# Frequently Asked Questions For The New Brewer



## pint of lager

*Frequently Asked Questions for the New Brewer*


There are lots of common questions that the new brewer has to find answers for, and at the same time to learn the ropes of forum useage. The site HOWTOBREW is great, but doesn't cover the basics. AHB does cover the basics, but the nuggets of information are buried. Rather than make yet another how to brew manual, here is a collection of basic facts, questions and the links to answer these questions. New brewers can follow the links, read the topics, and if necessary, then post to that topic rather than starting afresh. It makes the whole knowledge base interactive, rather than static like a tutorial. 

Please help by suggesting topics that have been missed, basic facts that you think need including in this post and by your favourite links that answer questions for new brewers. The information and links that people post will be incorporated into the main text and then the posts will be deleted.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

*How to Use the Forum*

Please take the time to read the board guidelines and rules which are at the start of each forum

AHB introduction link

Homebrewing, like any specialised subject has many acronyms. Some very common ones are:
HBS Homebrewshop
LME Liquid Malt Extract
DME Dried Malt Extract
K&K Kit and kilo. the kit is the tin of LME and the kilo is a kilo of brewing additive.


List of Acronyms


*What is Beer*

Beer is a mix of malt flavour, hops bitterness, hops flavour, alcohol, carbonation and yeast fermentation flavours. Beer is made from barley, hops, water and yeast. Kit manufacturers have done much of the hard work and all you have to do is use a canopener, tip the contents into a fermenter, add a kilo of extras, top up to 23 litres, add yeast and watch it ferment.


*Where to Source Your Brewing Gear.*

The easiest way to get into brewing is to buy a complete beginner's setup from a homebrew shop or the supermarket. This means you have everything you need for your first brew. 

Where to Buy a Kit From

*Where to Source Your Bottles.*

Your homebrew shop may sell bottles. Friends will keep bottles for you. Recycling night can be a great time to browse through neighbour's recycle crates. Or buy beer, drink the contents, rinse the bottles out thoroughly and use them. PET are fine. Do store clear PET in a darkened cupboard as light will make your beer taste unpleasant. You can use screwtop glass bottles, but you will need a proper bench top style capper, rather than the very cheap and nasty wooden hand capper. The two handled cappers tend to fracture the necks. 

*The First Brew*

Allow yourself plenty of time. Have the kettle ready with boiling water. Wash all your gear with the cleaner provided in your kit. If there is some sort of no rinse sanitiser supplied, use it. Fit the tap to your fermenter. Fit the ruber o'ring if your fermenter is a screwtop and fit the airlock grommet. Remove the label from the tin of extract. Remove the lid and put the yeast sachet aside. Stand the tin in hot water for 10 minutes to soften the contents. Clean your tin opener. Open the tin and pour into the fermenter, rinse the tin out with some hot water, stir the syrup to dissolve it. Add the kilo pack of dry ingredients. Stir to dissolve. Top to 20-23 litres, stir again. Take a hydrometer reading and record this in your notes. Clean your scissors, snip the top off the sachet and sprinkle on top. Fit the lid and the airlock. Careful when fitting the airlock that you do not push the grommet in. Add some water to the airlock, so that there is about 10mm height of water on each side of the "S".

*Cleanliness and Sanitation*

The most important part of brewing is cleanliness and sanitation. Every surface that comes into contact with your beer must be as clean as possible. Never use a scourer on your plastic fermenter, this provides very small scrathces that can harbour bacteria. Think about where you place the stirrer and the lid. These should be cleaned too.

Many cleaning products are harsh and harmful if splashed into your eye or allowed to stay on the skin. Be safe with your cleaning products. Store them in labelled containers where children cannot access them.

*The Correct Temperature for Brewing and How to Control it*

The best temperature for ales to be fermented at is 18-20 degrees and lagers at 10-12 degrees. Before fermenting a lager at 10-12, check with your brewshop that your kit includes a true lager yeast. Many kits are called a lager, but include ale yeasts.

For your first brew, keep the brew as close to 20 as you can achieve. If it ferments at 24, the beer will be drinkable, but 18-20 is ideal.

Maintaining a constant brewing temperature will significantly improve your brew. Depending on your climate, your house, or under your house may have a place that is stable and cool, otherwise there are some simple ways 

Have a look at the 100 can cooler post further down this thread on ideas on how to maintain a lower temperature. Brewers also have success with the same idea using an insulated cupboard or an old non working fridge. Even a takeaway food container made up into iceblocks and allowed to thaw out on the lid of your fermenter, with a towel drped over the fermenter help.

*Simple Things to Make Your Brew Day Easier *

Planning your brew day will avoid unnecessary disasters. Write yourself a step by step brew plan. Other AHB'ers have come up with some clever ideas/tools to help you relax on your brew day.



*Help, my beer isn't working the airlock*

After about 24 hours, there should be signs of activity that your brew is springing into action. These signs include movement or gloomping of the airlock and more signifiacntly, foam on the surface and a ring of scum on the fermenter at the surface. The layer of foam thickens after a day or two depending on how active your yeast is.

Some fermenters do not seal very well, and air leaks out around the lid rather than through the airlock. So long as your lid is sealed well enough to keep flies, bugs and dust out, your brew will be fine.

Air Tight Fermenter


*Is it Ready to Bottle?*

After 4-7 days, your brew will have finished working. This can be seen by the lack of movement of air through the airlock, the foam/scum on the surface of the brew decreasing and by stabilisation of the hydrometer reading. The time taken will vary depending on the yeast used, how fresh it was, brew ingredients and brew temperature.

After the brew has stopped, start taking hydrometer readings. When the reading is stable over three days, the brew is ready to bottle. Record the final reading in your notes.

If you are going to use finings (powdered gelatine) now is the time to use them. Dissolve a sachet of finings in a cup of hot water, pour gently over the surface of your beer, reseal your fermenter and bottle the next day.

Your brew will be fine for up to 2 weeks quietly sitting in the primary fermenter until you are ready to bottle. It will actually help to leave it for a week after it has reached its final gravity. If you can move ot to somewhere cooler, this helps too.

*Using the hydrometer*

The hydrometer measures the specific gravity of solutions relative to water. As your brew fermentes, the yeast change the malt sugars to alcohol and carbon dioxide, and the density of the solution changes. This is shown by the hydrometer readings becoming lower.

The hydrometer is a fragile instrument, treat it gently, keep it in its container and do not pour boiling water over it.

Never float the hydrometer in the fermenter to take a reading. Always use a sample test jar and after taking a reading drink the sample or throw it out. If you tip it back into the fermneter, you will infect your brew.

*Is it Infected?*

The new brewer will do alot of reading and often will worry about infections. If you have started out with new gear, fresh ingredients and the brew started fermenting after about 24 hours, stop worrying. The scum on top of the fermenter often looks suspicious, but it will sink soon. A few small spots may stay on the surface, but most sinks or sticks to the inside of the fermenter. Don't worry about it.

Don't take the lid off and look at your brew. Keep the lid on.

Many brewers are worried by the unusual aroma coming out the airlock, once again, do not worry.

Stinky fermentation

*Bottling Day*

Allow yourself plenty of time to do this job.

Wash out all your bottles with brewery detergent and a bottlebrush. Rinse thoroughly and they are ready to use. 

Put a teaspoon of sugar in each 750ml longneck bottle, or half a teaspoon into a stubbie. If you have a sugar measure included with your kit, use that to measure the sugar out.

If you are using carbonation drops, use them and do not put any extra sugar into the bottles. One carbonation drop in a stubbie, two in a longneck.

Use the special adapter tube/valve that came with your kit to fill the bottles. This fits into your fermenter tap and as the filler stem presses on the bottom of the bottle, the valve opens and the bottles fill from the bottom with minimal splashing.

Splashing and associated oxygenation is the enemy of finished beer.

After bottling, store your beers at the same temperature you fermented at for about ten days, this allows the yeast to use the priming sugar and carbonate the beer in the bottles. Make sure they are somewhere dark. After 10 days, move the beer to as cool a locationas possibe. A fridge is ideal, but anywhere that is cooler rather than warmer.

After you have finished bottling, clean all your brewday gear, let it airdry and put it away. To clean the fermenter, rinse the yeast slurry out, add some of your brewery cleaner, top up with water, put the lid on and leave for 24 hours. The scum will then wipe out with a soft cloth. Do not use a scourer. Wipe all surfaces of the fermnenter with the cloth. Keep a clean toothbrush in your cleaning kit and clean the inside of the tap, tap threads including those in the fermenter and the grooves in the lid with the toothbrush. Rinse thoroughly and dry. Then store till you are going to brew again.

Do Crown Seals Need To Be Steralised?

Tips for Making Bottling Day Less Painfull

What temperature Should beers be Stored at?


*Is it ready to drink?*

Your brew is ready to start drinking as soon as the beer is carbonated, but it will continue to improve for about six weeks.

*My brew is flat*

You have forgotten to prime the bottles, used maltodextrin instead of sugar, haven't sealed the bottles correctly, haven't stored the bottles at the correct temperature (20-25 degrees) or haven't allowed enough time for the yeast to work in the bottle.

*Bottlebombs*

Will my Bottles Explode?

*Recipes*

The effects of different ingredients on your brew:
Dextrose adds no exra flavour or body to your brew, only alcohol.
Malt (either dried or liquid) adds body, flavour and alcohol to your brew.
Maltodextrin adds body and some sweetness to your brew.

A good starting point for the ingredients to add to your tin of extract is 500gms dried malt extract and 500 gms dextrose.

Why sugar is not suitable.

Beer is made from malt, hops, yeast and water. Kit brews are made with a tin of hopped extract and a kilo of extra ingredients. These extras include a combination of dried malt extract (DME) liquid malt extract (LME) maltodextrin and dextrose. Plain table sugar or sucrose is avoided, it thins the body of the beer and contributes extra unwanted flavours. Sometimes brown sugar is used in darker beers, and the amount should be limited to 250gms a brew till you are familiar with the extra flavours it contributes to the beer.

recipes for kit brewers this links to another site, and you will not be able to post to it.
http://www.coopers.com.au/homebrew/ This links to another site and you will not be able to post to it.

*Useful links*

New to brewing topic
Help me Refine My Proceedure
New to Homebrew scene

Because of the great number of links in this FAQ, some may at some stage show as broken. If you find a link that generates an error page, please send me a PM.

This FAQ is to help new brewers put down their first couple of brews. After reading this FAQ, you may want to move onto the next, FAQ for Advanced Kit Brewing.


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## pint of lager

Many thanks to Pistolpatch, AndrewQld, Steve -Canberra, Phrak, Drewcarey, Duff, Lucas, Johnno, PoppaJoe and delboy for your inputs. Also to Cubbie.


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## PistolPatch

*Some Cheap Ways of Maintaining Fermentation Temperatures*

When starting brewing, one of the most important steps to acheive is correct and constant fermentation temperature. Several ways of doing this exist from simply using wet towells or ice baths through to having dedicated fermentation fridges. The above either do not work very well or can be simply impractical so here's a few ways you can use that do work...

*100 Can Cooler* One cheap way is to purchase a 100 Can Cooler and use frozen bottles of salted water or freezer/heat blocks on rotation to maintain temperatures. Here's some pictures of a 100 Can Cooler which is available from KMart, at time of writing for $30...









The 100 Can Cooler will hold a 25 litre fermenter nicely although, you will have to cut a 5 cm slot in the center of the top so as your airlock can poke through and you can observe fermentation activity. Make sure you place the slit in the centre as this enables your air-lock to poke through no matter how you position the fermenter in the Cooler. You can also use a blow-off tube although many plastic hoses will kink and just cause you trouble. There are no disadvantages to the airlock, such as heat-loss, so I would stick with the 5cm slot and air-lock. (Doing so will also allow you to use the Cooler as a party keg cooler.)

The temperature of your fermenter can be maintained quite well by a morning, afternoon and night rotation of freezer/heat blocks or soft drink bottles filled with salted water. (Salted water has a lower freezing point.) To give you an idea, I have used 4x750ml freezer blocks rotated as above in ambient temperatures averaging 28 degrees to keep the fermenter at 19 degrees.

To enable you to take hydrometer readings, it is a good idea to sit the 100 Can Cooler (with fermenter) on a bucket or something similiar. To take the reading, collapse the cooler and you can access the tap easily.

*An Old Fridge that Works* If you have this, then you should seriously consider using a controller to keep the fridge at a constant fermenation temperature. A basic controller will cost you about $30. (Try a Ranco VB7 Replacement Thermostat Beverage Cooler from Ozspares.) These come with a knob and probe and require some expertise to install. Adjusting these to a set temperature may take you a few days. Once you have achieved the temperature you require, you should mark that point on the knob. For an easier to use controller, you can try a Grow Warm Controller from hydroponics supplies for about $110 or serach here on AHB for, 'digital controllers.'

An old fridge that works is definitely the ducks nuts when it comes to ales as you can utilise the extra space to condition your beer. Unfortunately, this advantage is not applicable to lager brewers as conditioning (lagering) temperatures are 7 or 8 degrees lower than fermenting temperatures.

*An Old Fridge that Does Not Function* These will provide better insulation than the Cooler but then again you have to keep a larger volume of air cool. Once again, this method will be far better suited to ale brewers as you could be fermenting and conditioning several brews in the one space.

*An Esky* If you already have an esky on hand that will hold your fermenter (just stand the esky on its end as in the picture below) then that will give you even better results than the 100 Can Cooler. You should be able to reduce any, "ice," rotations to once a day as the insulation is as good as a fridge and the volume of space you have to cool is far less. [Am currently experimenting and having favourable results with directly connecting an esky to a standard fridge though the same principle could be used for the Cooler.]




*Light Bulb and Timer* To keep things warm put your fermenter in a confined space such as a small cupboard. You can then purchase a portable lamp and hang it safely in the space so that it is away from plastic/wood etc. Using a $4 timer from Bunnings, you can experiment with turning the bulb (use 100w) on and off for certain periods to obtain your ideal temperature.

A Warning on Rotation of Freezer Blocks - Constantly opening a non frost-free freezer in a humid climate will quickly ice your freezer up. Defrosting a freezer every 3 weeks can be a little annoying!

CREDITS: Roach who originally posted the 100 Can Cooler. GMK for advice on Grow Warm Controller.


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## houso

Thanks Guys, Very helpful


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## ale_snail

yes very helpful

it has helped me..

im going to go out and buy some coopers kits and that other stuff 

and make a nice brew


neeed more bottles though


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## caoimh

cheers for the starting tips.

I'm getting 404s for most of the links though. Have these been removed/lost?

e.g. for where to buy link:
Not Found

The requested URL /forum/Where_To_Buy_A_Kit_Froml-t5239.html was not found on this server.

Additionally, a 404 Not Found error was encountered while trying to use an ErrorDocument to handle the request.

Apache/1.3.37 Server at www.aussiehomebrewer.com Port 80

most of the other similar OP links are the same.

Cheers
Caoimh.


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## ben.robinson

Cheer's for the info fella's i have been a little bit worried on some of my new found talent's being a new brewer, some of your hints have cleared up some of my issues. i'm expecting my first born to be ready in the up coming week so i will let you know how it taste cheers Beno


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## Arioch

Hello

Newbie brewer here....
Thanks for all the information. Much needed for a person pacing nervously around his first batch in the fermenter.

Also.....(the inter-site links are coming up as 404 errors)

Cheers


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## Prem63

Brilliant! 

Excellent tips for us newbies out there. Just bottled my first brew and used quite a few ideas found in AHB. 

Cheers!


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## Rollywheeler

Thanks for all that info.

The links appear to not be functioning; 404's on all of them.

:icon_cheers: Rolly


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## [email protected]

Thanks for the info. I am new to the forum but not really to home brewing. I was interested to read the info for new breweres in particular the preparation of bottles. I have always sterilised and rinsed my bottles before filling them - is this unecessary? I only recently graduated to using a "no rinse" steriliser, which I thought was a major relaxation. Am I wrong on all this?


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## Tyred

GeoffH said:


> Thanks for the info. I am new to the forum but not really to home brewing. I was interested to read the info for new breweres in particular the preparation of bottles. I have always sterilised and rinsed my bottles before filling them - is this unecessary? I only recently graduated to using a "no rinse" steriliser, which I thought was a major relaxation. Am I wrong on all this?



With a no rinse sanitizer you don't need to rinse the bottles after use. You can just let them drain before filling.


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## [email protected]

Tyred said:


> With a no rinse sanitizer you don't need to rinse the bottles after use. You can just let them drain before filling.




Thanks for that, but I was really more interested in whether I needed to sterilise at all. The long advice in the FAQ seems to suggest that sterilising bottles is not necessary, just make sure they are clean. Is this what other brewers are doing?


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## BrewerDave

GeoffH said:


> Thanks for that, but I was really more interested in whether I needed to sterilise at all. The long advice in the FAQ seems to suggest that sterilising bottles is not necessary, just make sure they are clean. Is this what other brewers are doing?



I'd sterilise. It'd be a shame for your lovely clean brew to come into contact with some nasties, even if you can't see them, in the bottles.


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## Dazza_

Great thread for a home-brew newbie like me!

Cheers


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## Snowdog

Thanks for this all-in-one info post! Its been near 10 years since I last brewed a batch, and the conditions then (alpine) were a lot different than what they are here in sup-tropical Queensland. I'm preparing to get back into it and it looks like it will be going in to summer before I do my first batch, so I'll have to watch the temp close. Thanks again!


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## watchUburn

One bit of information I haven't been able to find is how do you tell how much brew to put in a bottle? Does it matter? Does it vary from brew to brew?


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## wakkatoo

If you have a bottling 'wand' or whatever they are called (I forget as I keg), fill to the top of the bottle. The displacement of the 'wand' provides enough headspace as a general rule.


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## buttersd70

wakkatoo said:


> If you have a bottling 'wand' or whatever they are called (I forget as I keg), fill to the top of the bottle. The displacement of the 'wand' provides enough headspace as a general rule.



Coopers call it 'little bottler', but whatever it's called, the amount of headspace that it leaves from the displacement is about right. Just enough headspace so it doesn't gush when the bottles opened.


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## jamrs85

Thanks for all the info, u guys have made it a whole lot clearer for me.


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## adraine

This is a great resource guys well done.
I had all the basics but reading this stuff is just a great reassureance.

Cheers


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## bozzy

after reading through that i have a question (i searched the site but didnt find the answer)

to what extent do bottles explode? do they just blow the caps off or do they shatter the glass? im guessing they shatter the glass i just wanted a bit more of an idea

thanks in advance

bozzy


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## Steve

bozzy said:


> to what extent do bottles explode?



imagine looking up at the ceiling and walls (if they are stored inside) and see a 4 inch shard of glass half protruding out of it. Then imagine that that wall was your leg, arm, chest, head.! They are dangerous


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## bozzy

OH  

thats far more than i would have thaught. i think ill be moving my freshly bottled brew out of the kitchen cupboard and into the outside laundry. just in case.


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## Steve

bozzy said:


> OH
> 
> thats far more than i would have thaught. i think ill be moving my freshly bottled brew out of the kitchen cupboard and into the outside laundry. just in case.




saying that - ive never had one go off. If you ferment it out properly and prime the bottles properly you'll be right.


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## buttersd70

Steve said:


> imagine looking up at the ceiling and walls (if they are stored inside) and see a 4 inch shard of glass half protruding out of it. Then imagine that that wall was your leg, arm, chest, head.! They are dangerous



domonsura posted a photo once of bottle bomb damage (it wasn't his, he was storing it for someone else to take to a swap, iirc). Went off in his old workshop, and it _literally _was a 4 inch shard embedded in the wall...
Wish I could find the piccy, it was really cool.

Edit: as with steve, never a bomb, not one.


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## Adamt




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## Steve

buttersd70 said:


> domonsura posted a photo once of bottle bomb damage (it wasn't his, he was storing it for someone else to take to a swap, iirc). Went off in his old workshop, and it _literally _was a 4 inch shard embedded in the wall...
> Wish I could find the piccy, it was really cool.
> 
> Edit: as with steve, never a bomb, not one.




....also as a side note a bloke on here years ago, trevc I think he was called from WA posted pics of a pet bottle he was storing yeast in in his fridge. It blew and almost took the door off. So plastic isnt safe either..
Cheers
Steve


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## buttersd70

lol, cheers adam..I remember now, it was in his coolroom. :huh:


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## bozzy

thats a hell of a glass shard.

quick question. i got overanxious and bottled my first brew at 1.010 FG as it was at that reading first thing that morning and that night (12 hours apart) having not read enough i was worried it would spoil if left for to long once fermentation had finnished (realise thats stupid now)

did i bottle too soon and am i at risk of exploding bottles. was a coopers mexican cervenza kit with brewers sugar, 1.042 initial gravity and bottled in stubbies with carbonation drops.

should i open one to see what happens?


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## buttersd70

bozzy said:


> thats a hell of a glass shard.
> 
> quick question. i got overanxious and bottled my first brew at 1.010 FG as it was at that reading first thing that morning and that night (12 hours apart) having not read enough i was worried it would spoil if left for to long once fermentation had finnished (realise thats stupid now)
> 
> did i bottle too soon and am i at risk of exploding bottles. was a coopers mexican cervenza kit with brewers sugar, 1.042 initial gravity and bottled in stubbies with carbonation drops.
> 
> should i open one to see what happens?



Chill one. When it's cold, open carefully....then pour. It should take about 2 weeks for it to be fully carbonated. If its only been in the bottles a few days adn it's really fizzy, you have a problem. If its been in the bottle over a fortnight, and its really heavily carbonated, you have a problem. If the carbonation is right, or if its under carbed (if its still fairly young), relax a bit.
If yours falls into one of those problem categories, open one warm, and see if it gushes.....if it doesn't, then open the lot, wait a couple of minutes, and reseal. If it cushes when warm, then chill the lot, then when cold, take them out of the fridge and open them....put new bottle caps on, but don't seal them, and leave for 1-2 hours. Then re-cap. If you need to recap the batch, check one again in about a week, and repeat if needed.


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## Jakechan

Steve said:


> ....also as a side note a bloke on here years ago, trevc I think he was called from WA posted pics of a pet bottle he was storing yeast in in his fridge. It blew and almost took the door off. So plastic isnt safe either..
> Cheers
> Steve


  
Im racing to the fridge right now!


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## bozzy

buttersd70 said:


> Chill one. When it's cold, open carefully....then pour.



is there any special reason to chill it first? like is it going to react less if its cold or something along those lines.


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## buttersd70

chill it so that you can check the carbonation....if poured warm, it will look a lot more carbonated than it actually is, and even a properly carbonated one will just go all fizzy. Pouring cold lets you look at the carbonation in a condition that you will be used to, to judge if it is overdone. Also, if its cold, and the carbonation is ok, you can just drink it instead of actually wasting it.


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## bozzy

thanks heaps for the help.

it was pretty flat (at a guess id say less than half a carbinated at it should be) didnt fizz up in the bottle at all. looked ok when poured into the glass but head quickly disappeared. think it should be quite drinkable in a week or to.


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## buttersd70

bozzy said:


> thanks heaps for the help.
> 
> it was pretty flat (at a guess id say less than half a carbinated at it should be) didnt fizz up in the bottle at all. looked ok when poured into the glass but head quickly disappeared. think it should be quite drinkable in a week or to.



If thats the case, it should be OK then. Nothing eases the concerns of bottle bombs more than having a flet tester.


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## gorefeast

Thankyou so much, this has set me on the path to beer abundance.


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## faith

this must sound like a stupid question, but how do you use the bottler contraption i cannot see how it fits into the tap and dont want to attempt to test it with 23ltres of brew to fly all over my kitchen floor, somebody please take pics and post thanks, Faith
:beerbang:


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## clean brewer

faith said:


> this must sound like a stupid question, but how do you use the bottler contraption i cannot see how it fits into the tap and dont want to attempt to test it with 23ltres of brew to fly all over my kitchen floor, somebody please take pics and post thanks, Faith
> :beerbang:



Push the end of the bottler into the end of the tap, it should fit quite tightly, then put the bottler into the bottle and depress(the end of the bottler is spring loaded), let the bottle fill and then ease off and take the bottle out... Too easy..


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## Bribie G

clean brewer said:


> Push the end of the bottler into the end of the tap, it should fit quite tightly, then put the bottler into the bottle and depress(the end of the bottler is spring loaded), let the bottle fill and then ease off and take the bottle out... Too easy..



Not necessarily. I bought a bottling 'stick' 'wand' 'cane' whatever from Woolies when I started, it's a Brigalow brand and the M*F*& thing does not fit inside a standard fermenter tap, it's too fat. I didn't bother taking it back but got a good one from the Local Home Brew Shop. Bloody Brigalow hey.

Is your problem that the stick won't fit up into the spout of the tap? If so then where did you get the stick from? If not from a LHBS then take it along to your local and do a side by side comparison and get a slightly thinner one.


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## Rik

Thanks So much, The info is helping my out with basic questions I have



pint of lager said:


> *Frequently Asked Questions for the New Brewer*
> 
> 
> There are lots of common questions that the new brewer has to find answers for, and at the same time to learn the ropes of forum useage. The site HOWTOBREW is great, but doesn't cover the basics. AHB does cover the basics, but the nuggets of information are buried. Rather than make yet another how to brew manual, here is a collection of basic facts, questions and the links to answer these questions. New brewers can follow the links, read the topics, and if necessary, then post to that topic rather than starting afresh. It makes the whole knowledge base interactive, rather than static like a tutorial.
> 
> Please help by suggesting topics that have been missed, basic facts that you think need including in this post and by your favourite links that answer questions for new brewers. The information and links that people post will be incorporated into the main text and then the posts will be deleted.
> 
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> 
> *How to Use the Forum*
> 
> Please take the time to read the board guidelines and rules which are at the start of each forum
> 
> AHB introduction link
> 
> Homebrewing, like any specialised subject has many acronyms. Some very common ones are:
> HBS Homebrewshop
> LME Liquid Malt Extract
> DME Dried Malt Extract
> K&K Kit and kilo. the kit is the tin of LME and the kilo is a kilo of brewing additive.
> 
> 
> List of Acronyms
> 
> 
> *What is Beer*
> 
> Beer is a mix of malt flavour, hops bitterness, hops flavour, alcohol, carbonation and yeast fermentation flavours. Beer is made from barley, hops, water and yeast. Kit manufacturers have done much of the hard work and all you have to do is use a canopener, tip the contents into a fermenter, add a kilo of extras, top up to 23 litres, add yeast and watch it ferment.
> 
> 
> *Where to Source Your Brewing Gear.*
> 
> The easiest way to get into brewing is to buy a complete beginner's setup from a homebrew shop or the supermarket. This means you have everything you need for your first brew.
> 
> Where to Buy a Kit From
> 
> *Where to Source Your Bottles.*
> 
> Your homebrew shop may sell bottles. Friends will keep bottles for you. Recycling night can be a great time to browse through neighbour's recycle crates. Or buy beer, drink the contents, rinse the bottles out thoroughly and use them. PET are fine. Do store clear PET in a darkened cupboard as light will make your beer taste unpleasant. You can use screwtop glass bottles, but you will need a proper bench top style capper, rather than the very cheap and nasty wooden hand capper. The two handled cappers tend to fracture the necks.
> 
> *The First Brew*
> 
> Allow yourself plenty of time. Have the kettle ready with boiling water. Wash all your gear with the cleaner provided in your kit. If there is some sort of no rinse sanitiser supplied, use it. Fit the tap to your fermenter. Fit the ruber o'ring if your fermenter is a screwtop and fit the airlock grommet. Remove the label from the tin of extract. Remove the lid and put the yeast sachet aside. Stand the tin in hot water for 10 minutes to soften the contents. Clean your tin opener. Open the tin and pour into the fermenter, rinse the tin out with some hot water, stir the syrup to dissolve it. Add the kilo pack of dry ingredients. Stir to dissolve. Top to 20-23 litres, stir again. Take a hydrometer reading and record this in your notes. Clean your scissors, snip the top off the sachet and sprinkle on top. Fit the lid and the airlock. Careful when fitting the airlock that you do not push the grommet in. Add some water to the airlock, so that there is about 10mm height of water on each side of the "S".
> 
> *Cleanliness and Sanitation*
> 
> The most important part of brewing is cleanliness and sanitation. Every surface that comes into contact with your beer must be as clean as possible. Never use a scourer on your plastic fermenter, this provides very small scrathces that can harbour bacteria. Think about where you place the stirrer and the lid. These should be cleaned too.
> 
> Many cleaning products are harsh and harmful if splashed into your eye or allowed to stay on the skin. Be safe with your cleaning products. Store them in labelled containers where children cannot access them.
> 
> *The Correct Temperature for Brewing and How to Control it*
> 
> The best temperature for ales to be fermented at is 18-20 degrees and lagers at 10-12 degrees. Before fermenting a lager at 10-12, check with your brewshop that your kit includes a true lager yeast. Many kits are called a lager, but include ale yeasts.
> 
> For your first brew, keep the brew as close to 20 as you can achieve. If it ferments at 24, the beer will be drinkable, but 18-20 is ideal.
> 
> Maintaining a constant brewing temperature will significantly improve your brew. Depending on your climate, your house, or under your house may have a place that is stable and cool, otherwise there are some simple ways
> 
> Have a look at the 100 can cooler post further down this thread on ideas on how to maintain a lower temperature. Brewers also have success with the same idea using an insulated cupboard or an old non working fridge. Even a takeaway food container made up into iceblocks and allowed to thaw out on the lid of your fermenter, with a towel drped over the fermenter help.
> 
> *Simple Things to Make Your Brew Day Easier *
> 
> Planning your brew day will avoid unnecessary disasters. Write yourself a step by step brew plan. Other AHB'ers have come up with some clever ideas/tools to help you relax on your brew day.
> 
> 
> 
> *Help, my beer isn't working the airlock*
> 
> After about 24 hours, there should be signs of activity that your brew is springing into action. These signs include movement or gloomping of the airlock and more signifiacntly, foam on the surface and a ring of scum on the fermenter at the surface. The layer of foam thickens after a day or two depending on how active your yeast is.
> 
> Some fermenters do not seal very well, and air leaks out around the lid rather than through the airlock. So long as your lid is sealed well enough to keep flies, bugs and dust out, your brew will be fine.
> 
> Air Tight Fermenter
> 
> 
> *Is it Ready to Bottle?*
> 
> After 4-7 days, your brew will have finished working. This can be seen by the lack of movement of air through the airlock, the foam/scum on the surface of the brew decreasing and by stabilisation of the hydrometer reading. The time taken will vary depending on the yeast used, how fresh it was, brew ingredients and brew temperature.
> 
> After the brew has stopped, start taking hydrometer readings. When the reading is stable over three days, the brew is ready to bottle. Record the final reading in your notes.
> 
> If you are going to use finings (powdered gelatine) now is the time to use them. Dissolve a sachet of finings in a cup of hot water, pour gently over the surface of your beer, reseal your fermenter and bottle the next day.
> 
> Your brew will be fine for up to 2 weeks quietly sitting in the primary fermenter until you are ready to bottle. It will actually help to leave it for a week after it has reached its final gravity. If you can move ot to somewhere cooler, this helps too.
> 
> *Using the hydrometer*
> 
> The hydrometer measures the specific gravity of solutions relative to water. As your brew fermentes, the yeast change the malt sugars to alcohol and carbon dioxide, and the density of the solution changes. This is shown by the hydrometer readings becoming lower.
> 
> The hydrometer is a fragile instrument, treat it gently, keep it in its container and do not pour boiling water over it.
> 
> Never float the hydrometer in the fermenter to take a reading. Always use a sample test jar and after taking a reading drink the sample or throw it out. If you tip it back into the fermneter, you will infect your brew.
> 
> *Is it Infected?*
> 
> The new brewer will do alot of reading and often will worry about infections. If you have started out with new gear, fresh ingredients and the brew started fermenting after about 24 hours, stop worrying. The scum on top of the fermenter often looks suspicious, but it will sink soon. A few small spots may stay on the surface, but most sinks or sticks to the inside of the fermenter. Don't worry about it.
> 
> Don't take the lid off and look at your brew. Keep the lid on.
> 
> Many brewers are worried by the unusual aroma coming out the airlock, once again, do not worry.
> 
> Stinky fermentation
> 
> *Bottling Day*
> 
> Allow yourself plenty of time to do this job.
> 
> Wash out all your bottles with brewery detergent and a bottlebrush. Rinse thoroughly and they are ready to use.
> 
> Put a teaspoon of sugar in each 750ml longneck bottle, or half a teaspoon into a stubbie. If you have a sugar measure included with your kit, use that to measure the sugar out.
> 
> If you are using carbonation drops, use them and do not put any extra sugar into the bottles. One carbonation drop in a stubbie, two in a longneck.
> 
> Use the special adapter tube/valve that came with your kit to fill the bottles. This fits into your fermenter tap and as the filler stem presses on the bottom of the bottle, the valve opens and the bottles fill from the bottom with minimal splashing.
> 
> Splashing and associated oxygenation is the enemy of finished beer.
> 
> After bottling, store your beers at the same temperature you fermented at for about ten days, this allows the yeast to use the priming sugar and carbonate the beer in the bottles. Make sure they are somewhere dark. After 10 days, move the beer to as cool a locationas possibe. A fridge is ideal, but anywhere that is cooler rather than warmer.
> 
> After you have finished bottling, clean all your brewday gear, let it airdry and put it away. To clean the fermenter, rinse the yeast slurry out, add some of your brewery cleaner, top up with water, put the lid on and leave for 24 hours. The scum will then wipe out with a soft cloth. Do not use a scourer. Wipe all surfaces of the fermnenter with the cloth. Keep a clean toothbrush in your cleaning kit and clean the inside of the tap, tap threads including those in the fermenter and the grooves in the lid with the toothbrush. Rinse thoroughly and dry. Then store till you are going to brew again.
> 
> Do Crown Seals Need To Be Steralised?
> 
> Tips for Making Bottling Day Less Painfull
> 
> What temperature Should beers be Stored at?
> 
> 
> *Is it ready to drink?*
> 
> Your brew is ready to start drinking as soon as the beer is carbonated, but it will continue to improve for about six weeks.
> 
> *My brew is flat*
> 
> You have forgotten to prime the bottles, used maltodextrin instead of sugar, haven't sealed the bottles correctly, haven't stored the bottles at the correct temperature (20-25 degrees) or haven't allowed enough time for the yeast to work in the bottle.
> 
> *Bottlebombs*
> 
> Will my Bottles Explode?
> 
> *Recipes*
> 
> The effects of different ingredients on your brew:
> Dextrose adds no exra flavour or body to your brew, only alcohol.
> Malt (either dried or liquid) adds body, flavour and alcohol to your brew.
> Maltodextrin adds body and some sweetness to your brew.
> 
> A good starting point for the ingredients to add to your tin of extract is 500gms dried malt extract and 500 gms dextrose.
> 
> Why sugar is not suitable.
> 
> Beer is made from malt, hops, yeast and water. Kit brews are made with a tin of hopped extract and a kilo of extra ingredients. These extras include a combination of dried malt extract (DME) liquid malt extract (LME) maltodextrin and dextrose. Plain table sugar or sucrose is avoided, it thins the body of the beer and contributes extra unwanted flavours. Sometimes brown sugar is used in darker beers, and the amount should be limited to 250gms a brew till you are familiar with the extra flavours it contributes to the beer.
> 
> recipes for kit brewers this links to another site, and you will not be able to post to it.
> http://www.coopers.com.au/homebrew/ This links to another site and you will not be able to post to it.
> 
> *Useful links*
> 
> New to brewing topic
> Help me Refine My Proceedure
> New to Homebrew scene
> 
> Because of the great number of links in this FAQ, some may at some stage show as broken. If you find a link that generates an error page, please send me a PM.
> 
> This FAQ is to help new brewers put down their first couple of brews. After reading this FAQ, you may want to move onto the next, FAQ for Advanced Kit Brewing.


----------



## Renegade

BribieG said:


> Not necessarily. I bought a bottling 'stick' 'wand' 'cane' whatever from Woolies when I started, it's a Brigalow brand and the M*F*& thing does not fit inside a standard fermenter tap, it's too fat. I didn't bother taking it back but got a good one from the Local Home Brew Shop. Bloody Brigalow hey.
> 
> Is your problem that the stick won't fit up into the spout of the tap? If so then where did you get the stick from? If not from a LHBS then take it along to your local and do a side by side comparison and get a slightly thinner one.



Is that common to put the wand straight onto the tap ? I havent eeven thought of doing so, i attach it to a plastic flexible tube, then attach the tube to the tap.


----------



## jonocarroll

clean brewer said:


> Push the end of the bottler into the end of the tap, it should fit quite tightly, then put the bottler into the bottle and depress(the end of the bottler is spring loaded), let the bottle fill and then ease off and take the bottle out... Too easy..


Better yet (and kudos to whoever first pointed it out to me on here);

Get about 1m of 12mm vinyl tubing (LHBS may have some? otherwise try a hardware store) and a hose clip ($2 store if you're cheap, it's not going to be submersed). Fit the tubing over the open end of the bottling 'wand' and secure tight with the hose clip. Fit the other end of the tubing tightly over the fermenter tap (you could use a hose clip if it's not tight, mine seems to be tight enough. Sanitise with your sanitiser of preference, inside tubing, and inside/outside of wand.

I do my priming bottle-by-bottle then put the bottles into milk crates. You could just as easily bulk prime. With the fermenter on a stack of milk crates (the higher the better), turn the tap on, put the crate of bottles next to the stack of crates holding up the fermenter, then put the wand in the bottles one at a time - press down for flow, remove to stop. I find it a lot easier to insert the wand into the crate of bottles than to hold each bottle up to the wand.

I love the fact that I can see the beer flowing through the clear tubing on its way to the bottles. It also helps in checking that you're not getting a lot of fermenter sediment going into the bottles.


Oh, and Rik - was it really necessary to quote that entire post????


----------



## muckey

you can do either. Some people prefer having the wand on the tap and bring each bottle to the wand.
Others find it easier to have the wand on the end of a piece of tube abnd take it to each bottle.

Result is the same. Do what works best for you.


----------



## jonocarroll

Renegade said:


> Is that common to put the wand straight onto the tap ? I havent eeven thought of doing so, i attach it to a plastic flexible tube, then attach the tube to the tap.


That would be the short way of saying what I did. Cheers.

I believe the wand-into-the-tap method is as instructed. That's how I started out.


----------



## RobboMC

Renegade said:


> Is that common to put the wand straight onto the tap ? I havent eeven thought of doing so, i attach it to a plastic flexible tube, then attach the tube to the tap.




The Coopers equipment box comes with a 'wand' and no flexible tube. The video provided shows people bottling
with the 'wand' plugged straight into the fermenter. I'd never thought of doing it any other way.

I have had TWO of these 'wand' things fail on me. Fortunately I bottle over the opened door of the dishwasher to catch any drips.
The spring loaded end just popped off with 28 litres of brew about to pour through an open tap until I reacted and closed the tap.
Probably lost half a longneck.

The first was a Coopers one, the 2nd from the HBS bought to replace it.
So my advice is to keep the tap closed until you have your bottles in hand.

Amazingly, the 'wand' works WITHOUT the spring loaded end, I just opened and closed the tap; with the 'suction' of the closed tap
able to hold the tube full against the pull of gravity.

The open dishwasher door spill catcher is one of the best ideas I've ever stolen, forget where it came from now.


----------



## Greeny

this might sound a bit silly but i just bottled a brew (my 2nd) and now i can't get the lid off the fermenter. the airlock wasn't going off for my first brew so this time i made sure i did the lid up really tight - the airlock worked this time but now i've got this problem! does anybody know of any tricks to unscrew a very overtightened fermenter lid? i rang my mum to ask if she had any old wives tricks to getting lids off jam jars etc, but alas still no luck...


----------



## Renegade

Ah that's a sign that you should take up distilling instead of brewing. 

Kidding. Try a screwdriver and a hammer, VERY CAREFUL not to rip into your leg, and give it a few good whacks. That is if your lid has ribs around the edge. Search here too, someone else (Josh?) had the same issue a couple of days ago.


----------



## Sammus

Greeny said:


> this might sound a bit silly but i just bottled a brew (my 2nd) and now i can't get the lid off the fermenter. the airlock wasn't going off for my first brew so this time i made sure i did the lid up really tight - the airlock worked this time but now i've got this problem! does anybody know of any tricks to unscrew a very overtightened fermenter lid? i rang my mum to ask if she had any old wives tricks to getting lids off jam jars etc, but alas still no luck...



just cuss a lot  I've had issues with this, but usually end up getting the lid off without doing anything too drastic. I think some people have had luck using a belt wrapped around the lid somehow to get a better grip on it.

The problem (apparently) is the grip of the rubber seal. Next time your at a hardware store (even make a special trip for it ) pick up some tap lubricant. It's food grade so no worries there, I usually wipe some around the rubber lid seal, helps to get it on and off, and to seal without doing it up super tight


----------



## bum

Sammus said:


> I think some people have had luck using a belt wrapped around the lid somehow to get a better grip on it.



It distributes the force evenly rather than putting all your pressure in one spot making the thread bite harder.


----------



## Greeny

cheers guys, i'll give the belt idea a go. if no luck there i'll try the screwdriver and hammer trick. i'll be sure to try the tap lubricant too, i just used a touch of vegetable oil last time to get a good seal but maybe there lies my problem!

rest assured sammus that i have done a fair bit of cussing!


----------



## KGB

I'd use screwdriver and hammer as a last resort only. Get one person to hug the fermenter and another person working on the lid and you'll probably get there.


----------



## Greeny

sweet, finally managed to get the bastard lid off, did require a little coercion with a screwdriver but no damage done...

i don't want to sound like an ignoramus (i'm only new to brewing) but what is 'racking'? and what is meant by 'primary' and 'secondary fermentation'?

so far i've just been following the more basic process in the instruction book that came with my brewing kit, and will probably just stick with that for now before i try anything too advanced...


----------



## Ivan Other One

Greeny said:


> sweet, finally managed to get the bastard lid off, did require a little coercion with a screwdriver but no damage done...
> 
> i don't want to sound like an ignoramus (i'm only new to brewing) but what is 'racking'? and what is meant by 'primary' and 'secondary fermentation'?
> 
> so far i've just been following the more basic process in the instruction book that came with my brewing kit, and will probably just stick with that for now before i try anything too advanced...




Hi Greeny,
At the top of this page click on "Articles" an then again on 'new to brewing'.

Lots of helpfull info in there.

Having returned to brewing this year have picked up a heap of helpful info from browsing around on this web site and now am enjoying drinking great tasting clear beer.

Cheers Ivan. :icon_cheers:


----------



## troy.wood

I may be late on the post but might be able to help peers such as myself (first time brewers). I bought a kit today and had enough trouble checking the kit off with what's supposed to be in there and what's what, better yet when the bottle filler didn't seem to fit anywhere (and I didn't know what a "bottle filler" was - albeit sounding obvious), with a little force went straight into the tap, I haven't used it yet as I've only started today but looks like it'll work just fine.

happy brewing


----------



## Bribie G

Trox said:


> I may be late on the post but might be able to help peers such as myself (first time brewers). I bought a kit today and had enough trouble checking the kit off with what's supposed to be in there and what's what, better yet when the bottle filler didn't seem to fit anywhere (and I didn't know what a "bottle filler" was - albeit sounding obvious), with a little force went straight into the tap, I haven't used it yet as I've only started today but looks like it'll work just fine.
> 
> happy brewing



Yup you have grasped it perfectly. Two very fundamental ideas here:

Into tap, that's where it goes
A little force, God had designed the bottling 'canes' to require a bit of muscle to push them into the tap so they don't drop out during bottling and dump beer onto your brewery floor.

:beerbang: 

PS it will work fine but what you might find is that, after jamming it hard on the bottom of the bottle then just ease off a slight tad and it will probably flow a bit quicker.


----------



## sudsmcduff

One little thing i know not to listen to my kit instructions but it sez once you have pitched the yeast to stir for 30 seconds would this be a good or bad idea? :huh:


----------



## ampy

Greeny said:


> this might sound a bit silly but i just bottled a brew (my 2nd) and now i can't get the lid off the fermenter. the airlock wasn't going off for my first brew so this time i made sure i did the lid up really tight - the airlock worked this time but now i've got this problem! does anybody know of any tricks to unscrew a very overtightened fermenter lid? i rang my mum to ask if she had any old wives tricks to getting lids off jam jars etc, but alas still no luck...



Sorry to drag up an old post, but I used to have this problem every time I went to take the lid off. I would eventually get it off with a screwdriver and hammer, but I was damaging the lid quite a bit.

So I knocked this up.





Its just a pit of 12mm ply that I cut with a jigsaw to fit snugly into the top of the ferementer lid, and just what ever timber I had lying around for leverage, a bit rough I know, but it does the job nicely. 

Cheers Ampy


----------



## mwd

Nice tool ampy but it would be easier not to tighten the lid up so much when you put it on.

BTW. get a craft knife and cut any of the excess plastic moulding burrs off the top surface lip of your fermenter. If the lip is smooth less chances for the lid to jam.


----------



## ampy

Tropical_Brews said:


> Nice tool ampy but it would be easier not to tighten the lid up so much when you put it on.
> 
> BTW. get a craft knife and cut any of the excess plastic moulding burrs off the top surface lip of your fermenter. If the lip is smooth less chances for the lid to jam.



I don't put it on real tight any more, but it still always still jams on me. I will cut the excess plastic off the lip of the fermenter, thanks for the advice.


----------



## Wildman

This is a fantastic resource.
Have only been brewing for a couple of months but am loving the results and am keen to learn more of the brewing craft.
Was surprised to read that the temperatures you recommended for fermentation were quite a bit lower than what's printed on the extract cans. They suggest a range of 18-27 degrees yet you mention temps as low as 10-14. 
Am curios cause i had a coopers pale ale fermenting at temp of approx 16 degrees and the process seemed to stall. got hydrometer readings of 1022 left it a bit longer but nothing more happened. Any suggestions, help or otherwise.
Cheers


----------



## manticle

Temperature is probably a bit low. Bump it up to around 20, give it a gentle swirl, see how she goes. General range for ales is suggested to be 18-22 as a rule of thumb. Some styles do well with higher temperatures, as do some yeasts but as a basic guide that's the best range. Higher than 22 for most ales leads to a quicker ferment but accompanied by undesirable flavours.

Lagers are a different kettle of fish (provided the 'lager' you're brewing utilises and actual lager yeast). The 10 - 14 you've been reading is probably for lagers. Lagers generally 7 - 12. Can hit 14 but any higher will lead to the wrong flavours.


----------



## Slightly

Recently set up my Coopers Micro-Brew kit. I was a bit worried about a few things but after reading the FAQs, I'm pretty content with it all. Very, very helpful. Thank you!


----------



## waggastew

Just begun homebrewing but this thread (and the site) has been an amazing resource!

On the topic of keeping your fermenter at the correct temperature *I cannot speak highly enough* of the 75 can cooler (aka the SMASH cooler from Bunnings). I got mine two days into the ferment after struggling with the laundry tub/wet towels/fan/ice/water mess. Two 2L bottles of ice on rotation once a day keeps the brew at a perfect 17-18 deg C, no hassles. Given that temp is one of the most critical factors in brewing good beer I really think they should come as a standard item. If your new to homebrewing and don't have one get it. For ~$30 its a cheap way to make much better beer before your sure you want to commit to thermostats/fridges etc. (One thing: you might have to muck around with the airlock to get the lid shut properly, you can cut a hole or I just put the airlock in upside down, still works the same way, you just can't watch it)

I am brewing a CPA can, Brew Enh 2, Saaz hops and some US-O5 yeast for my first brew (thanks to someone on here for coming up with that combo). SHould hopefully be a nice innocuous introduction. Over winter I might try a recipe with lager yeast as the cooler will be more than capable of getting to a constant 10degC.

Thanks again one and all. I will hopefully post some reviews of planned beers once they are brewed/bottled/conditioned. Its a pity thats at least 2-3 months away!

In The Fermentor: CPA can, BE2, Saaz Hops (finishing), US-05 yeast
Waiting to Go In: Muntons Export Stout, 74 brewcraft Irish Stout converter, Muntons Gold Yeast (any hops suggestions?)
After That: Bavarian Helles style, still researching on the recipe, any ideas welcome!


----------



## beerbog

I use an old 600l fridge (not working) with frozen water bottles in the garage. With an ambient temp of 35 deg, 1 bottle will keep my brew at 20 - 22 deg, 2 bottles even lower, that includes during the rigorous initial ferment when a couple of deg are added due to the natural heat of fermentation. 

In winter i can get 12 deg with 2 bottles for lagers.

Regards.


----------



## Hatchy

What an awesome thread, I wish I'd seen this 12 - 13 years ago when I 1st started brewing. If I'd had better results then I wouldn't have been an "on again - off again" brewer for that time. I've currently got 2 of my fermenters in the bath, I put in 2 5kg bags of ice to get it cool enough to pitch my yeast & have 6 take away containers rotating in the freezer to try to keep the fermenters under 25 degrees (it's an uphill battle). I'm hoping that I'll have enough of a stockpile that I won't have to brew next summer & can just enjoy the fruits of a winter of having 3 fermenters constantly going but I may grab a spare fridge from a mate & stick a fermenter or 2 in there (I've got a mate who knows how to change over the thermostat). Good work by every poster on here. I'm looking forward to some much better beer now that I have such an awesome online resource. I'm looking forward to having some spare time to sit down with a beer or 2 & my laptop to have a good look around here.


----------



## DKS

Hatchy said:


> What an awesome thread, I wish I'd seen this 12 - 13 years ago when I 1st started brewing. If I'd had better results then I wouldn't have been an "on again - off again" brewer for that time. I've currently got 2 of my fermenters in the bath, I put in 2 5kg bags of ice to get it cool enough to pitch my yeast & have 6 take away containers rotating in the freezer to try to keep the fermenters under 25 degrees (it's an uphill battle). I'm hoping that I'll have enough of a stockpile that I won't have to brew next summer & can just enjoy the fruits of a winter of having 3 fermenters constantly going but I may grab a spare fridge from a mate & stick a fermenter or 2 in there (I've got a mate who knows how to change over the thermostat). Good work by every poster on here. I'm looking forward to some much better beer now that I have such an awesome online resource. I'm looking forward to having some spare time to sit down with a beer or 2 & my laptop to have a good look around here.



Same for many brewers in years gone by Hatchy. I started early 80's. It was a bit of a secret like a good fishing spot, or just home brew shops were opening without any knowledge. Around that time emu farming was all the go, and look at that now. My brother and I were advised to boil grains to make better kit beers but they meant boil as in 100* boil with a 2 pound rock in the kettle, with obvious results. We were none the wiser and reverted back to plain kits, then gave it away. 
There was no internet then. Now its all there and for free. Best use it to your advantage eh?
BribieG has some good history on the home brew scene.Check out some of his posts if your interested.
Anyway glad you have found a top resource here. Let us all know what your brewing and results. :icon_cheers: 
Daz
Edit : Fill out your details it'll help people help you.


----------



## Zapp Brannigan

Hi guys, this is my first post here. Im new to brewing and this thread has helped me a lot. I had a similar problem with getting the lid of my fermenter as did greenie. I found that if you use rubber gloves you can get a much better grip on the lid, and it is possible to open the fermenter without using a hammer and screwdriver. 
Anyhoo....thanks for all the info on this site. It has helped me heaps!!!!!!


----------



## DKS

Zapp Brannigan said:


> Hi guys, this is my first post here. Im new to brewing and this thread has helped me a lot. I had a similar problem with getting the lid of my fermenter as did greenie. I found that if you use rubber gloves you can get a much better grip on the lid, and it is possible to open the fermenter without using a hammer and screwdriver.
> Anyhoo....thanks for all the info on this site. It has helped me heaps!!!!!!



Zapp
I refused to wear wife's pink rubber gloves (grunt grunt ) so....
Chucked the lid and air lock in storage. Now use glad wrap with "O" ring from lid.To easy and you can see whats going on in fermenter and not embarrassing. 
Using hydrometer anyway so bubble / air lock is not required.Always found air lock a PITA.
Daz


----------



## Zapp Brannigan

DKS said:


> Zapp
> I refused to wear wife's pink rubber gloves (grunt grunt ) so....
> Chucked the lid and air lock in storage. Now use glad wrap with "O" ring from lid.To easy and you can see whats going on in fermenter and not embarrassing.
> Using hydrometer anyway so bubble / air lock is not required.Always found air lock a PITA.
> Daz




Thanks DKS.
Do you poke a hole in the glad wrap? 
Or does the gas push past the O ring to escape?
Rubber gloves are available in other colours.


----------



## warra48

Zapp Brannigan said:


> Thanks DKS.
> Do you poke a hole in the glad wrap?
> Or does the gas push past the O ring to escape?
> Rubber gloves are available in other colours.




No need to poke a hole in it.
The CO2 gas will find its own way to get out.
The rubber seal doesn't seal it airtight anyway, it's not strong enough, and there's enough of a gap around the outside threads at the top of the fermenter to allow the gas to escape.


----------



## Bribie G

I'm glad this thread has been revived, it should really be kept alive by referring new brewers to it more often, re airlocks not bubbling etc, it's a thread that tends to slip below the radar of more experienced brewers.


----------



## bum

It is the only sticky in this forum.


----------



## MarkMc

BribieG said:


> I'm glad this thread has been revived,



It reminds us old senile poms what they are doing in the garage with all these stainless pots and bags of museli ;-)


----------



## uncleBez

Hi.

I made a few homebrews from coopers kits a couple years back and they all turned out nice enough. (Just following basic instructions
from the coopers kit).

Ok so I have just started another brew which is currently fermenting and feeling new again have been reading ALOT of information
over the passed few days, on the internet and books from the library (I just might burn myself out  ).

So I have a few questions about my brew.

Here is my current situation.

On the 07/04/2010 here is what i did.

I activated the dry yeast from the kit in warm water.
it frothed up very nicely in the steralised jar with glad wrap over it.
I believe this is a combination yeast of lager and ale and that is why they recommend a fermentation of 21 - 27deg?
If i used a saflager of safale yeast I would brew at a lower temp and probably get a better result?

I dissolved in hot water the kit malt and a tin of Tooheys brewing sugar (which says ingredients: maize starch on the tin). The tin says to use in place of sugar and dextrose. 
I don't think this was the best choice, but I am interested to see how it turns out, maybe
i should use on of coopers brew enhancers?

The temp was then at 25.6deg C, I added the yeast (I forgot to take the SG reading, but did it instantly after adding yeast) and I got a reading of
1.041

The mix cooled quickly in the garage to about 22deg C and is fermenting away nicely now.
The garage seems to remain at a constant 22 degrees. Its always the coolest part of the house.

Ok so.. bottleing...

I have been reading about finings (gelatine), racking, lagering etc... 
So i don't want to get to complicated but want to improve my results.

I am planning to..

after fermenting as finished (hydro reading stable for 3 days) rack the beer (syphon into a vessel and back into the cleaned fermenter

I only have one fermenter but would like to rack as I have read this is a big contibuter to better quality.
Is it too risky to transfer to say a steralised esky and back to the fermenter?
And what benefit has racking on my brew?

I then plan to add the prepared gelatine and leave for a couple days (in current location), and then bottle to primed bottles.
Are the finings going to effect my carbonation, and if so how much?, in what way?

I will leave the bottles in the same location for 3 weeks and then cool before drinking.


Also any home brew clubs around the north ryde area of sydney?

Love to hear if I have planned well, or if I am going off track.


----------



## Adro85

This is my first post here too; as everyone else has said there's some awesome information. I'm just starting to get my head around all the terminology!

I bought my Coopers kit a couple of weeks ago and have just finished bottling the results of the lager can that came with it. Truth be told, it didn't taste all that bad out of the fermenter so I imagine after a few weeks of conditioning in the bottles I'll have a drinkable brew. At the end of the day that's all I'm after - it doesn't need to be award-winning to impress me (a former VB drinker!)

I'm really looking forward to trying some more interesting recipes, slowly working my way up from kit&kilo to hop additions and stuff. I was stoked to see the pictures and read the results of the 100-can cooler too - I was picturing it as a big esky rather than a giant stubbie cooler. I'll be buying one of those ASAP!

Cheers,

Adrian


----------



## bobbylugino

hi all great site. 
i am new to brewing and have my first batch on the go, was just wondering what exactly is the correct procedure for pouring off the beer to take a hydrometer reading, should i leave the airlock attached while i do it or take it off? any info would be a great help.
cheers


----------



## carrollfromwork

Hi, 

Im sort of new to home brewing and ive had a bit of trouble with my last 2 batches. I bottled a batch of Tooheys special lager using coopers brew enhancer 2 with a final gravity of 1016. Stuck them straight in the fridge and checked them after a few weeks and they didnt carbonate (just read now thats a big mistake so ive taken them out of the fridge and am hoping they will be ok). Ill check on those in a couple of weeks to see if thats fixed them. 

I have another tooheys lager down using coopers brew enhancer2 and this time i checked the instructions on the can more carefully. It says to keep brew between 18-28C and FG should be 1006. 

The batch has been down for 7 days with temps between 22-26C and my SG has been constant at 1016 for a day now (starting SG was 1038). It seems that it has finished and is ready for bottling but im worried about the FG. Do you think this is ready to bottle?

Also in your post you said lagers brew at much lower temps? Any thoughts?

Thanks


----------



## Lord Raja Goomba I

carrollfromwork said:


> Hi,
> 
> Im sort of new to home brewing and ive had a bit of trouble with my last 2 batches. I bottled a batch of Tooheys special lager using coopers brew enhancer 2 with a final gravity of 1016. Stuck them straight in the fridge and checked them after a few weeks and they didnt carbonate (just read now thats a big mistake so ive taken them out of the fridge and am hoping they will be ok). Ill check on those in a couple of weeks to see if thats fixed them.
> 
> I have another tooheys lager down using coopers brew enhancer2 and this time i checked the instructions on the can more carefully. It says to keep brew between 18-28C and FG should be 1006.
> 
> The batch has been down for 7 days with temps between 22-26C and my SG has been constant at 1016 for a day now (starting SG was 1038). It seems that it has finished and is ready for bottling but im worried about the FG. Do you think this is ready to bottle?
> 
> Also in your post you said lagers brew at much lower temps? Any thoughts?
> 
> Thanks



Hi Carroll,

If the brew tin says keep it at that temp, then you'll need to keep it at that temp.

When it uses the word lager, it won't be in the "official" sense of lager - more that they want you to do a lager-style beer. If the recommended temp is 18-28C, then highly probable that you'll have an ale yeast on your hands. Ale yeasts have a higher brewing (and carbonating) temp, than lager yeasts.

1.016 might be a little high. You won't hurt anything by leaving it another week, in fact, it will probably help as the yeast "cleans up after itself". Constant SG needs to be tested over a minimum of 3 days.

Don't worry, we all started this journey in the same place. My other piece of advice is to do some yeast research - find out what brewing temps are better for what yeasts (and your climate - I won't use a lager yeast in Qld in ambient temps, even in winter), terminology such as flocculation, attenuation, esters and so on. 

I found it helped me heaps to select a yeast that was appropriate for the result I was trying to acheive (once I got to that stage). Given the yeast is what a) farts (therefore gives you bubbles) and B) provides alcohol, as well as being the centre of the process, knowing a bit more is always a good thing. It goes from being that thing under the lid in the silver packet, to a key ingredient in any brew.

Even when I was just Kit & Kilo (which is what you are - kit, plus extra malt), I very quickly figured out that the "under the lid" yeast wasn't too crash hot.

Hope this helps you out.

Goomba


----------



## carrollfromwork

Lord Raja Goomba I said:


> Hi Carroll,
> 
> If the brew tin says keep it at that temp, then you'll need to keep it at that temp.
> 
> When it uses the word lager, it won't be in the "official" sense of lager - more that they want you to do a lager-style beer. If the recommended temp is 18-28C, then highly probable that you'll have an ale yeast on your hands. Ale yeasts have a higher brewing (and carbonating) temp, than lager yeasts.
> 
> 1.016 might be a little high. You won't hurt anything by leaving it another week, in fact, it will probably help as the yeast "cleans up after itself". Constant SG needs to be tested over a minimum of 3 days.
> 
> Don't worry, we all started this journey in the same place. My other piece of advice is to do some yeast research - find out what brewing temps are better for what yeasts (and your climate - I won't use a lager yeast in Qld in ambient temps, even in winter), terminology such as flocculation, attenuation, esters and so on.
> 
> I found it helped me heaps to select a yeast that was appropriate for the result I was trying to acheive (once I got to that stage). Given the yeast is what a) farts (therefore gives you bubbles) and B) provides alcohol, as well as being the centre of the process, knowing a bit more is always a good thing. It goes from being that thing under the lid in the silver packet, to a key ingredient in any brew.
> 
> Even when I was just Kit & Kilo (which is what you are - kit, plus extra malt), I very quickly figured out that the "under the lid" yeast wasn't too crash hot.
> 
> Hope this helps you out.
> 
> Goomba



Ok so after a couple more days, the SG hasnt changed (still at 1016) and there is now a white film forming on top of the brew? is this possible infection? should i just bottle and hope for the best or toss it out and start again?

I just opened a bottle from the previous batch which was about 1016 FG and it seems ok but it wasnt left this long (this batch has been down for almost 11 days now)

I dont think ill be using the tooheys lager kit again (ive been recommended the morgans blue mountain lager or something and ill be giving that a crack)


----------



## pk.sax

to my limited understanding, the white film is just yeast krausen. Did you give the fermenter a shake/swirl? That might've woken the sleepies up. Also, letting the temperature come back up to the higher side of what is recommended on the can did that to my first one too, got it fermenting again.
My current beer has hit 11 days just now, tastes fine... ppl have been recommending leaving the beer on the yeast for 2 weeks anyway. Its cold weather still


----------



## bum

practicalfool said:


> to my limited understanding, the white film is just yeast krausen.


Forming at eleven days when the hydrometer is saying terminal gravity?

Does the film look a little bit spiderwebby? Or just like a bunch of little bubbles? Or something else entirely?


----------



## Lodan

Hi Carroll

I used Ian's Spreadsheet to calculate your FG and got 1011 (edit: assuming a 23L batch)
The can says 1006 most likely because they're refering to the can mixed with 1kg sugar or dextrose. COopers BE2 is a mixture of 500g dextrose, 250g Maltodextrin and 250g of Malt. Malt is less fermentable than dextrose and maltodextrin is generally only 30% fermentable; which gives you a higher FG than using 1kg of dex alone.

I have left brews in the fermenter for about 3 weeks with no hassle (many others on the forum say the same) so it will be ok to leave it a bit longer.

A light swirl as suggested may wake the yeast up. Try keeping temps at no greater than 22, despite what the can says they prefer to be on the lower side of the temperature scale

Lodan

Edits: Ian's spreadsheet is a great resource for kit and extract brewers 
http://www.aussiehomebrewer.com/forum//ind...st&p=644029


----------



## pk.sax

bum said:


> Forming at eleven days when the hydrometer is saying terminal gravity?
> 
> Does the film look a little bit spiderwebby? Or just like a bunch of little bubbles? Or something else entirely?


Thats why I asked straight after if he/she gave the fermenter a shake/swirl. I noticed on my last one that when I moved fermenter from where it was to a spot closer to the heating duct outlet it started foaming up again, could be the movement, could be the temp... or maybe I was :drinks: and happy

PS: How is 1.016 a terminal gravity for a made to recipe K&K?? for a Lager too... hmnnnn... maybe u missed that one.


----------



## bum

The yeast kicking back in at 1016 is not going to spur the critters back into full-on growth mode - they'll just start chewing on them tasty sugaz again.

Your result sounds reasonable as there could easy be a layer of fine, foamy bubbles forming. That's why I was asking about the consistency of the "film". We're sorta on the same page. Ish.


----------



## bum

practicalfool said:


> PS: How is 1.016 a terminal gravity for a made to recipe K&K?? for a Lager too... hmnnnn... maybe u missed that one.



1. I said "when the hydrometer is *saying* terminal gravity". This is different to "when the beer has *reached* terminal gravity.' The hydro is not reporting any movement - how is a krausen being formed? Maybe you missed that one?

2. The tin comes with an *ale* yeast. Maybe you missed that one? Plenty of reasons why the yeast might have put this beer in the too hard basket. Not saying that is certainly the case but it is _well_ within the realms of possibility.

[EDIT: One sentence wasn't saying what I meant. Made sure this edit doesn't change the context of pf's reply below.]


----------



## pk.sax

bum said:


> We're sorta on the same page. Ish.


O MA Gosh! I gotta bookmark this page and keep it for posterity 
Actually, I have my beer @ 1018 right now and thinking of transferring it to secondary to help it along a little, taste is already clean so doubting if any more 'sitting' on the yeast cake will do it more good. Same, 11 days since it went in.


----------



## pk.sax

bum said:


> 1. I said "when the hydrometer is *saying* terminal gravity". This is different to "when the beer has *reached* terminal gravity.' The hydro is not reporting any movement - how is a krausen being formed? Maybe you missed that one?
> 
> 2. The tin comes with an *ale* yeast. Maybe you missed that one? Plenty of reasons why the yeast have put this beer in the too hard basket. Not saying that is certainly the case but it is _well_ within the realms of possibility.



I'm thinking since her kit says it should drop another 10 points, its sleepy yeast. And the yeast was supplied with the kit, yeah? so I guess the ppl at Tooheys did some calcs on it b4 selling it with those instructions. That said, I have a feeling it is the less fermentable sugars that get fermented very slowly once it hits a certain SG. Maybe 1016 is it for her's.. dunno... out of depth here.



carrollfromwork said:


> I have another tooheys lager down using coopers brew enhancer2 and this time i checked the instructions on the can more carefully. It says to keep brew between 18-28C and FG should be 1006.


----------



## Screwtop

practicalfool said:


> I'm thinking since her kit says it should drop another 10 points, its sleepy yeast.



Hang around this site for a bit longer and read as much as you can.

Screwy

Being nice tonight eh!


----------



## pk.sax

Screwtop said:


> Hang around this site for a bit longer and read as much as you can.
> 
> Screwy
> 
> Being nice tonight eh!



very, just downed whatever was left of my 'accidental' cider and then tasted the wheat I'm fermenting  very very happy happy.


----------



## Lodan

Hi Practical F,

Just to be clear, the toohey's can likely tells the brewer to mix it with 1kg sugar or dextrose, which would give an FG of 1006-1007. Coopers BE2 is different. Check out the link i posted to Ian's spreadsheet, really is a great help and i use it for all of my kit brews 

Lodan

Edit: what is an accidental cider?


----------



## jakub76

Bottling at 1.016 sounds dangerous to me...kaboom. I'd leave it on the yeast for another week, if it's still ok then another week won't hurt it - if it's infected then bottling now won't save it.

:icon_offtopic: 


Lodan said:


> what is an accidental cider?



A bottle of apple juice you forgot to put in the fridge? Hooch-tastic!


----------



## pk.sax

jakub76 said:


> bottle of apple juice you forgot to put in the fridge? Hooch-tastic!


heeheehee, yes, but I know it got infected by wine yeast as I was using this bottle to prime my intentional cider  tasted awesome ))

PS: thnx for reminding me abt the spreadsheet. I'm gonna work this one out as a test problem for myself.


----------



## Lodan

^ 
Hahaha, nice one!


----------



## thesunsettree

Screwtop said:


> Hang around this site for a bit longer and read as much as you can.
> 
> Screwy
> 
> Being nice tonight eh!


Holy shit screwy, you feeling ok??


----------



## carrollfromwork

Lodan said:


> Hi Practical F,
> 
> Just to be clear, the toohey's can likely tells the brewer to mix it with 1kg sugar or dextrose, which would give an FG of 1006-1007. Coopers BE2 is different. Check out the link i posted to Ian's spreadsheet, really is a great help and i use it for all of my kit brews
> 
> Lodan
> 
> Edit: what is an accidental cider?




Thanks for all your help. I decided to give the brew a swirl and leave it just a little longer. I downloaded the spreadsheet but dont know how to use it correctly - what is EBC and IBU?

Also in an earlier post i was asked what the film looked liked - its not foamy but rather like ice forming on water, very thin and sticky. Hope this is ok.


----------



## Shed101

EBC (European Brewing Convention) is the colour the higher the number the darker the beer.
IBU (International Bitterness Units), again higher number = more bitter.

I have a theory that the kit producers also put optimistically low figure on the cans to protect themselves against people having bottle bombs and claiming the manufacturer's at fault.


----------



## pk.sax

carrollfromwork said:


> Thanks for all your help. I decided to give the brew a swirl and leave it just a little longer. I downloaded the spreadsheet but dont know how to use it correctly - what is EBC and IBU?
> 
> Also in an earlier post i was asked what the film looked liked - its not foamy but rather like ice forming on water, very thin and sticky. Hope this is ok.


Something that might help you, I just noticed that the empty fermenter I have sitting next to the one that my '1016' beer is in is 2 degrees lower in temperature than the fermenter. Just says that the yeast is still kicking a bit .. maybe. haha. Isn't it fun watching the darn beerd grow!


----------



## kocken42

practicalfool said:


> Something that might help you, I just noticed that the empty fermenter I have sitting next to the one that my '1016' beer is in is 2 degrees lower in temperature than the fermenter. Just says that the yeast is still kicking a bit  .. maybe. haha. Isn't it fun watching the darn beerd grow!


 
It could just be that the empty fermenter is more susceptible to temperature fluctuations, ie. It was 20 degs during the day and your full fermenter was able to warm up slowly all day, as soon as the temperature drops for the night, your full fermenter will have a much slower decline in temp, while the empty one will show temperature changes quite quickly.


----------



## pk.sax

My Little Pony said:


> It could just be that the empty fermenter is more susceptible to temperature fluctuations, ie. It was 20 degs during the day and your full fermenter was able to warm up slowly all day, as soon as the temperature drops for the night, your full fermenter will have a much slower decline in temp, while the empty one will show temperature changes quite quickly.


quite true...

I must be honest then, it wasn't really empty  It had some nappisan water in it because I transferred the wort out of this one to the other yesterday evening and left it to soak.. haha. but yeah, you know what I meant.. lol


----------



## Weatherby

> The effects of different ingredients on your brew:
> Dextrose adds no exra flavour or body to your brew, only alcohol.
> Malt (either dried or liquid) adds body, flavour and alcohol to your brew.
> Maltodextrin adds body and some sweetness to your brew.



Can anybody give me any more info on the differences between malt and maltodextrin please?


----------



## Bribie G

The "malt" part of the name maltodextrin is perhaps misleading, as it isn't made from malt but from maize, wheat and even potatoes as a food additive - Wikipedia tells all -  Dextrins as a class are non fermentable long chain carbs are in fact formed during the mashing of grains in beer making and give the beer body, mouthfeel and foaming. Maltodextrin is similar to those dextrins and can be snuck into a beer to carry out similar functions to the dextrins you would be producing in a full mash recipe, and can do a fairly good job of mimicking their properties. However too much and the beer can get a soapy or slimy character.

In my kit n kilo days I used a fair bit of Coopers Brew Enhancer 2 which has maltodextrin in it, and it definitely beats using just a kilo of dex or white sugar.


----------



## Weatherby

Thanks BribieG, for a top answer


----------



## dr_pepper

hi guys, halp please!

i've just bought myself a new coopers micro-brew kit, and the mix is a coopers "lager" and i've read about how if its a true lager then the temp needs to be lower, and to check the yeast packet that came with it....

however my yeast packet only says "coopers brewing yeast 7g net" and doesn't mention if its a lager or ale yeast

am i safe to assume being supermarket quality and everything that it IS infact an ale yeast and i can keep at the higher temp range?

also, anyone up-to-date on where to get those 100-can-cooler things? I can't seem to find any reference to them anywhere on the internet....even a general price range? if i'm gonna be spending $50 or more, i'd prob rather upgrade to spending about $200 or so on a 2nd hand bar fridge and a thermostat thingy

cheers
matt


----------



## Jimboley

dr_pepper said:


> hi guys, halp please!
> 
> i've just bought myself a new coopers micro-brew kit, and the mix is a coopers "lager" and i've read about how if its a true lager then the temp needs to be lower, and to check the yeast packet that came with it....
> 
> however my yeast packet only says "coopers brewing yeast 7g net" and doesn't mention if its a lager or ale yeast
> 
> am i safe to assume being supermarket quality and everything that it IS infact an ale yeast and i can keep at the higher temp range?
> 
> also, anyone up-to-date on where to get those 100-can-cooler things? I can't seem to find any reference to them anywhere on the internet....even a general price range? if i'm gonna be spending $50 or more, i'd prob rather upgrade to spending about $200 or so on a 2nd hand bar fridge and a thermostat thingy
> 
> cheers
> matt




The Coopers International Series Euro Lager (green Can) has a true lager yeast but produces a very clean result at 18C-19C
Also needs to be left to condition in the bottle for at least 6 weeks. (I have picked up 5x medals with this can, so I reckon it rocks)

The Coopers Australian Series Lager (white can) is just a regular ale yeast something like Safbrew S33. Ferments at nearly any temp and still makes shit beer

The Tommas Coopers Heritage Lager (black can) has a ale yeast in it and ferments at 2C nicely
Cant help with can cooler ...sorry


----------



## dr_pepper

Jimboley said:


> The Coopers International Series Euro Lager (green Can) has a true lager yeast but produces a very clean result at 18C-19C
> Also needs to be left to condition in the bottle for at least 6 weeks. (I have picked up 5x medals with this can, so I reckon it rocks)
> 
> The Coopers Australian Series Lager (white can) is just a regular ale yeast something like Safbrew S33. Ferments at nearly any temp and still makes shit beer
> 
> The Tommas Coopers Heritage Lager (black can) has a ale yeast in it and ferments at 2C nicely
> Cant help with can cooler ...sorry



I've got a white can with a green ring at the bottom, and it says "Original series Australian coopers lager" so i guess thats the 2nd one you mentioned above and i'm in for a terrible beer!!! i didn't expect any less straight out of the box to be honest

thanks for your help


----------



## WarmBeer

dr_pepper said:


> I've got a white can with a green ring at the bottom, and it says "Original series Australian coopers lager" so i guess thats the 2nd one you mentioned above and i'm in for a terrible beer!!! i didn't expect any less straight out of the box to be honest
> 
> thanks for your help



Negative Nancy!

Ensure cleanliness and sanitisation, keep the brewing beer under about 20 degrees, and assuming this is your first ever homebrew, I guarantee you this will be the best beer you've ever made


----------



## Lecterfan

Hey dude, as for the can cooler...try the esky/icebox section at Kmart/BigW. Mind you if you have a lazy $200 and are going to jump in with both feet then grab the secondhand fridge, a brewing fridge is still missing from my setup and it is something that I really envy.


----------



## kelbygreen

I got 1 fridge for free holds a fermenter and a cube. Second fridge cost $30 and holds 2 fermenters, keg chest freezer cost $50 and holds 4 kegs. So you can get it for heaps under $200 as I just run the ebay temp controllers like $35 each. just keep a eye out on ebay I some times ask people that put new bids up what they like as they some times want it gone yesterday so they just go $50 cash pickup tomorrow its yours lol then they take the listing off.


----------



## Jimboley

dr_pepper said:


> I've got a white can with a green ring at the bottom, and it says "Original series Australian coopers lager" so i guess thats the 2nd one you mentioned above and i'm in for a terrible beer!!! i didn't expect any less straight out of the box to be honest
> 
> thanks for your help




Sorry, It's not that bad but it aint the best.
Keep the ferment at a steady 22-24C and use some hop pellets (dry) after about 5 dyas fermenting, Hallertau, Spalt, Saaz or even Cascade for a better end result- more aroma.
Also dont use cane sugar. Use Dry malt blend like Brew enhancer 2.
Happy Brewing!


----------



## XavierZ

regarding the temp control, some aldi stores still have wine cooler fridges for $149.
if i recall correctly, temp range is 7-18degC


----------



## dr_pepper

kelbygreen said:


> I got 1 fridge for free holds a fermenter and a cube. Second fridge cost $30 and holds 2 fermenters, keg chest freezer cost $50 and holds 4 kegs. So you can get it for heaps under $200 as I just run the ebay temp controllers like $35 each. just keep a eye out on ebay I some times ask people that put new bids up what they like as they some times want it gone yesterday so they just go $50 cash pickup tomorrow its yours lol then they take the listing off.



what do you search for on ebay for the temp controllers? 

cheers


----------



## dr_pepper

Jimboley said:


> Sorry, It's not that bad but it aint the best.
> Keep the ferment at a steady 22-24C and use some hop pellets (dry) after about 5 dyas fermenting, Hallertau, Spalt, Saaz or even Cascade for a better end result- more aroma.
> Also dont use cane sugar. Use Dry malt blend like Brew enhancer 2.
> Happy Brewing!



great thanks for the help


----------



## dr_pepper

Lecterfan said:


> Hey dude, as for the can cooler...try the esky/icebox section at Kmart/BigW. Mind you if you have a lazy $200 and are going to jump in with both feet then grab the secondhand fridge, a brewing fridge is still missing from my setup and it is something that I really envy.



hmm how much would a cooler cost that was big enough?

i just checked my local bunnings and the biggest they had was 20L which was no where near big enough and still cost $35 i think

weighing up $50 or more on a cooler, or $100-$200 on a fridge setup....


----------



## HeavyNova

dr_pepper said:


> what do you search for on ebay for the temp controllers?
> 
> cheers



You'll see that many people are happy with the *STC-1000* temperature controller which can be had from ebay for about $30-$35 (incl postage). The unit is actually an aquarium thermometer that can handle a cooling and heating circut. Be aware that it needs to be mounted in some sort of jiffy box and wired before you can use it.

There's a fair bit of info floating around on the forum on how to do this but many of the guides recommend that if you aren't confident with your elecrics then it's best to find someone who is to do it for you.

I've just got my unit up and running and it's awesome to know that your brew is sitting at steady at the ideal temperature!


----------



## dr_pepper

HeavyNova said:


> You'll see that many people are happy with the *STC-1000* temperature controller which can be had from ebay for about $30-$35 (incl postage). The unit is actually an aquarium thermometer that can handle a cooling and heating circut. Be aware that it needs to be mounted in some sort of jiffy box and wired before you can use it.
> 
> There's a fair bit of info floating around on the forum on how to do this but many of the guides recommend that if you aren't confident with your elecrics then it's best to find someone who is to do it for you.
> 
> I've just got my unit up and running and it's awesome to know that your brew is sitting at steady at the ideal temperature!



no chance. i'll have to look into something like this: https://daveshomebrew.com.au/index.php?opti...8&Itemid=99

does anyone know if these are any cheaper elsewhere?

and has anyone tried those heating pads?


----------



## DU99

i have brewed two batches of Coopers Canadian blonde and used the instructions as per can ,both have been excellent.. :icon_offtopic:


----------



## Silo Ted

dr_pepper said:


> no chance. i'll have to look into something like this: https://daveshomebrew.com.au/index.php?opti...8&Itemid=99



That's so expensive. You could buy three controllers, plus boxes from jaycar and extension leads, for the same price. 

Here is the ebay link: 
http://shop.ebay.com.au/i.html?_nkw=mini+d...ller&_rdc=1


----------



## dr_pepper

Silo Ted said:


> That's so expensive. You could buy three controllers, plus boxes from jaycar and extension leads, for the same price.
> 
> Here is the ebay link:
> http://shop.ebay.com.au/i.html?_nkw=mini+d...ller&_rdc=1



how much actual electrician type stuff does this require?

cheers


----------



## rotten

dr_pepper said:


> how much actual electrician type stuff does this require?
> 
> cheers



A carton if ya know the right guy, that's what I'm hoping for anyway.
Cheers


----------



## kelbygreen

its not hard but its not something you dont want to play with if your not to sure. there is threads on how to hook up tempmate on here its the same thing thats what I used and mine works but if you know a sparky get him over for a drink or 2 and get him to do it. Hopefully before the beer or 2 lol


----------



## drfad

Just a question on using the fridge with a controller - does this really crank up the electricity bill?


----------



## Samuel Adams

XavierZ said:


> regarding the temp control, some aldi stores still have wine cooler fridges for $149.
> if i recall correctly, temp range is 7-18degC



Sweet, I'll have to have a look to see if they still have some.
$150 is pretty cheap, how crappy is it ?
Saves the search for an old fridge and the need to buy & install a temp controller.

Only problem will be keeping the missus wine away from it !


----------



## HeavyNova

drfad said:


> Just a question on using the fridge with a controller - does this really crank up the electricity bill?



I haven't got my first bill while using my new controller however since the firdge switches on and off and is fairly well insulated I would expect the increase in power consumption to be quite small. I'm fermenting a smaller batch than usual at the moment in the fridge and it probablt turns on for maybe 10 minutes in the hour. Could be a bit more or less though as I haven't sat there and watched it for an hour!


----------



## Hatchy

dr_pepper said:


> no chance. i'll have to look into something like this: https://daveshomebrew.com.au/index.php?opti...8&Itemid=99
> 
> does anyone know if these are any cheaper elsewhere?
> 
> and has anyone tried those heating pads?



That one looks exactly the same as the one I inherited for nothing. If it is then it doesn't heat, it only cools which works fine for me, in winter I just put on my heat belt & leave the fridge at 20. Can you have a heater & the fridge hooked up to one of the ebay ones at the same time, they look the goods. I've got a couple of sparky mates who should be able to sort those out easily enough. Fermenting fridge number 2, here I come.

I'd suggest that my keg fridge will have a bigger impact on my power bill than my ferment fridge. The keg fridge only went in during winter so I'm not looking forward to our summer bill (especially now that I have a 2nd fermenting fridge on it's way). Maintaining a fridge at 20 has to be cheaper than maintaining one at 4.

Before I had the ferment fridge I had my fermenters in the bath with ice bricks & wet towels around them. Sometimes it was tough to keep them under 25 but I made some good beer & it got me through until I got a fermenting fridge. Brewing is quite a forgiving process until you bugger it up entirely.

Edit: after posting I read this & I'm thinking that one of these may be a better option than the ebay one. I've answered my own question about hooking it up to a heater & fridge at the same time, you can use it to heat or cool but it doesn't look like you can have the fridge & heater plugged in at the same time. Sort of what I expected.


----------



## dr_pepper

Samuel Adams said:


> Sweet, I'll have to have a look to see if they still have some.
> $150 is pretty cheap, how crappy is it ?
> Saves the search for an old fridge and the need to buy & install a temp controller.
> 
> Only problem will be keeping the missus wine away from it !



can anyone confirm the temp range on the aldi wine fridges? 

an interesting option if it works well


----------



## dr_pepper

XavierZ said:


> regarding the temp control, some aldi stores still have wine cooler fridges for $149.
> if i recall correctly, temp range is 7-18degC



is this the wine cooler you are talking about?

if so, its gone up a bit in price..but if it does 7-18degC, then thats good enough for me

http://www.aldi.com.au/au/html/offers/2827_14944.htm


----------



## Ravenous

Hi there,

This is my first post on this forum and I am still fairly new to brewing. I have done around 6 or 7 brews with mixed results so far.

I always follow the instructions on the kit accurately, have sanitised gear and ferment until I get a consistent reading over a few days. The only thing that I haven't got right yet is the temperature control which after reading these posts I will follow through with.



All, this being said, a few of my brews have seemingly had little or no alcohol content upon drinking yet they have not exploded even after months in the bottle.

Would a fluctuating temperature between 21 and 27 result in a beer with a lower alcohol reading? If not then why?!

Cheers


----------



## kelbygreen

would need to know what fermentables you put in there ravenous. but try keep temps between 18-20 is best but upto 22 would still be good you can go higher but wouldnt recommend it. Tell us what you put in and we would have a better understanding of what might of happened, also how long it was in the fermenter. 


drfad: I would say power bill would be less as its not turning on as much but it may be running longer. I know my keg chest freezer costs 7c a day to run with the fan going 24/7 I will put the power meter on the fermenting fridge now and try remember to post in here tomorrow with how much it cost


----------



## Ravenous

kelbygreen said:


> would need to know what fermentables you put in there ravenous. but try keep temps between 18-20 is best but upto 22 would still be good you can go higher but wouldnt recommend it. Tell us what you put in and we would have a better understanding of what might of happened, also how long it was in the fermenter.
> 
> 
> drfad: I would say power bill would be less as its not turning on as much but it may be running longer. I know my keg chest freezer costs 7c a day to run with the fan going 24/7 I will put the power meter on the fermenting fridge now and try remember to post in here tomorrow with how much it cost



Currently I am brewing the Coopers Pale Ale Kit with Brew enhancer #2. It has been brewing for 6 days and stopped bubbling and the reading is currently at around 2% alcohol, why so low?


----------



## kelbygreen

you go buy the numbers on the hydrometer to work out the alcohol %. get a reading on brew day, try to stir in with a sanitised spoon or it will be all the wort on the bottom and water on the top and give a higher reading. Then get a reading about 8-10 days later and then the next day and the next if the reading is the same for 3 days your right to bottle. A kit should (but wont always) be around 1.040 OG (original gravity) and finish around (but again will vary could be more or less) 1.010 and its around 4.5% alc. dont use the alcohol % on the hydrometer as its just a guide and a very rough guide at that.

Try leave your beers for at least 8 day in fermenter this way you save on hydrometer samples and your beer benifits being longer in the fermenter, the yeast have a chance to clean up after them selfs. For me I brew wait 10+ days take hydrometer reading leave 2 more days take another hydro sample if its the same then put in the fridge at about 2-3c for at least 3 days (can be upto a month and usually a month min for a true lager) only spends that long in there as I some times dont have the time to bottle but have kegs now so will be easier.


----------



## Samuel Adams

dr_pepper said:


> is this the wine cooler you are talking about?
> 
> if so, its gone up a bit in price..but if it does 7-18degC, then thats good enough for me
> 
> http://www.aldi.com.au/au/html/offers/2827_14944.htm



Nice work dr pepper, I tried looking on the Aldi website but didn't find it.
It looks pretty good, $179 ain't bad for what it is either.

3 things to check first though - Temp range, can you remove shelves & measurements (ie. will it fit my fermenter in it)

If all checks out I might be able to do a lager in the QLD summer, hell yeah !


----------



## dr_pepper

Samuel Adams said:


> Nice work dr pepper, I tried looking on the Aldi website but didn't find it.
> It looks pretty good, $179 ain't bad for what it is either.
> 
> 3 things to check first though - Temp range, can you remove shelves & measurements (ie. will it fit my fermenter in it)
> 
> If all checks out I might be able to do a lager in the QLD summer, hell yeah !



the aldi catalogue on that link is from august though, i just went to two aldi's in sydney today and no sign of them as expected... prob only lasted a week or two if that

im on the hunt on gumtree / ebay for 2nd hand wine fridge

just need to look for one with a flat bottom inside to make sure it fits properly... and all shelves need to be able to be removed as you say

temp range seems to be a standard 7degC-18degC on most of the wine fridges i've seen so far

good luck!!

i will report back if i have any luck


----------



## Silo Ted

Ravenous said:


> Hi there,
> 
> This is my first post on this forum and I am still fairly new to brewing. I have done around 6 or 7 brews with mixed results so far.
> 
> I always follow the instructions on the kit accurately, have sanitised gear and ferment until I get a consistent reading over a few days. The only thing that I haven't got right yet is the temperature control which after reading these posts I will follow through with.
> 
> 
> 
> All, this being said, a few of my brews have seemingly had little or no alcohol content upon drinking yet they have not exploded even after months in the bottle.
> 
> Would a fluctuating temperature between 21 and 27 result in a beer with a lower alcohol reading? If not then why?!
> 
> Cheers




I like your choice of font.


----------



## Silo Ted

Dr Pepper, I was considering one of those Aldo fridges a while ago, less about the temp control but for a small unit that could fit a keg. Most bar fridges have a hump, which makes it impossible to squeeze a fermenter in. never git to see the Aldi one, I was two days late. 

You should probably take your fermenter measurements with you, to make sure this will work if that's the direction you want to go in. However if you have a garage, then an old warhorse of a fridge can be had on Ebay for under $50 quite often, and will hold two jugs. Coupled with a $35 STC1000 from ebay, and a carton of beer to the kind member who recently offered to help you wire it up, you'll be off and running.


----------



## dr_pepper

Silo Ted said:


> Dr Pepper, I was considering one of those Aldo fridges a while ago, less about the temp control but for a small unit that could fit a keg. Most bar fridges have a hump, which makes it impossible to squeeze a fermenter in. never git to see the Aldi one, I was two days late.
> 
> You should probably take your fermenter measurements with you, to make sure this will work if that's the direction you want to go in. However if you have a garage, then an old warhorse of a fridge can be had on Ebay for under $50 quite often, and will hold two jugs. Coupled with a $35 STC1000 from ebay, and a carton of beer to the kind member who recently offered to help you wire it up, you'll be off and running.



i'm really short on space, so need to go for something small as possible. i actually couldn't fit a full size fridge anywhere.

does anyone know of the validity of using the airlock upside down (into the fermenter)? i think i saw someone else here mention it ???

i have found a wine fridge, but just about an inch too small to fit the fermenter in with the airlock attached upright.... 

someone else mentioned glad wrap too???

thanks for all the help everyone


----------



## Silo Ted

dr_pepper said:


> does anyone know of the validity of using the airlock upside down (into the fermenter)? i think i saw someone else here mention it ???



Not valid. 



dr_pepper said:


> someone else mentioned glad wrap too???



That's the way to go. Especially if you have space restrictions. Assuming your fermenter is a screw-top, you can throw the lid out along with the airlock, but keep the rubber sealing ring. That can be used to hold your plastic film on top. Its cheap, easy and sanitary.


----------



## drfad

kelbygreen said:


> drfad: I would say power bill would be less as its not turning on as much but it may be running longer. I know my keg chest freezer costs 7c a day to run with the fan going 24/7 I will put the power meter on the fermenting fridge now and try remember to post in here tomorrow with how much it cost




Thanks for that. I would have thought keg freezers would run harder for some reason.


----------



## Hatchy

Keep the lid, handy for cleaning & aerating. I'm not so sure about the upside down airlock, I may give that a go at some point. Glad wrap does the job but I've gone back to the lid & airlock.


----------



## djt

G'day guys

I bought, and use a second hand wine fridge for brewin lagers etc. Cost me $50 of ebay. Works well, both my fermenters fit perfectly (yeh the racks come out) but what I've found is that the fridge wont actually cool the wort / fermenter, only keep it at the same temp you put it in at. So... get your wort to correct temp, then put it in. Works at treat. $50 bucks well spent IMO.

BTW, I bought my fermenters at bunnings for $15 bucks, and i think taps are $2ish. Just need to drill hole in the lid for the grommet and airlock. Cheaper than LHBS, but feedin the big guys I guess.

Hope this helps
darrtoo


----------



## dr_pepper

Silo Ted said:


> Not valid.
> 
> 
> 
> That's the way to go. Especially if you have space restrictions. Assuming your fermenter is a screw-top, you can throw the lid out along with the airlock, but keep the rubber sealing ring. That can be used to hold your plastic film on top. Its cheap, easy and sanitary.



ok great...do i need to punch a hole in the glad wrap or something?


----------



## dr_pepper

darrtoo said:


> G'day guys
> 
> I bought, and use a second hand wine fridge for brewin lagers etc. Cost me $50 of ebay. Works well, both my fermenters fit perfectly (yeh the racks come out) but what I've found is that the fridge wont actually cool the wort / fermenter, only keep it at the same temp you put it in at. So... get your wort to correct temp, then put it in. Works at treat. $50 bucks well spent IMO.
> 
> BTW, I bought my fermenters at bunnings for $15 bucks, and i think taps are $2ish. Just need to drill hole in the lid for the grommet and airlock. Cheaper than LHBS, but feedin the big guys I guess.
> 
> Hope this helps
> darrtoo



thanks that does help.

does your wine fridge have a temp control? either way, thats not too hard to get it at the right temp first


----------



## zebba

dr_pepper said:


> ok great...do i need to punch a hole in the glad wrap or something?


Nope. The air finds a way out.


----------



## RdeVjun

dr_pepper said:


> ok great...do i need to punch a hole in the glad wrap or something?


No, please don't! It isn't necessary at all. Just secure the sheet in place with lid seal, string, giant rubber band etc, I use a string of pipe cleaners.


----------



## djt

dr_pepper said:


> thanks that does help.
> 
> does your wine fridge have a temp control? either way, thats not too hard to get it at the right temp first



Yeh it does - high & low. But I just keep it on high & it keeps the brew constant at the temp I put it in at eg 12, 13 or 14deg. I do this for 10 days (keeping a check of hydrometer readings to make sure its finished), then in the big fridge at 4 deg for 2-3 days, then into the keg.


----------



## Silo Ted

RdeVjun said:


> Just secure the sheet in place with lid seal, string, giant rubber band etc, *I use a string of pipe cleaners.*



what a sight that must be :lol: Arent you allowed to play with elastic bands at home?


----------



## HeavyNova

darrtoo said:


> Yeh it does - high & low. But I just keep it on high & it keeps the brew constant at the temp I put it in at eg 12, 13 or 14deg. I do this for 10 days (keeping a check of hydrometer readings to make sure its finished), then in the big fridge at 4 deg for 2-3 days, then into the keg.



This _will_ be better than leaving your fermenter out in the open and struggling with wet towels and fans etc but I'm not sure that setting the fridge at a certain temperature will keep the brew steady throughout it's ferment?

At the height of yeast activity you can 4,5 even 6 degree increases in wort temperature since the process causes heat. If it's sitting in a constant temp fridge the wort will still increase in temp. It might go from 16 to 20 and then back down to 16 again as the activity calms down.

A unit like the STC1000 keeps an eye on your wort temp (if you stick it to the side of the fermenter or even inside) and adjusts the fridge to keep the brew at your desired temp. Plus it's so easy to choose your desired temp so you can make the most of different yeasts and also bump it up a few degrees at the end of your brew to help the yeast finish up.


----------



## Bribie G

RdeVjun said:


> No, please don't! It isn't necessary at all. Just secure the sheet in place with lid seal, string, giant rubber band etc, I use a string of pipe cleaners.



You would have to meet Rde to understand - and then it would click into place. If there were no pipe cleaners he would go out and invent them  

To keep a fermenter at a steady temperature, if you have enough freezer space and a bit of spare area in the garage or laundry you can do a good clean neat and fuss free 'brewing cave' setup with a big beach towel, a spare doonah and a frozen PET bottle or two. I got a couple of 5L mini jerry cans from Bunnings and keep one in the freezer and use the other one to keep a fermenter at around 15 - 19 degrees depending on time of year, swapping once or twice a day. And I do this all throught the QLD summer for my ales. 

Place fermenter on old towel on the floor. Place frozen jerry next to it. Wrap tightly in big beach towel. Wrap in doonah. Check daily. You only need to do this for a few days while primary is on, then just fail to swap the brick for the last two days for its diacetyl rest, will probably still be sitting at 19 degrees or so. I have a temp controlled fridge but it's a littly and usually tied up constantly with a lager. I also have a big normal fridge holding 3 jerrycans for lagering. 

No need for laundry sinks, wet towels or fans.


----------



## Samuel Adams

BribieG said:


> To keep a fermenter at a steady temperature, if you have enough freezer space and a bit of spare area in the garage or laundry you can do a good clean neat and fuss free 'brewing cave' setup with a big beach towel, a spare doonah and a frozen PET bottle or two. I got a couple of 5L mini jerry cans from Bunnings and keep one in the freezer and use the other one to keep a fermenter at around 15 - 19 degrees depending on time of year, swapping once or twice a day. And I do this all throught the QLD summer for my ales.
> 
> Place fermenter on old towel on the floor. Place frozen jerry next to it. Wrap tightly in big beach towel. Wrap in doonah. Check daily. You only need to do this for a few days while primary is on, then just fail to swap the brick for the last two days for its diacetyl rest, will probably still be sitting at 19 degrees or so. I have a temp controlled fridge but it's a littly and usually tied up constantly with a lager. I also have a big normal fridge holding 3 jerrycans for lagering.
> 
> No need for laundry sinks, wet towels or fans.


Nice simple idea to keep temps down.

Could you please explain (no Pauline Hanson jokes) the terms "primary" & "diacetyl rest"

Cheers


----------



## Bribie G

Samuel Adams said:


> Nice simple idea to keep temps down.
> 
> Could you please explain (no Pauline Hanson jokes) the terms "primary" & "diacetyl rest"
> 
> Cheers



Hi sam
"Primary" = Primary Fermentation, which is where the main action happens and the yeast ferments the wort into basic beer, usually about a week with ales and up to three weeks with lagers that are fermented a lot colder so take longer. At the end of Primary Fermention you can take a few different tracks:


Bottle or keg straight out of primary, which a lot of brewers do, especially with ales. In this case they often extend this phase and keep the beer in primary for up to 10 days or more to let most of the shyte sink out
Transfer the beer to "Secondary" in another vessel at the same temperature, to get it off the yeast and finish fermenting and start clearing off said shyte
Transfer the beer to a vessel which will be chilled down to almost freezing for a week or so, to clear it out and let it finish off ready for kegging and bottling.

What you do is really dependant on the style of beer, in the case of a Lager, #3 is normal for up to 3 months. I really don't know if too many people still do #2, as it's often and extra stage for no real benefit, but very many of us do #1 :icon_cheers: 


Now, during fermentation many if not most yeasts produce a substance called diacetyl which tastes like butterscotch. It's a by product and if the beer is bottled or kegged too soon it may end up with a butterscotch taste. Some styles, such as UK bitters can have a touch of D, personally I like it. Yum. Other styles such as lagers should not have D. The way to clear it up is to let the beer in Primary warm up a bit for a couple of days right at the end of fermentation to let the yeast clean up the D, which it does as part of its job description. This is called the Diacetyl Rest. 

I've actually ended up with lagers with D, which is a no no, because I've rushed them through and not given them the D rest.
Diacetyl is really a feature of All grain brews and AFAIK it's not common in kit brews - dunno why but somebody might be able to explain that


----------



## Samuel Adams

Thanks BribieG you're a champion 

So much good info in this thread !!!


----------



## dr_pepper

ok so planning to lay down my first brew tomorrow

making an amber ale with.....

*morgan's royal oak amber ale 
*morgan's caramalt amber malt extract
*safale us-05
*morgan's fuggles finishing hops

i've got my wine cooler fridge with a 7-18degC temp range, one fermenter, bottling into plastic bottles

and i've got some questions.....

*what temp should i get water in the fermenter to before i add the goo & malt extract, and then hops & yeast?
*what temp should i keep it in the wine cooler at?
*do i need to cool it to a certain temp BEFORE putting in the wine cooler (if so, how so? ice bath?)
*how long should i ferment for? (i've seen mixed suggestions...everywhere from 1 week to 2 weeks or more?)
*how long should i leave it bottled in a dark cupboard before drinking optimally? (obviously i know the longer the better, but any general guidelines?)

i am in no rush to get this done and drink it...will take as long as i need to make it good..if that means longer fermenting and bottling time before drinking...then let me know what you suggest

anything im missing here? any tips / suggestions?

please no "get better ingredients" or anything like that... this is what i've got and i'm doing it regardless...just wanna get this first batch down!

thanks heaps

dr pep


----------



## dr_pepper

oh and is yeast rehydrating a bit too advanced for my first batch? it sounds difficult


----------



## dr_pepper

one last question...the hops is a 12g pack...do i need the whole thing or use less?


----------



## DU99

Use the whole pack..if your unsure about yeast rehydrating..pitch dry yeast directly in the fermentation vessel providing the temperature of
the wort is above 20C (68F). Progressively sprinkle the dry yeast into the wort ensuring the
yeast covers all the surface of wort available in order to avoid clumps..
http://www.fermentis.com/fo/pdf/HB/EN/Safale_US-05_HB.pdf


----------



## Silo Ted

dr_pepper said:


> one last question...the hops is a 12g pack...do i need the whole thing or use less?




12g of hops is not very much, so you really should use the whole lot. This would be done a few days after fermentation starts. Put them in a teacup, fill with boiling water to make a 'tea' then add to your fermenter. This is called dry hopping and is typically attributed to the aroma quality of your final beer. 

As you progress you'll find that its good to play around with other hop additions, like a 20 minute boil to add more flavour. Those 12g packs are not good value, and down the track you might want to think about buying 100g packs for around 10-12$ so you have the versatility to use more. 

Good luck with Brew #1 and remember that clean and sanitised gear can never be overlooked. :icon_cheers:


----------



## dr_pepper

thanks for the help guys!

out of curiosity, are there any commerical beers around that have a fuggles hops flavour , so i can compare?


----------



## djt

Ahhh BribieG, you've done it again!! Why is it you make your answers sooo easy to understand, AND you don't take pot-shots at guys who want to learn. Most of what I do with my brews I've taken straight from your advice and have genuinely improved my beers, and the techniques used to do them. Thanks heaps mate. :beer: 

Dr Pep. Good luck mate, sounds like you've done your homework pretty thoroughly, which is a great thing. This forum is my 2nd best friend, you will learn something new each time you log on. Don't be afraid to ask questions, even if some dickhead gives you a smartarse reply. Don't be put off!!

As DU99 said Clean, clean, clean, to the point of being anal about it. Don't rush in to AG, get a soild grip of how to do the KISS things right. I've been brewin for about 10 years or so, and have found that kit & kilo, the odd extract here and there, suit me & my lifestyle fine. I'm wrapped with the outcomes, my mates love the 'tasting days / nights' :chug: , and the variety of beers I make. I even let them have requests!! 

darrtoo


----------



## djt

So Dr Pep, how did you go? Did you get your brew down mate?
darrtoo


----------



## dr_pepper

Thanks Darrtoo

I'm actually not gonna do it until tomorrow arvo... i just got my wine fridge today and need to leave it 24 hours before starting it up

Does anyone have temp and ferment times recommendations as per my questions above?

Should i get the fermenter temp to say 20degC, mix, pitch yeast, then cool to 18degc before throwing it in the wine fridge? 

also, my fermenter fits into my wine fridge fine, but the airlock only fits in diagonally on an angle of about 15 degrees, the top of the airlock still has access to full air (only one side of it touches the roof of the fridge)... Does anyone know if the airlock will still function properly like this on an angle, or should i switch to abandoning the lid & airlock all together and use glad wrap ?

once again, thanks to everyone for the help and sorry for all the beginner questions


----------



## bignath

dr_pepper said:


> Thanks Darrtoo
> 
> I'm actually not gonna do it until tomorrow arvo... i just got my wine fridge today and need to leave it 24 hours before starting it up
> 
> Does anyone have temp and ferment times recommendations as per my questions above?
> 
> Should i get the fermenter temp to say 20degC, mix, pitch yeast, then cool to 18degc before throwing it in the wine fridge?
> 
> also, my fermenter fits into my wine fridge fine, but the airlock only fits in diagonally on an angle of about 15 degrees, the top of the airlock still has access to full air (only one side of it touches the roof of the fridge)... Does anyone know if the airlock will still function properly like this on an angle, or should i switch to abandoning the lid & airlock all together and use glad wrap ?
> 
> once again, thanks to everyone for the help and sorry for all the beginner questions




Dr Pepper,

don't apologise for the questions fella, that's how we all learn. We all had to start somewhere mate...

I personally would go the glad wrap option for a few reasons...

1. the lid can potentially be a breeding ground for bacteria (in particular around the rubber seal and the interior of the lid). Glad wrap can remove this potential problem.
2. it's so cool to be able to look into your fermenter and see exactly what is going on. Don't know until you've tried it, and the one's that do use glad wrap will know exactly what i mean. When you use the lid, the condensation build up on the underside of lid can often make it really hard to see the fermentation cycle progressing.
3. Space. If you are low on space, not having an airlock protruding above your fermenter can make or break the ability to ferment in tight fit areas (wine fridge for example). Or you can CAREFULLY stack one fermenter on top of the other and ferment two batches at the same time - i don't do this but i read a post about someone who does....

re: temps.
if you're going to cool it to ferment at 18, then instead of cooling to 20, mixing and pitching, you could always just throw your fermenter into the fridge and wait until it reaches 18 and then pitch yeast. There's no rule that says you have to pitch the yeast as soon as you have created your wort. In fact, in processes like All Grain brewing, there are many (myself included) who after boiling the wort and adding our hops to a timed schedule, let the wort cool itself instead of using a chiller. It goes straight out of boiler, into a storage "cube" or jerry can (both food grade of course) and we wait until it reaches the temp we want, then transfer to a fermenter and pitch yeast.

the amber ale your intending to brew should be a nice drop i reckon. I use US05 yeast a lot. It works really well at 18. As for times, it will be done when it's done. Keep an eye on your hydrometer readings. 2 or 3 in a row around 1008/1012 will most likely indicate it's finished. Leave for a few extra days to let the yeast clean up it's crap and your good to go.

Follow your instincts as it seems to me like you've got a good grip on things in general, and you'll make beer. You certainly understand a lot more about brewing than me when i started......

Happy brewing mate,

bignath


----------



## kelbygreen

dr_pepper said:


> ok so planning to lay down my first brew tomorrow
> 
> making an amber ale with.....
> 
> *morgan's royal oak amber ale
> *morgan's caramalt amber malt extract
> *safale us-05
> *morgan's fuggles finishing hops
> 
> i've got my wine cooler fridge with a 7-18degC temp range, one fermenter, bottling into plastic bottles
> 
> and i've got some questions.....
> 
> *what temp should i get water in the fermenter to before i add the goo & malt extract, and then hops & yeast?
> *what temp should i keep it in the wine cooler at?
> *do i need to cool it to a certain temp BEFORE putting in the wine cooler (if so, how so? ice bath?)
> *how long should i ferment for? (i've seen mixed suggestions...everywhere from 1 week to 2 weeks or more?)
> *how long should i leave it bottled in a dark cupboard before drinking optimally? (obviously i know the longer the better, but any general guidelines?)
> 
> i am in no rush to get this done and drink it...will take as long as i need to make it good..if that means longer fermenting and bottling time before drinking...then let me know what you suggest
> 
> anything im missing here? any tips / suggestions?
> 
> please no "get better ingredients" or anything like that... this is what i've got and i'm doing it regardless...just wanna get this first batch down!
> 
> thanks heaps
> 
> dr pep



Ok if this is what you refer to then here it is:

1: best to add go and malt to boiling water prob add 2lts into fermenter and add it to that or you could boil up say 6 lts and add the malt extract into the boiling water take off heat add the goo then put lid on and straight into the sink and fill with water so the water in the sink is over the wort in the pot (dont go to high or it will float and wanna tip). leave for about 5-10 mins feel water in the sink if its really hot drain and fill again until its about luke warm to touch the pot. Then dump in fermenter and fill to desired mark.

add yeast at around 22-24 deg but put yeast out of the fridge (if its been in the fridge) as you want the yeast within 10c of the wort it goes into and you dont want the wort to hot or it will kill the yeast so 22-24 get them kicking but you dont want to keep them there for to long (why fridge is good) I leave them sit till the yeast sinks from the surface then put in the fridge by the time fermentation starts its already to temp.

Add hops when the fermentation is complete or almost complete so say 5-7 days in and leave in few a few days at least.

2. for ale yeast 18-20 for lager yeast 10-14c 

3. covered above just set cooler to the temp to ferment and put it in the cooler will cool it down 

4. thats a open subject 1 week min but till you get 3 days of same gravity (close to what you expect) should be around 1.009- 1.012 for standard kits. But its good practice to leave it longer for the yeast to clean up 10 days I think. But I also cold condition for 3-7 days after that to drop yeast and clear the beer out. 

5. 4 weeks it will be carbed 6 weeks it will taste alot better. so 4 weeks is about when to try it if you got time leave it try one 6 weeks see how it improves if you wanna drink it then do so but try leave a few aside and try at 8 and 10 weeks to see what conditioning can do

hope that helps


----------



## dr_pepper

thanks bignath and kelbygreen....really great and informative help from both of you.. cheers


----------



## djt

dr_pepper said:


> Thanks Darrtoo
> 
> I'm actually not gonna do it until tomorrow arvo... i just got my wine fridge today and need to leave it 24 hours before starting it up
> 
> Does anyone have temp and ferment times recommendations as per my questions above?
> 
> Should i get the fermenter temp to say 20degC, mix, pitch yeast, then cool to 18degc before throwing it in the wine fridge?
> 
> also, my fermenter fits into my wine fridge fine, but the airlock only fits in diagonally on an angle of about 15 degrees, the top of the airlock still has access to full air (only one side of it touches the roof of the fridge)... Does anyone know if the airlock will still function properly like this on an angle, or should i switch to abandoning the lid & airlock all together and use glad wrap ?
> 
> once again, thanks to everyone for the help and sorry for all the beginner questions


How did you go mate? All good?


----------



## Samuel Adams

Big Nath said:


> There's no rule that says you have to pitch the yeast as soon as you have created your wort.


Ok thats good, bloody instructions in kits say "it is important that you add the yeast straight away as the wort is vulnerable" or something similar.
So yeah I've always been pretty hasty when pitching the yeast, I won't stress anymore !!


----------



## Samuel Adams

Silo Ted said:


> 12g of hops is not very much, so you really should use the whole lot. This would be done a few days after fermentation starts. Put them in a teacup, fill with boiling water to make a 'tea' then add to your fermenter. This is called dry hopping and is typically attributed to the aroma quality of your final beer.
> 
> As you progress you'll find that its good to play around with other hop additions, like a 20 minute boil to add more flavour. Those 12g packs are not good value, and down the track you might want to think about buying 100g packs for around 10-12$ so you have the versatility to use more.


D'oh, I've always added my hop teabag at the start.
Would this just give it less aroma or any other ill effects ?

Probably won't be bothering with the 12g bags anymore and step up to big bags and doing a boil etc.


----------



## bignath

Samuel Adams said:


> Ok thats good, bloody instructions in kits say "it is important that you add the yeast straight away as the wort is vulnerable" or something similar.
> So yeah I've always been pretty hasty when pitching the yeast, I won't stress anymore !!




SA,

one thing i should have added just to be sure, is that for obvious reasons, make sure your wort is sealed in cube/jerry can/fermenter/whatever before you pitch the yeast while you wait for the temp drop. 

Absolutely your wort is vulnerable, but only if it's not sealed well.

Don't be afraid of oxygen getting into your wort when you take the lid off to pitch. In fact, you SHOULD make sure you aerate (stir heaps, use aeration stone/pump etc...) your wort as you pitch as the yeast needs oxygen to multiply. Once the yeast has taken off and your batch is fermenting, the yeast activity makes it harder for any infection risk to take hold.

Oxygen in batch post fermentation = BAD.
Oxygen in batch pre fermentation = GOOD.

I know this sounds obvious about the lid, and not trying to make you feel stupid, just thought i would cover all bases. My grandfather used to brew in an uncovered but "clean" plastic rubbish bin type thing. Would hate you to get an infection if i didn't clarify myself.

Cheers mate, happy brewing!


----------



## Samuel Adams

Cheers Nath, 
I now get why they put that info on the instructions, but they don't really make it clear why it is vulnerable.
Thanks for clarifying for me 

One more thing though, when dry hopping you would be letting air into the brew post ferm.
Is it just a case of being quick and clean to minimise the risk of infection when doing this.

Cheers


----------



## bignath

Samuel Adams said:


> Cheers Nath,
> I now get why they put that info on the instructions, but they don't really make it clear why it is vulnerable.
> Thanks for clarifying for me
> 
> One more thing though, when dry hopping you would be letting air into the brew post ferm.
> Is it just a case of being quick and clean to minimise the risk of infection when doing this.
> 
> Cheers




Yeah pretty much.

Hops are naturally antibacterial so the risk is always there but minimal i'd say. If i have this correct, IPA's were initially heavy handed on the hops to guard against the beer going bad on long journeys by boat. They naturally preserve beer (to a point) and help against many things other than balancing the sweetness of malt and other ingredients we put into our brews.

If you rack beer to a "secondary" vessel (spare fermenter, cube, jerry can etc...) you can kill two birds with one stone by putting your "dry hops" into the bottom of your secondary vessel, and carefully racking the beer on top of it. Careful not to splash though, as this risks oxidisation (too much oxygen) of your brew and can stale it. Some rack, some don't. Some will tell you it's a waste of time, as others praise their results. I rack a lot (not all) of my beers, and if i am going to dry hop, this is the perfect opportunity to do it, as apposed to adding hops to primary fermentation, and then racking later. 

I know what you mean about the "instructions" that come with a can. I started making much better beer when i threw the instructions in the bin, and followed the experienced brewers' info on this site, of which there are many. You'll very quickly learn who is good with the advice, and i learn a tonne of stuff each time i log in from those exact people.

Nath


----------



## dr_pepper

darrtoo said:


> How did you go mate? All good?



still haven't got started.

wine fridge doesn't seem to be working after i transported it. i waited a full 24 hours before turning it on, but didn't feel any change in temperature after another 24 hours... put it onto the coldest setting earlier today and 5-6 hours later still no sign that its even gone above room temp. (ie. nothing seems to be happening in there at all)

anyone got any ideas?


----------



## felten

You should be able to hear the compressor kick in if its running. The aldi webpage says its compressor driven anyway.


----------



## pk.sax

Freeze a couple of juice/soda bottles/icepacks and use the fridge as an insulated box with the frozen stuff sitting by the fermenter to keep temp down. I stick ~6 small ice packs around the fermenter and it beats the temp down to 16, sitting on the laundry shelf, no insulated box. Try to distribute evenly the cold stuff around it for max cooling.


----------



## dr_pepper

felten said:


> You should be able to hear the compressor kick in if its running. The aldi webpage says its compressor driven anyway.



I didn't get the Aldi one in the end...got a 2nd hand Mistral. The motor is running, and when i change the temp gauge to a cooler setting you can hear the motor kick in harder, but there is definitely no temperature change inside the fridge


----------



## bignath

dr_pepper said:


> I didn't get the Aldi one in the end...got a 2nd hand Mistral. The motor is running, and when i change the temp gauge to a cooler setting you can hear the motor kick in harder, but there is definitely no temperature change inside the fridge



If you can hear it doing it's thing, and trying harder to do it's thing when you change the thermo, then it sounds like it needs to be re-gassed.


----------



## dr_pepper

Big Nath said:


> If you can hear it doing it's thing, and trying harder to do it's thing when you change the thermo, then it sounds like it needs to be re-gassed.



thanks bignath

anyone had any experience in this type of thing?

do i get a fridge repair call out thing, or take it somewhere?


----------



## dr_pepper

well i got my money back and on the hunt for a new fridge.

meanwhile, my stockpile of brewing related ingredients and accessories is growing by the minute....and i haven't even made a brew yet!!!!


----------



## dr_pepper

hey guys,

got my wine fridge and got my first batch down this morning.

ended up going with the coopers canadian blonde honey recipe. 

fermenting away nicely at 18-19degC and had first reading looked fine at 1.041 (right?)

couple more questions...

1. considering buying a secondary fermenter. can someone explain the procedure involved? do i need some sort of tube setup to transfer, or do you just pour it into a 2nd fermenter?

2. what are the advantages of finings? when would i use them? any recommendations?

3. I'm using an ale yeast on the canadian blonde, but i have seen people still mentioning cold condition for ales..correct? if so, is it worth it, and what temp would i cold condition the secondary at and for how long?

4. i'm going to leave fermenting until hydrometer readings are the same for 3 days, once i've done that, do i leave for a few more days then transfer to secondary, or just go to secondary as soon as fermentation has finished?

i think thats it for now, thanks again for all the help


----------



## dr_pepper

also, anyone know of any way to dry bottles after a no-rinse sanitizer.....besides buying a bottle tree?


----------



## dr_pepper

PLASTIC bottles that is


----------



## Silo Ted

dr_pepper said:


> also, anyone know of any way to dry bottles after a no-rinse sanitizer.....besides buying a bottle tree?



Don't worry about drying them. Just shake as much out as you can before bottling. 

As for secondary, there might be other opinions, but Im going to suggest that you dont worry about it at this stage of your brewing experience if youre doing ales. By all means get a second fermenter (Bunning for about $15, dont waste your money on one from elsewhere) because its handy to bulk prime in, or as you will soon discover, putting another beer down because you cant wait for the first one to finish


----------



## dr_pepper

Silo Ted said:


> Don't worry about drying them. Just shake as much out as you can before bottling.
> 
> As for secondary, there might be other opinions, but Im going to suggest that you dont worry about it at this stage of your brewing experience if youre doing ales. By all means get a second fermenter (Bunning for about $15, dont waste your money on one from elsewhere) because its handy to bulk prime in, or as you will soon discover, putting another beer down because you cant wait for the first one to finish



ok no worries

i've looked for those bunnings fermenters in 3 different bunnings in the last couple of weeks but had no luck..anyone seen them in sydney anywhere?

if i'm not using a secondary, then should i use finings, and if so when?

cheers


----------



## Silo Ted

dr_pepper said:


> i've looked for those bunnings fermenters in 3 different bunnings in the last couple of weeks but had no luck..anyone seen them in sydney anywhere?



Bunnings at Auburn/Lidcombe (not sure of the exact suburb) always has them. They have a red lid, if that helps you find them. They aren't sold strictly as fermenters, but water barrels. The come pre-drilled for a tap, and you can use glad wrap over the top instead of an airlock, or drill a hole and fit your own airlock and grommet. 

Finings can be added after fermentation is complete. But again Im going to throw it out there and say that its not essential. If crystal clear beer is important to you then go for it. Many brewers dont bother. Your beer wont necessarily be muddy, just leave it for long enough or better still you can chill it right down for a week after fermentation to help drop out some of the yeasties.


----------



## dr_pepper

Silo Ted said:


> Bunnings at Auburn/Lidcombe (not sure of the exact suburb) always has them. They have a red lid, if that helps you find them. They aren't sold strictly as fermenters, but water barrels. The come pre-drilled for a tap, and you can use glad wrap over the top instead of an airlock, or drill a hole and fit your own airlock and grommet.
> 
> Finings can be added after fermentation is complete. But again Im going to throw it out there and say that its not essential. If crystal clear beer is important to you then go for it. Many brewers dont bother. Your beer wont necessarily be muddy, just leave it for long enough or better still you can chill it right down for a week after fermentation to help drop out some of the yeasties.



cool...bit out of the way but good to know. yeah i looked where the big water jerry can cube's are and they didn't have them...i tried alexandria, ashfield and one other i can't remember. 

finings - ok fair enough. so with chilling, should i wait a week after fermentation has finished, then drop down to what temp? my wine fridge goes down to 5degC, so could prob manage 5 to say 8degC range. then how long would i leave it at that temp for before bottling?

thanks silo ted


----------



## felten

A secondary (IMO) is only useful for removing the yeast from the beer for extended aging, or aging on wood/hops/fruit. 

If you're just going to be fermenting for a week, and then maybe CCing for a week you can do all that in the primary. 

As for finings it depends on what problem you are trying to fix, and what fining you're going to use to fix it. There's a lot of information on the forums and elsewhere on gelatin, isinglass, and polyclar. The gelatine thread is here. My 2c, if I'm just trying to drop yeast, I CC the brew, If I have chill haze, I use polyclar >4 days before bottling.

Oh and bottling trees are awesome.


----------



## dr_pepper

felten said:


> A secondary (IMO) is only useful for removing the yeast from the beer for extended aging, or aging on wood/hops/fruit.
> 
> If you're just going to be fermenting for a week, and then maybe CCing for a week you can do all that in the primary.
> 
> As for finings it depends on what problem you are trying to fix, and what fining you're going to use to fix it. There's a lot of information on the forums and elsewhere on gelatin, isinglass, and polyclar. The gelatine thread is here. My 2c, if I'm just trying to drop yeast, I CC the brew, If I have chill haze, I use polyclar >4 days before bottling.
> 
> Oh and bottling trees are awesome.



fair enough...i've got a couple of fruit beer ideas for later down the track, so i'll look into it then

ok great thanks for the info - what is "chill haze" though?

bottling trees necessary or just make it easier to bottle?


----------



## mkstalen

dr_pepper said:


> 1. considering buying a secondary fermenter. can someone explain the procedure involved? do i need some sort of tube setup to transfer, or do you just pour it into a 2nd fermenter?
> 
> 2. what are the advantages of finings? when would i use them? any recommendations?
> 
> 3. I'm using an ale yeast on the canadian blonde, but i have seen people still mentioning cold condition for ales..correct? if so, is it worth it, and what temp would i cold condition the secondary at and for how long?
> 
> 4. i'm going to leave fermenting until hydrometer readings are the same for 3 days, once i've done that, do i leave for a few more days then transfer to secondary, or just go to secondary as soon as fermentation has finished?
> 
> i think thats it for now, thanks again for all the help



1. As someone else said you may not want to mess with using a secondary just yet but if you want to here's my procedure. Get your 2ndary fermenter/jerry can, get a food grade plastic/rubber tube which fits your fermenter tap. Raise primary up above height of 2ndary, place hose into 2ndary allowing it to coil a little on the bottom. Turn on tap in primary and allow to empty into 2ndary. You don't want to areate the wort at this point so try not to let it splash around any. Tip primary a little to get almost all the wort into the 2ndary, but leaving the yeast cake in the primary.
You can then leave it in the 2ndary for another couple of weeks before you bottle. Personally I only do this now to get the wort into my jerry can so I can fit it into my fridge for chilling prior to bottle/kegging. The chilling helps drop more of the yeast out of the wort and thus leaves less sediment in your bottles giving you clearer beer.
I've seen the "water barrel / fermenters" at my local Bunnings at Thornleigh. 

2. Finings are used to drop more yeast to the bottom of your fermenter and make your beer clearer. You normally use them in the chilling stage of 2ndary a few days before you plan to bottle/keg your beer.

3. Chilling helps clear your beer. Personally I think it's worth it. Drop the temp down to 2-5 deg for a week or so. The first brew I used US-05 with I chilled in the primary and got a really pretty clear beer.

4. Good on the hydro readings, but try to check using ianh's spreadsheet what your FG should be so at least you know what you're aiming for. If it's stable at 1.020 for 3 days the yeast may have just gone to sleep and need a bit of a wake up to get you to your FG. If you're going to leave the 2ndary at fermenting temps for a week, then racking before it's completely finished is probably ok. Just make sure you get to FG before bottling.

Good luck.


----------



## Silo Ted

felten said:


> Oh and bottling trees are awesome.



Bottle trees are for pansies :lol:


----------



## felten

It's not necessary, but it sure is a hell of a lot easier... and you won't get yelled at for storing bottles on the dish rack in the kitchen


----------



## dr_pepper

stienberg said:


> 1. As someone else said you may not want to mess with using a secondary just yet but if you want to here's my procedure. Get your 2ndary fermenter/jerry can, get a food grade plastic/rubber tube which fits your fermenter tap. Raise primary up above height of 2ndary, place hose into 2ndary allowing it to coil a little on the bottom. Turn on tap in primary and allow to empty into 2ndary. You don't want to areate the wort at this point so try not to let it splash around any. Tip primary a little to get almost all the wort into the 2ndary, but leaving the yeast cake in the primary.
> You can then leave it in the 2ndary for another couple of weeks before you bottle. Personally I only do this now to get the wort into my jerry can so I can fit it into my fridge for chilling prior to bottle/kegging. The chilling helps drop more of the yeast out of the wort and thus leaves less sediment in your bottles giving you clearer beer.
> I've seen the "water barrel / fermenters" at my local Bunnings at Thornleigh.
> 
> 2. Finings are used to drop more yeast to the bottom of your fermenter and make your beer clearer. You normally use them in the chilling stage of 2ndary a few days before you plan to bottle/keg your beer.
> 
> 3. Chilling helps clear your beer. Personally I think it's worth it. Drop the temp down to 2-5 deg for a week or so. The first brew I used US-05 with I chilled in the primary and got a really pretty clear beer.
> 
> 4. Good on the hydro readings, but try to check using ianh's spreadsheet what your FG should be so at least you know what you're aiming for. If it's stable at 1.020 for 3 days the yeast may have just gone to sleep and need a bit of a wake up to get you to your FG. If you're going to leave the 2ndary at fermenting temps for a week, then racking before it's completely finished is probably ok. Just make sure you get to FG before bottling.
> 
> Good luck.



nice one thanks steinberg.

with chilling, does it need to be right down between 2-5deg, or will it be ok at say 5-8deg? do you put it into cubes simply so it fits into your normal fridge or is there any other reason? like i said, my wine fridge should be able to handle 5-8deg, so if thats suitable for CC, then i can just leave it in the primary can't i?

no worries, i have downloaded ian's spreadsheet and been meaning to check it out

cheers


----------



## Silo Ted

dr_pepper said:


> nice one thanks steinberg.
> 
> with chilling, does it need to be right down between 2-5deg, or will it be ok at say 5-8deg? do you put it into cubes simply so it fits into your normal fridge or is there any other reason? like i said, my wine fridge should be able to handle 5-8deg, so if thats suitable for CC, then i can just leave it in the primary can't i?
> 
> no worries, i have downloaded ian's spreadsheet and been meaning to check it out
> 
> cheers



Thats the thing about brewing, it doesn't *need* to be a lot of things. You could just bung it from the fermenter into bottles, add some carbonation drops and youre done. After the bottles have carbed, and the beer has aged sufficiently, you leave in the regular fridge for two days before drinking and it'll be pretty clear. 

Or just put your primary fermenter in the wine fridge after fermenting, bung the temp down as low as you can, then bottle straight from that a few days later.


----------



## dr_pepper

Silo Ted said:


> Thats the thing about brewing, it doesn't *need* to be a lot of things. You could just bung it from the fermenter into bottles, add some carbonation drops and youre done. After the bottles have carbed, and the beer has aged sufficiently, you leave in the regular fridge for two days before drinking and it'll be pretty clear.
> 
> Or just put your primary fermenter in the wine fridge after fermenting, bung the temp down as low as you can, then bottle straight from that a few days later.



sweet...all good advice thanks guys


----------



## Phreaker

Hi guys, 
first post.

i have read around a bit and am looking at doing ales. 

but here is the thing i am up in mackay so the temp is very stable 26c every day and 22-24c at night. 

i know alot of guys around here brew without coolers and wanted to see if 26c is still fine for ale yeast? 
any tips for fermenting the higher temps?

at this stage i will be doing the first brew in Feb when the temps return to normal, at the moment it temp is aorund 28c and i know that would be too high to brew in, i guess i am just looking at keeping the overheads down initially to get a return on investment before forking out for the big stuff ;-) 

thanks again boys.


----------



## kenlock

Al-Mky said:


> Hi guys,
> first post.
> 
> i have read around a bit and am looking at doing ales.
> 
> but here is the thing i am up in mackay so the temp is very stable 26c every day and 22-24c at night.
> 
> i know alot of guys around here brew without coolers and wanted to see if 26c is still fine for ale yeast?
> any tips for fermenting the higher temps?
> 
> at this stage i will be doing the first brew in Feb when the temps return to normal, at the moment it temp is aorund 28c and i know that would be too high to brew in, i guess i am just looking at keeping the overheads down initially to get a return on investment before forking out for the big stuff ;-)
> 
> thanks again boys.



You really don't want to be fermenting ales at 26c. You'll be very disappointed with the results. Go back to the first page of this thread and look at the cooling options. You may find you can do this with minimal or no outlay.

Edit: grammar


----------



## shaunbrew

gday all, could someone please tell me the ideal fermenting temperature for coopers kit and kilo draught, also does anyone know a kit and kilo that will have a similar taste to VB and the ideal ferment temp?????? 
cheers

shaun


----------



## Bribie G

The kit yeast is quite "forgiving" but best fermented as close to 20 as possible. For something similar to a VB in terms of colour, bitterness etc I'd tend to go for Morgans rather than Coopers (available from home brew shops but not Woolies) and try the Australian Draught. Another "improvement" would be to use Brew Enhancer 2 (a mix of light dried malt extract, dextrose and maltodextrin) as your "kilo" instead of just sugar. 

Edit: also 20. If you can get it, try substituting the dried lager yeast Fermentis S-23 and this can be fermented at around 18 - this will give the beer a more "lagery" character, seeing as VB is actually a lager not an ale. 

Cheers and welcome to the obsession . :icon_cheers:

ps there seem to be quite a few suppliers in the Dandenong, Narre Warren area etc. Local members should be able to advise.


----------



## Lord Raja Goomba I

Al-Mky said:


> Hi guys,
> first post.
> 
> i have read around a bit and am looking at doing ales.
> 
> but here is the thing i am up in mackay so the temp is very stable 26c every day and 22-24c at night.
> 
> i know alot of guys around here brew without coolers and wanted to see if 26c is still fine for ale yeast?
> any tips for fermenting the higher temps?
> 
> at this stage i will be doing the first brew in Feb when the temps return to normal, at the moment it temp is aorund 28c and i know that would be too high to brew in, i guess i am just looking at keeping the overheads down initially to get a return on investment before forking out for the big stuff ;-)
> 
> thanks again boys.



I live in Brisbane, and the temps here have been consistently warm, even with the air con on in the house. I have ended up with 2 dud (AG) brews, so temp control in the warmer states is a must. You might end up with a yeast that will tolerate a limited high temp (I used Nottingham yeast, which killed me) or you might make metho flavoured malt water.

Research temp, yeast and the like. If you want cheap booze, then it won't matter. If you want cheap but nice beer, then BIAB AG is an option, though again research is vital.

Actually, in this hobby, research is vital no matter what you do. Even making cheap plonk.

Goomba


----------



## earle

Al-Mky said:


> Hi guys,
> first post.
> 
> i have read around a bit and am looking at doing ales.
> 
> but here is the thing i am up in mackay so the temp is very stable 26c every day and 22-24c at night.
> 
> i know alot of guys around here brew without coolers and wanted to see if 26c is still fine for ale yeast?
> any tips for fermenting the higher temps?
> 
> at this stage i will be doing the first brew in Feb when the temps return to normal, at the moment it temp is aorund 28c and i know that would be too high to brew in, i guess i am just looking at keeping the overheads down initially to get a return on investment before forking out for the big stuff ;-)
> 
> thanks again boys.



Hi Al

I'm just a bit further up the road in Prossie. One of the best things I did to improve the flavour of my brews was to invest in temperature control. $200 for an upright frost free freezer at auction and $30ish for a temp controller. As Mackay is substantially larger then here, I suspect you could pick up an old fridge or freezer for a lot less than that.


----------



## shaunbrew

BribieG said:


> The kit yeast is quite "forgiving" but best fermented as close to 20 as possible. For something similar to a VB in terms of colour, bitterness etc I'd tend to go for Morgans rather than Coopers (available from home brew shops but not Woolies) and try the Australian Draught. Another "improvement" would be to use Brew Enhancer 2 (a mix of light dried malt extract, dextrose and maltodextrin) as your "kilo" instead of just sugar.
> 
> Edit: also 20. If you can get it, try substituting the dried lager yeast Fermentis S-23 and this can be fermented at around 18 - this will give the beer a more "lagery" character, seeing as VB is actually a lager not an ale.
> 
> Cheers and welcome to the obsession . :icon_cheers:
> 
> ps there seem to be quite a few suppliers in the Dandenong, Narre Warren area etc. Local members should be able to advise.



:beerbang: 
gday mate, cheers for the advise lots of help, will definatlt try that second person with good advise 
it is a obsession already and doing me first brew tomorrow thanks pal :beerbang:


----------



## Spork

Hi all, n00bie here.
Did try some brewing 20-25 years ago, but too young, poor and impatient to have much success. Hopefully this time I can get it right. Starting to regret getting rid of my old 'fridge, but a replacement shouldn't be too expensive.

Couple of questions.
From what I've read here an old 'fridge with one of the Ebay temp regs is best, but I'd be looking at setting up in the garage, and it gets b. cold out there this time of year (I'm in Tassie) so I think at this stage heating will be more of an issue than cooling, and from what I've read a constant temperature is half the battle won. The heater belts - I take it they aren't thermostaticaly controlled. Also heard that an aquarium heater can be used. This seems a good way to go, as they have a built in thermostat. Bit of extra cleaning / sterilising though. What are your thoughts on this? If I stick with brewing I'd def. get an old fridge by the time the weather warns up.

Question 2: "Beginner mixes". Any suggestions on brands / recipes that are more idiot proof than others? I prefer ales, esp. english style, belgium tripels, IPA's and abbyists styles. Are the kits for these suitable for beginners? This one: http://cgi.ebay.com.au/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi...e=STRK:MEWAX:IT has caught my eye. Am I being unrealistic though, if so, can you suggest a good, simple, tasty place to begin?

Thanks in advance. Great forum here, lots to learn, I think I'll be spending a fair bit of time here in the future.


----------



## kelbygreen

get a old fridge now you can hang a heating mat or put a light in there (I bought a ceramic heat globe they are made for reptiles but dont produce light only heat) so you can put heating in a fridge and its a really efficient way to do it as its already insulated. your temp control will have heating and cooling attached so they can both run at once, well not at the same time if it gets to cool the heater will kick in if it gets to hot the fridge will kick in.

Anything coopers is good not that I tried anything else I found its best to to get a kit you can add stuff to. The real ale was prob one of my fav steep a little grain add about 60% malt 40% dex and some hops you like the sound of and its a good drop. I have no tried and true recipes for kits as most was throw this and that in with no records lol If you liked a lager id go the coopers european with prob some saaz hops and buy some s23 ferment at 12-13c for 2 or so weeks. Cold condition for 3-5 weeks and it would be a stand out beer in my mind


----------



## Fodder

Spork said:


> Hi all, n00bie here.
> Did try some brewing 20-25 years ago, but too young, poor and impatient to have much success. Hopefully this time I can get it right. Starting to regret getting rid of my old 'fridge, but a replacement shouldn't be too expensive.
> 
> Couple of questions.
> From what I've read here an old 'fridge with one of the Ebay temp regs is best, but I'd be looking at setting up in the garage, and it gets b. cold out there this time of year (I'm in Tassie) so I think at this stage heating will be more of an issue than cooling, and from what I've read a constant temperature is half the battle won. The heater belts - I take it they aren't thermostaticaly controlled. Also heard that an aquarium heater can be used. This seems a good way to go, as they have a built in thermostat. Bit of extra cleaning / sterilising though. What are your thoughts on this? If I stick with brewing I'd def. get an old fridge by the time the weather warns up.
> 
> Question 2: "Beginner mixes". Any suggestions on brands / recipes that are more idiot proof than others? I prefer ales, esp. english style, belgium tripels, IPA's and abbyists styles. Are the kits for these suitable for beginners? This one: http://cgi.ebay.com.au/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi...e=STRK:MEWAX:IT has caught my eye. Am I being unrealistic though, if so, can you suggest a good, simple, tasty place to begin?
> 
> Thanks in advance. Great forum here, lots to learn, I think I'll be spending a fair bit of time here in the future.



Hi Spork,

Welcome to the circus, we're all a bit beer mad in here... :beerbang: 

As Kelby G mentioned, you can get temp controllers that will regulate both heating and cooling in one little package. I'm not too sure how to set them up as I've not got one myself, but have looked at a few that offer both functions and it would seem the way to go if you're going to invest in one (as I am close to doing myself).

With the beer kit you're looking at, I cant say I'm familar with it...but based on its contents (cut and paste from site: 'Recipe also includes incl 2.5kg malt, honey, crushed black grain, Goldings & Hallertau hops') you are going to need a fairly good sized stock pot in order to steep the grains and boil the hops (a big household cooking pot may just do the job for the time being).

I would hazard a guess that you will need to steep the grains in hot (not boiling) water for x amount of time, rinse the grains with more hot water, then bring that whole lot to the boil to then start adding hops at pre-set times. After that, you'll probably want to cool it all down and add it to your fermentor with the rest of the ingredients, top up to 19L/21L/23L (?) and pitch yeast.

Its not out of reach for a beginner, but certainly not level 1 either, and it may take some time for a 1st go. If you plan ahead and take your time, you should be fine. I'd give it a go and see what you think. If its a pain in the arse, then dont bother again, if its a breeze, then your sweet!

Personally, I would take a look in the recipeDB on this forum http://www.aussiehomebrewer.com/forum/inde...utocom=recipedb

On the right, under 'Method' select 'Kit & Kilo' or 'Extract' and have a browse to see what takes your fancy. Once you've an idea what sort of recipes you might like to make, head down to your local Home Brew store and see how much it costs to put it all together. I reckon you'll find it'll be as cheap if not less that what that ebay item is...

Good luck and let us know how you get on :icon_cheers:


----------



## felten

The STC-1000 controllers you can find on eBay that a lot of people are using can control both heating and cooling options at the same time. A fridge with it's great insulation is just as good for storing your FV's in whether you're heating or cooling. Personally I use a light bulb plugged into a fridgemate in my fridge for heating, an immersible heater just sounds like another possible infection point.

The brewcraft kits are probably pretty easy for a beginner, but the quality of their ingredients, especially hops, might be questionable. Inputting the same ingredients into grain and grape it works out to be about the same price ($48 without the honey), but if you can buy in bulk from a decent HBS it's a lot cheaper.

edit: forgot to plug this as a beginners recipe http://www.aussiehomebrewer.com/forum/inde...&recipe=502, this one is pretty popular as well http://www.aussiehomebrewer.com/forum/inde...&recipe=867. There is massive threads dedicated to both those recipes that will be able to help you out.


----------



## waggastew

A couple of Kits & Bits recipes that may fit your preferences and have been successful for me:

1. A simple IPA, hops of any sort will do (I use Cascade but you could easily go UK e.g. Goldings/Fuggles). Very easy to make but turns out really well.

http://www.aussiehomebrewer.com/forum/inde...showtopic=44280

2. My first attempt at a Belgian Dubbel, yummo! Best if you can get a liquid yeast though

http://www.aussiehomebrewer.com/forum/inde...showtopic=53194


----------



## Spork

Wow. There is so much more to home brewing than I imagined. Think I better do some more reading / research before starting my first brew. It seems I've found the right place to do that. 
Sounds like the kit I linked might be a big ask for a beginner, might go with something simpler, and 1/3 the price, from my local brewing supply shop. The recipes linked above look like they might be a more realistic first attempt. One day though...

Another question, re: water. I'd imagine that "good" water is crucuial for great beer? I'm in Launceston (Blackstone Heights for those that know the town) and sometimes our water has a bit of a taste to it. What are my options? Will brewing remove / cover any odd tastes in the water? Boiling it? Perhaps invest in a water filter? Buy bottled water (I have NEVER paid good $$$ for water...) or just go for a drive to a catchment area and "harvest" some "wild water"?


----------



## kelbygreen

you could boil it I tried this with a few brews but to boil and cool 23lts of water is a pain. is the taste chlorine or like a metal taste? I find the water here tastes a bit metallic but find it good to brew with I dont think you will have a problem but if you think it may be one down the track them boil 23lts and try that.


----------



## waggastew

For the moment stick with the stuff that comes out of the tap. Its cleaned up courtesy of your local council and any problems (high chlorine/chloroamine) will not be a big deal in your first 20 brews. When you have everything else under control and feeling brave do a search for 'water chemistry'/'water thread'.


----------



## Fodder

felten said:


> The STC-1000 controllers you can find on eBay that a lot of people are using can control both heating and cooling options at the same time. A fridge with it's great insulation is just as good for storing your FV's in whether you're heating or cooling. Personally I use a light bulb plugged into a fridgemate in my fridge for heating, an immersible heater just sounds like another possible infection point.
> 
> The brewcraft kits are probably pretty easy for a beginner, but the quality of their ingredients, especially hops, might be questionable. Inputting the same ingredients into grain and grape it works out to be about the same price ($48 without the honey), but if you can buy in bulk from a decent HBS it's a lot cheaper.
> 
> edit: forgot to plug this as a beginners recipe http://www.aussiehomebrewer.com/forum/inde...&recipe=502, this one is pretty popular as well http://www.aussiehomebrewer.com/forum/inde...&recipe=867. There is massive threads dedicated to both those recipes that will be able to help you out.



+1 for Centenarillo Ale by Neill (the second link). Had a couple last night that have been in the bottle for 1 month and they are tasting fantastic. My mistake was under carbing them...(1st time bulk priming)


----------



## Spork

The boss has given her blessing, I'm allowed to have a brew cabinet! I told her about the ebay thermostats to run a 'fridge or freezer at 18-20c (I like ales) and how it wouldn't cost much to run because you're not trying to chill it to 4c. She said I can use our chest freezer, and buy an upright freezer for our food.
It's a start. If I can fit 2 fermenters and 2 batches in, I'd be satisfied.  Even 1 fermenter and 2 batches might almost do. Can always supplement the home brew with some decent commercial stuff. Generally don't like Boags, but do like their Wizard Smith English style Ale.


----------



## bignath

Spork said:


> The boss has given her blessing, I'm allowed to have a brew cabinet! I told her about the ebay thermostats to run a 'fridge or freezer at 18-20c (I like ales) and how it wouldn't cost much to run because you're not trying to chill it to 4c. She said I can use our chest freezer, and buy an upright freezer for our food.




Sounds like a top "mrs spork" there mate.

Mine's pretty good too actually, nowadays she just walks past me on the computer and says sarcastically:

"beer buddies?"

to which i sheepily reply: 

"uh,,,,,, yep"

good luck with your brews mate and welcome to the obsession

nath


----------



## Spork

OK, just ordered the STX 1000 temperature controller.
Need to get a freezer for Mrs Spork, or a cheap 2nd hand fridge / freezer for my fermenter.
Starting from scratch. Thinking this kit http://cgi.ebay.com.au/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi...e=STRK:MEWAX:IT + some PET bottles and of course the actual ingredients are about all I need to get started?
What else would you suggest I should get before I begin? I want my first attempt to go smoothly, so I want enough gear to make it fairly simple, without spending $ hundreds. I'm thinking a "bottling wand" and maybe a bottle washer, although I prob. won't need the washer until my 2nd brew. What other items would you lot not be without?


----------



## felten

A bottle tree is handy if you're sticking with bottling. Some starsan, and a 3ml syringe or pipette would be great, and it lasts years.

The filler tube is a bottling wand btw


----------



## Bribie G

Looks good, just ordinary PET 1.25L bottles are perfect for storing beer but keep them in the dark to avoid skunking the beer. Also those stick on thermometers are a bit dodgy, maybe invest in a digital probe thermometer for around $15, or a "dial" thermometer from a kitchen shop.


----------



## Spork

felten said:


> A bottle tree is handy if you're sticking with bottling. Some starsan, and a 3ml syringe or pipette would be great, and it lasts years.
> 
> *The filler tube is a bottling wand btw*



Blushes...





Starsan - from homebrew shop?

Syringe/s -easy, I'm a nurse. 

Had planned on a decent thermometer also, forgot to add it to my list of stuff above. 




BribieG - I'm hesitant to use placcy beer bottles - let alone soft drink ones. I think after a few brews if I haven't had any bottle bombs I'll prob. go to glass - unless I go to kegs. instead...


----------



## gjn200

Spork said:


> OK, just ordered the STX 1000 temperature controller.



FYI I got mine on Wednesday after ordering it on the 22 march!!!!


----------



## Spork

gjn200 said:


> FYI I got mine on Wednesday after ordering it on the 22 march!!!!



Won't hold my breath then...


!st attempt might have to be in cupboard with the hot water service...


----------



## felten

If your LHBS doesn't have starsan, the site sponsors stock it.


----------



## Spork

felten said:


> If your LHBS doesn't have starsan, the site sponsors stock it.



Thanks. Already ordered 500ml of Starsan, some measuring spoons and a box for the temp controller, from Craft Brewer.


----------



## Spork

gjn200 said:


> FYI I got mine on Wednesday after ordering it on the 22 march!!!!



Mine arrived today. 
Now for a fridge / freezer to wire it up to...


----------



## shaunbrew

ebay, good as gold

shaun


----------



## Fish13

quick one...

When you guys check you SG and FG do you guys remove the airlock? i am bit worried about infections.... I am some time lax on cleaning and sterilizing.

Also is good ol dishwashing liquid okay? i usually have really hot water - i burnt my left hand when i was three on a potbelly stove.... and had it cuaght between a jack handle and a car and almost cut my pointing finger off while doing some model making work......

Also if you can get the techni ice packs. they are great! i have 2 in the esky now chilling the beer and i have 4 in the freezer on the moment for rotation.

A pack of 10 can be had for $40 and there reusable....


----------



## bignath

fish13 said:


> When you guys check you SG and FG do you guys remove the airlock? i am bit worried about infections.... I am some time lax on cleaning and sterilizing.
> quote]
> 
> Why would you remove the airlock??? ....unless your fermenting in a glass carboy, but i doubt it.
> 
> Use the tap dude! Take a sample straight out the tap, into your hydro sample tube. You'll have to be going fairly hard to get the water from your airlock suck back into your beer, assuming you filled it to the line like they are supposed to be and not overfilled.
> Taking the airlock out is a potential infection risk. Not a definite, but a risk. There is a layer of co2 over the top of your beer during active fermentation, but i still wouldn't do it.
> Seriously perplexed by this question.


----------



## Diesel80

Big Nath said:


> Why would you remove the airlock??? ....unless your fermenting in a glass carboy, but i doubt it.
> 
> Use the tap dude! Take a sample straight out the tap, into your hydro sample tube. You'll have to be going fairly hard to get the water from your airlock suck back into your beer, assuming you filled it to the line like they are supposed to be and not overfilled.
> Taking the airlock out is a potential infection risk. Not a definite, but a risk. There is a layer of co2 over the top of your beer during active fermentation, but i still wouldn't do it.
> Seriously perplexed by this question.



Big Nath,

I just put my first brew down about 3 weeks ago, 30L fermenter filled to 21L, first sample i took sucked water in from the airlock as i drained some from the tap to the sample jar. Subsequent samples were taken with removal of the airlock to prevent this happening. Either way i got airlock water into my brew and removed the airlock about 3 further times for additional samples, luckily the brew was not infected either way!

Taking a sample from the tap without removing the airlock can be done. The trick is to take your sample in stages, draw some out the tap and watch the airlock, as the water gets sucked into 1 side of the S-Bend closest to the entry of the fermenter, then close the tap. Let fermentation equalize water in the airlock again, then draw off some more. Repeat until you have enough to float your hydrometer.

I will be trying it this way for next brew to avoid removing the airlock and exposing brew unnecessarily.


----------



## Glenn Brown

Fish13 - You will find some brewers just use a few good layers of Glad wrap and a lacky band instead of the lid and air lock. After several beers I sometime forget to loosen the lid on my fermenter when taking a reading and the water in the air lock gets sucked straight back in. You would think I would have learnt my leason the first time but nope.


----------



## MaltyHops

Diesel80 said:


> ... first sample i took sucked water in from the airlock as i drained some from the tap to the sample jar. Subsequent samples were taken with removal of the airlock to prevent this happening. Either way i got airlock water into my brew and removed the airlock about 3 further times for additional samples, luckily the brew was not infected either way!
> 
> Taking a sample from the tap without removing the airlock can be done. The trick is to take your sample in stages, draw some out the tap and watch the airlock, as the water gets sucked into 1 side of the S-Bend closest to the entry of the fermenter, then close the tap. Let fermentation equalize water in the airlock again, then draw off some more. Repeat until you have enough to float your hydrometer.
> 
> I will be trying it this way for next brew to avoid removing the airlock and exposing brew unnecessarily.


Hiya Diesel,

Firstly, are you filling the airlock to the standard "halfway-up-each-bulb" watermark
of the s-bend type? I can see why you could easily get airlock water suck in the beer
if so. I normally fill mine with enough liquid** to fill up the bottom s-bend tube and
about 5mm above the tube in each of the bulbs and this is enough for it to function.
_[** I and others put some sanitiser in with the airlock liquid as a precaution]_

The more you fill up the airlock, the more prone to sucking liquid into the beer when
you pour from the fermenter tap. And a faster pour from the tap will also tend to suck
water through - if you turn the tap on just a little for a slow flow and then increase
until the airlock reverse bubbling starts to get too much might be a way to find out
how far to push it.

You might want to consider getting a refractomenter SG reader that only needs about
a teaspoon of wort/beer to check the SG/OG/FG. Only thing is you need to be aware
that readings from a refractometer needs to be corrected once alcohol has been made
in your beer - e.g. if my OG was 1.062 say, once the refractometer indicates the SG
level is down to 1.030, the actual SG level is down to 1.010 - see _Refractometer
Sg-alcohol Correction Chart_. Also, yeast in the sample will cause the refrac'
reading to be fuzzy so need to put sample in a fridge for 10 mins or so before taking
the reading.

T.


----------



## Nicko_Cairns

PistolPatch said:


> *Some Cheap Ways of Maintaining Fermentation Temperatures*
> 
> When starting brewing, one of the most important steps to acheive is correct and constant fermentation temperature. Several ways of doing this exist from simply using wet towells or ice baths through to having dedicated fermentation fridges. The above either do not work very well or can be simply impractical so here's a few ways you can use that do work...
> 
> *100 Can Cooler* One cheap way is to purchase a 100 Can Cooler and use frozen bottles of salted water or freezer/heat blocks on rotation to maintain temperatures. Here's some pictures of a 100 Can Cooler which is available from KMart, at time of writing for $30...
> 
> View attachment 6619
> 
> View attachment 6620
> 
> View attachment 6621
> 
> 
> The 100 Can Cooler will hold a 25 litre fermenter nicely although, you will have to cut a 5 cm slot in the center of the top so as your airlock can poke through and you can observe fermentation activity. Make sure you place the slit in the centre as this enables your air-lock to poke through no matter how you position the fermenter in the Cooler. You can also use a blow-off tube although many plastic hoses will kink and just cause you trouble. There are no disadvantages to the airlock, such as heat-loss, so I would stick with the 5cm slot and air-lock. (Doing so will also allow you to use the Cooler as a party keg cooler.)
> 
> The temperature of your fermenter can be maintained quite well by a morning, afternoon and night rotation of freezer/heat blocks or soft drink bottles filled with salted water. (Salted water has a lower freezing point.) To give you an idea, I have used 4x750ml freezer blocks rotated as above in ambient temperatures averaging 28 degrees to keep the fermenter at 19 degrees.
> 
> To enable you to take hydrometer readings, it is a good idea to sit the 100 Can Cooler (with fermenter) on a bucket or something similiar. To take the reading, collapse the cooler and you can access the tap easily.
> 
> *An Old Fridge that Works* If you have this, then you should seriously consider using a controller to keep the fridge at a constant fermenation temperature. A basic controller will cost you about $30. (Try a Ranco VB7 Replacement Thermostat Beverage Cooler from Ozspares.) These come with a knob and probe and require some expertise to install. Adjusting these to a set temperature may take you a few days. Once you have achieved the temperature you require, you should mark that point on the knob. For an easier to use controller, you can try a Grow Warm Controller from hydroponics supplies for about $110 or serach here on AHB for, 'digital controllers.'
> 
> An old fridge that works is definitely the ducks nuts when it comes to ales as you can utilise the extra space to condition your beer. Unfortunately, this advantage is not applicable to lager brewers as conditioning (lagering) temperatures are 7 or 8 degrees lower than fermenting temperatures.
> 
> *An Old Fridge that Does Not Function* These will provide better insulation than the Cooler but then again you have to keep a larger volume of air cool. Once again, this method will be far better suited to ale brewers as you could be fermenting and conditioning several brews in the one space.
> 
> *An Esky* If you already have an esky on hand that will hold your fermenter (just stand the esky on its end as in the picture below) then that will give you even better results than the 100 Can Cooler. You should be able to reduce any, "ice," rotations to once a day as the insulation is as good as a fridge and the volume of space you have to cool is far less. [Am currently experimenting and having favourable results with directly connecting an esky to a standard fridge though the same principle could be used for the Cooler.]
> 
> View attachment 6622
> 
> 
> *Light Bulb and Timer* To keep things warm put your fermenter in a confined space such as a small cupboard. You can then purchase a portable lamp and hang it safely in the space so that it is away from plastic/wood etc. Using a $4 timer from Bunnings, you can experiment with turning the bulb (use 100w) on and off for certain periods to obtain your ideal temperature.
> 
> A Warning on Rotation of Freezer Blocks - Constantly opening a non frost-free freezer in a humid climate will quickly ice your freezer up. Defrosting a freezer every 3 weeks can be a little annoying!
> 
> CREDITS: Roach who originally posted the 100 Can Cooler. GMK for advice on Grow Warm Controller.




GOLD, thanks!


----------



## PhilipB

Thanks for this thread  

I did this tonight with my ginger beer that I started tonight: 





Will keep a eye on the temperature.


----------



## machalel

Hi Guys,

Quite helpful thread, I used a few of the tips recently.
I started my first batch last weekend (Sparkling Amber Ale), just a K&K, but obviously starting simple.
I'm actually only using 1/2 the kit (with 1/2 the water obviously), and then pitching the other half with a small amount of added malt & brown sugar to see the difference between the two.

I must be lucky, as my temperatures are fairly steady at 16/17 overnight (ambient ~14) & 18/19 (ambient ~29) during the day. My fermenter is just in the laundry sink (water up the the 'beer line') and covered with a damp towel. No ice or anything!
I might end up getting the 100-can cooler or esky (if i can find a cheap one) though, as I'm a bit paranoid about picking up an infection through the tap area. I've put several plastic bags over the tap (with sanitiser in them), and tied it off. I took a reading the other day, and the tap was still semi-dry so it shouldnt be too much of a worry as long as I sanitise it all before bottling right? :unsure: 

I'm getting a plastic jerry can from bunnings ($10) to experiment with some racking/secondary fermentation, and was wondering... Do you normally do this at what would be normal "bottling" time? or earlier?


----------



## Wobles

Hi all,

Another noob here, this is the only thread I've read so far but loving the amount of knowledge and experiance available. I am sticking to Kits for now but would still like to experiment and add to what I brew. A little history;

I got my fermenter kit (Tooheys) about 3weeks ago and the 1st brew, the included beer, will be at it's minimal drinking age this week coming. Everything seems to be going great and it tasted ok when sampling the grav and when bottling. I have that beer in half glass and half PET as well as some with carb drops and the rest with sugar for the secondary fermentation (thoughts?). I find the PET bottles good for giving a bit of a squeeze test for checking pressure. The next few days are going to be a long wait any way. :wacko:

Otherwise I also just bottled a ginger beer, again everything seems good, and have another ginger in the fermenter. I know I may be rushing things a little but I want to get a cycle of 4 brews going at any time so I can let some age more or less depending on how they turn out, as well as have a few options to quench my thirst :beer: 

Now to pick your experienced brains,
favourite beer = James Squires "150 Lashes" (a Pale Ale); What kit and (I'm assuming) additives would set me on that path?
favourite ginger beer = "Ginger Beard" (from the same guys who make Hobgoblin) kits, additives, recipes? I thought I found an interesting G.B. recipe when I 1st found this forum but I haven't been able to find it again ... yet

What is racking?
What are these cubes I read so much about?

Thnx in advance,
Wobles


----------



## MaltyHops

Wobles said:


> Hi all,
> 
> Another noob here, ...
> 
> Now to pick your experienced brains,
> favourite beer = James Squires "150 Lashes" (a Pale Ale); What kit and (I'm assuming) additives would set me on that path?
> ...
> Wobles


Well, wellcome first of all. There are a bunch of pages linked from my sig below
that in turn link to many threads that new brewers have been known to be
interested in. The Prep page actually has a link to a thread relating to copying
the 150 Lashes with K'n'K.


----------



## kelbygreen

TBH you wont make a commercial beer with a kit, Sorry but you just cant, you may get close but it will never be the same. Even with AG it is very hard to make the same beer as you cannot replicate there recipe you cannot get the exact malts and hops sometimes and you can only guess what yeast they use if its even available to the public. 

I am not saying dont try I am just saying dont be disappointed with yourself if its not the same. With kits and extract the beer will be sweeter so you need to use some dextrose and you are starting with a pre hopped kit so you will get a different bitterness but if you can find the hops to use late you may get close.


----------



## crd0902

Hey wobles, racking is where you drain your beer from one fermenter to another either for lagering at cold temp or for bulk priming where people add the sugar to the whole brew rather than separate bottles, also if your leaving your beer to chill for a longer period some say it's an idea to get it off the yeast cake or it can turn bad. I think cubes are basically water geri cans like from bunnings that all grain brewers make their wort up, pour it in these, squeeze the air out and can store them for some time before they pitch the yeast. I think that's the idea anyway. As for your recipes, I can't help with that I just make up kits and bits and don't bother trying to mimmick other. We're as you get some bloody good beers by doin your own stuff. One thing I will add is look into temp control. You should be aiming at about 18 C for ales and about 13 C for lagers while they ferment. Tastes better in the end. And don't rush your brewing. Make sure they are finished. All the best 

Chris


----------



## Wobles

Thnx fellas. 
Malty ... that is a crazy amount of info and I'll try and get through it before asking too many more questions.
Kelby ... I fully accept that I wont be able to make a perfect replica. Knowing what I like, I was hoping someone could give me tips for experimentation to gain some understanding of flavours etc.
crd ... yes I have to get better temp control. I have been storing my fermenter in a broom cupboard but it certainly has been a bit too warm


----------



## bacardi

Hi all, I'm now on my third ever brew (Muntons Canadian) and have got a question on whether or not I've got an infected fermenter. 
Prior to pitching I added a 25gr tea bag of Centennial and a 25gr tea bag of Cascade hops. The aroma has been quite pleasing. 
This evening however, amongst the happy white bubbles is a brown stain spreading out from the tea bags and the aroma isn't quite as satisfying.
The SG is coming down (1032) and I thought I could taste the hint of rancid orange from sampling tube.
As a noob, what are the signs of a tainted ferment and how long does it take to present?
Thanks.


----------



## glenwal

bacardi said:


> Hi all, I'm now on my third ever brew (Muntons Canadian) and have got a question on whether or not I've got an infected fermenter.
> Prior to pitching I added a 25gr tea bag of Centennial and a 25gr tea bag of Cascade hops. The aroma has been quite pleasing.
> This evening however, amongst the happy white bubbles is a brown stain spreading out from the tea bags and the aroma isn't quite as satisfying.
> The SG is coming down (1032) and I thought I could taste the hint of rancid orange from sampling tube.
> As a noob, what are the signs of a tainted ferment and how long does it take to present?
> Thanks.



The brown stain is just the hop oils and is normal - nothing to worry about.

How are you "testing" the aroma? Are you taking the lid off the fermenter? If so a) don't - or you will get an infected batch and B) you're probably getting a nose full of CO2 - which is definately not pleasing.

As for the taste, are you tipping out the 1st sample and drawing a second? If your tasting the first sample you take, it probably has the trub/dregs from the bottom of the fermenter - which don't really taste nice. 

Also, theres no need to keep taking samples during the ferment - all your doing is wasting beer. Patience is a big part of making beer. Leave it be for a week or two, then come back and take a measurement. If its where you expect your FG to be, leave it another couple of days and check again. If they are the same, then leave it another week before bottling.


----------



## bacardi

Thanks Glen. A happy skid mark.



> How are you "testing" the aroma?


By sniffing the top of the air lock



> As for the taste, are you tipping out the 1st sample and drawing a second?


No, just swilling back hydro tube contents.


I can see how being patient is the key to having seveal brews at different stages of development!


----------



## hsb

Patience is definitely the key to a lot of homebrewing. 
So long as you are sanitary, you're unlikely to have an infection. Just sit tight and let the gravity drop, it's no problem to leave the beer in fermenter for a couple of weeks. 
Unless it tastes rancid, still fermenting beer is not much of a guide to end product until you get used to tastes/smells.


----------



## humulus

hsb said:


> Patience is definitely the key to a lot of homebrewing.
> So long as you are sanitary, you're unlikely to have an infection. Just sit tight and let the gravity drop, it's no problem to leave the beer in fermenter for a couple of weeks.
> Unless it tastes rancid, still fermenting beer is not much of a guide to end product until you get used to tastes/smells.


+1 for what Hsb said :icon_offtopic: sorry to be O.T. but im on the 2nd keg of you hsb recipe top drop HSB!!!


----------



## hsb

Glad to hear it mate :beer: and glad George Gale's Ales live on down here (since Fuller's pretty much killed them and sold the brewery for a poxy matchbox housing estate in the UK.)

Kudos for the recipe goes to Graham Wheeler!

Back on topic of airlocks and strange sights/smells. If I had only one bit of advice for any fledgling brewer, it would be patience. The pull to check on your precious every hour of every day is strong, resist it and let the yeast do their thing. Give it at least a week before troubling the hydrometer, you won't discover much before other than a beer on the way down to FG. And consider tossing the airlock/sediment catcher. I just use an upturned shot glass if I use a lid, you're just keeping out airborne nasties, or gladwrap means you can 'see' what's happening inside without having to take the lid off constantly and increase chances of infection.

Although there's nothing wrong with using an Airlock, fill it with boiled sanitised water and it won't matter in the least if some gets drawn in to the beer.


----------



## bacardi

Quick question about malt extracts. 

How do you avoid it "glooping" up when it goes into the fermenter? 

I've been experimenting with the Muntons' spray malts but hate the swilling and stabbing to break up the rocks of malt. I figure I must be doing something wrong and that there must be a better way.

Thanks.


----------



## Fish13

pre dissolve it before adding to ther brew/fermentor or get a mash paddle...


----------



## warra48

bacardi said:


> Quick question about malt extracts.
> 
> How do you avoid it "glooping" up when it goes into the fermenter?
> 
> I've been experimenting with the Muntons' spray malts but hate the swilling and stabbing to break up the rocks of malt. I figure I must be doing something wrong and that there must be a better way.
> 
> Thanks.



I only use dry malt for my yeast starters, but find it dissolves quite easily in cold water. I add the malt first in a pot, then add cold water on top. It will dissolve itself without me needing to do anything. If you want, you can give it stir, but I only do that a half hour later, when I bring it to the boil to sanitise it. 

As fish13 said, predissolve it, then add to the fermenter.


----------



## yum beer

dry malts dont seem to l ike hot water,

when doing kits i always added dry malts to fermenter before anything else, 1-2 litres of water, swirl for 10 seconds, all good.
The lumpy bits will ferment out in the end anyway.


----------



## bacardi

I've just loaded a batch of Munton's Gold Continental Pilsner into the choofer.

I understand the yeast is not a specific lager yeast.

Should I ferment this at 12-14C as if it were a lager with a lager yeast, or go with 18-20C suggested on the box?

Cheers.


----------



## yum beer

bacardi said:


> I've just loaded a batch of Munton's Gold Continental Pilsner into the choofer.
> 
> I understand the yeast is not a specific lager yeast.
> 
> Should I ferment this at 12-14C as if it were a lager with a lager yeast, or go with 18-20C suggested on the box?
> 
> Cheers.




I may be wrong but I would think Muntons would have supplied alager yeast with that kit..albeit probably nowhere near enough....
play it safe and go about 15, not too high for lager and not low for an ale.....should be fine....ideally get an extra pack of lager yeast into it.


----------



## Bax

Hi all, 

I'm about to do my second brew, and I've got a question regarding sanitizing. I went to my HBS today and picked up a few things for my next brew, and as an afterthought I grabbed whatever sanitizer they recommended me. Ultimately I wanted starsan - but they didn't have any from what I could see.

So in the end I got Bounty, it's a pink powder, cleaner/sanitizer, and I was told that a quick dip and rinse would suffice. I thought I'd do some googling before I actually started anything - apart from not being able to find "willow" anywhere, the only pink powder solutions I can find recommend a long long soak and a thorough (3 times) Rinse. It's a 1 tsp per 1L of water gig.

Can anybody shine some light on this? I was hoping to get some sanitizing done tonight so I could put down a brew.


----------



## citizensnips

im guessing its a rinse, just mix up a solution of what it recommends, leave what ever soaking in it for 10 minutes or so and then just rinse with cool boiled water and bang gadang your done


----------



## Bax

I think it may be Diversol. 

What's the best way to do 30 bottles? Was hoping for something I could fill, lid, shake, pour into another bottle, repeat. How would I go about it if they need to soak? Dump them all into a large plastic tub with 10L of solution and let it soak?

Thanks btw, appreciate the help


----------



## manticle

eddy22 said:


> im guessing




Indeed you are.


----------



## Crumpet

I picked up what is possibly the same stuff from my LHBS today. A pink powder called PSR "pink stain remover" containing chlorinated trisodium phosphate. If it's the same stuff the instructions on mine are "1 level teaspoon per 5 litres of warm water and soak for 30 minutes, rinse well with cold water". It also states that it is not recommended for stainless steel.


----------



## dr K

Pink, sounds like something I was sold about 16 years ago, if it is its something like neo-pink which is or was based on tri sodium phospate, its highly alkaline, work great as a paint stripper (joking) and like Sodium Metabisulphite not really suitable for brewing, it certainly needs rinsing, it screws my lungs up and is generally bad news, but it is cheap.
I take it you are bottling...a quick rinse of your bottles after draining should be sufficient to remove any possibility of gunk build up, a dishwasher is great as a bottle sanitiser just before you package.
I keg (basically one big bottle, I just rinse then before refilling use Oxonia or you could use a Phosphoric Acid/Sulphonic Acid blend sold around the traps (comes from Keg King it is no-rinse @10ml per 5 litres and is re-usable so long as the pH is below 2,5 and its cleanish, I find it great great in conjunction with Caustic Soda, but not mixed!)

K


----------



## Bax

Yeah im bottling.

They said they use it for general cleaning around the house, toilets and bath etc. I think I'll get some starsan and use the pink stuff in the loo. 

It's done the job for now though.

Thanks


----------



## Josho

Hi Fellas,

Just a quick questino, with kits and KISS, whats the best way to get a fairly yummo brew, tell me if im wrong.

I would normally do the regular thing tin hot water Brew enhancer and then use some better yeast than the tin yeast and just add in some tea bagged hops tea.

Just reading through the site some of the guys here spend some serious money on their brews,

I have been reading through the coopers website - as the kits are so redily avail here at Big W, and they have a few simple recipies there also- based around thier tins.


----------



## James85

DU99 said:


> i have brewed two batches of Coopers Canadian blonde and used the instructions as per can ,both have been excellent.. :icon_offtopic:


----------



## James85

I have been brewing coopers kits as per the instructions on the can for 5 years now. Mainly because I don't have the time or space to do any other types if brewing and I have never had a bad brew yet.


----------



## Yob

Define bad. It's interesting that you don't say that they have been great, acceptable or fantastic..

Not dropping poo, I just gave my next door neighbour a Canadian blonde.. And a double dry hop.. He was down to 17 liters before he bottled on Sunday... lol.. He clearly rekons it's a good drop


----------



## alfadog

how do I stop the yellow text, it burns like fire


----------



## beerdrinkingbob

alfadog said:


> how do I stop the yellow text, it burns like fire


and i highly doubt the OP did it.....


----------



## James85

Yob said:


> Define bad. It's interesting that you don't say that they have been great, acceptable or fantastic..
> 
> Not dropping poo, I just gave my next door neighbour a Canadian blonde.. And a double dry hop.. He was down to 17 liters before he bottled on Sunday... lol.. He clearly rekons it's a good drop


----------



## James85

Personally I think the coopers kits are a fantastic drop. A lot better than brigalow or Coles/Woolworths brand kits thats for sure. I can't keep my mates hands off them during a BBQ that's for sure


----------



## Yob

My personal favorite used to be the pale ale, did some wicked beers with that's as a base.


----------



## James85

Yes the pale ale is a beautiful drop if done right. Gave a mate at work 3 to try once now he comes around all the time looking for more lol


----------



## Craft Brewer

Hi all, :beerbang: I'm new to this site, just wanted to say Hi and introduce myself. Got alot of reading to catch up on :drinks:


----------



## nathan23v

Racking ginger beer


----------



## nathan23v

Hi everyone. I have made several batches before, mainly bitters, racked & used finings & bottled (haven't tried kegging yet). I am keen on making ginger beer using coopers kits. I was told not to rack or use finings when brewing ginger beer. Wondering if this is right or it is an alternative to crash chilling. Also should the wort be stirred just before bottling?


----------



## yum beer

Don't rack or cold chill your GB, just bottle when done, you want the cloudiness to remian.
No need to stir before bottling that will just mix all the yeast and crud back into suspension.


----------



## nathan23v

Thankyou yb


----------



## Jason_brews_beer

Can someone please explain the main differences between cold crashing and cold conditioning?? I seem to be a bit confused... Both seem to be about dropping the yeast out of suspension??


----------



## fletcher

Jason_brews_beer said:


> Can someone please explain the main differences between cold crashing and cold conditioning?? I seem to be a bit confused... Both seem to be about dropping the yeast out of suspension??


i could be wrong here mate, but from what i have been told - cold crashing is basically getting your newly fermented beer right down to almost freezing temps ASAP (the crash) which helps yeast settle as well as any other proteins and trub junk. cold conditioning is more like lagering a beer in a cold temperature. eg, after it's been carbonated for a few weeks in the bottle, you keep it at low temperatures as a way of conditioning it.

please someone correct me if i'm wrong however.


----------



## JDW81

fletcher said:


> i could be wrong here mate, but from what i have been told - cold crashing is basically getting your newly fermented beer right down to almost freezing temps ASAP (the crash) which helps yeast settle as well as any other proteins and trub junk. cold conditioning is more like lagering a beer in a cold temperature. eg, after it's been carbonated for a few weeks in the bottle, you keep it at low temperatures as a way of conditioning it.
> 
> please someone correct me if i'm wrong however.


Cold conditioning and crashing are one and the same to my understanding. The crash is bringing down the temp and the condition is the time spent cold.
Lagering is when you keep your beer at lagering temps (2-3 degrees I think) for weeks (or months) on end to help it clean up flavours and become clear. You generally lower the temp gradually when lagering.

Cold conditioning is nice but not necessary for many beers, lagering is integral to making good lagers.

JD

JD


----------



## Jason_brews_beer

JDW81 said:


> Cold conditioning and crashing are one and the same to my understanding. The crash is bringing down the temp and the condition is the time spent cold.
> Lagering is when you keep your beer at lagering temps (2-3 degrees I think) for weeks (or months) on end to help it clean up flavours and become clear. You generally lower the temp gradually when lagering.
> 
> Cold conditioning is nice but not necessary for many beers, lagering is integral to making good lagers.
> 
> JD
> 
> JD


So both are designed to clear out the beer before bottling as i suspected. 

How long is good to cold condition? My brew stopped bubbling yesterday and today is day 6 since i put it on. I haven't taken a hydrometer reading yet but was going to today. once i have a stable reading should i drop the temp and condition for how long? Should i still put the finings in??


----------



## JDW81

Jason_brews_beer said:


> So both are designed to clear out the beer before bottling as i suspected.
> 
> How long is good to cold condition? My brew stopped bubbling yesterday and today is day 6 since i put it on. I haven't taken a hydrometer reading yet but was going to today. once i have a stable reading should i drop the temp and condition for how long? Should i still put the finings in??


They are, but they serve different purposes.

How long really depends of temperature. If you can get it to 0 degrees then 3 days will clear up your beer nicely, however 3 days at say 5 degrees won't give you the same clarity. There is a pod cast from the brewing network guys who talk about the difference temperature makes, but I can't find it at the moment. Basically, get it as cold as you can without freezing it. You can still add finings if you want.


----------



## fletcher

i don't know what best practice is, and there might not be one for this kind of thing. for my pale ales though, they sit at about 2C for about 4-5 days before i bottle. then they sit at ambient for about 2-3 weeks (never over 25C), then they're in the fridge at about 5C until i drink them. always crystal clear unless i swill them or shake them or mishandle them, and the yeast slooshes back up. i often just decant a few into a jug and have it sit in the fridge when i'm drinking more than 1. then they are all nice and clear


----------



## Jason_brews_beer

Is it better to cold condition in the FV or bottle then? 

Also correct me if I'm wrong but just need to confirm what I'm reading... 

*Cold crashing/crash chilling* is bringing the temp way down from ferment temp so the yeast starts to drop out of suspension and clear up.

*Cold conditioning* is conditioning the beer at the same low temp for a longer period to clean out the beer even more and this can be done in the bottle or in the FV.

Correct? Or close?


----------



## Phillip Island Brewer

At the risk of asking something that has already been covered. What's the deal with "dry ingredients"? Does this come with the tin of Yeast form the shop or do I get in separately? Sorry to be such a novice!!


----------



## warra48

The tin is the "liquid" ingredient. Yeast is seperate to that, and probably a dry ingredient in your case, although yeast can also come in liquid form.
The dry ingredients are obviously seperate from the tin.
You will need to steep them if it's grain, or boil or steep if it's hops etc.

Let us know the recipe you want to follow and what ingredients you have, and we can give you more specific advice.


----------



## Bribie G

The tin (Coopers or whatever) is the liquid ingredient. By itself it would make 23 litres of rather weak beer so to make pub strength beer you need to add extra ingredients that are usually in dried form. For example a kilo of sugar (not recommended) or one of the "Beer Enhancer" packs that contain a mix of ingredients.

If you are just starting off, a good extra to use is a kilo pack of Coopers Brew Enhancer No 2, or a similar mix from a local home brew shop.

Yeast - the metal foil packet that comes stuck to the top of the tin - as Warra says, could be regarded as a "dry ingredient",


----------



## Phillip Island Brewer

Cheers guys!!!
I found out that "dry ingredients" was just the the kilo pack of beer enhancer but its great to get your feedback also. I made up a brew on sunday arvo and hope it works out ok???
I followed the steps i got off this site but pretty much just put in the yeast (tin of goo) and beer enhancer (1 kilo pack) and disolved it in about 3-4 ltrs of hot water. Then stirred and filled to 23 ltrs and sprinkled the little pack of yeast over the top and let sit.
The only problem i think i will have is the temp. I keep the brew in my shed inside a timber cabinet i made but it gets quite cold this time of year  I had a look this morning on the way to work and it was only on 10 degrees and at most gets to only about 14-15 during the day. Hope this dosent matter too much?
Thanks again for ya help, ill let ya know how it goes.


----------



## warra48

Your fermentation temperature is probably a little on the low side if you are using an ale yeast, which the kit yeast more than likely is.
You can always cover the fermenter with a sleeping bag or doonah and bring it into the house to warm it up to about 18ºC.

In winter I simply used to set my fermentation fridge to about 19ºC and once or twice a day I put a hot water bottle into the fridge to keep it at the right temperature.

Once your fermentation is underway, it tends to generate its own heat during the very active fermentation stage.


----------



## wereprawn

As Warra said. But , at this time of year, i tend to pitch the yeast at 22 c then wrap the fermenter in a sleeping bag. by the time the yeast starts to activate and generate its own heat the temp is pretty well spot on. And although i live in a coastal city in the tropics it does get cold ( 2 c the other morning and it didn't worry the yeast fermenting in the slightest using this method).


----------



## Alex.Tas

also, just because your ambient temperature goes down to 10 degrees, it doesn't mean your beer will get that low. it would need to be exposed to 10 degrees for a fair while to drop it to that temperature from say 15 if the area was free from drafty conditions.


----------



## Phillip Island Brewer

Thanks guys ill put a sleeping bag around it tonight when I get home. The missers will love that ey! Watching me tuck my beer into bed haha!!


----------



## blaino

Hi all.

I'm pretty new to brewing so forgive me if the question is a bit silly. For those who bottle do you bulk prime straight from the fermenter or do you go to a cooling cube for a few days first? I am just thinking if I bulk prime straight from the fermentor that is one less vessel that could give my beer an infection. Any opinions? Thanks


----------



## technobabble66

Not sure exactly what you're referring to with the "cooling cube" but the bulk priming thing is pretty straight forward: 
Put the correct weight of dex/sugar into the priming bucket (use a priming calculator).
Pour in a few 100mls of hot boiled water & stir to dissolve the sugar.
Using a hose, drain the fermenter into the priming bucket, leaving the trub, etc, behind. Be careful to not splash the beer to minimise oxidising it.
Stir gently to ensure all dex/sugar is mixed in.
Then gradually fill the bottles from the bucket. No time delay required; straight from Fermenter Vessel to Priming Vessel to Bottle.

Obviously easier to use a bucket with a tap, so a large enough cube with an already attached tap could also work.
Technically you can mix your dex/sugar solution straight into the Fermenter, stir carefully, then fill the bottles from there. However i'd suggest you'll stir up too much crud doing it like this; though you'd use one less vessel so less risk of infection, blah, blah.

Are you referring to secondary fermentation, re: using the cooling cube for a few days? If so, depending on what sort of beer you're doing, i wouldn't bother.

Hope that helps.


----------



## Bribie G

Are you using glass bottles or the "standard" brown 740 / 750 ml PET plastic bottles?


----------



## blaino

Thanks technobabble. Yeah I was talking about settling for a few days just to get rid of a bit more sediment with some finings. And Bribie I am using glass. I want to bulk prime to get a bit of carbonation consistency


----------



## Kale

This may be covered in here but I've read the thread and don't remember seeing it when i was first starting off. I've just done a batch of coopers dark, and i ran out of dextrose when filling the fermenter so I'm about 400grms dex and 600grms castor sugar. I've got this weird taste that I'm hoping someone can pick.

It's in most bottles, though there are a minor few where it isn't/i don't taste it. It's a very "tangy" and sharp taste, which is only there when i first pour the beer. I've tried waiting for the head to disappear and that reduces it but it's still there. Once i get a few mouthfuls in it disappears.

What's going on here? It's still drinkable but this sharp taste isn't very nice in the first few gulps.


----------



## wereprawn

Kale said:


> This may be covered in here but I've read the thread and don't remember seeing it when i was first starting off. I've just done a batch of coopers dark, and i ran out of dextrose when filling the fermenter so I'm about 400grms dex and 600grms castor sugar. I've got this weird taste that I'm hoping someone can pick.
> 
> It's in most bottles, though there are a minor few where it isn't/i don't taste it. It's a very "tangy" and sharp taste, which is only there when i first pour the beer. I've tried waiting for the head to disappear and that reduces it but it's still there. Once i get a few mouthfuls in it disappears.
> 
> What's going on here? It's still drinkable but this sharp taste isn't very nice in the first few gulps.


Could be from all that white sugar. Letting them age a bit longer might help but you really want to get away from the sugar. It tends to make beer thin and watery if used in large amounts and can leave the sharpness you describe. When i was doing the kits i found using all malt extract( instead of dex or sugar ) and steeping some choc malt or special b improved the Coopers Dark kits a lot.


----------



## Lover of Beer

Hi,
I am new to brewing and just started my first brew on Friday (today is Sunday). I was wondering why my airlock wasn't releasing the gases and bubbling away (for lack of better wording). I read on hear that sometimes the lid doesn't seal properly so the gases might be escaping that way and as long as it's sealed and no nasties can get in then it was ok. However, I found out that I hadn't screwed my tap in as tight as I thought and it was leaking (ever so slowly). I have since tightened and the airlock is working as it should. 
I am just worried now that the brew will be ruined because of the small leak. Will the brew still be ok or should I count my loses and start again??? Rookie error I know and one that I most certainly have learned from!!!
Any help would be awesome. Thanks everyone!!!
Ronnie


----------



## Lou_do

Lover of Beer said:


> Hi,
> I am new to brewing and just started my first brew on Friday (today is Sunday). I was wondering why my airlock wasn't releasing the gases and bubbling away (for lack of better wording). I read on hear that sometimes the lid doesn't seal properly so the gases might be escaping that way and as long as it's sealed and no nasties can get in then it was ok. However, I found out that I hadn't screwed my tap in as tight as I thought and it was leaking (ever so slowly). I have since tightened and the airlock is working as it should.
> I am just worried now that the brew will be ruined because of the small leak. Will the brew still be ok or should I count my loses and start again??? Rookie error I know and one that I most certainly have learned from!!!
> Any help would be awesome. Thanks everyone!!!
> Ronnie


I'd probably just leave it and see how you go. If it is ok and not infected you'll end up wasting a whole batch and if it's already gone bad all you've wasted is a few days.


----------



## spartan2007

Thanks for all the info guys ,newbie brewer


----------



## skilbys

Hay guys, a newbie question for my first batch - coopers lager can with improver added.
Fermented really well for a few days, seems to have stopped now, been 4 days in fermenter. My question is that the sample I have tasted seems quite bitter, nice aromas and highly carbonated but quite bitter. Will this settle after bottling etc or have I blown it some how? The fermenting temps were around 26-27 deg. for the first couple of days. Thanks in advance


----------



## Bribie G

Dont worry. A lot of what you are tasting is hop oils and other compounds that tend to get precipitated out with the yeast. So called green beer always tastes a bit rough but it should be quite different when it's clear and fizzy.

Fermentation temp was way high but would typically give flavours like nail polish, not necessarily bitter.
If you have enough freezer space consider freezing a few 1.25L bottles and wrap fermentor up with them under a beach towel or cheap doonah.


----------



## skilbys

Thanks Bribie, Melbournes weather has settled to normal autumn temps over the last couple of days, more like 18-20deg in the fermenter so should be better now. I will be better prepared for the next batch! Cheers


----------



## Devhay

Bit of a beginner question here, I've got a kit and bits pale ale brew down at the moment and primary fermentation is done.. after tasting my FG samples I'm thinking it would benefit from a little dry hop
I'm thinking of transferring to secondary and cold crashing for 2-3 days with a dry hop, would this be long enough to make a noticeable difference?


----------



## Lord Raja Goomba I

Yes. All research (IIRC brulosophy did some too) seems to indicate that 2-3 days dry hopping is ideal - all the aroma, whilst minimising grassiness that being left om hops can produce.


----------



## Devhay

Perfect! I thought I'd read that on here somewhere but couldn't find it when I went back to check.

Cheers


----------



## Lionman

Dry hopping cold has a small impact on the effects of the hops. Some people prefer it, some don't.

Generally, shorter and or colder dry hopping will impart slight less aroma than doing it for longer or warmer. If you want maximum aroma, doing it at fermenting temps for at least a week is usually recommended. If you just want a touch of aroma, colder/shorter is fine.

It's quite popular to dry hop in a keg too, using a mesh tube or nylon bag with hops in it placed inside the keg. Bit hard to do this in bottles though obviously.


----------



## Bandit24

G'day, hoping to get some answers and/or opinions on some beginner temp control & ferment questions I have. 

I've been researching for the last couple of months, and these are some small things I still don't have definitive answers on (maybe there are no definitive answers to these, but I'd love to hear some informed opinions)

Thank you to everyone that contributes to this forum, such a great resource  

1. Temp control set to 17c or 18c? - For general ale ferment temps. I've got an inkbird with a short probe stuck to the side of plastic fermenter and insulated with bubble wrap. What I read was that if you're aiming for 18c, set the temp at 17c as the inside of the fermenter/beer temp will be slightly warmer than outside. 

2. Temp differential on the controller, I've currently got it set to 0.3c for both hot and cold and it seems to be working great that way, however can the differential be set as low as 0.1c ? Are there any potential problems I'm missing here for either 0.3c or 0.1c, as I've read most people set their differential a full 1.0c ? I'm using a fridge, heat belt and inkbird ITC-308.

2. Is there much difference between 2 weeks and 3 weeks in the fermenter for regular ale styles? I’ve had my first two batches in for almost 2 weeks and they are already tasting great, is there much benefit to an extra week? I am planning to dry hop 3-4 days also.

3. Is there much difference between say 3-4 days of cold crashing, compared to say a full week? What exact temp is best for cold crash?

4. What are the major differences between dry hopping methods - pellets thrown straight in vs hop bag etc? I've read that with using lots of hops if you just throw them in it can clog up the tap, but at what point (in grams, roughly) is it starting to get risky for that to happen? 

Cheers


----------



## wereprawn

Bandit24 said:


> G'day, hoping to get some answers and/or opinions on some beginner temp control & ferment questions I have.
> 
> I've been researching for the last couple of months, and these are some small things I still don't have definitive answers on (maybe there are no definitive answers to these, but I'd love to hear some informed opinions)
> 
> Thank you to everyone that contributes to this forum, such a great resource
> 
> 1. Temp control set to 17c or 18c? - For general ale ferment temps. I've got an inkbird with a short probe stuck to the side of plastic fermenter and insulated with bubble wrap. What I read was that if you're aiming for 18c, set the temp at 17c as the inside of the fermenter/beer temp will be slightly warmer than outside.
> 
> 2. Temp differential on the controller, I've currently got it set to 0.3c for both hot and cold and it seems to be working great that way, however can the differential be set as low as 0.1c ? Are there any potential problems I'm missing here for either 0.3c or 0.1c, as I've read most people set their differential a full 1.0c ? I'm using a fridge, heat belt and inkbird ITC-308.
> 
> 2. Is there much difference between 2 weeks and 3 weeks in the fermenter for regular ale styles? I’ve had my first two batches in for almost 2 weeks and they are already tasting great, is there much benefit to an extra week? I am planning to dry hop 3-4 days also.
> 
> 3. Is there much difference between say 3-4 days of cold crashing, compared to say a full week? What exact temp is best for cold crash?
> 
> 4. What are the major differences between dry hopping methods - pellets thrown straight in vs hop bag etc? I've read that with using lots of hops if you just throw them in it can clog up the tap, but at what point (in grams, roughly) is it starting to get risky for that to happen?
> 
> Cheers


2nd 2 - If the correct amount of (ale) yeast is pitched then the beer should generally have finished fermenting in 5 days or less so 2 weeks should be plenty. Although you should still taste it to see if diacetyl is present. If so leave it for longer.

3 - 3 days, a week , wont make much difference. Crash as close to 0 as possible. You can go lower, as alcohol has a lower freezing point but 0 is a safe bet without the risk of freezing.

4 - Allow your hops to swim free, unless your using a shit-ton, then a bag is the go ( or if you want to reuse the yeast). The amount you can use without a bag before they cause a blocking problem, depends on how much space there is below your tap.


----------



## laxation

1. Anyone else can correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm fairly sure 1 degree at these temperatures isn't going to make THAT much of a difference. Either is fine.

2. I think this is mainly for cooling, so your fridge doesn't shut on and off rapidly. That's why I do it, anyway. I set my heat at 0.3 I think, with cooling at 1.

3. Once it has finished fermenting, that's enough. For some reason a few days in a primary and then 2-3 weeks in a secondary is huge in the US, but not so much, if at all in Australia. I find it strange... but they also hate fermenters with taps...

4. I'm far from an expert at this, but 2-3 of days at 1 degree has been good for me. I'm just making apas/ipas, so I'm not looking for crystal clear lagers.

5. You might get more out of your hops if they aren't in anything, but as long as they aren't too restricted (i.e. really small bag) the bag is fine.


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## Bandit24

Thanks for replies dudes. 

re: Ferment length - assuming there is no diacetyl present, would you say there is any benefit at all for the extra week though? or a complete waste of time?

re: Cold crash length - Ok, so doesn't sound like I need more than a few days? I'm also only brewing ales, no lagers at this stage. 

I guess with both cold crash and ferment lengths though, I'm interested if there is much of a difference the longer you go, or really not at all? 
I'm brewing FWK's with decent yeast btw. 

Oh and one other thing, bottle carbing - I'll be doing it at the bottom of the ferment fridge at 18c, would 2 weeks generally be enough time to carb?


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## laxation

2 weeks is fine. They keep getting better for a few months (some can keep going even longer..) but are drinkable after a couple weeks.

I'm too excited to wait an extra week for fermentation...


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## panspermian

Just quick question not worth starting new thread for,

Boiling water is okay to sterilise a stainless fermenter right?


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## manticle

First look up sterilisation vs sanitation.

Then, consider the surface of the fermenter. Is there enough boiling water to get the entire surface to pasteurisation temp for required time? Is it similar to the practices of commercial stainless food vessels like breweries, dairy, kitchens/food prep?

What exactly are you doing with the boiling water?


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## panspermian

sterilisation vs sanitation.

Yeah yeah. My mix up 

I actually have a microbiology degree just wanting a quick answer as I was doing it at the time I posted.

I reckon I'll be right


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## laxation

I wouldn't take the risk. Get a bottle of star san, it'll last you forever and you can sleep easy


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## Grott

Do the job properly. Short cuts lead to muck ups, stuff ups etc.


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## Bandit24

some more beginner questions if anyones got a spare moment. cheers

1. Is it ok to leave a heat belt in the fridge while doing cold crashing? Since cold crashing temps aren't as crucial to be perfect, do I really even need the heat belt in there anyway?

2. Will you taste much difference after 4 days of dry hopping or does the flavour come out at a later stage like after bottle carbonation? Just very generally speaking - I know it would be different on different recipes.

3. Air lock water being sucked back into the fermenter during cold crash - is this actually a thing? I’ve got an S-bend airlock. Would I better replacing with glad wrap and O-ring? I’d prefer to not open the fermenter lid at all and just leave the airlock. 

4. After cold crashing do I need to bring temp down before bottling, or ok to bottle at cold condition temps? If bringing it down first really speeds up carbonation - like an extra week quicker, then I’m interested in bringing the temp down first, but if the difference is minimal then I’ll just bottle at CC temp.

5. Vanilla flavour - I’ve added 1 split vanilla bean to a 10L batch (4 days dry hop) and it’s tasting too strong for my liking, does vanilla flavour tend to subside over time, or increase as the hops fade? ie. should i drink fresh or bottle condition?


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## Matplat

1. Unplug the heatbelt, leave it there or take it out, but unplug it.
2. Yes you will taste the difference, but the flavour will change/smooth with conditioning/carbonation.
3. Yes, this is a thing, and yes you should replace with glad wrap, and never bother with an airlock again!
4. You should be cold crashing between 0-3deg, bottle at this temp. This will slow down carbonation if anything, as the yeast has to warm/wake up in order to ferment your priming sugar, but you should still bottle at this temp if you have cold crashed.
5. Never used vanilla, so will let someone else answer that.


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## Bandit24

Thanks Matplat, great answers for 1-4, exactly the info was looking for.


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## Bandit24

also re: cold crash temps - I have noticed when using two fermenters in my fridge the lowest fermenter was running 1c or so cooler than the top fermenter, at what point does beer freeze and should I maybe run the cold condition at say 3c instead of around 0c-1c, to ensure I don't freeze the bottom fermenter?


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## Matplat

Because of the alcohol, it will freeze around -2-3ish so if the bottom one is around 0deg I wouldn't be worried at all.


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## Bandit24

awesome, thanks


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## SessionIPA

A quick question on dry hopping. I plan to dry hop for the last 4 days of the ferment. For those of you who use hop bags, do you boil the bag before putting the hops in it and introducing it to the fermenter? I'd hate to stuff the brew.


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## Mardoo

Yes


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## Bribie G

I don't do a lot of dry hopping but when I do, I just chuck the pellets into the FV. They break up and "snowflake" down into the sediment over a few days.


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## Bandit24

For wort aeration, does the aeration last for say 24-48 hours? ie. I poured a fresh wort kit into fermenter yesterday which appeared to aerate the wort well (lots of foam), however its taking me 24 hours or more to get the wort to pitching temp, so do I need to aerate the wort again right before pitching yeast?

and what are the best methods for aeration of a wort in a 15L cube where you can't fit a mixing spoon or whisk? do you just put the cube lid on and give the whole thing a decent shake?


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## Dave Nagy

Some newbie questions

As I'm gaining experience I'm starting to steep grain and using liquid malt to jazz up the kits.
1. what is the difference between boiling and steeping grains (Cristal malt used so far) as far as taste goes.
2. what does boiling or steeping the brew enhancers do?
3. what is the timeframes for boiling or steeping. As far as bitterness or flavours.
4. Are liquid malts better then the powder
5 how could I get a better back of pallet or more body in the beer
6. do I need to raise the temp at the end of fermentation or is 2 weeks enough of its hit fg.


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## labels

Dave Nagy said:


> Some newbie questions
> 
> As I'm gaining experience I'm starting to steep grain and using liquid malt to jazz up the kits.
> 1. what is the difference between boiling and steeping grains (Cristal malt used so far) as far as taste goes.
> 2. what does boiling or steeping the brew enhancers do?
> 3. what is the timeframes for boiling or steeping. As far as bitterness or flavours.
> 4. Are liquid malts better then the powder
> 5 how could I get a better back of pallet or more body in the beer
> 6. do I need to raise the temp at the end of fermentation or is 2 weeks enough of its hit fg.



1. Boiling grains will extract tannins, those astringent sensations like sucking on a used tea bag
2. Not sure what you mean here but if you're referring to to the powder components I don't think it matters either way
3. Steep grains for 20-30 minutes but in reality most flavours are extracted in less than 10 minutes. The grain must have been milled first
4. Subjective. Older texts will swear by dried over liquid but things change rapidly these days with the popularity of home brewing
5. Yes, it's palate not pallet, you can add dextrose to increase body and mouthfeel
6. Not necessarily, it's mainly done for true lagers, for ales which are fermented warmer anyway, it's not generally requitred


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## Lyrebird_Cycles

labels said:


> 5. Yes, it's palate not pallet, you can add dextrose to increase body and mouthfeel



Adding glucose (aka dextrose) will increase alcohol, whether that helps with body and mouthfeel depends on the beer style*. It's probably more reliable to add a little maltodextrin if you wish to increase the perception of fullness.

* Higher alcohol increases the perception of bitterness, which can in turn alter the perceived balance of the beer.


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## labels

Lyrebird_Cycles said:


> Adding glucose (aka dextrose) will increase alcohol, whether that helps with body and mouthfeel depends on the beer style*. It's probably more reliable to add a little maltodextrin if you wish to increase the perception of fullness.
> 
> * Higher alcohol increases the perception of bitterness, which can in turn alter the perceived balance of the beer.


I stand corrected, maltodextrin was the word I was looking for


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## Bandit24

Anyone seen a yeast cake that has a distinct baby-pink colour to it? Like a baby-pink, light-grey kinda colour? 
I've had 2 batches with that now, and both batches had off flavours. The first one a kinda of soapy/alcohol flavour, the second one a kinda underlying winey flavour. Both were drinkable but just not very enjoyable with those flavours. The flavour of course could be completely unrelated, but either way I'd like to know the pink yeast cake is the cause of anything i'm doing wrong, or if its normal??
I know there are a lot more variables, but basically both batches were like this: pale ale fresh wort kits, US-05, perfect temp controlled 18c ferment, cleaned (brewers sodium perc) and sanitised (starsan) both fermenter and bottles, both batches had around 2-3 weeks ferment and 7 days cold condition. one of them a bit longer.
thank you


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## labels

Sort of points to an infection somewhere along the line. I don't know where of course but to give you a couple of examples: fermenters, remove taps, knock them apart, clean the thread in the fermenter, take out the big 'O' ring and the grommet. Clean and sanitise thoroughly before re-assembling. This is just an example of where bugs can hide so look at your set-up in detail.


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## Bandit24

Thanks, I'll review my process and see if I can iron it out. I feel like I'm pretty good with cleaning and sanitising. I leave used fermenter to soak in sodium perc for 24 hours, then clean out with a soft cloth and check all the crevices, I take the tap out and rubber ring off the tap and soak those too. I use about a litre of premixed starsan and shake/roll it for a few minutes to sanitise the fermenter right before using. I use glad wrap for the lid which I sanitise with starsan. I take care to sanitise all utensils and anything else (and the surfaces I rest them on). The only area I can think that may be affecting it is the garage that the fermenting fridge is in. I clean and make up the batches in the kitchen, but aerate and add dry hops in the garage. The garage is quite dusty and also houses a dog. The glad wrap lid comes off to aerate and dry hop. I make sure aeration stuff is sanitised and sanitise the dry hop packets and scissors used to cut open the packets. Could potentially be the dusty/dog hair garage? Anything else I'm missing in the process? It's not the fermenter, as this happened in two different (and both very new) fermenters.


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## Grott

Do you pull the tap apart, clean and sanitise? Don’t forget the ferment threads for lid and tap.


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## Bandit24

Hey Grott, yep indeed I pulled the rubber ring off the tap, soaked in sodium perc and sanitised in a bowl full of starsan. Using a glad wrap lid which is sanitised before use (not a fermenter lid). Cheers


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## Grott

Mmmm.. not just the rubber ring. You need to seperate the two parts of the tap (assuming your using a common fermenter).
Using a hammer and the end of a wrench, just tap apart.


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## Bandit24

Thanks Grott, I didn't know about the tap coming apart. I've just had a look at my spare tap and pulled it apart, definitely could a culprit for infection. I'll clean this up for future batches. What is your opinion on the dusty garage, a bit risky to conduct even small brewing activities in a dusty / dog hair garage?


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## Grott

If your not disturbing the dust/dog hairs when you aerate and hop your brew then should be no problems but care must be taken when you remove the glad wrap. If bottling or kegging leave glad wrap on while filling.
If you haven’t cleaned taps before I’d suspect this is where the infection is coming from.


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## Bandit24

Thanks Grott, big help!


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## Bandit24

are fermenters and taps stuffed once they have had an infected batch? or is that only true if its because they were scratched (which I know they are not as I've been using soft cloths)
cheers


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## Grott

I’d soak in your sodium perc solution, rinse with hot water and then sanitise just before use. Before re-assembly put some keg lube around the shaft as this makes the tap easy to fit together and turn on and off.


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## Bandit24

Thanks Grott


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## Ben Hardman

Grott said:


> I’d soak in your sodium perc solution, rinse with hot water and then sanitise just before use. Before re-assembly put some keg lube around the shaft as this makes the tap easy to fit together and turn on and off.



What's the cheapest source of this used to use homebrand napisan but only got a coles near me.


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## Grott

People do use napisan, *non* scented*. *Do you have a home brew shop near you? If so you can get from them. Here in SA I get bulk from Beerybelly, deliver 8 bucks.


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## Ben Hardman

Yeah half the price than brew shop stuff.


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## mondestrunken

Grott said:


> View attachment 110455
> View attachment 110456
> View attachment 110457
> 
> Using a hammer and the end of a wrench, just tap apart.


Fantastic advice. I do this every time I make batch of beer after I found out about it. I use an old wooden spoon, put the handle end in the fermenter end of the tap, bang the spoon part on the table/ground/whatever until the pieces separate, and sanitise both pieces, and then put it together again.

Old wooden spoon = one of the best pieces of homebrewery equipment.

Seriously.


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## Andy_27

Grott said:


> I’d soak in your sodium perc solution, rinse with hot water and then sanitise just before use. Before re-assembly put some keg lube around the shaft as this makes the tap easy to fit together and turn on and off.



Ahhhh!! Keg Lube!! Brilliant!!!


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## Judanero

Bandit24 said:


> are fermenters and taps stuffed once they have had an infected batch? or is that only true if its because they were scratched (which I know they are not as I've been using soft cloths)
> cheers


Not necessarily stuffed, liberal use of boiling water, sodium per, star san *should fix it but you can pick up a suitable 'water drum' aka fermenter from Bunnings for two parts of f-a.. If you've had back to back infections I personally wouldn't risk the cost of another batch just to see if you've fixed the problem.

*-May not actually.


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## SeeFar

@Grott 
Thanks for that pictorial, I wasn't up on that either. Will definitely do from here on in.


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## Bandit24

***Pink Slime***

I’ve now had 3 batches with a pinkish colour in the yeast cake, and sharp undesireable flavours. 
Please see pics - however this batch doesnt seem as pink as the previous two, but it definitely shows the colour I’m talking about. It’s a light grey / light pink colour.


Here are things that CAN’T be causing it:

- Fermenters (has happened in two different fermenters)
- Wort kit (three different brands used)
- Yeast (US05 and M44)
- Yeast process (Two batches using rehydration, 1 batch just sprinkled on)
- Tap (Tap taken apart and cleaned thoroughly and sanitised on this latest batch)
- Cleaning (I am extremely thorough, only use soft cloths to clean gunk, soak in sodium perc for 24-48 hours, rinse, use starsan to sanitise, same process for all equipment, and I sanitise surfaces)
- It’s not other off flavours as I am temp controlling my ferments at perfect 18c

The only consistent things for the 3 infected batches are:

- Fermented in the same fridge
- Fridge in the same dusty / dog hair shed
- Hops for dry hopping purchased from the same store (but has been various types of hops)

When I dry hop (always after primary ferment is well and truly finished), I quickly open the hops packet, take the glad wrap lid off, dump the hops in and close it up. 

I clean, sanitise and brew in my kitchen, and the only thing I do in the dusty shed is the dry hopping, which takes about 5 seconds, and the fermenter is still in the fridge when I do it. So hard to believe it would be the dusty room really. 

From my notes, all of the infected brews tasted really good after primary ferment, then still good at the start of dry hopping, but then through cold condition and into bottling on two of the batches the sharp flavours started to appear then and worsened by the time they were carbed, and one batch tasted good all the way through to bottling and then got bad once carbed. It's obviously not a bottle infection though as the yeast cake was pink in all three batches. 

OR is this something else I’m doing to cause the off flavours and the pink slime is a non-issue?

Anyone got any ideas? 

Cheers


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## Bandit24

Anyone got any ideas on the above?
I'm at my wits end with this pink s***
I'm up to batch 12 and I've had 5-6 batches now all with pink yeast and off flavours. 
The only things left that haven't changed from my first batch are the fermenting fridge, and the shed that I ferment in. I can't ferment anywhere else in my house, so if I can't fix it in this room I'm done until I move house basically. 
The other possibility is mould, I realised after about 9 batches that I had mould on the piece of wood that was used a shelf in my fermentation fridge. I cleaned and sanitised the fridge but does it need something more heavy duty? The mould has not appeared anywhere in the fridge. 
HOWEVER also on my latest batch I got some mould under the glad wrap from moisture from spraying the glad wrap with starsan (on the outside of the fermenter, underneath the rubber o-ring).


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## wide eyed and legless

I periodically give my fridge and fermenting room a good clean with bleach, I also regularly clean my filters on the reverse cycle air con in the fermenting room, never ever thought about that until Dan Pratt suggested it.


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## Bandit24

Just your regular household bleach kinda deal? My fermenting room doesn't have aircon, but is dusty and has dog hair. I don't do anything in that room though, not even a quick dry hop, I take the fermenter inside to the kitchen. Do you think the room could effect it anyway? Could microscopic stuff get into the fridge (I do open it to take samples) and through the glad wrap?


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## Bandit24

Also, is there any chance this is not an infection, and something to do with the way I'm using Starsan and/or Sodium Perc?


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## mongey

Bandit24 said:


> Also, is there any chance this is not an infection, and something to do with the way I'm using Starsan and/or Sodium Perc?


are you using the pink stuff to clean ?


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## Bandit24

mongey said:


> are you using the pink stuff to clean ?



Nah, 100% sodium perc white from a brew shop


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## mongey

Bandit24 said:


> Nah, 100% sodium perc white from a brew shop



sounds like you are doing everything right . my brew fridge is in my laundry which basically doesn't have a door and I open to dry hop and haven't had a single issue

but if you got 3 infected batches then something is wrong . are both your fermenters open top where you use cling wrap ? if so I'd buy a new lidded fermenter . they are like $30 . less than a brew you need to tip

I'm in the gong too so it aint the water


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## S.E

mongey said:


> I'm in the gong too so it aint the water


It could possibly be if using 15L wort kit and top up to 20L with un-boiled water straight from the tap.

Are you boiling any top up water Bandit24?


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## mongey

S.E said:


> It could possibly be if using 15L wort kit and top up to 20L with un-boiled water straight from the tap.
> 
> Are you boiling any top up water Bandit24?




I have never boiled my top up tap water in my 30 or so brews and I have only had 1 batch infected and that was cause I was lazy about 5 brews in and didn't clean my bottles properly, figured I new better after my mammoth 5 brews lol, and most got infected in the bottle 


maybe my pipes are cleaner than most ?


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## S.E

Lots of people top up straight from the tap and get away with it, I have done in the past. However it is an infection risk and worth eliminating if you are getting infections and trying to find the cause.


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## brewgasm

Bandit24 said:


> ***Pink Slime***
> 
> I’ve now had 3 batches with a pinkish colour in the yeast cake, and sharp undesireable flavours.
> Please see pics - however this batch doesnt seem as pink as the previous two, but it definitely shows the colour I’m talking about. It’s a light grey / light pink colour.
> 
> 
> Here are things that CAN’T be causing it:
> 
> - Fermenters (has happened in two different fermenters)
> - Wort kit (three different brands used)
> - Yeast (US05 and M44)
> - Yeast process (Two batches using rehydration, 1 batch just sprinkled on)
> - Tap (Tap taken apart and cleaned thoroughly and sanitised on this latest batch)
> - Cleaning (I am extremely thorough, only use soft cloths to clean gunk, soak in sodium perc for 24-48 hours, rinse, use starsan to sanitise, same process for all equipment, and I sanitise surfaces)
> - It’s not other off flavours as I am temp controlling my ferments at perfect 18c
> 
> The only consistent things for the 3 infected batches are:
> 
> - Fermented in the same fridge
> - Fridge in the same dusty / dog hair shed
> - Hops for dry hopping purchased from the same store (but has been various types of hops)
> 
> When I dry hop (always after primary ferment is well and truly finished), I quickly open the hops packet, take the glad wrap lid off, dump the hops in and close it up.
> 
> I clean, sanitise and brew in my kitchen, and the only thing I do in the dusty shed is the dry hopping, which takes about 5 seconds, and the fermenter is still in the fridge when I do it. So hard to believe it would be the dusty room really.
> 
> From my notes, all of the infected brews tasted really good after primary ferment, then still good at the start of dry hopping, but then through cold condition and into bottling on two of the batches the sharp flavours started to appear then and worsened by the time they were carbed, and one batch tasted good all the way through to bottling and then got bad once carbed. It's obviously not a bottle infection though as the yeast cake was pink in all three batches.
> 
> OR is this something else I’m doing to cause the off flavours and the pink slime is a non-issue?
> 
> Anyone got any ideas?
> 
> Cheers


Shooting in the dark here but could it be some sort of wild yeast that resides in your brew cave? There are some yeasts that do create a pink sediment.

I second getting a new fermentor. Get one of those HDPE ones with the screw on lid. With all the variables you discussed the location seems to be the constant. See how that goes.


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## Bandit24

Thanks everyone for the ideas. 

One of the fermenters is a brew shop one but I ditched the lid and airlock for glad wrap. The other is a bunnings one which I also used glad wrap on. Had infections in both, so can't particular blame the fermenter, BUT might be time to start fresh anyway. Is there any kind of fermenter that is somehow better for keeping infections out than gladwrap or plastic lid/airlock combo?

I still need to find the underlying cause of the infections. Could definitely just be something in the brew space which is causing it, but can it really get into the fridge and through the glad wrap? as mongey mentions above, no issues dry hopping with open laundry. I don't think I'll be able to fit and fridge and ferment anywhere else in my house, so I'm kinda stuck with the space its in. 

Is there any possibility the fridge has anything to do with it? I will clean it out with bleach, however, is there anything that I need to know about getting a fridge for fermenting? The one I got is really quite a new/modern type deal, it was a refurbished from manufacture/like new unit, which I thought was about the best thing I could get. 

The boiling water is a good idea and I will do that from now on anyway, although it cannot be the cause of infection as I had the issue on a FWK that was 21L with no water added. If I don't want to boil water, are those supermarket tubs of mineral water ok to use or not?

Cheers


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## hoppy2B

Bandit24 said:


> If I don't want to boil water, are those supermarket tubs of mineral water ok to use or not?
> 
> Cheers



Nuke the site from space, it's the only way to be sure.


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## Pistola

Bandit24 said:


> One of the fermenters is a brew shop one but I ditched the lid and airlock for glad wrap.



Have you still got that lid and airlock? I would try that and see if it still infects.


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## MrEflord

Well, I've just gone through 18 pages and picked up on some good points. I don't think I will remember them all. But definitely a reference point.


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## djsmi4

Hi all,

Although I've been K&K brewing on/off for 20+ years I still sometimes fall into some basic traps when returning after an extended hiatus. Here's some tips of mine to assist with easier brewing/avoiding mistakes, I hope you find these of use:

- If using a fridge for brewing + conditioning, a ceramic heater in the vegie crisper footwell + an STC1000 or similar temperature controller works great. I stick the temperature probe in a bottle of water to dampen the sensitivity of the heater/fridge cycle. Set this up a number of hours before commencing your brews so that the temperature can even out, or (as I unfortunately discovered recently) a chest freezer I was previously using had given up the ghost. I currently use 2x upright fridges, doors pulled shut with bungee chords due to the heater/probe cables coming out. Place the fermenter tap away from/not above the heater!

- Have a small bin nearby to toss rubbish into, have a roll of chux and an old towel/teatowel to deal with any spills.

- A film canister can hold up to three fermenter bungs (if you want to hygienically store fermenter bungs whilst brewing).

- A small white plastic plant pot makes for a good bottle cap rinser/drain when sanitising bottle caps prior to use. I choose white plastic as it's easier to spot any grit or crud.

- A ~3L white bucket is great for sitting wort tins in a bath of hot water to lower the viscosity for tipping into the fermenter. The bucket can double for sterilising/sanitising smaller items such as fermenter taps, airlocks, bottle caps.

- Photograph the wort tin instructions before sitting in hot water.

- A small atomiser is great for storing/utilising sanitiser solution.

- Sometimes the fermenter tap will not screw on with the outlet pointing down - about 6" of clear food-grade hose will allow for easy hydrometer filling if this happens.

- Attaching a hose to your laundry trough tap makes for easy cleaning and filling of brew equipment.

- When lifting a full fermenter, say from a workbench to a fridge, REMOVE THE AIRLOCK FIRST otherwise its contents will get sucked into the brew. I typically fill my airlocks with a sanitiser solution.

- Bottles are slippery when nuking with steriliser & handling with PVC gloves... Be sure to stand over a soft mat whilst handling bottles in case you drop one. Rinse thoroughly before use!

- Approx 2ft of clear food-grade hose is great for taping a bottle wand to for quick filling of multiple bottles via the fermenter tap. Having a mat under the bottles whilst filling helps with any spills. A small LED torch held to the side of the bottle whilst filling will help show the level.

- A lever-operated bottle capper with adjustable height is worth its weight in gold. Sit the caps on the bottles for ~30 seconds before capping to allow the initial CO2 to purge the air left in the bottle neck.

- A milk crate takes 14 longnecks - a typical 23L brew can fill 30 longnecks. If you use a fridge for brewing you can swap out the spent fermenter for the bottles to condition in the fridge, in their milk crates.

Hopefully the pics upload correctly, cheers


----------

