Help With Set Up

[fasty73]

Well I have just started my first home brew. I got the Tooheys home brew kit but the instructions don't tell me what the long thingy with the one way vale goes!!! Can anyone tell me what to do with it (without being rude LOL). At first I put it on the inside of the airlock, but all that does is pump the beer out of the airlock!! PLEASE help me!!!

 

[manticle]

Can you explain a bit more what the long thingy is? Do you have a picture or a web link?

 

[Ray43]

I think maybe you're talking about the "little bottler" that actually fits onto the tap on the fermenter when its time to bottle your brew. Well that's the only long thingy that I can think of.

 

[fasty73]

Here you go.

 

[fasty73]

The opposite end from the blue end fits perfectly on the inside of the air lock. But it just pumps the brew out of the air lock.

 

[Lecterfan]

That goes into the tap at the bottom of your fermenter so you can fill your bottles without too much splashing, spilling and whatnot. When the bottle pushes up against it the valve is opened and beer comes out, when you remove the bottle the valve shuts. They are great but I still tend to have a bucket or a drop sheet underneath me as they can sometimes drip like buggery.

You have entered a world that has ruined cheap commercial beer for you forever. Enjoy.

 

[Synthetase]

Hmmm, I think the long thingy is a bottling wand sometihng like this

If that's the case, you are supposed to stick it in the fermenter tap - although I use a length of vinyl tubing to connect the two.

EDIT: way too late

 

[Lecterfan]

Well f**k me sideways, with that post I went from an "amateur brewer" to a "kit master" or something...much easier than going up a belt in martial arts hahaha. I shall wear my extra barrell with pride. Time for another beer.

 

[fasty73]

COOL COOL COOL!!!!!!!! Thanks HEAPS!!!!!!!!! So it basically stops you from having to turn the tap on and of so many times when bottling. I love Tooheys new. Will the special lager give me that taste if I do it right?

 

[Silo Ted]

probably not. but time and experience will get you making the beers you love eventually. and you might just change your mind about tooheys new as you start making all sorts of wonderfully tasty beers. all the best.

 

[fasty73]

Many thanks to all those who have helped!!!! It's a shame the instrucions don't tell you what it's for!!!! Any ideas on how to get the closest taste to Tooheys New?

 

[DUANNE]

probably not. but time and experience will get you making the beers you love eventually. and you might just change your mind about tooheys new as you start making all sorts of wonderfully tasty beers. all the best.

+1 with the kit and especialy if you follow the instructions with it not likey. if you read have a good read here though youll be well on the way to doing it, but as said above by the time you have nailed brewing well enough to do it then tooheys will probably look like crap to you. a bad bad adiction this brewing caper is.

 

[Synthetase]

Well someone had to:

How to brew

 

[warra48]

One final thing for when you use the bottler.

With the bottler tube immersed in your bottle, you need to fill the bottle right to the top, then stop.
When you do this, you will have exactly the right headspace when you withdraw the bottle.

Add you priming sugar / carb drops etc before you fill the bottles. You'll probably find the first few bottles will tend to froth if you start them off too fast, so start the flow gently. Once you've filled the bottles, set them down and put a crown seal on them. Wait until you've filled all your bottles, then use your capper to seal all the crown seals. Your brews will have some CO2 coming out of solution while you do all this, and that will help to displace the oxygen in the top part of your bottles and keep your brews fresher.

Good luck with your brewing journey.

 

[DangerousDave]

welcome to brewing mate

im sorry but i lost my **** when you said you put it in the airlock and it started pumping out brew :lol:

dont worry ive made some very facepalm mistakes with my brews its all part of the fun

good luck mate and welcome to the forum :icon_cheers:

 

[bum]

The opposite end from the blue end fits perfectly on the inside of the air lock. But it just pumps the brew out of the air lock.

Any chance of a video of this? I would love to see how that pissy little o-ring creates enough suction to pull beer up through the headspace and then the airlock.

You'll have great difficulty making a beer like New with a kit. Even if you make a batch from scratch you'll find it extraordinarily difficult. These are beers made through processes much more complex than we can usually replicate at home.

However, if you'll settle for any clean, lightly hopped lager I don't think you'll have much trouble making these if you stick with it and do some reading.

Whoever told him to read How To Brew was being entirely premature.

 

[Lecterfan]

Haha, I don't want to sound like a downer but Ihave to agree with the general sentiment...once you start to enter the realm of homebrewing you will develop a palate and an understanding of beer that will (unfortunately) leave many of your friends behind.

I thought Tooheys Old (not the recent recipe, but the previous label etc) was nectar of the gods until I made a fairly plain schwarzbier (plain extract and grains, bittering hops with no flavour/aroma additions). Also when you first make a brew that is similar to, say, a LC Pale Ale for eg, you will mess your undies. There is no turning back

It won't be long before you are searching for something beyond a Tooheys New.

It's like once you discover that beer X is just a representation of a certain type of beer, it is the perfection of that type you are after, and not just of the original commercial example.

I hate to drag philosophy back into it but it is the "form" of the beer you after, not just a replication of an imitation of the type (with all apologies to Plato).