Nearly Brewing Questions

Australia & New Zealand Homebrewing Forum

Help Support Australia & New Zealand Homebrewing Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

Nearly

Well-Known Member
Joined
28/7/03
Messages
83
Reaction score
0
Hello folks,

Nearly brewing. Just joined this board. I have been researching for a month or so but havent started a brew yet. I wanted to ask a couple of possibly dumb questions... (actually I put this post in earlier in the wrong area...)

If you rack beer into a cube after s.g. stays same for 2 days what stops the head space in the cube from oxygen spoiling the beer?

If you racked earlier would you need a airlock or could you just morning and night release the lid to ease pressure?

If you use pink stain remover to clean does it sterilize as well? It sure smells of chlorine.

If chlorine stinks on your hands even next day does that mean that it will affect the beer? Kill the yeast? Affect the taste?

Thanks folks for all the posts on this board that have helped me and others along the path to good beer...
 
Thats why you try to keep as little headspace as practical.. and also why i tend to rack at 5-7 days its still fermenting slowly, but still, my current brews are still very slowly going at day 10 in the secondary after 7 days in the primary before that..

oxidisation is a much bigger issue when it comes to racking your beer and splashing it around too much..


i'm guessing you have the temp issues sorted out.. dont read the kit instructions.. that kind of thing..
 
Thanks for the reply GSRman. I have not got anything much sorted yet. I must admit that I am kinda going down an eccentric path with brewing. I intend to save and get a kegging system and have no intention of ever bottling. Jumping in with no experience :blink:

I read in the kit label doco that the temp for this Black Rock Lager (which I understand is really an Ale) that I got with the Brewmaster kit should be 23 28 deg. I understand that if I don't want cider taste flavours I should keep it at around 20 23. I have temps of 23 down to 5 deg here in Ipswich at the moment so I am experimenting with a fermenter full of water to see what temp stability I can achieve. Early days yet. When I am convinced that I can achieve the conditions that you guys have explained will make good beer then I will lay a couple of brews into cubes to condition while I wait for the kegging kit.

On another note my 2 cousins who have kegging systems have gone off the boil a bit because they cant achieve good carbonation and flavour. I am hoping that over time we all can end up with good brews.
 
Nearly,

I rack after 7 days as GSRMan does.
The beer is still working slowly and will have a layer of CO2 on the surface to protect it.

Sterilisation for me is rinsing with boiling water out of the kettle.
No pink stuff for me.

Chlorine - best way to get rid of it is to use rain water - I do.
or boil all the water, or
fill a fermenter with tap water the night before - let it sit sealed in the sun all the next day - the sun - uv - will dissipate the chlorine. Then use the water normally.

Best advice to a new brewer is to :
buy a second fermenbter and Rack for 2 weeks.
Dry hop - best value for money in using hops this way.
Substitute malt and or dextrose for the sugar as listed on the can.

Yeast can tolerate a great deal of pressure when they are fermenting.
If you have racked at or after day 7... i wouldn't bother venting.

Hope this helps
 
nearly:

I have my fermenter sitting in a tub of about 3 " of water, with an aquarium heater in that.. to keep it around the 18 deg... (it be cold here in canberra)
 
GSRman said:
I have my fermenter sitting in a tub of about 3 " of water, with an aquarium heater in that.. to keep it around the 18 deg... (it be cold here in canberra)
Thanks GMK and GSRman. I am suprised that 3 inches is enough to keep the whole fermenter warm. That sounds like a good system though... might be the way for me to go as well.

I was toying with the idea of making an insulated wooden box to hold the fermenter and a 100 watt light on a timer. Its a bit strange I guess, to go to that kind of trouble never having made a brew yet. But I am sure from talking to folk that the whole thing is do-able one way or another and worth pursuing.

Does anyone have an opinion on whether cycling down to below brew temp overnight affects the flavour or result of a brew? I did read that temp fluctuations stress the yeast... does that affect the resulting beer?
 
Nearly

I have used the water in the Laundry trough method before..in summer adding 1.25 ltr frozen pet bottles to keep the temp down.

I also have a wooden , styrofoamed insulated brew box - i only us a 25 watt globe - i think 100 watt is way too high.
I haven't - but some guys paint the globe with exhaust black paint - they want the radiated heat and not the light.

Light can cause the wort to go light struck.

If you cycle the brewing temp - the yeast get turned on and off - not good.
Try for a nice stabel temp with as little fluctuations as possible - within 4 degrees should be good.

Hope this helps.
 
yeah i wouldnt let the temp change too much your asking for trouble i although if your using coopers yeast or similar its more forgiving liquid yeast strains are harder to use i ussually try and get it to drop one degree per day the brews that have had temp fluctuations have had quite a yeasty profile.

also doing your temp experiment with water wont really work because yeast will hold the temp more constant while brewing like any metabolizing organisims.
 
Nearly,

Aren't you just busting to have a go?

Give it a bash with a kit and a tin of liquid malt. You'll learn more by doing. Sounds like you know more than most homebrewers anyway.

Only problem is you'll have to change your name on the forum! ;)
 
Nearly,

Couldn't agree more! Just have a stab with something simple. You've obviously got most of the theory covered but as you'll find when you actually have a go things change dramatically in practice. Each time you brew some little thing will be different - that's half the fun! That's also the reason so many brewers use different techniques. Once you cover the basics it is the little things you come up with yourself that make your brews unique. It is definitely worth a basic kit + LME brew before you spend too much money I'd have thought.

Either way, good luck. Hope your beers turn out great. You're certainly way further ahead than I was 18 months ago when I started this caper! :chug:

Gough.
 
Just busting to go YES!! But I am one of those boring old farts that likes to read all the instructions before I even pull the video recorder out the box I am sure you know at least one of those annoying kind of nerdy, fussy coots. well thats me.

But fellas I do believe that you are right nothing beats practical experience. I will start soon.

As for change the Nearly name. nah, wont have to even after I start brewing Then I will be nearly able to get rid of the cider flavour or nearly getting the carbonation right .

Nearly suits me in a number of ways
 
Hey, Nearly,

I'm from Kenmore, so would be interested to see what kind of kegging package you can source in SE Qld, as I am thinking of heading down that route myself, eventually. Let us know how you get on.

Cheers - Snow.
 
Nearly said:
Just busting to go YES!! But I am one of those boring old farts that likes to read all the instructions before I even pull the video recorder out the box I am sure you know at least one of those annoying kind of nerdy, fussy coots. well thats me.

But fellas I do believe that you are right nothing beats practical experience. I will start soon.

As for change the Nearly name. nah, wont have to even after I start brewing Then I will be nearly able to get rid of the cider flavour or nearly getting the carbonation right .

Nearly suits me in a number of ways
Nearly

Off topic and tongue in cheek - i hope your wife/missus doesn't call you That :) :D
 
Snow said:
Hey, Nearly,

I'm from Kenmore, so would be interested to see what kind of kegging package you can source in SE Qld, as I am thinking of heading down that route myself, eventually. Let us know how you get on.

Cheers - Snow.
Snow,

I can help you out in the kegging department.
I can get you everything except SS Soda kegs...

If you are interested, i can do up aprice for you and then when you goto the stores round Qld - you will have something to compare with.

Only trying to help in creating another HAPPY KEGGER as cheaply as possible. :p
 
Nearly,

When you do get one in the fermenter, maybe you could logon as "Justin"


:p :lol: :D :blink: :huh:
 
GMK,

that would be superb! It would be good to have something to compare local prices to.

Cheers - Snow
 
Snow said:
Hey, Nearly, I'm from Kenmore, so would be interested to see what kind of kegging package you can source in SE Qld, as I am thinking of heading down that route myself, eventually. Let us know how you get on. Cheers - Snow.
Yes I would like to keep in touch re prices I wont be doing it for a month or 3. My cousin suggested some Ice mob (cant remember name at moment) as a cheap place to get keg gear. I havent looked at them yet will do so further down the track.

I now have used the fermenter in water with aquarium heater in it succesfully. Temp stays settled around 21 deg.

I was thinking of racking at 5 - 7 days into a cube then immediately cleaning the fermenter and then racking back in. After another week or so rack into the cube for cold conditioning. I thought I would do it this way since I only have 1 fermenter and 2 cubes and I want to store the beer already cleared as much as possible. Anybody think that is a good or bad idea?
 
nearly, im guessing a 'cube' is one of those square drum things that chemicals etc come in?

if so, just drill a lid and fit a grommet and airlock so there is still room for the gas to escape... you want to try and avoid moving the beer too much, its an action where you can get oxidisation happening..
 
GSRman said:
nearly, im guessing a 'cube' is one of those square drum things that chemicals etc come in? if so, just drill a lid and fit a grommet and airlock so there is still room for the gas to escape... you want to try and avoid moving the beer too much, its an action where you can get oxidisation happening..
Cube is the word that was used in the brewshop to describe the plastic jerry cans. Maybe my use of the word is wrong. In any case I dont want to drill them so I think I will need to persuade SWMBO that as a family we really need 2 fermenters. ;)

I did it last night.... :D I now have a lovely baby beer burb-a-ling along at about one bubble per second at 24 - 22 deg. Father delighted. Mother bemused.

I discovered that planning goes out the window when one has overlooked the fact that you cant get the fermenter under the tap. :( Later on I was all set so I put the airlock in with a dilute solution of pink stain remover in the bowls. Lifted the fermenter to place it in the aquarium heater temp controlled water and heard a sharp sucking sound. Oh sh^t :eek: The lifting has created a suction in the fermenter that has pulled the sterilizeing solution through the airlock and dropped it right on top of my newly pitched yeast!! Rats. Note to self: Put fermenter in water bath BEFORE fitting airlock.

To my relief about 2 hours later I hear a blurb and then watch for 30 secs or so before seeing another... the little darling yeasties never looked back from there and now are busy turing golden syrup into liquid amber... I hope. Thanks folks for all your guidance thus far.
 
Rather than using sanitiser in the airlock i just use boiled water. Means if by some chance some does get back into the fermenter its not going to kill the yeast.
 
Back
Top