Newbie Saying Hello

[zrated]

Hi All,

Just thought I'd stick my head into 'the pub' and say gday to the locals.... I'm a young Perth bloke who just put on his first brew on Monday. I'm not expecting perfect results straight away but I'm sure after reading pages and pages of helpful info from the guys in the know, I'll get better as time goes on.

My brother has been brewing for a few years and now it's time for me to give it a try!

I'm not going to bottle my brews, I've collected everything I need to get a 'kegerator' going. I'm using 2 corny kegs in a chest freezer with an external thermostat/controller and an extra keg for a rotation.

I'm using two westbrew fermenters (starter kits) and have a few brewcraft brews bubbling away thanks to my local (Joondalup) brewcraft shop. I think the brewing community seams like a real tight knit welcoming one! I hope to post some stories of my successful brews in the coming months...

Cheers,

Tom

 

[mika]

Welcome to the forum Tom, you'll find a few Perth people floating around on here.
Keep an eye on the "AHB Meetings" section, every now and then we get together for a brewday, all welcome, few simple rules to abide by, but basically someone invites everyone else around to watch them stuff up an All Grain brew, it's a thin disguise to get together and consume large amounts of alcohol

Cheers,
Mika

 

[zrated]

Welcome to the forum Tom, you'll find a few Perth people floating around on here.
Keep an eye on the "AHB Meetings" section, every now and then we get together for a brewday, all welcome, few simple rules to abide by, but basically someone invites everyone else around to watch them stuff up an All Grain brew, it's a thin disguise to get together and consume large amounts of alcohol

Cheers,
Mika

hahaha sounds like fun! I'll organise a lift home!

I've just been reading up on how to gas your keg and I'm a little confused about the disconnects and what to place where.... then shaking your keg around to get the right pressure... I thought that would be a bad idea as you don't want to disturb the beer. Or is this to release the oxygen or something? :blink:

 

[tangent]

put Perth in your i.d. mate
welcome
:beer:

 

[zrated]

put Perth in your i.d. mate
welcome
:beer:

done and done! I'm new to this forum layout too!

 

[mika]

Quinns Rocks....that's not Perth, that's South Geraldton <_<

You're pumping your beer full of CO2, shaking helps the CO2 be absorbed into the beer. Shaking your beer while under a CO2 blanket is fine. What you don't want is beer to come in contact with oxygen, except for that brief fall from the tap to your mouth. Always use a long hose into the bottom of the keg. I generally make sure theres a bit of CO2 in there as well, release the pressure before releasing the lid though, as CO2 is heavier than air mostly it stays in there while you rack from the fermentor. Reduces the chances of oxidised beer.
I've found that this method is good, but requires practice and you'll need the keg cold before you start trying to gas it (cold beer absorbs more CO2). I find I need to sit it in the fridge for at least 48hrs to be cold enough. During this time I generally crank the gas to 25-30psi and then turn it off, as long as your keg is sealed you'll notice the gas pressure drop as it's absorbed into the beer. Do this a couple of times and the beer should be carbed enough to drink. As I say, really an experimental thing.

 

[zrated]

Quinns Rocks....that's not Perth, that's South Geraldton <_<

You're pumping your beer full of CO2, shaking helps the CO2 be absorbed into the beer. Shaking your beer while under a CO2 blanket is fine. What you don't want is beer to come in contact with oxygen, except for that brief fall from the tap to your mouth. Always use a long hose into the bottom of the keg. I generally make sure theres a bit of CO2 in there as well, release the pressure before releasing the lid though, as CO2 is heavier than air mostly it stays in there while you rack from the fermentor. Reduces the chances of oxidised beer.
I've found that this method is good, but requires practice and you'll need the keg cold before you start trying to gas it (cold beer absorbs more CO2). I find I need to sit it in the fridge for at least 48hrs to be cold enough. During this time I generally crank the gas to 25-30psi and then turn it off, as long as your keg is sealed you'll notice the gas pressure drop as it's absorbed into the beer. Do this a couple of times and the beer should be carbed enough to drink. As I say, really an experimental thing.

Thanks for the tips... I'm almost certain I'm going to get this fermenter to keg thing wrong, but I'm sure with a bit more research it'll be a 'sort of' smooth transfer. And no, not south gero.... just :lol:

 

[BrewGuru]

Unbelievable I haven't been to this sight for 4 years my how it has grown, I knew everyone then, but life takes many different paths, my normal forum site ausfish is having server problems so I typed in BrewGuru into Google, I couldn't believe how naked I felt, alot of posts are still in different forums from lotsa years....unbelievable!
I haven't brewed for a few years, I was pretty full on when I was, I have my own gravity fed Microrewery, started my own club, which is still going I quit 4 years ago due to work commitments, I will probably retire in 5 years and spend 6 months brewing and 6 months fishing, thats the plan anyway, good to be back!!!!

Cheers

BrewGuru