Complete HomeBrew Noob.

Photo-Sniper

Hi guys,

I want to do my first homebrew and I am currently looking for a kit to buy.

I want the kit I buy to have EVERYTHING that I need to do my first brew.

I live in Cork and I am just wondering does anyone know a brew shop around the City?

If not, I was thinking of buying off of : http://www.homebrewwest.ie/

Are they reputable?

I am thinking of buying this kit : http://www.homebrewwest.ie/coopers-diy-beer-kit-new-with-vwp-sterilizer-red-brewbelt-965-p.asp

Is that kit good? Or could you guys recommend me something better.

Thanks in advance.

Seaneh

The coopers kits are, by all accounts, pretty much perfect for a first brew in that they just about everything you need. I've heard good things about the iBrew kits too though.

Someone else told me that HomeBrewWest also have an unbranded kit they put together themselves that is fantastic value.

I haven't started brewing myself yet so I'm in the same position are yourself, I would love to hear others opinions.

To add to your questions, I would like to do a stout/porter for my first brew, any recommendations?

masseyno9

homebrewwest are very reliable. I got stuff of them in December and shipping was very quick. They offer a few kits they put together themselves ranging from pure essentials to all the bells and whistles. There's a handy page where they lay it all out simply HERE. The one at 89.95 seems to be what you want, but have a read of that page. I went for the 28.95 one and added caps and a capper and an ingredient kit of my choice. I'll get bottles from my local. Didn't get a brewbelt as it's kept indoors, so just have it wrapped in a blanket to stop major temp fluctuations. I'll add other bits as I progress.

Seaneh: Apparently the Milestone black pearl stout kit is quite good, from what i've read. I think I'll be making that after I bottle this one.

poitinstill

coopers stout with 1 kg malt extract is as good as any kit. either original stout or irish.

merc230ce

I got the Coopers kit and have never regretted it. The special fermenter they have is excellent. The only bits I didn't like were the plastic bottles. Used 'em once and then got a capper and started collecting. I didn't bother with. Heat belt as my missus never lets the temp in the house drop below 20deg ;-)

merc230ce

Oh and Homebrewwest are great, as is The Homebrew Company.

leggit

coopers kit is excellent in my opinion, no need for the sterilizer or the brew belt unless your house is unbelievably cold. my house is regularly below 12 degrees but brews do fine. should be even cheaper then,

make your own sanitising solution with 20 litres water, 30ml vinegar and 30ml thin bleach. costs nothing and works!

as for a beer kit, try anything! that's the most fun part!

wet-paint

I got my own Brew Smart kit from Brew West just this evening, and can't wait to start out. i'm even thinking of getting a second load of bottles, so I don't have to wait to finish the first to start cooking again.

cloptrop

as a regular drinker , bout a tray of beer a week im wondering will i save money if i make my own?
a tray of tuborg can be 20 quid if you shop smart

wet-paint

Hell yeah, with the sale in Brew West at the moment, you'll get the Brew Smarter kit for just over eighty bucks. That's meant to make forty half litre bottles. - Two quid a pop.

And then it's less than twenty bucks for all the ingredients for a second run, again for forty cans worth.

I drink an awful lot less than that, and I'd say I'll still save money, although that's not the driving force behind my decision to start.

cloptrop

and how drinkable is the beer , i dont mind tbh but would the missus be partial to it?

wet-paint

Yes, yes she definitely would be, bearing in mind I haven't asked her in a while what her tastes are like.

I've tried five or six mates' first tries, it's all with that Cooper's Canadian Blonde, and while some are better and some are worse, all are fien and drinkable and some are quite nice.

BeerNut

cloptrop wrote: »

will i save money if i make my own?
a tray of tuborg can be 20 quid if you shop smart

Homebrewed beer is definitely cheaper than commercial: a tray is 24 cans, yeah? So 12 litres for €20 vs. 20 litres for €20 (basic 1.5kg kit ~€14; 1kg spraymalt ~€6). It gets even cheaper if you move away from kits and brew from scratch.

However, you won't be able to make a beer like Tuborg from a kit. You can make light blonde ales (like the Coopers Canadian) but as wet-paint said results are mixed: the paler the beer the less room there is for you to get anything wrong.

Stouts and ales are much more forgiving, but if yellow beer is your preference I'd stick to the Tuborg tbh.

blahfckingblah

complete noob to this and i didnt want to start a new thread (and possibly annoy regulars trying to wade through threads titled "im an idiot") but what would the likes of this kit be like http://www.amazon.co.uk/Brew-Buddy-Lager-Pints-Starter/dp/B001C4YY4G/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1326730470&sr=8-2 seems like good value and has a fair bit in it. anybody use this kit before?

Edit: does this have everything i need in it?

BeerNut

I'd be inclined to buy from a homebrew shop rather than "Gadget Grotto" -- you don't know how long that kit has been sitting about and they do go stale. At least homebrew shops have the turnover. I'm also not sure if that Amazon seller delivers to Ireland.

As the product description says, you'll need to sort out your conditioning and serving method, so a pressure barrel or bottles, and a capper and caps if necessary. There's no thermometer, which is something worth having, and it's better to use spraymalt rather than sugar for making the kit.

cloptrop

is there a way to just make booze with stuff you can find in your kitchen .
Like i know they make drink in jail , with the heat from a 6 inch heating pipe<cell radiator> a bucket and some potato skins or some **** , but id love to try this at home

Sky King

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RWGxmdtybs0

cloptrop

great man im gonna get trying this during the week . ill let you know how i get on.

cloptrop

I have inmate brew up and running , everything is working like he said it would. I just have to leave it for around 3 weeks till the airlock deflates , i used orange juice. Did anyone make this before whats it taste like?

Sky King

Apparently it's mingin but I have never had it.

Reckon you would have been better off with grape, apple, cranberry etc.

cloptrop

yeah i was thinkin the orange would be easier to drink though , i have no idea why i thought that but we shall have to wait and see if im an idiot or not

DeadSkin

No point in starting a new thread, complete noob here too!!

Purchased the all you need Cooper kit & all seems to be going well[I think].

The temperature has been maintained at around 22/23 degrees the past few days.
My original SG was 1.035 at 26 degrees, currently[day 4] the SG is 1.010 at 22 degrees.
So, using the link BeerNut posted a few days back in another thread[cheers] http://hbd.org/cgi-bin/recipator/recipator/hydrometer.html?14304299 the current ABV is 3.4.

Assuming that the SG remains the same tomorrow I can bottle the beer, my plan is to use the carbonated drops supplied in the kit.
I'll store the bottles in a wardrobe & hopefully in a couple of weeks I'll be enjoying my first homebrew.

Just wondering if this all seems like typical results folk get here?
Thanks.

cloptrop

DeadSkin wrote: »

No point in starting a new thread, complete noob here too!!

Purchased the all you need Cooper kit & all seems to be going well[I think].

The temperature has been maintained at around 22/23 degrees the past few days.
My original SG was 1.035 at 26 degrees, currently[day 4] the SG is 1.010 at 22 degrees.
So, using the link BeerNut posted a few days back in another thread[cheers] http://hbd.org/cgi-bin/recipator/recipator/hydrometer.html?14304299 the current ABV is 3.4.

Assuming that the SG remains the same tomorrow I can bottle the beer, my plan is to use the carbonated drops supplied in the kit.
I'll store the bottles in a wardrobe & hopefully in a couple of weeks I'll be enjoying my first homebrew.

Just wondering if this all seems like typical results folk get here?
Thanks.

I sorry but wikipedia is down today, bloody idealists , how do you measure specific gravity.

BeerNut

DeadSkin wrote: »

Assuming that the SG remains the same tomorrow I can bottle the beer

Really really wouldn't recommend doing that. Your fermentation may be mostly finished but the yeast is still active, tidying up after itself. I wouldn't even think of bottling a beer until it's had two weeks in the fermenter.

cloptrop wrote:

how do you measure specific gravity.

With a hydrometer.

DeadSkin

cloptrop wrote: »

I sorry but wikipedia is down today, bloody idealists , how do you measure specific gravity.

Haha, I actually popped onto wiki to calculate the abv!!

The kit came with a hydrometer, I took that reading, noted the temperature & popped those readings it into the link in my original post.

DeadSkin

BeerNut wrote: »

Really really wouldn't recommend doing that. Your fermentation may be mostly finished but the yeast is still active, tidying up after itself. I wouldn't even think of bottling a beer until it's had two weeks in the fermenter.

Thanks for that BeerNut. From your sig I took a look at beoir.org & see there is a getting started guide for brew kits.
Seems it could also be beneficial to leave it a few weeks, I just wasn't aware that you could leave it that long.

cloptrop

DeadSkin wrote: »

Haha, I actually popped onto wiki to calculate the abv!!

The kit came with a hydrometer, I took that reading, noted the temperature & popped those readings it into the link in my original post.

but isnt the specific gravity directly related to the weight , say for example a litre of water weighs a kilo , if you made alcohol from water and then weighed a litre of it and it was 1 and a half kilo would the specific gravity be 1.5?
i remember something like this from plumbing school , could be mashing two formulae together though , it was a while ago.

DeadSkin

cloptrop wrote: »

but isnt the specific gravity directly related to the weight , say for example a litre of water weighs a kilo , if you made alcohol from water and then weighed a litre of it and it was 1 and a half kilo would the specific gravity be 1.5?
i remember something like this from plumbing school , could be mashing two formulae together though , it was a while ago.

We'll wait for wiki to come back online :pac:

covey09

SG-FG/7.42 i think thats its. Its to do with the viscoity of the liquid .water having a specific gravity of 1.000 and sugar and it gets more viscous.

cloptrop

is that specific gravity-fg
,,,,,,,,,,

---

,,,,,,,,,,,,7.42
what does fg stand for.

BeerNut

FG= Final Gravity.
OG= Original Gravity
SG is any gravity in between.

cloptrop wrote:

if you made alcohol from water

...you'd be a billionaire!

cloptrop

BeerNut wrote: »

FG= Final Gravity.
OG= Original Gravity
SG is any gravity in between.

...you'd be a billionaire!

or jesus

stevenmu

cloptrop wrote: »

but isnt the specific gravity directly related to the weight , say for example a litre of water weighs a kilo , if you made alcohol from water and then weighed a litre of it and it was 1 and a half kilo would the specific gravity be 1.5?
i remember something like this from plumbing school , could be mashing two formulae together though , it was a while ago.

I could be wrong on this but my understanding is that the specific gravity is basically a measure of the density of the liquid. The hydrometer is basically just a float with levels marked on it. The denser the liquid the higher the hydrometer will float, and the less dense the liquid the lower the hydrometer will float, and you can use the markings on the hydrometer to measure this accurately.

Water on it's own has a specific gravity of 1.000 (more or less). Adding sugars/malts to water causes it to be more dense, causing the hydrometer to float higher, in turn giving a higher SG, for e.g. 1.060. The yeast ferments this sugar/malt converting it into CO2 which is less dense than water and most of it escapes, and alcohol, which I believe is also less dense than water (but even if it isn't the escaping CO2 means the liquid overall is less dense). Your liquid is less dense therefore the hydrometer will float lower in it, giving a lower reading, like 1.013 for e.g.

In theory it shouldn't matter how much of the liquid you measure (as long as it's enough for the hydrometer to float in), because it's just the density of the liquid that you are measuring.



edit: If you wanted you could then combine density and volume to get the weight, but that's not needed for beer making. You could also in theory use the weight and the volume to calculate the density and calculate the ABV from that which would be useful, but I'd guess that measuring the weight and volume accurately enough would be tricky.

cloptrop

stevenmu wrote: »

I could be wrong on this but my understanding is that the specific gravity is basically a measure of the density of the liquid. The hydrometer is basically just a float with levels marked on it. The denser the liquid the higher the hydrometer will float, and the less dense the liquid the lower the hydrometer will float, and you can use the markings on the hydrometer to measure this accurately.

Water on it's own has a specific gravity of 1.000 (more or less). Adding sugars/malts to water causes it to be more dense, causing the hydrometer to float higher, in turn giving a higher SG, for e.g. 1.060. The yeast ferments this sugar/malt converting it into CO2 which is less dense than water and most of it escapes, and alcohol, which I believe is also less dense than water (but even if it isn't the escaping CO2 means the liquid overall is less dense). You liquid is less dense therefore the hydrometer will float lower in it, giving a lower reading, like 1.013 for e.g.

In theory it shouldn't matter how much of the liquid you measure (as long as it's enough for the hydrometer to float in, because it's just the density of the liquid that you are measuring.

so are we saying the more sugar i put in the higher alcohol volume i will get?

Sky King

cloptrop wrote: »

but isnt the specific gravity directly related to the weight

It's kind of a misnomer. Specific Gravity is a measure if relative density, using water as a basis for compasiron.

Water at 20 degrees C has a specific gravity of 1 - that's your starting point.

Petrol for example has a specific gravity of 0.72 so you can see it's less dense than water.

Sugars present in your fresh mix increase its density, so the specific gravity will be above 1. As these sugars are eaten by the yeast, they are depleted and the density is reduced.

By taking a measure of the density of the liquid before and after fermantation, you can put a figure on the difference in density, and a simple formula will tell you how this figure relates to the percentage of alcohol in the liquid.

A hydrometer works by virtue of the fact that an object will experience different levels of buoyancy in liquids of different density. Throw an aluminium washer into a jar of water, it sinks. Throw it in a jar of mercury, it floats. The hydrometer just maps this linear buoyancy variation onto a calibrated and readable scale

BeerNut

cloptrop wrote: »

so are we saying the more sugar i put in the higher alcohol volume i will get?

Up to a point. If you're going for a high gravity wort you need to pick a robust yeast that can handle both the large amounts of sugar and all the alcohol that results.

And for taste reasons it's best to get the sugar from malt rather than neat processed sugar.

cloptrop

BeerNut wrote: »

Up to a point. If you're going for a high gravity wort you need to pick a robust yeast that can handle both the large amounts of sugar and all the alcohol that results.

And for taste reasons it's best to get the sugar from malt rather than neat processed sugar.

so did i go wrong using table sugar

BeerNut

You'll know when you taste it. If it's too thin and cidery: that's the sugar.

MR PIGGY

BeerNut Please help.

I am brewing coopers heritage lager using a can of 1.5kg can of ligth malt extract liquid that comes with it. This is going to sound silly but can you tell me that i am correct in thinking that the malt liquid is used in place of brewing suger/malt extract. Also will 18 DegC be ok for fermenting.


Cheers

DeadSkin

MR PIGGY wrote: »

BeerNut Please help.

I am brewing coopers heritage lager using a can of 1.5kg can of ligth malt extract liquid that comes with it. This is going to sound silly but can you tell me that i am correct in thinking that the malt liquid is used in place of brewing suger/malt extract. Also will 18 DegC be ok for fermenting.


Cheers

From what I gather malt extract is used as an alternative to sugar & from here 18 degrees should be ok.

Sky King

DeadSkin wrote: »

MR PIGGY wrote: »

BeerNut Please help.

I am brewing coopers heritage lager using a can of 1.5kg can of ligth malt extract liquid that comes with it. This is going to sound silly but can you tell me that i am correct in thinking that the malt liquid is used in place of brewing suger/malt extract. Also will 18 DegC be ok for fermenting.


Cheers

From what I gather malt extract is used as an alternative to sugar & from here 18 degrees should be ok.

Dont coopers recommend usung their 'brew enhancer' too? Its basically just a kilo of dextrose.

BeerNut

MR PIGGY wrote: »

I am brewing coopers heritage lager using a can of 1.5kg can of ligth malt extract liquid that comes with it.

So you have the 1.5kg kit plus 1.5kg of liquid malt extract? That sounds like all the fermentables you need, so no need for any added sugar.

MR PIGGY

BeerNut wrote: »

So you have the 1.5kg kit plus 1.5kg of liquid malt extract? That sounds like all the fermentables you need, so no need for any added sugar.

Thanks a lot BeerNut.

One more thing if you dont mind, I saw is previous messages that you can add dried hops to the fermenter about a week before you bottle the brew. How do you do this(put in a bag or throw straight in) and what quantity of hops would you need.

Cheers

BeerNut

MR PIGGY wrote: »

(put in a bag or throw straight in)

You can do either: I generally throw straight in so they infuse more freely. Putting them in a bag means they're much easier to get out again so there's no risk of them clogging the siphon. Just make sure the bag is sanitised.

MR PIGGY wrote: »

and what quantity of hops would you need.

That's a question of taste and variety. 20-30g of something like Cascade will do wonders.

cloptrop

Right ive been making inmate brew. I used a condom as an air lock. I was told it would take 3 weeks to be ready but the condom has deflated after a week and a half.This indicates the alcohol making process has ended. Has something gone wrong?
When I shake it the condom fills again but I think this is just like shaking a fizzy drink because it goes back down. I have it in a room thats about 12 - 18 degrees all day and night .
Did I just not put enough yeast in to make it work for 3 weeks?
Did the lasting only a week and a half make the alcohol level smaller.
I used orange juice , raisens yeast sugar .

Should I just freeze it and hope for the best , or add more yeast and sugar . Maybe the fruitjuice just cant take anymore fermenting . I have no beer for the weekend , please dont make me go the off licence.

cloptrop

Anyone?

stevenmu

cloptrop wrote: »

I used a condom as an air lock.

Wow, you're really dedicated to the authentic experience

AFAIK condoms aren't air tight, so it probably takes a good bit of CO2 to keep them inflated. During initial fermentation a lot of CO2 is given off, but this will normally (for a regular beer anyway) slow down after a few days. It will still be fermenting, just at a slower rate, and giving off much less CO2. Your brew could still be working away and just not giving off enough CO2 to keep the condom inflated. If the recipe calls for 3 weeks, I'd be inclined to give it that long, even though it doesn't look active.

cloptrop

Lets say i stuck it in the freezer last night?
Would i just get a far smaller alcohol volume or have i fecked it right up?
Was working for a week and a half.

BeerNut

You've probably killed the yeast. Ice crystals puncture the cell walls and they die.

cloptrop

But will alcohol have been already created but in a smaller amount , or will i just get loads of nearly made alcohol .
eg the fermentation process only makes the alcohol on the third week.

BeerNut

cloptrop wrote: »

But will alcohol have been already created

Yes.