Complete HomeBrew Noob.

BeerNut · 27-02-2012 10:55pm

Yes, a spindly web-like formation on the top is one of the signs.

But not all infections would ruin a beer. Unless it tastes absolutely vile I'd be inclined to let the process run through and see how the finished product tastes. But thankfully it's never happened to me, yet.

DeadSkin · 28-02-2012 9:12am

BeerNut wrote: »

Yes, a spindly web-like formation on the top is one of the signs.

But not all infections would ruin a beer. Unless it tastes absolutely vile I'd be inclined to let the process run through and see how the finished product tastes. But thankfully it's never happened to me, yet.

Yeah, I'm not overly confident about the ginger beer I have on the go, but I'll leave it & see how it goes.
The few kits I have done before, the majority of sediment at this stage would have fallen to the bottom. This one still has this layer of icicle like sediment hanging from the top layer of scum.

Khannie · 01-03-2012 5:49pm

Ok, I'm firing up a "proper" brew tonight. 30L or so. I have a few questions because my Finlandia instructions came in....you guessed it....Finnish.

I want to filter the water through my brita. It removes the chlorine flavour. I presume that's fine?

Do I need to pour the water in gently to reduce the possible oxidation?

When adding in the dextrose, should I just add it into some warmed water, stir gently until it dissolves, then add that into the brew bucket?

Should I fill the bubbler with some sterilising fluid (of the water + bleach + vinegar variety) to reduce the chances of any infection?

Anything else you think I need to know would be nice, please and thank you.

BeerNut · 01-03-2012 6:06pm

Khannie wrote: »

I want to filter the water through my brita. It removes the chlorine flavour. I presume that's fine?

Yep.

Khannie wrote: »

Do I need to pour the water in gently to reduce the possible oxidation?

The total opposite: you want as much oxygen in there as possible to get the yeast going. It's only after you've added the yeast that oxygen is bad.

Khannie wrote: »

When adding in the dextrose, should I just add it into some warmed water, stir gently until it dissolves, then add that into the brew bucket?

I'd boil it to sanitise and then throw it in.

Khannie wrote: »

Should I fill the bubbler with some sterilising fluid (of the water + bleach + vinegar variety) to reduce the chances of any infection?

You can. I wouldn't bother with an airlock at all, though. Keep the bucket cover loosely and that's all you need.

Khannie wrote: »

Anything else you think I need to know would be nice, please and thank you.

If you haven't already, read this kit brewing guide, and if you've any questions come back to us.

Good luck!

(30L out of one Finlandia kit, btw? Are you sure you've got your numbers right?)

leggit · 01-03-2012 6:08pm

Khannie wrote: »

Ok, I'm firing up a "proper" brew tonight. 30L or so. I have a few questions because my Finlandia instructions came in....you guessed it....Finnish.

I want to filter the water through my brita. It removes the chlorine flavour. I presume that's fine?

Do I need to pour the water in gently to reduce the possible oxidation?

When adding in the dextrose, should I just add it into some warmed water, stir gently until it dissolves, then add that into the brew bucket?

Should I fill the bubbler with some sterilising fluid (of the water + bleach + vinegar variety) to reduce the chances of any infection?

Anything else you think I need to know would be nice, please and thank you.

Filtering your water is fine, never done it myself but I couldn't imagine any issues with it.

I'd boil my dextrose in 4 litres of water for a 21-23 litre batch and usually topping up with fermentor with tap water will bring the temperature down to around 21-22 degrees which is when I pitch my yeast. So maybe put in 5 litres of boiling water if you wanted to top up with water to 30l?

As far as I know, there is no issue with oxidation until fermentation has started, in fact, in most cases getting as much air into your brew before pitching the yeast is encouraged. So I'd just lash everything into the fermentor!

I never use an air-lock as it's unneccesary I think but putting in something like starsan wouldn't be bad if you really wanted to use it. getting the bleach/vinegar measure right in such a small amont of liquid might be troublesome. If it was me I'd just leave the top of the fermentor loose enough for gas to escape and just cover the bung-hole with some clingfilm.

EDIT: Pretty much everything that beernut said! Quite happy with myself that I said what he said!

wet-paint · 01-03-2012 6:59pm

Regarding the Brita removing the chlorine, I've heard that simply leaving it out over night lets the chlorine degas out of the fluid, if this is right, it'd be a much cheaper way of doing it.

Blackjack · 01-03-2012 11:18pm

leggit wrote: »

Filtering your water is fine, never done it myself but I couldn't imagine any issues with it.

I'd boil my dextrose in 4 litres of water for a 21-23 litre batch and usually topping up with fermentor with tap water will bring the temperature down to around 21-22 degrees which is when I pitch my yeast. So maybe put in 5 litres of boiling water if you wanted to top up with water to 30l?

As far as I know, there is no issue with oxidation until fermentation has started, in fact, in most cases getting as much air into your brew before pitching the yeast is encouraged. So I'd just lash everything into the fermentor!

I never use an air-lock as it's unneccesary I think but putting in something like starsan wouldn't be bad if you really wanted to use it. getting the bleach/vinegar measure right in such a small amont of liquid might be troublesome. If it was me I'd just leave the top of the fermentor loose enough for gas to escape and just cover the bung-hole with some clingfilm.

EDIT: Pretty much everything that beernut said! Quite happy with myself that I said what he said!

I use an Airlock (I know, i know - NOOB!!) - rather than any sterilser I either put in a dribble of Whiskey or Vodka - works the same, and might taste a bit better if it gets into your beer by accident.

Khannie · 02-03-2012 1:25pm

BeerNut wrote: »

(30L out of one Finlandia kit, btw? Are you sure you've got your numbers right?)

I got 2. They were on special. I have a 33L drum so I'm probably going to leave 2 or 3L space at the top. Going with the higher alcohol percentage. There is a table in the instructions that says it'll come out at ~6% for 16L. I compete in a weight category sport so calories are a consideration. I'm not sure how much non-fermentable sugar is in the kit (not much I'm guessing) but I'll keep the volume (of liquid) low for now anyway.

DeadSkin · 02-03-2012 2:08pm

Khannie, what Finlandia kit are you brewing, is it the cider?

Khannie · 02-03-2012 2:15pm

Yep. The pear and apple one.

BeerNut · 02-03-2012 3:34pm

Ah: two makes more sense.

For reference, I just bottled a pear and apple Finlandia kit last weekend.
1 kit + 1kg table sugar @ 22L
gave me OG 1.035, FG 0.999 = 4.8% ABV.

Khannie · 02-03-2012 10:34pm

Have you had it before? If so, how would you rate it? I've seen some positive reviews online. Looking forward to it.

On the FG: Is a value of around 1 right for cider in general?

BeerNut · 03-03-2012 1:20am

Khannie wrote: »

Have you had it before?

No, but it tasted grand out of the fermenter.

Khannie wrote: »

On the FG: Is a value of around 1 right for cider in general?

Yeah, cider doesn't involve much other than water and sugar. Any I've done have finished around 1.

Khannie · 13-03-2012 4:19pm

Is it OK to reuse bottle caps?

This is more from an environmental perspective than a money saving one. At 2c per cap you wont save a fortune on them. I just prefer to reuse stuff if I can.

BeerNut · 13-03-2012 4:27pm

I wouldn't. But I think it can be done.

Khannie · 13-03-2012 4:39pm

Tell you what; I'll test it. I'll mark used ones and test them on a few bottles of the Finlandia brew and report back. Two or possibly three uses seems reasonable enough to avoid metal fatigue.

Khannie · 14-03-2012 12:41pm

Does the Finlandia kit need to be racked during fermentation? It didn't come with English instructions and it's my first kit brew. I'm about 10 days in now.

In general is it good to rack after a week or so?

wet-paint · 14-03-2012 12:43pm

Aaaand, how long is too long to keep a kit in the bucket?
I left a weissbier in there for five weeks.

BeerNut · 14-03-2012 12:51pm

Khannie wrote: »

Does the Finlandia kit need to be racked during fermentation?

Nah. Nothing really does.

On the closures issue, I'm using my Finlandia kit to experiment with these. It'll be three weeks in the bottle at the weekend and they seem to have held the pressure.

wet-paint wrote: »

how long is too long to keep a kit in the bucket?
I left a weissbier in there for five weeks.

Five or six weeks should be fine. I'm told longer than that is where you start running the risk of autolysis.

Khannie · 14-03-2012 1:02pm

BeerNut wrote: »

I'm using my Finlandia kit to experiment with these.

I was considering them myself, but one of my local shops has grolsch for 5 bottles for a tenner. I don't even like grolsch, but at 25c per half litre in the difference, plus the glass bottle thrown in.... I seriously considered it. In the end I couldn't really justify the price differential of the flip tops versus the crown caps + a capper, at least starting out. Good to know they work well though. I may migrate to them later.

Herb Powell · 15-03-2012 10:23pm

Rather than starting my own thread, I'll ask this here.
Total beginner here, i.e never brewed, what kind of beer would ye recommend starting with? I really want to make a Belgian Wit, or a Pilsener

Ronan cork · 16-03-2012 4:11am

i would go with the wit over the pilsner, should be a bit more forgiving temperature wise during fermentation and even if you nailed the pilsner i personally would put more value on 20l of belgian wit than 20l of pilsner which you can buy for cheap enough. the pilsner would need to ferment at a constant low temperature (10c ish) with as little fluctuation as possible whereas the wit would work away grand at room temp even if it goes up and down a bit so providing you follow the instructions on brew day you will get good beer but pilsner adds that extra variable.
i would also recommend starting out with a complete kit (3kg) instead of the slightly cheaper kits where you need to add sugars as they cut out another variable.
i was so happy my first one turned out nice after waiting a month to try it i would go for the easiest option just to be sure!

Herb Powell · 16-03-2012 11:23am

Thanks, can't wait to give it a go. What kit would you recommend for a witbier? (obviously a witbier one, but what brand?)

Austo77 · 16-03-2012 11:54am

Morning gentlemen, you might be able to help me.

I'm on my 5th or 6th homebrew at this stage ( all have gone really well) and decided to stop using basic kits adding my own sugars/yeasts and move to the Brupaks kits where they give you hops & grain etc.

Got a Pilsner, fermentation had stopped after about 10 days in the fermenter (22-24 degrees) but it took ages for the krausen to drop - only dropped on the last day or so.

Used 1kg light spray malt as extra fermentables as reccommended with white labs pilsner yeast WLP800.

It was cloudy and darker than i'd have wanted a pilsner to be as I was bottling.

Bulk primed it and bottled it anyway last Wednesday. I decided to sample a bottle last night because I was getting worried. It had only cleared at the top of the bottle, the rest was still quite cloudy.

I know it's only a week or so in the bottles but it had a dark brown colour, plenty of carbonation, the head rushed up the neck of the bottle, but a strange taste. Not bad exactly, but it tasted very yeasty/malty and not at all like it was a Pilsner (or even on the way to becomming a pilsner).almost like a mucky wheat beer.

Should I leave it a few more weeks (I usually don't drink it for about a month after bottling anyway) or just assume that it's still conditioning/fermenting in the bottles or put it down to a bad batch and chuck it down the sink?

I have a Dublin porter ready to get started on that I could really use the bottles for!

Khannie · 16-03-2012 2:55pm

Note: I am a total noob at this.

Austo77 wrote: »

the head rushed up the neck of the bottle

This is what happened to me with my cider after a week in the bottle. After two weeks (last night

) there was no rushing up. Much better carbonation of the actual cider. I'd say at least another week, probably another two. I've seen BeerNut recommend three weeks before.

wet-paint · 16-03-2012 3:58pm

It seems like every problem that's arisen for people so far is fixed with "give it more time in the bucket/bottle."

Ronan cork · 19-03-2012 3:08am

Herb Powell wrote: »

Thanks, can't wait to give it a go. What kit would you recommend for a witbier? (obviously a witbier one, but what brand?)

Well the brupaks witbier is the only wit kit I can see on the main sites (€17.45 for 10 litres so you would need 2...) and I am yet to try them do can't really say much more than the site gives me...but as a general rule the more you spend on a kit the higher quality it will be. They do seem to have a good range of world beer styles and you have now got me planning my next one!!

You could also get a hefe weisse kit and add coriander and curaçao orange peel ( see additives and flavourings on thehomebrewcompany.ie) or add more to the kit above if you want more of either flavour to come through. The thing I like most about brewing my own beer is making it my own by adding to an existing recipe or kit.
I'm no expert as I have only just bottled my 2nd batch ( citra hopped hefe weisse) I just asked the same questions!

DeadSkin · 25-03-2012 8:00pm

A few pages back, I posted that I had concerns over a Coopers ginger beer kit I had on the go[was for the wife, I can't stand ginger beer]. It showed absolute new usual signs of fermentation over it's two weeks in the fermenter, just a 5mm layer of scum all the way through the 2 weeks.

Update, after two weeks I bottled it & 3 weeks later the Mrs popped a few bottles over the weekend & she's chuffed with it. When I took the final SG the abv is just under 3%.

sharingan · 26-03-2012 12:09pm

wet-paint wrote: »

It seems like every problem that's arisen for people so far is fixed with "give it more time in the bucket/bottle."

Patience. Its an amazing quality to have in a brewer. (I dont possess much)

Ronan cork · 28-03-2012 3:51am

I made a balls of transferring to secondary earlier trying to use a 2 piece syphon that kept stopping and ended up pouring the rest of the beer onto the other bucket in frustration. I know that it may kick off fermentation and the yeast may use up the oxygen etc and if not I may get a cardboardy taste in the beer that appears in the beer after a while but cant seem to find a timeframe. All circumstances are different but I was wondering if anyone else has done this and with what effect?

I now know that I can separate the 2 parts but has anyone else had problems using 2 piece siphons? It seemed to me that the seal on the top (that slides up and down ) fits quite loosely ( not airtight)and this may cause the loss of suction but I'm no expert and this is my first time using it...
Is there a Knack to using these things or have I got a faulty one?

Baneblade · 28-03-2012 10:25am

i used it for the first time last brew i bottled.
to start it flowing i just gave it a few quick shallow pumps to get it flowing
once it starts it will keep going until its empty
just make sure the bucket you are transfering it too is below the height of the one with the beer in it

i just did a quick practice with the sink and a bucket to get the hang of it

Ronan cork · 28-03-2012 2:09pm

Are you using an auto siphon? I've just one of the cheap extendable ones...
After playing with it a bit today it seems to have been the seal. Put it in boiling water for a while and it now fits tightly and it now works fine from the sink anyway, just hope I didn't do too much damage to the beer by pouring in the last few litres...

iffy_2007 · 30-03-2012 3:06pm

Hey guys, looking for some advice & didn't want to start another thread but my fiance has always wanted to brew his own beer (he has a cupboard dedicated to empty bottles!) only he hasn't a kit or anything like that, so I want to buy him one, only I have no clue! Could someone point me in the right direction please? Thanks :-)

BeerNut · 30-03-2012 3:14pm

A starter set like this is a good idea, then just get the beer kits to go with it. There's a good beginners' guide to kit brewing here. And all the gear can still be used if he wants to upgrade from kits to extract or all-grain brewing.

iffy_2007 · 30-03-2012 3:58pm

Thanks! Do certain kits only cater for specific beers or is this one an all rounder? as I know he is interested in brewing wheat beer. Thanks again!

BeerNut · 30-03-2012 4:02pm

I'm trying to avoid using the word kit to mean equipment, but yes: the equipment in that link is for making any type of beer or cider. You'll find beer kits for wheat beer on any homebrew site. If they're 1.5kg kits, they'll need topping up and a kilo of spraymalt is best for this.

lordstilton · 30-03-2012 4:06pm

Austo77 wrote: »

Morning gentlemen, you might be able to help me.

I'm on my 5th or 6th homebrew at this stage ( all have gone really well) and decided to stop using basic kits adding my own sugars/yeasts and move to the Brupaks kits where they give you hops & grain etc.

Got a Pilsner, fermentation had stopped after about 10 days in the fermenter (22-24 degrees) but it took ages for the krausen to drop - only dropped on the last day or so.

Used 1kg light spray malt as extra fermentables as reccommended with white labs pilsner yeast WLP800.

It was cloudy and darker than i'd have wanted a pilsner to be as I was bottling.

Bulk primed it and bottled it anyway last Wednesday. I decided to sample a bottle last night because I was getting worried. It had only cleared at the top of the bottle, the rest was still quite cloudy.

I know it's only a week or so in the bottles but it had a dark brown colour, plenty of carbonation, the head rushed up the neck of the bottle, but a strange taste. Not bad exactly, but it tasted very yeasty/malty and not at all like it was a Pilsner (or even on the way to becomming a pilsner).almost like a mucky wheat beer.

Should I leave it a few more weeks (I usually don't drink it for about a month after bottling anyway) or just assume that it's still conditioning/fermenting in the bottles or put it down to a bad batch and chuck it down the sink?

I have a Dublin porter ready to get started on that I could really use the bottles for!

Pilsner yeast ferments at low temps.. Your temps for that yeast strain are far too high.

Complete HomeBrew Noob.

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