Hey everyone, tried to homebrew before without success

[joshau]

Hey everyone!

As the topic states I've attempted one of the DIY Coopers Kits before without much success at all, it was pretty simple really but the end result was far from okay - I think due to my failure to keep the temperature constant.. but I'm ready to have another go and am thinking of heading to my local home brew supply store in Bathurst and getting all the gear I need. I certianly can't do much worse than my first batch.. haha! Hopefully having access to a few like minded folk will help me find the perfect beer for me.

I haven't got any supplies at the moment, and I'm thinking about just buying one of the kits here:

http://www.countrybrewer.com.au/products/Beer-Brewer%27s-Premium-Starter-Kit.html

Which will hopefully get me off on the right step as I'm not really sure what I need and what I don't - although I've got a heat belt and a temperature regulator on the way too

Look forward to seeing you around!

 

[surly]

Hey Josh,

Despite my years as a member here, I know very little so won't attempt to give any advice. Welcome and good luck

 

[fletcher]

good on you mate. honestly, temperature control, a decent yeast, and the right mix of ingredients and you'll be making killer beers in no time. first things first, disregard the instructions you've read using the coopers kits. read up on all the basics on here and you'll be well on your way. ask as many questions as you can

 

[Bribie G]

Hi Josh
Out your way it should be perfect temperature in the garage at the moment. From now till October you'll be looking more at heating rather than cooling, but the fermentation provides its own heat for the first few days and you can capitalise on this in a colder region by just wrapping it in a doonah for a few days and don't let it go over 20 degrees. Summer is a different ball game of course.

I'd actually stick to a good solid Coopers kit such as Lager or Real Ale for your first few brews till you get the hang of sanitisation, sanitisation, sanitisation and the other stuff like bottling and priming.

Then you can sprout a couple of wings and soar . :kooi:

 

[Pennywise]

hang around here long enough and to the dark side you will succumb lol. Onya for havin another go :super:

 

[joshau]

Thanks for the warm welcome!

I still think I'll grab the kit from the local place, it's good to support local when/if you can and it's not much more than the Coopters kit regardless, plus I'll be able to have a chat with the owner and probably pick up a few other things while I'm at it! Hopefully some glass bottles, really not a fan of the PET, it's a bit like having beer in a plastic cup - it just feels fundamentally wrong to me.

As for the weather.. I think that was my issue last time, the temperature fluctuated far too much, I've got an old bar freezer at the moment I'm hoping to use to hold the wort and also a heat belt and the thermometer that controls the power to it to turn it on and off as required - it might be some overkill but I don't want to take any chances and with a low of -6 predicted next week and I'm tight on space so I'll be using my garage.. better safe than sorry!

 

[Barley Belly]

A wise man once told me, regardless of brewing style, the three steps to successful brewing are:-

1) Sanitation

2) Temperature Control

then

3) Ingredients

IN THAT ORDER!!!!!!!!!

and without 1 and 2 you might as well forget 3.

Master 1 and 2 and play around all you want with 3.

Ethos has served me well so far B)

 

[roverfj1200]

Welcome to the fray...


That great beer will always be the next one...


Cheers.

 

[hoppy2B]

I consider boiling of all your water the most important step. I use rain water so perhaps its more important to me than it would be to someone using tap water. I don't know as I've never used tap water.
Something you might like to consider is reculturing some yeast from a Coopers bottle.

 

[wbosher]

I consider boiling of all your water the most important step. I use rain water so perhaps its more important to me than it would be to someone using tap water. I don't know as I've never used tap water.
Something you might like to consider is reculturing some yeast from a Coopers bottle.

I think most tap water is fine without boiling, if it tastes ok, you're good to go. You can play around with the water if you decide to get into AG later on. Tank water I have no experience with so can't help there.

Good advice from Barley Belly.

Reculturing yeast...don't even think about that just yet. Get the basics down first.

 

[iralosavic]

Welcome to the forum. You won't regret giving it another go. In case you needed things broken down (and my apologies if you didn't):

1. Fill sink with really hot water, put can of goo in there to warm it up and make it less viscous so you can pour it out.

2. Pour it into your sanitised fermenter and dilute it to 23 litres, aiming to achieve a resultant temperature of around 20c. Also, allow plenty of (controlled)

splashing to occur at this stage so that you introduce as much oxygen as possible.

3. Sanitise yeast packet and scissors using to cut it and sprinkle yeast on top of wort evenly.

4. Put lid on with airlock in place and ensure airlock is sealed with sanitiser or vodka.

5. Put fermenter in a location where you can maintain 18-20c reasonably consistently and give it a week or two

 

[wbosher]

Welcome to the forum. You won't regret giving it another go. In case you needed things broken down (and my apologies if you didn't):

1. Fill sink with really hot water, put can of goo in there to warm it up and make it less viscous so you can pour it out.

1.5 Boil a couple litres of water and mix goo and dme/dextrose in the fermenter

2. Pour it into your sanitised fermenter and dilute it to 23 litres, aiming to achieve a resultant temperature of around 20c. Also, allow plenty of (controlled)

splashing to occur at this stage so that you introduce as much oxygen as possible.

3. Sanitise yeast packet and scissors using to cut it and sprinkle yeast on top of wort evenly.

4. Put lid on with airlock in place and ensure airlock is sealed with sanitiser or vodka.

5. Put fermenter in a location where you can maintain 18-20c reasonably consistently and give it a week or two

One addition

 

[iralosavic]

One addition

Cheers. The 2L of boiled water will definitely help reach the 20c when diluting the difference with tap water too. One note here - when you add sugar/malt extract to a boil, it will rapidly expand and potentially overflow and make you hate life, so make sure you have at least 1-2L headroom

 

[joshau]

Good ethos Barley! I'll jot that one down and stick it to the workbench, a reminder never hurts

wbosher/iralosavic - I'll keep that in mind! When you say to put the lid on with airlock and seal it with sanitiser or vodka - what do you mean seal it? My last kit (the Coopers) didn't even had a lid that sealed or an airlock, it was just a lid that sat loosely on top, no thread or anything.

 

[wbosher]

That's the same Coopers kit that I've got, that's cool, no airlock. You don't need one anyway.

Just a quick note on the boiled water, in case you didn't already know. You don't need to actually boil the DME/dex, just add 2 litres of boiling water into the fermenter, and then stir in the goop and DME/dex. Then top up with cold water.

 

[iralosavic]

That's the same Coopers kit that I've got, that's cool, no airlock. You don't need one anyway.

Just a quick note on the boiled water, in case you didn't already know. You don't need to actually boil the DME/dex, just add 2 litres of boiling water into the fermenter, and then stir in the goop and DME/dex. Then top up with cold water.

Been a long time since I did kits, but when I did I almost always added some extra late hops so I just checked the sugar in the boil. Your way sounds less risk prone though!

If your fermenter lid does not have a hole for an airlock, nevermind what I said!

 

[wbosher]

Been while for me too mate I never got adventurous enough to boil up hops when doing kits, so just chucked everything in the fermenter...just add water.

Airlocks are more bloody trouble than they're worth, that's one good thing about the new(ish) Coopers fermenter. Could probably do away with the krausen collar as well.

 

[Bribie G]

The main problem with town water is chlorine - I get my brewing water out of a fairly new HWS and it works fine having been driven off, but for special brews I have a small Reverse Osmosis setup. A good middle ground is to get a "normal" cheapy carbon filter unit like a Brita. Especially using kits where you are adding 20L of water you don't want to be adding all that chlorine as well.

The guy in Brisbane who regularly wins the National Competition with lagers (where water is so important) just uses a domestic carbon water filter.

 

[jaymzica]

welcome and all i can say is be very careful.


This stuff gets soooo addictive. Ive been doing it for 3 months now, and ive just purchased a keg setup that im going to hook up next weekend!
Its so much fun and a great feeling when you sit down with a mate drinking the beer you brewed! esp when friends say 'gee i cant believe its home brew it tastes so good' BEST FEELING EVER!

cheers

 

[wbosher]

You get so many people (myself included) who get into the with sole intent of making cheap beer and saving money. All I have to say about that is HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA...yeah right. :lol: