My Beginers Advice

[brettule]

I'm still a brewing noob, I'm onto my 4th batch now and I'm only comming to understand various techniques and the subtle influences upon the process. "Brewing is simple" they say, compared to what, drinking it? I'd have to disagree, I've found it takes an understanding of several more aspects which the back of a beginners brew kit doesn't let on. I would have found the following beginners tips useful:

- Before pitching yeast gradually bring your fermentor up to volume and temp by alternating the hot and cold water, don't pour in the 4 litres of hot then pour in 19 odd of cold expecting the tins directions to be accurate. This will prevent you being caught standing there with a tub full of 35 degree fluid on a hot summers day wondering how your packet of funny faces would go to cool it down.

- Careful screwing on the lid of the fermentor, if it's cross threaded then you won't get a seal and you'll curse the fact you have no bubbles in the airlock and accuse your yeast of being lazier than a first year uni student.

- Make sure the boiled sterile water is cool before cleaning you gear, boiling hot water tends to break the plastic items and shrivel your bottle brush to something resembling a pretzel stick.

- When using the can opener on your kit don't leave the lid open yet attached by the last sliver of tin like you see on all the wholesome cat food adverts, the lid tends to break off and fall into your fermentor or whatever boiling hot vessel you've used. Fishing it out leads to permanent scaring.

- The kit directions are like a recipe, intended to be read through and understood first. If read like an Ikea instruction sheet you find yourself left over with a bag of unopened hops and an Allen key - which seems to fit your bookcase.

- A hydrometer is a great way to know when all the sugars have been eaten and you're ready to bottle. If you lift the lid and drop the hydrometer in you discover that not only you can't read the guage on the hydrometer unless you have a dentists mirror but you'll probably infect the brew. If you use the tap to pour a sample into a galss you'll find you need to fill an Erdinger pint glass just to give you the depth. Buy a fermentor flute tube, and rememeber that when in your local home brewer store if you pretend like you are not a complete noob he'll assume you know what your doing buying just the hydrometer.

- Ferment above the advised temp and you get a fruity flavour, below and you get a bitter flavour... fluctuating between both ends up with you trying to convince your friends that they are drinking a fine ale with complex flavours while they pour it into the nearest potted plant.

 

[MitchDudarko]

This is some good advice. Cheers. One thing I wanted to know was: I bought a choc mahog porter kit today, which had 2 cans of malt, a bag of hops, and safale yeast in, but no dextrose/brew enhancer. I put it together as the directions said on the box, however there's been no movement from the yeast yet. Should I have bought a separate brew enhancer/dextrose?
Cheers,
Mitch

 

[brettule]

I was baffled by that once too, it seems the dextrose is pre mixed into the can(s). Nobody tells you that one either!

 

[QSR]

Good reading . Welcome to the world of DIY Homebrewing

 

[Mantis]

I was baffled by that once too, it seems the dextrose is pre mixed into the can(s). Nobody tells you that one either!

Dont know the kit but
Brews dont need dextrose to work. The tins are probably all malt and two tins of malt will give you a full strength beer.

 

[Swinging Beef]

This is some good advice. Cheers. One thing I wanted to know was: I bought a choc mahog porter kit today, which had 2 cans of malt, a bag of hops, and safale yeast in, but no dextrose/brew enhancer. I put it together as the directions said on the box, however there's been no movement from the yeast yet. Should I have bought a separate brew enhancer/dextrose?
Cheers,
Mitch

Mmm.. that sounds like a nice kit.
Dextrose is a adjunct that is used as a way to ramp up the alcohol in your beer with no (significant) changes to the taste or feel of the beer.
A kit that comes with just the cans of malt is usually superior to one that you thro in dex.
Keep your eyes peeled for ESB kits.
One 3kg can of magic and away you go!

 

[Mantis]

Mmm.. that sounds like a nice kit.
Dextrose is a adjunct that is used as a way to ramp up the alcohol in your beer with no (significant) changes to the taste or feel of the beer.
A kit that comes with just the cans of malt is usually superior to one that you thro in dex.
Keep your eyes peeled for ESB kits.
One 3kg can of magic and away you go!

Yep , can second that. Drinking an ESB Bavarian wheat as we speak and it is very good. Added nothing to it just bought the kit contents and about 3 lt of water to boil, cooled a bit in the sink and added it to fermenter up to 23lt, easy as. :beer:

 

[Bribie G]

This is some good advice. Cheers. One thing I wanted to know was: I bought a choc mahog porter kit today, ...... however there's been no movement from the yeast yet. Should I have bought a separate brew enhancer/dextrose?
Cheers,
Mitch

If you sprinkled the yeast directly onto the brew it will sit there for a few hours waking up, then start gradually working, and you should definitely be seeing action by tomorrow night. What temperature is it at? I note that Kalgoorlie is currently 5 to 16 (ouch) so your yeast might be a bit sluggish to start off with.

 

[Swinging Beef]

Yep , can second that. Drinking an ESB Bavarian wheat as we speak and it is very good. Added nothing to it just bought the kit contents and about 3 lt of water to boil, cooled a bit in the sink and added it to fermenter up to 23lt, easy as. :beer:

That is now my 2nd favorite kit... try yourself the brewmasters Hoegaarden kit, it is excellent. But get a tasty Wyeast Wit yeast.
My local suppliers can not get the ESB Bavarian Wheat. I have been running out the occasional pilsner for my non beer drinking friends, but no Bav Wheat

 

[buttersd70]

This is some good advice. Cheers. One thing I wanted to know was: I bought a choc mahog porter kit today, which had 2 cans of malt, a bag of hops, and safale yeast in, but no dextrose/brew enhancer. I put it together as the directions said on the box, however there's been no movement from the yeast yet. Should I have bought a separate brew enhancer/dextrose?
Cheers,
Mitch

definately not. The 2 tin kits have everything you need.

Mmm.. that sounds like a nice kit.
Dextrose is a adjunct that is used as a way to ramp up the alcohol in your beer with no (significant) changes to the taste or feel of the beer.
A kit that comes with just the cans of malt is usually superior to one that you thro in dex.
Keep your eyes peeled for ESB kits.
One 3kg can of magic and away you go!

Dextrose is a simple sugar that ferments out with no taste....as you gain more experience with brewing, brettule, you will start to move away from anything that does not add flavour. It does, however, significantly effect the body of the beer. Too much dextrose, or any simple sugar for that matter, will reduce the body significantly. Which is why brew enhancers, that are used in place of plain dextrose, are usually a combination of malt and dextrose, sometimes with maltodextrin.
The all malt, 2 tin types of kit, whilst a slightly more expensive option, should give a much improved result. (I say should, not will. But only cos I've never tried it. But an all malt beer will beat one with dex in it any day of the week.)

 

[GMK]

Quote - When using the can opener on your kit don't leave the lid open yet attached by the last sliver of tin like you see on all the wholesome cat food adverts, the lid tends to break off and fall into your fermentor or whatever boiling hot vessel you've used. Fishing it out leads to permanent scaring.

Instead - leave 2 finger widths of unopened lid. Then foce the lid over 180 Degrees.
Now you can upend the can and it will rest on its side and the lid running the contents into the fermenter ( screw lid ones) without using hands.

While the goo runs into the fermenter - you can then do your partial/bag/boil etc. in a seperate saucepan as you now have 2 hands free to work on it.

 

[MitchDudarko]

If you sprinkled the yeast directly onto the brew it will sit there for a few hours waking up, then start gradually working, and you should definitely be seeing action by tomorrow night. What temperature is it at? I note that Kalgoorlie is currently 5 to 16 (ouch) so your yeast might be a bit sluggish to start off with.

Yep, tis cold over here this time of year. The problem is I have 3 fermenters, and only 2 heater belts, so I had to huddle all the fermenters together, chuck a blanket over them all and try share one belt between two! The good news is it seems to have worked, and my porter is bubbling away as I type. Thanks for all your replies too, the local HBS isn't really a home brew shop, more of a bazaar, and the people running it arent quite 'full bottle' (pardon the pun) as far as home brewing goes.
Cheers,
Mitch

 

[LethalCorpse]

- Before pitching yeast gradually bring your fermentor up to volume and temp by alternating the hot and cold water, don't pour in the 4 litres of hot then pour in 19 odd of cold expecting the tins directions to be accurate. This will prevent you being caught standing there with a tub full of 35 degree fluid on a hot summers day wondering how your packet of funny faces would go to cool it down.

I'm not sure what you mean here, can you expand on this? Basically your tap water is going to be at, or close to, the right temp for brewing. You don't need to add any hot water, except for the boiled adjuncts (dry malt, dextrose, brew enhancer, wort steeped from specialty grain etc and flavour/aroma hops if used). BTW, ignore what the can says about brewing at 25 degrees - they say that so they can sell more cans, because beginners don't have temperature controlled fridges and 25 degrees is considered ambient in most places in Australia. Ale yeasts perform best at 16-20C, I have my fridge controller set for 18. Get an old fridge and a fridgemate when you can, in the meantime, ambient winter temps are fine for most of us, down south you might need a belt. In summer, wrap it in a wet towel or stick it in a laundry tub full of water and a frozen drink bottle, rotated with a fresh one as it melts (put in a requisition for facilities with SWMBO - She Who Must Be Obeyed - before occupying her laundry sink)

- Careful screwing on the lid of the fermentor, if it's cross threaded then you won't get a seal and you'll curse the fact you have no bubbles in the airlock and accuse your yeast of being lazier than a first year uni student.

Don't stress too much about this. Airlock activity is pleasantly comforting, but isn't necessary to determine whether it's fermenting. If you can see through the top, look for krausen - yeast clumping at the top. If not, you can tell it's fermenting by taking a hydrometer sample. But generally, to quote mothers of teenage boys everywhere, leave it alone or it'll fall off. After about ten days, take a sample, then another one at 11 days. If they're the same, you can bottle, or leave it for up to another week if you like. RDWHAHB (means Relax, Don't Worry, Have A HomeBrew - a mantra to live by)

- Make sure the boiled sterile water is cool before cleaning you gear, boiling hot water tends to break the plastic items and shrivel your bottle brush to something resembling a pretzel stick.

Eh? The boiled cooled water is for topping up your fermenter. Many of us don't even bother boiling and cooling - straight out of the tap into the fermenter is fine for anywhere in Australia unless you're on tank or bore water. For sterilising, the water has to be boiling, or close to it, to kill the bugs. As you've found, though, this can destroy some of the more delicate plastic bits. You're much better off skipping the boiling water thing entirely and using one of the standard brewery cleaning agents in hot water (again, straight out of the tap). My personal preference is napisan - make sure you use the home brand stuff, or napisan "babycare" as they're unscented. Many people use bleach with a splash of vinegar. Fill your fermenter up about 1/3 full of hot water, add the cleaner and all your other bits that need cleaning, then put the lid on and shake the buggery out of it, use a new cloth to wipe the inside down to get any stubborn spots, then rinse a few times thoroughly. Don't forget to take off your tap, disassemble it and clean it and the hole it unscrewed from. Then, right before brewing, spray your prep bench, fermenter, tap, big spoon, kit tin, can opener, yeast sachet, hands and anything else which is going to touch the beer with a oneshot sanitiser - iodophor, starsan, phosphoric acid, etc, available from your brew shop.

- When using the can opener on your kit don't leave the lid open yet attached by the last sliver of tin like you see on all the wholesome cat food adverts, the lid tends to break off and fall into your fermentor or whatever boiling hot vessel you've used. Fishing it out leads to permanent scaring.

I just stop the can opener half an inch before the end, then turn the can upside down and squeeze it over the fermenter. The weight of the extract forces the flap to open, and I've not lost one yet. If you do lose one, though, just leave it where it is - it'll do less harm than the bacteria on your hand.

- The kit directions are like a recipe, intended to be read through and understood first. If read like an Ikea instruction sheet you find yourself left over with a bag of unopened hops and an Allen key - which seems to fit your bookcase.

As I've already said, the kit directions need to be taken with a grain of salt. Now that you're here, you'll get more success by just reading the forums for directions and asking questions where you need to.

- A hydrometer is a great way to know when all the sugars have been eaten and you're ready to bottle. If you lift the lid and drop the hydrometer in you discover that not only you can't read the guage on the hydrometer unless you have a dentists mirror but you'll probably infect the brew. If you use the tap to pour a sample into a galss you'll find you need to fill an Erdinger pint glass just to give you the depth. Buy a fermentor flute tube, and rememeber that when in your local home brewer store if you pretend like you are not a complete noob he'll assume you know what your doing buying just the hydrometer.

The tube your hydrometer came in does a fine job of this, but I speak from experience when I say that they don't like dishwashers. Rather similar to your bottle brush I think.

- Ferment above the advised temp and you get a fruity flavour, below and you get a bitter flavour... fluctuating between both ends up with you trying to convince your friends that they are drinking a fine ale with complex flavours while they pour it into the nearest potted plant.

ref. above

Yep , can second that. Drinking an ESB Bavarian wheat as we speak and it is very good. Added nothing to it just bought the kit contents and about 3 lt of water to boil, cooled a bit in the sink and added it to fermenter up to 23lt, easy as. :beer:

I'll third it - the brew enhancers make it easier for beginners to produce a beer which is similar to what they're used to drinking, but much better beer will be produced by all-malt recipes. I must ask, though, Mantis, why did you boil the kit? A kit can isn't meant to be boiled. You don't need to worry about sterilising it, because the tin is sealed under sterile conditions (you do need to spray it with one-shot before opening it, because bugs can still get on the outside). Moreover, if they used isohops boiling (reportedly) destroys them, and if they added flavour and aroma hops, boiling will turn them into bittering hops. You only need to boil any dry ingredients, along with whatever hops you're adding. Half fill your biggest pot with cold water, stir in the dry ingredients and bring to the boil, stirring as you go to make sure everything gets dissolved. Once it's boiling, add your flavour hops (if you're using them - you usually won't for a kit brew) then, after fifteen minutes, add your finishing/aroma hops and take it off the heat straight away. Then strain it into your fermenter, half fill with cold water, add the contents of the kit and stir like crazy with the big spoon. Then top it up to your final volume, check the temp and pitch yeast once it's below 25C. If you've got a big boil volume and you find it finishes up much hotter than that, you can chill the pot with the lid on in a laundry tub of ice water before straining it in.
if it's all liquid extract though, just chuck it in, top it up and pitch.

 

[Mantis]

I must ask, though, Mantis, why did you boil the kit?

Dunno really, I only just bought it to the boil then took it off the heat. Worried about bugs I expect.
Doesnt seem to have hurt anything, it tastes great.

 

[brettule]

Fair enough LethalCorpse, a whole bunch more info to correct my novice words. In fact my post was mainly a comical attempt to show all the screw ups I've made, best I reserve my comedy for the hairbrush and bathroom mirror in future.

 

[Bribie G]

Fair enough LethalCorpse, a whole bunch more info to correct my novice words. In fact my post was mainly a comical attempt to show all the screw ups I've made, best I reserve my comedy for the hairbrush and bathroom mirror in future.

No, on the contrary most of what you experienced is well known to all brewers! For example you mentioned 'cross threading' of the fermenter lid. In fact whilst it's probably difficult or impossible to actually cross thread the thing, a major problem is people built like Godzilla over tightening the lid when they screw it on ("tighter has to be better, hey"). This often leads to the rubber O-ring under the lid "crimping up" and allowing gas to escape at the point where it got crimped. The poor little bugger can only stand so much pressure. Story of my life as well.

Also +1 with totally removing the top of the can and not let it flap. I ended up with a flapping lid the other day doing a toucan, and thought "she'll be right, how hard is this?". By the time I had finished scraping the goop out of the first can and the lid my hands and forearms ended up looking like a toddler who had been mudlarking. <_< Second can, of course, I opened properly and no probs

Keep posting, it's nice to see someone who isn't Sh#t serious about things

 

[marlow_coates]

For taking the lid off the can I generally use the can opener all the way round. Let the thing sit on the top of the contents and push a clean edge to lever one side up.
I then leave sitting balanced nicely on the edge while the can sits in near boiling water. This will make contents more fluid.
When time comes to pour in, hold a tiny edge of the lid and lift it out, pour in contents, then use half a cup of boiling water to swish in the can for all thats stuck to the edges, and another half cup of boiling water to wash away whats under the lid (thats not stuck to your finger).

This way sounds complicated now I have written it, but ensures you get all the contents into the brew except a tiny bit on the edge of the lid your holding.

Just my technique.

Also I grew up in Mackay, and brewing there is a nightmare when it comes to getting to pitching temps. On the first few attempts when following the recipe on can it took forever to get below 30C to pitch due to the volume of advised boiled water. Used to throw ice cubes and all sorts of cold stuff in (untill i learned about infection :icon_cheers: )

Also used to brew at about 28 to 30C, never used the hydrometer, figured a quick boiled water splash would sanitise old bottles, and impatiently drank all beers within 2 weeks of bottling :icon_vomit: .

All this when I was 15. Can't believe how crap our knowledge was. Now I feel like I have some grasp on the brewing techniques required to make decent beer, and our recent move to all grain has been awsome.

Keep brewing and you'll have to keep learning, and hopefully apply that knowledge to making some bloody terrific beers.

Marlow out. :icon_drunk:

 

[LethalCorpse]

Yeah, I didn't mean to disparage, brettule, just providing more info where I can.

 

[Hefty]

- A hydrometer is a great way to know when all the sugars have been eaten and you're ready to bottle. If you lift the lid and drop the hydrometer in you discover that not only you can't read the guage on the hydrometer unless you have a dentists mirror but you'll probably infect the brew.

+1 for this. Up as recently as a few months ago I was still advocating leaving it in your fermenter and viewing it through the lid . I even suggested it in a thread on here. I apologise to any I may have convinced to do so as I now know how much easier and more accurate it is to take a sample and measure it, not to mention the benefits gained from tasting the sample to give an early idea of flavour etc.

Jono.

 

[cdbrown]

+1 for this. Up as recently as a few months ago I was still advocating leaving it in your fermenter and viewing it through the lid . I even suggested it in a thread on here. I apologise to any I may have convinced to do so as I now know how much easier and more accurate it is to take a sample and measure it, not to mention the benefits gained from tasting the sample to give an early idea of flavour etc.

Jono.

Just remember to remove the airlock before pouring the test into the hydro tube or you might find you've just sucked in the water and any bugs that may have been sitting in it.