Beer Brewing. New

Bongalongherb · 07-02-2015 11:21pm #1

Hello folks. I'm thinking of brewing my own beer, not sure which beer I'll be into just yet, but I am just wondering if the Brew Belt costs much on electricity over a full fermentation process to the end of the brew ?.

I was thinking of getting this kit for starting off... The Brew Belt pic is below as well...

Kit: http://www.homebrewwest.ie/brewsmarter-premium-starter-beer-kit-x28best-valuex29-844-p.asp

Also it seems that bottled water is better to use than tap-water. To be honest I don't fancy using tap-water for the brew... Below.

Brewing with unfiltered, chlorine-containing tap water. If you are on a municipal water supply odds are that it contains either chlorine or chloramines. To remove them you can either charcoal filter or treat your water with metabisulfite, or alternatively use bottled water. One of the most common off-flavors I taste at homebrew club meetings is medicinal chlorophenol, which is formed by the combination of chlorine in the water or sanitizer and phenols from malt and yeast.

BeerNut · 08-02-2015 12:58pm

I don't think a brew belt is necessary at all. If you have a room that's normal room temperature, that's fine for fermenting in.

If your tap water is OK for drinking it should be OK for brewing. If there is a chlorine taste from it, one option is to pour it into a fermenter and let it sit out overnight so the chlorine evaporates off.

Bongalongherb · 08-02-2015 8:48pm

The drinking water here is drinkable, but there is a strong smell of chlorine, but I'll do that and let it evaporate for a full day. Seeing that it will be my first time I'll do without the brew-belt and see how it goes at room temp.

Thanks.

MrGee · 08-02-2015 10:01pm

i live in a corner ground floor apartment and sometimes it gets quite cold in here, so what i do is fill 2 hot water bottles up and put them beside the fermenter and wrap it with 2 fleece blankets. Seems to do the trick, i refill the hotwater bottles every eve with hot tap water. Good tasting beer!!

neoanto · 09-02-2015 12:45pm

Get the tesco 5 litre bottled water. Has almost no mineral content, making it great for brewing. Plus theyre dirt cheap.
Tap water can have chloromines which will not be boiled off, only campden tablets can get rid of that.
Bottled water is handier starting out.

oblivious · 09-02-2015 3:48pm

neoanto wrote: »

Get the tesco 5 litre bottled water. Has almost no mineral content.

Are you sure, bottle water is usual riddled with bicarbonate

drumswan · 09-02-2015 4:20pm

People are over thinking the water thing. Do a brew, taste it, if water quality is an issue then look at it down the road, dont complicate matters when starting out.

Dont worry about temperature too much either, room temp is fine.

Bongalongherb · 10-02-2015 12:00am

drumswan wrote: »

People are over thinking the water thing. Do a brew, taste it, if water quality is an issue then look at it down the road, dont complicate matters when starting out.

Dont worry about temperature too much either, room temp is fine.

Will do. Thanks for the advice folks.

neoanto · 10-02-2015 10:07am

oblivious wrote: »

Are you sure, bottle water is usual riddled with bicarbonate

Yea the tescos water is really soft.
I check all new brands of bottled water i come across when im in shops.

oblivious · 10-02-2015 10:31am

neoanto wrote: »

Yea the tescos water is really soft.
I check all new brands of bottled water i come across when im in shops.

Good to know

bennyineire · 11-02-2015 4:30pm

BTW you'll there aint no chloromines in Irish water,
This is mostly done in the US and a little bit in the UK but not in Ireland.
It's actually illegal to put it in Irish water

SCOL · 23-02-2015 3:07pm

I'm going to bottle my first brew tonight I made 20 pints from a kit so hopefully
I'll have to taste 2 or maybe 3 pints and bottle the rest.

thelaoislad · 24-02-2015 9:50am

Sorry, maybe I picked this up wrong , but are you going to taste it before it carbonates in the bottle ??
No way will that taste good, it needs bout 2 weeks in the bottle at same fermenting temp and min 1-2 more weeks in cooler area..
Thats what Ive been doing , based on inital advice from Beernut , and I ll stay doing it
Best stuff i sampled early was a buldog cider , 2 weeks in FV , 2 weeks in bottle at same temp and then tasted 1 after maybe 2-3 days in garage at ~10-12 oC .. that was v nice , and got even better as weeks went by , but none of the ales I did so far were fit to drink for at least 6-7 weeks after the initial start date of opening the can .

I put on a pilsner 2 can kit at weekend , trying to ferment it at 16-17oC this time instead of 21-22 like i did for the ales ..not sure if Im doing that one right, its my first lager, whick I know will end up half like an ale anyway , but I dont expect to be drinking that one for at least 3 months

keppler · 24-02-2015 3:21pm

Synthetic chloramines may not be used in the treatment process of water however, our water is very much chlorinated to a different degree by each authority. The chlorine then reacts with organic compounds in the water (this is how it sterilizes it) and produces organic chlorine compounds. Now I'm no organic chemist but I'd be willing to bet that organic chloramines are very much present, either naturally or as a result of the chlorination process.

bigtomm · 25-02-2015 9:52pm

hi guys...another novice here...

what about this starter kit? http://www.homebrewwest.ie/brewsmarter-premium-starter-beer-kit-x28best-valuex29-844-p.asp
or this one http://www.homebrewwest.ie/coopers-diy-beer-kit-new-with-vwp-sterilizer-brewbelt-and-timer-965-p.asp
Do you think its good value for money....

Oh...i see its the same kit bongalongherbman used above.... how did you get on with it Bongalongetc..?

keppler · 26-02-2015 12:12pm

bigtomm wrote: »

hi guys...another novice here...

what about this starter kit? http://www.homebrewwest.ie/brewsmarter-premium-starter-beer-kit-x28best-valuex29-844-p.asp
or this one http://www.homebrewwest.ie/coopers-diy-beer-kit-new-with-vwp-sterilizer-brewbelt-and-timer-965-p.asp
Do you think its good value for money....

Oh...i see its the same kit bongalongherbman used above.... how did you get on with it Bongalongetc..?

It would seem to me that the brewsmarter kit is definitely better value from first impressions especially if it comes with a belt. I have that exact same coopers kit and the quality is quite good however, there's no airlock supplied nor is there a provision to fit one. I know its not essential to have an airlock but I just did my first brew with this kit and I think I would have preferred to have an airlock so I could see some indication of how fermentation was progressing.
The Motleybrew company is doing almost the exact same kit as the brewsmart kit you linked to for 70euro now but, it's minus the brew belt. From what I've been reading on here and my own extremely limited experience, you really don't need a brew belt. Unless you live in a shed or something.
Fyi the motley brew has an actual shop in glasnevin dublin so depending on where you live it's possibly just easier to call in and avoid delivery charges too

bigtomm · 26-02-2015 12:37pm

Ok, nice one keppler...how did the finished product taste?

RasTa · 26-02-2015 1:14pm

bigtomm wrote: »

hi guys...another novice here...

what about this starter kit? http://www.homebrewwest.ie/brewsmarter-premium-starter-beer-kit-x28best-valuex29-844-p.asp
or this one http://www.homebrewwest.ie/coopers-diy-beer-kit-new-with-vwp-sterilizer-brewbelt-and-timer-965-p.asp
Do you think its good value for money....

Oh...i see its the same kit bongalongherbman used above.... how did you get on with it Bongalongetc..?

If your spending that much go with this kit

http://geterbrewed.ie/biab-all-grain-starter-kit-includes-a-mash-kit.html

Although be prepared for 5 hour brewdays

bigtomm · 26-02-2015 2:26pm

nice one rasta..but i think i might go with an irish brew place..
correct me if im wrong obviously...

keppler · 26-02-2015 4:04pm

bigtomm wrote: »

Ok, nice one keppler...how did the finished product taste?

the "merchandise" is now just bottled and tasted a lot better than it did on monday, despite the fact that fermentation was non existent over the three days. I'm expecting goods things from that brew despite having previous hang ups about it.
listen, I think rasta is right. the kit he linked to has everything there you'll need for kit brewing and will also allow you to move on to extract and then all-grain if you wish for very little extra. The boiler and wort chiller alone cost 125 on home brew west's website! The only thing you would need is bottles and you could get 48 pet bottles and caps for 10 odd euro here.

RasTa · 26-02-2015 6:06pm

bigtomm wrote: »

nice one rasta..but i think i might go with an irish brew place..
correct me if im wrong obviously...

Well they are from Antrim.

Also if you decide brewing isn't for you. You'll be able to make most of your money back on the Chiller and Peco boiler alone.

bigtomm · 26-02-2015 6:09pm

RasTa wrote: »

Well they are from Antrim

i just ate a nice and tasty Hat!

bigtomm · 26-02-2015 10:34pm

RasTa wrote: »

Although be prepared for 5 hour brewdays

5 hour brew days??

RasTa · 27-02-2015 11:41am

bigtomm wrote: »

5 hour brew days??

Yeah kit I linked is for all grain, you could do kit beers with it as well.

oblivious · 27-02-2015 4:48pm

bigtomm wrote: »

5 hour brew days??

4 with a bit or pre and practices

bigtomm · 27-02-2015 9:01pm

are there any explosions at least;p

bought some instruments recently so beer kit will be next one in a bit...
are there threads going for beer tasting and smackaliciousness...

craiclad · 01-03-2015 5:00pm

RasTa wrote: »

If your spending that much go with this kit

http://geterbrewed.ie/biab-all-grain-starter-kit-includes-a-mash-kit.html

Although be prepared for 5 hour brewdays

Wow... I think I just found my first kit. I was planning on buying this starter kit from mottly brew (http://themottlybrew.ie/product/starter-kit/) and buying a big stock pot to do partial boils with, but if I can get a boiler and a wart chiller for only a little extra then I might as well. Does anyone have experience with the peco boilers? And is boiling liquid in plastic not a giant no-no?

Black_Knight · 02-03-2015 10:37am

Another newbie here. Just about to order my kit, and looking at getting this:
https://www.thehomebrewcompany.ie/superior-beer-cider-starter-kit-includes-25lt-fermenters-p-213.html

Going to start out on extract brewing, and then move onto all grain once I get in on the swing of it.
Anything im missing from that kit? Any reason they're including 2 fermentation buckets?

Thanks
BK

loyatemu · 02-03-2015 11:18am

Black_Knight wrote: »

Another newbie here. Just about to order my kit, and looking at getting this:
https://www.thehomebrewcompany.ie/superior-beer-cider-starter-kit-includes-25lt-fermenters-p-213.html

Going to start out on extract brewing, and then move onto all grain once I get in on the swing of it.
Anything im missing from that kit? Any reason they're including 2 fermentation buckets?

Thanks

I assume the 2 buckets are so that you can do a) secondary fermentation (debatable whether this is really necessary) & b) batch priming & bottling. You can brew with just one bucket but a second is useful.

RasTa · 02-03-2015 11:25am

Black_Knight wrote: »

Another newbie here. Just about to order my kit, and looking at getting this:
https://www.thehomebrewcompany.ie/superior-beer-cider-starter-kit-includes-25lt-fermenters-p-213.html

Going to start out on extract brewing, and then move onto all grain once I get in on the swing of it.
Anything im missing from that kit? Any reason they're including 2 fermentation buckets?

Thanks
BK

Spend the money now and get the all grain kit.

Black_Knight · 02-03-2015 12:11pm

loyatemu wrote: »

I assume the 2 buckets are so that you can do a) secondary fermentation (debatable whether this is really necessary) & b) batch priming & bottling. You can brew with just one bucket but a second is useful.

Grand stuff. Ive read in a few places about secondary fermentations. Just another bucket to sterilise.

RasTa wrote: »

Spend the money now and get the all grain kit.

Steady as she goes RasTa. Surely the extract kit + a big pot (and a few muslin bags) will do me for all grain?

Beer Brewing. New

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