Homebrew Tragedy! [with Pics]

[Liam_snorkel]

I pity all of you who are held hostage by partners who are unsupportive of your hobby/vocation/affliction

 

[tricache]

I pity all of you who are held hostage by partners who are unsupportive of your hobby/vocation/affliction

Mine is all for my hobby...just the cost is the drama :lol: I recycle coke/soft drink bottles for the homebrew cause and I have more than enough bottles which I have not had to pay for (technically I/or friends have bought them for the drink itself)

 

[DU99]

:icon_offtopic: my mr's has her hobby and i have mine.when i work O/T the extra money i get goes into my hobby.

 

[jaypes]

yep, its all about the cost for me. Trying to buy a house with 3 kids under 3 and a single income.

I suppose its better to beg for forgiveness than ask for permission

 

[Liam_snorkel]

:icon_offtopic:

I see. Cost isn't an issue for me because I'm FILTHY RICH

 

[jaypes]

:icon_offtopic:

I see. Cost isn't an issue for me because I'm FILTHY RICH

Fo' Shizzl

 

[WarmBeer]

Fo' Shizzl

Careful, dont you know your messing with 50 cent's big cousin, 17 dollaz.

 

[tricache]

Careful, dont you know your messing with 50 cent's big cousin, 17 dollaz.

Don't worry its only like $16.50AUD :lol:

 

[user 11978]

them scoops like carb drops usually carb a bit higher then usual. I used to weigh a scoop and then work out the carb from there so it means you might not fill the scoop right up. But if you keep a good eye on the bottles for cracks and chips and use bottles like coopers then you will be fine

If anybody is wondering which glass bottles to use, this is from the Coopers web site

"A beer, such as an Imperial Stout, intended to be aged for 2 years or more, should be bottled into sturdy glass designed for re-use. With this in mind, Coopers also produce Original Pale Ale, Sparkling Ale and Best Extra Stout beverages in sturdy 750ml glass bottles. These bottles have a lip designed for a prise-off crown seal and weigh a formidable 560g empty! They are an excellent option for brewers and sauce makers, alike."

Concurr on the Coopers bottles, I now keg (still have a few bottles) but bottled with Coopers bottles for about 2-3years and never had an explosion. One day even dropped one and all that happened was the cap flew off and the bottle spun around with beer flying out

 

[Pixiedust]

I made some ginger beer from a plant. The first batches I made I found weak, taste wise, so in this batch I upped the sugar and the ginger. Big mistake. It got all infected. Now thankfully, I store them all in the tractor workshop and had been inspecting all my homebrew (I try to do it weekly) and noticed the PET bottles (I bottled it in a mix of glass and plastic) had gone rock hard and expanded more then they should have. Had a closer look, and yep, infected. So two crates of ginger beer shuttled outside to near the fence very quickly. I thought I would just leave them there to do their thing...being just before Christmas in CQ, the sun should have finished them off pretty quickly. And it did. Some of them. One, I don't know how, but we now have the top of a tallie stuck in the cobwebs near the roof (8m up) of the shed.

Now the gentlemen of the house decided on Christmas afternoon to shoot the unexploded PET bottles, teaching SIL to shoot in the process. Poor thing cried with fright after shooting my 410, lol.

I am just glad I caught it in time, as we had 5 kids here on Christmas day and over 10 on Boxing day, as well as a lot of adults. I shudder to think if one had exploded while they were around.

 

[mattdean4130]

them scoops like carb drops usually carb a bit higher then usual. I used to weigh a scoop and then work out the carb from there so it means you might not fill the scoop right up. But if you keep a good eye on the bottles for cracks and chips and use bottles like coopers then you will be fine

Wait on, so you're saying carb drops aren't a good idea?

I only just started using glass, and thought carb drops would be the safe option. I've bottled two 23l batches this week (one drop per stubbie, two per longie).

One into Coopers PA stubbies, the other into mostly coopers PA longnecks with some assorted tooheys/carlton/vb longies to make a full batch.... The stubbies have been down 7 days and there's been no explosions - only bottled the longs last night. I've given one stubbie a bit of a wiggle, it seems less carbed than a regular CPA stubbie on a wiggle test...

Are you saying i shouldn't use carb drops? They are quite expensive at the same cost if not more than a kilo of sugar...

With bulk priming, do you just add dextrose to the fermenter before you bottle?
What is the measure?
And how do you stir it in without disturbing all the yeast/sediment on the bottom and getting excessive gunk in your bottles?

Cheers! I'm a total newbie to glass!

 

[scon]

So when you bulk prime you need a bottling bucket (preferably with a tap) big enough to hold your fermented beer.

Figure out how much sugar you need to bulk prime (I use this calculator: http://webspace.webring.com/people/ms/sirleslie/AlcoholChart/PrimingCalculator.html) and dissolve that in some boiling water and put that in the bottom of your bottling bucket then siphon/rack your fermented beer over it gently, you don't want to introduce oxygen at this stage if you can avoid it. Give it a bit of a stir (again being gentle) when it's 1/3rd full to ensure it's incorporated and then continue siphoning till it's all transferred.

Then you can just fill your bottles normally.

Good thing about this method is that the size of the bottles doesn't matter - the sugar solution is evenly distributed through your beer.

Edit: one thing to note with the calculator is that temperature is your maximum fermenting temperature.

Edit edit: and i just use regular Cane sugar.

 

[mattdean4130]

So when you bulk prime you need a bottling bucket (preferably with a tap) big enough to hold your fermented beer.

Figure out how much sugar you need to bulk prime (I use this calculator: http://webspace.webring.com/people/ms/sirleslie/AlcoholChart/PrimingCalculator.html) and dissolve that in some boiling water and put that in the bottom of your bottling bucket then siphon/rack your fermented beer over it gently, you don't want to introduce oxygen at this stage if you can avoid it. Give it a bit of a stir (again being gentle) when it's 1/3rd full to ensure it's incorporated and then continue siphoning till it's all transferred.

Then you can just fill your bottles normally.

Good thing about this method is that the size of the bottles doesn't matter - the sugar solution is evenly distributed through your beer.

Edit: one thing to note with the calculator is that temperature is your maximum fermenting temperature.

Edit edit: and i just use regular Cane sugar.

Yes that sounds like a really good advantage!!

Seems like quite a bit of extra work involved though...
Had a quick squiz at that calculator - but desired level of C02??? Ummm, i just want bubbles in my beer!!!??? lol :chug:


Maybe not quite for me just yet! But i am still interested to know why some of you think Coopers carb drops aren't ideal?

Cheers!

 

[Bridges]

The sizes of carb drops isn't uniform, so carb can vary from bottle to bottle, also most brewers (me) are tight and they are expensive for what they are.

 

[mattdean4130]

The sizes of carb drops isn't uniform, so carb can vary from bottle to bottle, also most brewers (me) are tight and they are expensive for what they are.

I agree they are expensive!

To be honest, i've never checked that they're uniform - i kind of thought that was the whole point of using them and paying extra....

In-fact i'll kind of feel ripped off and disappointed in Coopers if this is correct and they aren't a consistent size, basically defeats the purpose they're intended for right there! :angry:

 

[Florian]

Please, someone weigh a bags worth of carb drops individually and debunk this stupid persistent myth!

That little bit of difference that there might be will make feck all difference in your carbonation, and certainly will not make your bottles explode.

 

[scon]

Had a quick squiz at that calculator - but desired level of C02??? Ummm, i just want bubbles in my beer!!!??? lol :chug:

There's a little pulldown menu that lists beer types and usual volumes of CO2 Home brew (general) is 2.9-3.1 so shoot for that on your first one. After that if it's too carbed or not carbed enough you can modify it for next time.

 

[mattdean4130]

Please, someone weigh a bags worth of carb drops individually and debunk this stupid persistent myth!

That little bit of difference that there might be will make feck all difference in your carbonation, and certainly will not make your bottles explode.

Challenge accepted. I'll check it out over the weekend.
Not sure if i have a complete bag, but i've got one thats around 75% full... Should be enough for an idea.

 

[chewy]

I had a mate give himself 3 stitches under the eye from the lid on a over carbed hb... That was pre twist tops and opened it with a lighter.. You'll never believe it but we were at work!

 

[T.T.B.Co]

After a few years off the home brewing I decided that it was time to have another crack. It was the middle of summer and I was called to work away for a week, the temps were in the low 40's and my bottles were left all alone in the laundry with no one to tend to their needs, What a ******* mess to come home to!! Thats just what I needed after a hard week at work....

That was in the late 90's and I am just starting to get back into it Now..