Very new to brewing

[Shreak11]

Hey guys wanting to dive right into brewing
Been eyeing off this kit on eBay wanting to know your thoughts on it
I've Got a old fridge out the back I wanna hook up a STC-1000 believe I gotta keep the temp around 17 or 18c during fermentation..just looking for some extra advice/tips (links to similar threads would be great)

(Hoping links are allowed)

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Home-Brew-Beer-Starter-Kit-Deluxe-/112183174780?hash=item1a1ea3667c:g:TpkAAOSwImRYEUNd

 

[fungrel]

That's what I started with, but I paid $60 more. A lot like this is good because you can use most of the bits if you want to start doing extracts and all grain.

 

[Leyther]

You can pick up a basic new one for around $60 in Big W or at some of the online shops but it wont have the capper or the first brew kit that this one has, depends if your going to keg or bottle. I went without the capper as I am kegging however when using 19L kegs there's usually a few bottles worth of beer left when you've filled the keg so having capper is nice otherwise you'll probably have to make do with the basic manual capper which is pretty crap (basically hammer the caps onto the bottle). $120 looks reasonable to me.

 

[DU99]

that's where my kit came from..still have the fermenter.

 

[Roosterboy]

Think about if your going to use the caps / capper . Probably better to go PET bottles or better the swing top bottles.
Also spend $10 and get an acid sanitiser, it is the simplest and cheapest way to save time when your starting out.

 

[Shreak11]

How bloody good is this site loving the quick responses
I'll run a few kits to start off with would like to move up to a all grain in the future

I'll start off with bottling partly because of the fond memories I had as capping the beer for my old man as a little fella
Eventually moving up to keg (helps cut down the yeast sediment??)
I'll grab another fermentor as well you can never really have to much beer haha and bulk some sanitiser

Thinking of using the little C02 tablets on half the batch and try using sugar or something like this to carbonate the rest as I've read the tablets can make the beer quite fizzy...and with my luck as with my farthers I'll end up having some explosions and the missus won't like cleaning that up haha

 

[Coodgee]

that kit looks good but throw out the instructions. Seriously. The instructions are not designed to produce the best possible beer with the equipment and materials. They're designed to ensure that the most people possible end up with something that resembles beer at the end of the process. For instance, the instructions probably say to keep the fermenting liquid above 24 degrees but like you mentioned, for most ale yeasts, the optimum fermentation temperature is more like 17-19 degrees. For true lager yeasts is more like 9-12 degrees. get your instructions from here.

 

[Mardoo]

Good advice.

 

[Rocker1986]

Yeah, they really should be called destructions h34r:. I'd pick up some light dry malt as well and use 1kg of that instead of the dextrose in conjunction with the kit. You can use a small amount of dex like 200-300g to boost the ABV if desired without any problems but a whole kg with a kit isn't gonna turn out the best.

As for kegging, well I suppose yes you do seem to get less yeast sediment in a keg compared to the number of bottles that would make up the same volume, but I suspect a lot of the reason why people move to kegging is to save time on all the faffing about of cleaning bottles, and the bottling process itself. That was the main drive behind my switch last year. I get hardly any yeast sediment in the kegs but I do use a couple of methods to drop out as much yeast as I can before the beer is kegged.

I went without the capper as I am kegging however when using 19L kegs there's usually a few bottles worth of beer left when you've filled the keg

I brew 21 and 25 litre batches. I don't bother worrying about the surplus from 21L batches but I usually get a couple of six packs from the 25L ones. In a move to cut down on bottling even more, I just bought a 10L keg today so I can put the surplus into that and blend a couple of similar batches in the one keg. That's 24-26 bottles I don't have to bother with.

 

[Brewnicorn]

All good points. But for the $140 delivered cost you'll get the coopers kit and a capper at big w, or a basic kit and 4 boxes of PET bottles with caps. Recently had a look at a couple of stores and the stock levels looked great. If you're in VIC Broadmeadows and Epping are well stocked, Broady especially even with some Tooheys stock.
Good luck with the set up!

 

[Shreak11]

Thanks again for all the tips guys as for kegs what's your thoughts on these?
Look at this on eBay http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/112223127830
I'm cautious on second hand but for the price might be worth a gamble

 

[Shreak11]

Or ball lock over the L pin

Look at this on eBay http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/291859062235

 

[bevan]

I got my kegging stuff to start off from this guy

http://www.thekeggingcompany.com.au/

got my CO2 bottle from here

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/2-6Kg-4-Litres-Carbon-Dioxide-CO2-Gas-Bottle-Cylinder-Full-Keg-King-AU-Standard-/111516183841?hash=item19f6e1ed21:g:X80AAOSwx-9W0Osb

 

[mstrelan]

Or ball lock over the L pin

Look at this on eBay http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/291859062235

You'll have to buy new seals for each keg as these will be tainted by soda syrup. Better to find a home brewer on here or Gumtree who has already changed them and is selling then off, but even then it can be hit and miss.

 

[damoninja]

1. Yeast health
2. Sanitation
3. Temperature control

Lesson over.

 

[damoninja]

1. Yeast health
2. Sanitation
3. Temperature control

Lesson over.

To elaborate, throw the instructions on the kit in the bin

1. Since nobody's stressed this, it's important to pitch the right amount of yeast, if you start using dry yeasts you'll get the idea pretty quick. You can't really stuff it up using dry yeasts and average gravity ales, as a beginner this is probably what you'll be doing!
2. Sanitise everything beer will touch, for ever, star san is your best friend.
3. You've already got this in check, good job there.

4. Recipe - that's right the recipe is last on my list. If you don't have the others in check, a good recipe could be a disastrous brew.

Or ball lock over the L pin

Ball lock gear is more common, while pin lock kegs may be cheaper, the disconnects cost more and it works out about the same in the end.

 

[JDW81]

1. Yeast health
2. Sanitation
3. Temperature control

Lesson over.

1: Sanitisation
2: Temp Controlled fermenation.
3: Yeast health

Just my version. IMHO sanitisation and good temp control will do more for your beer than just about anything else.

JD

 

[damoninja]

1: Sanitisation
2: Temp Controlled fermenation.
3: Yeast health

Just my version. IMHO sanitisation and good temp control will do more for your beer than just about anything else.

JD

Fair enough I have reason for putting them in this order, without yeast you don't get beer, without sanitation and fermentation control you still do.