Newbie Questions

[DrewCarey82]

Guys @ about 24 degrees - For a kit beer, just the kit yeast.

I have 2 beers in primary have been there for about 6 days now and 2 in secondary for about 7 days.

How long can I leave these before I get paranoid about infection.

Have been a lazy, lazy fella and havent bottled as I normally do last night as I had a offer to go to Paddy's to good to turn down.

 

[Samwise Gamgee]

I've had brews sitting up to 4-5 weeks in secondary with no ill effects.

Prob wouldn't want to do this in primary though.

As long as nothing can get in to cause an infection there shouldn't be a problem, but brews sitting too long on the yeast cake can start to get some funky flavours.

 

[DrewCarey82]

I'll probably have it racked by Sunday so hopefully it should be sweet just been feeling like a lazy ******* lately!

 

[elevhein]

Hi all!
I'm super new to this caper, and haven't got any equipment yet. I read a few people have got 'Tooheys' home brew kits. Are these quite common? Are they the best thing for a newbie?
I was introduced to home brew on the weekend, and want to get my own equipment and get brewing. I'm in Melbourne, so if anyone can point me in the direction of where to get started, that'd be awesome.

BEER!

 

[DrewCarey82]

Go the Coopers home brew kit, everything you need including plastic bottles(good for starting as you dont have to worry about bottle bombs) plus a video detailing the basic steps.

Best kit on the market by far for the simple reason of the vid.

 

[Screwtop]

Not only because of the vid elevhein. Coopers kits get my vote for best results from kits. Tip: Don't try Lagers first up. Stay away from using sugar with kits, gives a cidery flavour, use an improver (various blends of Dextrose, Dried Malt Extract, Maltodextrin) or read the back label on a Coopers can for info re additions to make a true to style beer. Buy an additional fermenter for racking to for clear beer and use some form of cooling to keep your fermentation temps low. Search the site for tons of info covering all of this.

Go make beer!

 

[DrewCarey82]

Screwtop its his first brew, let the lad get the basics right I used the brewing sugar provided and it tasted fine.

Do a few brews then worry about additions.

But for next kit go a coopers brew enhancer 2 with your kit. - Use this for all your kit beers works great.

 

[elevhein]

Thanks all!
I sussed out the tooheys kit, but I'll look for the coopers as well (I do love their pale ale after all!).
Say, is there a collective noun for people whom home brew other than 'brewers' (such as gaggle of geese)?
I'm super keen to get started, I saw all the equipment when on holidays on the weekend. The only advice they gave me when I was quizzing them about the process, was that I need to keep it warm when fermenting, and to brew, settle for one week, bottle and leave in the bottle for another. True, they had been drinking when giving this advice, so I think I'll read a link that I found on this site for some more 'authoritative' advice.





elevhein

 

[lucas]

Thanks all!
I sussed out the tooheys kit, but I'll look for the coopers as well (I do love their pale ale after all!).
Say, is there a collective noun for people whom home brew other than 'brewers' (such as gaggle of geese)?
I'm super keen to get started, I saw all the equipment when on holidays on the weekend. The only advice they gave me when I was quizzing them about the process, was that I need to keep it warm when fermenting, and to brew, settle for one week, bottle and leave in the bottle for another. True, they had been drinking when giving this advice, so I think I'll read a link that I found on this site for some more 'authoritative' advice.





elevhein

[post="110210"][/post]​

unless you live somewhere REALLY cold, ignore the advice they gave you. i got that idea in my head from reading the information provided with the kit, did my first brew at 28 degrees, tasted like fruity crap. second brew was ginger beer at 22-24 degrees which turned out great. most recent was an ale brewed at 16-22 degrees (average 18), its not done yet but from tasting the hydrometer samples its the best yet. from my little experience and a lot of reading forums it seems that yeast like to be at the bottom end of them temperature range, nowhere near the temps recommended by a lot of folk

 

[Screwtop]

Screwtop its his first brew, let the lad get the basics right I used the brewing sugar provided and it tasted fine.

Do a few brews then worry about additions.

But for next kit go a coopers brew enhancer 2 with your kit. - Use this for all your kit beers works great.

[post="110142"][/post]​

Fairnuf DC. Still, I gave up on home brewing twice in the past because it tasted like crap. Lots of peoples attitudes toward home brew came from, an early trial using kit and sugar and high ferm temps. With the kits and extras and yeasts available today it's easy to brew better beer at home than the pissy stuff turned out by mega breweries. And easy enough using wet towels etc to keep temps low enough for good fermentation results. Nothin too difficult for a newb, specially with all of the help available here.

 

[Mr Bond]

most recent was an ale brewed at 16-22 degrees (average 18), its not done yet but from tasting the hydrometer samples its the best yet. from my little experience and a lot of reading forums it seems that yeast like to be at the bottom end of them temperature range, nowhere near the temps recommended by a lot of folk

[post="110218"][/post]​

Temp is one of the key factors in your beer tasting good.
I always keep my ales in between 15/18 c and never over 20c(except for weizen strains).

 

[DrewCarey82]

[/quote]


Fairnuf DC. Still, I gave up on home brewing twice in the past because it tasted like crap. Lots of peoples attitudes toward home brew came from, an early trial using kit and sugar and high ferm temps. With the kits and extras and yeasts available today it's easy to brew better beer at home than the pissy stuff turned out by mega breweries. And easy enough using wet towels etc to keep temps low enough for good fermentation results. Nothin too difficult for a newb, specially with all of the help available here.

[post="110251"][/post]​

[/quote]

Very true all but all but the most silly first time brewers dont expect much from their first brew though and are pleasantly suprised if they follow the instructions @ how good it is!

For the next brew racking is an option but even using a coopers brew enhancer will make the beer much more presentable and tastier.

 

[DrewCarey82]

Morgans golden sheaf wheat beer, Coopers brew enhancer 2, + hop bag of hallertau hops.

Rack or not? And if I do rack should I use finings.

Cheers.

 

[Trough Lolly]

Hmmm, wheat beer kit and "enhancer"...

What are you going to rack the beer from? There's bugger all grains in that mix so it's not going to have much break material there - and the hops are in a bag so I wouldn't get in a cold sweat about racking the beer, presumably for secondary conditioning unless you have a low flocc yeast and want to brighten the beer before kegging/bottling...

Are you using the kit yeast?

TL

 

[DrewCarey82]

Yep

Normally I do it to make a clearer beer but being a wheat do I want it to be clearer as cloudiness is one of its features and I reckon I might loose some of the flavour.

 

[sluggerdog]

Temp is one of the key factors in your beer tasting good.

[post="110270"][/post]​

I agree, nothing is more important then temperature while fermenting.

My brews improved 200% once I got that secondhand fridge with a thermostat.

And equally important is cleaning...

 

[PistolPatch]

Hi there Lucas!

As the blokes/girls mentioned above, sanitation and temperature are the real keys to your first home brew. The sanitation you have to do anyway, there's no way around that but it's easy. See here for all the info you need on that for now.

One further note re sanitation, buy a 60 litre square tub from Bunnings at $16 and fill it with the bleach ratio mentioned in the above link. This will handle all your big equip. Also get a smaller container, mayber 10 litre for the betadine. Above thread will explain all that.

Temperature! I totally agree with Screwtop. I brewed several crap beers about 15 years ago simply through following kit suggestions. If someone had told me then, brew your kit beers at a stable temp of 18-20 degrees, I would have never looked back! But, I gave up after 2 brews. Any beer in the bottle or on tap was 100 times better! The same thing happened about 8 years later! Thanks to this site though, things have changed.

In my opinion, unless you live in a perfect climate or have a house where there is a room that is stable at 18-20 degrees for at least 4 days, you are not going to brew a reasonable beer using just a Coopers or Tooheys Homebrew Kit.

So, I would suggest, before even your first brew, you buy a 100 Can Cooler (post #8 of this thread will show you a picture. You can get them at KMart for $20 or $30.

You will also need, depending on your climate, say 8 x 1.25 litre soft drink bottles filled with frozen salty water. It's really hot where I am so I have 12 x 750ml freezer blocks.

If you can invest that $20 or $30 you will be well-rewarded. At the moment, I think that and sanitation are the only things you need to worry about. Stick with the Coopers for the moment as they are the most forgiving and quickest to drink!

Sometimes reading on this site can get a little confusing so after you have the above right, maybe learn a little about hops.

Oh, and I forgot to mention that you will need to use the blow-off tube method of air-locking if you have the 100 Can Cooler as an air lock is too high. Anyway, don't worry too much about that now though you may need more soft drink bottles. If you do a search for blow off tubes thouvh you'll get the info!

Cheers Lucas :beer:

Edit: Forgot to say, that if you follow the above, you will find the Coopers/Tooheys great! Then, with time things will get even better!

 

[lucas]

while a few people seem to have jumped in telling me how important temperature is, few seem to have noticed that i was pointing that very fact out to elevhein, who has been misinformed that brew needs to be kept warm. thanks anyway though

 

[DrewCarey82]

For most kit beers note the temp range that they tell you is not rubbish as long as you get under the 30 degree's its all good.

However aim for 24-26 degrees as this is the ideal temp for kit beers and their yeasts, during winter when you can get temps regularly @ 18-22 degrees then try for your different yeasts such as the saf range.

But 99% of my beers have been brewed @ around 26 degrees and people absolutely love them and swear they are better then what they get on tap down @ the pub.

Cheers.

 

[Bobby]

sorry gotta disagree :blink: . 26 is too warm.