New Brewer and pumped as

[Bbowzky1]

Thanks mate. Been doing alot of reading. I figure if im gunna lern, try to lern the more right way to do it.
The choc malt sounds awesome. I really like voffe, how does it tase in beer?
Should I have steeped at lower temp or shoupd I use an enzyme in future to help with the unfermentables?

The IPA and stout are fermenting away nicely.
I never tried the iPA however very strong hoppy smell from around fermentor, I recon itll be great, the guys at G&G said no need for anything extra.
Im going to leave each brew 3 weeks total in fermentor, give it wxtra time to clarify and ferment out some of the by products before bottling.

Will keep you all up to date.

Im going to be doing a double boil with a mate on the weekend to make a golden ale

Something like
3kg Cbw pils light
3kg Cbw barvarian wheat
500g caramalt (light, 10-30L)
Amarillo
40g @ 60
30g @ 10
30g @ 5
Dry hop 15g in each brew after primary
1tab irish moss

Boil 50lt
Make up to two 22lt batches ferment with either nottigham or us-05 not sure which will make a cleaner brew?

Any tips for my experiment?

Cheers

 

[yankinoz]

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

Besides lager yeasts, Wyeast and White Labs German Ale (liquid) yeasts and Danstar Nottingham (dry) ale yeast work well down to 13C, even at 12 after a long lag. I've also used Fermentis K-97 at 14, even though the directions recommend 18 -- 24. Of those, Nottingham would probably be the best choice for an IPA. Keep in mind that pitching rates are higher at low temps, whatever yeast you use. On some forums I've seen people say they used US-05 down to 11 or 12, but in my experience it's pretty feeble below 16.

The beer will warm during acrive fermentation, more or less depending on ventilation, insulation, wort gravity and starting temps. In the range you quote overheating is unlikely, but iIf you have low temps at night, one pitfall is that the beer will cool once fermentation slows, and cause the yeast to drop too soon. Then fermentation can stick. With your setup and temps you might toss a blanket over the fermenter once fermentation slows, but not before (that could cause overheating). Watch your sanitation and soon your brewing addiction will cause you to get temperatire control. And soon you'll make better beers than Carlton Dry.

My advice to any newbie would be to try ales first, lagers later. For one, ales reach their prime with less conditioning after bottling.

 

[Danscraftbeer]

Hey for starts. To get any defining idea of flavors. Start with SMASH Ale that stands for:
Single Malt And Single Hop Ale. Its the fastest best way to get a clue of the flavors individually etc.

There is nothing wrong at all with well made smash ale beer. B)

 

[Bbowzky1]

smash sounds awesome.
Im really looking to get a few brews in the cupboard so as I can stop buying beer and drinking my own thus cutting over heads. Once im there im up for experimentation, verying from a known recipe, maybe even brewing in smaller batches to eliminate waste if a batch doesnt turn out

Thanks for all the support guys loving this site and everyones imput

 

[Bbowzky1]

Can anyone shed some light on how I can lern to mess around with calculations for LME and/or DME weights to achive certain OG and thus an aimed FG and target ABV?
Its the next on my List of things to lern.

Cheers gents

 

[shacked]

Can anyone shed some light on how I can lern to mess around with calculations for LME and/or DME weights to achive certain OG and thus an aimed FG and target ABV?
Its the next on my List of things to lern.

Cheers gents

Check out IanH's spreadsheet. It's pinned to the top of the 'Kits and Extract' section.

Also: www.howtobrew.com has all the calcs if you want to do them by hand.

 

[Bbowzky1]

Ok cool. Ill l9ok more into it. I think the main issue will be imputting the data ad ive never done it before.

 

[Bbowzky1]

Hey guys my stout is down to 5 airlock bubbles a minute the krusen is settling and sg has dropped from 1.043 to 1.017 (for future reference is it correct to say this is the right time to rack to secondary and dry hop?). Took 74hrs from first signs of fermentation. Needs alot of clarification tho. Really happy with it atm its got very littel ester and great bitterness

As for my IPA tho I have growing concerns. The sg has dropped 1.056 to 1.038 in 4.5days since fermentation started. I think I did a less good job at aeration and creating a starter. (Understandable as first go ever)
my question is weather or not it has what it takes to ferment out?
Tasts very fruity, not as pronounced hoppyness as suspected and very little bitterness, is this due to the still relatively hight sg?

Cheers guys

 

[Nizmoose]

A few quick tips, a) DONT stress I know that when you start you constantly feel the need to keep checking on this and that, counting airlock bubbles etc but whilst doing that is fine, don't stress about any of it. Airlocks don't indicate fermentation well, I pitched a pale ale two weeks ago, not one bubble came out the airlock, must have been a leak somehwere in the lid, tested the SG after 2 days and it was 1.024 so I thought "yep its fine, its been fermenting, just not bubbling the airlock, left it alone for three weeks and sure enough its come along great. Once you have a few batches under your belt you'll probably feel more comfortable about just leaving things. Pitch it, check for a krausen after 24-48hrs, then LEAVE IT ALONE . Leave it for 2 to 3 weeks then check the gravity 3 days in a row. For me at the moment I'm fermenting for 18 days then cold crashing for 3 days. For about 14 of those days before I test the SG I just let the yeast do their thing and not worry about anything or even check anything. So in answer to both your brews, leave the stout to condition for a little bit if you can and the IPA, leave it alone and let it do its thing, if you pitched enough yeast and you are keeping it at the right temp it's going to be fine, definitely dont take any numbers too seriously 4.5 days in, give it 14 days at 18-20C then check the gravity.

 

[Bbowzky1]

Thanks nizmoose.
Im getting more use to just letting it do its thing.
I still find myself 2nd guessing myself however as im lerning more and experiancing new things im getting more just chilax about it.

Thanks

 

[Bbowzky1]

Guys I made a starter for a 1.5l wyeast 1272 last night and its going great guns, instead of stepping up I wanna split this in half then feed each batch some fresh wort.
How do I do this?
Do I shake all the kruasen and sediment back into the starter and split ot give it a gental wurl to get the yeast back into suspension and then split?
Please really need some help

 

[hwall95]

Hey mate how'd your ipa and other brews come along? Sorry would of given you advice but the starter but seem to have have missed it, you work it out?

 

[Moad]

Looks like you are learning quickly. To answer your question about fermenting temps, it is probably THE biggest improvement you can make at this stage.

Grab an stc, make sure it is dual output for heating and cooling. If you are time poor or lack the skills to wire and put it together you can buy them prebuilt. Keep an eye out for old fridges on gumtree and on ahb, they often go for nothing.

Good luck!