Complete Newbie To Brewing

[lukasfab]

Perth brewers would be able to advise you better, but are fresh wort kits available there?
As posted on another thread today, a fresh wort kit would give you virtually guaranteed good beer whilst allowing you to practice your "cold side" brewing skills.

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what does cold side brewing mean?
and no chill brew?

 

[freezkat]

what does cold side brewing mean?
and no chill brew?

no chill brew is when you take the hot wort and wait for it to cool down. Some folks use a sanitized hdpe 20L jerry-can or cc-cube, and stick it in the fridge...or just wait till it gets down to yeast pitching temp. This saves on the water bill. I deon't know if there is an advantage for flavor.

 

[lukasfab]

ah ok
cheers

 

[pimpsqueak]

what does cold side brewing mean?
and no chill brew?

He said "cold side" brewing skills.
What he is talking about is proper sanitation techniques and temperature control.

 

[.DJ.]

what does cold side brewing mean?

Cold side brewing is essentially any part of the brewing process that you do whilst the wort (unfermented beer) is cold/cool...

this part of the process is much more suseptible to infections and the like so you need to be super clean with anything that comes in contact with your beer...

 

[stux]

Cold side brewing is essentially any part of the brewing process that you do whilst the wort (unfermented beer) is cold/cool...

this part of the process is much more suseptible to infections and the like so you need to be super clean with anything that comes in contact with your beer...

And basically, its a good idea to work on / perfect your cold side skillz before you embark on the hot side (all-grain)

A good way to do this is to start with Fresh Wort Kits, which are 15/17/20L plastic bottles of high quality wort, which you essentially just add yeast to.

So you practise your yeast/santitation and other assorted "cold side" skills on the FWKs.

When you are making good high quality beer, then you might 'upgrade' to all-grain BIAB with No Chill

No Chill is a method of "cooling" the wort from boiling to pitching temperature where you don't actively cool it at all, its hot packed pasteurised wort. Its essentially how the Fresh Wort Kits are made, and you would essentially be making your own FWK at home.

Which dovetails nicely with learning the Cold Side Skillz with FWKs

 

[loikar]

I'm Soooooooo Proud!!

As Nick said, I think it was Nick.

Find a BIAB'er in Perth and hook up for a brew day.
You can spend days scanning these forums to find information you can get in minutes from attending a brew day.

Someone in Perth put your hand up and help this lad into a self funded beer addiction.

 

[loikar]

And basically, its a good idea to work on / perfect your cold side skillz before you embark on the hot side (all-grain)

SNIPPAGE

When you are making good high quality beer, then you might 'upgrade' to all-grain BIAB with No Chill

NO NO NO!

It makes no difference if it's a Tin of goop, a FWK or an All Grain brew, if the sanitation is up the ****, it'll turn out like the female toilets after a buffet dinner for the bulimia society.

wash everything out once, Clean everything twice, sanitise everything three times and he'll be fine for the cold side.
Keep his brew under 22 and above 16 and he'll be fine.

He want's to go BIAB, don't talk him out of it!.

 

[Strutter]

FWIW I have "fermented" 6 kits and then "brewed" 16 AG's. My worst 6 AG's shat all over my best kits.....

I think i read somewhere if you can make porridge you can brew beer

Every minute spent scrolling, lurking on this site helps you learn how to make beer.

EDIT: Just noticed that i'm now a kit master...feeling a little embarressed

 

[HeavyNova]

Definately go for BIAB!

Use Nick's 'all grain for $30' thread as a guide. Start with a simple recipe, kep everything clean as you can, put some effort into keeping the yeast happy (e.g. pitch enough yeast, keep them at the right temperature), let the brew ferment out completely and you'll be blown away at how good a beer you can make with a bit of grain and a few green flowers.

James from "Brewz 2 You" has recently announced that he's shutting up shop and has all of his stuff on sale. If you're in South Perth he's not that far from where you are. I'd pay him a visit, he's helpfull and will get you sorted with everything you need to get started and do a good job of it.

www.brewz2you.com.au

Good luck!

P.S. Probably wouldn't recommend making your own recipes just yet, but it's still worth checking out this program as it'll still help your understanding of the recipe and planning your brew day;

www.brewmate.net

It's free and made by a local guy from Vic Park.

 

[Strutter]

Definately go for BIAB!

Use Nick's 'all grain for $30' thread as a guide. Start with a simple recipe, kep everything clean as you can, put some effort into keeping the yeast happy (e.g. pitch enough yeast, keep them at the right temperature), let the brew ferment out completely and you'll be blown away at how good a beer you can make with a bit of grain and a few green flowers.

Nick's posts on BIAB got me going...No doubt many others as well...Read them..Try them..Then go your own way and make beer

EDIT: "no doubt" should read "without doubt"

 

[lukasfab]

thanks guys, i can see there are a lot of helpfull people on here so it will make life easier

i will be taking keithef33 offer on the bits he has and go from there

 

[manticle]

NO NO NO!

It makes no difference if it's a Tin of goop, a FWK or an All Grain brew, if the sanitation is up the ****, it'll turn out like the female toilets after a buffet dinner for the bulimia society.

And if you don't understand how to troubleshoot because you don't actually understand what happens during mashing, boiling, fermentation and conditioning, then you might reach the belief that AG, as the supposed pinnacle of homebrew is **** and buying beer is better.

That's the main reason for recommending people take their time. It's not because putting cracked grain in hot water is technically or physically hard. It's because there are some processes that take at least a bit of research to understand.

Jump in and have a go by all means but do some elementary research at the same time and either use or develop the ability to problem solve and think laterally. Oh no my mash is 62 instead of 67. Will it work? What should I do? Should I tip it? My airlock isn't bubbling?!? I think I popped a haemorrhoid??!! I'm out of toilet paper?! Do you have any milk?? WHAT AM I GOING TO DO WITH MY LIFE???!!?!?!?!?!

What's a mash?

 

[Malted]

What's a mash?

Tsk tsk tsk, too long playing with meads? Try this to get you going again: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mashing
And I thought I had dementia!

 

[manticle]

Aluminium gives you............??

what's an HLT??

 

[kelbygreen]

you can use your mash paddle if you run out of toilet paper lol.

 

[Malted]

Aluminium gives you............??

what's an HLT??

I can't remember what alumininium gives me.

A or AN? You know (and I have just learnt) that it is probably correct to say AN hlt. That doesn't make it right; it just looks whacky!

 

[malt_shovel]

thanks guys, i can see there are a lot of helpfull people on here so it will make life easier

i will be taking keithef33 offer on the bits he has and go from there

Keiffer33 will no doubt be at the WCB meeting on Monday, so kill two birds with one stone, grab some free gear and meet some beer freaks crew at the local club.

Seriously it is only a couple of hours out of your life and you might even be able to hook up a brew day with someone. Just bring a glass, and if you haven't a beer to bring along, no worries I will bring an extra bottle for ya!

TWOC have decent ingredients to get you going, and Roy is a good bloke, but if you want to wait until Monday, the crew at WCB may be able to source some other bits and bobs.

 

[manticle]

I can't remember what alumininium gives me.

A or AN? You know (and I have just learnt) that it is probably correct to say AN hlt. That doesn't make it right; it just looks whacky!

I just remembered! Aluminium gives me an hard-on.

 

[Malted]

I just remembered! Aluminium gives me an hard-on.

Stainless steel brewery bling does it for me...



I reckon that one really ought to be an A but I'm leaving the 'A vs An' alone as its doing my head in.