New To The Craft

[v8r]

hi all
first post here so be gentle

after getting bored (and broke) with most of the commercial offerings, ive decided to try my hand at home brewing.. ive brought myself a coopers brewkit (thanks big W), a "spare" carboy (bunnings) and fridge controller (thanks craftbrewer!) for my spare fridge.
Ive also spent the last month or so soaking up all of basicbrewing radios pod and video casts, along with the vast majority of your great site here.

My first K&K (coopers "lager" as per brewkit, inc brewsugar) is going down on sat, with the help of a mate who homebrews (but follows the pack instructions.. including ferment temps ). I dont envisage any problems, but suggestions are welcome. Im going to put this one down as per the instructions (except ferment temp, i'll lock that in to 20c in the fridge), so i can hopefully acquire a "baseline".

One thing i was wondering about, can i re-use commercial "coloured" stubbies, with crown seals? I have the 30 pet bottles that come with the coopers kit, but i reckon im going to be needing more brews than one in the cupboard, and i have access to plenty of stubbies. Just not 100% about capping them off. Bound to be more questions, but that'll do for now

thanks all
joel

 

[Screwtop]

hi all
first post here so be gentle

after getting bored (and broke) with most of the commercial offerings, ive decided to try my hand at home brewing.. ive brought myself a coopers brewkit (thanks big W), a "spare" carboy (bunnings) and fridge controller (thanks craftbrewer!) for my spare fridge.
Ive also spent the last month or so soaking up all of basicbrewing radios pod and video casts, along with the vast majority of your great site here.

My first K&K (coopers "lager" as per brewkit, inc brewsugar) is going down on sat, with the help of a mate who homebrews (but follows the pack instructions.. including ferment temps ). I dont envisage any problems, but suggestions are welcome. Im going to put this one down as per the instructions (except ferment temp, i'll lock that in to 20c in the fridge), so i can hopefully acquire a "baseline".

One thing i was wondering about, can i re-use commercial "coloured" stubbies, with crown seals? I have the 30 pet bottles that come with the coopers kit, but i reckon im going to be needing more brews than one in the cupboard, and i have access to plenty of stubbies. Just not 100% about capping them off. Bound to be more questions, but that'll do for now

thanks all
joel

Welcome v8r, "look at you go" did the smart thing first up, fermentation control (temp), next good yeast. Your mate will see a big improvement in your beers over his right from the get go. Stubbies are fine, but do yourself a favour and search re Bulk Priming so your not spending all day trying to prime those little suckers.
Cheers

 

[Bazza]

Hi v8r - welcome
First suggestion is, if you have a temp controller for your fridge, brew your lagers at 10-13 degrees. Makes a lot of difference to your beer.
Not sure about twistoff stubbies - I used to use stubbies a while ago but used crown seals (had to buy four cases of Becks, bugger). It should be OK I suppose, but try to get some longnecks as capping gets on your tits after 30 bottles!
Good luck,
Bazza

 

[craig maher]

One thing i was wondering about, can i re-use commercial "coloured" stubbies, with crown seals?

joel

Yep no worries with the stubbies - but you may get sick cleaning and sanitising the bloody things pretty quick - try and find some long necks - that way there is only 30 and not 60 !

Welcome to the forum v8r - there is so much info here just have a look :beer:

 

[Linz]

Ive also spent the last month or so soaking up all of basicbrewing radios pod and video casts, along with the vast majority of your great site here.

Try some of "the Brewing network" podcasts...very funny buggers with good content..

My first K&K (coopers "lager" as per brewkit, inc brewsugar) is going down on sat, with the help of a mate who homebrews (but follows the pack instructions.. including ferment temps ). I dont envisage any problems, but suggestions are welcome. Im going to put this one down as per the instructions (except ferment temp, i'll lock that in to 20c in the fridge), so i can hopefully acquire a "baseline".

So theres 2 of you in Mudgee that brew !!!

Good call on the temp as its prolly an ale yeast in the kit

One thing i was wondering about, can i re-use commercial "coloured" stubbies, with crown seals? I have the 30 pet bottles that come with the coopers kit, but i reckon im going to be needing more brews than one in the cupboard, and i have access to plenty of stubbies. Just not 100% about capping them off. Bound to be more questions, but that'll do for now

thanks all
joel

Yeah the stubbies are fine, but the green and clear ones will get 'light struck' if in sunlight for too long(re..minutes) and use a good bench capper not the 'winged' or 'butterfly' cappers

Beerz

Linz

P.S...I usually get out thata way for the Gulgong cup each year

 

[Bazza]

Yeah the stubbies are fine, but the green and clear ones will get 'light struck' if in sunlight for too long(re..minutes) and use a good bench capper not the 'winged' or 'butterfly' cappers

Whats wrong with the winged cappers? I used mine for years with no probs prior to kegging.

 

[RobboMC]

What you need to do in order to be drinking beer with a few months bottle age on it is brew at least twice as fast as you plan to drink for about 6 months. Over Xmas I finished the last of a batch I made in February, and it was 100% better than when made. So you'll need lots and lots of bottles.

I've gone in for the Coopers PET bottles, I have around 150 of them, and the beer stores for 10 months no worries. Lately I've been getting the odd failing screw cap, but I just reprime and reseal with a new cap.
I'm getting good at pressure testing to pick up these failures.

Otherwise you'll need at least 100 longnecks, hard to find these days in glass, unless you can tap a source of Crown lager empties like a certain brewer I know who lined his garage with them!

 

[v8r]

well, it's down.
a coopers "original series" (white can) larger, with 1kg "brewing sugar" and the kit yeast. 20l of cool preboiled water, made up with 3l of warm, preboiled to mix the ingrediants. total volume of spot on 23L.
took a hydro reading at 26c, with an OG of 1030. hydrometer reads 1000 @ 27 deg in tap water
kit yeast pitched at 25c (i know i know, im impatient!), the whole lot now in the ferment-fridge set at 20c.
btw, kit recommends 21-27c pitching and ferment temps, so im guessing this is a pseudo-larger kit, the yeast sachet didnt actually say either way.

now to get hold of some more bottles so i can keep this fermenter busy.. oh and another fridge for CC.. and another for chilling and serving. and a bigger kettle.. and and and and.!!!! this hobby is as bad as computers and IT, except so far, seems cheaper (and more rewarding!).

Can any one recommend a spreadsheet or database template for keeping brewing records? i was going to go the old school paper and pen, but seeing as im surrounded by computers, why not?

thanks all!

 

[Adamt]

Theres plenty of software out there that handles recipes, both extract and AG recipes, such as beertools, beersmith and promash. I'd suggest beersmith for you, it's a lot easier on the eye than promash and has all the features you would need.

Not sure of the website, do a google search and you should find it, 30 day evaluation version and about $30 to buy.

 

[Wortgames]

If you need to build up a decent stash of bottles quickly, I'd suggest using champagne bottles.

You just need to pick up a larger bell thingy for your capper, and get champagne crown seals from your homebrew supplier. Neither are very expensive.

The advantages are that they are always good strong bottles, it's easy to describe to friends and workmates what you need, you can often score a crate or two from hotels and wedding reception places and you can pull them out of recycling bins - usually undamaged and without cigarette butts in them.

You should keep your beer away from daylight and fluorescent light regardless of what colour the bottles are, but some of the better champagne bottles are almost black.

Plus they look pretty respectable too.

 

[v8r]

well the virgin brew is bottled and conditioning.. FG was 1012 over 3 days, so i figured it finished, and bottled tonight. primed with the supplied carb. drops, but will definatly bulk prime from here on in.

the next brew is already planned (cooper canadian blonde brewed as recommended with BE1), but as i only have a small brew fridge, and no room in the main one for conditioning, it may have to wait until i can pickup another for either ferment or storage..

 

[discoloop]

Hi v8r

I know the Coopers Original Larger virgin brew well. I received the same kit as a gift a few months ago and have had the fermenter going constantly ever since. Good fun!

Anyway, one thing I've worked out pretty quick is that those hydrometers are only vaguely accurate at best. I've gone though two now (accidentally dropped one) and the readings on each were different, despite the fact they looked the same. One seemed to read too low, one seemed to read all high.

I just wait til the reading stabilises as you did. It's all fine!

 

[braufrau]

One thing i was wondering about, can i re-use commercial "coloured" stubbies, with crown seals? I have the 30 pet bottles that come with the coopers kit, but i reckon im going to be needing more brews than one in the cupboard, and i have access to plenty of stubbies. Just not 100% about capping them off. Bound to be more questions, but that'll do for now

thanks all
joel

You don't want screw top stubbies either, which doesn't leave many options.

I found someone who likes James Squire and Little Creatures and offered him a stubby of HB
in return for every 2 empties he gave me ( and of course you want your own bottles back too).

I used to spend Sunday mornings sorting through the pub's rubbish but I don't bother now since
crown lagers have become twist offs.

Or you could find a pub or bar that sells beer in good bottles (Kappys in Adelaide for instance sells
black sheep ale in good 500ml bottles) and do a deal with them.

-braufrau

 

[Stuster]

You don't want screw top stubbies either, which doesn't leave many options.

Screw top stubbies (and long necks) are fine. I've used all sorts of screw tops and crowns and never noticed any difference in use.

 

[pint of lager]

You can use twist top bottles and seal them with a capper. Don't use the winged style, they crack the twist seal thread. Buy a decent bench capper like the super automatica. Mine is 20 years old and going strong. The cheaper cappers will work on crown seals but not threaded twisties.

The crown seal bottles do tend to have thicker more robust design, whereas the twist tops are designed for use once then throw away.

If you want to use champagne bottles, it is a simple matter of buying a replacement bell for the superautomatica, like Wortgames suggested.

Great to see a new brewer setting off on the right foot, lots of great info around.

 

[kfarrell]

The crown seal bottles do tend to have thicker more robust design,

In theory thats correct, but the only bottles I've ever cracked/exploded are crown lager bottles. They aren't as solid as they appear.

I use twist tops over and over, no worries.

 

[v8r]

thanks for all the advice people, this is truely a great resource. on the bottle front, ive been chasing up longnecks from the local recyclers and i reckon soon enough i'll have more than i can store..

bottoms up!

 

[v8r]

well, i only managed to wait just on 2 weeks before trying the virgin brew. a little "white wine" like in initial smell, and a tad "tangy".. as its matured a little more, the wine smell is fading as is the tang.. tasting more like "beer"

My next brew (Cooper Canadian Blonde with BE1) is ready for bottling, after sitting in the primary for 8 days and secondary for 6 atm. The question i have is, what difference does using Dex, white or brown sugar for priming impart on the beer?

Thanks all, on with the brewing! (Have a Coopers Mex kit ready to put down, yay!)

JM

 

[brettprevans]

For a good non-IT sheet go to
www.liquorcraft.com.au/webfiles/Liquorcraft/files/Beer_log_sheet.pdf

otherwise just use an MS Excel spreadsheet, that way you can have as many fields as you like. I use a long arse spreadsheet (about 30 differant fields - i like to records all my comments about fucks ups, temp at 24hrs, 48hrs, 5 days etc so i remember). You could if you were so inclined, use MS Word and dummy up a version of the beer-log-sheet above.