Homebrew Beer Howto

Helmet

thanks lads, you know I'm strangely reminded of the time my sister-in-law was pregnant and she was constantly on some new mothers website looking for advice...........I see definite parallels here!!!

MarkMI6

Hi folks!

I got a homebrew kit from thehomebrewcentre.ie a few days ago (http://www.thehomebrewcentre.com/beer_kits.htm - the 2nd one with the keg, comes with a Woodfords Wherry beer). I sterilised everything and went through the first fermentation process yesterday around 6pm and really nothing has happened since? I was presuming it was supposed to create a lot of c02 or at least some head, as in the tutorial at http://brew-it-yourself.co.uk/forum/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=2914. I've kept everything at a pretty constant temperature, it maybe dropped to around the 17/18 degrees mark overnight for a few hours, but other than that it'd been around the 20 degree mark and it started off last night at about 23/24.

Should I be worried that there's feck all happening or is it usual for there to be nothing for a few days?

I followed all the instructions and made sure everything was sterilised etc, probably put a bit too much water in (probably went a litre or two over), but I can't see that being a huge issue...

Thanks in advance

BeerNut

Mark_MI6 wrote: »

Should I be worried that there's feck all happening or is it usual for there to be nothing for a few days?

It's unusual to have no activity after 24 hours, but not unheard of. What temperature was the wort when you pitched the yeast in?

MarkMI6

BeerNut wrote: »

It's unusual to have no activity after 24 hours, but not unheard of. What temperature was the wort when you pitched the yeast in?

About 23/24 degrees, so the temp was certainly right. It may have dropped to around 18 or less overnight, which might not have helped. I'll have to buy one of those brewbelts in future at least!

BeerNut

Your temperatures sound fine to me -- I wouldn't bother with the brewbelt. Give it another day or two.

MarkMI6

Hm, ok, I'll let you know if there's any action in a few days so. Thanks ;-)

mayordenis

As a little money saving suggestion (for some not all of course) an electric blanket that might be on spare beds is an equal to a brew belt, or even purchasing one with a view to using the blanket during winter/for brewing.

Saruman

I use a remote temperature controlled panel heater. Bionaire something.
Got it in Argos years ago. It keeps the spare room at a constant temp set on the remote unit which I stick by the fermenters.

Cheap to run and does the job perfectly.

conf101

Hey all!

I'm literally just starting to think about getting into home brewing and have spent the last few hours trawling the net reading how-tos and looking at beginner kits. Looking forward to getting started in the next few weeks but atm I'm fairly confused about the whole process, guess I'll just have to get stuck in and see how I get on!

Anyway, with regards to the beginner kits I've looked at thehomebrewcentre.com and at the kits there but I've also looked at a few on eBay (eg: http://cgi.ebay.ie/Beer-making-LAGER-starter-kit-home-brew-homebrew_W0QQitemZ190365206202QQcmdZViewItemQQptZHome_Brew?hash=item2c52a686ba#ht_1844wt_939), which are a fair bit cheaper. I'm guessing that with home brewing you get what you pay for and I'm better off spending that little bit more money and getting a better kit? Or can anyone advise me on the kits on eBay, do they seem decent?

Cheers guys, looking forward to my first brew already!

oblivious

conf101 wrote: »

I'm guessing that with home brewing you get what you pay for and I'm better off spending that little bit more money and getting a better kit? Or can anyone advise me on the kits on eBay, do they seem decent

I would be weary how long that tin of extract has been hanging around or stored

This is a very good starter beer, a cross between a lager and golden ale http://www.thehomebrewcompany.ie/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=1_13&products_id=20&zenid=24fd09c25b7b6af2d807d681a87e6689

BeerNut

conf101 wrote: »

I'm fairly confused about the whole process, guess I'll just have to get stuck in and see how I get on!

Flying blind is a recipe for bad beer. Generally, following the instructions on a beer kit is a recipe for bad beer too.

There's a good beginner's guide to kit brewing here. And keep asking questions.

conf101

BeerNut wrote: »

Flying blind is a recipe for bad beer. Generally, following the instructions on a beer kit is a recipe for bad beer too.

There's a good beginner's guide to kit brewing here. And keep asking questions.

Oh yeah I wasn't gonna just go on a wing and a prayer. I'll def be following instructions. I just meant that after all the reading I had done I was still fairly confuddled about the whole process!

oblivious

conf101 wrote: »

Oh yeah I wasn't gonna just go on a wing and a prayer. I'll def be following instructions. I just meant that after all the reading I had done I was still fairly confuddled about the whole process!

Practice, lots of practice

conf101

oblivious wrote: »

Practice, lots of practice

Any advice on a good beginners brewing kit?

BeerNut

conf101 wrote: »

Any advice on a good beginners brewing kit?

Do you mean equipment (in which case this)? Or an actual beer kit (in which case this)?

FyFyTa

Yep, I have just finished brewing & drinking a Coopers Micro Brewery. Everything was included, all I had to add was water!! You can get it on the home brew sites for 79.99. I am now looking to buy my next batch. I was thinking of the Muntons Gold Continental Pils 3KG. They say that the alcohol content will be approx. 4.5%. Anyone any hints on how to bump up the alcohol content by 1 or 2%. Many thanks & hopefully someone has a suggestion, Thanks. FyFyTa.:D:D:D

Saruman

More sugar = more alcohol.

This is also a recipe for bad beer.

Don't be looking to make homebrew beer just to get wasted. It is much quicker and cheaper to get some cheap vodka.
Take pride in your homebrew beer and make something that tastes good and in fact tastes better than commercial beer.

FyFyTa

Saruman Thanks a million. I am goin to stay away from increasing the alcohol cont. and concentrate on the taste and finished product. Best regards FyFyTa.

Saruman

Good man. One other thing, don't expect your continental pils to taste like a pilsner. Making a lager from a kit is impossible. Wrong type of yeast and wrong fermenting temperature.
Lagers use bottom fermenting yeast and require a constant cool temperature where as what you get in a lager kit is a top fermenting ale yeast and is fermented in warm temperatures.

You will probably still end up with a good tasting beer, it will just not be a lager. Actually since there are feck all tasty lagers in the world *, you might even be happier with the outcome.

*Obvious example being the wonderful Brooklyn Lager.

TheWarrior

Hi Folks,

I wonder could help me out with something, is Caramalt the same as light crystal i.e. in that it doesn't need to be mashed. I want to make an extract APA this week but only have dark crystal 120 & caramalt speciality grains on hand.
Thanks

BeerNut

Cara- malts don't need to be mashed.

TheWarrior

Thanks for that BeerNut .

Mjollnir

Well, Kids, after long thought and careful consideration, I've decided to take the plunge, and tomorrow night my first steps in becoming an amateur brewer.

http://www.brewsupply.com/Classes/index.html

For anyone else in L.A., I've checked around, and this place seems to be the best.

I'd appreciate any experienced people checking the site out and giving any opinions they might have.

Skoal!

BeerNut

Well, the classes all seem to be all-grain and partial-mash and it looks like they assume you know the basics of extract. It's possible it might overcomplicate things, but chances are you'll meet some good people who can tell you what way to go when you're starting out.

I understand American extract homebrewers tend to use liquid malt extract. Dry malt extract/spraymalt gives better results.

Mjollnir

BeerNut wrote: »

Well, the classes all seem to be all-grain and partial-mash and it looks like they assume you know the basics of extract. It's possible it might overcomplicate things, but chances are you'll meet some good people who can tell you what way to go when you're starting out.

I understand American extract homebrewers tend to use liquid malt extract. Dry malt extract/spraymalt gives better results.

Thanks! From what I've read at review sites for them and their classes, they're extremely basic and hold the hands of absolute beginners such as myself until we're up to acceptable speed.

I'll keep the extract bit in mind and observe what they're doing there before opening my mouth.

ManFromAtlantis

apologies for probably repeating these q's. as prob asked before.

want to make beer from as close to scratch as poss. i would like to grow my own barley but its not going to be this year.
i know very little about the process. btw i brewed cider last year for the first time ever and with help here it came out fantastic !!

anyhoo, i think i need malted barley. can this be got otherthan in brew stores.? like down at the co-op or foodstore or whereever?

is it doable to buy barley grain (dont know if there are diff types) and try and create malted barley ? (i saw a utube vid on this part). and is this tehn mashed or can/should i just buy mashed.

oh and what/where is malt extract come into the equation. thanks for your patience.

BaZmO*

This might help answer a few of your questions. I doubt that you could actually Malt the Barley yourself though.

Saruman

ManFromAtlantis wrote: »

apologies for probably repeating these q's. as prob asked before.

want to make beer from as close to scratch as poss. i would like to grow my own barley but its not going to be this year.

You mean to malt your own barley? That is very ambitious of you

BeerNut

ManFromAtlantis wrote: »

can this be got otherthan in brew stores.? like down at the co-op or foodstore or whereever?

You're basically looking at buying wholesale from a maltster, like Greencore.

ManFromAtlantis wrote: »

is it doable to buy barley grain (dont know if there are diff types) and try and create malted barley ?

Yep. You need a lot of space if you want to malt all your own barley, but it's doable.

ManFromAtlantis wrote: »

can/should i just buy mashed.

oh and what/where is malt extract come into the equation. thanks for your patience.

Mashing is extracting sugars from malt: at the end of mashing you have malt extract and spent grain. If you couldn't be arsed mashing (like me) you can buy pre-prepared malt extract. The dry powdered version, aka spraymalt, gives the best results.

ManFromAtlantis

im prob more ignorant than ambitious. but the plan was to grow some barley. then i saw a utube vid where the guy soaks/sives/warms up germinates and pops in the oven at 50 degrees to get malted ? barley.
the cider i made from picked apples has given me the confidence anh hope to make maybe 200 bottles of that this year.
but back to the beer yeah its prob safer if i buy some malted barley as mentioned. should be a laugh and i might ley ye know how it goes.
thanks for the advive btw.