Newbie Brewer Here!

[MonkeyMagic]

heya guys,
i bought a 'Brigalow' brew kit yesterday 25(23?) litre one and threw on the kits lager mix for $57bucks.
i dont have a heat belt and am a little worried about the crap weather in melbourne today(overnight temp)

also id like to take some suggestions or even links for a good second brew to whip up?!?

thanks,
MonkeyMagic

ps. ive closly watched my brother make brews before, but this is my first actual one i can call my own

 

[raven19]

Hi there MonkeyMagic,
I wouldnt be too bothered about a heat belt - if you are concerned you could use a camping mattress or similar insulating material to help keep you fermenter temperature consistent.
In terms of beer type to make, best to start with the type you like to drink.
Plenty of info on this site, including recipes and message threads for you to research on also.
Best of luck.
Cheers!

 

[Gulf Brewery]

i dont have a heat belt and am a little worried about the crap weather in melbourne today(overnight temp)

Hey MonekyMagic

Welcome to the world of brewing

The kit probably says you need to keep the beer above 23, keep it around 20 and it will be a much better beer and remember 20 litres doesn't change temperature quickly. There are lots of tips on the site for improving your beers, so check out the sections and plan your second beer with those in mind. If they gave you dextrose for your first kit, look at using malt in your 2nd.

Cheers
Pedro

 

[Bribie G]

Hi MonkeyMagic (great show when it was on ) welcome to the skill. Brigalow is a Brisbane company that started off in the 70s before the likes of Coopers. Being Queensland based they acknowleged early on that their target market would be brewing over 20 degrees C for most of the year, which is typical here in South East Queensland, therefore the advice in their instructions is not always applicable to Melbourne, Adelaide whatever. Don't worry, their yeast is no doubt an all purpose ale yeast that will handle a wide range of temperatures, so you will be ok.

Brigalow kits tend to be a bit bland, and if you are looking for something a bit more malty and hoppy, look at trying a Coopers or Morgans kit for your next brew. Brigalow still gets you suitably pi$$ed if required however :super:

Cheers

 

[bradsbrew]

Mate go to the k&k section put your favourite beer in the search engine and you will find millions of recipes.
Soon you will be trying to make a trippeltacka trappist monk ale or a sandy saison or a pigsy porter. I used to love that show.

cheers brad

by the way I take dibs on the trappist ale name

 

[MonkeyMagic]

thanks guys, yeah there is a heap on information on here...might take me a few years to get through it
anyways this batch should be prime then for when uni finishes

...hahaha brad, love the names! 'pigsy porter' lol!! you better copyright those

 

[MonkeyMagic]

Update time i guess, my brew has been sitting in a room with the temperature of about 14degrees for 2 days...which is just under the recomended temperature.
It is producing gas, but very slowly.
any thoughts?!? should i let it keep doing its thing or try and boost temerature?

 

[Bribie G]

The last Brigalow I brewed was at around 20 degrees and it took 2 weeks to ferment out. Your low temperatures there are probably just going to be short term, I wouldn't go out and get a brew belt just yet, try the following (this is what I do in the bitter Queensland winter :lol: )

Drag out a spare single bed doonah, or a couple of beach towels, and wrap the fermenter in them, preferably on a table off the cold cold floor. Then fill a couple of two litre PET bottles or cordial jugs with very hot water and slip them in between the fermenter and the wrappings. I generally get a few degrees boost doing this. Takes a while because 23 litres in a fermenter is a fairly hefty heat sink, but if you tuck your widdle baby into bed like this every night and again in the morning it could be all you need at this stage. Do you have a stick-on thermometer strip? Worth their weight in gold.

 

[bradsbrew]

Mate I dont know if the brigalow kits have a true lager yeast and I would assume they didnt but your temperature would be great to have a lager sitting in
More important to be keeping a constant temperature though as with the Bribieg methods, easy option to build a heat box(ready for next winter).
3 walls a bottom a lid and a door.
through one of the sides or top a light.
Hook a probe to a waterbed heater which governs when the bulb is turned on and off.
Simple. Oh please do be prepared to be obsessed with this hobby.

Use a hydrometer to check the gravity of the beer. If it is ready the gravity will be cosistent over three days.
Dont bottle until it has completly fermented or you will be making bottle bombs.


Cheers Brad

 

[Brewtus]

If your inside temp is about 16 deg or more it will be fine without all the blankets and stuff. You only need to keep it above 18 for it to ferment and as the yeast produce heat as they do there stuff, they keep it up a couple of degrees above the ambient temperature.

 

[MonkeyMagic]

*Bump

Update of Brigalow lager with 1kg dextrose and kit yeast:
ok ive just been letting it do its own thing for about a week, its constantly been bubbling once every 30seconds and atm once almost every 20ish seconds...its been sitting around about 13/14degrees. its a hot day today soo i should be able to get it up a couple more degrees.

so here are my questions:
- how often should my fermenter bubble?
- is it wrong to just wait until it stops bubbling to bottle?
- are the kmart coopers PET bottles any good?
- what type of sugar do i prime bottles with?

thanks for your words of wisdom guys, i really appreciate every comment i get

cheers,
MonkeyM

 

[crundle]

Re: your questions,

-how often should my fermenter bubble?

as often as it wants, there are many factors behind it, the best indication of when it is finished is to check the final gravity of the beer. when it has stayed constant for several days it should be safe to bottle.

- is it wrong to just wait until it stops bubbling to bottle?
this can take a while, but most beers should be finished in a week or two, but again, the final gravity for several days being constant is the best indicator

- are the kmart coopers PET bottles any good?
Never tried those, they look ok, I normally use 1.25l pet bottles when I bottle - makes it easier to say I am only having one beer!

- what type of sugar do i prime bottles with?
I normally use plain csr sugar, but others like to use malt or dextrose. the amount in the bottle doesn't affect the flavour much, but I guess from apurist point of view, dextrose would be best.

Hope this helps, as said before, there is a ton of information, and just as many opinions, on this forum. You will find your own path no doubt, but the varying opinions help to see different ways to get to where you want to be.

 

[buttersd70]

agree with crundle pretty much, but just to expand slightly..
just an example about the airlock...airlocks can continue to bubble for a hell of a long time after ferment is finished, under the right circumstances. As temperature fluctuates, the liquid expands and contracts, which can cause the airlock to bubble even though fement is well and truly over. This one caught someone on here a few months ago that had an airlock on secondary, which bubbling start again a couple of weeks after fg was stable.
Edit: just looked at your temps and time again, so chances are it's still working and isn't finished. Always confirm this with stable fg readings.

Coopers pet bottles: fine for storage up to 12 months. Coopers say that it is up to 18 months, but there are a few "how long" threads on here, and 12 seems to be a fairly general concensus. although some have had no probs longer, and some have had problems shorter. But in general terms.

Type of sugar for prime....a source of great debate, so I'll try to forestall that by qualifying that it is opinion. Personally, dextrose for me (or ldm, depending on the beer). It's well known that I am a plain sugar nazi, even for priming, so I'll quantify it slightly. Crundle said that " the amount in the bottle doesn't affect the flavour much", and this is true. It does affect the flavour, but its very small. It needs to be put into context. If you have a beer thats (reasonably) strong flavoured in the first place, the small flavour change won't be noticable. If you have a beer that is mildly flavoured (which doesn't mean bad, some beers are meant to be like that), than it may be more noticable, because you don't have as many other flavours in the beer to cover it up, if you know what I mean.

 

[white.grant]

I just use sucrose and it works for me, but no matter what you prime with, bulk prime.

cheers

grant

 

[crundle]

+1 for bulkpriming!

 

[raven19]

+2 for bulk priming. Sooooo much easier

 

[MonkeyMagic]

as it is my first time should avoid the bulk prime?

 

[Interloper]

as it is my first time should avoid the bulk prime?

Do not avoid the bulk prime.

Do not pass go.

Do not collect $200.

Bulk priming rules big time.

1 x plastic tube, 1 x clean bottling bucket, 1 x sugar solution as per this calcs and you win...

 

[buttersd70]

as it is my first time should avoid the bulk prime?

I don't see why. It's not that hard, if you have a second fermenter or a cube. There is an article on it here and there are numerous threads on it as well.

If your not comfortable with it, for your first brew, that's OK. But many people have started bulk priming really early on. For me it was about my 3rd or fourth, I think. It is much better, and much more consistant, but at the end of the day, it's down to what you feel OK with. If you decide you want to do it, read the articles, read some of the other threads, and if you still have any issues or questions, just put up a post.

Edit. and the calculator that interloper posted is excellent, whether you bulk prime or recalculate it for a per bottle addition.

 

[MonkeyMagic]

id love to do it, but i just don't have that second fermenter. so i think it might have to wait a couple of brews
thx for the future information though, ill reference it when i get the gear sorted out