew kit with the coopers lager mix. has anyone tried this? just looking for any advice people can give.

gaz wac

Hi f,

I found this article to be very helpfull http://www.irishcraftbrewer.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=33&Itemid=33 , also I know there is alot of posts, but ive read all the replys on this thread and made a note of the most important info that I need. Also Youtube is very good for videos.

Lads just on my own brew, made it Friday night, saturday nothing from airlock and then it was bubbling away all day sunday. Came home from work last night and nothing, got up early this morning and still no bubbles...is my fermention finished all ready?

p.s the smell in the kitchen friday night was delicious

BeerNut

fjh79 wrote: »

just looking for any advice people can give.

1. Read this (which is what gaz linked to above)
2. Don't expect the result to taste like commercial lager.
3. Enjoy!

Gaz, no bubbles isn't an indicator of fermentation stopping. Make sure your brew is in a warm enough spot (but not too warm), and start taking a gravity reading every day or so.

gaz wac

BeerNut wrote: »

Make sure your brew is in a warm enough spot (but not too warm), and start taking a gravity reading every day or so.

My temp in the room seems to be always around the 21-22c mark...when I see it around 19c I put a blanket around it. One mistake I did notice, when I was reading the article after Friday is that I put the hydrometer in the container instead of using a trial jar . If i take a reading tonight, will I use a jar ?

Tahnks

Bill-e

I've always take the reading in the fermenter. Either way tou are sticking something in there. I guess it's easier to get a good point of view on it, looking at a cross section of it then down at a bit of an angle. Also, when you do it in the fermenter any bubbles seem to fly towards the hydrometer..

Jugs82

Hi Guys,

It will be 2 weeks on Saturday since i made my 1st batch.

I have measured the alcoholic content 3 times in as many days (Fri, Sat & Sun) and it is constant and according to the formula i was given it is around 4.8%.

I intend letting it sit until Thursday and bottling it then - i have the bottles, a mixture of brown and green (looking forward to washing and sanitising them...)

Anyways, i got Glucose yesterday to prime the batch - i have 25L so my question is how much glucose to use (100g/150g??) and how much water to boil it in (50ml/100ml??) as i have read conflicting info on both the craft brewer and home brew company websites.

Also the craft brewer website says to add cold water (200ml) to the sugar/glucose & boiling water mixture before adding it to the batch - would this be recommended?

Last question, after bottling, how long would you leave them before chilling and drinking?? - i.e. if i bottle it on Thursday or even tonight, would it be ready to consume in say 12 days or so??

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

BeerNut

Jugs82 wrote: »

is how much glucose to use (100g/150g??) and how much water to boil it in (50ml/100ml??)

How much to use depends on how fizzy you want your beer. There's a calculator here where you pick your style and it gives you the recommended range of fizz and the correct amount of glucose (corn sugar) to add for the value you want. How much water doesn't really matter, as long as it's not a huge amount. 200ml is fine.

Jugs82 wrote: »

Also the craft brewer website says to add cold water (200ml) to the sugar/glucose & boiling water mixture before adding it to the batch

It does? Where? It doesn't matter if your priming solution is hot as you're cooling it with so much more wort. Still, it's best to put the solution together early in the process to let it cool a bit before you're ready for it.

Jugs82 wrote: »

how long would you leave them before chilling and drinking?? - i.e. if i bottle it on Thursday or even tonight, would it be ready to consume in say 12 days or so?

One week will carbonate it. Two weeks will have it as carbonated as it'll ever be, generally speaking.

Jugs82

Cheers Beernut - great advice, that calculator is very useful

The craft brewer link is here - its under the 'Bottling if you have a second bucket' section near the bottom of the page

BeerNut

Ah yes. That says boil 100ml of water and add 200ml to cool it. The other says boil 250ml of water and leave it to cool with a lid on. Short answer: it amounts to the same thing. Personally, I think the latter is easier.

gaz wac

Hi lads,

Took my second gravity reading last night. I started off with 1.040 on Friday when I started fermenting.Last night's reading was 1.016, so working it out, im looking at a percentage of 3.1%. Leaving it for another 4 days..will it go up much more ?

Cheers

BeerNut

Ahh, the mystery of the yeast.

I'd have expected it to go up a bit more, but not too much. You'll be lucky if you hit 4%.

guildofevil

It's only been fermenting for five days? Leave it for another week and then take a hydrometer reading. I could see it reaching 1.010 or below, if the yeast is OK and the wort is reasonably fermentable.

You went with a Coopers Mexican Cerveza kit and spray malt, right? How much spray malt did you use?

I'd probably leave it in that bucket for at least three weeks, altogether. The yeast will do more than just consume more sugars and turn them to alcohol, during that time. They will clean up some of the fermentation by-products they produced earlier, making for a better tasting beer.

Those little yeast cells have plenty of work left to do and they will do it in their own sweet time.

gaz wac

Cheers lads,

I used 1kg ( 2 x 500 bags) of malt. Should I keep a blanket around it to warm up the yeast to get it fermenting again? Say it only reaches 4% at my F.G...is there anything i could have done to make it stronger ( more sugar - less water) ? or is that the strongest that larger is suppose to be? Was hoping to bottle on Sunday, which ment it would have been 9 days, but if you's think I should leave it for another week or two, thats what ill do. ( bubbles have completly stopped now, last bubbles on sunday night)

Thanks for all the replys, just really want to get my first brew under the belt, so sorry for all the questions.

guildofevil

If it's somewhere at normal room temperature, don't worry about keeping it warm. Just give it time.

If you want to give it a boost, you could gently rouse the wort with a sanitised spoon. I do this with a stainless steel ladle in order to get settled yeast back into suspension and fermenting. It's not something I do with every brew, just if it looks like the yeast might have settled out a bit early for my liking. Just make sure to avoid splashing/aeration.

For future reference, if you want a higher alcohol content, you could add more spray malt if you like. If you just wanted to boost the alcohol content a bit and maybe even lighten the body a bit, you could add a bit of table sugar (small amounts are OK).

If one can of the beer kit and 1kg of spraymalt gives you 1.040 adding 250g of sugar will bring you to an OG of 1.044.

I think you'll see 4.0%-4.1% vol in this beer as it is. If you add 250g of sugar I would expect 4.5% at least.

gaz wac

guildofevil wrote: »

I think you'll see 4.0%-4.1% vol in this beer as it is. If you add 250g of sugar I would expect 4.5% at least.

Good idea, ill try that tonight...(rouse the wort)

Will 250g of table sugar dislove in the cold wort?

guildofevil

No. You should always boil the sugar in a little water to sanitize it, if nothing else.

gaz wac

Thanks G.

Ill do this tonight and leave it for an extra week and let yous know then.:)

Cheers

Gaz

arse..biscuits

Hi all. I have just bottled my 2nd ale kit. First was fantastic.

Anyway about to start a cider kit.
http://thehomebrewcompany.ie/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=1_91&products_id=260

There is the option to make 40 pints @ 5% or 32 pints @ 7%
Obviously I'm going for the latter. I also have 1kg of brewing sugar http://thehomebrewcompany.ie/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=3_92&products_id=251

but for the stronger recipe, 1.2kg of sugar is required. Should I just top up with regular brown or white sugar??

BeerNut

arse..biscuits wrote: »

Should I just top up with regular brown or white sugar??

As far as I can see, "brewing sugar" is just glucose, aka corn sugar. You'll be able to get that in the baking supplies section of the supermarket. Looks like this:

Bill-e

Guys, I thinking of starting another brew. I've done 2 kind of boring largers and would like something more crazy / unique / strong. Any suggestions.
Oh and I'm thinking along the lines of a kit...:eek:

BeerNut

Have a look at the Brewferm kits. I've had the Ambiorix a couple of times and it was very good. Comes out at about 6.5% ABV.

Bill-e

Thanks BN I got myself one of them and an ELDIABLO one ordered yesterday at 4.20. Wish I'd ordered it sooner I doubt it will arrive today. He normally get stuff out the very next day but must order b4 4...

Bill-e

WoW it arrived! That guy is efficient! That's something for me to do in my shed this weekend

10-10-20

I just wanted to let you all know how I got on with my first brew.
I made up the Brewferm Grand Cru and it's has 2 weeks to mature out of the 8 recommended. I tried a bottle last night and I can only say that I was amazed with the results. It's a great tasting beer with good colour, quite stong (at ~ 7.8%). I'm very impressed with the results considering it's a home-brew.

I got 26 33cl bottles out of the kit.
My only issue was decanting the beer - it wasn't as easy as I thought it would be. I'll have to improve my process.
I was extra careful about contamination through the whole process. I think it has paid off.

arse..biscuits

10-10-20 wrote: »

I just wanted to let you all know how I got on with my first brew.
I made up the Brewferm Grand Cru and it's has 2 weeks to mature out of the 8 recommended. I tried a bottle last night and I can only say that I was amazed with the results. It's a great tasting beer with good colour, quite stong (at ~ 7.8%). I'm very impressed with the results considering it's a home-brew.

I got 26 33cl bottles out of the kit.
My only issue was decanting the beer - it wasn't as easy as I thought it would be. I'll have to improve my process.
I was extra careful about contamination through the whole process. I think it has paid off.

Good man. I'm just ahead of you, waiting to taste my 2nd brew. My first was excellent.
http://thehomebrewcompany.ie/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=1_13&products_id=19
I got about 45 half litre bottles but gave a lot to friends and Dad. I was suprised how good it tasted. I had a few pints and cans last night and I have to say I was missing the homebrew as the pints just aren't as nice.

mayordenis

Just bottled my first batch yesterday - an extract brew, dying to taste it properly it smells great to be honest, how long will it really need in the bottles?
I may have put in way too much sugar for carbonation also.

Saruman

1 week you can drink, two weeks (better) it will be as carbonated as it will get. After that its just aging. Will usually age well and taste better with time.

My latest batch will be bottled for 1 week tomorrow so I will open one of my Chocoholic Stouts to check up on it and try and restrain myself to keep the rest for another week.
How much sugar? What was the batch size and what stye of beer?

baconsarnie

Thanks to the advice in this thread. Just an update from a total novice, just had the pleasure of tasting my first brew and despite all the trepidation, it tasted really nice (many mistakes made, used standard brown sugar, boiled kit as per book instructions for 45 minutes- but if i got one thing right, it was the sanitation- so there's hope for all beginners!) . I've gone on with brew No. 2- a Coopers Weiss bier- this time spay malt etc- it's bubbling nicely away.
My plan is when that is ready to bottle in a few weeks time to follow that with a Coopers Pilsner http://thehomebrewcompany.ie/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=1_12&products_id=353
- but their instructions suggest that a lower fermentation temperature is needed and low levels of sugar. Anyone else try this kit and have any hints? Also, my first brew was a Coopers lager which came out (as expert knowledge on here had suggested) would be a pale ale (no bad thing)- any recommendations for an IPA? How is the Cooper's one? Or are there better? Also, for the experts, how many kits did you go through before you "upgraded"? Again, thanks to all for making this such a treasure trove of information and camaraderie!

Saruman

I went through about 3 successful beer kits and one Cider kit. Well by three successful I mean three batches. One batch I combined two different kit styles to make a Dark BitterBock which many people enjoyed at the last ICB meet up.
I am now on extract and plan two more extract brews before I move up to all grain. The jump from extract to all grain only requires a mash tun (or modified boiler).
Apart from All grain giving the best results, once you have your equipment it is actually the cheaper than extract as grains are cheaper to buy than dry malt extract.
I did a quick guide to my first extract brew here.
For a full step by step guide, use the ICB tutorial.

The only extra item you need for all grain is time, and lots of it. An all grain brew will take most of the day where as a kit brew can be in the ferminting bucket within an hour.
Extract takes 3 to 5 hours depending on how well things go. That time will drop as you get more experienced and prepare things better.

For people still on the kits, some advice from someone who has never followed a kit recipe to the letter (apart from the first one which failed). I like to hack the kits and only used them as a malt base.
Where a kit calls for sugar, do not use sugar. Use Dry malt extract instead. If you do not have any, do not use household sugar. Use glucose (any supermarket) instead.
Do not rely on the hops (if you like hops) in your kit, Unless your kit comes with specialty grains and hops in a teabag. Brupaks do a flavapak for Ale and for Lager. They are mystery grains and hops you steep before adding to your wort. They add a lot of character.
Also the yeast, never use the yeast that comes with the kit. If you can, order separate yeast depending on the style of beer you want. Safale s-33 is a good all rounder. US-04 and either nottingham or windsor are fabulous ale yeasts. Keep the kit yeast and bake some bread with it.