New To Brewing

[michael_aussie]

Had a taste of my coopers beer, tasted awful :icon_vomit: Its been about 4 days since i started my third batch of beer. Details are above, there has been no action in the airlock but i am fairly sure the yeast is still working. I currently have it sitting in a tub of water with frozen milk bottles trying to cool it down, the temp has varied from 18-20 mostly but ran out of ice and rose to 25 overnight. I am wondering how long the initial stages of fermentation take? and is temperature control as important in the later stages, days 4-9 etc? Because my tap is in the water i have not been taking hydro readings but i was going to leave it for 8-9 days as i think that would be plenty. Any help would be great

I always leave my primary for 3 weeks.
Most will disagree with me .. but I never take SG readings.

 

[TmC]

I was thinking i might leave it for 9 days and bottle on saturday. It looks today as if there has been a bit more fermentation, on my last batch the krausen was pretty big but on this one its just sort of a foamy film only about 1cm thick. It smells like beer so i will just wait and see. Thanks for the advice.

 

[Pennywise]

Leave it for 2 weeks in the fermentor, this will help the yeast clean up the off flavors they produced at the start of fermentation. If your ferment started off with higher than normal/optimal temp then the yeast will produce more Acetaldehyde than it can clean up afterwards, so a bit longer in there fermentor will help get a litle more of these compounds outa there. Green apple flavor is what we're trying to avoid here. And also hangovers, which acetaldehyde is apparently largely responsible for.

 

[TmC]

Ok, as this whole ice bucket thing is starting to drive me crazy, running out of milk bottles, do i have to do it for the whole 2 weeks or can i let the temp creep up slightly? I only have 1 bucket and 2 fermenters so my other fermenter is pretty much useless :lol:

 

[Pennywise]

First week is most important IMO, but at the end of the day TmC, you get out what you put in. I've had a pretty good run on most of my beers that are temp controlled for the first week, then just taken out of the fridge for the remainder, so as to free up space for the next brew. After the first week, the ferment is most likely done, but the yeast still need to clean up house a bit. It's major fluctuations in temp that you'd want to avoid like the plague at this point, and any for that matter. Keep in mind, I live in Melbourne, so it's quite easy to find a cool spot for the fermentor in the house with low fluctuations if need be.

 

[TmC]

Ok thanks, my store room is a pretty stable temp because it is brick and it sits at about 26 C most of the time, maybe creeping to 28 during the heat of the day. I will keep using this method for 1 week and then take it out to start on my next brew, i might just drape it with a wet towel to free up my ice box. Going to give neils centamorrilo (i have no idea how its spelt) a go :lol:

 

[Camo1234]

TMC... Just remember that there is no need to rush into your next batch... I would take the time to research everything there is to know about your next batch and get everything ready before you jump into it... It is better to wait an extra week to get it right then to rush into it and find out in 4 weeks time that you stuffed something up along the line and now have dodgey beer!

Also, you'd be better putting the money from your next few batches towards an old fridge and temp controller... You should be able to get one for around $100 and if you are moving into extract you are probably looking at around $30-$50 per batch just for the ingrediants and then add on top your labour and all you need to do is kill 2-3 batches due to poor temp control and you would have been better off investing that money in the fridge!

Just keep reading the various threads on here and the articles and grab yourself a good home brew book (plenty of threads on here) and do the research.... It will open your eyes enormously and you will be able to get an insight as to what is happening in your brews as opposed to just random trial and error.

Good Luck!

 

[Lord Raja Goomba I]

TMC... Just remember that there is no need to rush into your next batch... I would take the time to research everything there is to know about your next batch and get everything ready before you jump into it... It is better to wait an extra week to get it right then to rush into it and find out in 4 weeks time that you stuffed something up along the line and now have dodgey beer!

Also, you'd be better putting the money from your next few batches towards an old fridge and temp controller... You should be able to get one for around $100 and if you are moving into extract you are probably looking at around $30-$50 per batch just for the ingrediants and then add on top your labour and all you need to do is kill 2-3 batches due to poor temp control and you would have been better off investing that money in the fridge!

Just keep reading the various threads on here and the articles and grab yourself a good home brew book (plenty of threads on here) and do the research.... It will open your eyes enormously and you will be able to get an insight as to what is happening in your brews as opposed to just random trial and error.

Good Luck!

+1. Take time to quantify what you need to do with a new batch, and what you did right and wrong with the old and how the research applies in a practical manner.

Remember that tool who did 20 batches in a week last year and then asked the questions. Not saying the 20 batches is the most tool-ey bit, but the fact that he just made a bucketload of beer and then slagged off any that tried to help him out.

Goomba

 

[pimpsqueak]

20 batches in a week? Holy crap! I reckon I'd be pushing it to get 20 out in a year

I wonder why he bothered to sign up in the first place? Bragging rights??

 

[TmC]

Ok i tend to get a bit excited i will admit so i will wait until thursday before starting a new batch, I can rack my pale ale then. Thanks for the heads up.

 

[milob40]

hi tmc welcome to the forum,
i find the easiest way to improve my beers is with steeping kits from brews2u
i live in mackay and have a deep freeze and a fridge with temp controllers, 1 for brewing at 21deg, and 1 for storing kegs at 23 deg.
i you want to see how it is wired up , send me a pm, cheers