Make A Prem Beer (how To)

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Gout

Bentleigh Brau Haus
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Ok guys i have been brewing for some time 7 yrs maybe but i am far from a great brewer, I have always brewed with a kit and some additional mult (power most the time) corn syrip power and gluecose.

This has been a cheap easy way to brew beer. Stout was another story and well they cost a arm and leg with the amount of mult etc that go into it - oh boy there nice though!.

Now i of late being busy as a bee have only been brewing coopers largers with 1kg gluecos, few cups of dry light mult power, 2 cups of corn syrip power, keg it for say 3-5 months and drink - its ok but not what a good home brew should be (better than shop beer mind you)

I have tried to brew a few "cascade/boggs prem" beer copys. The one i made turned out very nice (lost my notes on it though and was some time ago so i forgot)

Does anyone have idea's on how to make a nice home brew prem style beer. one that smells nice and hopy and has that flavour, rather than bland beers.

I want to start getting more involved with hops in my brews, and maybe in time mash's etc

thanks guys
(i'll try your advise in my next brew)
 
Ben,

I've made up one of Ken's recipes from the list above,

The Australian Draught.

It came out lovely and I think would well rival most of the Oz Premium beers. The Hellertau give it a nice tart finish.

As a matter of fact, I have another batch brewing at the moment and unhappily only three stubbies left from the first batch.

Ken, I'm going to try kegging this batch so I thought that I'd carefully strain the brew out of the secondary into the keg through a sieve. I thought I saw in one of your other posts a comment about an in-line filter you use - can you elaborate please.

Trev
 
Trev

> $10.00 Pre Keg Filter.

Parts:
13 mm in line irrigation filter.
2 x 13mm irrigation clamps.
1m of 12mm drinking water/food grade line.

Method:

Cut off 100mm of line.
attach line to top of inline filter - clamp with 13 mm plastic clamp.
Attach rest of line to outlet of in-line filter and clamp.
The 12mm line fits snugly over the fermenter tap...
The other end of the line sits on the bottom of either bottling bucket or keg.
This way you get to filter out any crap/hops without the mess of sieves and aerating the beer.

Just pour boiling water thru line prior to use and clean out filter afterwards...very KISS.

Hope this helps....
 
thanks guys i'll have a look at these tonight (when home) and will try to brew one. I was reading over the weekend on mashes and mini-mash hoping etc etc sounds like a huge job to do a mash with lots of exuipment esp a pot to hold say 12Lt of wort :(

Is this how you guys brew your top beers or can you still use a kit (with additions of mult and hops etc)
 
I just put on my "first"* lager tonight, simple kit recipe, hoping I can keep it below 15 deg (pref 10-12) seeing the weather is so cool in perth at the moment.

1 can coopers lager, 500g light DME, 500g dextrose, 25g NZ hallertau pellets. Just chucked them all together with 2 litres of boiling water, mixed, added water to 20L and pitched 2 packs of SafLager (s23?). I figure I'll leave it in primary for 2-3 weeks, then just rack it straight to keg and stick it in the keg fridge for a month to "lager".


* Only used lager yeast once before and it was a disaster (i had little experience at the time too), all my other brews have used ale yeast.


On a side note, racked my IPA to secondary ontop of 1/2 a plug of cascade and 1/2 a plug of styrian goldings. Looks, tastes and smells like it'll be a winner :)
 
wont leaving it in the prim fermenter for 3 weeks be to long? why not after its brewed then move to the 2nd, the to the keg to lager?

I'm sure someone can answer these questions ( i have not do that many with the 2nd keg and unsure on the best times to do it)

regards
Ben

P.S when we lager in the keg, should i just burp the keg then store or gas it before the storage. Someone told me to gas it as it speeds up the aging

any help?
 
Beb,

I have been told to just burp it...as too much pressure in the keg can kill the yeast.

Some guys in the club add 100gms of DExtrose into the keg...Burp it and then let it age...

It is supposed to promote rapid yeast growth and aging - as in bottle conditioning - but quicker. Note - first glass or two will have yeast sediment.

Hope this helps.
 
Ben said:
wont leaving it in the prim fermenter for 3 weeks be to long? why not after its brewed then move to the 2nd, the to the keg to lager?

I'm sure someone can answer these questions ( i have not do that many with the 2nd keg and unsure on the best times to do it)

regards
Ben

P.S when we lager in the keg, should i just burp the keg then store or gas it before the storage. Someone told me to gas it as it speeds up the aging

any help?
I've spoken with people who've left beers on a yeast cake for 2-3 weeks with no problems. Aparently autolysis only occurs after around 5 weeks after primary fermentation has ceased. Does anyone have definate figures on this? or is it dependant on temps, yeast strains, amount of cells, etc etc?

I'm short on fermenter space, so I'm just going to leave it in primary for 2-3 weeks. That way its got a week or so to ferment out, then the rest of the time for the yeast to settle. I'll keg it after that, burp the keg and store it for a month or two. Its my first real attempt at a lager, its more just an experiment than anything else, thats why I'm using a kit and a cheap yeast (saflager).
 
I am going to try one of kens above recipes. The Aust lager, and Munich Helles.

Few what is most likly a basic and rather silly questions.
a) dry hoping, is this just adding pellets to the 2nd rack fermentor?

B) lagering is this the 2nd rack fermentor left in thr cold(fridge) for say 1-2 weeks.

as i brew in a "fridge" that doen't work only a light bulb to keep it warm enough i cant cool the 2nd fermentor. Leaving this is the current 7-10deg weather will this have a similar effect? also i then keg and leav that in a cold fridge (will that have the same effect as lagering it?

c) will a one day yeast starter be better than just 10min?

d) will a saflager 23(or similar) yeast make a better beer than the coopers kit yeast?

e) when you boil hops you get the bitternes yes?, heat them you get the flavour, and dry hop the flavour and aroma??

thanks for any help - and sorry for the basic learning level
I have made a lot of beer but always only used kit beers and "conversion kits" sugers kits with malts etc

the hops and lagering kegging etc is still new to me :huh:
 

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