First Brew Down, Now What?

[slapbass351]

Hi everyone

Firstly I'd better introduce myself, my names Damon, I'm a first time brewer and live in mackay. I bought my brew kit last weekend and looking forward to bottling this weekend. Its a tooheys draught which came with the kit, I don't know if its any good, but can't wait for a taste.

Now I'm not to sure what to brew next. The guy at the brew shop said queensland gold and pure blonde are the biggest sellers in this tropical area, will these kits be good enough on there own, or is there something I can do to improve them? My fermenter sits on 24 degrees with little change if this helps any.

Cheers in advance for any advice.

Damo.

 

[np1962]

Hi everyone

Firstly I'd better introduce myself, my names Damon, I'm a first time brewer and live in mackay. I bought my brew kit last weekend and looking forward to bottling this weekend. Its a tooheys draught which came with the kit, I don't know if its any good, but can't wait for a taste.

Now I'm not to sure what to brew next. The guy at the brew shop said queensland gold and pure blonde are the biggest sellers in this tropical area, will these kits be good enough on there own, or is there something I can do to improve them? My fermenter sits on 24 degrees with little change if this helps any.

Cheers in advance for any advice.

Damo.

Hi Damo and welcome,
Before everyone goes mad and gives you heaps of advice that will be more useful in a few months time I'll give you two suggestions.
1. If you can lower the temp of yur brew a couple more degrees it will be better.
2. Don't be in such a hurry to bottle, while the beer may be finished fermenting after a week it will be better if left for 4 or 5 days after that for the yeast to clean up some of the off flavours it produces.

As to which kit to use. I'll let the kit brewers handle that one.
Good luck
Nige

 

[mwd]

+1 to what Nige said living in Mackay you are going to need good temperature control to get good beer so I would make that number 1 priority.

As for what to brew I tend to brew beers that are not like the common stuff you get in pubs but it is usual when you first start to try and replicate some of the beers that you like to drink at the bar. Your taste for other beers will develop quickly once you get into it. Loads of different recipes and kits to temp your tastes.

 

[yum beer]

+2 for nigel, if you drape a wet towel around your FV it should help a little with getting the temp down, swap it as often as you can.

Try and avoid Tooheys kits if you can, but mainly try different kits, use brew enhancers as opposed to straight sugar or dextrose... a little extra LDM can make a big difference....always record what you do..temps, quantities etc. that way you have something to refer to in future brews.

Good luck,

ya gotta love beer

 

[Camo1234]

Mate I am only 6 months into this as well and I am already about to buy an urn and get into BIAB!

Your next step will depend on alot of different things but the main ones I suppose is what your budget is... Are you brewing because you like beer and would love to brew your own or are you brewing because you need to save cash?

If your ultimate aim is not just to brew cheaply then the absolute next step is to buy a fridge to do your fermenting in.... Yes you can stuff around with ice baths and towels etc (which I did at the beginning) or you can hunt around for a $100 fridge that will make your beer and brewing much much better!

Personally I would do the following:

1) Source a brew fridge and temp control (search this site for temp control)

2) Read through this site every day and night for the next two weeks.

3) Don't be in a rush to bottle your first brew.

4) Grab a copy of Palmers how to brew book.. once again search this site... there is also a summarised copy free on the net but the book costs about $20 and well spent

5) Jump straight to extract brewing with hops and some steeped grain. Yes that may sound over your head at the moment but it really isn't much trouble and if you read up you will pick it up qucikly... anything that you don't understand just post or search the topic.

You will be amazed at the difference between a non temp controlled kit beer and a temp controlled extract beer.... the first one I couldn't drink but my second one was an extract and I ended up making a second batch of exactly the same beer becuase I love it so much!


Good luck! Just research heaps and get stuck in!

Camo

 

[Yob]

Cheers in advance for any advice.

Damo.

have a listen to this link John Palmer on the Brewing Network on Kit Beers... it's a dnam good listen. also covers the importance of temp control

this link they cover sanitisation

this link is the archives, many many good articles in there

enjoy and welcome to the craft

:icon_cheers:

 

[RobboMC]

Here's an incomplete list of brands of brewing concentrate in rough order of quality, starting with the lowest quality.

1) Tooyees, Home Brand, Coopers Original series, pretty much anything you can get in a supermarket

2) Coopers International series, Morgans

3) Coopers Conneissier series, Muntons

Many may disagree but that's not the point. Once you have exhausted your interest in supermarket products find your Home Brew Shop, otherwise known as HBS on here, and begin your brewing growth up to the better kits. Although it's not always true that the more you pay the better the kit quality it is a reasonable guide. On AVERAGE this remains fairly true. Muntons make great kits, but they are expensive. You may need to mail order from the site sponsor in Brisvegas, but I even do that to NSW at fairly reasonable cost.

Too soon you will discover what you like and dislike then simply make what you enjoy. You will also soon discover that what the commercial breweries serve up is watery swill and you will soon set your sights much higher.

Brewing does spoil you though, now when I go to the pub or club I ask for Matilda Bay, James Squires or the like. I'd prefer a nice lemonade to VB or XXXX. Fortunately most pubs here have Coopers so all is not lost.

 

[slapbass351]

Wow, what a reception of information and opinions, thanks so much for all your input.

I have managed to move my kit to a cooler room and is now at 22 degrees, i now realize how important temperature control is. Its cooling down here pretty quick so i'll be in a much better brewing climate soon enough.
I'v been doing plenty of reading and can tell that its going to be one hell of a hobby, probably going to drive the wife mad but at least i'll have lots of beer.

Its hard to believe that with the right knowledge, sanitation and science you can make better beer than the brewries. I watched a pretty good video about all grain brew and it doesn't look that hard. It's all a process, that when it's followed correctly and all important (cleanly) you'll end up with great beer.

Is there an area with all the abreviations on here somewhere...For instace what's LDM and BIAB?

 

[Punkal]

I think the best youtube vid on all grain that i have seen is chris knights 8 or so vids.

This site is grate and full of information and i think anyone who finds it is on there way to making better beer.

The John Palmer book (linked above) is very good and giving it a read is well worth your time...

Welcome...

 

[TmC]

Right here

Also in regards to the Mackay HBS i have been in there and while the service is with a smile i am pretty sure the lady who served me didnt homebrew. I suggest using Coopers Kits to start off with from Big W in Canelands, usually can get them for $9 consistently, one that has always worked for me was the Coopers Australian Pale Ale but i have tried nearly all of them and they are all pretty good basic beer kits. As you progress into the world of homebrewing you will be able to extend your horizons with Extracts, Partials and All-Grain but its good to get a few basic beers under your belt to get the hang of things. Theres heaps of info on here to chew on and welcome to the site :beer: