skip diving for free stuff = love mates who keeps and eye out 4 u

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Maheel

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had a mate drop in today and give me a freegan xmas present.

he was going past a skip and this was in it
love how the co2 valve / reg seals were still hanging on it in the plastic bag

of course i asked was anything else in there !!!!

hooked it to my gas and works fine

DSC_0917.JPG
 
I think I know your mate. Portly chap. An Essendon supporter (wears red & black clobber). Jovial sort of bloke. Don't know what he does for a living, but always works lots of overtime this time of year.
 
dane said:
The FAQ is designed to help newcomers to understand the basic principles behind your first brew, as well as pointing out some important tips that will help make your kit beer look and taste better. :chug:

Before we start, I am no way an experienced brewer, I set up this site mainly because I found that there were few aussie based resources for new brewers. I am only on my 3rd brew, however over the last month I have done quite a bit of reading and many of the hints and tips that I have received will be compiled into this FAQ.

Hopefully as more and more experienced brewers use this site, this FAQ will be updated with new information.

If you are new to brewing, you will most probably have just purchased a starter kit. In Australia, these kits usually retail for around $60-$65 for a basic kit. This kit will contain all the bare essential equipment that you need to start your first brew. Of course you can purchase additional equipment that will help you streamline, speed up or make a more accurate batch, but seeing as you are a starter, these kits will be fine.

The basic kits use a plastic fermenter with a tap at the bottom. If you have been reading about brewing on the Internet, many people use glass fermenters called Carboys. There are pro's and con's in which type of fermenter to use, but usually it will come down to personal preference. Because plastic drums are used in the starter kits, this FAQ will only apply to plastic setups.

Lets get started! :D

First step is to assemble your fermenter; while this is pretty much a no brainer, the only thing to look out for is to make sure that the little sediment stopper on the inside of the tap is pointing up. This ensures that when you are bottling or racking your brew, as little sediment from the bottom of the fermenter is drawn up through the tap. The sediment stopper is a small plastic plug that has a slit in the top of it. Make sure that it pointing towards the top of the fermenter. The only other thing to look out for is to make sure that the o-ring and the grommet is securely in place. It is of up most importance that your fermenter is air-tight.

I would strongly recommend new brewers to read the instructions that came with your fermenter. These instructions can be a little brief and in some sections actually give the wrong advice, however it is important to get a decent overview of your equipment and how the brewing process works. These manuals also explain what all the tools do and how to use the chemicals/ingredients that came with your kit.

Many brew shops put in their own streamlined/modified instructions - obviously I have not seen these, however, it would be a good idea to read through these as well. Your local brew shop will probably be one of your first point of calls if you have a question or a problem. So use them as a resource and hopefully the instructions that they included in the kit, should reflect some of their experience.

The single most important factor to beer brewing is CLEANLINESS!!!!, this cannot be stressed enough. No matter how much experience you have had; no matter how good your ingredients are; if something comes in contact with your brew and it hasn't been properly prepared and cleaned, an infection can wipe out your beloved brew in no time at all.

Infact infections can occur so easily that it is not only CLEANLINESS that you must keep in mind, it is SANITISATION. Cleaning a tool removes grease, dirt and most other foreign bodies, while sanitisation takes one step closer to sterilizing your equipment. Sanitising, if done effectively, removes almost all bacteria or any harmful particles from the equipment. While not completely sterilizing the equipment, it is as close as most people can get while using household chemicals.

Starter kits usually come with two cleaning chemicals, a brewer�s detergent and a sanitising solution (sometimes referred to as pink cleaner or sodium met.). It is extremely important that you wash, clean and sanitise absolutely every piece of equipment that will come in contact with your brew. This includes your fermenter and lid, tap, funnels, stirrers, airlock, any buckets/containers, hydrometer and bottles. It is a shame to loose a brew because you didn't take the time to prepare your equipment.

Now that all your equipment is cleaned and sanitised, you are ready to start your first brew!

Most starter kit instructions suggest that you boil 2L's of water and use that to dissolved your ingredients into. While I would recommend this method first your first brews, it is usually advised that you boil and 'cook/simmer' your first ingredients in water.

To keep things easy, I will describe the method for using boiling water, rather than the cooking method. Boil 2-3L of water and pour it into your fermenter. Add the contents of your beer concentrate as well as any sugar(dextrose) and malt. Stir contents until dissolved.

Make sure you mix the ingredients well as the yeast need oxygen to function, the more oxygen the better. One everything is mixed up and dissolved, fill the fermenter with water to bring to total volume to 23L's. (Note: some brews, especially Stout, need a smaller water volume, please check what the total volume is on your beer instructions).. Once you have filled to the required volume, stir thoroughly again.

If your kit require now is usually the time to add them, again check the instructions for your specific recipe. Some recipes state that you just through the in fermenter, or 'dry hop', with no preparation. Most advise to boil water and put into a sanitised cup and let the hops sit in the boiling water for 10 minutes, this will be referred to as the standard method. After 10 minutes you can then add them to the mixture. If you chose to boil your ingredients beforehand, you usually add hops then and let ever simmer for 15minutes. I will describe the cooking method later.

Assuming that you are dry hopping or using the standard method, add you hops and stir gently. It is now time to add your yeast.

There are so many ways yeast can be added or 'pitched' into the fermenter. As this FAQ is design for a first time brewer, I will describe the most basic method of pitching yeast. All kits comes with dry yeast, and to pitch it, it is a matter of simply pouring the dry yeast into the fermenter and stirring thoroughly (this will make sure that they yeast will be mixed in and also help with oxygenating the wort).

As soon as the yeast has been pitched, fill the airlock with cooled boiled water and insert through the grommet, making sure that the seal is airtight. Screw the lid on tight.

The last step you need to do before you start the waiting game, is to take a hydrometer reading so you have a figure for your Specific Gravity (S.G.). Draw off half of a hydrometer test jar to get rid of any sediment stuck in the tap, and pour another sample. Bob the hydrometer in the test jar and take a reading. This figure is important to work out alcohol content as well as an indicator for the fermenting process.

Pack you fermenter away and monitor your temps. Again check your beer kit to see what temps you are meant to keep the brew at - ales are usually 18c-28c and larger lower than that - usually around 12c. This will differ from batch to batch and depending on how you are controlling your temps you may have trouble keeping an optimum temperature.

Finally, make a log book or a diary of the exact procedures you did to make the batch. This process will allow you to describe and outline what you did to make your beer so you can go back to it and make changes after you have tasted the final product.

That concludes our fist FAQ for first time brewers. More information will be available shortly about monitoring your fermenting brew, bottling and storage.

This FAQ is by no way a definitive guide, instead a compiled document on hint and tips I have received. As you have a couple of brews under your belt (pun intended) you will want to move onto more advanced techniques.
Ffs that is awesome, I am hanging out for a score like that
 

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