Sneddy
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- Joined
- 26/9/10
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Hey All.
First off I should introduce myself, my name is Marc, and I've just started to home brew with a hand-me-down kit (2 fermenters, 3 kits, 180 bottles and all the other bits and pieces). I used to brew back when I was 15 at a friends house, but back then brewing was about making alcohol rather than beer... Now (over 10 years later) I'm starting from scratch to learn how to make myself a decent (albeit cheap) beer. The plan is to one day move into an all grain set up - as when I take a new hobby I usually immerse myself in it.
I've been reading this forum for ages and have found it a great resource, so thanks to everyone for the information on here.
I just have a couple of questions which I have been having trouble searching through the theads for an answer.
- Talking to someone I know who brews, he tells me that after fermentation has finished, I should leave the brew sitting in the primary fermenter for another 2 or 3 weeks to let the beer mature. Otherwise I will get some "off" flavours in my beer. From what I can remember and from what I've read I should actually be priming and bottling once the final gravity is stable around 1000-1010ish. I understand about using a secondary to mature in (and run the risk of oxidising the beer) but both my fermenters are in use, and with the first kits I just wanted to get the basics down before getting more technical. So who is right - being my first brews I'm obviously suffering from noobie paranoia so talking to him has made this paranoia flare...
- Also, I plan on bulk priming, is there a type of sugar I should be looking to get, or is white/brown/raw table sugar okay for priming? I've read that you don't want to use it for the first fermentation, but I haven't seen anything what about priming sugar to use.
- For my first brews (I have 2 running at once) I have a Tooheys Lager and a Draught, but used Ale yeast for both (they came with the kit and were out of date, so I just picked up some fresh yeast which happened to be Ale yeast). Will an Ale yeast in the Lager extract create a shitty beer? Also, the sugar I used was 1kg coopers brew enhancer in the Draught, and 500grams (generic) maltodextrin in the Lager. I only used 500g because that was all that was given to me in the hand me down... Will using 500g simply just create a weaker alcohol content - or have I completely stuffed up the lager.
- Water. For my first brews I'm just using Sydney tap water - but the water around my area has a distinct alkaline taste to it (has ever since the Desal plant went active). Should I be trying to source different water for my next couple of brews. I would have thought that water would be a pretty important factor to making a good beer. What should I do. I have access to tank water at a friends property in the mountains (which is lovely and sweet). If I get it, boil, and charcoal filter it would that be better to use instead of tap water?
Thanks in advance for all your help! And sorry if my lingo isn't up to scratch yet. So much info to take in as a beginner.
Marc
First off I should introduce myself, my name is Marc, and I've just started to home brew with a hand-me-down kit (2 fermenters, 3 kits, 180 bottles and all the other bits and pieces). I used to brew back when I was 15 at a friends house, but back then brewing was about making alcohol rather than beer... Now (over 10 years later) I'm starting from scratch to learn how to make myself a decent (albeit cheap) beer. The plan is to one day move into an all grain set up - as when I take a new hobby I usually immerse myself in it.
I've been reading this forum for ages and have found it a great resource, so thanks to everyone for the information on here.
I just have a couple of questions which I have been having trouble searching through the theads for an answer.
- Talking to someone I know who brews, he tells me that after fermentation has finished, I should leave the brew sitting in the primary fermenter for another 2 or 3 weeks to let the beer mature. Otherwise I will get some "off" flavours in my beer. From what I can remember and from what I've read I should actually be priming and bottling once the final gravity is stable around 1000-1010ish. I understand about using a secondary to mature in (and run the risk of oxidising the beer) but both my fermenters are in use, and with the first kits I just wanted to get the basics down before getting more technical. So who is right - being my first brews I'm obviously suffering from noobie paranoia so talking to him has made this paranoia flare...
- Also, I plan on bulk priming, is there a type of sugar I should be looking to get, or is white/brown/raw table sugar okay for priming? I've read that you don't want to use it for the first fermentation, but I haven't seen anything what about priming sugar to use.
- For my first brews (I have 2 running at once) I have a Tooheys Lager and a Draught, but used Ale yeast for both (they came with the kit and were out of date, so I just picked up some fresh yeast which happened to be Ale yeast). Will an Ale yeast in the Lager extract create a shitty beer? Also, the sugar I used was 1kg coopers brew enhancer in the Draught, and 500grams (generic) maltodextrin in the Lager. I only used 500g because that was all that was given to me in the hand me down... Will using 500g simply just create a weaker alcohol content - or have I completely stuffed up the lager.
- Water. For my first brews I'm just using Sydney tap water - but the water around my area has a distinct alkaline taste to it (has ever since the Desal plant went active). Should I be trying to source different water for my next couple of brews. I would have thought that water would be a pretty important factor to making a good beer. What should I do. I have access to tank water at a friends property in the mountains (which is lovely and sweet). If I get it, boil, and charcoal filter it would that be better to use instead of tap water?
Thanks in advance for all your help! And sorry if my lingo isn't up to scratch yet. So much info to take in as a beginner.
Marc