Complete Newbie To Brewing

[lukasfab]

hi guys

i used to get a beer allowance from work but with new managment that has stopped :angry:

anyway i thought i would finally give brewing my own a go, searching i came across this site and wow has it opened my eyes to it all.
i have never done any type of brewing what so ever so trying to learn some of the brewing lingo on here in the last 24hrs.

my first question for you guys is should i go straight into a mini-BIAB aposed to kit brewing? after reading Nicks $30 BIAB setup it sounds like i should just go for it.

apart from a pot and some cloth could you guys advise on what basics i will need to brew and where to get the stuff, is it cheaper to source on ebay?

how do you guys control the temp while its in the fermenter, espacially now that summer is on its way.
will a fridge go to 18deg or whatever is needed? you can get a cheap fridge from ebay for under$100

im in southern suburbs of Perth



thanks guys

 

[kelbygreen]

its up to you if you feel confident going straight to AG then go for it. Starting on kits is good as you only have to concentrate on the sanitation and fermentation side of things.

you will need a fermenter of course. (25lt water barrel from bunnings)
a cube if you want to no chill but its to easy to throw the pot in a sink. (bunnings) but you can go without
a good quality long spoon so you can stir the mash and wort.
silicone hose or a siphon to get wort out of the pot if you want to leave trub behind
some rope to hang the bag up or some sort of grate or something to put the bag on to drain.
some digital scales. You can get a dear set that will do upto 5kg in 1g increments. or I got a cheap kitchen set and a cheap jewelers set.
a bottling wand if you are bottling and bottles of coarse.
a capper if your bottling in glass
a fridge to ferment in
a stc1000 temp controller (ebay)
a heat pad or mat to hang in the fridge for winter (hooked upto the temp controller) but you can go without for 6 months now.

Oh you will want something to clean stuff with unscented napisan works heaps good just put about a cap full to a full fermenter and let it soak for a day no need to scrub the fermenter just rinse it well. Throw all your brewing gear and bottles in there so easy to clean
sanitiser starsan is good a bottle will last forever you only use 1.5ml per 1lt and only have to coat the area and its no rinse

umm all I can think of ATM sure there is heaps more

 

[Spork]

Personally I'd go straight to mini BIAB, because the beer is soooo much nicer than I made with kits. If you do kits, just do the cheap ones. Brewcraft are, IMO, a massive waste of money and make shite beers...

I'm assuming you already have or plan to buy a "basic kit", with fermenter, spoon, hydrometer etc.

Some of your other needs will depend on what comes with the kit. For example, coopers kits have enough bottles (plastic) and lids (screw top) to do a batch. Otherwise, you can buy plastic bottles, or start collecting glass ones, in which case you will need a bench capper and crown seals.

Some "no rinse sanitiser". Star-San is pretty popular. Brewshield is another common one.

Get a stockpot from Kmart or big W.

Get your swiss voile from spotlight, or a grain bag from Grain and Grape for <$10

Get a thermometer that measures to 110c. Someone had a link to cheap ones on here somewhere the other day.

Get a 'fridge from gumtree, the hard rubbish, anywhere. Should be < $50 for something decent.

Get the temperature controller from e-bay. STX-1000 will get delivered to you for anywhere from about $15-$30 depending who's selling them at the moment. Another $10-$20 and you have it wired up and ready to go. If your 'fridge will be outdoors you will probably need some form of heating too, although probably not over the warmer 1/2 of the year... There are whole threads on here devoted to different methods of heating. For me, here in Tassie, with the fridge outside, I use a 6 meter reptile warming wire. Others use aquarium heaters, heat belts, heat pads, incandescent lights.....

Of course, once you have all this, you will soon want to do full size BIAB's, or even set up a 3v system...

Enjoy your new hobby.

 

[chunckious]

I scoured garage sales and found a kit (fermenter/thermo/hydro/spoon/bottle brush) for $20. All in good nic.

 

[kelbygreen]

to true spork lol

I was only doing a AG BIAB batch here and there as it took to long and didnt have the time but it taste so good I made the time lol. Now I got a 70lt mashtun a 80lt pot and 50lt HLT lol. As I figured if I spend a hour longer doing a double then I am further infront instead of 2 5 hour days lol

Yeah forgot the thermometer pretty important lol.

 

[flano]

.and yet nobody has mentioned this bit..

i used to get a beer allowance from work but with new managment that has stopped

 

[mattyoz]

i agree where has the old management gone? should track them down for a job

i have my $50 fridge from ebay plugged into a controller from TWOC in bibra lake, but i'm going to change it over to a fridgemate controller from craftbrewer,

i went from 1 kit straight into full AG, much more enjoyable results

 

[malt_shovel]

hi guys

i used to get a beer allowance from work but with new managment that has stopped :angry:

anyway i thought i would finally give brewing my own a go, searching i came across this site and wow has it opened my eyes to it all.
i have never done any type of brewing what so ever so trying to learn some of the brewing lingo on here in the last 24hrs.

my first question for you guys is should i go straight into a mini-BIAB aposed to kit brewing? after reading Nicks $30 BIAB setup it sounds like i should just go for it.

apart from a pot and some cloth could you guys advise on what basics i will need to brew and where to get the stuff, is it cheaper to source on ebay?

how do you guys control the temp while its in the fermenter, espacially now that summer is on its way.
will a fridge go to 18deg or whatever is needed? you can get a cheap fridge from ebay for under$100

im in southern suburbs of Perth



thanks guys

Hey Lucasfab,

West Coast Brewers, is a brewclub in Perth that is meeting this Monday night 7:30pm. Click on the link in my signature to take you to the website where you will find the address details.

There are all manner of brewers in our group ranging from BIAB , extract, 3V, gravity, HERMS etc, that you can get an idea of what people are up to and make an informed decision. And you get to drink the beer!

in my opinion, the things which put off most new homebrewers is mainly a result of poor fermentation conditions and using really old ingredients. This is not limited to extract / kit-kilo either. So if I was telling my best friend how to invest in starting up with homebrewing, i would recommend fermentation temp control (as described by others above, fridge with external temp controller) and get the freshest ingredients possible (other homebrewers can help identify where to get these - sponsors above are a great start). The decision to go extract vs kits vs partial vs all grain will rest on your shoulders. I guarantee that if you look after fermentation temps and use fresh ingredients, you will make great beer straight off.

Hope you can make it on Monday.
Cheers
:beer:

 

[Nick JD]

+1

Find yourself a Mentor and shower them with high quality imported beers while trailing them on brewday with a notepad and paper.

There are many things you need to learn to make great beer, but only 3 things things to learn to make drinkable beer:

1.) Cleanliness and sanitisation.

2.) Fermentation temperature control.

3.) Freshest ingredients.

Sounds like you have most of this stuff sorted already.

 

[Bribie G]

I went into brewing about 3 years ago to make alcopops (alcoholic ginger beer etc) and one day I got a tin of Coopers Stout, and that was the start of it. I just bought a fermenter and airlock from a home brew shop, and collected a heap of soft drink PET bottles. I picked up the rest a bit at a time, didn't even have a hydrometer for the first six months.

As said, the major thing is sanitation, sanitation sanitation. Followed by temperature control. Personally I'd do a couple of tins first to get the hang of fermenting and bottling - something fairly inoffensive such as a tin of Coopers Lager, a pack of Brew Enhancer 2 and maybe a sachet of US-05 yeast and see how you get on, while you are collecting your other bits.

This time of year in Perth you should be ok for temperature. In a garage I reckon you'd average around 17 - 19 degrees at the moment as it's fairly similar to what we were getting last month in SEQ.
Give you time to sort out a fridge.

 

[keifer33]

Happy to help you out mate with a few bits and pieces. I've got a thermometer, a voile bag (made for an esky but will suit 19lt pot) and a 30lt fermenter (needs a clean as was last used for ginger beer) . Most of the stuff you will need is listed above in previous posts.

Drop me a pm if your interested.

 

[lukasfab]

thanks guys all really helpfull suggestion there

i have absolutely nothing as yet, thought i would do some research before getting into something for once.
so should i just get one of these kits ( http://www.homebru.com.au/index.php?main_p...;products_id=23 ) to start with or will it be cheaper to get bunnings water barrel as mentioned then adapt a airlock and fit a tap and get the hydrometer and thermometer seperate?

 

[lukasfab]

one of you mentioned that i would still need some sort of heating? please explain, if you have a fridge that has temp control why do you need heat? sorry if that a noob question. i will most likely keep the fridge indoors at work(use there power )

 

[lukasfab]

Hey Lucasfab,

West Coast Brewers, is a brewclub in Perth that is meeting this Monday night 7:30pm. Click on the link in my signature to take you to the website where you will find the address details.

There are all manner of brewers in our group ranging from BIAB , extract, 3V, gravity, HERMS etc, that you can get an idea of what people are up to and make an informed decision. And you get to drink the beer!

in my opinion, the things which put off most new homebrewers is mainly a result of poor fermentation conditions and using really old ingredients. This is not limited to extract / kit-kilo either. So if I was telling my best friend how to invest in starting up with homebrewing, i would recommend fermentation temp control (as described by others above, fridge with external temp controller) and get the freshest ingredients possible (other homebrewers can help identify where to get these - sponsors above are a great start). The decision to go extract vs kits vs partial vs all grain will rest on your shoulders. I guarantee that if you look after fermentation temps and use fresh ingredients, you will make great beer straight off.

Hope you can make it on Monday.
Cheers
:beer:

cheers mate, i will see how i go for Monday but if not then next time

 

[Bribie G]

Really, apart from the beer ingredients and the hydrometer, the only useful thing you are getting out of the TWOC deal is the fermenter and airlock and tap. The stick-on thermometers are fairly useless and likewise the hand capping tool - I'd go Keifer's second hand fermenter and bits, and give it a good sanitise. Then if you need a second fermenter just buy the fermenter. And get a simple fridge thermometer.

The idea of applying heat is if you get a prolonged cold spell and need to bump the brew up from, say 14 degrees to 18. However is that likely to be a problem in Perth? Even in SEQ we get runs of 8 degree nights like you have currently in Puth but I've never needed to get a heat belt or pad. If you do get freak weather next year you can always still use the fridge - switched off - and tuck the brew to bed with a hot water bottle.
However now it's spring I'd forget all about that till next year.

 

[lukasfab]

I went into brewing about 3 years ago to make alcopops (alcoholic ginger beer etc) and one day I got a tin of Coopers Stout, and that was the start of it. I just bought a fermenter and airlock from a home brew shop, and collected a heap of soft drink PET bottles. I picked up the rest a bit at a time, didn't even have a hydrometer for the first six months.

As said, the major thing is sanitation, sanitation sanitation. Followed by temperature control. Personally I'd do a couple of tins first to get the hang of fermenting and bottling - something fairly inoffensive such as a tin of Coopers Lager, a pack of Brew Enhancer 2 and maybe a sachet of US-05 yeast and see how you get on, while you are collecting your other bits.

This time of year in Perth you should be ok for temperature. In a garage I reckon you'd average around 17 - 19 degrees at the moment as it's fairly similar to what we were getting last month in SEQ.
Give you time to sort out a fridge.

maybe i should do a tin brew first up as you say, but i dont want to be left with shit tasting beer
is the method you recommended there good tasting?

will put a thermometer in the garage and see what we get


cheers

 

[Nick JD]

...maybe i should do a tin brew first up as you say...

Mate, to be honest, if the Internets had've existed in 1988 when I started making crap Kit beer, I would not have made crap Kit beer for twenty years.

Please, use the elevator.

 

[lukasfab]

haha yeah mate your right

 

[Bribie G]

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.

 

[Thefatdoghead]

hi guys

i used to get a beer allowance from work but with new managment that has stopped :angry:

anyway i thought i would finally give brewing my own a go, searching i came across this site and wow has it opened my eyes to it all.
i have never done any type of brewing what so ever so trying to learn some of the brewing lingo on here in the last 24hrs.

my first question for you guys is should i go straight into a mini-BIAB aposed to kit brewing? after reading Nicks $30 BIAB setup it sounds like i should just go for it.

apart from a pot and some cloth could you guys advise on what basics i will need to brew and where to get the stuff, is it cheaper to source on ebay?

how do you guys control the temp while its in the fermenter, espacially now that summer is on its way.
will a fridge go to 18deg or whatever is needed? you can get a cheap fridge from ebay for under$100

im in southern suburbs of Perth



thanks guys

I only started All grain a few months ago. I bought a book called "the complete joy of homebrewing" by charli Papazian which helped me understand all the basic stuff and a little bit of the tech stuff not much but basically all the processes of KaK/partials and all grain. One of the biggest helps was this website as so many people on here are willing to hand over there info and experience.
I bought a program for brewing called Beer tools pro and it made everything so much easier. How much water to use with grain what temps and laying out recipes etc. But you came to the right place here because a lot of guys know there shit on here.