Homebrew Beer Howto

BaZmO*

Saruman wrote: »

Dry hop the hell out of that.

And then when that's done, dry hop it again!

Anyone

Jaysus, is it that bad? I want to try keep it simple for the first few goes of this, but I'd like something I can actually drink

tteknulp

Anyone wrote: »

Jaysus, is it that bad? I want to try keep it simple for the first few goes of this, but I'd like something I can actually drink

Its ok ,just make to 20 ltrs ,i would dry hop ,with cascade 30g-40g ,and 1 kg of brew enhancer,with safele 05 yeast ,if yiu can get, will make nice summer drink

BeerNut

Anyone wrote: »

I want to try keep it simple for the first few goes of this

The paler a beer, the harder it is to do well. The simplest kit beer style you can make is a stout, though the ales are pretty foolproof too. The darker the better, basically.

Wallacebiy

Anyone wrote: »

It was 3 weeks in the fermenter and 3 weeks in bottles. I havent poured it down the sink yet.....lol I cant bring myself to it :P

I'll keep going with the Homebrewing though, I have the Coopers Mexican Cerveza to make next.

Way too early to be opening it so .

After bottling I give it about 1- 2 weeks somewhere warm , I usually move it to somewhere cool ( dark shed ) and leave it there at least another 4 weeks before tasting .

If it goes to the shed early ( read the boss tells me shift it from the Kitchen ) I leave it at least 8 weeks before tasting .



Yup , the patience is the hard part ..

adamski8

BeerNut wrote: »

The paler a beer, the harder it is to do well. The simplest kit beer style you can make is a stout, though the ales are pretty foolproof too. The darker the better, basically.

thats also a reason ive heard that kit makers make their best quality beers their lagers as they cant hide anything, so maybe they are good for dry hopping, steeping?

Anyone

Wallacebiy wrote: »

Way too early to be opening it so .

After bottling I give it about 1- 2 weeks somewhere warm , I usually move it to somewhere cool ( dark shed ) and leave it there at least another 4 weeks before tasting .

If it goes to the shed early ( read the boss tells me shift it from the Kitchen ) I leave it at least 8 weeks before tasting .



Yup , the patience is the hard part ..

Right so, after the first 2-3 bottles proved flat. I left the rest in a press, and kind of forgot about it. Well until Friday, when I decided to pop one in the fridge and leave it overnight. And its fully carbonated. The taste is still a bit meh, but I recon thats down to my own preference and not something to do with the product or a balls up I made.

Glad I didnt pour it all out!

sharingan

adamski8 wrote: »

thats also a reason ive heard that kit makers make their best quality beers their lagers as they cant hide anything, so maybe they are good for dry hopping, steeping?

Well no, a good kit maker wont try and convince you that their pale-whatever is a lager/pilsner/mexican cervesa etc.

'lagering' is a verb and refers to the cold conditioning that a lager needs to really be a lager. You wont get that with a kit, ever.

A pale kit beer is a blonde/very pale ale of some description, and many of the things that make 'yellow' beers good are things like it being refreshing, refined, clear, hoppy, citrusy and summer day drinking. Much of the marketing around pale kit beers (**make 40 pints of pub lager** etc) is about being cheap, and selling to new brewers who dont know better. I actually think its pretty mean, that they intentionally give you bad instructions that spoil the beer (add 1Kg of sugar) when making even basic, cheap, pale kit beers drinkable is easy - use all malt extract, and dry hop.

cooperguy

I havent attempted a brew in a long time. I put a Muntons Pilsner kit into the fermenter on Sunday with Malt extract. It bubbled away fine until this morning and it doesnt seem to be doing much any more. The thermometer stuck to the side of the fermenter says 20C.

It seems a little quick for the fermenter to stop bubbling, have I done something stupid!?

BaZmO*

cooperguy wrote: »

I havent attempted a brew in a long time. I put a Muntons Pilsner kit into the fermenter on Sunday with Malt extract. It bubbled away fine until this morning and it doesnt seem to be doing much any more. The thermometer stuck to the side of the fermenter says 20C.

It seems a little quick for the fermenter to stop bubbling, have I done something stupid!?

What does the hydrometer say? The lion's share of fermentation takes place in the first couple of days, after that you should only be getting minimal fermentation so if the the lid isn't 100% sealed the CO2 can escape before you see it through the bubbler.

cooperguy

I checked this morning and its down at 1.01, so its probably done, just finished quickly? A head formed on it the first day but this has completely disappeared now. Does that make a difference?

BaZmO*

cooperguy wrote: »

I checked this morning and its down at 1.01, so its probably done, just finished quickly? A head formed on it the first day but this has completely disappeared now. Does that make a difference?

Sounds done alright. 1.01 seems really low though, what were you aiming for?

The warm weather would've promoted quick fermentation. The head you refer to is called Kräusen, and is a great indicator of successful fermentation.

wotswattage

Bottled my first brew today seemed to go well, but in my excitement I forgot to take my FG reading from the fermenter.

I took it from beer in one of the bottles before capping (and obviously before shaking), though the bottle was primed with sugar before filling it and maybe sat for 10 mins before I took the reading. How/will this affect my reading??

OG 1.036
FG Reading from bottle primed with sugar was 1.008
=3.6% a little lower than what I was hoping for...


Do the formulae take into account the secondary fermentation from the sugar?? I see in some of them you add 0.5 at the end, is this the extra half percent that comes from the secondary fermentation or a different part of the formula??

BeerNut

wotswattage wrote: »

How/will this affect my reading?

It'll raise it, but not by much. 1.008 is still pretty low.

wotswattage wrote: »

Do the formulae take into account the secondary fermentation from the sugar?

No. You can add a fraction of a percentage to allow for priming, but it's all approximate anyway.

wotswattage

BeerNut wrote: »

It'll raise it, but not by much. 1.008 is still pretty low.

No. You can add a fraction of a percentage to allow for priming, but it's all approximate anyway.

So what's a more normal FG reading?
I was maybe concerned that my OG was a bit low at 1.034, most people seem to start off around 1.040 for higher

And when you say add a fraction of a %, what is your definition if a fraction? I was told add 0.5%

BeerNut

wotswattage wrote: »

So what's a more normal FG reading?

My kits tend to finish around 1.012 to 1.018.

wotswattage wrote: »

I was maybe concerned that my OG was a bit low at 1.034, most people seem to start off around 1.040 for higher

Yep, madly low. It all depends on your volume, your amount of top-up fermentables, that you mixed it all thoroughly, calibrated your reading against temperature etc. I'd expect a 1.7kg kit with a kilo of spraymalt topped up to 20L, properly stirred and with the reading calibrated, to come out in the 1.045 to 1.050 zone.

wotswattage wrote: »

what is your definition if a fraction? I was told add 0.5%

Less than 1. I'm sure 0.5 is in the right area, but as I say you're not really working to that level of accuracy using a homebrew hydrometer.

wotswattage

BeerNut wrote: »

My kits tend to finish around 1.012 to 1.018.

Yep, madly low. It all depends on your volume, your amount of top-up fermentables, that you mixed it all thoroughly, calibrated your reading against temperature etc. I'd expect a 1.7kg kit with a kilo of spraymalt topped up to 20L, properly stirred and with the reading calibrated, to come out in the 1.045 to 1.050 zone.

Less than 1. I'm sure 0.5 is in the right area, but as I say you're not really working to that level of accuracy using a homebrew hydrometer.

Cheers thanks for the info, just to compare against mine.

I was using a standard Coopers Dark Ale kit with coopers sugar reckon I may have topped it up past the 23L as recommended in the instructions. My fermented may not have been 100% level leading to topping up with too much water possibly to 25L?!? That diluting affect will of course reduce my %. Silly me!!

I didn't take temp into account when calculating but did record it. The fermenter was at 24.5°C for the OG reading. To be honest it was hard enough to get an accurate reading with the foam on top of the mix...

I didn't pay much attention today before bottling but it was lower for the FG, as today was colder, and the transfer into the glass bottle which I took the reading from would have brought it down a bit too. Maybe 21°C possibly even 20°C

Using this calculator here http://www.rooftopbrew.net/abv_calculator.php which takes the temp difference into account and I'm getting higher % readings. 3.9% isn't too bad going into secondary fermentation.

Any tips for what temperature to keep the bottles for the next while?

BeerNut

wotswattage wrote: »

Any tips for what temperature to keep the bottles for the next while?

Conditioning is just fermentation, so the same again. 18-20 is ideal.

Whisko

I keep my bottles in the house when carbonating then into the shed after 10 days for a month. The temperature isn't such an issue when carbonating imo so I don't worry about extremes to much.

I brew at a steady 18 degrees in a fridge, I can't tell the differance between bottles carbonated in the fridge and those carbonated in the house. There is however a world of differance between a beer fermented out in the house in summer and a beer fermented out in a temperature controlled fridge.

twerg_85

Hi all,
another newbie question.

I have a simple siphon and a bottling wand. When bottling, I used starsan on everything including caps, followed all the sanitisation advice etc.

But then to get the beer flowing, I had to suck on the end of the wand to get it started .... any more sanitised way to do this ?
Not sure that rinsing my mouth out with boiling water or starsan is the answer

F.

Khannie

Someone (BeerNut I think) advised me to use a bic pen. Take the insert out, stick it in the tube, suck, remove. Works quite well.

BeerNut

Yeah, it's awkward when you have a wand to reattach, though. You'd be unlucky if something went wrong with your beer because the bottling wand was briefly in your mouth. I eventually traded up to an autosyphon which is much better than the simple one if you're going to keep making beer.

rubadub

You can put paper kitchen towel over the end and suck through it, since air can go through it fairly OK. If you are well practiced at siphoning you can do it without getting the kitchen towel wet, if you have the tube a certain way you can feel the "kick" in it when the liquid is going up. If none comes out then go past the previous "kicking point".

Always annoys me seeing films & TV programs with lads siphoning petrol or other nasty stuff and getting a mouthful of it, as though it almost has to happen.

You might be able to get it going with a large syringe, they can be got in pet shops for feeding small animals, they are useful for other things too like measuring liquid finings.

Gerry069

Just spotted this and thought you guys might be interested
eBay item no.190766249289
On another issue I have just started brewing again and wonder if anyone knows of somewhere I can get supplies in the Limerick area?
Regards,
Gerry.

invaderzimirl

thanks man i ordered 2 just there, as the kit i bought was missing one last week they said in the shop they will get one in and give me a call but think its handy to have the thermometer built in. (im not sure if all have that or not in them)

BaZmO*

invaderzimirl wrote: »

thanks man i ordered 2 just there, as the kit i bought was missing one last week they said in the shop they will get one in and give me a call but think its handy to have the thermometer built in. (im not sure if all have that or not in them)

They generally don't. Quite a handy addition.

Gerry069

This will not do wine as the range is only 1 to 1.060. great for beer.Well as a general indicator anyway.

bastados

Hi...am looking at making some IPA...any suggestions which one(s) I should be looking at..thanks

oblivious

bastados wrote: »

Hi...am looking at making some IPA...any suggestions which one(s) I should be looking at..thanks

Kit ? both Muntons and Woodfords do all malt India Pale Ale kits for a more English IPA, you could dry hop these kits with america hops to for a more US slanted IPA

Tube

BeerNut wrote: »

Conditioning is just fermentation, so the same again. 18-20 is ideal.

That's too broad a generalisation. Condition a lager at those temps and you'll possibly ruin it. Conditioning is sooo much more subtle than simple A to B fermentation.