New To Brewing

[TmC]

Hi all,

Im relatively new to brewing, actually very new started on saturday with a coopers kit. I found it so fun that i bought a 30 litre water container and some other carbouys that were on special and fitted taps and airlocks for fermenters. I have a few questions about one of my brews i started. I used Morgans Australian Lager kit with 500gm of brewblend No2 malt mixture i think, and 250gm honey, used 12gm Pride of Ringwood. I also put in the juice from 2 limes, 1/2 lemon and 1/2 and orange and it has stayed at 26-27 C. I have been reading a lot of forums and they all seem to suggest that this it too high, I am also a bit concerned that i put in too much fruit juice because it smells like fruit cider (was going for more of a carona lime taste). I have been taking the SG everyday and it has come down from 1035 to 1008 after 3-4 days. I want to leave this in primary for at least 2 weeks as i am brewing faster than i can find bottles and i read somewhere that fruit additions take longer to ferment?

I have had to restrain myself from visiting the HBS shop everyday to once a week, it seems everytime i walk in i walk out with a lighter wallet. Have many more questions but that should do for the moment :icon_cheers:

Toby

 

[Lord Raja Goomba I]

2 comments:

1. If you want lime in your beer (ala corona), then put a slice in it when you are drinking it. Putting citrus into beer tends to (from my experience) give it a nasty acidic taste and unbalances the yeast.

2. Brewing at 27 degrees is a big no-no (unless you have purchased a yeast strain that likes that temp). It gives you a metho like taste to the beer. I live in Brisbane and temp control is really only achieved at this time of year using a fridge with a temprite. Given that yeast turns sugar malt water to beer, it's the most important ingredient in your brew, so selecting a yeast where you can give it the best environment is key to a good beer.

Finally, if you do purchase hops, a "hop bag" isn't fantastic value as they are usually $5-$8 for 12g of (sometimes not fresh) hops (equiv to 42-66 per gram). Purchasing hops in 90g packets (and making your own "tea bag" should you wish) is worth around $8-$11 (11-12 per gram - i.e. around 1/4 to 1/6 the price). And they are usually fresher.

Welcome to the hobby/obsession. ^_^

Goomba

 

[Pennywise]

Firstly, welcome TmC.

Yeah mate, those ferment temps are pretty high, and may be adding to the fruit juice aroma. have a read through this section which should have a lot of answers for you in regards to fermenting procedure.

Also, some lhbs are not all that well practiced in that art of zymurgy, so best to take any info with a grain of salt untill you can find out yourself, or on here.
Note the sponsors up the top of the page are very knowlegable, and helpful

 

[Camo1234]

Hi all,

Im relatively new to brewing, actually very new started on saturday with a coopers kit. I found it so fun that i bought a 30 litre water container and some other carbouys that were on special and fitted taps and airlocks for fermenters. I have a few questions about one of my brews i started. I used Morgans Australian Lager kit with 500gm of brewblend No2 malt mixture i think, and 250gm honey, used 12gm Pride of Ringwood. I also put in the juice from 2 limes, 1/2 lemon and 1/2 and orange and it has stayed at 26-27 C. I have been reading a lot of forums and they all seem to suggest that this it too high, I am also a bit concerned that i put in too much fruit juice because it smells like fruit cider (was going for more of a carona lime taste). I have been taking the SG everyday and it has come down from 1035 to 1008 after 3-4 days. I want to leave this in primary for at least 2 weeks as i am brewing faster than i can find bottles and i read somewhere that fruit additions take longer to ferment?

I have had to restrain myself from visiting the HBS shop everyday to once a week, it seems everytime i walk in i walk out with a lighter wallet. Have many more questions but that should do for the moment :icon_cheers:

Toby

Mate I did the Morgan's blue mountain Larger kit for my first brew and it fermented around 28c for just over a week... I tasted like very dodgey old XXXX and was not drinkable... The more I researched the ferment temp was clearly the reason for this. Following that I bought a fridge off ebay for $100 and a temp controller for under $50 and now my last two brews have been very nice... The more you read, the more you will see that the temp is the first thing that you want to get right... I would scour eBay for a second hand fridge and get that before pouring nay more money into wasted kits.... There are other options to keep the temp down like water baths and ice and eskies etc but for $150 you simply can't beat a fridge for ease!

 

[Milky11111]

Wow that's quite a recipe for your very first brew.

Knock down your temperature to around 18-21*C most lager kits use ale yeast which work best at these temperatures. Yes yeast works well at ~27*C but it will add unwanted flavours in your brew.

For fruit, well I don't know much about adding fruit to brews at all, but I have read you should give it some more time if fruit is added as the yeast ferments the natural sugars in fruit. Someone posting below will no doubt clear this up for you though.

You also don't need to take SG readings everyday, you don't want to waste to much of your brew testing. If there is krausen and airlock activity then just let it go until it slows/stops then rely more on SG readings.

For bottles, I use plastic ones from my LHBS, less mess if they blow, they come to around $17 for 15x 740ml bottles. If you want some glass stubbies though hit up your local recycling center they usually sell bottles.

 

[Gormand]

Welcome to the obsession

From everything I have read here fermenting at that temperature is too high and will produce some off flavours (Perhaps that homebrew tang everyone talks about) using towels, cold water and icecubes you can drop the temp. Even just throw the fermenter in a bath of water should cool it down a fair chunk. People say you should get down to around 18, so far all my beers have been at 22 and have been fine, so aim for at least there (I now have a fridge to brew in for all future brews so will be able to hit 18)

Once the readings stay stable over 2-3 days you should be ok to bottle, and I wouldnt expect too much more of a drop from 1008. I ended up buying 95% of my bottles from the brew shop, but am now trying not to do that quite as much I have 80L+ sitting around the house aging so I should have beer to drink soon.

Also as for the smell, it should be fine aroma does not always mean flavour. I added some orange zest to some bottles and got a wonderful organge aroma in the glass but almost no orange flavour, however lime in the bottle had the opposite effect, great taste but poor aroma. Dont be afraid to experiment, but make sure you get that temperature under control.

Edit : Also checkout gumtree for fridges if you go looking, got mone for $60.

 

[TmC]

Thanks for the quick replies.

I may have a solution to get the temps down, i have access to a 15 C coldroom which i might be able to store my brew in, is that too low? If so i will look for an old fridge. I have a few possible places to get bottles, i went out to one of the popular resturants and asked for empty bottles, one said come back on friday and saturday night 11pm and pick as many as i want up, not sure how many i get but taking the ute just in case! I know taking SG readings everyday isn't necessary but i enjoy it and i like to see how the brew smells and looks through a clear surface.

Are there any types of beer that are suitable to ferment at 24-26 C?

Toby

 

[Lord Raja Goomba I]

Thanks for the quick replies.

I may have a solution to get the temps down, i have access to a 15 C coldroom which i might be able to store my brew in, is that too low? If so i will look for an old fridge. I have a few possible places to get bottles, i went out to one of the popular resturants and asked for empty bottles, one said come back on friday and saturday night 11pm and pick as many as i want up, not sure how many i get but taking the ute just in case! I know taking SG readings everyday isn't necessary but i enjoy it and i like to see how the brew smells and looks through a clear surface.

Are there any types of beer that are suitable to ferment at 24-26 C?

Toby

A saison may ferment at that temp. BribieG has an All Grain recipe that you can probably amend to kit that does ferment at higher temps.

Realistically kit yeasts are okay, but aren't the best (and you don't get enough yeast as a rule). A 11-12g packet is usually better quality and states the temp range it likes to brew at.

For example, if you can ferment at 15 degrees, then Nottingham dry yeast (range of 14-21 degrees) will ferment ideally at 15 degrees (I did it last winter, and it is a fantastic yeast at these temps). But ferment at 26 degrees (as I did this summer) and the results are awful.

So select a yeast that is 1. Within style of beer you'd like to produce; and 2. Within the temp range you can manage.

Yeast is the single most important part of brewing, it is worth knowing what you can use, what it does, how it affects beer taste and worth spending the extra couple of dollars to get the right result.

When you get more adept, then you might go into liquid yeasts, yeast slants and the like. But in the short term, just pay $3-$4 for a decent 11-12g packet of good quality dry yeast and knock out some good beers using good yeast and good temps.

Goomba

Edit: Clarity

 

[Gormand]

Its more about the yeast the then beer style, although certain yeasts lend themselves to different beer styles so I guess thats the restriction put in place All the kits typically come with an ale yeast even if they are classed as lagers.
The 15 degree coolroom will be too cold for some yeast, they will slow down and take weeks to ferment out (Im not sure on flavour issues with fermenting too cold) or they may stop fermenting, so chat to the LHBS and see what yeast they have that will work well at that temp and then maybe lookup what styles work best with that yeast.

Thats the problem with this hobby, the more you learn the more you realise you need to learn, Ive been at it just over 3 months and am heading into AG (BIAB) territory, and damn if that doesnt have a learning curve.

 

[Milky11111]

A cool room is more suited to lager yeast which ferments well at around the 12*C-14*C mark, for ale it's probably too cool. 24*C-26*C for most kit brews will come out ok, but the flavour will be alot better the closer you get to 18*C. A fridge with a temp controller is a great thing if you can get one.

 

[TmC]

I never knew how many possibilities there was to brewing, its awesome. My local HBS isn't that helpful, there was a 18 year old girl at the counter which showed me where things were but didnt know much more than i did from the coopers kit. I take it most yeast work better in sub 24C degrees then? I am going to look for a fridge because i cant wait until winter to continue brewing. If i could find a yeast that worked at 26C which is the average temp i am getting in the garage then that would be great but if not i will just buy a fridge, need to find somewhere to put it. I will talk to my boss about hiding my brew in his coldroom :lol:

 

[Gormand]

I never knew how many possibilities there was to brewing.

yep neither did I until I found this place. Read a lot and ask lots of questions, people here are generally pretty good with giving good straight answers.

 

[earle]

There's a couple of HBS in Mackay, which is your local?

 

[Silo Ted]

You might think that 26 is the temp in the garage, therefore that will be your beers temp. Not true. Once the cells srart chewing away and replicating, its not uncommon to notice a thermal spike, so your beer could actually hit over 30 . Sounds like youre keen, so grab yourself an old fridge and a $25 temp controller off Ebay.

And if you think this thread's posing a lot of possibilities, you aint seen nothing yet ! Six months from now you'll be culturing from your own yeast bank, using all-grain (no cans) to make your wort, buying hops by the kilo, daydreaming of your national competition winning recipes and having long nights in front of the computer studying the mineral profile of Mackay's water supply :lol:

Welcome to the hobby ! :icon_cheers:

 

[TmC]

Sounds like a common addiction :lol: The kit came with a thermo sticker to put on my fermenter so thats what i was going by. How does the temp controller work (apart from the obvious)?

 

[pimpsqueak]

I never knew how many possibilities there was to brewing, its awesome. My local HBS isn't that helpful, there was a 18 year old girl at the counter which showed me where things were but didnt know much more than i did from the coopers kit. I take it most yeast work better in sub 24C degrees then? I am going to look for a fridge because i cant wait until winter to continue brewing. If i could find a yeast that worked at 26C which is the average temp i am getting in the garage then that would be great but if not i will just buy a fridge, need to find somewhere to put it. I will talk to my boss about hiding my brew in his coldroom :lol:

Just "accidentally" bump the thermostat up 2 or 3 degrees in the coldroom and you're set

I'm having good results in my 26 deg shed with a large esky and a daily replacement of 2 or 3 ice packs.I've had 17-18 degree temps (of the beer, not the air) for weeks, regardless of Sydneys tendency for temp spikes. Still wish I had room for a fridge though.

Welcome to the obsession.

 

[Silo Ted]

Sounds like a common addiction :lol: The kit came with a thermo sticker to put on my fermenter so thats what i was going by. How does the temp controller work (apart from the obvious)?

Basically there's a temp probe that monitors temperature. The controller acts as a switch between the power source and the fridge, so if the probe senses an increase in temp, the device switches the circuit (for the fridge power) on to reach the preset target. Once it hits that target temp, it switches the fridge off.

You do need to be confident enough to wire it up yourself, or have a sparky mate assist you. There are literally hundreds of posts here on advising how to get it running, and no confirmed fatalities yet.

Check it out.
http://cgi.ebay.com.au/Mini-Digital-Temper...=item2c5afd49d6

 

[Yowster]

Temperature controller works by turning the power on and off to the fridge you have the fermenter in when the temperature reaches certain pre set limits thus enabling the temp on the fermentation to be consistent and at a level more suitable for your yeast.

And also welcome to the obsession

 

[TmC]

I will look into it, had a look on ebay and no fridges, put an add in our local trader. Doesn't come out for 10 days, cant wait that long. I read somewhere that if i buy a large bin with water and cold packs and drape a towel over the fermenter either side so its dangling in the water, it would reduce temp?

 

[poppa joe]

Leave the Honey out till you learn to Brew..
Cheers
PJ