New Brewer and pumped as

[Bbowzky1]

Hey all,
Im new to brewing as of right now. Just picked up my starter kit and some brews from "Grain and grape" (top blokes thanks).

Im 25 and reside in Melbourne and gunna start brewing in my garage.

I have a fresh wort (IPA) thats gunna get me started. And after that I have a stout and pale ale to keep me busy.

Ive dove straight in the deep end and after the fresh wort brew im going to be steeping my own grains and hops along with LME for the time being.

Any tips or suggestions would be great.

I enjoy nice clean crisp dry beers and due cost havnt ventured far from commercially brewed beers. Of which I enjoy carlton dry thooys extra dry and hahn. The occasional stout is also good.

I would really like some direction as to what are good flavoursome home brews to help keep me going after my initial batches.

Also I would in time like to hack the TK with an external reg so any tips and or preferable brews for the draft keg would be appreciated

Anyways thats me. Look forward to the chat.
Cheers guys

 

[bigmacthepunker]

Welcome to addictive world of home brew. Join a local brew club. It best thing I have done.
Cheers
Big G

 

[Bbowzky1]

Thanks mate

Just got my first brew, the fresh IPA wort from grain amd grape into my fermentor and rehydrated my first yeast.

Will see how shes looking in the coming days

On the weekend in my 2nd fermentor im gunna get the steeped grain amd steeped hop stout going

 

[shacked]

Welcome!!!

Make sure your sanitation is good, have plenty of patience and drink a lot of different beers to work out what you want to brew!!

You should get a copy of 'How to Brew' by John Palmer. It's a really good overview of brewing and can take you all the way to all grain brewing. You can read it free online but your home brew shop might sell it or you can get it on kindle etc.. http://howtobrew.com/intro.html

Cheers!

 

[Danscraftbeer]

Welcome to the science...... B)

Hey if your a starter your aiming higher technical than me at first. I used can based and slight mods and experimenting
for quite a few brews. :chug:
Now all grain and cant step back out of freedom of choice. Never made the same brew twice because they're so good makes you wonder what the next brew could be etc. B)

 

[Bbowzky1]

Thanks shacked, ill see if I can get my hands on the book or a copy there of. Yeah thats what ive read most of. Ive used oxyper as a clener and rinced thoroughly with boiling water then used phos-san as the sterilizer and had everything in a solution plus a spray bottle off it to just smash some on and keep it as clean and bacteria free as possible

Cheers Dan, the thing that excites me the most is the craftsmanship.
Im very technically minded and love a challenge. I also feel that the reward would be greater, im happy to lern from mistakes hence why ive jumped in the deep end.

Hopefully it pays off

 

[wereprawn]

Welcome to the hobby mate,
The beer world is now your oyster. I find sampling commercial beers a big help when deciding what to brew. A good place to start is with beers like Little Creatures Pale Ale, Hop Hog Pale Ale, the Four Pines range and the Mountain Goat beers. All widely available, unobtrusive yet tasty and its reasonably easy to brew something close to any of the ales in amongst them with extract and bits.

Cheers.

 

[shacked]

Thanks shacked, ill see if I can get my hands on the book or a copy there of. Yeah thats what ive read most of. Ive used oxyper as a clener and rinced thoroughly with boiling water then used phos-san as the sterilizer and had everything in a solution plus a spray bottle off it to just smash some on and keep it as clean and bacteria free as possible

Cheers Dan, the thing that excites me the most is the craftsmanship.
Im very technically minded and love a challenge. I also feel that the reward would be greater, im happy to lern from mistakes hence why ive jumped in the deep end.

Hopefully it pays off

Do you have temp control mate?

 

[Danscraftbeer]

This time of year in Melbourne is basically free temperature control.
For Ale. B)

 

[Bbowzky1]

I got a belt today with all my stuff.
I pitched the yeast at 20 degrees for and IPA with us-05 dry (rehydrated) yeast. I have the belt on it atm just untill I head to bed might wrap it in a blanket. The dude at grain and grape recons 18 c is perfect so pitching at 20 should allow it to hold temp even as the outside temp drops.

Im not to sure about temp control tho atm just reserching options and best ways to do so atm.

In melbourne weather what type brews are beat at the 12-18 c temp range?

Thanks for all the support and feed back thus far guys keep it up

 

[Bbowzky1]

So the morning after the night before.
I wrapped my brew in a blanket and we went our separate ways.

As of this morning I still have no airlock bubble. All the foam from splashing when wort was introduced is basically non existant.
Im fairly confident itll work and that I will have awesome beer soon however as ive never done this before I question myself.

Are these signs I have yeast motabolizing activity?
1. I have condensation on the FV lid
And
2. With the OAT (as inside my house just outside the vessle) at 16c the fermentor managed to maintain 20c according to the stick on thermometer.

bring on the beer

 

[Moad]

Dont stress too much unless there is no action after 3 days+. The first stage may not look like anything is happening but the yeasties are doing their thing

 

[Bbowzky1]

Dont stress too much unless there is no action after 3 days+. The first stage may not look like anything is happening but the yeasties are doing their thing

Thanks man

 

[Yob]

Ale yeast likes it about 18
Lager Yeast about 12

If it gets too cool the yeast will go dormant, what they really like is a stable temperature that does not fluctuate very much.

Fridges with a temperature controller rock at this function, a heat belt clicks on if it gets too cool, the fridge kicks in if it gets too warm.

have a search on here for temperature control for other methods.

Cheers

 

[Bbowzky1]

Ale yeast likes it about 18
Lager Yeast about 12

If it gets too cool the yeast will go dormant, what they really like is a stable temperature that does not fluctuate very much.

Fridges with a temperature controller rock at this function, a heat belt clicks on if it gets too cool, the fridge kicks in if it gets too warm.

have a search on here for temperature control for other methods.

Cheers

Im going to assume I cant use lagre yeast with an ale and vise versa? Does the cooler fermentation temp of a largre yeast take that brew l9nger then an ale or because the yeast likes that temp rang would they both brew in a similar time frame?

As for the temp control I just spent 530 yesterday getting everything I needed and 4 brews (a fresh wort, a simple can kit and 2 advanced recipe kits where I am going to steep my own grains and hops)
Due to the expence I wount be purchasing anything like that for sometime however ill keeep an eye open for an old set up or get my engineer on and see if I cant make something.

Thanks for the feed back. Appreciate the help guys

 

[Yob]

Scour Gumtree and eBay, freestyle etc, shouldn't cost much at all, research the stc1000 thread for instruction on the controller.

Cheers

 

[Bbowzky1]

What adverse effect if any will temp swing have on the outcome of my brew?

Is it worth an investment at this time or will I be able to produce good quality brews without it?

Thanks guys

Ps any info to answer that yeast question woulf be helpfull.

Cheers

 

[wereprawn]

Ale yeast makes Ales. Lager yeast makes Lagers. Regardless of other ingredients. Lagers take longer to brew and are more difficult to make well.

 

[Danscraftbeer]

Quote: Im going to assume I cant use lagre yeast with an ale and vise versa?

Ale yeast makes Ale. Lager yeast makes lager. No wrongs to be had there.
For example I like to make Pilsner recipes with Ale yeast when traditionally Pilsner is made with Lager yeast.
Lagers take too long for my interests (typically 3 times longer before your drinking them) and there is no superiority in flavors from my point of view anyway.
Actually have read many times that because lagers are cold they can actually reduce flavors and characteristics.
They smell like egg farts when they brew so I dont understand what the appeal is personally.

No rules book for me I just give it the contradictory name of: Pilsner Ale. hehe.

 

[Danscraftbeer]

Oh, almost a Jinks! :lol: