Homebrew Beer Howto

BeerNut

Hellrazer wrote: »

Could anyone put together a starter kit for me or should I just go with the Coopers.

I think this is better than the Coopers one.

Hellrazer wrote: »

Whats changed in say the last 15-20 years.

The Internet. In the old days people relied on received wisdom, like fermenting in a hotpress or adding a kilo of sugar to a brewkit (per the instructions). You'll still get bad beer if you do this. Forums like this mean you can have your mistakes pointed out to you, or pre-emptively avoided, before they become bad beer.

Hellrazer wrote: »

Is the beer you brew now "nice to drink"

Absolutely. I tend to brew things that I like to drink but which are too expensive or rare to buy.

Hellrazer wrote: »

Compared to pub/off licence bought stuff does it taste decent?Would you drink it as an alternative to purchased beer?

Yes on both, but it's a matter of personal taste. I'm not a big fan of yellow fizzy lager or nitrogenated stout. Both these things are very difficult to make well at home, but that doesn't matter to me.

Hellrazer

BeerNut wrote: »

I think this is better than the Coopers one.

I take it Id have to buy bottles on top of that--are the pet bottles with the coopers kit not really recommended so?I was looking at getting into this at a resonable price--I dont mean cheap--its just that personally I have a habit of starting things like this and getting bored / giving up and I dont want to spend mad money for something thats going to end up in the attic like the rest of my "hobbies"

The Internet. In the old days people relied on received wisdom, like fermenting in a hotpress or adding a kilo of sugar to a brewkit (per the instructions). You'll still get bad beer if you do this. Forums like this mean you can have your mistakes pointed out to you, or pre-emptively avoided, before they become bad beer.

I getcha--its just I have visions of me reliving that stuff my uncle brewed.I couldnt go through that again.I want something that I can sit down with on a Saturday night that I can drink 7/8 pints of and relax knowing that I made it

Absolutely. I tend to brew things that I like to drink but which are too expensive or rare to buy.

Care to recommend me a first brew so?Im more of a Lager person though Im willing to try anything.Hard to describe but I cant stick dark ales like Smithicks etc.The coopers light ales seem to get good reviews.Im also not into really bitter tasting beers and Ive seen some kits with different bitter ratings--what does this rating system tell you?.

And thanks for the help--total newb so bear with me

BeerNut

Hellrazer wrote: »

I take it Id have to buy bottles on top of that

Or save/collect empties. I've never bought an empty bottle.

Hellrazer wrote: »

are the pet bottles with the coopers kit not really recommended so?

They're fine. If you're going to buy bottles they're cheap and good quality.

Hellrazer wrote: »

Care to recommend me a first brew so?

Woodfordes Wherry. A really good session ale. It's worth trading up to the more expensive all-malt kits, and they're not that much dearer than a 1.5kg kit plus spraymalt.

Hellrazer wrote: »

Ive seen some kits with different bitter ratings--what does this rating system tell you?

Can't say I've noticed them, but I've only done a couple of kits.

Hellrazer wrote: »

And thanks for the help--total newb so bear with me

You're welcome, good luck. It's a great hobby.

leggit

going to buy myself a kit this week and start my own batch and I just wanted to know if the things stink up the place or is it ok?

Asking because I was planning on sticking it in a wardrobe in my bedroom, if it stinks the place up I'll probably put it in the shed out the garden

cooperguy

merc230ce wrote: »

Ha! Me too!
Look forward to comparing notes ;-)

Well how did the brew go? I put mine on today. It was the standard Coopers Canadian Blonde. I got it free with the kit so I decided to go with that one before being more adventurous!

It went ok. Slightly worried everything wasnt sterilized enough but i think thats probably in my head!

merc230ce

cooperguy wrote: »

merc230ce wrote: »

Ha! Me too!
Look forward to comparing notes ;-)

Well how did the brew go? I put mine on today. It was the standard Coopers Canadian Blonde. I got it free with the kit so I decided to go with that one before being more adventurous!

It went ok. Slightly worried everything wasnt sterilized enough but i think thats probably in my head!

It went... Fine, I think?
I had fun doing it anyway, and the morning after it had a good lookin head on it! So *something* is happening :-)

If anything I think I over-sterilised things - I got a right whiff of chlorine as I started adding the ingredients :-/

My OG was only 1.035 (so I'm not expecting rocket fuel) - did you take a reading?

cooperguy

I think mine was 1.034, only finished mine this evening so it hasnt really started bubbling much yet. The temp readout on the side of the fermenter is reading 26C, im not sure what the ideal temp is supposed to be.

AntoSRFC

cooperguy wrote: »

Well how did the brew go? I put mine on today. It was the standard Coopers Canadian Blonde. I got it free with the kit so I decided to go with that one before being more adventurous!

It went ok. Slightly worried everything wasnt sterilized enough but i think thats probably in my head!

Im the exact same just hope everything was sterile and when adding the yeast the temperature was around 28 way on the high side, but after 24 hours its bubbling away so something is working!

Is it true the higher the temperature the more chance of "off flavours"? Its the one thing I knew to avoid and I ended up messing it up.

BeerNut

AntoSRFC wrote: »

Is it true the higher the temperature the more chance of "off flavours"? Its the one thing I knew to avoid and I ended up messing it up.

Yes. 18C is ideal. Above 24 and you can get funky off flavours. The Coopers kit instructions are quite misleading on this.

merc230ce

Yeah my starting temp was 24 deg on Fri eve but I switched off the heating that night for basically 2 weeks (although I'll be checking in a couple of times) as we'll be on hols so I wasn't too concerned as it'll def come down from there.

oblivious

oblivious wrote: »

True the amounts are from HDPE i believe if i can dig out the table i will post it

Sorry about the delay but here the table, home brew HDPE bucket has the greatest diffusion rates of all fermentation vessels available

cooperguy

Hydrometer reading today: 1.016. Had a little taste of the sample before taking the reading. Its not too bad. Maybe a little banana-y. Probably down to the fact it started fermenting at ~26C. It is now down at 20C will this taste mellow a bit over the coarse of the rest of the fermentation?

irish_goat

Going to brew my Finlandia Dark ale that I got free from homebrewwest.ie on Saturday. Making 2 batchs with it, one with no additions to give a review on the kit alone and then I want to add a heap of hops to the other batch. My question is, how much do you reckon I could get away with adding? I have Styrian Goldings and Centennial.

stalins_ma

Good article here lads:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/blog/2011/jul/29/science-magic-beer

BeerNut

Until the 11th century, beer was drunk without hops.

From around the 8th century hops started to be used in central Europe

*facepalm*

Un-hopped beer is at best cloyingly sweet and at worst it has turned eye-wateringly sour

Someone needs a smack on the head with a bottle of Fraoch.

Saruman

I think the author was trying to say that beer without some sort of bittering agent would be incredibly sweet. The choice of words was unfortunate but I got the context.

However 8th century? Sounds like someone looked up wikipedia and did not get past 736ad and failed to notice that the first recorded hop use in beer was 1079 and even then it was sparse.

BeerNut

Saruman wrote: »

failed to notice that the first recorded hop use in beer was 1079 and even then it was sparse.

It's a garbled version of a myth about Hildegarde of Bingen being the first to record the use of hops. Zythophile explains what's wrong with it here.

Saruman

Interesting thanks

irish_goat

Took 2 bottles of my own hoppy summer ale down to the pub I work in and opened one after work. Few customers and staff had a taste and most said they liked it. One lad even tried to order a bottle but I'd not left. Delighted.

AntoSRFC

My first batch seems to be more or less finished at this stage after 20 or so days fermenting, had a little taste last night and was pleasantly supprised. Can anyone give advice on the best way to sterilise the bottles? I have the Coopers plastic ones so not sure if dishwasher is an option going to through one on the lowest temperature and see how it fairs.
Can anyone offer me their advice on the best way of doing this? A bucket and bleach and let them soak in it for a few hours seems the best option.

oblivious

AntoSRFC wrote: »

A bucket and bleach and let them soak in it for a few hours seems the best option.

Wash with hot soapy water and rice first the follow the below method


30ml of bleach with 30ml of vinegar in 20 liters will produce a no rinse solution that will be done in 15 minutes

NB do not mix the bleach and vinegar, add one to the water mix and then add the other

ManFromAtlantis

is that any particular type of bleach or just the stuff you get in supervalu etc ta

BaZmO*

ManFromAtlantis wrote: »

is that any particular type of bleach or just the stuff you get in supervalu etc ta

It has to be Thin Bleach.

All Bleach is essentially the same, but the difference between Thick and Thin Bleach is that Thick Bleach has a a substance added to it that helps it stick to surfaces, this is obviously not great if you're trying to make a no rinse bleach/vinegar solution.

irish_goat

Plus thin bleach is dirt cheap anyway.

irish_goat

Oh and on another note, if anyone lives in the north you can get a lot of free bottles from bars there. I know in the south most bottles are recycled and pubs claim back a deposit but a lot of pubs in the north have to pay for recycling so would be happy to let you take them off their hands for free. My brother is gettin a heap of magners ones for me tonight apparently.

cooperguy

A guy I know uses Milton for sterilising. Good or bad idea?

BaZmO*

cooperguy wrote: »

A guy I know uses Milton for sterilising. Good or bad idea?

Milton is fine but you need to make sure you rinse it off well as it tends to stink.

kierank01

So I finally got around to doing my first brew. Its a brupaks IPA

I have left it for a week (today), and the initial reading was 1.038, and the reading that I took yesterday was 1.018.

The instructions say that fermentation should take 5-7 days, and should read 1.010 when complete.

Should I leave it longer, or give it a churn to see if it ferments more?

also, when bottling, it says 1 teaspoon sugar per litre. How many grams in a teaspoon, so I can melt it all in a bottling bucket, and not have to count out 25 teaspoons.

BeerNut

kierank01 wrote: »

The instructions say that fermentation should take 5-7 days, and should read 1.010 when complete.

First rule of kit brewing: ignore the instructions. I'd give it two weeks to ferment out at least.

kierank01 wrote: »

Should I leave it longer, or give it a churn to see if it ferments more?

Just leave it. A gentle stir can be used to rouse sluggish yeast but it's an infection risk. No need to do anything yet.

kierank01 wrote: »

How many grams in a teaspoon, so I can melt it all in a bottling bucket, and not have to count out 25 teaspoons.

For batch priming like this (a much better idea than spoons of sugar) you can use a carbonation calculator. I'd go for about 2.3 vols of CO2, so that's 132g for 25L assuming your temperature is around 18C.

Hellrazer

Would anyone here have a use for an old under counter fridge--maybe for those cooler brews??
Or even storing their completed brews in?

Its ancient but working 100%--I just dont have any room for it.

Was going to throw it up on adverts for free but since you lot have been so helpful with all the noob questions(still havent gotten around to buying a starter kit yet though) I thought if anyone here wanted it for free then theyre welcome to it.

Would have to be collected in Maynooth though.

Richie.


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