I Am Brand New To Brewing, Any Help Appreciated

[keezawitch]

hi, i am from australia, I am brand new to brewing just put my first batch in yesterday, have no idea of terminology, I would appreciate any help and advise. I also would like to know how to grow the ingredients ( hops etc) and how to get a hold of seeds, rhizomes and such like as I would really like to brew my own from scratch.

 

[DU99]

Hop rhizomes become available in winter.
have look at this post will give you an idea

 

[yum beer]

read and learn, plenty of info on here.

 

[zabond]

If you just put your first brew down yesterday my best advise is keep the temp to as close to 18*c as possable[presuming its an ALE]during fermentation and take hydrometer readings 7days in then every3 days til the reading is stable over 3 days[you did take a reading before adding yeast ?]

 

[keezawitch]

thanks a bout the rhizomes, yep we took a reading before adding yeast, it is a lager

 

[yum beer]

if its a kit lager chances are you will have an ale yeast anyway, temp 18c, if it is a lager yeast get your temps down to 12-13c if you can.

 

[Rizzla]

Hi welcome to the pleasure and rewards of brewing your own, trust me you can make some very nice beer with a bit of patience using the knowledge that abounds in this site. I started about 8 months ago and have had comments such as "if they sold this in bottles I'd buy it". I use both liquid and dry malts, bit of dextrose, corn syrup powder, some crystal or cara grain and a little wheat malt and cooked up pellet hops.
If I were you I'd use the hops availabe in pellet form to find the flavours you like. You could start by using a pre hopped can (Coopers mex, Can blond, Aust ale etc etc) and boiling up some different hops in the water you rinsed the can out with for 5 minutes or so, this can really improve the basic goo can. Don't use sugar use dry malt extract, chuck the yeast packet that comes with the goo away and pay about $5 for safeale S 04 or similar. Temp is also a biggie don't let the fermentation get above 23 - 24 max max 0C, constant 18 - 20 is good

I wouldn't worry about growing hops just yet, you may find out as I did the flovours and aromas I like dont like my climate (WA). I wll eventually grow some but probably only bittering hops. Concentrate on developing a good beer style using what's available and your creativity (with a little help from Ians spredsheet). If you keep everything clean, have a bit of patience and be prepared for the odd flop that you an learn from then you will enjoy brewing.

Cheers, most of your foreseeable questions have probably been answered somewhere on this site but dont be afraid to ask,

Have just read your posts on partial forum, It's not just growing the the barley, it has to be malted, an art in itself. Guess your going the organic/sustainable route. Wow. Good luck and hope you get there.

 

[keezawitch]

Yum beer, thanks, is that the temp one side of drum, if so i gotta cool room down

Rizzla, thanks to you too, Sustainable yes organic god no i am happy to kill off things with sprays, drench anything, I want to give hop growing a go for a couple of reasons one I like to try to grow things that arent the common run of the mill stuff and if it works i get the fun of experimenting with what i grow and i am very lucky i have the time to fiddle in the garden. Having a go at malting sounds like fun to me, little crazy maybe, but the thrashing bit sounds crappy might try to get some unhulled grain later on see what happens.

Can i use castor sugar instead of dextrose, someone suggested it to me, I dont care if it changes the alcohol content as its flavour that matters to me.

 

[michael_aussie]

hi, i am from australia,

99% of us are from Australia. ... ;-)

the address is AUSSIEhomebrewer.com


Welcome to the site.. .. I see you've already had lots of good advice..

 

[keezawitch]

micheal aussie, thanks for the welcome, glad to hear most are aussies, you never know with names (aussiehomebrewer) as there is a pedigree breed of dog called australian shepherd and quess what it is an american dog, they were developed in america, registered in american and started showing there so what is with the name aussie shepherd, god knows, but since they are now imported to aussie I kinda question the term aussie sometimes

 

[kelbygreen]

its a aussie site. I am sorry but we cannot send hops to south australia as of quarantine, so sending them over seas will be very hard. Anything about brewing and other questions are welcome but sending stuff there is not worth it. We import stuff from USA as its alot cheaper then buying it local even with the high postage rates so just get advice here and buy stuff there you will be far better off

 

[yum beer]

Yum beer, thanks, is that the temp one side of drum, if so i gotta cool room down

Can i use castor sugar instead of dextrose, someone suggested it to me, I dont care if it changes the alcohol content as its flavour that matters to me.

Yes mate the temp on side of drum, though some say they can be dodgy, but it will give a reasonble idea of whats happening.

If your talking caster sugar in the wort instead of dex, I wouldnt go there. Sugars are not for flavour but caster sugar is very sweet and I dont think it will do anything good for your beer, as Rizla says try and use malt instead of sugar/dex as much as possible....a little dex, 300gm in a brew will help to achieve a drier mouth but malts will give better flavour. You can probably use the caster sugar for priming, try it if you want and see how it goes, I have used raw sugar and coffee crystals with success in the past...now I bulk prime with dex...or use carb drops if I dont have a spare fermenter/drum.

 

[keezawitch]

Yes mate the temp on side of drum, though some say they can be dodgy, but it will give a reasonble idea of whats happening.

If your talking caster sugar in the wort instead of dex, I wouldnt go there. Sugars are not for flavour but caster sugar is very sweet and I dont think it will do anything good for your beer, as Rizla says try and use malt instead of sugar/dex as much as possible....a little dex, 300gm in a brew will help to achieve a drier mouth but malts will give better flavour. You can probably use the caster sugar for priming, try it if you want and see how it goes, I have used raw sugar and coffee crystals with success in the past...now I bulk prime with dex...or use carb drops if I dont have a spare fermenter/drum.

thanks yum beer, wont even try in wort, what about in bottle instead of those carbonation tablets or would you use dextrose in that as well, going to start testing in a couple of days and want to make sure i have the right stuff to bottle when i do it.

 

[keezawitch]

thanks yum beer, wont even try in wort, what about in bottle instead of those carbonation tablets or would you use dextrose in that as well, going to start testing in a couple of days and want to make sure i have the right stuff to bottle when i do it.

I only meant to use in bottles, I intend to use malt in wort just going to try different ones. thanks again.

 

[keezawitch]

its a aussie site. I am sorry but we cannot send hops to south australia as of quarantine, so sending them over seas will be very hard. Anything about brewing and other questions are welcome but sending stuff there is not worth it. We import stuff from USA as its alot cheaper then buying it local even with the high postage rates so just get advice here and buy stuff there you will be far better off

Thanks,I am in NSW is there any probs getting hops(rhizomes) into this state. Never brought from overseas, would appreciate advice on who to contact over there as i do want to save money on by brewing myself as well as experiment with different flavours.

 

[keezawitch]

very pleased to say my first brew is a success, fingers crossed for one in wort, i will definately repeat the first, think it will be my staple stock.

 

[manticle]

thanks yum beer, wont even try in wort, what about in bottle instead of those carbonation tablets or would you use dextrose in that as well, going to start testing in a couple of days and want to make sure i have the right stuff to bottle when i do it.

Sucrose and dextrose are both fine for priming. A small amount of sucrose or dex is fine in the beer too - just don't overdo it. Find the balance. Sugar additions can be better added later as too much sucrose interferes with the yeast's ability to metabolise maltose. A couple hundred grams is probably not worth worrying about but if, for example you were bumping up the alc level in a belgian with candi sugar or dex or similar, it can be a good idea to add when the wort has mostly fermented out.

 

[keezawitch]

Sucrose and dextrose are both fine for priming. A small amount of sucrose or dex is fine in the beer too - just don't overdo it. Find the balance. Sugar additions can be better added later as too much sucrose interferes with the yeast's ability to metabolise maltose. A couple hundred grams is probably not worth worrying about but if, for example you were bumping up the alc level in a belgian with candi sugar or dex or similar, it can be a good idea to add when the wort has mostly fermented out.

thanks, i used dextros in the lager, used castor sugar to prime and this was my first brew i have ever done and i am really happy to say it turned out great, has been tasted by quite a few beer conisiuers and has received the tick , I have a draught in at the moment and the son insisted on trying it with all castor sugar, seems to be going a bit slower than the lager but will see how it tastes when finished. I have decided to stick to the dextrose in the lager, why fiddle with something that they all like. It will be the one i make as a staple for the mob and i plan to experiement in another container i have gotten a hold of. thanks for help i have found it ti be very useful