I'm a new brewer but I'm finding my brew isn't turning out as nice as the person I got my bottles from did. They do not hold their head and he was using grain and a keg with a tap through his fridge door. It was as nice as any bought beer I've tasted. Can anybody tell me how I can make Beer that way. He soaked his grain in an esky I think but just how he did it I don't know. Would it be cheaper than the Coopers mix with dextrose and carbonation drops? Is gelatine better than the brigalow finings? Is sugar better than Dextrose and carbonation drops?
Grains and kegs
- Thread starter S R F
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Bats
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Brewing All Grain beer produces far better beer than kits or extract. It is a more advanced way to brew beer and needs certain equipment to get you underway.
My advice will be to start small and work your way up. If you are set on brewing all grain, you can start by doing the Brew in a bag method on the stove top or an urn. There's plenty of forums on her dedicated to brew in a bag or look up youtube.
Good luck.
My advice will be to start small and work your way up. If you are set on brewing all grain, you can start by doing the Brew in a bag method on the stove top or an urn. There's plenty of forums on her dedicated to brew in a bag or look up youtube.
Good luck.
this thread makes it all so much simpler for the new brewer to AG to understand i reckon
http://aussiehomebrewer.com/topic/38674-move-to-all-grain-for-thirty-bucks/
http://aussiehomebrewer.com/topic/38674-move-to-all-grain-for-thirty-bucks/
squirt in the turns
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S R F, if you're on the Gold Coast, you should drop by the GoldCLUB: http://aussiehomebrewer.com/topic/70091-2013-schedule-of-gold-coast-local-united-brewers-goldclub/
We've got brewers of all levels from the "kit and bits" guys through to all-grainers brewing on a variety of different systems, including Nick JD, whose $30 stove top thread Maheel linked for you (sorry Nick, I know how much you love it when that thread gets bumped
). You'll get honest feedback about your brews, a chance to taste more different home made beers than you can count, and we meet in a brewery. What more could you want?
We've got brewers of all levels from the "kit and bits" guys through to all-grainers brewing on a variety of different systems, including Nick JD, whose $30 stove top thread Maheel linked for you (sorry Nick, I know how much you love it when that thread gets bumped
). You'll get honest feedback about your brews, a chance to taste more different home made beers than you can count, and we meet in a brewery. What more could you want?
mmmyummybeer
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You could also look at investing in a copy of John Palmers 'How to Brew'. Not too sure if the new version covers the brew in bag method, but it has lots of good information on brewing, and is a great resource for beginning brewers, that will also continue to help you with more advance techniques.
If you still unsure on all grain brew in bag you could always look at using kits and adding stepping grains and hops. There is plenty of options when it comes to brewing beer now a days, you just need to find the method that suits you best.
You will find plenty of information and help here on the forum, to help you find your way. The guy you got the bottles of beer taste better probable because he has more experience and better understanding of the brewing process. Only one way to get that and that's research and practice, and a lot of fun to be had along the way. Welcome to brewing and good luck.
If you still unsure on all grain brew in bag you could always look at using kits and adding stepping grains and hops. There is plenty of options when it comes to brewing beer now a days, you just need to find the method that suits you best.
You will find plenty of information and help here on the forum, to help you find your way. The guy you got the bottles of beer taste better probable because he has more experience and better understanding of the brewing process. Only one way to get that and that's research and practice, and a lot of fun to be had along the way. Welcome to brewing and good luck.
mmmyummybeer
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Sorry just saw 'Squirt in the turns post' and yeah a clubs the go.
Thanks mmmyummybeer, Bats, Maheel and Squirts. Loved that aussiehomebre...r-thirty-bucks but it stops where I'd usually add the yeast. Can you continue to brew it in the pot or do you need to transfer it to a keg? Squirts I just tried to search that site but it said could not be found. Is it the spelling maybe. I'm keen to find out where you are. And where do you buy the grains? Thanks guys.
squirt in the turns
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Sorry dude, no idea why my link's not working for you. Don't search it, just click on it, it's just a link to another thread on this forum. You can search us out on Facebook too.
We meet at Burleigh Brewing in West Burleigh, 6 PM, second Friday of every month. There are a couple of homebrew stores on the Coast, but truth be told, grains, hops, yeast and everything else you need is best bought from Craftbrewer in Capalaba (sponsor of this forum too). A "local homebrew shop" (LHBS) proprietor that knows his/her shit and actually gives a stuff is a rare thing. Sadly they are few and far between. Follow the advice of the lesser ones and you'll probably get the same disappointing results you've experienced so far.
This is not to say that you can't make a great beer from a can of goop and few extra bits, but it requires a bit of extra effort and expense. When you weigh this against some of the budget/time-conscious all-grain (AG) methods that have been pioneered and refined in recent years (many by members of this forum), you'll probably just want to jump straight into AG. I wish I had.
In answer to your question about when to add yeast with Nick JD's method: you add the yeast at exactly the same time as for any other kind of beer: when the wort (this is what we call the sweet liquid before yeast is added) is at the right temperature (around 18 C for ales and 10 C for lagers is a good general rule). You can leave your boiled wort to cool in the kettle, sealed as best you can against outside contaminants, and ferment it in that vessel, but of course you can't use that kettle to brew again until the beer is finished fermenting. Ideally you'll leave it in "primary" fermentation for a week or more. At the same time that you add yeast, your wort also needs to be aerated to provide the yeast with the oxygen it needs to do its job. Transferring it from the kettle to the fermenter with a bit of splashing around helps to achieve this.
We meet at Burleigh Brewing in West Burleigh, 6 PM, second Friday of every month. There are a couple of homebrew stores on the Coast, but truth be told, grains, hops, yeast and everything else you need is best bought from Craftbrewer in Capalaba (sponsor of this forum too). A "local homebrew shop" (LHBS) proprietor that knows his/her shit and actually gives a stuff is a rare thing. Sadly they are few and far between. Follow the advice of the lesser ones and you'll probably get the same disappointing results you've experienced so far.
This is not to say that you can't make a great beer from a can of goop and few extra bits, but it requires a bit of extra effort and expense. When you weigh this against some of the budget/time-conscious all-grain (AG) methods that have been pioneered and refined in recent years (many by members of this forum), you'll probably just want to jump straight into AG. I wish I had.
In answer to your question about when to add yeast with Nick JD's method: you add the yeast at exactly the same time as for any other kind of beer: when the wort (this is what we call the sweet liquid before yeast is added) is at the right temperature (around 18 C for ales and 10 C for lagers is a good general rule). You can leave your boiled wort to cool in the kettle, sealed as best you can against outside contaminants, and ferment it in that vessel, but of course you can't use that kettle to brew again until the beer is finished fermenting. Ideally you'll leave it in "primary" fermentation for a week or more. At the same time that you add yeast, your wort also needs to be aerated to provide the yeast with the oxygen it needs to do its job. Transferring it from the kettle to the fermenter with a bit of splashing around helps to achieve this.
Are females allowed at the club? I'm trying to learn this so I can teach my 18 year old son how to make cheap beer for special occasions. What causes the cloudiness in the bottom of the bottles and is there a way to get rid of that.. Do you lose less beer in a keg than in bottles to cloudiness? What is bulk priming? So much to learn
squirt in the turns
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Females are absolutely allowed. We don't really have any female members yet, but we are only a new club (est. September last year, I think it was). Sorry I called you a dude, BTW.S R F said:
Epic parenting :beerbang:S R F said:
The sediment in the bottle is yeast. If you are "bottle conditioning" your beer (adding priming sugar right before bottling, so that as the yeast consume said sugar and produce CO2 in the sealed environment and therefore carbonate the beer) then it is unavoidable. It can be minimised by careful handling of the fermenter before bottling, so as not to disturb the "trub" (the cake of yeast and other sludge that settles at the bottom). There is always more than enough yeast suspended in the liquid to do the job of carbonating the beer, even if it appears quite clear in the fermenter. Allowing a couple of extra weeks in the bottle for the yeast to really settle out and stick to the bottom will help you pour a clearer beer too.S R F said:
Kegs are great and a lot easier than bottling, but there's a pretty big up-front cost to get going. With kegs you can filter If you choose to, which can give you brilliantly clear beer. You can actually filter if you're bottle conditioning but there's little point - you'll have removed nearly all the yeast so the bottles just take longer to carb up and you still get sediment anyway. No matter what you do, you'll always incur a loss of volume in terms of what's in the fermenter compared to the final volume you can drink, but I'd say that kegging and filtering is the best way to minimise this - at the cost of extra equipment and stuffing around.
Bulk priming usually involves "racking" (transferring) the beer out of the primary fermenter and into another container, leaving behind the trub, so that all of the priming sugar for the entire batch can be mixed in in one go before bottling. Some people find this to be less hassle than measuring sugar for 30 or more individual bottles, and it results in an even carbonation level across every bottle.
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Thank you so much guys. I don't mind being called a dude. Was always a bit of a tomboy lol. My girlfriend calls me her power tool mate. Will definitely check out the facebook page and thanks again for all your advice. Loving the sense of humour on this site. Awesome.
