finally there

[country_brewer]

Hi everyone,

Well, I'm finally gearing up to start my foray into all grain brewing. After doing kit and kilo's, then partials for years, I had gotten most of my stuff together ready to start AG a few years ago, then I moved from Melbourne out west of Horsham, and basically went back to supermarket brews as the availability of fresh ingredients, or any ingredients really, is fairly rare out here. After some fairly extensive reading over the last few weeks, and getting well and truly bored of crap beer, I am now back to where I was before I left Melbourne.
Before the move I had acquired a couple of dis-used kegs ready to convert to boiler and mash tun, now that I have decided to go with BIAB instead, I had this theory that I can use one as a boiler/mash tun, (electric element inside vessel ok?), and then use the other keg as a chiller. I was thinking that instead of using an immersion chiller as such, am I able to set it up permanently inside the other keg, so that the post boil wort siphons through the coil, which is submerged in an ice/water mix in the second vessel? The main reason for this is that water is a scarce commodity out here at times, and the theory of an immersion chiller seems to me as though it will use a lot of water.
My next question is has anyone had any experience with the online/ebay home brew supplies mobs? eg: Country Trading Store on ebay. I can get grain/s, hops, equipment, etc... all posted to me, without having to drive 3 hours to the nearest decent homebrew shop in Ballarat.

Thanks in advance to everyone for their help, this has to be one of the best forums I have ever been a part of, on any subject/hobby, I have seen very little sniping, and crap fights over disagreements, and this makes it a pleasure to troll through the threads.

On a side note, does anyone have any AG recipes for basic style Aussie lagers?? Most of the people out here are reluctant to try home brewed beer due to previous bad experiences, and prefer to swill their cheap draughts, so I figure I'd better start their education on real beer with a couple of very basic beers, just much nicer versions...

Thanks again,

Matt

 

[philmud]

The retail thread is a good place for feedback re: Mail ordering supplies and you'll find a number of retailers are members who seem happy to respond to questions and requests via the forum. Good luck! I feel very fortunate to live 10 mins from a well stocked LHBS

 

[Spiesy]

My next question is has anyone had any experience with the online/ebay home brew supplies mobs? eg: Country Trading Store on ebay. I can get grain/s, hops, equipment, etc... all posted to me, without having to drive 3 hours to the nearest decent homebrew shop in Ballarat.

Hi mate.

In Melbourne, Grain & Grape do deliveries - and they're pretty good, most of the time.

Another option, perhaps a little further down the track, would be to buy your grain in bulk and then maybe once every few months you could drive to MEL, pick up a couple of sacks and away you go.

Costs a little bit to setup your mill, but after that you're saving money - and the best bit, you have the freedom to make what you want, when you want (as long as you've got the ingredients).

 

[JDW81]

G'day Matt,

Couple of things for you to think about.

1: BIAB is a great option, but if you're worried about water use when chilling wort have a look into the no chill method. You essentially but your near boiling wort into a sanitised HDPE water cube, seal and let it pasteurise itself. Do a search on here and you'll find heaps of info. Heaps of brewers no chill and make excellent beers.

2: Lagers are notoriously difficult to make at a home brew level, there is a real art and science to them and you need good temperature control to keep them at lager fermentation temperatures (12 degrees). There are some really great ale recipes on here which are a bit more forgiving than lagers. Dr Smurto's golden ale is one and AndrewQLD's coopers recipes are some other good ones. I've made both and people who generally prefer VB really enjoyed them.

JD

 

[damoninja]

1: BIAB is a great option, but if you're worried about water use when chilling wort have a look into the no chill method. You essentially but your near boiling wort into a sanitised HDPE water cube, seal and let it pasteurise itself. Do a search on here and you'll find heaps of info. Heaps of brewers no chill and make excellent beers.

I did my first BIAB the other day and don't have an immersion chiller (but now I've got an esky with a manifold!). I did the ice bath idea, worked a treat got it down to 23 degrees in about 10 minutes.

The weeks leading up the the brew I start collecting ice in my freezer until I have like 6kg.

 

[country_brewer]

righto guys, firstly, thanks for the help.

In the end I just ended up sourcing my grains and hops etc from my old brew shop whilst I was in Melbourne. After discussion with dave from greensborough home brewing supplies I just went for a basic faux lager using bry-97 as the yeast.

5 kg pilsner
1/2 kg wheat
30 g pride of Ringwood @ 60 mins.

Decided to drop the expected abv down from 5.4 to 4.5 in brew mate, so started with 32 L of water to end up with 25 L of wort. Expected og was 1046, I achieved 1043, so pretty happy with that. I have just racked to secondary after 7 days in primary, and gravity is currently at 1006 - 1008.

Also after discussions I decided to just go with the KISS principal, and drained straight from the boiler into a sterilized fermenter, let it cool overnight with airlock in, and pitched yeast the next morning. I wasn't able to achieve a rolling boil as my element just doesn't have enough punch, so I am installing a second element before the next brew. Currently the beer tastes pretty good, but I was expecting better, am I right in assuming it will be a lot nicer once it is chilled and carbonated? Also what effect will not having a good rolling boil have on the finished beer?

next up as soon as I get the second element in: basic ipa:

5 kg ale malt
.25 kg med crystal
.25 kg dark munich
20 g columbus @ 60 min
10 g citra @ 10 min
10 g citra dry hopped after cooling in fermenter over night
bry-97 yeast again

ferment in fridge with temp control set at 20 degrees C

thanks again guys, my enthusiasm has been revived, and I'm finally AG brewing!

 

[damoninja]

Glad you've caught the bug!

3 points of gravity off target is great for a first go.
It will taste better in a few weeks when carbed and chilled.

drained straight from the boiler into a sterilized fermenter, let it cool overnight with airlock in, and pitched yeast the next morning.

Good way to get an infection, this. Your fermenter isn't sealed, it's sucking in air and other crap in as it cools. You need to get yourself a cube if you want to do this, known as the "no-chill" method.

20 g columbus @ 60 min
10 g citra @ 10 min
10 g citra dry hopped after cooling in fermenter over night

I'd up the hops, I usually dry hop at 1 gram per litre. Plus I'd add a 30 minute edition maybe another 20g of columbys. It's an IPA man! It's all about the hops!
And dry hopping - I'd leave that until it has about 1 days of fermentation left. Too early and some of your precious aroma will get carried away with the CO2.

 

[citizensnips]

Good way to get an infection, this. Your fermenter isn't sealed, it's sucking in air and other crap in as it cools. You need to get yourself a cube if you want to do this, known as the "no-chill" method.

Not saying your wrong mate, there is definitely a risk of infection but after doing 10+ brews chilled outside in my keg with glad wrap over the top and the o-ring from the lid of the fermenter along with an ocky strap to seal it all up and never ever having a single issue, I'm convinced you can definitely get away with a little more than what most people think. Now don't get me wrong a lot of people would never ever do this but each to their own I say. And using a fermenter with an airlock is still going to give you a very good seal, definitely a hell of a lot better than ye old glad wrap.
I should say I don't put it in the fermenter because I dont like the idea of 90+ degree liquid in plastic, same reason I dont use cubes...even though they're said to be fine at those temps.....thats just me, I prefer stainless

 

[country_brewer]

yeah, I realize that it is risky, but it was spur of the moment, I had nothing else, and I put the fermenter inside the brew fridge so I figured there shouldn't be too many nasties in there... still planning on setting up an ice bath with a chiller running through it, I just got impatient and wanted to get the brew done. no infection got in so I guess I lucked out this time!