Want To Start Making Decent Beer

[stattonb]

thats what i noticed by spending as little as $30 and getting myself a temp control it makes the process so much easier then before when i was using a ice bath with frozen coke bottles, as for the beer been great for centuries.... dont think it would have been all that good i asume people just put up with a bad tasting,flat,hot beer back then cos life sucked so they just wanted to get pissed lol

 

[poggor]

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.

Hahah! seems a pretty passionate response! I just meant that many of the currently available classic european beers have been produced since the 19th century and earlier. Hence before electricity, refrigeration, and active temperature control. They were made by using the ambient temperature and cellars. I just think it's good to be sensible about temperature and make lagers in winter etc. Not saying don't get a fridge and accurate temperature control, but rather that it's not essential and that understanding processes and styles probably is more essential. Obviously the 3 months of really hot temperatures is a challenge without a proper cellar.

g

 

[panzerd18]

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 bullshit. 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

In Melbourne during winter the house normally stays around 10 degrees unheated. Perfect for Lagers!

 

[stattonb]

it sucks here in brissy the temps in my house never get low enough to do lagers without temp control,even under my stairs

 

[verysupple]

<snip>
Not saying don't get a fridge and accurate temperature control, but rather that it's not essential and that understanding processes and styles probably is more essential. Obviously the 3 months of really hot temperatures is a challenge without a proper cellar.

g

I get where you're coming from - particularly in terms of learning the styles - but I don't agree that the brewing process is more essential than fermentation control. How can you tell if a change to the brewing process makes a difference if you can't ferment the beer the same way each time (actually, this includes pitching rate, oxygenation etc, but temp. plays a big role)?

I agree that a fridge isn't essential if you're in the right climate, but you have to acknowledge that you're sacrificing reproducibility, and therefore making learning more difficult.