Suggestions For My Fourth Brew

[gavor]

Hi,

I'm ready to brew my fourth beer of whatever description but I don't know what to make or how to go about it. I've read all sorts about extract brewing; boil the extract, don't boil the extract, boil the dry extracts etc etc so I'm looking for a bit of clarity to point a new brewer in the right direction.

I have the following;

1 can of Coopers draught extract
1 can of Coopers real ale extract
500g DME (Coopers light dry malt)
1kg Coopers Brew Enhancer 2


What's the best combination and how should I go about it? I was all prepared to boil the extract when I read in another thead that boiling kills the hops, and seeing as I have no hops to add this kind of rules out boiling.

Any and all suggestions welcomed and if you happen to be in Brisbane I may even give you one of the finished product .


g

 

[Steve]

Hi,

I'm ready to brew my fourth beer of whatever description but I don't know what to make or how to go about it. I've read all sorts about extract brewing; boil the extract, don't boil the extract, boil the dry extracts etc etc so I'm looking for a bit of clarity to point a new brewer in the right direction.

I have the following;

1 can of Coopers draught extract
1 can of Coopers real ale extract
500g DME (Coopers light dry malt)
1kg Coopers Brew Enhancer 2


What's the best combination and how should I go about it? I was all prepared to boil the extract when I read in another thead that boiling kills the hops, and seeing as I have no hops to add this kind of rules out boiling.

Any and all suggestions welcomed and if you happen to be in Brisbane I may even give you one of the finished product .


g

g- dont boil anything - you dont have to. Get your can of Coopers real ale, your Coopers Brew enhancer 2 and your 500g DME. Place the can into a sink of hot water to make it more pourable for 15 mins, pour into fermenter, boil kettle, pour boiling water into can to dissolve the rest of the extract. Put Enhancer and 500gms of DME into fermenter. Pour can of boiling water into fermenter. Boil another 2 litres of water, pour into fermenter. Stir VERY well. Fill up with cold water to 23 litres. Bobs yer uncle, sprinkle in the yeast, quick stir. Put the lid on. Shes done. Simple
Cheers
Steve

 

[Adamt]

The hopped extracts in cans (such as the real ale and draught) shouldnt be boiled as they contain hop oils, etc. The DME and the brew enhancer could be boiled, but doing a boil of any sorts won't really matter if you aren't adding any hops.

If you are close to a decent home brew store, pick up 500g or so of light crystal grain, steep it in 2L of hot water for 30 minutes, strain into a pot, and run another 2L of water over the spent grains, then add enough water to also dissolve the dry extracts (DME and BE) once brought to the boil. Make sure you stir often and boil for 15 minutes. Take off the heat, and stir in either or both of the cans (youll get about 4.5% alc for 1 can and 6.8% if you put both in). Cool to 20-25C as quickly as possible in an ice bath, add rehydrated yeast to fermenter and then pour your wort aggressively in. Fill up to 23L, fit airlock and Bob's your uncle!

 

[gavor]

Thanks for the suggestions.

Steve, thats pretty much what I've been doing anyway so I shouldn't get it wrong.

Adamt, I'd love to grab some grains but my local HB shop isn't open on a Sunday and I'm too impatient to wait until next weekend.

I'm sort of combining both suggestions. The yeast is rehydrating as I type and should be ready in 15 minutes; then I'll make up the wort as normal but add rehydrated yeast instead of sprinkling the dry yeast on top.

This is my first time rehydrating yeast so I hope it works!

Cheers again.

(i'm a little pedantic about this brew because my second brew came out terribly and isn't fit for drinking. I'm sweating on the results of my third brew now....i'll know in a weeks time.....)

g

 

[razz]

G'day gavor, if you describe the taste of your second brew we may be able to pin point some problem area/s.

 

[gavor]

Well.. That didn't go too badly.

The sugars seemed to clump up in the fermenter so I stirred it as much as possible but there was still the odd lump floating about.

After filling I found the wort to be around 30C, which seems a little high. Previous attempts have been 26C at pitching. Should I cool it down a little by applying ice externally, or leave it alone?

I also found my new hydometer to be dodgy. It stops at 1040! The one I broke a few weeks ago went to 1100 and beyond. . So my OG is an approximation. I think it's 1050 or a little higher.



Anyway, on to the brew I screwed up. I tastes like sour watery malt extract and doesn't appear to contain any alcohol, or so little I didn't notice. I think it's going down the drain tonight and i'll make do with commercial beer for a week .

I did the following stupid newbie things.

1. Didn't seal the fermenter properly. I think the tap was too loose.
2. Heated it up every day thinking it had to ferment at 24-26C. So it went up and down over an 8 day period, ranging between 20 and 25C.
3. Swirled it, poked it, tested the gravity sometimes twice a day.


cheers,

g

 

[razz]

No further explanation required ! Apart from not doing any of those things again buy a packet of good quality dried yeast, it will make a huge difference to the quality of your kit brews. Good luck !

 

[Adamt]

With regards to...

1. The lack of seal won't really kill it, unless its leaking or stuff can fall in it.

2. Higher ferment temperatures can create heavy alcohols (that taste like solvents), dont think this was your problem.

3. Swirled it: Only swirl/agitate teh beer just after you've pitched the yeast, otherwise it acts as an oxidant, which turns the brew into vile, sherry-tasting liquid.

Poked it: Sounds like this is the problem with that brew. Sour tastes are usually attributed to an infection of some sort. Everything that comes into contact with the wort/brew should be sanitised.

Taking gravity readings is fine, make sure you keep your tap sanitised though, otherwise the dried out oxidised crap stuck to the inside of your tap will eventually get in your finished product!

Probably too late, but yes; do not pitch the yeast at 30C, pitch around 23C max and let it go at 20C.

-Adam

 

[gavor]

Thats a question i've been meaning to ask. How do I sanitise my tap after taking gravity readings?

Thanks for all the advice, I feel marginally more confident now.

g

 

[razz]

Make up some sanitiser and keep it in a spray bottle.

 

[gavor]

Cool. I already have one of them that I use for sterilising stuff ad hoc.

So I just spray it up the tap after taking a reading? Do I need to rinse it?

 

[razz]

If it's a no rinse sanitiser then, you guessed it, no.

 

[gavor]

Ha.

No, at the moment its just bleach diluted. I'm moving up to a no-rinse sanitizer before my next brew.

Thanks for the help razz, as a newbie brewer no-nothing I appreciate it.

 

[gavor]

To continue...

It's warm and humid in Brisbane at the moment and my fermenter temp didn't get below 26C. Is it too late to put ice around it? I strapped one of those big freezer blocks on the outside this morning as I didn't have time to do anything else before going to work.

Have I screwed it up by letting it run between 26-30C for the last 24 hours?

I have an old fridge I can bung it in if that's okay for getting the temp down to 21C quicker.

I feel a bit stupid, it must sound like my brewing is one big drama after another. The pale ale I made went smoothly, honest!

g

 

[DrewCarey82]

Its not ideal to be honest with ya mate.

Just chuck some ice-bricks(wat you get in esky around it) and that should cool it too 20 degrees.

It will still be drinkable but, just with some radical flavours in it!

 

[Steve]

gavor - with your next brew put the fermenter straight into the old fridge with a couple of frozen 2 litre coke bottles. Keep replacing them as they melt. Your current one will definately be drinkable just maybe a bit fruity.

 

[gavor]

Great, thanks for the advice. I'll let you know how it turns out .

 

[gavor]

Didn't turn out to bad at all. I think this brew was my unreal ale. Came out around 7%abv, sweet and well rounded but with little hoppsiness. After 2 months maturing it became quite a nice beer indeed.

Even better was the DB Draught I made after this one in which I added hops for the first time, and the first time I branded a beer with the DB moniker.

Thanks for all your help!

Long live Drury Brewery!

 

[RobboMC]

I found if you start adding extra dry malt to kits that you also need some extra hops to balance the malt. Try a bag of finishing hops for starters. If you really want to progress, get some hop pellets and boil for 15-30 min in some or all of your dry malt. Don't boil the kit, though many kits don't have much aroma anyway.

The day or two before brewing, stick about 10 litres of water in the fridge. I use sanitised and rinsed 2 litre screw capped cordial bottles for this. Use this in your brew to get the temp down. Don't use 100% cooled water though, as it loses a lot of it's aeration sitting in the fridge.
This should get your wort temp down closer to 20 deg C.

Your going well, my first 6 batches were just kit and one kilo of enhancer. It took me about 10 brews before I starting adding extra hops, but what a revelation it was. Now I drink nothing else.

With your next brew, spend as much care in the planning stage as you do in the production stages. Brewing has brought me a new saying,
"Success without planning is called a fluke"

 

[gavor]

Cheers. That sounds like good advice and i've been thinking on ways to get the temp down.

I started planning well ahead about 2 brews ago, canvassing for ideas and making sure everything I needed was sanitised and ready to go. I try to have a definate style in mind and what ingredients I want to try out.

Theres an ag demo on in Brisbane in two weeks time, I might even check that out and see if I think i'm confident enough to try ag!