New to brewing

[Oscara]

Hi everyone, I'm new to brewing and will be starting out doing BIAB. I'm sure to make mistakes but hopefully with enough reading and learning from this site I'll minimise those mistakes. I'm not a big beer drinker but do enjoy a good beer especially the German wheat beers. I've ordered most of my gear and hopping to start my first brew in the next week or two. For now I'll keep reading and getting familiar with all the terminologies and dos and don't.
Thanks for the great site everyone... Oscar

 

[Yob]

in the deep end, good work!!

fabulous beer is just round the corner :drinks:

 

[Oscara]

Yes in the deep end all right! Im now getting my head around yeast and the importance on getting that right. Hmm do I invest in a conical flask and magnetic stirrer. This is going to be an expensive hobby.

 

[Burt de Ernie]

Welcome aboard!


What gear does your BIAB setup consist of?

 

[Blind Dog]

Welcome

Personally I'd invest in a decent fridge, heat source and a temp controller (preferably one with heat and cool outputs so I could lug in the fridge and heat pad/cord/other option, set temp and forget, before a stir plate. YMMV

 

[Oscara]

I ordered this morning a 37l ss pot with tap and short probe thermometer, 2 large fine mesh bags, a refractor meter and hop spider. I also have a hand me down fermenter. I have a burner for cooking paella (Spanish rice dish) which i will need to test to see if it can bring a 37l pot to a boil. So far thats it. Still learning yeasts and trying to decide what beer to start with once everything arrives.

 

[Oscara]

Welcome
Personally I'd invest in a decent fridge, heat source and a temp controller (preferably one with heat and cool outputs so I could lug in the fridge and heat pad/cord/other option, set temp and forget, before a stir plate. YMMV

Is that a fridge to store fermenter etc. If so the only place available is under the house (under cover deck) which has about 4.5 feet clearance

 

[Barge]

I recommend starting with dry yeasts. Re-hydrate or just throw a packet into a typical batch (i.e. 20L of 1.050 wort) and you'll still get good beer. K-97 or WB06 will be good enough to start with if you plant to make a wheat beer. Better yet, a standard English pale ale with s-04. You will have enough to worry about without having to think about the yeast.

 

[Yob]

Windsor for dry English over S04 and day of the week.

Long standing hater of that yeast.

 

[Barge]

Windsor for dry English over S04 and day of the week.

Long standing hater of that yeast.

Fair enough

 

[Oscara]

I recommend starting with dry yeasts. Re-hydrate or just throw a packet into a typical batch (i.e. 20L of 1.050 wort) and you'll still get good beer. K-97 or WB06 will be good enough to start with if you plant to make a wheat beer. Better yet, a standard English pale ale with s-04. You will have enough to worry about without having to think about the yeast.

Windsor for dry English over S04 and day of the week.

Long standing hater of that yeast.

Thanks for the advise guys.

 

[MartinOC]

Gotta love a bloke that jumps-in at the deep-end first-up. Goodonya!

'Suggest you start your journey with something simple so you can get your head around the steps/processes involved. Do it again & again so you know what to expect & build-up your knowledge & experience from there whilst you're doing it.

EXPECT to make mistakes. Everyone does (even experienced brewers...erm..especially experienced brewers... h34r: ), but learn from them & don't get disheartened.

Edit: Look towards getting/building a dedicated, temp-controlled fermentation fridge. The single best bang-for-bucks you can get for the quality of your brews, bar-none.

Welcome to the Vortex!!!

 

[Moad]

+1 for fermentation fridge with temp control. Welcome to the slippery slope

 

[manticle]

I recommend starting with dry yeasts. Re-hydrate or just throw a packet into a typical batch (i.e. 20L of 1.050 wort) and you'll still get good beer. K-97 or WB06 will be good enough to start with if you plant to make a wheat beer. Better yet, a standard English pale ale with s-04. You will have enough to worry about without having to think about the yeast.

Rehydrate vs making a starter?

Sprinkle vs pour?

Same, same but different.

 

[Oscara]

Thanks for the very warm welcome everyone.
I've taken the advise about getting a fridge. I think i found a suitable one on gumtree last night and will be going to check it today. It's a 146lt bar fridge so hopefully the fermenter fits in.
I'll be reading up about cooling and heating options for the fridge. Heating i understand due to cold weather. I'm assuming cooling is for warm weather, is it necessary in Melbourne?

 

[Moad]

You want to maintain a steady temp, the temperature will vary depending on the beer ie. Lagers ferment generally around 10, then you might take it up to 14 for a diacetyl rest then crash as cold as you can get it. US-05 you might want to hold at 18 and something like a saison up around 28.

It depends on the beer and the yeast but the main thing is a steady temp.

Check out STC-1000 thread, it can control both heating and cooling so you plug the fridge in to one side and a heat belt/pad into the other. You then stick the probe to the side of your fermentor, set your temp and you are away.

For bonus points check out stc-1000+ , this is some firmware for the STC that can automatically change temp over time to automate the lager ferment for example.

 

[Ditchnbeer]

I'd recommend getting a glass of yr favourite drink, sitting down with it and the PC & picking a topic and searching here on these forums, learn one thing at a time. Plenty of BIAB info to be found.
Otherwise, being new to brewing I'd suggest:

• Temp control - this will help you go from 'meh' beer to good beer real quick. Get a fridge and controller, I made my current STC1000 for ~ $36
• Yeast - always pitch enough healthy yeast for the style you are making, start out using dry, learn how to rehydrate and pitch correctly to give it the best chance to do its job
• Santitising - boring but important as hell - throwing out infected beer hurts

Hope its a fun process for you!

 

[Oscara]

You want to maintain a steady temp, the temperature will vary depending on the beer ie. Lagers ferment generally around 10, then you might take it up to 14 for a diacetyl rest then crash as cold as you can get it. US-05 you might want to hold at 18 and something like a saison up around 28.

It depends on the beer and the yeast but the main thing is a steady temp.

Check out STC-1000 thread, it can control both heating and cooling so you plug the fridge in to one side and a heat belt/pad into the other. You then stick the probe to the side of your fermentor, set your temp and you are away.

For bonus points check out stc-1000+ , this is some firmware for the STC that can automatically change temp over time to automate the lager ferment for example.

Thanks, I have spent the morning searching the forum and have discovered the STC1000 thread. It's sounds like a great little affordable unit.

I'd recommend getting a glass of yr favourite drink, sitting down with it and the PC & picking a topic and searching here on these forums, learn one thing at a time. Plenty of BIAB info to be found.
Otherwise, being new to brewing I'd suggest:

• Temp control - this will help you go from 'meh' beer to good beer real quick. Get a fridge and controller, I made my current STC1000 for ~ $36
• Yeast - always pitch enough healthy yeast for the style you are making, start out using dry, learn how to rehydrate and pitch correctly to give it the best chance to do its job
• Santitising - boring but important as hell - throwing out infected beer hurts

Hope its a fun process for you!

Great advise, the more I look at brewing the more I realise how much there is in doing it right.
I fully expect to make mistakes but thanks to this forum I'll avoid quite a few big ones :kooi:

 

[Oscara]

Got the fridge, its not in the best condition but when most bar fridges aren't suitable you can't be to picky unless you're prepared to wait.
It's only $70 so not a big expense
.
http://i304.photobucket.com/albums/nn175/chrissyoscar1/20150816_113859_zpstol4ddga.jpg

http://i304.photobucket.com/albums/nn175/chrissyoscar1/20150816_113848_zps9ck7cts8.jpg

 

[Barge]

Rehydrate vs making a starter?

Sprinkle vs pour?

Same, same but different.

This is why I would advise to just sprinkle dry yeast straight into the wort. The cell count is large enough to cope and you eliminate a point of infection. After a few batches I think you would consider the benefits of rehydrating and making starters.