First batch about to go down, advice needed on my recipe?

[bum]

OK looks like I am going with supplied yeast...
Thanks for the tips!

Do check the date though. If it is old then I'd go with the US05 even with the temp concerns stated above. Coopers supply a little bit less yeast than you'd really want and if it is old (i.e. not in great condition) that is made worse and you'll be pushing the proverbial uphill to get it to do the job well (at any temp).

I don't mean to put the fear of god into you - whichever way you go, if the yeast fires up then you'll be making beer. It's just the quality that varies.

 

[timmi9191]

Chef- your next purchase should be an old fridge big enough to fit a fermenter or 2 and an STC1000. Then temperatures won't be an issue..

 

[technobabble66]

Hey chef,
Do you have a bath?
I found sitting the fermenter in a bath filled with cold water, then draping a towel around the fermenter (& in the water to keep the towel wet) & blowing a fan on it kept the temp nice & low ~20*C during the ~35C days here. & I'd only switch the fan on while I was home.
Admittedly the humidity up there would b a lot higher, but I think you'd b surprised how effective it is. The bath water acts as a huge heat sink. If necessary u can put ice into it also.
Just make sure you sterilize your ferm tap when pouring later.
Oh, & I used US05. Temps were btw 20-23*c over the first few days. Beer tasted fine/good. After several weeks in the bottle it was great. I was paranoid about the high temps. Not saying it wouldn't've been better if kept consistently at 18*c (most likely, yes) but it still worked really well.

 

[technobabble66]

Oh, I'd also get carb drops (little sugar pills) to carb your bottles when you get to the bottling stage. There are better ways, but that the simplest safe way to start.

The basic K&K (kit&kilo) recipes are roughly:
1 kit tin (ie: pre-hopped LME)
1 kilo/tin un-hopped DME/LME
Hops added (~25g at a guess, style dep't) for flavour or aroma (eg: after a 2 min boil & a 10 min steep, &/or dry hopped)

A little spec grains/extracts can be added to pimp it out further.

This is roughly your recipe, so you'll def be fine. Use ianh's spreadsheet as prev instructed. It's great to get your head around what tweaks will do to your beer, & you'll quickly get the hang of using it.

 

[unclebarrel]

Oh, and in case you haven't seen it, there is a tab called "brew day".
It makes it all a lot easier.


I only say this because it took me a little while to discover it !

 

[ChefKing]

Great thanks for the excellent advice everyone!

I will do some temp readings around my house (night & day) before hand.

Cus we don't even use an A/C due to the apartment being quite cool. From the top of my head I would say they temp is defo low 20's.

Though the bath with water sounds like a cracking idea first time around.

I am already looking for a cheapish 2nd fridge.... This hobby grows on you fast!

 

[manson81]

On the topic of fridges, I picked up a cheap wine cooler fridge which fits my fermenter and runs at a nice 18 degrees without modifications (down to 7ish if I wanted). Only cost me $50 on Gumtree. Not sure if you'd find too many of them in Malaysia though. Pretty much the same as this:
http://imgc.classistatic.com/cps/blnc/130628/089r1/86784a9_20.jpeg