About To Start Brewing!

[jamieh]

Gday again everyone,

Ive got half of everything i need to start brewing....ive got my 'little bottler', 100 carlton draught long necks (thanks to ebay)...plus 48 carlton extra dry stubbies, ive got a table for my 2 fermenters to sit on, a bottle capper, and syphon hose. Off the top of my head i need....bottle caps (i have twist top bottles..so im guessing i can use coopers crown caps yeah??) 1 airlock(maybe 2 for the sake of it), home brew..possibly coopers pale ale, dextrose(brew sugar), sugar measurer, long plastic stiring spoon, steriliser, hydrometer......what can i use to measure the alcohol content...or how do i do that?...is htere anything else i might need?

CHeers.

 

[hoohaaman]

I'm dissapointed ,I thought you were starting a batch now.

I like spur of the moment brew sessions

 

[jamieh]

nah i couldnt start it straight away....didnt have everything at the time...i wanted the knowledge first as i want to also video the process aswell and given its my first batch i want to do it properly...also wanting to know....i like beers that are drisp, clear, slightly brown/pale...like carlton draught, colds, drys, etc but doesnt have the flat taste(like a corono extra)....is a coopers pale ale the way to go..for a nice beer with a good head and crisp taste?

 

[cloudy]

Gday again everyone,

Ive got half of everything i need to start brewing....ive got my 'little bottler', 100 carlton draught long necks (thanks to ebay)...plus 48 carlton extra dry stubbies, ive got a table for my 2 fermenters to sit on, a bottle capper, and syphon hose. Off the top of my head i need....bottle caps (i have twist top bottles..so im guessing i can use coopers crown caps yeah??) 1 airlock(maybe 2 for the sake of it), home brew..possibly coopers pale ale, dextrose(brew sugar), sugar measurer, long plastic stiring spoon, steriliser, hydrometer......what can i use to measure the alcohol content...or how do i do that?...is htere anything else i might need?

CHeers.

yep, crown caps are ok for twisties and in my opinion forget the dextrose. use dry malt.

 

[cozmocracker]

i would suggest you forget the brew sugar, and as cloudy suggested use dry malt (or the pack of brew enhancer 2 ). i would also suggest using the coopers yeast from a couple of bottles ( not the kit yeast ) heres some instructions.

View attachment Coopers_Yeast.pdf

remember to ferment the beer at 18 degrees, if the temp gets to high for the coopers yeast you will be drinking bananas( keeping it under 22 and you will be fine). Also i nice touch would be to add some hops, you can keep it as simple as a hop teabag, try fuggles. before you know it hops will be your best friend!

as for taking an alcohol reading, you use the hydrometer. take a sample of the wort, after everything has been mixed together but before you add the yeast. you can expect to get a reading around 1050. after 10 days take another reading, when you get 3 readings of the same over 3 days, fermentation has stopped and your ready to bottle. it will finish somewhere around 1010. so to get the ABV you go 1050 - 1010 divide by 7.46, because your bottling you add an extra half a percent (you add sugar to the bottles to prime for carbination which adds a little extra alcohol volume).

another thing to do is keep some chilled bottles of water in the fridge to get the wort temp down so you can pitch the yeast ASAP make sure the temp is under 26 degrees but closer to fermenting temp is better.

good luck cozmo

 

[Happyrock]

If you want to make a fairly crisp, clean beer then I think the yeast you use is very important. Fermentis Safale US-05 dry yeast is very clean and neutral and is fairly forgiving IMO. Its probably a good place to start. My beers improved heaps when I starting using better yeasts. Also I agree with using dry malt extract instead of dextrose.

 

[Barramundi]

as much as cosmo's idea of bottle yeast is a good one , i would suggest you steer away from it for the time being and just have a go at brewing a beer , with the yeast provided , keep it simple as you can for the first few then try new things like using different yeasts and then maybe yeast culturing, id even go with the brew sugar so next time you can use the malt and compare results

 

[manticle]

I agree - keep it simple, keep ferment temps lower than suggested by Coopers and be patient.

 

[daddywillwill]

yeah the first few i did where with brew sugar.
didn't taste to good. now i'm into more dry malts etc.
tastes great.

depends how dry you want the beer? give a dry enzyme a go to.

i don't know if anyone uses this book or not. but i have brewing crafts by Mike Rogers-Wilson. got good recipes in it
e.g.
Carton Draught
*Beermakers Draught Can
*Brewcraft #20 Malt Plus Booster
(If you want a dryer taste you could probably use the dry enzyme also)
Saflager Yeast.

just my 2 cents worth.
Willis

 

[Bribie G]

Yes, use the kit yeast for the time being.

There's a lot of bad mouthing of kit yeasts but I have been experimenting with them out of interest over the last few months and have had some great results with some of them. For example I did an all grain Aussie Old with two packets of Coopers kit yeasts and at a club comp it got good marks, almost up into the placings which was great because it wasn't really ready at that time. I'ts matured a fair bit over the last six weeks and I'm re-entering it into the big annual competition next week. I'm also entering an all grain Australian lager done on Morgans lager kit yeast (Mauribrew lager yeast). IMHO it has polished up as a much nicer beer than the absolutely identical recipe done on W-34/70.

I think that kit yeasts often become the 'whipping boy' for off flavours and home brew twang whilst the real blame should be laid at the door of too high temps and over use of sugar. Not to mention some very ordinary kits themselves (e.g. Brigalow, Home Brand etc) Even the most expensive liquid yeasts can give horrendous off flavours if used at too high a temperature or with poor ingredients.

I agree with other posters, just go the kit yeasts for a few goes then by all means experiment.

 

[muckey]

I'll add my note of agreement for simplicity as well.

While I much prefer malt rather tha sugar in beer and haven't used a kit yeast for some time (stop right there chap chap ) I think for a first attempt simple is best.

get a good kit just like bribie said, use the kit yeast, keep your fermentation temp under control (20 degrees if possible) and see how it turns out.

Getting the handling and sanitization practices sorted are more important IMHO that what yeast, type of malt or hops you want to use.

 

[bum]

i like beers that are drisp, clear, slightly brown/pale...like carlton draught, colds, drys, etc but doesnt have the flat taste(like a corono extra)....is a coopers pale ale the way to go..for a nice beer with a good head and crisp taste?

I'd give the Pale a miss (for now) as it has quite a bit more flavour than the beers you mention. Mate of mine who likes the beers you mention swears by the standard Coopers Lager tin. Just remember to ignore the instructions in the lid (but if you've been reading the board I'm sure you've worked that out already).

 

[jamieh]

so the ingredients i need to use are...a coopers draught or ale brew...dry malt (brew enhancer 2)(replacing the dextrose)..then yeast(and a decent yeast for a clean crisp beer....would it be also worth using sugar adjunct(have been told it makes the head of the beer good as in pub style beer...strong head but not too much)...thanks.

 

[muckey]

sugar adjucts actually thin the beer and dont help the head at all

adding more malt will help the body of the beer and the head retention

edit for a neutral flavoutr yeast try us05. but really the kit yeast will be OK if you keep ferment temps around 18 - 20 degrees

 

[bum]

You keep saying "clean and crisp". Don't build it up too much, bloke - you're building a bog standard kit beer. It'll be beer and if you get your temps right it might even be good beer. But either way it won't be as clean as a commercial brew. Not your first one anyway.

Good luck!

 

[Bribie G]

"pub style" Australian beers such as XXXX and Carlton use a fair amount of sugars and syrups because that's what they have always done. This produces a lot of the alcohol but the head and body comes from the malt portion of the recipe.

 

[manticle]

Simple and yet clean and crisp might be this:

Buy a thermometer

1 x kit coopers lager
500g dextrose
750 g light dme (dried malt extract)
pride of ringwood hops if you can get it in a teabag (Morgans make them)
Kit yeast (even 2 packs if you can).

Sanitise equipment
Boil and cool 1 L of water to around 20 degrees. Sprinkle in yeast packets, leave for 30 mins (covered)
Boil 3 litres of water
Empty Coopers tin into fermenter, fill tin with boiling water and let stand for 10 mins.
Make a cup of hop tea using boiling water and hop teabag
Dissolve malt in remaining hot water.
Add malt water and hop tea to fermenter
Empty remaining kit goop into fermenter
Top up to 22 L
Measure tempertature. When temp is around 20 deg, add yeast.
Seal

Ferment at 18-20 degrees for around a week - 10 days BUT use the hydrometer to make sure you get a stable reading over 3 consecutive days. Reading should not be much higher than 1010. If the points keep dropping leave it longer.
When this is done place entire fermenter in fridge for another week.

Prime clean, sanitised bottles and bottle brew. Wait at least 2 weeks before trying any - longer will be better.

 

[jamieh]

was talking to my oldman about his home brew when he made his...ive seen some people making the wort in a stockpot on the stove...is that just a waste of time and another step that doesnt need to be done....is it just easier to add all the ingredients straight into the fermenter, seal it, keep it at a constant temp and leave it to ferment, then before i bottle the beer, should i use a syphon and transfer to beer into my other fermenter(so its like the beer is filtered and you dont get any chance of sediment??)(dad made his beer this way)

 

[Renegade]

Haven't you done your first beer yet ? It's really not a complex operation to get your first one out.

As for stockpots, well that all depends on how advanced you want to get. If youre using hops or a bit of grain to add to your kit then yes you will be using a pot. But you want to get going now, I mean right now ? Here's the deal.

Buy a can and a box of BE2 from the supermarket.
Put them both into your fermenter, with a couple of litres of hot water. Stir.
Fill fermenter with cold water.
Add yeast, wait a couple of weeks, then bottle.
Wait a couple more weeks then DRINK.


That's it, really, for a beginner. Don't let a lot of the topics here confuse the issue, you can introduce more processes for better beer down the track.

 

[scott_penno]

+1 for Renegade's comments.

Just do it. You'll learn heaps as you go. Then the next time, you'll make better beer. And the time after that, well who knows. But you'll never make better beer if you don't start somewhere.

sap.