Question before i start

Baz_

Hi all,

I have always been interested in trying my hand at a bit of home brewing and with my birthday just around the corner I said to the wife "sort it out". At which point she handed me our joint account bank card and said "sort it out yourself". Which means two things 1. I'm paying for my own birthday present (never get married, if you can help it) but more importantly 2. I'll soon be doing some (hopefully) fine home brewing.

So tomorrow I'm expecting delivery of my first home brewing complete starter kit. I went for the coopers DIY beer kit from home brew west and you can feel free to let me know what you think of that kit.

My question is this. I have only bought bottles and not a pressure barrel and I was wondering if any of you seasoned brewers could tell me whether you would recommend a pressure barrel or just go straight to bottle?

I saw two pressure barrels that came with all the works (co2 injection system and co2 bulbs etc.) on amazon for about 50 pound each but one had the tap at the bottom and one had it near the top (link 1, link 2). So if a pressure barrel is the way to go which type is better and is there anywhere cheaper to get them?

I must say I'm really looking forward to drinking some of my home brewed goodness and I don't know why I haven't done this way before now.

Thanks for any help or advice you can give.

Baz_

BeerNut

I don't think I've ever heard of anyone who is happy with pressure barrels. Most people who want to keg their beer seem to move to cornies sooner or later. I've always been happy with bottles.

Best bit of advice I can give you is ignore the kit instructions and use this instead. If you've already bought the ingredients you'll probably be getting some sort of "brewing sugar" or "kit enhancer" with it which is a shame. Just don't be too disheartened by what that gives you and use spraymalt as your extra fermentables next time.

Oh and stir: when you're mixing the kit, stir like mad all the way through.

sharingan

Stick with bottles for the time being. When you brew into larger containers (standard newbie thing - brewing into large PET bottles, because you haven't collected enough yet, or are missing important kit), you tend to go through your brew faster.

I recommend that you dont touch your beer for at least 6 weeks - it can take 2-3 weeks to fully ferment and clarify your beer, and 2-3 weeks for it to bottle condition and carbonate.

So your initial batch of beer will need to last that long until you have brewed up a second. This also means that your brews will need to last 6 weeks if you want a constant supply.

When it comes around to bottling time, get the coopers PET bottles. They are cheap and practical on bottling day, and are suitable for long term storage of your beer. Being plastic, you can also tell if they are carbonating properly.

Start to collect bottles now. From friends, bottle banks, parties. Flip tops are by far the best kind of bottle for brewing (so practical, and very robust).

My GF always finds my bottle collecting an obsession. Not fully realising that ~90L of ferment needs to go into *something*. You would be surprised how many you actually need, and you have to have inventory to plan in advance.

Baneblade

I started with the coopers kit and really liked it. the tap is a bit high on it so when bottling you can get another 1-2 liters out of it by gently tilting the fermenter

you will have all the bottles you need for the fist lot you do, but start stocking now for the next one

about barrels, depending on the type if you cant fit your hand in them they will be a pain to clean. they would only be usefull for taking to partys. much prefer bottles

Baz_

BeerNut wrote: »

Most people who want to keg their beer seem to move to cornies sooner or later.

Another newb question, but what are cornies?

Right so, I've purchased a few brown glass flip tops (750ml), do you reckon they are too big?

And also I believe I have a few more birthday quids coming and an amazon voucher so would it be recommended to just buy more flip top bottles and to forget about the pressure barrel idea?

Im very excited about this by the way. It's the most child like my excitement has reached in years. And when I read in that what are you brewing now thread that you could get a chocolate stout kit, well I near creamed myself!

Baz_

Baz_ wrote:

Another newb question, but what are cornies?

Never mind found it. Cornelius kegs.

Krusty_Clown

BeerNut wrote: »

Oh and stir: when you're mixing the kit, stir like mad all the way through.

Ha! I should have read this last night! I made my first Spraymalt-based kit last night, and after tipping in the Spraymalt, I got busy with the scissors, opening a hop tea packet. When I went back to stirring the kit, I had several solid lumps of toffee that I couldn't break up. I decided to leave them in there, as I suppose there's a small chance (very small) that the yeast will have a pop at the nice toffee lumps. Ended up with a SG of 1.038, which suits me fine, as the beer I have recently bottled is 7.2%, so it'll be nice to have a less 'robust' alternative. Hopefully no other side-effects.

sharingan

Baz_ wrote: »

Another newb question, but what are cornies?

Right so, I've purchased a few brown glass flip tops (750ml), do you reckon they are too big?

Nope. I tend to prefer the larger bottles, as my home brew is made for sharing. They are also less work at bottling day.

And also I believe I have a few more birthday quids coming and an amazon voucher so would it be recommended to just buy more flip top bottles and to forget about the pressure barrel idea?

The barrel option is worth considering at a later stage. 'party' style catering can be achieved with simpler beers bottled and carbonated into 5L water containers.

Im very excited about this by the way. It's the most child like my excitement has reached in years. And when I read in that what are you brewing now thread that you could get a chocolate stout kit, well I near creamed myself!

Don't expect the excitement to end any time soon. I think when you realise that you can get an ordinary stout kit (Coopers Irish Stout is infamous for tricking out) and add your own chocolate/coffee/vanilla you get a lightbulb moment.

A few years ago I got into this home brewing lark, making an elderflower sparkling wine in a camping coolbox. Now I am buying 2x3m of voile (https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=133214176810275&id=118163454951949) curtain to make a brew bag so I can make brews directly from grains, and completely customise the flavour. When you realise that you can very cheaply produce high quality beer, that is consistently better than the average pub beer, you will be hooked.

KAGY

Baz_ wrote: »

Hi all,

I have always been interested in trying my hand at a bit of home brewing and with my birthday just around the corner I said to the wife "sort it out". At which point she handed me our joint account bank card and said "sort it out yourself". Which means two things 1. I'm paying for my own birthday present (never get married, if you can help it) but more importantly 2. I'll soon be doing some (hopefully) fine home brewing.

Sounds like the ideal present - but you should have gotten a few other kits while you're at it. Im a newb too just finished bottling 4th kit, and the best advice i can give is never, ever drink a coors lite after one of your own home brews X-P
Search through the forum here and on beoir.ie for info on a no rinse vinegar & bleach steriliser (std disclaimer - never mix undiluted bleach & vinegar you'll poison yourself with chlorine gas)
Spraymalt / Dme clumps like mad - dissolve it separately before adding it to you fermenter
Bottle trees are great for drying the bottles - you can get one from HBW

So tomorrow I'm expecting delivery of my first home brewing complete starter kit. I went for the coopers DIY beer kit from home brew west and you can feel free to let me know what you think of that kit.

My question is this. I have only bought bottles and not a pressure barrel and I was wondering if any of you seasoned brewers could tell me whether you would recommend a pressure barrel or just go straight to bottle?


I must say I'm really looking forward to drinking some of my home brewed goodness and I don't know why I haven't done this way before now.

Thanks for any help or advice you can give.

Baz_

Just been using bottles - kegs seem handier for sharing at a party though- you won't have to keep reminding people not to disturb the sediment at the end of the bottle. But bottles allow you to keep a few away safe to mature - there is a big diff between a bottle at 3 weeks and one a few months old ( couldn't tell you about years only started at xmas)
Dont forget to rinse out the bottle after you pour - mucheasier than letting the sediment harden
Be careful whose advice you buy, but, be patient with those who supply it.
Advice is a form of nostalgia, dispensing it is away of fishing the past from the disposal, wiping it off, painting over the ugly parts and recycling it for more than it’s worth.
But trust me on the coors lite…

The Scratcher

KAGY wrote: »

...Dont forget to rinse out the bottle after you pour - mucheasier than letting the sediment harden

I learned this the hard way! Spent a whole saturday on my hands and knees scrubbing bottles!

Khannie

sharingan wrote: »

'party' style catering can be achieved with simpler beers bottled and carbonated into 5L water containers.

Have you done this yourself? I have some concern about those bottles not taking the pressure very well.

sharingan

Khannie wrote: »

Have you done this yourself? I have some concern about those bottles not taking the pressure very well.

Done this a lot. Those things are tough.

I even *fermented* in them with the cap on during early stage fermentation regularly opening the cap to release gas, before leaving the cap slightly open to allow high pressure gas to escape.

Those 5L water containers are mighty. The budget/social brewers best friend.

The only thing that ever got the best of them was a Turbo Cider, which blew the cap clean off and gave me a nice clean up job in the conservatory. But TCs are mental anyway in the early stages.

I even have year old hooch in some of them at the parents house. It will be an interesting experiment next month to see how they held up.

Lars

Baz, don't waste ur money buying bottles with no beer in them! They're quite expensive seen as they're empty. Start trying different beers, I think tesco are still doin 5 for a tenner on a great selection of craft beers . Also you'll be reluctant to give away samples to friends in bottles that cost u that much, you'll be lookin for ur empties back. Buy a bottle rinser, great buy for speeding up bottling process, and a bench capper

Baz_

Lars wrote: »

They're quite expensive seen as they're empty.

Good point well made! Although I want to have enough swing top bottles to house a full batch, mainly because they look sweet and will make a nice presentable sample for friends, although you're right I would be looking for the bottle back, and I'll continue to collect various other bottle types too.

Lars wrote: »

bench capper

Which reminds me I must add one of them to my shopping list.

Khannie

Haha. Your shopping list must be huge at this stage.

Baz_

well in honesty it's more of a wish list of stuff that I'll buy over the next while but it's growing by one or two items a day alright...

Actually, I just added two items I thought of while typing this so it's nearly at the exponential growth stage at this stage. I need to stop doing research and start doing...

Yawns

Yeah I remember the beginning where the wish list was getting so expensive it's tempting to not try it at all. Unfortunatly you missed out on the half price gear in Naas by a couple of weeks. Even a starter pack and bu ya separate can of cooper's to get you started would have been handy.

tony231974

I got a coppers austrilian lager and didn't put in an "enhancher" at the start of the fermentation.
Does this matter ?

BeerNut

Is it just the contents of the can, water, and the yeast?

tony231974

BeerNut wrote: »

Is it just the contents of the can, water, and the yeast?

Yes thats it water,can and yeast

Fart

tony231974 wrote: »

Yes thats it water,can and yeast

I believe you will need the fermentables which are contained in the enhancer.

You will get an extremely low alcohol content.
I'm sure you can add it to the ingredients in the primary now and give it a mix. Before you do though, you may have to dissolve it in hot water then add it and give it a swirl for a couple of mins.

Although, depending on how the yeast react to this, you may have to add more yeast.

See what happens first when you add the enhancer.

tony231974

Fart wrote: »

I believe you will need the fermentables which are contained in the enhancer.

You will get an extremely low alcohol content.
I'm sure you can add it to the ingredients in the primary now and give it a mix. Before you do though, you may have to dissolve it in hot water then add it and give it a swirl for a couple of mins.

Although, depending on how the yeast react to this, you may have to add more yeast.

See what happens first when you add the enhancer.

I have it fermenting the last 5 days,it should be ready for bottling.
Maybe not a good idea to add the enhancher now and stir it.
What you think?Maybe just drink the weak beer ?

Khannie

tony231974 wrote: »

I have it fermenting the last 5 days,it should be ready for bottling.

It is almost certainly not ready for bottling after 5 days fermenting. I have cider that's been tipping away for 12 days now and it's not finished fermenting (I checked yesterday).

tony231974

Khannie wrote: »

It is almost certainly not ready for bottling after 5 days fermenting. I have cider that's been tipping away for 12 days now and it's not finished fermenting (I checked yesterday).

It said on the instruction 4 to 6 days then bottle and leave a couple of weeks

Yawns

#1 rule is to take the instructions with a pinch of salt. If you're doing a kit beer in the future, it will take about 14 days before it's ready for bottling. Then leave it for 3 - 5 weeks bottle conditioning before it tastes nice.

As for your current batch, it's too late to add fermentables now I'd say unless you plan on pitching more yeast. It would probably be a non alcoholic beer at this stage with little %. For your next kit I would suggest not getting any enhancer but instead spraymalt. Replace the 1KG of enchancer with something like 1kg Light spraymalt for light ales for example, such as a Blonde ale.

I leave all my brews go for at least three weeks before bottling, and another few weeks before opening and drinking. When you get the same gravity reading over two or three days I'd consider bottling it.