Introduce Yourself.

[Maple]

Wonderful - thanks for the starting point - that is what I was after - thank you.

I understand almost everything in this recipe and just need to source the hops and yeast to make.

The reference to a "dark crystal" would that be a 40L or 120L crystal?

The Bairds Dark Crystal is ~240EBC so about 145 lovibond. have a read here about the grain

 

[DKS]

Hi all.

Loitered for a while, think I may have even posted in this thread previously... Got my first home brew starter kit a few years ago and did a couple of kit & kilo ginger beers, the first of which didn't ferment at all. They turned out ok, but a little to "beery" when I was after something more like bundaberg but at about 4-5%. After that did a couple of brews at a U-Brew-It which were pretty good. Then decided to go back to home brew, the first of which was another kit & kilo that got some kind of infection and tasted awful and so went down the sink. Next was a fresh wort Amarillo Pale kit, which has been extremely drinkable.
I had an issue in that fermenting in my house is hard as the temperature fluctuate so much (up to 35deg in summer). The Amarillo I did in a 100 can cooler with freezer bricks in our laundry (wife wasn't overly impressed by this). So decided I needed a better fermenting place. I came across a couple of plans for a "Fermenterator" made with extruded foam (don't have the cash to buy/run a dedicated fermenting fridge) and decided to build something based on that. Heat pad for warming ales in winter and frozen bottles + fan for cooling
View attachment 37645 View attachment 37646 View attachment 37648 View attachment 37649 View attachment 37650 View attachment 37651
Just out of the fermenterator is another fresh wort kit, but this time a Norwest Pale Ale, which is going to be bottled tomorrow in some Grolsh bottles I scored of a fellow AHB person. I'm looking forward to building up to some partial mash's in the future.

Cheers Mike.

Welcome stienberg,
You look like a very handy type of fellow. That fermenting unit is a great idea. More stylish than a rusty old fridge that's for sure and I can vouch for the frozen drink bottle system. Its surprisingly accurate.Nice project you may get requests on that one. :icon_cheers:
Daz

 

[Bribie G]

Yes as DKS says the frozen bottles work great. Where are you? In SEQ I fermented all summer in a dead fridge using 2 x 2 L frozen soft drink bottles changed only once a day, and could control the temp to within a degree. Just remember you are going to get a lot of condensation and pools of water on the bottom so you might want to keep an eye on that. :icon_cheers:

 

[Nick JD]

Another thing to consider is using a live fridge's theromostat to keep your ferment at better temperatures.

My fermening fridge set to "1" at the mo is exactly 11C where the fermenter sits.

In the height of summer (32C+), set to "1" is 19C. It doesn't take much more than sittiing a little thermometer in there to find out what it's capable of - or buy a temp mate.

By the time it gets too cold for my fridge's thermostat to do anything higher than 11C ... ambient temps average Ale ferment temps - so I don't need a fridge for fermenting ales.

If you're trying to win friends and competitions with your brewing then ignore this and spend large.

 

[mkstalen]

I'm in NSW, Northern Suburbs, probably not as hot as SEQ but the garage does get up to 40 odd in mid summer. The condensation hasn't been as bad as I thought, but may be worse in the more humid/hot months. Might chuck down a face washer under the frozen bottles to help out.
I got one of those cheap ebay auto thermostats hooked up so the fan circulates the chilled air for cooling and cranks on the heat pad for heating.

Here's a question for those who use the thermostats. I've had the temp sensor taped to the side of the fermenter with a couple of folded up tissues on the outside so it was reading the fermenter temp rather than the air temp. Is this how most people do it? Also, at what fluctuation point do you start cooling/heating to keep a constant(ish) ferment temp? I had it set to 0.7 deg. So it would fluctuate between 19 and 19.7 deg during fermentation. This sound ok? or should I drop that back down to a lower differential value?

 

[manticle]

Hi all.

Loitered for a while, think I may have even posted in this thread previously... Got my first home brew starter kit a few years ago and did a couple of kit & kilo ginger beers, the first of which didn't ferment at all. They turned out ok, but a little to "beery" when I was after something more like bundaberg but at about 4-5%. After that did a couple of brews at a U-Brew-It which were pretty good. Then decided to go back to home brew, the first of which was another kit & kilo that got some kind of infection and tasted awful and so went down the sink. Next was a fresh wort Amarillo Pale kit, which has been extremely drinkable.
I had an issue in that fermenting in my house is hard as the temperature fluctuate so much (up to 35deg in summer). The Amarillo I did in a 100 can cooler with freezer bricks in our laundry (wife wasn't overly impressed by this). So decided I needed a better fermenting place. I came across a couple of plans for a "Fermenterator" made with extruded foam (don't have the cash to buy/run a dedicated fermenting fridge) and decided to build something based on that. Heat pad for warming ales in winter and frozen bottles + fan for cooling in summer or possibly largers in winter.
View attachment 37645 View attachment 37646 View attachment 37648 View attachment 37649 View attachment 37650 View attachment 37651
Just out of the fermenterator is another fresh wort kit, but this time a Norwest Pale Ale, which is going to be bottled tomorrow in some Grolsh bottles I scored of a fellow AHB person. I'm looking forward to building up to some partial mash's in the future.

Cheers Mike.

Have designs in my head for constructing something like this cat can house a few cubes or fermenters with a separate section for bottled beer.

Looks good.

 

[Hazy]

Hazy here Bellerive Hobart .Just started all grain and am glad I made the step. pm me if in the area

 

[enoch1973]

Hi all,

I've been hanging around for a while so I thought I should introduce myself... my name is Pete... who'd of guessed?
I'm from the Northern Beaches in Sydney.I've brewing since the start of the year. My wife bought me a kit or Christmas... little did she know she'd create a monster.
I'm onto Extract brews now as I find it more satisfying creating my own beers and bittering them myself.
I'm looking at doing a BIAB or at least a partial before the year is out.
I'm great-full for all the great info I've picked in the short time that I've been involved with this forum.
I look forward to learning more from this site and giving advice where I can.
Thanks.
Pete

 

[Daawl]

G'day One and All

Im not exactly new here just long time missing.
Not going to rattle off too many excuses apart from work took over my life
Then the family was graced with twin boys (now 6mths)
While that happened had to move home

Well I put two pilsners down on Sat and the house smelt great, even SWMBO who normally doesnt like the smell made a comment that it was pleasent to smell after so long.

So when I went to the brew log to document the additions I noticed it had been 18mths to the day since I bottled my last brew. No wonder i was suffering withdrawls.

God is it good to be back.

 

[VonFehringer]

Evening All

Just thought I would intoduce myself , I am new brisbane based homebrewer , although I have been reading the forums for a couple of months and have already interacted with some. Moving on quickly into kegging , as it didn't take me long to get fed up with bottles. Trying my 1st fresh wort supplied by the local home brew shop (stout) and currently have a little creatures clone , Pils and an Ale in the fridge. I like all styles of beer but currently tend to lean towards IPAs and the occasional stout. Eventually wanting to get into AG but my current philosophy is to become proficiant in K&Ks 1st, perhaps move onto BIAB and if my love for brewing continues eventually HERMs.

 

[raven19]

Welcome back to the fray Daawl - twins would no doubt take some brewing time out of the equation for sure!

Von, keep an eye out for Chappo's next brew day I am sure if you can make it, it will be a great learning experience seeing his HERMS in action.

 

[VonFehringer]

Welcome back to the fray Daawl - twins would no doubt take some brewing time out of the equation for sure!

Von, keep an eye out for Chappo's next brew day I am sure if you can make it, it will be a great learning experience seeing his HERMS in action.

Sounds good - always ready to learn...... and drink....

 

[I_C_Wiener]

Hey all,

just thought i would introduce myself as i have been lurking as a guest for quite a while. Ive been brewing for around 6 months now and have worked my way up from K and K to extract and recently put down my second AG brew on a basic 3v setup.

This forum has given me a wealth of information and inspiration and i must give a big thank you to all the knowlegable brewers out there who give their expertise to help out the people who are just starting out.

Cheers

 

[Acasta]

Hello everyone!
Some of you may already know me from my bottle exploding thread, but i figure i'd be polite and greet you all.
I've already gotten some great advice from everyone, i've only done about 8 kit brews, but im keen to be starting my first AG in BIAB soon.
Thanks.

 

[emeraldmage]

Good Morning All,

I'd like to take the time to introduce myself. Im ingleburndave new to the forums and homebrewing.
I have made a few coopers pale ale batches. Im still learning and any help would be appreciated.

Thanks for allowing me to introduce myself.


Regards
David

 

[Bribie G]

Welcome guys. I started off two years ago when uncle kev brought in the alcopop tax. I was a cask drinker and it looked like cask wine was in their sights as well. I thought "pfft", I'll make my own alcohol - I used to brew 25 years ago anyway.

So I got a fermenter and made batches of 7% ABV ginger beer from supermarket ingredients - drunk on two bucks, dead drunk on four bucks, dead on six :icon_vomit:

Then one day I thought "hmm, wouldn't mind a stout" so I got one little can of Coopers.

just one little can

Slippery slippery slope :

Have fun guys and welcome aboard.

 

[Shed101]

So, is that your:

1. kitchen
2. bedroom
3. bathroom

And did you sell the curtains and paint to raise money for new fermenters. :lol:

 

[emdub]

G'day Team,
Maxie from Nowra here dropping in to get the goss I've been missing out on. Just put down my second K&K (I know what it means now) and there's obviously a few things I didn't consider. But not a prob, it'll work out fine.

I will however start trying to brew a better beer once I can get the equipment and ingredients. Not much choice here in Nowra and I'm not working atm.

At least at this place cheers has a great meaning.

Cheers! Maxie.

 

[pk.sax]

I'm the fool from gully. Name is PK. I've been on the forum for more than a month now, soaking up advice, tips... everything. Great place to discuss all drunk stuff

Only 2 brews down so far, third on it's way into the fermenter tomorrow. Got introduced by a mate who has been brewing a bit now. They've got a whole club thing going at RMIT and tasting their hoppy water got me convinced to do it myself. So glad I did.

It is a slippery slope. Started with a coopers kit and it's now 2 demijohns to brew cider and stuff and putting together the equipment to make an absinthe sometime in the future (planted my wormwood, watching it grow). I'm thoroughly enjoying it for sure.

 

[peaky]

Hi all, I've been lurking around the forum for the past few months and figured it was time to introduce myself.

I used to brew kits a few years back but shifted houses and gave up the game for a while. Decided to get back into it a few months ago and have brewed a couple of kits, then a couple of partials. And now that I have completed the construction of a 3 tier gravity AG setup, grain will be all go! I have an urn for HLT, 44L esky mash tun, and a 50L kettle, and I built the steel frame at work. Should do the trick.

Good thing I decided to get back into brewing at tax return time! Just ordered a MM2 grain mill from America, and I even bought a trailer so I can fetch me some refridgerators. Next week I'll be making yeast starters as a mate of mine with a knack for electronics made me a stir plate.

I must say, wifey has been giving me a few suspect looks with all the packages arriving during the day, especially the 13KG 4 ringed burner the post dropped off, then she carried it out to the shed for me while I was at work!

Anyways, almost all the info I needed to build my setup came from this forum using the search tool and browsing. As time goes on I hope to be able to share any knowledge I gain along the way with others.

Cheers :icon_cheers: