Soldato
Given my concerns then i think that could be excellent!
Home brewing kits ....
- Thread starter Aliboy
- Start date
Associate
Apple and cider off flavors can be caused for various reasons, beer which is yet to come in to condition can taste of apples given time it may fade.
Cider off flavors can be left in the finished beer for a number of reasons including..
Fermenting too hot i.e over 22°C ambient temp (the fermenting beer will be more like 24°C) try getting you beer down to 18-19°C before pitching your yeast and don't let it rise over 20 for at least 4 days and not over 22 ever.
Under pitching, there must be enough healthy yeast to absorb the bi-products after fermentation you should leave the beer in the fermentation vessel for at least a few days after reaching final gravity.
For 23L brew you need 11g of healthy yeast re hydrated before pitching, doing this will go a long way to getting rid of the home brew 'twang'.
If your beer kit calls for sugar try using dried malt extract for at least part of it as too much cane sugar can cause problems for most types of beer.
One way to check for infection is to see if the gravity of the beer is slowly falling over a number of weeks as some infections live of the sugars that the yeast can't eat.
Link for some off flavor descriptions
Cider off flavors can be left in the finished beer for a number of reasons including..
Fermenting too hot i.e over 22°C ambient temp (the fermenting beer will be more like 24°C) try getting you beer down to 18-19°C before pitching your yeast and don't let it rise over 20 for at least 4 days and not over 22 ever.
Under pitching, there must be enough healthy yeast to absorb the bi-products after fermentation you should leave the beer in the fermentation vessel for at least a few days after reaching final gravity.
For 23L brew you need 11g of healthy yeast re hydrated before pitching, doing this will go a long way to getting rid of the home brew 'twang'.
If your beer kit calls for sugar try using dried malt extract for at least part of it as too much cane sugar can cause problems for most types of beer.
One way to check for infection is to see if the gravity of the beer is slowly falling over a number of weeks as some infections live of the sugars that the yeast can't eat.
Link for some off flavor descriptions
The goodies have started to arrive 
Being able to control the fermentation temperature precisely should hopefully make a big difference to the quality of the beer and it means I can crash cool or lager as well. Blagged a free fridge off of Freecycle so it has not added too much to my setup costs.
Decided to try the Wherry kit (with the Saracen tweak) and The Way To Amarillo extract recipe to get an idea of both kit and extract brewing; the Wherry kit was very cheap by buying through Tesco club card boost (it's also on offer at £14 something at Wilko's).
Being able to control the fermentation temperature precisely should hopefully make a big difference to the quality of the beer and it means I can crash cool or lager as well. Blagged a free fridge off of Freecycle so it has not added too much to my setup costs.
Decided to try the Wherry kit (with the Saracen tweak) and The Way To Amarillo extract recipe to get an idea of both kit and extract brewing; the Wherry kit was very cheap by buying through Tesco club card boost (it's also on offer at £14 something at Wilko's).
Last edited:
Associate
Using temp controlled fermentation and proper yeast pitching will get your kit brewing as good as it gets.
If your going to get in to extract brewing you can also try a Saison which requires higher temps (with the correct yeast) or some Belgian's as well as lagers.
If your going to get in to extract brewing you can also try a Saison which requires higher temps (with the correct yeast) or some Belgian's as well as lagers.
Would you always recommend rehydrating dried yeast before pitching?
I keep seeing the Saison style come up around the home brew sites but i don't think that i have ever tried it, i think i might have to get down to one of the specialist beer shops and pick up one to try (luckily Newcastle has a few good places and bars that carry stuff from all over).
Man of Honour
99% of the time you should rehydrate before pitching, yeah.
The only times you might not consider it would be if you were pitching a smaller batch of (for example) wheat beer and you want to 'stress' the yeast in order to produce more phenols during the early stages of fermentation.
Other times would be when you're in a massive rush/lazy
Associate
Pitching your yeast dry will kill about 50% of it.
If you can get any of the Dupont Saison's I would try that I believe it is made with 100% pilsner malt with Styran and East Kent Golding hops, I have made a Saison with just EKG hops and it's quite close to Dupont.
If you want to try and a brew Saison then Danstar Belle Saison is a good choice of yeast, you will need to keep the temp up as if it drops it can stall. Starting at 18-19°C and raising 2-3°C per day 24 hours after pitching to reach 28-29° then hold till finished + a few days will work.
You could look at hacking a lager kit.
99% of the time you should rehydrate before pitching, yeah.
The only times you might not consider it would be if you were pitching a smaller batch of (for example) wheat beer and you want to 'stress' the yeast in order to produce more phenols during the early stages of fermentation.
Other times would be when you're in a massive rush/lazy
Good to know, i have been doing a lot of research but was leaving the details of the yeast pitching until i knew what i was brewing as i wasn't sure how specific it was to the yeast being used.
I will definitely try out a Saison Dupont for *cough* research purposes
Holding temperatures should not be an issue as i have a greenhouse 60W heater also being controlled by the STC-1000 (i have been cooking using a SVS water bath for a few years now so realised pretty quickly the value of decent temperature control, especially after doing measurements around the house/garage and then thinking about the seasonal aspect).
Does anyone have any recommendations for beer software? I know that i need to log my brewing if i want to get consistency and improve batches, bits of paper just won't be a good idea for me (synching between devices is a bonus). I have had a look round at Beer Smith etc but just wondered if anyone had personal experience.
Those looking for cheap bottles might want to check out this thread whilst there are still some left:
http://forum.craftbrewing.org.uk/viewtopic.php?f=29&t=3590
£5.25 delivered for 40 Kilner amber brew bottles, designed to take either caps or swing tops.
When i get mine I will be testing to see if they take Grolsch swing tops but if anyone who has used them before knows then please speak up
http://forum.craftbrewing.org.uk/viewtopic.php?f=29&t=3590
£5.25 delivered for 40 Kilner amber brew bottles, designed to take either caps or swing tops.
When i get mine I will be testing to see if they take Grolsch swing tops but if anyone who has used them before knows then please speak up
Associate
If you want tops for these Sainsbury's stock them, I've had a look at them and they seem to be a quality product.
I see you have joined the craftbrewing forum foob4r most of the members are ex thehomebrewforum it's a good resource for home brewing not that you should not visit here as I do from time to time. I'm jimmy321 on there also.
I see you have joined the craftbrewing forum foob4r most of the members are ex thehomebrewforum it's a good resource for home brewing not that you should not visit here as I do from time to time. I'm jimmy321 on there also.
Yeah the swing tops for them seem to be pretty widely stocked, although some are ceramic and some plastic. I have a friend who runs a pub though so if the Grolsch ones fit then it will save me about 90p a bottle
Yeah I joined them both and Jim's beer Kit forum and they all seem to be a friendly bunch, although there was a bit of friction over thehomebrewforum change of regime and the associated fallout. Good to see a crossover of peeps from here though
It looks like Jim et al have been talking for ages about a north east brewing club so I am hoping they might eventually get it off the ground as my beer starts coming in, it would be good to taste others beer and have them taste mine and pick up on the good and bad things.
An interesting link I ran across on my travels:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=2Y6h1enocjQ
Edit: and associated background info from the brewer:
http://www.craftbrewing.org.uk/bc/bcpdf/BC2008-Dec.pdf
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=2Y6h1enocjQ
Edit: and associated background info from the brewer:
http://www.craftbrewing.org.uk/bc/bcpdf/BC2008-Dec.pdf
Last edited:
Man of Honour
Good to know, i have been doing a lot of research but was leaving the details of the yeast pitching until i knew what i was brewing as i wasn't sure how specific it was to the yeast being used.
I will definitely try out a Saison Dupont for *cough* research purposes
Holding temperatures should not be an issue as i have a greenhouse 60W heater also being controlled by the STC-1000 (i have been cooking using a SVS water bath for a few years now so realised pretty quickly the value of decent temperature control, especially after doing measurements around the house/garage and then thinking about the seasonal aspect).
Does anyone have any recommendations for beer software? I know that i need to log my brewing if i want to get consistency and improve batches, bits of paper just won't be a good idea for me (synching between devices is a bonus). I have had a look round at Beer Smith etc but just wondered if anyone had personal experience.
Brewtoad is pretty decent though it was a lot better before they 'improved' the interface/site.
TBH the interfaces of most beer software seems to be fairly poor, with Brewtoad still looking better than most (not sure how much better it was before).
The only thing with it is that it seems more geared towards creating your own recipes or following people you know; there is no way to know how good the other recipes/brewers on there are (no ratings system etc).
I like the fact that it uses BrewXML though so doesn't lock you in.
Soldato
Tesco had the Coopers DIY kit on offer for £52 the other day, so I've snapped one up!
It comes with the Coopers Lager, unfortunately I'm not a Lager fan. I prefer the dark malty stuff, like Newcastle Brown, Hobgoblin, McEwans Champion etc.
So I'm looking to make myself a brew using some of the Wilko Newky Brown kits.
I'm thinking of Using..
Newky Brown Malt
1kg of Brewing Sugar
500g of spray malt.
Do you have to add more/less yeast based on the amount of sugar that goes into the brew?
It comes with the Coopers Lager, unfortunately I'm not a Lager fan. I prefer the dark malty stuff, like Newcastle Brown, Hobgoblin, McEwans Champion etc.
So I'm looking to make myself a brew using some of the Wilko Newky Brown kits.
I'm thinking of Using..
Newky Brown Malt
1kg of Brewing Sugar
500g of spray malt.
Do you have to add more/less yeast based on the amount of sugar that goes into the brew?
Associate
It makes a difference I have not made a kit for years but for a 23L brew you should use 11-15g of re-hydrated dry yeast. If your kit comes with less than that you can buy some.
For making an ale like your Brown Ale kit you can get 11g packs of Gervin G12 for about £1.50 and it's a good yeast to use for a wide range of ales.
Consider using less sugar and more spray malt as sugar can lead to some home brew off flavors and it gives the yeast an easy time making alcohol rather than beer.
Soldato
Interesting. I was at a new micropub last night and they've introduced a thing called Tap takeover where they only sell beer from a particular brewery for a couple of days and get someone from the brewery to come along and give a bit of history of the brewery and their processes.
I got chatting to a guy who has a microbrewery in his garage so we got talking about brewing and i explained my initial failed attempt and how i was having another go.
He explained that the water in Chorley is terrible, and whenever he makes a batch he goes to his daughters house over in Burnley and fills a couple of plastic bottles with water to use during the brewing process. I've also read a few things online about people using bottled water.
How big a difference does water actually make?
I got chatting to a guy who has a microbrewery in his garage so we got talking about brewing and i explained my initial failed attempt and how i was having another go.
He explained that the water in Chorley is terrible, and whenever he makes a batch he goes to his daughters house over in Burnley and fills a couple of plastic bottles with water to use during the brewing process. I've also read a few things online about people using bottled water.
How big a difference does water actually make?
Man of Honour
Water quality can make a huge difference but if you're concerned about it rather than messing around with bottled water I'd pick up some of the various salts (gypsum, etc) and read up on how to identify the kind of water you have and how to improve it for the mash/brew.
Associate
Would that make as much difference with a kit as when doign all grain? I know the pH and ion compostion make a difference during the mash and boil, but with a kit that's already happened. So long as there aren't bad flavours in the water and too much chloramine, beyond that it is worth all that extra hassle with a kit? If your water is really bad, then sure.
I'm not disagreeing, I actually don't know and would be interested in your experience Frenchtart.
I'm not disagreeing, I actually don't know and would be interested in your experience Frenchtart.
Man of Honour
Actually, you make a good point
Absolutely right that treating the water matters more for the mash. There are a few exceptions but most of the time in a kit I probably wouldn't worry about it. We've just set up the mash for a Modus Hoperandi clone and in both the mash and the boil there will be quite excessive (imo) amounts of gypsum and such.