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all complete now 
Home brewing kits ....
- Thread starter Aliboy
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Soldato
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I had a little taste and it seemed about right for warm flat lager... lol
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It probably won't kill the yeast, but higher temperatures increase the chance of more "fruity" flavours, which in a maltier ale might be good, but probably less according to style in a pale/blonde/lager beer.
Some people put their fermenters in a water bath that they can add ice to, to keep it's temeratures down. We have ours on our kitchens tiled floor, so the cooler floor helps.
Some people put their fermenters in a water bath that they can add ice to, to keep it's temeratures down. We have ours on our kitchens tiled floor, so the cooler floor helps.
What kind of cost is involved in setting up a cornelius keg setup? Getting back into brewing, got my kettle, and mash tun sorted. Always fancied getting a keg and fridge but the money was too much back in the day. However, could be feasible now?
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best way to brew if u ask me m8
depends on how much u wanna spend really.
you could get away with
2nd fridge [got mine in pic £20 ]
1x corny keg £45-55
pipe work about £20
my tap was £20 each [flea bay[]
my gas bottle which is a pub one is £12 and last me a year
gas regulator for gas is about £40
but once your set up its for life
Soldato
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I tasted my Gluten Free beer over the weekend. I had one bottle I had put in the fridge which had very little fizz to it. And one which was stored at room temp which had more fizz but they both tasted a bit odd, not hideous like it's gone off, just not particularly pleasant. Now, I don't know if it's just the way the beer is supposed to be or if something is actually wrong with it..
Soldato
i brewed a few recently and they are nice:
1) wilko newkie brown, brewed to 19 ltrs and i put 1.3 kgs sugar and turned out at 5.3% on the volume and very nice. in the keg now for 5 wks and tastes even better. i will wrap a wet towel round to cool it now too.
2) munton gold IPA, brewed to 23 ltrs but placed a further 400-500gms brewers sugar. made it finish at 5.8%. i was concerned about this brew as when i bottled it after 3 wks there was some white blotches on the top, only 5-6 little ones. i asked on jims beer kit and one said no issue, i have those and another was bad. however, it tasted fine after that first fermentation and now after 6-7 wks in the bottle it is lovely. smooth, full bodied and good head - i used 2.5 carb drops per 1 ltr pet.
3) coopers mexican cerveza. brewed to 20ltrs with an extra 300 gms of sugar and turned it to 4.9%. really nice again this one, 2nd brew. tastes great with lime. the next time, i may hop it with a dry hop bag which someone suggested. never tried that but may next time.
i started using 2.5 on the 1 ltr pets as the brews before were flat.
next brews:
Youngs american pale ale, youngs double IPA, Coopers stout(may be chocolate, not sure as screwed last one up). love brew days. got a full 24ltr new pets too.
1) wilko newkie brown, brewed to 19 ltrs and i put 1.3 kgs sugar and turned out at 5.3% on the volume and very nice. in the keg now for 5 wks and tastes even better. i will wrap a wet towel round to cool it now too.
2) munton gold IPA, brewed to 23 ltrs but placed a further 400-500gms brewers sugar. made it finish at 5.8%. i was concerned about this brew as when i bottled it after 3 wks there was some white blotches on the top, only 5-6 little ones. i asked on jims beer kit and one said no issue, i have those and another was bad. however, it tasted fine after that first fermentation and now after 6-7 wks in the bottle it is lovely. smooth, full bodied and good head - i used 2.5 carb drops per 1 ltr pet.
3) coopers mexican cerveza. brewed to 20ltrs with an extra 300 gms of sugar and turned it to 4.9%. really nice again this one, 2nd brew. tastes great with lime. the next time, i may hop it with a dry hop bag which someone suggested. never tried that but may next time.
i started using 2.5 on the 1 ltr pets as the brews before were flat.
next brews:
Youngs american pale ale, youngs double IPA, Coopers stout(may be chocolate, not sure as screwed last one up). love brew days. got a full 24ltr new pets too.
Soldato
Didn't get a reply to this initially.. but can anyone help me with a set of kit to get me started? Figured I'd start with extract brewing. I was thinking of going with:
2 x 30L plastic fermenting bins with taps + syphon
hydrometer
paddle
sterilising kit
Not sure whether to go with bottles or kegs yet, I was thinking of doing a session IPA and maybe a punchier IPA as well so I'd probably want to chill it which makes me think bottles would be a better option.
For extract kits, I was going to go with something like:
http://www.brewuk.co.uk/single-hop-citra.html
http://www.brewuk.co.uk/mosiac-extract-recipe.html
Soldato
thats fine. i use a king keg and then lots of 1 ltr pets for storing them in boxes. i have another keg, the free one that i had but gave it to my mate to try a brew.
you need a large pan to boil the malt i see. i thought you might need a mash tin boiler.
i have your setup and make these type kits:
http://www.brewuk.co.uk/ab-amber-3kg-40pt.html
you need a large pan to boil the malt i see. i thought you might need a mash tin boiler.
i have your setup and make these type kits:
http://www.brewuk.co.uk/ab-amber-3kg-40pt.html
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Personally I wouldn't bother with kits as a pale ale is very straight-forward to brew and you can do better/cheaper elsewhere. For each beer I'd start with with the following as your base malt:
http://www.themaltmiller.co.uk/index.php?_a=viewProd&productId=586
This is the cheapest price I have found for extract and assuming a 23 litre batch that should give you around a 4.5% beer which is a good place to be for a session ale. I assume your boil volume is a good bit less than 23 litres so you'll want your boil addition hops to have a high alpha content (Magnum or Warrior pellets would both be ok). Once you've diluted down in the fermenter you can dry hop (hop additions to the fermenter) with whatever takes your fancy... I think you mentioned you want to single-hop which I assume means to use just one type of hop (as opposed to a single hop addition) but for extract brewing, the hops that give decent bittering probably won't be great choices for dry hopping... Although I could be wrong.
For the 'punchier' IPA do you mean a higher alcohol content as opposed to a 'punchier hop taste'. If you mean a stronger brew then to the base malt listed above I'd add say an extra kg of pale dry malt extract and around 0.4kg of table sugar... The extra sugar should give you around a 7% beer while adding a bit of dryness which can compliment the beer nicely. 7% is also a good place to be in terms of not having to go too crazy with doing yeast starters etc. As for hop additions the same rules as above apply but more so with regards to utilisation in the boil as you have more sugar.
Choice of yeast and dry hops... Most things will work so it will come down to whether you want a more English or American IPA. I'm sure others can advise better than me or just do some googling.
As its your first brew I'd recommend going down the bottle route. 'Cooper's PET bottles' are a good choice and can be washed and reused. Keep the caps as well because even though the tamper seal will be broken they can be reused a number of times if you keep good care of them.
You don't need to boil extract despite what most instructions say, look at this technique that avoids having to boil the extract and let you just boil the hops in plain water a 4-5L pan, the real bonuses being that you can keep the lid on to avoid turning your kitchen into a rainforest (with no DMS issues) and you don't have to buy a large pan to do it.
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Soldato
Cool - I have a large stock pot (think it's 8L) and a pressure cooker which is 6L, I was hoping they would be enough but I wouldn't mind too much if I had to get another
Ah that makes sense
I only mentioned single hops as I thought it might be a good starting point as there would be less variables and a bit less risk..
Sorry poor choice of words on my point I think - I was thinking stronger in both the hop and alcohol content, I was thinking something along the lines of a kernel IPA so around 7% to go along with the session pale ale. I'll check out the PET bottles, they sound like a good idea!
ETA:
Since I'm pretty sure a new pot makes sense, is this OTT or a good bet? I think having a tap would be very useful and safes a lot of hassle:
http://www.brewuk.co.uk/32l-stainless-pan.html
I notice it doesn't say it can be used on an electric hob though which is a bit of a worry, that could make things difficult for me as my electric hob is a bit small
Also thought a wort chiller would be useful:
http://www.brewuk.co.uk/counterflow-chiller-12.html
(would also be handy for me when cooking and making stock in the pressure cooker!)
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As i mentioned for extract you don't need to a pan bigger than 4-5L if using the method i linked, you may also run into issues getting a boil on some stove tops with bigger capacity pans.
I would not use a wort chiller to chill pressure cooked stock; usually you put it in for the last 15 minutes of the boil to sanitise it, which you cannot do with a pressure cooker. Also the method i linked to allows you to cool it instantly by just adding ambient temperature or cold water.
I would not use a wort chiller to chill pressure cooked stock; usually you put it in for the last 15 minutes of the boil to sanitise it, which you cannot do with a pressure cooker. Also the method i linked to allows you to cool it instantly by just adding ambient temperature or cold water.
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There is sort of a limit to how big of a stock pot you can get away with using on a kitchen hob, especially with electric... You will reach a point where the pot is just so big that it reaches thermal equilibrium with the hob (i.e it is losing heat as fast as it gains) before you can get it to boil...When I brewed on an (albeit) cheap electric hob it took well over an hour for me to around 16 litres of liquid (in a 19 litre pot) boiling and even then it was not a good boil.
So yes, I do think a 32 litre pot will be ineffective on an electric hob (the weight will likely be an issue too). If you want to do a full boil best bet would be to move to gas and get something like this (providing you can boil outdoors which I assume you can if you are having BBQs) :
http://huddersfield-gas.co.uk/product/large-7-5kw-cast-iron-boiling-ring-made-italy/
Will easily boil 27 litres in a 32 litre pot... If you want to stick to the stove route your limit is probably a boil of around 20 litres or so... Nothing wrong with doing a partial boil and diluting down... In fact it can be used as an effective way to chill your wort.
Regarding wort chillers... Its pretty easy to chill even moderately (up to 30 litre) sized pots in just a water bath with a reasonable time... Personally I'd look to other equipment upgrades first.
Never tried the method used by f00b4r but it certainly sounds interesting and hopefully something I will experiment with in the future.
Soldato
Cool, sounds like that'll make life a lot easier! Having done some further reading that looks a lot easier method, is there any reason it's not the standard way of doing things?
Cool, sounds like that'll make life a lot easier! Having done some further reading that looks a lot easier method, is there any reason it's not the standard way of doing things?
It seems to be inertia more than anything, it's been shown to give the same results with lots of benefits; previously the gravity of the wort was believed to be critical to the boil calculations but even the best selling home brew authors behind this "law" have come out and said they now know this not to be true, but things change slowly. Also Brew UK said they didn't want to change their extract kit instructions and confuse people, crazy as it is a much better method for extract, even if it means a bigger learning curve to move to all grain.
It can be found under various names (also see Kwik Bru on Brew UK and on the US forums it is called something like late DME edition).
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Soldato
Right all my stuff has arrived so i'm pretty much ready to go!
Just a few quick questions...
I checked and my stock pot is 8L capacity. I was going to go with the above method, is 5L a safe amount with 3kg extract if i'm doing late addition and boiling with the lid on?
Also, I've got a syphon for checking gravity - the initial check seems OK but I realised using a syphon I would need to move the FV from where it's going to be sitting in order to get a proper reading, is this going to be a problem?
Finally, my main FV has a pre-drilled hole and came with a rubber grommet, but I didn't order an airlock. Should I just leave this hole open with the lid on with a damp, clean tea towel on top? Or should I stick the grommet in and leave the lid slightly off?
I've spent the last hour or so going around in circles in my head how I'm going to get/keep everything sanitised, I really don't want to mess things up! Think I'm basically going to sanitise my FV along with the syphon,lid,strainer,beer stirrer thing, then pour that solution into my secondary/bottling FV close to when the wort is ready, sound good?
Just a few quick questions...
I checked and my stock pot is 8L capacity. I was going to go with the above method, is 5L a safe amount with 3kg extract if i'm doing late addition and boiling with the lid on?
Also, I've got a syphon for checking gravity - the initial check seems OK but I realised using a syphon I would need to move the FV from where it's going to be sitting in order to get a proper reading, is this going to be a problem?
Finally, my main FV has a pre-drilled hole and came with a rubber grommet, but I didn't order an airlock. Should I just leave this hole open with the lid on with a damp, clean tea towel on top? Or should I stick the grommet in and leave the lid slightly off?
I've spent the last hour or so going around in circles in my head how I'm going to get/keep everything sanitised, I really don't want to mess things up! Think I'm basically going to sanitise my FV along with the syphon,lid,strainer,beer stirrer thing, then pour that solution into my secondary/bottling FV close to when the wort is ready, sound good?
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No idea what you mean with regards to using a syphon to check gravity, you mean hydrometer? What have you taken a reading of exactly?
With regards to no air-lock both methods you mention should be ok, probably having the lid over the fermentation vessel but not fully sealed would be best. The initial krausen gives great protection against infection anyway. Maybe nip to Wilko and get one over the weekend?
Have fun, best way to learn is just to jump in and see what happens. Let us know how it went.