A Couple Of Questions

[casha]

Hi Guys great Forum i have found out some great tips to get me started on my first brew..

i started with a coopers lager (it was in the kit )

i went with some changes that i read will help a kit brew in taste

eg dextrose and Malt-extract and a decent yeast (i also poped in a hops tea bag)

Questions

i have no idea when to take the hops bag out it has been in there for 4 days now i assume it stays in till kegging?

Finings- how much should i use,does it have to sit for 2 days if i am kegging it,how do you add it (open lid and tip in ?)

trying to do the right thing and keep my beer cool while it's fermenting in laundry in tub of water but temp gauge seems to read strange
anyone else have this problem ?(its reading a higher temp in the water)

This being my first kegging attempt as well is a bit to take on for a first dig but with this forum and any advice you guys can offer im sure will help heaps ..(will move on to extracts ect as i take baby steps to learn the ways and wisdom from ground up)

any advice much appreciated..

 

[Bribie G]

Hop teabag can just float around until you are ready for kegging. It should be floating at the top of the beer so just yank it out.

Finings should be added when the beer is already reasonably clear - I would personally use a rounded teaspoon of gelatine dissolved in a large sanitised cup with hot water from a kettle that has been boiled and allowed to drop in temp a bit, add to keg about half way through transferring the beer and it should mix in well with the brew. Alternatively depending how strong and athletic you are, pour it in right at the end, seal the keg and shake the crap out of it

 

[raven19]

trying to do the right thing and keep my beer cool while it's fermenting in laundry in tub of water but temp gauge seems to read strange
anyone else have this problem ?(its reading a higher temp in the water)

Welcome to the forum!

Have you checked the fermenter temp gauge against a thermometer to check for consistency?

Am sure it will go well, you shall be hooked in no time!

 

[cdbrown]

Welcome casha.

Taste the beer before kegging and see if you have the hops flavour or not. I think you can either leave it in or take it out.
What are you using for finings? - I use unflavoured gelatine. 2teaspoons on 200ml hot water. Lots of stirring to disolve. First time I just poured it over the top of the beer, but the second time I used a spare fermenter, put it in there and transferred the beer across. This meant all the crap stayed in the first and the finings only had to work on clumping the floating yeast. Works when the beer is cold.

What temp guage are you using - one of those ones stuck to the fermentor or something else?

Cleanliness, sanitization, temp control = good beer regardless of kits, extract or AG. Great beer is a different thing.

Kegging is great, make sure to get a decent length of plastic tubing from bunnings which can fit around the outside of the fermenter tap and can coil around in the bottom of the keg - when transferring this will ensure a smooth flow of beer and it's not being oxygenated by splashing and sloshing.

Ask more questions as you need mate.

Cheers
-cdbrown

 

[buttersd70]

There is an article on the geletine finings under articles on top of the screen....that is one way to do it. There are several variations....It can be done in primary once completed, then racked and left, then kegged. It can be added once racked to a conditioning container, or it can be added directly to the keg. The simple fact of the matter is, they all end up with pretty much the same result, and it's as much a matter of personal preference as anything.

Personally, I use the Wards geletine now, I find it better than the Davis. I use 2 teaspoons....and as to which method do I use (from those I've mentioned), the answer to that is "it depends"....sorry. :lol:

 

[matti]

Your hop tea bag question is a matter of taste.
My 1st attempt with hop tea bag was for a partial +Munton Yorkshire bitter kit and bits.
At the time I left them in for a week after I transferred the beer into a the second fermenter for condition.
The trouble was i wasn't to sure of what I was doing and the Hops use was a blend of Golding. northdown and Fuggles.

The resulting beer was a bit too hoppy at the time for my palate but that has changed.

Here is the recipe without teabag addition.
Yorkshire Bitter

23 litre
1.8 kgs kit Yorkshire bitter (Muntons)
2.1kgs pale malt 2row
250g Crystal malt
250g Flaked Barley
300g Brown sugar
0.5g/L of gypsum 0.2g/L Bicarbonate soda to mash liquor and sparge liquor
Mash grain @67 75 min
Boil 75min

Hop bill
5g Goldings pellets 75 min
20g Goldings 30 min
10g Goldings 15 min
Add can 10 min and 1/2 tablet whirl flock
5g Goldings flame out.
London ale yeast WLP013
Gelatine Finings

22 August, 2006. 23 liter O.G 1042

30 August,2206.
Rack to second S.G. 1.014
4 September S.G. 1.014
4-12 September CC at 2 degrees.
Bottled 13 september.
140 g Dextrose+ 20g Raw sugar.


All done in kitchen with normal cookpots hehehe

Welcome to the obsession

 

[casha]

Finings are Brigalow Beer clearing agent 7g net from kmart.. Local HBS had jack shit (im in country vic fwiw)
(how do i go about it with this product?)

Temp Gauge is one of those stick-on ones (thermometer might be the go thanks)

Thanks for the advice on the hops bag guys...

Bunnings perfect..im onto it (wifey works there B) )

Thanks for the recipe Matti when i get more confident and can hopfully get the ingredients i will take it on

one more Q,s (4 now )

Cleaning Kegs beer lines ect i have some coopers home brew sanitiser will this do the trick or should i use somthing else if i can get it local?

cheers

cash

 

[cdbrown]

Does the brigalow stuff have instructions? Never used them

Coopers stuff is a sanitizer - you need to clean it first before sanitizing.

Mix up some no name brand napisan (unscented) with some boiling water. I normally leave the keg sit for a few minutes, then tip it up so the top gets cleaned, then shake it about. Rinse out a few times with cold water. Some people fill the entire keg with a cleaning mix and leave, but it's only necessary if there's gunk in there that needs a soak removal. Once clean add the sanitizer and I guess with that you need to rinse it out as well. Get yourself some starsan which is a no-rinse sanitizer.

 

[Bribie G]

Casha, I used to run a home brew shop and I can verify that Brigalow finings are just plain gelatine, just cut off the corner, pour it out and proceed as if you are using a spoonful of 'bulk' gelatine. Personally I get a tub of McKenzie edible gelatine from Woolies for about $4 and it lasts me for months. I note that some of the guys use two teaspoons, will try that myself next time

+1 with the napisan, it will eat just about anything.

Cheers

 

[casha]

Thanks Guys

 

[Phoney]

As for cleaning. I found the best thing to do is straight after you've bottled/kegged, take all your equipment outside and blast it clean with your garden hose on the 'jet' setting. That gets rid of all the scum and stains and it's ready to just steralize & use the next time you want to brew.

 

[DUANNE]

you wanna be carefull with that hose. down here in melbourne they will just about hang any one who "wastes" water under the current restrictions. :angry:
when i clean my fermenter out i use neo pink that i buy from bigw (supposedly sanitiser and cleaner in one) for around 4 dollors with a sponge and some metabisulphate on brew day to sanitise. any really grubby stains can be cleaned by soaking in a mild bleach mix,this really works as even the plastic spoon iuse for stirring the boil comes out like new.i use irish moss in the boil and get resonably clear beer is this enough or should i gelatine it as well?

 

[Bribie G]

Do you bottle or keg? I bottle and use gelatine to get a crystal clear beer in the bottle. However note that gelatine won't prevent chill haze, where the beer is crystal clear when hot but goes cloudy when cold. It's not just home brewers, I have had shocking chill hazed (still tasted ok) beers at the Lord Nelson in Sydney and the sadly now closed Brew House in Brisbane.
To remove chill haze, Polyclar is good and is used in similar fashion to gelatine but must be added to really cold beer.

My routine:

• Rack beer to secondary after a few days.
• When finished fermenting, put fermenter in my cold fridge for about four days.
• Gelatine. Leave to sit for two days
• Polyclar and leave for two days
• Bottle

Here's a bottle done to the above routine, actually on bottling day itself. It's the clearest one I've ever bottled and got a bit of a shock. Yes and it did carb up ok after a few weeks :lol:

 

[buttersd70]

I do same as bribie, except fr step 2. I only give it about 24-48 hours. Other than that, same-o, same-o.

 

[Riggwelter]

Good evening casha,

Other than the finings and the kegging, it sounds like you are attempting to brew something rather like what I am going to do shortly. If it's not too much bother - could you give an update on how things went and most importantly, how the beer tastes! (I realise this could well be some time from now .....)

Cheers!

 

[cdbrown]

I sort of follow butters and bribie but don't transfer to secondary until it's been cold for a few days in the fridge and when transferring add the gelatine so it mixes well. 2 days later will add polyclar and the following day transfer to keg and bottle.

 

[Suds_Moustache]

Sorry to revive an old thread but my question is relevant to these repsonses.

Bribie I like your routine but have a couple of questions:

I have fermenter that has a one piece lid, so there's no way to add anything once sealed without taking the whole lid off.
Also I have no way to chill the beer to 2 degrees as has been suggested (crash chill).

So, what is the best way to clear my beer?
At this point in time I have in the fermenter:

Morgan's Blue Mountain Lager
Booster Mix (500g dex, 250 light malt, 250 malto dex)
Brewcraft dry enzyme
Brewiser finishing hops (teabag)
additional 480g dex

as mentioned in a previous post I pitched yeast at 32 degrees due to unforeseen circumstances
I have had the fermenter in the laundry tub filled with water and covered with a wet towel. I have added ice blcoks and frozen bottles of water reasonably regularly to maintain a temp of about 20 degrees (according to stick on thermometer, which I understand can be misleading, but for the purposes of the exercise gives an indication of temp at least) Air lock is bubbling away and I haven't taken a SG reading (been down since Sunday afternoon - it's now Wednesday afternoon - as I suspect the brew has some ways to go before it's ready)


Is it worth racking to another fermenter and adding finings at this stage, or once it has finished (and possibly polyclar), leaving in the laundry sink with ice blocks/frozen water bottles (keeps it around 20 degrees) for 24 hours as suggested then bottling?

If I choose not to rack, how do I add finings before bottling so as to not disturb beer? Do I just take the lid off and add finings, then bottle, or is that asking for trouble? If need be I could pack it with ice in the tub to chill as much as possible.

I don't mind cloudy, but would be keen to give some sort of clearing a go, if only for aesthetic purposes.

 

[chappo1970]

Suds,
Bribie's/Butters routine is good, I do exactly the same, but I have three spare fridges to choose from so the transferring around is easier. Don't stress if you don't have the ability to crash chill as it's not really neccessary to get a good bright clear beer. Use the gelatine to fine, it's awesome, cheap and most importantly it works!
If you have another fermenter then IMO I would rack to secondary. Just be sure of the racking procedure and the methods, if in doubt search this forum "Racking" or "Secondary". Drop in gelatine into a sterilized mug and add boiling water stirring like you stole it. Drop contents into the fermentor. Simple
If you don't rack to secondary same as above but I usually spray the lid with sanitizer then open and drop the gelatine in.
IMO racking to secondary is better results wise but you do run the chance of infecting your beer.

 

[Bribie G]

How do you intend to prime the beer? A lot of guys here bulk prime, that is they transfer the beer to another fermenter, add a correct dose of dissolved sugar and bottle immediately. I've bulk primed bitters a few times when I didn't use crash chilling and each time I did that I added gelatine (dissolved in a little hot water) at that stage directly to the priming vessel and stirred it in well with the sugar. This is a good way to get good clear beer in the bottle, it often drags the yeast down in a day or so. The beer still carbonates just fine as the yeast works from the bottom, might take a week longer to fizz up fully.

 

[Suds_Moustache]

Usually I just put a teaspoon of sugar (from a proper measure) into each bottle, fill with beer using the extender tube fitted with the "press down" valve (not sure of the correct terminology) and then give the bottle a bit of a tip upside down a few times. Done,

I have never racked but I am keen to try, just a bit wary of overcomplicating and potentially infecting the beer. Still, nothing ventured nothing gained I spose.