Homebrew Beer Howto

gaz wac

Thanks lads, give it another week so. Just on a side note, finally got to go to Mulligan's in Stonybatter last week....it's my new local ( although i live 30 mins away!! ) Tried a number of different beers, but the vanilla beer and Lindmen's came out on top for me.

Staff were great, they knew it was our first visit so gave us a small sample before we bought, lovely touch also gave us a short story behind the beer. Food was also great.....couldnt fault the place one bit ! highly recommend

gaz wac

Hi lads, im looking for the chart where it tell's you the amount of sugar you need to prime your beer in a bottling bucket !?!? I still havnt bottled my Cooper Canadian Blonde, so want to do it tonight. At this stage, im down to 21 liters due to my nightly tasting test

Cheers

leggit

gaz wac wrote: »

Hi lads, im looking for the chart where it tell's you the amount of sugar you need to prime your beer in a bottling bucket !?!? I still havnt bottled my Cooper Canadian Blonde, so want to do it tonight. At this stage, im down to 21 liters due to my nightly tasting test

Cheers

http://www.tastybrew.com/calculators/priming.html is one I have been looking at as I'm going to batch prime my IPA and bottle it on Saturday

Haven't batch primed before so if anybody has a better one I'm all ears!

I'm getting 120 grams for a 23 litre batch of IPA (2.3 volumes Co2), that sound about right??

gmonov1

hi guys, hopefully someone can advise me here.

im one week into my first home brew and i went to syphon my brew into the secondary fermenter today to find that the rubber bung and airlock had been pushed through the hole in the top of the bucket.

turns out one of my nieces was messing at it, dunno which one so im gonna have to thump both of them . i dont know how long its been like that but its at least 24 hours. will this have ruined my first batch or do you think it might be salvageable

Martyn1989

gmonov1 wrote: »

hi guys, hopefully someone can advise me here.

im one week into my first home brew and i went to syphon my brew into the secondary fermenter today to find that the rubber bung and airlock had been pushed through the hole in the top of the bucket.

turns out one of my nieces was messing at it, dunno which one so im gonna have to thump both of them . i dont know how long its been like that but its at least 24 hours. will this have ruined my first batch or do you think it might be salvageable

It might be fine, it might not be, keep going and wait and see, you'll know if somethings gone wrong.

BeerNut

You'd be very unlucky to have anything go wrong. Alcohol is a disinfectant, so the later in the fermentation process it happened the less likely it is to be a problem.

silliegillie

Hi Guys, Im about to start a Magnum cider Kit, Along with a turbo cider using apple juice from Lidl. The Kit say when Priming to use 1 teaspoon per 750mls, with stout and lager I use 1 teaspoon per 500ml. I might just try a Mix, Sugar for half the Kitt and Juice for another, just wondering anybody any advice on using juice as the priming agent

silliegillie

Right I have made the Cider and bottle it, But Doh, There is an Apple flavouring that I forgot to add. How essential is it, im assuming it its pretty improtant, Just want to figure out if its worth uncapping all my bottles to add it in, But ive run out of Caps and will have to wait a few days for more to ship. any advice

BeerNut

silliegillie wrote: »

How essential is it, im assuming it its pretty improtant

You're about to find out. Go without it and see what happens.

oblivious

silliegillie wrote: »

Right I have made the Cider and bottle it, But Doh, There is an Apple flavouring that I forgot to add. How essential is it, im assuming it its pretty improtant, Just want to figure out if its worth uncapping all my bottles to add it in, But ive run out of Caps and will have to wait a few days for more to ship. any advice

whats was in the kit, if not some sort of concentrated apple juice?

silliegillie

Beernut, Thats Sounds like a Dare , I Will So, and I let you know how it is . If its disgusting I suppose I can just add a Drop to each bottle as I open them.
Obliviuos, The Can Contained 1.7kg of concentrated apple juice. Paniced a bit last night but ive read a bit on it and it looks as though its really just to help the taste along. so Fingers crossed it wont be hideous Next week when I start drinking it.

rubadub

I remember doing a few kits with apple flavouring sachets, I never added them, didn't like the thought of adding presumably artificial flavouring to them. The kits were apple juice anyway. Once I emptied some into a glass or water and it was not pleasant.

I thought of it being like the vile vodka essences that get added to those neutral wine 'prohibition' type kits.

silliegillie

I Tried My Cider last Night, after forgetting to add the apple flavouring. Anyway It Didnt taste too bad I suppose, but there was alittle smell and after taste of rotten egg. I must say this was slight and very subtle, It wont stop me from drinking the rest of the bottles. But I was wondering why I could get this was it
1)Because its a fruit beverage
2)The brew got infected
3)Because i didnt add the flavouring
4)any other reason.

BeerNut

I think that's a feature of cider yeast. I've certainly got that smell from a fermenting batch but it has always faded before I bottled. You might just need to leave your cider to breathe a while when serving.

Sky King

Yeah my cider batch is mid fermentation at the moment and it smells like ass, though the smell seems to be dissipating now. I was just going to leave it until it fermented out fully....

gmonov1

i have to transfer my brew into my secondary fermenter in the next day or so but im not sure how i should seal it. when i bought my kit i received 2 fermenters, one with just a normal lid and one with a hole to receive the bung and airlock, which should i use for my secondary?

BeerNut

It doesn't matter. Fermenters don't need to be sealed. Just leave the normal lid loosely on top so it'll stop things falling in.

Either can be used for primary or secondary.

silliegillie

BeerNut wrote: »

I think that's a feature of cider yeast. I've certainly got that smell from a fermenting batch but it has always faded before I bottled. You might just need to leave your cider to breathe a while when serving.

Thanks, Ive tried that, and yes it Disapates a bit more once I leave the bottle open for about 20 Mins before drinking. I also added a few ice Cubes to a glass and it seemed to refresh it even more. Then again, I Suppose when Drinking Bulmers I always have it with Plenty of ice. Ah Summertime beer garden drinking.

Sky King

silliegillie wrote: »

Ah Summertime beer garden drinking.

Indeed. I am prepping my garden for it as well! Roll on lazy summer days!

gmonov1

i need to clean one of my fermenters but cant find my sterilising solution anywhere, i usually use the vwp brand. is this available to just buy over the counter anywhere or is there any alternative i can just pick up from the likes of tesco or anywhere else so i dont have to get it delivered

BaZmO*

gmonov1 wrote: »

i need to clean one of my fermenters but cant find my sterilising solution anywhere, i usually use the vwp brand. is this available to just buy over the counter anywhere or is there any alternative i can just pick up from the likes of tesco or anywhere else so i dont have to get it delivered

You could go with the homemade option of a Vinegar and Bleach solution. Read this thread for more details.


Note: Do not mix bleach and vinegar together neat! This will create Chlorine Gas which is very dangerous! Only add these to the water.

silliegillie

gmonov1 wrote: »

i need to clean one of my fermenters but cant find my sterilising solution anywhere, i usually use the vwp brand. is this available to just buy over the counter anywhere or is there any alternative i can just pick up from the likes of tesco or anywhere else so i dont have to get it delivered

I Just Go for Milton or tescos own version, I reckon it its to sterile Babies Bottles it has to kill all Germs.

leggit

silliegillie wrote: »

I Just Go for Milton or tescos own version, I reckon it its to sterile Babies Bottles it has to kill all Germs.

thin bleach and vinegar in 20 litres of water is the best way to go, no rinse needed after (although I do give it a quick once over with the kettle anyway)

milton does indeed kill the germs but leaves residue behind which can effect the brew. You'll notice that after a few rinses you still can't get rid of the smell from it.

Khannie

BaZmO* wrote: »

Note: Do not mix bleach and vinegar together neat! This will create Chlorine Gas which is very dangerous! Only add these to the water.

This reminds me of a junior cert chemistry phrase:

If you're doing what you oughter, add the acid to the water.

Good to remember.

Sky King

silliegillie wrote: »

I Just Go for Milton or tescos own version, I reckon it its to sterile Babies Bottles it has to kill all Germs.

You're paying WAY more for what is essentially the same thing. You can get a few years worth of this DIY sanitiser in Tesco for about €2

gmonov1

so i bottled my beer about 10 days ago, i checked it today and the fizz level seems to be really low. im using 1 liter swingtop bottles, i put 2 coopers carbonation drops in each bottle, according to what i read online that should be enough. will it improve over the next few days, can i just pop the lids and add another drop to each bottle, am i resigned to flat beer, HELP!!!

BeerNut

gmonov1 wrote: »

so i bottled my beer about 10 days ago, i checked it today

I wouldn't even think about opening a bottle before two weeks is up, and generally find they aren't fully carbonated until after three.

Just make sure they're at room temperature and leave them alone for another week or so.

gmonov1

BeerNut wrote: »

I wouldn't even think about opening a bottle before two weeks is up, and generally find they aren't fully carbonated until after three.

Just make sure they're at room temperature and leave them alone for another week or so.

cheers, i decided to take a month or so off the drink mid fermentation so i dont mind waiting! this is my first batch, has been very trial and error so far, i dont think ill be winning any brewing awards, but once its drinkable im happy enough, there has been alot of lessons learned for batch 2

leggit

Didn't really want to start a new thread so I'll ask here:

Is there anywhere that I could walk into and buy hops in Dublin (preferably south or city centre)?
I made an IPA before but it wasn't hoppy enough so I'm going to give it another go but I already have everything I need except hops and I don't particularly feel like shelling out €4-5 on delivery for just hops.

Any ideas?

BeerNut

leggit wrote: »

I don't particularly feel like shelling out €4-5 on delivery for just hops.

Any ideas?

Ask one of the homebrew suppliers to post them to you.