Can I avoid....

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goomboogo said:
I was under the impression this won't work very well for chloramine. Chlorine may be removed this way but chloramine would require filtering or treatment with something like campden tablets or an equivalent.
The use of UV for chlorine or chloramine removal is an established technology that has been widely accepted in pharmaceutical, beverage, and dialysis applications. Ultraviolet light is also used at aquatic facilities

Its from Wikipedia so it must be true!
 
1012 is a relatively high final gravity, and that could be the 'thickness' you are tasting.

I like a 'chewy' beer myself, but also very dry 1008 beers

Re kit twang. I taste it in almost all kit beers which haven't been extra hopped or had extra grains added

Once you have sanitation and temperature control worked out I usually recommend people try a FWK to compare an all-grain wort against an extract.

If you can't tell the difference, lucky you, if you can, better look into BIAB ;)
 
Where are you Bax? Would be happy to share some brews with you to see if you can taste similar issues with other kit and/or extract brews. I have a sneaking suspicion some people (super tasters?) are more able to taste things than others. I'm quite happy to have someone tell me they can taste "extract twang" in my brews, 'coz I certainly can't.....that would at least give me peace of mind that it's just something my palette can't pick up.

I even sent a couple of my brews into Beerfest for judging to see what an expert judge thinks. Although admittedly they're full extract with 60 min boil and my own hop additions. Bum at least differentiated above by calling it "kit twang" rather than "extract twang" as it's been called many other times. Many people seem to believe any brew done with malt extract will cause this 'twang'.
 
Stux said:
1012 is a relatively high final gravity, and that could be the 'thickness' you are tasting.

I like a 'chewy' beer myself, but also very dry 1008 beers

Re kit twang. I taste it in almost all kit beers which haven't been extra hopped or had extra grains added

Once you have sanitation and temperature control worked out I usually recommend people try a FWK to compare an all-grain wort against an extract.

If you can't tell the difference, lucky you, if you can, better look into BIAB ;)
It's a great experiment for someone who can taste "twang" in a kit. Although I'd prefer an extra step in there....try an unhopped extract brew using the "late extract addition" method, 60 minute boil with your own hop additions to see if you can still taste a twang. Actually do that twice...the first time with a partial boil (I do 10 litre boils) topped up with tap water....then another brew with full boil. See if there's any difference....that'll rule unboiled water out of the equation. I did this recently, brewed a Pale Ale using a 10 litre boil (actually down to under 9 litres with boil off), then another Pale Ale where I fermented only the boil, no topping off at all. I can't taste any difference between the two other than that related to the different hopping I had to do due to the different volumes. So I've now done no boil, partial boil and full boil, and all taste great to me. But I've never tasted 'twang' so it doesn't really help.
 
One of the things with full boil extracts, is why bother, you're most of the way to all grain anyway, time wise

Could save a lot of money on your extracts and end up with ag beer

What's your cost per batch these days carnie?

Edit: not trying to be the guy screaming BIAB in a kit forum, but it is my solution to the limitations of kit brewing. Jaypes can scream it ;)
 
Edit: not trying to be the guy screaming BIAB in a kit forum, but it is my solution to the limitations of kit brewing. Jaypes can scream it ;)
Me too? BIAB all the way :ph34r:
 
And I suspect I am a super taster, planning on taking the test one day

Anyway, in a quest to make a beer I'm happy with I've done pretty much everything except build a 3V

Swapping sugar for the dextrose then malt etc, temperature control, biab, yeast propogation and finally pure 02

Happy now ;)

The 02 seems to have been the final missing ingrediant

I can make clones of commercial brews which can not be differentiated, or if they can, they're better.

Been a goal of mine since '95

Now I'm building a 3V to make triple batches easier. It's like kegging, kegging makes brewing easier, not better
 
I read about that there is a product for negating home brew sediment,effective but pricey.Look at the Sed-ex site.
 
jaypes said:
The use of UV for chlorine or chloramine removal is an established technology that has been widely accepted in pharmaceutical, beverage, and dialysis applications. Ultraviolet light is also used at aquatic facilities

Its from Wikipedia so it must be true!

Leaving the water overnight allows chlorine to come out of solution as long as it is at least 20 deg C. While UV may remove chloramines, leaving a fermenter overnight won't replicate UV applications referred to above and effective removal will require a different method (campden or RO filtering as suggested).

Depends a little on where you are Bax as to whether your water is treated with chloramines or chlorine.
 
Stux said:
1012 is a relatively high final gravity, and that could be the 'thickness' you are tasting.

I like a 'chewy' beer myself, but also very dry 1008 beers

Re kit twang. I taste it in almost all kit beers which haven't been extra hopped or had extra grains added

Once you have sanitation and temperature control worked out I usually recommend people try a FWK to compare an all-grain wort against an extract.

If you can't tell the difference, lucky you, if you can, better look into BIAB ;)
Thanks, I'm still not quite up to speed with a lot of things, predicting where FG and OG should be is one of those things. It had stalled at 1016 for about 5 days before finally coming down and stabilsing at 1012. I suspect some of the kit may have settled on the bottom. OG seemed low at 1038.

And you'll have to forgive me, FWK? I'll have to have another look at the acronyms.

carniebrew said:
Where are you Bax?
Up in Rockhampton, a guy at work brews, and I've been meaning to get him around to have a few samples and see what he thinks. I don't think he's done any brewing for a while so I can't taste any of his to compare.

All grain will happen, I know it's only a matter of time. I just want to know what I'm doing with kits before I make the progression.
 
Stux said:
One of the things with full boil extracts, is why bother, you're most of the way to all grain anyway, time wise

Could save a lot of money on your extracts and end up with ag beer

What's your cost per batch these days carnie?

Edit: not trying to be the guy screaming BIAB in a kit forum, but it is my solution to the limitations of kit brewing. Jaypes can scream it ;)
Fair question, happy to discuss. I bought my current extract in 15kg containers from G&G when they had their 20% off sale late last year. I got the Briess CBW Golden Light and their Bavarian Wheat LME. $68 each, so $4.50 per kilo. I also bought a 5kg bag of CBW's Sparkling Amber DME as I use that extract a lot less. I use around 3kg of LME per batch, and a few hundred grams of steeped grain. So maybe $15-$18 worth of extract/grain. From then on I believe the cost of making a batch is exactly the same as AG/BIAB, with hops/finings/yeast etc. Call it $25 a batch, or around $10 a slab. About $1.25 a litre?

As for why bother....it's only because I'm happy with my result, and the simplicity of extract brewing. It suits my partial boil method of making beer to a T. Add 1.3kg of extract to my 10 litres of water at the start of the boil, the rest just before flameout. Chill quickly in an ice bath (I don't cube), into the fermenter, top up and pitch yeast.

EDIT: Actually here's a post I did on this back in December, comparing the cost of bulk extract based brews to AG: http://aussiehomebrewer.com/topic/69468-got-a-cidery-taste-doh/page-2#entry980575. It worked out to something like $4 a batch cheaper to do AG, not counting any equipment costs.

I'm not arguing that BIAB is all that much more complex. I just haven't found a reason to bother, extract brewing works fine for me. Full boil is another matter, I currently don't have a heat source capable of boiling more than about 10 litres, nor a kettle to do it in. Nor do I own an immersion chiller or any cubes for no chill. All problems easily enough fixed...but again....loving my home brew so just haven't gone there...and may never bother. But I've learned to never say never...

EDIT AGAIN: And this is the other problem....how do partial boilers do BIAB? Late extract addition solves this problem for extract brewers. What do BIAB brewers do for full batches with only a partial boil?
 
FWK = Fresh Wort Kit.

All grain wort, packaged in a cube and sold as a kit as you just add yeast (or a few litres of water and yeast in some cases).
 
Bax said:
And you'll have to forgive me, FWK? I'll have to have another look at the acronyms.
FWK is "Fresh Wort Kit", some home brew shops sell 15 or 20 litre containers with 'fresh wort' in them made from an all grain mash/boil/hop process...the idea being you pour it into your fermenter, top up with a few litres of water (if you want) and pitch your yeast. A little pricey (FWK is about $40 IIRC), but easy way to get an AG home brew without doing any brewing....
 
Ahh thanks, I don't think my local has them.

Next time I'm in there getting some yeast I'll ask if they can get them. If I'm paying 40 dollars though I'd probably be more inclined to just buy a carton off the shelf.

So what should I make next? It's bloody hot up here lately, so something light is what I'm leaning towards.
 
$40 might get you a carton of stubbies which is around 8-9 litres

the $40 FWK will make you 21-23 litres
 
jaypes said:
BIAB all the way
So Jaypes, given Stux has dobbed you in as the BIAB spokesperson....how do you do BIAB with a partial boil?
 
carniebrew said:
So Jaypes, given Stux has dobbed you in as the BIAB spokesperson....how do you do BIAB with a partial boil?
That was edit trickery ;)

Anyway, if you have a small boil pot. You can do Maxi-BIAB.

That will get you say a 20L brew out of a 15L pot.

But you can always make up the missing gravity with some extract + water. Or alternatively... brew less volume ;)

The point is to try ag wort, then try a mini-biab, then if you like ag and biab, try upgrade.

So, 40$ for a FWK is not 40$ for a beer.. its 40$ for the chance to try ag wort and see if you like it.

And you get the cube that you can use later too, a 10-15$ value.

Then using a 15-20L pot you can use on a stove you can make 10-15L of all-grain beer... easily. Just takes 4$ of voile from spotlight. no sewing even required! no chiller required... just put the pot in the laundry sink and surround with cooling water.

http://aussiehomebrewer.com/topic/44264-20l-stovetop-all-grain-aussie-lager/

Then if you want you can add a bucket and make 20-23L batches with a bit of extra dicking around to do a sparge and post-boil dilution

And if after that, you want to have less dicking about... then get a larger pot + heat source (or a 40L urn)

Its the progression, and about getting where you want to be with minimal investment before deciding to take it to the next level

and if you're like me, then you get a 100L pot so you can do triple batches... and then upgrade to a 3V because lifting 25KG of wet grain gets old ;)

no equipment gets left behind though ;)

BTW, my old single batch biab brew days were 4 hours. My batch cost is 12-20$/keg, including gas and yeast
 
carniebrew said:
Not of anything worth drinking though....
Oettinger?

Got a box of 500mL cans from dirty Dan's not long ago for about 35 clams. Not the best German beer in the world, but definitely worth drinking.
 

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