Taking The Plunge.. First Brew

[sluggerdog]

Sluggerdog,

I bought one of the water drums and taps from Bunnings I use this as my bulk priming bucket. You need this to free up one of your fermenters when you get into racking so as to keep the brewing going! I would buy another coopers kit as the fermenter has an airlock wich you still need after racking. Plus it does not hurt to have two of everything. B)

Cheers-Russ

fishard - Thanks, What I have been thinking is, the drums from bunnings would be perfect for now to bulk prime into then seal the lid with the original one I have, as you only need the one air lock at the one time for each brew correct?

so...

Basic Steps

- Make the wort in the fermenter
- tranfer the wort into the bunning drum to prime
- seal the bunnings drum with the original fermenter lid and air lock
- wait out the secondary
- bottle from the bunnings drum


is this how it all works?

Also one other question, how do you get the beer from the fermenter to the drum? is it via tipping or a hose or some sort or some other way?

Thanks

 

[fishard]

Mate to keep it basic (like me)

1 ferment for a week
2 rack to a second fermenter with an airlock (needed in case fermentation has not completed)
3 Leave for 1 to 2 weeks
4 Rack to bulk priming bucket and bottle

You will need some tubing to transfer from one to the next.

This is just a quick note as I am running late for work,keep reading it will all come together. I sure the other blokes will expand on this!

Good luck

 

[Jovial_Monk]

I rack to a 20L foodgrade water container or "cube" for cold conditioning in the fridge, then rack back to a cleaned&sanitised fermenter for bulk priming. If the beer has spent enough time in primary, been aerated pitched with enough good yeast etc ferment is over.

I do not like this idea of racking to another fermenter--way too much headspace (oxygen) for my liking!

Jovial Monk

 

[PostModern]

I ferment in a big fermenter for primary, say 30L. This is fine as is allows for the krausen to form without frothing thru the airlock. I then rack to a 25L fermenter for secondary - about 3 litres of headspace. If I'm concerned about O2 (which is pretty rarely, generally when I plan to keep it in secondary for a while), I stick half a cup of dextrose or malt extract (boiled in a bit of water) into the secondary before racking in the beer. As this ferments, it fills the headspace with CO2.

Ask 10 brewers, get 12 different methods.

 

[sluggerdog]

I ferment in a big fermenter for primary, say 30L. This is fine as is allows for the krausen to form without frothing thru the airlock. I then rack to a 25L fermenter for secondary - about 3 litres of headspace. If I'm concerned about O2 (which is pretty rarely, generally when I plan to keep it in secondary for a while), I stick half a cup of dextrose or malt extract (boiled in a bit of water) into the secondary before racking in the beer. As this ferments, it fills the headspace with CO2.

Ask 10 brewers, get 12 different methods.

So true, I think I'll just leave it all for now and just bottle from the first fermebnter when ready to do so...

Speaking of Bottling, when is a good time to bottle and what factors does it count on? Yeast? Ingrediants? airlock bubbles? Temperature?

I have had my batch going for just over 4 days now with the temperature starting at 22 but for the last 2 days I have kept it between 18 and 20C. The bubbles have already stopped and the foam off the top has disapeared.

I'm guessing here but would it be a good time to bottle after about 10 days? I think I read on www.howtobrew.com that the longer the better and clearer the beer will be.

Also final gravity, should this be at a certain point before I bottle?

Thanx
SD

 

[sluggerdog]

I thought I would give it a try and measure the gravity to see what is happening, it measured out at 1.005, is this a bad this? I looked on Grumpys Instructions
and down the bottom where it explains the final gravity it doesn't even include 1.005 in the scale

Final Gravity Grams (for bulk priming)
1006-1008 180
1008-1010 160
1010-1014 140
1014-1018 120
1019-1025 100

What does this low gravity mean and if it is bad is there anything I can do to fix it?

Thanx
SD

 

[nonicman]

Sluggerdog 1005 is fine for a canadian blonde, what is the total volume of the brew to go into the bottles? I use a program called Promash (one of many brewing programs), which you enter the brew volume and desired carbonation level and it works out the amount of priming agent to use. Assuming you have a standard volume from a kit, try 180grams (should be well carbonated with this amount if you final volume is around 22 litres) of dextrose and see what you think.

 

[sluggerdog]

Sluggerdog 1005 is fine for a canadian blonde, what is the total volume of the brew to go into the bottles? I use a program called Promash (one of many brewing programs), which you enter the brew volume and desired carbonation level and it works out the amount of priming agent to use. Assuming you have a standard volume from a kit, try 180grams (should be well carbonated with this amount if you final volume is around 22 litres) of dextrose and see what you think.

jleske - I just used a coopers larger can and the volume is standard so it will be about 22L.

Will give 180gms a go.

Is dextrose better to use then castor sugar? Or what about the coopers brewing suger that comes with the coopers kit?

Thanx
SD

 

[nonicman]

Personally I would use dextrose or DME (for DME the priming amounts are different). Stopped using castor sugar when I started to bulk prime.

Edit: note some of the more experienced brewers on this forum wouldn't touch dextrose, the pros and cons of which priming agent to use are many, I find dextrose is cleaner than sugar, but that is really an opinion not a necessarily a fact.

What is coopers brewing sugar (it could be dextrose as that it what it is sometimes labelled as.)?. Haven't looked at a coopers kit for a while

 

[Bobby]

i dont like table sugar for bulk priming, you can taste teh diff between that and dextrose in my opinion.
use dme...

 

[sluggerdog]

Think I might go buy myself some dextrose and give that a go, will try with 180gms, this way I can see how that goes and work it out for next time.

Coopers Brewing Sugar = Sucrose and Maltodextrin (good/bad/better then castor sugar?)

Thanx
SD

 

[sluggerdog]

Just a quick update (thanks to all the help I had with my first go)

I have opened a bottle (or two) tonight and the taste is..
good but surprising at the same time, pretty
-good head
-nice colour
-Aroma smellings like the saaz hops out of the packet (very grassy)
- taste is very much like the smell of the hops.

Will post a picture once the camera get back, pretty proud of my first.

One question though with the taste, not like a pilsner but just like the smell of the saaz hops.... anyone able to help me out with this?

CHWEERS!~

 

[nonicman]

the hops will mellow with age

 

[Tim]

Hey Slugger,
Got any of this first batch left?? How are they tasting now?

 

[sluggerdog]

tried one last week, still pretty grassy and average compared to my newer brews.

I have 1 bottle left which I will try in 2 months time, that will be 6 months from when they weere made!