First Time Brewer

[Koikaze]

Hi Guys,

So my girlfriend suggested that I try homebrewing beer. And I'm thinking that this is a great idea, I love beer and I'm a chemist so I'd love to experiment eventually But to start with I'll need to get myself set up and try a few recipies first. Now I think I have 2 options:

-Buy a Coopers microkit (or something similar)

-Get all my stuff individually

What would you all reccomend? Should I get all my parts and ingrediants individually or buy a kit? I'm using this website as my reference so far to by my equipment (if I do). Or If I should get a kit could someone please suggest the best in there opinion and will it let me experiment eventually?

Thanks guys

 

[captian black beer]

Personal Recommendation is to head down to your local homebrew store an pick up a starter kit. I know that Dave at Greensbourgh Homebrewing sells them for about $75. Plus he'll give you the info you'd like as opposed to buying it off a website or somewhere like K mart. Otherwise it's not too hard to find all you need but probably easier this way considering that you wouldn't save too much buying everything individually. Let us know where you are and I'm sure everyone here could recommend a great Homebrew store nearby.

 

[amita]

Hi Guys,

So my girlfriend suggested that I try homebrewing beer. And I'm thinking that this is a great idea, I love beer and I'm a chemist so I'd love to experiment eventually But to start with I'll need to get myself set up and try a few recipies first. Now I think I have 2 options:

-Buy a Coopers microkit (or something similar)

-Get all my stuff individually

What would you all reccomend? Should I get all my parts and ingrediants individually or buy a kit? I'm using this website as my reference so far to by my equipment (if I do). Or If I should get a kit could someone please suggest the best in there opinion and will it let me experiment eventually?

Thanks guys

Gday KK,
make it easy on yourself and buy the kit in your local homebrew shop, establish a valuable relationship with the shopkeeper and he will be able to help you along the way.
dont invent the wheel again,good luck and keep us posted,

cheers amita

 

[v8r]

Hi Guys,

So my girlfriend suggested that I try homebrewing beer. And I'm thinking that this is a great idea, I love beer and I'm a chemist so I'd love to experiment eventually But to start with I'll need to get myself set up and try a few recipies first. Now I think I have 2 options:

-Buy a Coopers microkit (or something similar)

-Get all my stuff individually

What would you all reccomend? Should I get all my parts and ingrediants individually or buy a kit? I'm using this website as my reference so far to by my equipment (if I do). Or If I should get a kit could someone please suggest the best in there opinion and will it let me experiment eventually?

Thanks guys

Not really having a LHBS, i went the coopers kit from bigw. Great because it has all the 'gear' required to get started asap. while youre there grab some light dried malt (coopers gear is usually there, ~$5/500gm), and put the supplied brewing sugar in the sugar bowl for your coffee
I actually brewed the green tin + brewing sugar just to see how basic 'basic' kit brewing is.. it was beer, but watery, flavourless, cidery beer.. can only go up from there..
OTOH, if you DO have a local homebrew store (fill in your location in your profile too), go see them, and see what they can offer..
The closest thing i had was my local thrifty link, who sadly closed.. i now get all my gear from Absolute Homebrew and The Country Brewer, both via their excellent online stores.. oh, and Ross @ Craftbrewer of course!

 

[Koikaze]

Thanks guys! I think I'll go check out the homebrew store in geelong! I'm getting pretty excited. I'll keep you posted on what i end up getting.

Thanks for the imput

 

[The Big Burper]

KK,

I agree with the others, your local home brew shop is the way to go. As for buying a brew kit, I think you would be better served buying the items separately. I don't know what is available, but your fermenter should be a straight sided bucket with a press fit lid. I think Morgans make one.

The round shouldered fermenters with the screw on lids are a PITA, in my humble opinion. They are harder to clean, and getting it to seal properly is sometimes difficult.

In the kit you will probably get a hand capper, which will put you off home brew for life. Get a proper lever type capper, costs more but saves heaps in time and frustration.

Happy brewing,

Dave

 

[gerald]

Wow, honestly everyone bitches about the hand cappers, meh i dont find them that bad.
nothing wrong with the coopers kit, easy to start with, its what i did and it seems to be the kicking off point for most people!

best of luck
gerald

 

[beernography]

I have a brewcraft and a cooper's kit, the Brewcraft came with a paperback brewing book, better fermenter and misc equipment but a shit starting beer. I would still rebuy it over the Cooper's kit though.

The fermenter is tall and skinny as opposed to the short, stout Cooper's barrel and the lid has a nice strong handle which is good for carrying it around and turning the lid on tight.

The book had a lot of information valuable to a new brewer if you read through the product placement, although the Cooper's booklet is just as rife.

 

[EK]

So my girlfriend suggested that I try homebrewing beer.

On that note alone it sounds like she's a keeper. I had to find another homebrewer to tell my wife that I wouldn't "blow up the house" (her words, not mine) before she began to warn to the idea...then I went to a HBS and bought a starter kit before she changed her mind

 

[Koikaze]

Yeah she is a keeper. I brought a starter kit from the local home brew store. and its fermenting nicely (I hope) It seems good. Its a good size and build. I changed the starter brew ingredients for a mexican beer mix. I'm so excited about it! I forgot to take an initial hydrometer reading so i wont know how alcoholic it is... but im assuming it will be aorund 5%, But as long as the first batch is drinkable i can only improve my next batch.

EDIT: I'm just having a read around the forums, and was wondering if the temp gets too high whats the worst that can happen to my fermenting brew? I just had a few 40 degree days... it was in a cool place in my garage but I'm hoping it wouldnt have gotten hotter than 30... I'm a little scared...

 

[0M39A]

EDIT: I'm just having a read around the forums, and was wondering if the temp gets too high whats the worst that can happen to my fermenting brew? I just had a few 40 degree days... it was in a cool place in my garage but I'm hoping it wouldnt have gotten hotter than 30... I'm a little scared...

30 is far far far too hot...

hell, i know the kit yeasts are pretty forgiving, but anything 24 is the most i would possibly let it get to.

get it under 22 and you'll be ok. 18-20 is the best fermenting range (for ales, true lagers like around 10-12, but i doubt you'll encounter any of them in the near future)

do whatever you can to drop the temps down asap. wrap it in a wet towel and blow a fan on it. put it in an ice bath, fill the lid with ice, stick it in a 100can cooler bag with a few ice blocks, or best yet, do what i just did and buy a fridgemate and get a fermenting fridge

 

[Koikaze]

Hrrm I think its a little too far gone... Its been almost a week and nearly stopped bubbling... Its going to be rank isnt it... damn... I'll try too cool it down.

 

[reVoxAHB]

EDIT: I'm just having a read around the forums, and was wondering if the temp gets too high whats the worst that can happen to my fermenting brew?

You'll probably find your beer finishes cidery and/or with a green apple aroma and flavour. This is of course subjective, and dependent on the calibration of your palate, with additional factors at play like your sterilisation, the potential for other off-flavours, etc.

I don't mean to divert your ship in motion, but you mentioned you're a chemist by trade. I reckon you're more than a good candidate for going straight to all grain brewing. If you're really serious about beer.. love of beer, love of styles, love to drink what you produce, and want to produce the best beer you can, go all grain. And it IS just that easy. You can do it on the stovetop with a single 20-30L ally kettle, a simple kitchen thermometer, food grade lauter tun- not a tremendous intial $ outlay like some expect.

Get yourself a brew buddy who's all grain and spend a day watching him/her brew. Or head over to Grain and Grape in Yarraville who conduct free brewing demos each week (generally speaking). Sit in on Paul Rigby's demos, who brews allgrain using BASIC equipment.

reVox

 

[Screwtop]

I don't mean to divert your ship in motion, but you mentioned you're a chemist by trade. I reckon you're more than a good candidate for going straight to all grain brewing.

+1

Whether AG or kit, brewing processes should easily be understood having a chemistry background, looking forward to seeing you grow as a brewer.

Screwy

 

[Koikaze]

ok i hope thats the case if its taste is a bit like that i wont mind... i sterilized pretty well so it should be ok, hopefully no off flavors.

I might move on one of these days. But id like to get a handle on the simpler stuff first and work out what things do to the beer flavors.

EDIT: Just because i can tell you what the exact process of the yeast turning the glucose to alcohol doesnt mean i have a handle on flavors Haha

 

[recharge]

Now this is just my opinion
BUT
There is little point going all grain or kit brewing if you can't maintain some sort of temp control.
I would make your initial investment in this area.
The rest will come.

Regards

Recharge

 

[Koikaze]

I have a nice cooling system now which Im happy with it seems to be keeping it cool, i basically went for the ice in a tub method. I'll just have to keep an eye on it, best i can do on uni student money.

 

[aefhamilton]

I have a nice cooling system now which Im happy with it seems to be keeping it cool, i basically went for the ice in a tub method. I'll just have to keep an eye on it, best i can do on uni student money.

I'm in a similar situation - though have not yet applied a cooling method. The beer has been brewing for 8 days at a constant 26 degrees. I believe, from what i've read, that this is far too high. Is there anything at this stage I can do (ie - cool the fermenter) to subdue the fruity flavours that will most likely result, or should I just bottle the beer, chalk it up to experience, and move on to the next attempt (beginning at a lower temp)?

(BTW i'm using the standard coopers brew kit - so not expecting this first batch to be perfect anyway....)

..A

 

[tsto]

I'm in a similar situation - though have not yet applied a cooling method. The beer has been brewing for 8 days at a constant 26 degrees. I believe, from what i've read, that this is far too high. Is there anything at this stage I can do (ie - cool the fermenter) to subdue the fruity flavours that will most likely result, or should I just bottle the beer, chalk it up to experience, and move on to the next attempt (beginning at a lower temp)?

(BTW i'm using the standard coopers brew kit - so not expecting this first batch to be perfect anyway....)

I'm in exactly the same situation Aef, 26deg is the best I could do on these 40+deg Adelaide days when I'm out of the house.

 

[aefhamilton]

I'm in exactly the same situation Aef, 26deg is the best I could do on these 40+deg Adelaide days when I'm out of the house.

So.. we need to figure out how to drop the temp further. At this stage I can't afford a brew fridge. I've got it wrapped in a wet towel with a fan blowing on it, i'll let you know how that goes.

To all the experts out there - is there anthing that does brew at these higher temperature ranges (26), and ends up tasting good (although I guess it depends on your taste...)?

..A