New To Brew

[Barramundi]

I'm in Maryborough QLD. Using the wet towel to try and keep ferment temps low. Struggling to get it under 22-24 without it at the moment.

I've been looking for a 100 can cooler but can't find them! Fermenting fridge may well be a future addition. We just got rid of an old working fridge too. Maybe I could get it back...

give anaconda a go for the 100 can cooler, dunno if they still stock them but thats where i got mine, might even be worth a try askin guys on here that have upgraded to a fridge and have them sitting around ...

 

[QIK86]

Who/what is anaconda? (Other than a large snake which starred in a movie of the same name )

 

[EK]

+1 for the 100 Can Cooler.

The only thing to watch our for is that when you replace you frozen bottles/bags of ice/freezer blocks, make sure that you mop up the condensation. This will help prevent any mould or anything like that.

Also, I can get good temperatures out of a 100 can cooler and a few 1.25L frozen bottles, so much so that I have put off any plans for a better cooling system for fermentation.

:icon_cheers:
EK

 

[EVOSTi]

fellow hachi driver qik86?

 

[Barramundi]

anaconda is an outdoor/adventure store


www.anaconda.com.au

i know theres a couple in queensland but unsure where but they do have a mail order arrangement ,,

 

[QIK86]

fellow hachi driver qik86?

By hachi you mean AE86? If so, then no, just another dirty old '86 model.

+1 for the 100 Can Cooler.

The only thing to watch our for is that when you replace you frozen bottles/bags of ice/freezer blocks, make sure that you mop up the condensation. This will help prevent any mould or anything like that.

Also, I can get good temperatures out of a 100 can cooler and a few 1.25L frozen bottles, so much so that I have put off any plans for a better cooling system for fermentation.


EK

Thanks for the tip. Sounds like they're definitely the go.

anaconda is an outdoor/adventure store


www.anaconda.com.au

i know theres a couple in queensland but unsure where but they do have a mail order arrangement ,,

Cheers Barra, I'll check out their website.

 

[QIK86]

Just realised I've got an old chest freezer sitting outside. Thinking I might just put the fermenter in there and rotate frozen bottles to keep the brew cool. Do you think this would this work ok? Should insulate even better than the 100 can cooler..

 

[Tyred]

The old chest freezer should be fine. It may take a little bit of time to get it chilled depending on its size.

 

[buttersd70]

Just realised I've got an old chest freezer sitting outside. Thinking I might just put the fermenter in there and rotate frozen bottles to keep the brew cool. Do you think this would this work ok? Should insulate even better than the 100 can cooler..

100%, its a (near) perfect solution. If you add the bottles in the day before you brew, it will already be nice and cool by the time you put the fermenter in anyway. If its not cool enough, add more bottles...if it gets too cool, crack the lid for a few minutes. Great stuff. The insulation on freezers is excellent. Just think about how long it takes to defrost one if you don't open the lid.

 

[buttersd70]

Ah.. I may have skimmed over the wheat malt part of smurto's recipe.

Well, it's a goer then. Just waiting on my Amarillo pellets from Ross at CraftBrewer.

By the way butters, I ordered some Fuggles pellets and an S-04 yeast too, so I can try a good English Ale next.

Oh and where do you find the IBU for tins on the Morgans website? The site appears very strange for me. Some parts of it overlap links and text. I've tried it on different computers too in case it was something in my display settings, but it still appears the same.. :huh:

Missed this post, somehow. Qik, from the homepage, mouseover 'products' at the top and select which range. This gives the intro to the range. then click on the range again to the left of the description, this will bring up the products within the range. The IBU and colour are in the product descriptions.

 

[QIK86]

Well, I've decided this Brewcellar American Ale yeast is fairly ordinary (compared to the Fermentis US-05 I used last brew).

Put down Friday night. Pitched yeast (dry) at 27 degrees. Has been sitting at 22-23 since. This morning (Monday) before work I saw the first sign of life. A very thin krausen has formed over the brew and the water in the airlock has been pushed to one side, but is not yet bubbling away. (Comment on airlock activity solely for butters enjoyment )

My only concern now is that the smell out of the airlock and from the hydrometer sample were quite unpleasant.. Could it possibly be infected from sitting so long with no yeast activity?

 

[buttersd70]

possibly, but if your sanitation was good, probably not. Give it time to do its thing, see what its like post ferment. But out of interest, can you expand on what the smell was like?

 

[QIK86]

I'll have another good smell when I get home and get back to you, as I was still half asleep and running late for work. All I remember is it wasn't the pleasant malty/hoppy smell I was expecting.

I've got a spare Fermentis US-05 in the fridge if needed. Just wanted to use this one before it got too old. Should have trusted my insticts (and the experiences of people in the below thread) and tossed it..

http://www.aussiehomebrewer.com/forum/inde...showtopic=23585

 

[buttersd70]

:blink:
Never having used this yeast, I had no idea the issues some guys have been having with it. From the look of that thread, it seems to be an issue with repackaging.
So for once I'm stuck, matey. I don't know if this can be salvaged.

 

[QIK86]

It's fermenting away now with almost an inch of krausen, so it might be ok. As for the smell, after having a few more good sniffs of the airlock it's not as unpleasant as I first thought, but just doesn't smell like anything else I've brewed. Do wheat kits give off a different smell to others while fermenting?

Another strange thing I've noticed is that there is no condensation under the lid. First time for that too.

 

[buttersd70]

wouldnt really worry about lack of condensation, thats caused as much by temp differences inside/outside the lid than by anything else, so if there isn't enough of a temp differential, it may not form.
As for wheats, to be honest I don't know, I don't brew them. But I wouldn't be the least bit surprised if they did have a different smel, possibly tart? slightly sour? perhaps.

If it's going now, assume it will be OK untill after fermentation is done, and then have a taste/smell. If the smell gets less as ferment goes on, it may (should) go completely once bottled out and conditioned.

 

[QIK86]

I may have been a little hasty with my concern. It's fermenting away quite happily now and the smell is definitely improving. It's actually smelling quite nice now, but still a little different to my previous brews. Hopefully it is just due to the wheat. Time will tell anyway. I'll be dry hopping with more Amarillo pellets, so that should keep it heading in the right direction.

On a different note, butters, would you care to recommend a recipe for an English style ale for my next brew? I have some Fuggles pellets and S-04 yeast to use. Are IPA's a type of English ale? If so, I would like to steer it in this direction if possible.. What do you think?

 

[buttersd70]

Just had a thought on the smel....if it's like a wierd kind of fruit salad, that's probably the Amarillo. The stuff stinks. As its meant to.

Yea IPA's are english, high OG, heavily hopped, and more bitter than either of my ex wives. IPA's are not something I brew (I just find them way to bitter. Personal taste, thats all.)

So a bit hard for me to reccomend a recipe. Best Bitter, Session Bitter, and Milds, on the other hand....have a bit of a search in the recipe db, most of the guys on here are hopheads anyway

But for an IPA, maybe a twocan? Possibly
2x coopers real ale
1 kg dme
23L
OG 1062 fg(approx) 1017

add the whole 1kg to 5l, boil fuggle 15min. Perhaps another 15g at flame out.
approx ibu (including tins) 55-60.
ferment at 18C with S04.

For a best bitter, and certainly for a mild, you would be wanting to do a steep or use a masterblend. If you want some help on a recipe, let me know, happy to help, but it will be a fairly untried and new one, cos I didn't even bother brewing to style till I went full extract (which was fairly early on). But I should be able to simplify some of my earlier ones.

 

[Jamz]

I think i should point out that this procedure taken from the previous page for using bleach + vinegar is not only INCORRECT but downright DANGEROUS!

"buy 2L of unscented, plain bleach. Homebrand is fine.
buy 2L of white vinegar. Again, homebrand is fine, but it must be white vinegar, not malt or wine or anything else.
In the bottom of the fermenter put 1.9L of the bleach. This amount is for a 30L fermenter, if yours is different size, its 62.5ml per Litre. Put in all your other brewing equipment.
fill the fermenter almost to the top water, just regular tap temperature.
add the same amount of vinegar as the bleach, so 1.9L for a 30L fermenter. Stand back a little when you do this, definately do not put your head over it....it will start to produce chlorine gas. Dont breath it in. NEVER add vinegar (or any other acid) directly to undiluted bleach (or any other alkali.) always add the alkali to the water, then add the acid.
top up with water, and put the lid on. make sure the inside of the lid is in contact with the water. (if it was full, it should be.)

allow this to stand for 20 minutes. Open the tap and allow it to drain out. Rinse well with water.
refill the fermenter to the top with water, allow it to stand for another 5 minutes, then drain. This is really just to make sure on the rinse, if its rinsed really really well, you could get away with not doing it. But I would.

Firstly the required concentration for a microbicidal solution is 80ppm, having a solution thats twice as strong DOES NOT make it twice as effective. Using 1.9L of bleach would give you a dilution of 3166.67ppm, thats roughly 40 times what you should be using, and no, that DOES NOT mean its going to be 40 times as effective. What it does mean though is that it will produce 40 times as much poisonous gas as the relatively safe recommended dilution of 80ppm. Seriously, if you've used this before, I'm surprised that you lived to tell the tale.

So for reference, if you want to use the bleach/vinegar solution, adding 1.6ml per litre of water will give you the appropriate dilution. As always mix the bleach and vinegar into the water, never mix them together in concentrated form. And you don't need 20 minutes, this solution is effective in 30 seconds. And if you use a solution at 80ppm and do a good job of draining the fermenter afterwards, rinsing isn't necessary (the concentration is going to be below the taste threshold by the time you're diluting the residual 5ml of 80ppm solution that stuck to the walls of the fermenter when you were draining it, with 23L of wort), but some people understandably feel more comfortable about giving it a rinse.

I'm not against using bleach + vinegar, in fact I sanitise my fermenters with 8ml of bleach into 5L of water then add another 8ml of vinegar, then swirl it around and I haven't had a problem with this. But if you're going to do it, do it right. It can be downright dangerous if you do it wrong.

 

[bouncingcastle]

I think i should point out that this procedure taken from the previous page for using bleach + vinegar is not only INCORRECT but downright DANGEROUS!

Sorry Butters... LOL

h34r: