Christmas Brew

[Count]

Hey guys,

So I am in the early stages of reading, deciding on equipment etc before I brew my first beer.

While I don't expect that it will be fantastic, I was wondering...how long do I have to get my butt into gear to have a homebrewed beer ready for Christmas / Boxing day?

Cheers,
:beer:

 

[kunfaced]

bottle or keg?

 

[kunfaced]

as far as style, american cream ales are easy to make and fast fermenters. They usually clear up nice with minimal effort. for bottles you should be look at minimum 3 weeks, cause you want to make sure you achieve the right FG, or you could end up with bombs at xmas time. If kegging, from grain to glass can be achieved in about 9 days.

 

[NikZak]

Depends on how good you want it to be.

Assuming you're bottling, if you started now with an Ale yeast, let it ferment for 10 days or until it reached final gravity and bottled it soon thereafter, you'd have a decent beer for sure by Christmas (6 weeks conditioning should be enough)

If you started at the start of December even, you'd probably still have something half decent.

My American Pale ale from extract was awesome after 2 weeks in the bottle and now at 6 weeks is utterly amazing just for reference. That also being said, so have all my other beers I've made, after two weeks, they're great, 6 weeks amazing

 

[kunfaced]

Christmas is about 6 weeks from today.

 

[Blind Dog]

Depends on beer brewed. Plenty of beers can be brewed grain to brain in 2-3 weeks (plus a week or so if bottling rather than kegging) and be pretty tasty, but generally take longer the higher the alcohol and / or hop levels. For example a 4% English bitter can easily fall into the 2-3 week category (or less if you're really in a hurry), but a 10% Old Ale can easily take a year or two to hit its straps and even then many might think it too young.

If you're keen to have beer for guests at Christmas, I wouldn't leave it much longer. Beer generally improves with some aging, stays at peak for a while if handled correctly and then starts to deteriorate. The sweet spot for each again being fairly dependent on the ABV and complexity - using the examples above, the bitter is likely to be at peak from about 6 weeks to 3+ months, whilst the Old Ale might continue to improve for 5+ years (if handled correctly).

Unless you're filtering, or using a particularly attenuative yeast, darker and/or cloudier styles generally suit short turnaround times better than pale, sparkling clear styles like many lagers or Kolsch.

 

[Dave70]

Honestly, if it were me doing a first time brew to be dispensed to the masses, I'd be going for something like a APA in fresh wort kit from a good supplier. No muss, no fuss.
Do it this weekend and you'll have plenty of time up your sleeve to ferment, package, carb and condition. Keep it simple and get a feel for the process.
Plus you'll be less likely to embarrass yourself and spoil everyones Christmas by serving up a shit beer.

 

[Count]

Thanks for the info guys.
Presently I have no gear and from reading the posts I clearly still have pretty well bugger all idea what I'm getting into.
I'm brewing for myself more than guests at Christmas, may have the brother down for a few days but he barely looks away from commercial lagers so wouldn't know if I served him a good beer or an average one.

I'm guessing for cost I will be bottling, and as for style I would prefer to drink something like a pale ale or IPA.

I'm all for starting simple, but I'm also mindful of long term... I would like to brew all grain (perhaps not right away) and don't want to buy a heap of gear that will quickly become obsolete.

But again.
Baby steps, I need to learn the process first...

 

[Danscraftbeer]

I recommend drinking Coopers Longnecks getting started. To save some glass bottles and a perfect basic good drinking example closest to home brew that you can buy and drink soon. Fridge for 2 days will be cloudy and clear after a week (like home brew). Pet bottles are an excellent option too. Better than glass in ways. Easy to buy. Perfect to then brew your own kit can of Coopers Pale Ale and compare it. All sanitary measures understood to begin with. That's the first key. The thing that hooked me into brewing is that the home brew version was always better for me than the shelf product. Then your hooked. Try that with any brand. Experiment extract brews, colors, flavors, All grain brewing and now I'm up to brew 127. :beerbang:

 

[Dave70]

Thanks for the info guys.
Presently I have no gear and from reading the posts I clearly still have pretty well bugger all idea what I'm getting into.
I'm brewing for myself more than guests at Christmas, may have the brother down for a few days but he barely looks away from commercial lagers so wouldn't know if I served him a good beer or an average one.

I'm guessing for cost I will be bottling, and as for style I would prefer to drink something like a pale ale or IPA.

I'm all for starting simple, but I'm also mindful of long term... I would like to brew all grain (perhaps not right away) and don't want to buy a heap of gear that will quickly become obsolete.

But again.
Baby steps, I need to learn the process first...

Virtually nothing will become obsolete. The same hydrometer used for a K & K brew works perfectly well for gueuze.
I keg, but generally do 25L batches so I've always got a few bottles on hand in the event of a crisis. Same bottles and capper I've had since I began - less a few grenades.
Thats why theres a good argument for buying top shelf gear if you can stretch to it.
A stainless fermenter for example is an pricy piece of kit to be sure, but it will last a (brewing) lifetime. Plus they hold their value like a Landcruiser if you ever decide to liquidate.
Stainless steel is like meth and porn rolled into one shiny packager for homebrewers.

 

[Mardoo]

Call me old skool but it's copper that gets me going.

 

[mofox1]

Baby steps, I need to learn the process first...

Can't recommend a fresh wort kit enough. It's a 15 or 20L water container of pre-made wort (unfermented beer). Plenty of pale ale or ipa options to choose from. Grab yourself some good yeast (ie US-05) and some fresh hops to toss into the fermenter (at yeast pitching time, or after the ferment starts finishing up, up to you).

This should get you through the process part of fermenting beer: cleaning, sanitising, pitching, waiting, testing, cleaning, sanitising & bottling. If you've caught the bug after that you've got a huge range of brewing methods to choose from.

Most gear that you need for your first (and all subsequent) batches can usually be bought as a kit from your local homebrew shop. This includes the fermenter with a tap, hydrometer, thermometer, cleaning and sanitizing agents... Etc. Will often come with ingredients for a kit & kilo brew (can of extract + kilo of sugars) and bottles etc as well. Should be well under the $100 mark.

A lot of questions will have been answered on the forum before, but if you can't find what you are after, ask, ask, ask away.

 

[hwall95]

In regards to bottles easy way to obtain them is go to a local bar. If you have any bars that sell craft beer around they're usually great as they have lots brown pop tops bottles and they usually serve them in a glass as well. They're also most likely pop tops which are less annoying to bottle then twist tops imo. Once collected double rinse them in water and then soak them in a Napisan/Cheap Woolworths knockoff (unscented). The soapy solution will help get all the labels off as well. Double rinse and then store them somewhere for use. When you need to use them just sanitise them and your good to go.

You'll get a range of sizes of bottles but if you bulk-prime (look that up when you come to it) it shouldn't be an issue.

Get caps from Woolworths. 100 pack of gold home brand one generally cost $3 and same quality as homebrew shops.

Fresh wort kits are great! Be clean, sanitary and ferment at the correct temperature and you'll be pumping at beer at the same quality you'd buy it for. If I were you I would be aiming to get it organized soon as you would want the beer in the bottle two weeks min before you drink it and Christmas is getting closer fast

 

[danestead]

I 3rd (4th?) doing a fresh wort kit.

Am I out of line suggesting that PET is probably best bottling in for a first timer? I and other first timers probably had less than perfect sanitation processes and probably rushed beer into bottles rather than let them fully ferment. That's a recipe for disaster in glass if you ask me. Also, the PET bottles will be reused plenty of times and you don't need to buy a bottle capper.

 

[mstrelan]

+1 for FWK and PET bottles. Get an old fridge off Gumtree and buy a temp controller.

 

[mongey]

Another vote for fresh wort kit. My first 5 or 6 beers were FWK's and they all turned out great beers. Let's you get your head around the fermenting process.

 

[Count]

Loads of good tips, so thanks guys.

I like the sound of a fresh wort kit, and having a glance online cheeky peak sell them so I'll be able to get my hands on one without much fuss (I think) just need to put together the remainder of my shopping list. First being a 2nd hand fridge and temp controller.

The fwk's cheeky peak sell are 22L, does that mean I'll be making approx 30L of beer? Thus I'll need a large pot to boil + a relatively large fermenter?

 

[Barge]

Fwk's don't need to be boiled. They were boiled and hops were added and then transferred into the plastic drum. All you need to do is transfer into a fermenter and add yeast. Some kits are recommended to be diluted with water (e.g. 15L kit diluted to 20L in fermenter). Ask cheaky peak when you buy one.

 

[Count]

Fwk's don't need to be boiled. They were boiled and hops were added and then transferred into the plastic drum. All you need to do is transfer into a fermenter and add yeast. Some kits are recommended to be diluted with water (e.g. 15L kit diluted to 20L in fermenter). Ask cheaky peak when you buy one.

Ah.
Well that makes life rather easy doesn't it!!

 

[Barge]

Ah.
Well that makes life rather easy doesn't it!!

Certainly does. It lets you get a handle on fermenting, sanitising, temp control knowing that the beer is well made and should taste good.

If cheaky peak is close to you, you could drop in and have a chat. I'm sure they would set you up with a 30L fermenter amd anything else you would need to get started.