Want To Start Making Decent Beer

[///]

Hey Mate,

As a Sharkies fan marooned in QLD (I made a joke, get it?), i'm here to help a brother out.

I built a new garage, put a bit of stainless in it, and it works a treat. Happy for you to come down and get on the tools as soon as you can.

Scotty

ps. sharkies footy socks are standard uniform btw

 

[JDW81]

i have watched alot of vids of using a "muslim bag" will have to de more research

Welcome aboard mate.

Firstly, I don't think your muslim bag would take too kindly to being involved in brewing. Jihad would be ok, but beer maybe not.

kit brewing isnt really brewing tbh

Secondly, I disagree with this point. I made some excellent beers with kits in my early days, and I know many a brewer who only make kits and I would drink their beers before some all grain brews I've had in the past (some of mine included).

IMHO drop the dex all together. Use light malt extract. This will go a long way to making your beers not tasting like water.

Better yeast will always make better beer, but I learnt the most by only changing one thing at a time. Changing too much at once can become confusing (for simpletons like me at least).

My suggestion for you next brew is:

1: Drop the dex and use 1kg of light malt extract.
2: use a better yeast (nottingham or US05 are both good options).
3: Ferment for 2 weeks minimum

For your following brew:
1: LME instead of dex
2: Steep 200g of light crystal malt in hot water in a hop bag (temp is irrelevant for the time being).
3: Boil the liquid from the grain for ~10 minutes and put in the fermenter with the rest of your ingredients.
4: Use notto or US05 again.

For the brew after the above one:
do all of the above, and:
- Add 25 grams of cascade hops to your fermenter after 1 weeks of fermentation

The real key is to learn something each time you brew. I still learn something with every brew. IMHO if you don't learn something each time you make beer, you aren't paying attention to what you're doing.

The best piece of advice I was given when I first started out was to be patient. It takes time to learn the process and some brews you won't be happy with. The more you brew, the more consistent you will become.

Welcome to a very slippery slope.

JD

 

[danestead]

Secondly, I disagree with this point. I made some excellent beers with kits in my early days, and I know many a brewer who only make kits and I would drink their beers before some all grain brews I've had in the past (some of mine included).

Sorry JDW81 if my post could have been taken in a way it wasnt intended. I full well agree that a kit brew may in fact taste better than an all grain brew however what I was actually getting at is that with a kit brew, you arent really brewing the beer, you are fermenting an already brewed (mashed and boiled) beer. The reason I chose to make that comment is because I suggested the OP try a fresh wort kit, because, similar to a kit brew, you pretty much dump it in the fermenter, add yeast and ferment it. This is a similar process to what the OP has already done and hence I think he may be able to achieve a nicer beer in the glass by using the fresh wort kit rather than kit and kilo, with the skills he already has.

 

[stattonb]

Damn alot of info cheers guys, ill be putting on 2brews next week so will take all the advise and let yas know how it goes

 

[stattonb]

so went out and got a pale ale kit and brewer enhancer 2 + finishing hop tea bag.so ill see how it turns out

 

[coloneldom]

I will add a little vote for fresh wort kits - I recently got back into brewing after a few years off, and started with a fresh wort IPA kit from the Hop and Grain at Enmore, dry hopped some Cascade into it towards the end of fermentation. These type of kits aren't really "brewing" as such, (they're definitely cheating) but it gave me 23 litres of an absolutely awesome beer that showed me the type of beer that can be produced with quality brewing.

Personally, I was never able to produce a decent beer with kit and kilo, mostly due to my own fault including temperature control problems, but like you I wanted to finally make a "decent beer." I've now got a decent stock of beer from my fresh wort and now I can crack on with experimenting and improving my technique, namely BIAB.

 

[Vini2ton]

Someone must of said this before but I think keeping a brew diary is a good idea. If you keep records of what you do you can always look back and cross reference taste with process. Skip kits and extract brewing. BIAB is simple and cheaper than all that stuff and way way more tasty. You'll thank yourself down the track.

 

[stattonb]

thanks guys

 

[stattonb]

well finally got my stc -1000 so now got temp control,better beer now im hoping

 

[///]

Pastoral duties for another Sharkies fan, checking in to see all is ok. Got better fermentations, check. Start cleaning better and using better yeast, next check. Trn to the dark side and go all grain, next check!

 

[stattonb]

yea thats the plane well sucks how the sharks are going this year but least ill have plenty of good beer to watch them next year

 

[nvs-brews]

i'd say 1st thing to get you going...you temp controlling?

 

[stattonb]

yep got myself a stc - 1000 and a fridge setup

 

[poggor]

Temperature control is a funny old thing. Remember beer was brewed (well!) for centuries before accurate temperature control.
When i started brewing I was told "ales need to be fermented warm" and sold a "brewing belt" by LHBS. Turns out this is complete ********. Most ales prefer temps around or just under 20c. Ambient temperature in most houses is perfect. I have never had to actively heat an ale in Australia.

Turns out keeping things cool enough is more difficult. But in winter in any part of southern Australia this is again not a challenge. I brew all my lagers in winter using the ambient outside temperature (ie in the shed). Again, I use no temperature control. I also condition all my beers outside during the cooler (8) months of the year. During the warmer months ales can still be brewed easily although having a cellar or cool space is very useful. I don't brew lagers during the summer.

Many (many) great batches of AG beer with no active cooling or heating.

g

 

[Adr_0]

Temperature control is a funny old thing. Remember beer was brewed (well!) for centuries before accurate temperature control.
When i started brewing I was told "ales need to be fermented warm" and sold a "brewing belt" by LHBS. Turns out this is complete ********. Most ales prefer temps around or just under 20c. Ambient temperature in most houses is perfect. I have never had to actively heat an ale in Australia.

Turns out keeping things cool enough is more difficult. But in winter in any part of southern Australia this is again not a challenge. I brew all my lagers in winter using the ambient outside temperature (ie in the shed). Again, I use no temperature control. I also condition all my beers outside during the cooler (8) months of the year. During the warmer months ales can still be brewed easily although having a cellar or cool space is very useful. I don't brew lagers during the summer.

Many (many) great batches of AG beer with no active cooling or heating.

g

The thing about this hobby is that if you took every little bit of advice (some things will give you a step change in beer quality... whatever that is; other things will just be incremental) you could probably go around in circles a few times and buy every little bit of gear out there, then throw it away and buy something else that does almost the same thing.

You could for example wrap it in a towel and stick it in the cupboard; then get a fridge and dangle a temp probe in the fridge; then get a thermowell and stick it in the beer; then get a programmable controller and input a temperature profile.

This is why I think it's important to understand the background behind why people do certain things, understand the principles of how something works when you get to a decision point, etc.

Having said that, yeast temperature is pretty bloody important. The same yeast can produce very different - tasteably different - flavours at different temperatures, though some have more consistency over a wider temperature band than others.

Having said THAT, you gotta do what you're comfortable with, step by step and not try to do everything at once. If you're happy with how you make the beer (you don't have a stroke chasing your brewery around the shed) and you're happy with the beer you make, that is THE most important thing.

 

[stattonb]

its alot easier now i think ,started brewing with hops and dme and now have temp control, love the fact that i can mix it all up and throw it in the fridge and keep it at a nice 18c without frozen bottles or muking around now

 

[fletcher]

Temperature control is a funny old thing. Remember beer was brewed (well!) for centuries before accurate temperature control.

how do you know this?

 

[Spiesy]

Temperature control is a funny old thing. Remember beer was brewed (well!) for centuries before accurate temperature control.

Besides the fact that I doubt you were around centuries ago to sample said beers, as Fletcher has pointed out, most old beers contained Brett and subsequently a lot of funk, due to the wooden barrels which the beer was stored within.

Also, Pale Malts are a relatively newer grain variety, and combined with clean yeasts are a lot more transparent in showcasing faults. Etc etc.

I'd imagine the beer served centuries ago was quite different to both the craft and mainstream beer of today.

There is nothing wrong with taking steps to ensure your beer turns out as good as it possibly can.

 

[fletcher]

Besides the fact that I doubt you were around centuries ago to sample said beers, as Fletcher has pointed out, most old beers contained Brett and subsequently a lot of funk, due to the wooden barrels which the beer was stored within.

Also, Pale Malts are a relatively newer grain variety, and combined with clean yeasts are a lot more transparent in showcasing faults. Etc etc.

I'd imagine the beer served centuries ago was quite different to both the craft and mainstream beer of today.

There is nothing wrong with taking steps to ensure your beer turns out as good as it possibly can.

amen. there is no means of comparison, and i've seen that mindset bandied about a lot; that beer was brewed great for centuries, 'why should we change it?'. i wonder who has proof of this, or if they're just romanticizing what they might believe the beers to have been like, or seen in some movie with knights drinking ale out of goblets etc

completely agree with your post spiesy.

EDIT: i didn't mean to come across as rude. apologies if i did. was just wanting to point out my disagreement with a seemingly common belief.

 

[verysupple]

Temperature control is a funny old thing. Remember beer was brewed (well!) for centuries before accurate temperature control.
When i started brewing I was told "ales need to be fermented warm" and sold a "brewing belt" by LHBS. Turns out this is complete ********. Most ales prefer temps around or just under 20c. Ambient temperature in most houses is perfect. I have never had to actively heat an ale in Australia.

Turns out keeping things cool enough is more difficult. But in winter in any part of southern Australia this is again not a challenge. I brew all my lagers in winter using the ambient outside temperature (ie in the shed). Again, I use no temperature control. I also condition all my beers outside during the cooler (8) months of the year. During the warmer months ales can still be brewed easily although having a cellar or cool space is very useful. I don't brew lagers during the summer.

Many (many) great batches of AG beer with no active cooling or heating.

g

To each their own. You obviously have your system figured out and it works for you. But there are far too many threads started by relatively new brewers asking why their fermentation stalled (often due to the temp dropping too low) or why their beer tastes like rocket fuel (pitching and/or fermenting too warm). I think a temp. controlled fridge is a fantastic idea for a new-ish brewer because it takes out one very important and influential factor making it easier to diagnose other areas to improve.

FWIW I like the simplicity of being able to set my desired fermentation temp. (or profile) and not have to worry about "What if there's a snap change in the weather?" (it happens a lot here in Melbourne). And for the princely sum of ~$120 for a second hand fridge, STC-1000 (including jiffy box and bits to make it work) and a heat cord, I think it was a pretty good investment.

PS. Centuries ago people weren't fermenting beer at 40 C in the Australian summer.