Another Noob Brewer

[Robbo_VIC]

Greetings everyone! The names Robbo and today i've just bought myself a Home Brewing kit and am looking forward to getting stuck into it.

I bought the Cascade Pale kit from Brewcraft in Richmond (Cascade Pale Ale + included yeast and Brew Booster #5) and have read through the "Brewing Crafts" book and done a fair bit of research on the forums so far. You guys have put together a great little resource here and i look forward to advancing through the techniques.

To start with i believe i have nice cupboard which sticks around the 18-20C mark so i'll probably start the first brew this weekend.

My biggest concern so far is the cleaning/sanitising... I got some Brewclean and Brewshield in the kit so i'm guessing these are good to start with? And looks like the best way to do it would be to clean with a solution of Brewclean then fill the fermenter a solution of Brewshield and leave everything in there for a while to sanitise. Then rinse with cool boiled water and get under way. Is that the right process? And do i have to be anal about things like using gloves to handle it all and make sure the surfaces they are rested on are suitably cleaned?

Anyway... i'm looking forward to sampling my first batch and getting on to other recipes of the great beers i enjoy! Also i've got an engineering (robotics) background so another project is to set up some suitable automatic temperature controlled environments for future brewing.

Thanks in advance for all the help (its been helpful enough already :icon_cheers: )

Robbo

 

[bowie in space]

See this is the kind of first post we like to see!

 

[Lord Raja Goomba I]

A noob that reads before posting, can write a decent sentence (and a whole decent post) and is humble enough to want to take advice that will benefit him.

This is sweet.

@OP - Grab an STC-1000 from ebay and a spare fridge. With your background it'll be like shelling peas to set up.

My only bit of advice pre-cherry poppin' - make sure your yeast packet isn't the 7g that comes with it. It's just not enough, it stresses the yeast out, produces off flavours and your beer is doomed from the start (well close enough). A good 12 grams is great, rehydrate in cooled boiled water.

Don't worry about gloves, I never did. Just wash and sanitise everything you touch and it'll be fine. In future, I'd suggest getting starsan, which is no-rinse and a helluva lot less nasty smelling than the usual sodium metabisulphate based cleaners.

Welcome aboard, AHB is the best brewing resource on the net with daylight to anything else.

Goomba

 

[seanokil]

Try adding some cascade hops into that brew! I recently made a similar brew with 25g i think. of cascade hops one of my best so far!! PS ditch the packet yeast from tin get some us-o5 yeast make a big difference

 

[Silo Ted]

Welcome aboard Robbo. Get ready for an addictive hobby !

Stick around and ask questions, and you'll be bombarded with information to guide you down the rocky road of amateur brewing.

+1 on doing a bit of reading first - there are always people to lend a hand, but the onus is on you to make yourself a better brewer as you progress.

 

[bowie in space]

Welcome aboard Robbo. For starters I'd ditch that shop. I too started there when I was living in Melbourne, but soon discovered Grain and Grape in Yarraville which was close for me, even if you don't live in the area it's well worth the trip to stock up on. Alternatively you can order stuff from Ross at craftbrewer and have it posted.

I used to use iodophor but found that Starsan is the go with sanitising. If your fermenter is new I'd just rinse it with hot water and a chux cloth, do not ever scour your fermenter or you'll risk bacteria building up in the little scratches you'll produce from scouring. I think from memory brewshield is the sanitiser so make sure you mix up a batch of this.

With Starsan I generally draw about 6ml from a syringe and fill fermenter with about 9 litres of warm water. Then I roll my fermenter on it's side in the bathtub and make sure each side gets a couple of minutes contact. Then I drain fermenter through the tap, no need to rinse this product. I used to do the same with iodophor but found that product a bit annoying because it tends to stain easily if you don't rinse it quickly.

After bottling or kegging your batch, make sure you clean the fermenter straight away again only with hot water and a clean chux cloth. Then let it dry, stash it somewhere clean and dry. When you want to use it again just rinse with hot water and starsan again. It's easy. If you're fementer has crap built up inside it then get some napisan, or similar. I keep a kilo of the ALDI brand napisan, but make sure you get the fragrance and enzyme free stuff, it's in a light blue container. Occasionally I use it if my fermenter, cubes, urn, etc have shit built up in them. If you really want to make sure the jobs is done you can also use PBW to clean gear but you alaays need a sanitiser like iodophor or starsan. It hurts throwing 23litres of beer down the sink.

I used to wear gloves but don't anymore. Make sure your hands and the surfaces you will work on are clean and you shouldn't have a problem. No need to rinse woth cool boiled water.

Best of luck, hopefully you can ditch the kits soon and go AG :chug:

Bowie

 

[ShredMaster]

Welcome Robbo!

You will be glad you joined, there is heaps of useful information on these forums and in the articles section. You are on the right track to brew decent beer and some of the posts in this thread are giving some great pointers. I'm still a relative newcomer here but I have learned the hard way about what not to do and thought I'd share a few points which helped me greatly change how well (or not) that I brew. This site has given me a whole new world of what beer brewing can do and how to make tasty beers.

In my opinion, there are 3 MOST IMPORTANT rules to follow with brewing beer, some of these are easy to learn yet hard to master...

First, clean clean clean some more and sanitise. Sanitise everything if you really want to. There is no 30-second-rule with brewing, if you drop your spoon on the floor then sanitise it again before attempting to stick it anywhere near your beer. In saying that, don't freak out over the tiniest discrepancy but generally speaking make sure you sanitise EVERYTHING that comes into contact with your beer. Personally I even use a spray bottle with fresh sanitiser and give the general area a spray before I start a ferment. I'm not totally anal about it and sometimes slip up a little but the idea is to minimise (think: elimintate eventually) anything which can possibly cause an infection in my beer while I'm making it.

Second, learn to keep your yeast happy. Keeping the fermentation temperature controlled is rather important (otherwise there are some wierd flavours which can end up in your beer). Different yeasts like different temperatures and different styles of beer may like different yeasts, you can get to that later down the track. For now, keep the rule that your yeast wants to be happy and work for you like a happy staff member, you don't want to be the abusive boss who upsets your yeast and makes them do bad things to the product as revenge. Take the advice of ditching the can packets of yeast and buy some fresh US-05 or similar and keep it in the fridge. The best thing I ever did was to learn more about yeast, how it works and what makes it do naughty things. I'm currently waiting for my fermentation fridge to arrive and am currently brewing in a wierdo cooler/esky/thinggy which I have to top up with ice morning and night but it can stay around 18'c most of the time, not ideal but workable at the moment.

Thirdly, the golden rule of any production line, especially food products : shit in = shit out. Bad, cheap, poorly handled ingredients make for bad, cheap, poor tasting beer. The better quality ingredients (think: freshest, least likely to expire) you can get increases your likelihood of making better quality beer. I know yeast likes to be refridgerated and if I walk into a homebrew shop and see it sitting on a shelf out in the open (currently around 30'c ambient temp) then I will NOT buy it and head to a shop which keeps fresh yeast in the fridge. The can of goop I might want to buy is covered in 2cm of dust and has rust spots on the edges of the can and is on an awesome special $10 cheaper than any other can, same story, I'll leave it and either head elsewhere or buy a different tin.

I don't usually chime in with advice until I consider myself masterful enough to make great results regularly but I thought I'd pass on some timeless advice I was given which helped me stop making shitty beer.

Good luck mate!!

Cheers,
Shred.

 

[Rowy]

Welcome Robbo! I'm a noob to and have learnt heaps from this site they are a great bunch of blokes and seem genuinely interested in helping people like me and you. Mate from one newbie to another the best thing I've learnt is to rinse the bottles straight away after you have used them. It makes cleaning them for your batch soooooooooooooo much friggin easier. I did a comparison early up and christ it makes a difference!

 

[bignath]

+1 to welcoming you mate!

As others have said, it is very refreshing to hear a first post where the person has obviously thought through the process enough before jumping in.

You'll make beer man, and you'll have a ball doing it.

Keep the reading going, listen to the people who have usefull stuff to contribute, laugh along with the others and all will be sweet.

Sounds like your on the right track!

Nath

 

[Silo Ted]

Still at one post as of this entry, Robbo's going to shit himself when he sees the number of replies.

And so we suck another one into the cult :icon_cheers:

 

[Robbo_VIC]

Still at one post as of this entry, Robbo's going to shit himself when he sees the number of replies.

And so we suck another one into the cult :icon_cheers:

i've come back a few times and read a few replies but haven't had time to make a full reply yet... each visit is taking me longer to read the replies haha

 

[michael_aussie]

i have just the book for you .....

http://www.aussiehomebrewer.com/forum/inde...=59122&st=0

it comes highly recommended

 

[Feldon]

... then fill the fermenter a solution of Brewshield and leave everything in there for a while to sanitise. Then rinse with cool boiled water and get under way. Is that the right process?

Hi Robbo. No, not quite the right process. Brewshield is a hydrogen peroxide (H202) concentrate. You mix 30 ml of it to one litre of water to make a no rinse sanitising solution. But if you make up enough to fill your fermentor (30+ litres?) its going to cost you a fortune.

So instead, make up a litre of the Brewshield solution and put it in a spray pump, and spray the inside of your fermentor thoroughly to wet all surfaces (don't miss the threaded tap hole). And don't rinse it off. Sure, tip out any excess sitting on the bottom but leave the surface wet with the solution (H202 breaks down to just water and oxygen - no drama), and put your wort in and way you go.

 

[kymba]

as previously suggested - starsan, man! use it a 1.5ml / Litre. put it in a squirt bottle and spray the fk out of anything that is going near your beer, or that your beer is going into - provided it is clean before hand. apparently it is a yeast nutrient too

and sodium perc (basically unscented nappysan) for everything that needs a good soaking, but rinse it off afterwards as it leaves stuff a bit slimy

oh yeah, and robots you will need lots of robots. you will soon see

 

[Robbo_VIC]

@Goomba - thanks for the props, lets hope my head doesn't explode i like to see myself as mature (except when i'm watching Family Guy). Yeah i had a look at that controller and looks like a good option. Now to just hang around the local Whitegoods store for an old one being thrown out! From the reading i had done, I recall seeing a few things about not bothering with standard kit yeast. Might have to make another trip to the HBS if work sends me around that area.

@Seanokil - Is the Cascade hops a separate ingredient? Just as a clarification, the 1.7kg tins are basically a mix of Barley, Malt and Hops? And the process of AG is doing that step yourself?

@Bowie - What do you think the problems with Beercraft are? Yarraville is a bit out of my way, as i'm near Camberwell, but lucky i don't mind a bit of a drive (cars are my other hobby, but i'll make sure not to mix the 2 hobbies ). Thanks for the advice re cleaning/sanitising. I'll test the waters with the first brew and see how it all goes. Then i might have to get onto some Starsan given its mentioned a few times.

@Shred - Advice taken re cleaning. Should i look at what style of beers i'm going to make before going and buying a particular type of yeast? Or it looks like they're cheap enough that buying a few different types is not going to break the bank.

@Rowy - I read the immediate bottle cleaning tip somewhere else too and agree that that would be a must! Anything which makes life easier down the track is a good idea. I'll know I have a problem when i bottle a brew, then clean/sterilise, and get right on with another brew!

@other posters - cheers guys (and girls?) :beerbang:

My head hurts... and i can't even sit down with a beer to relax.... Had my tonsils out almost 2 weeks ago and it's still sore... Hopefully it better by the weekend as i'm off to the Little Creatures Brewery

 

[Robbo_VIC]

Hi Robbo. No, not quite the right process. Brewshield is a hydrogen peroxide (H202) concentrate. You mix 30 ml of it to one litre of water to make a no rinse sanitising solution. But if you make up enough to fill your fermentor (30+ litres?) its going to cost you a fortune.

So instead, make up a litre of the Brewshield solution and put it in a spray pump, and spray the inside of your fermentor thoroughly to wet all surfaces (don't miss the threaded tap hole). And don't rinse it off. Sure, tip out any excess sitting on the bottom but leave the surface wet with the solution (H202 breaks down to just water and oxygen - no drama), and put your wort in and way you go.

Cheers. Looks like i'll use this till its out then get onto the Starsan

 

[Robbo_VIC]

oh yeah, and robots you will need lots of robots. you will soon see

... I'd probably die of thirst before actually getting to enjoy the beer!

 

[Robbo_VIC]

i have just the book for you .....

http://www.aussiehomebrewer.com/forum/inde...=59122&st=0

it comes highly recommended

oh awesome!! Do i go in the lottery to win a guaranteed 1,000,000,000 pounds-sterling too? This day just keeps getting better and better

 

[Muscovy_333]

Welcome Robbo,

Ive only got a few months on you, but getting invoved in this forum has taken me from kit to partial to AG in a few months.
I find myself having a daily peak and learn something everyday from these guys & gals.

+1 on the stc-1000. Mine is in the post from China as we speak(e-bay), but temp control will be an issue leading into summer if you dont have a nice constant temp environment to look after your yeast.
I have found my best results keeping the ferment on the cooler side of 20C for my Ales

I'll let the masters educate you on the rest...just wanted to do my bit!

Musc

 

[Guysmiley54]

Temp control is very important. I like it beyond equalising the room temp to a consistent level... Fermentation itself is exothermic meaning that the process creates heat. A fermentation fridge with suitable probe is fantastic for absolute control over your fermentation temperatures