New To Brewing

[Fingerlickin_B]

Get any funny looks at the chemist??? hehe

Being a father who had to buy syringes (without needle for oral medicine application) and a dude who's had far too many junkie girlfriends (even lost a few mates to the sh*t), asking for crap like that at the chemist doesn't bother me...but I do indeed always get the weird looks (my dodgy tats make it even worse :lol: ).

I remember when I was a young kid my dad came back from the shop saying he had a similar reaction at the supermarket...he purchased metho to fire the fondue pot and lemonade for the kids to drink...I figured that out a few years later :lol:

Sorry, that went a bit O/T... :chug:

PZ.

 

[pharmaboy]

also, sorry for buggin yas:

does a brew become weaker if you put in too much water, or does it stuff the whole process??

[post="92460"][/post]​

if you want to make a light beer, you can just brew as per normal, bottle half as per usual, and bottle the rest with 200ml of water already in the bottle, half fullstrength, half mid strength - or just try it with a few bottles to see for next time. Could even go one step further and add soda water to a carbonated bottle.

Breweries remove the alcohol, and the technique is a bit beyond home brewing, so i wouldnt expect too much - mids are Ok though.

 

[shmickvl]

hey guys,

i have a few q's:

i had to move the brew about 200mm so i could take a sample to test the sg. the brew moved around a little. will this stuff it up??and will it affect the co2 layer??

when i took the sample the airlock bubbled a fair bit. is this bad??? again, will it stuff the brew.

and out of curiosity, i tasted a touch of the smaple. haha. it was a touch watery. is this normal?? or would i have put far too much water in??

 

[Screwtop]

What was the SG. Forget moving it around, Yeasties like a move occasionally, just like us.

 

[shmickvl]

about 1012. the guys at the homebrew shop where i bought it said it would end up at about 1010 due to the brew booster they gave me.

 

[Wortgames]

That bubbling was probably what I was trying to warn you about. Taking liquid out of the tap will cause air to be sucked in through the airlock. Anything you had in there (eg sanitiser, dead flies etc) has now gone into your brew.

I wouldn't worry about having moved it, and the fact that it seemed watery may just be the fact that it is warmer and flatter than you're used to.

It's unlikely that anything you've done has stuffed it up, but the only way you'll know for sure is to bottle it and drink it.

 

[Screwtop]

I use Pre-injection alcohol swabs. About $6 for a pack of 200 at the chemist. After sampling or prior to racking, clean in and around the tap. Definately take a reading every day. Even if just for the tasting.

[post="92480"][/post]​

Get any funny looks at the chemist??? hehe But of course, being Dr Gonzo, I guess you don't really need to go the chemist...

Good idea though. I have actually never had any infection probs without sterilising the tap (although I get a bit worried about it each time when it comes to bottling). I make sure it is wiped clean with a tissue. In the future I will either try the alcohol swabs or just splash a bit of iodophor up the tap's nozzle.

[post="92491"][/post]​

I rack to #3 fermenter for bulk priming. Has all been sanitised (tap, tap O ring, Lid seal, all with the bottles, bottling stem, funnel etc) so no need to worry about the tap for bottling.

 

[Trough Lolly]

also, sorry for buggin yas:

does a brew become weaker if you put in too much water, or does it stuff the whole process??

[post="92460"][/post]​

if you want to make a light beer, you can just brew as per normal, bottle half as per usual, and bottle the rest with 200ml of water already in the bottle, half fullstrength, half mid strength - or just try it with a few bottles to see for next time. Could even go one step further and add soda water to a carbonated bottle.

Breweries remove the alcohol, and the technique is a bit beyond home brewing, so i wouldnt expect too much - mids are Ok though.

[post="92569"][/post]​

I wouldn't be adding fermented beer to a bottle with water already in it. If you want to dilute the wort, do it before fermentation starts - ie, add more water before you pitch the yeast on the wort and make sure that you mix the water through the wort well. It's quite ok to stir vigorously, in fact, I'd recommend it so you can introduce air into the chilled wort before you pitch the yeast.

Air before fermentation is good - Air after fermentation is bad.

Based on this maxim, adding fermented wort to a bottle with 200ml of (oxygenated) water risks oxidation of the beer, IMHO - especially if you give the bottle a good shake after you cap it, to mix the water with the beer. Keep it simple and add water before you seal the fermenter. I used to toss the sterilised hydrometer into the fermenter, as I added the water, and watched the gravity fall until I either reached target Original Gravity (OG) or I had sufficient volume of wort in the fermenter.

Cheers,
TL

 

[shmickvl]

if a brew tastes a bit watery before it gets bottled, will it improve?? or will the complete brew be watery?????

i think i may have added a touch too much water.

will my brew be alright?

 

[nonicman]

If it is a little watery, the carbonation will make it appear better than it is flat.

RDWHAHB :beer:

 

[shmickvl]

is there any way to add more body to the brew after its finished fermentation??

 

[Wortgames]

shmickvl, seriously - you need to stop stressing about this brew, just bottle and serve it. That's the only way to learn and refine your technique.

It sounds like you might have put a couple of extra litres of water in the fermenter - don't panic, it just means it'll be a bit weaker than planned. I wouldn't worry about body, most of the beers you've ever drunk have had zero body anyway.

If anything, you could add some extra fermentables to bring the alcohol back up - but you'll bugger the whole profile of the beer, and without some hard core calculations (and an OG reading) you'll be working blind anyway and will probably do more harm than good. The more you screw with it the worse it will get and the less you'll learn from it.

Relax, Don't Worry, Have A Home Brew (soon).

 

[Screwtop]

Wait for it to carb up a bit and just tip it in ya head. Next brew, on on.

 

[shmickvl]

cheers for the advise mate

im havin fun learning anyways !!!

 

[delboy]

i have made a few watery beers and i still do they are great for summer easy to drink and a little lower in alcohol .so you can consume a bit more .

do play around with it .dose it taste good ? is it carbonated nicely .
well there you go .
most kits are watery so dont stress .
delboy

 

[mistylane]

Talk about risk - my first ever brew was with an inverted carboy (the shit they sell a tthe MCG has made me swear no plastic will ever touch my beer).

I shit myself - counting bubbles, verifying steps over and over, treating everything like a damn hospital - I even used spring water 'cause I was scared of chlorine "imparting flavours" (????)

Well that brew turned out damn good - and now I hate myself for drinking the lot and not keeping a few bottles. Since then my rules have been quality ingredients, sanitation, rinse thouroughly, constant brew temp - can't go wrong!

My latest "panic" was a wheat beer - smelt very different and I was convienced it had gone bad - what did I do wrong.... NOTHING! It turned out damn fine!

The only way you can really screw up a brew is carelessness or lazyness. And using white suagr (eeewwwww - CUB stuff)

 

[peas_and_corn]

RDWHAHB :beer:

[post="93317"][/post]​

What??

 

[barfridge]

relaxdontworryhaveahomebrew

 

[Martin]

Syphoning would be a hassle, and it would be easy to "unsanitise" the hose in the process.

It sounds to me like it would be a good idea to have a barrel with two taps at the bottom. Would this be an easy modification to do?

Personally I haven't had problems with infections from the tap yet. Has anyone actually experienced this problem, or is it rare enough to ignore?

 

[shmickvl]

hi guys

i bought a brewkit from brewcraft and ive put off brewing it for a week or so. is it best to keep it in the fridge??