Hi From New Brewa

[trashbini76]

Hi there,
Im a new brewer of beer, but have been interested for some time. Yesterday i got a kit and swapped the larger for a Morgan's amber ale. I love what my buddies and i call "bread beer" because the beer is soo good its like a meal in itself lol, golden syrup on damper stuff. I came on here to seek a few questions and answers, and hope i have done some things right for my first brew. I have decided to put up my first Brew diary entry for anyone who may find it useful. I found the process pretty easy but still a bit daunting at times, that feeling of "uh oh, did i do that too much or is that wrong" etc.

So if anyone, new or experienced has comments feel free. I will try to reply as often as i can. By the way you will notice that i have used fine grade Brown sugar in this recipe, its because i wanted to give my beer a little push in a mild wild and make my first brew something to remember. I have read that the ferment can take time to get started so i am waiting and watching for now withou doing anything minor or drastic and things are very slow at the moment which may lead to some Q's in the next few days. Anyway, just for now, here is my 1st brew diary entry.
cheers.
Shaza76 Brisvegas.

May 14.11. Season: mid Autumn in Southern Hem. Outside temp by day apx low 20s, night 8-12 degrees C.



Bought 1^st home brew kit. Started around 9.30 pm.



Ingredients:



Morgans Amber Ale (Aussie oak)

1kg Dext.

160gr fine brown sugar

Morgans yeast (with can).



Heated 3lt of water slowly until mid simmer, small bubbles appeared and began to rise lightly (apr 95-96 degrees C) added to barrel.



Added 160g fine brown sugar, 500g Dex. And stirred in. Added 200ml boiled water from kettle. Stirred



Then added Morgans can of goodness and stirred.



Added the remaining 500g of Dex and another 200-250ml kettle boiled water. Stirred



Added 50-60ml kettle water to empty Morgans can to melt remaining contents (burnt me bloody hand too!) let sit for a few min while I stirred.



Added remaining can contents.



In the barrel so far:

Apr 3 lt hot near boiled water, Morgans Contents, 1160g sugars (1kg Dextrose and 160g fine brown sugar.)



Stirred for apx 5minutes on and off to ensure all contents were mixed and melted well.



Let settle for a few minutes.



Ran very cool tap water (ap 15-18 degrees C) adding 2L at a time. Until total conten was at 15-16 ltrs. Gave a stir.



Added another 3ltrs stirred. Added remaining cool water to make a total 23.5. ltrs and stirred.



Observations:

When I added the brown sugar to the hot water, I immediately got a very nice tan colour already without anything else. After adding all sugars and can content, the Wert looked rich and dark. I made sure there was no unnatural Resistence from the malt etc when stirring.







Wert now between 28- 30 degrees C. I did a dry yeast pitch and stirred firmly for 1 minute. I took a reading with the hydrometer and realized it was broken at the top so I am not sure what accuracy it would provide. I dont properly understand how to read it yet anyway. Will get a new one for the end reading.



I let the wert rest for a minute or two and put on the lid,. Attached it firmly but not tight put some water in the air lock, and moved it to a quiet undisturbed area. Wrapped the base in a thin quilt.



By now the temp is around 28 degrees C, time completed 11.30pm. Time includes washing and sterilization.



Observations 2



I noticed that by 12.30-1am (being rather tired) temp was around the 26-28 mark.



7am- no movement in airlock yet (yes I am eager and a little worried). I cant see through the lid due to some condensation build up. Went online to see how long before basic fermentation takes and noticed slow ferment is common.



Temp at that time was about 22-24 degrees C.



9:30am I put a thick blanket around fermenter /barrel. To stablise the temp.



12.47 pm no movement in airlock, temp on a clear 22degrees C (bright green indicator.) Will make sure it does not drop below this.

 

[going down a hill]

Good stuff. Just a couple of things that I have noticed.

Make sure you do your hydrometer reading before you put the yeast in, so you don't take any yeast out of the wort before it gets to do it's thing.
Buy a new hydrometer, if it's broken at the top it wont give you an accurite reading which is the only thing you should trust, not the airlock.
Get the ferment temp down to 18 not 22 it will taste better and not give you killer hangovers.
Use malt instead of dex and brown sugar, tastes better.
Read through this thread, it has great information that will help you out http://www.aussiehomebrewer.com/forum/inde...?showtopic=9233

 

[trashbini76]

Good stuff. Just a couple of things that I have noticed.

Make sure you do your hydrometer reading before you put the yeast in, so you don't take any yeast out of the wort before it gets to do it's thing.
Buy a new hydrometer, if it's broken at the top it wont give you an accurite reading which is the only thing you should trust, not the airlock.
Get the ferment temp down to 18 not 22 it will taste better and not give you killer hangovers.
Use malt instead of dex and brown sugar, tastes better.
Read through this thread, it has great information that will help you out http://www.aussiehomebrewer.com/forum/inde...?showtopic=9233

hi there mate,
Thanx for those tips. I am reading the thread you posted too. 18-20 deg hey? cool, i was worried that it was at 22 and sitting (looked like it was dropping. i will remove the blanket for a while. Its about 20 hrs since i finished and plenty of condensation building inside, but there must be a leak because the airlock is still dead (no movement) but as you say, if this is no big deal at the moment then i trust ya.

Yea my hydrometer is broken off at the top and i will try to get a new 1 asap. Do i get a sample from the tap? because i am not supposed to open the lid to protect the yeast/brew right? i went saw a friend who showed me how to read the hydrom too, it was similar to what i thought the directions meant but just didn' quite follow hehe hehe, anyway,thanks again for your help and pointing me to more info.
cheers mate.

 

[pimpsqueak]

hi there mate,
Thanx for those tips. I am reading the thread you posted too. 18-20 deg hey? cool, i was worried that it was at 22 and sitting (looked like it was dropping. i will remove the blanket for a while. Its about 20 hrs since i finished and plenty of condensation building inside, but there must be a leak because the airlock is still dead (no movement) but as you say, if this is no big deal at the moment then i trust ya.

Yea my hydrometer is broken off at the top and i will try to get a new 1 asap. Do i get a sample from the tap? because i am not supposed to open the lid to protect the yeast/brew right? i went saw a friend who showed me how to read the hydrom too, it was similar to what i thought the directions meant but just didn' quite follow hehe hehe, anyway,thanks again for your help and pointing me to more info.
cheers mate.

Yes, get your sample from the tap. Remember to remove the airlock before you do, or you run the risk of sucking the contents of it into the fermenter. In the future you can try putting a piece of gladwrap over the opening of the fermenter, securing it with the big o-ring seal from inside the lid and ditching the lid altogether. I have recently started doing this and it's working a treat.

 

[yum beer]

Welcome to the world of brewing....

i did notice one thing missing from your brewing...what were you drinking at the time!!!!!!!! :icon_drunk:

 

[trashbini76]

hi fellas,
Ah that sounds like a good idea. So with the glad wrap over the top instead of lid i assume you have no lock at all right, i alwayss thought it was an important peice of the whole breing deal, but from a number of different comments here and other forums (some american ones i looked at before coming here, it seems the issue of airlocks is relatively dick.

I put some vasoline around the edges of the lock and still no change, and i think the leak is in the lid, but as mentioned no big deal cuz its still fermenting well, i was just worried about mold, and then i thought, well fermentation is a different type of mold producing action but with yeast as the agent.

anyway, thanks for the tips again.

hey, yumbeer,
i had a Leffe, earlier that day and one or two of my buddy's dark ales as well during the day, but clear headed enuff to burn my hand with the kettle water and yelp heh heh.
cheers all!

 

[Mclovin]

Welcome,



may you drink many batches of shit beer untill you develope the skills needed to go all grain.


cheers

 

[RobH]

Hey! My K&K's where never shit ... granted nowhere near as good as the partials that I have done latley ... they where ok, but not shit.

I'll second the "Use malt instead of dex and brown sugar, tastes better."

Welcome to the AussieHomeBrewer community!

 

[Mclovin]

Hey! My K&K's where never shit ... granted nowhere near as good as the partials that I have done latley ... they where ok, but not shit.

I'll second the "Use malt instead of dex and brown sugar, tastes better."

Welcome to the AussieHomeBrewer community!

One word Robbie


BIAB.

to easy.