Thoughts and advice for a newbie

[Phill Chevsi]

Hi,

I'm still new to brewing but am very keen.  Ive got my fourth batch about ready to bottle at the moment.  I would really appreciate any advice more experienced brewers could have on the following things:

1)  My first batch came out very clear.  I noticed that the second was not so clear.  Taste was ok but thinking the finers that I added to the first one really made the difference.  Is there a marked difference in the quality finers or are there any other techniques that people use that bring good results.

2)  I have been a bit slack with the hydrometer.  As far as I can tell it will give you an indication that the fermenting process has been completed and it is then ok to bottle or go to secondary.  Should I be using it.  Also, I have been trying to get info on how this will give you an indication of alcohol content.

3)  I have been changing and expanding one variable each batch I have made, but am still using kits at the moment.  I will move on to grains later on.  A friend suggested that I might get better results if I bought yeast separate from the stuff that comes with the malt extract.  As this stuff has been dried and left in unknown temperatures, whereas, other yeast may have stricter quality controls and I guess therefore activate better.

If there are any other little gems that you think would be useful I would greatly appreciate it.  Loving it so far and can't wait to get started on the next one.

[Smiffy]

1) I don't know about finings, if you use better yeast and allow the beer long enough to settle, you won't need them.

2) Lack of bubbles from the air-lock could be due to cool temperature, or some other problem, so it is best to confirm that fermentation is finished using a hydrometer, at least until you are familiar with how active a new yeast is, and how long it does take. Many hydrometers come with a leaflet which tells you how to work out ABV, or look at one of the many online calculators, e.g. http://www.cascadebreweryco.com.au/#/home-brewing/brewers-calculator

3) Absolutely, good yeast will make much better beer, and different good yeasts will give you different flavors.Buy from somewhere that keeps it in a fridge, and check the use by date on the packet. (The yeast that comes with many kits is the same for all their kits, so can't possibly be right for all beer styles.)

[Hugh Grierson]

Here's my suggestions for the kit improving.

Slow down your first 3 or 4 days of fermentation, (in a temperature controlled fridge).

Use flash yeast.

Try dry hopping.

Bottles are a big arse pain and have lots of infection/yuck yeast flavours, when you can get some cornie kegs and CO2 and carbonate your finished brew.

Get some of the Golden Bear wort kit and try that.

Write stuff down.

[bart]

As far as kits go, the #1 issue that causes bad flavours is using sugar/dextrose for the additional 1kg of sugar. It's nigh on impossible to make a good tasting beer when nearly half of the sugars are not even maltose. The easiest way to get closer to a good tasting beer with kits is to use malt extract (1.5kg liquid malt extract works well) as the additional sugars - hopefully you're already doing that but thought it's worth mentioning incase you aren't.

In addition to that, you can dramatically improve the taste of kits by doing a grain addition and a hop addition. If you are in a town that has a home brew store, they can probably advise you on some good grains to use for each specific kit, the amount is usually around 500-800g of a mixture of grains that varies depending on the brew. For a light beer like a lager or pils it might just be 300g pilsner malt and 200g carapils (for body) or something like that. For an ale it can be 300g Pale malt, 200g medium crystal and 200g carapils. For a porter or stout (and this is where a grain addition really comes in handy for a fuller flavour) try 300g pale malt, 200g medium crystal, 100g chocolate malt, 100g black malt, 100g carapils.

The grains are steeped in about 3 litres of water at 65 degrees C for about 20 mins or so. Then strain it through a kitchen sieve reserving the liquid that's come off. If you also want to add some flavour/aroma hops, this liquid can be brought to the boil and have the hops added into it for 10 mins (flavour hop) and 1 min (aroma hop). The 'standard' amount of hops to add to a kit for flavour hop is around 30g but feel free to go up to 50 or 60g for a hoppier brew. Once the boiling of the hops is done strain the liquid again and add it to the fermenter before topping up to the final volume of the brew.

This should give a noticeable improvement in the taste of a kit brew. The next stage up from that is to do an 'extract' brew where you use plain malt extract plus specialty grains to craft your own recipe. It is very similar to the process outlined above, the main difference being that you'll have to also do a bittering hop addition which means a 1 hour hop boil instead of just 10 minutes. But at least you'll have full control of what specialty grains are in there which means you will start getting a feel for what each kind of grain contributes so that when you move on to all grain brewing you'll already be one step ahead.

Good luck!

[Dougal]

+1 on all of the advice so far. This forum is a great source of useful info for beginning brewers.

I'd add that temperature control of your fermentation makes a massive difference to the final beer. This doesn't necessarily just mean heating. Most brewers on here have found an old fridge and hooked up a $25 thermostat so that they can keep their beer from overheating during the first few days of fermentation. 17-18C is the Goldilocks zone for most dry ale yeasts. This stops too many esters or solventy tasting alcohols from being produced and creating that "homebrew" flavour. You can certainly ferment at ambient temperatures, but it's hard to get consistent results year round, and lagers are especially difficult.

Fining is used by commercial brewers to rush the natural clearing process of beer. On a homebrew scale it's really not necessary, because you can use use techniques like crash chilling (refrigerating the fermenter for a day or two before bottling) to drop out all the yeast sediment. Chilling makes a big difference.

Don't feel as if you have to rush fermentation- two or three weeks is okay, and in fact the yeast will clean up a lot of by-products over that time and make for clean beer.

Absolutely throw away that kit yeast and use something better too. Pitching the right amount of healthy yeast cells is a great start, and kit yeasts are seldom up to that job. Try one yeast over several brews to get to know how it works before moving to another. Safale S-05 is a good reliable strain for hoppy beers, and Danstar Nottingham or Windsor are reliable for English styles. 

  

[Ciaran Burroughs]

I am also just starting brewing. Got coppertun kit and brewing crafts book by Mike Rodgers-Wilson.

Just about to try my first brew using the Hoegaarden White Beer recipe and have a Kilkenny recipe in the fermentor.

I have been thinking about making a Pilsner and a temp controlled fridge sounds the way to go.

What heating source is recommended?

Once fermented & bottled should i put the bottles back in the fridge to condition if so for how long? 

[Pilgrim]

Leave them out of the fridge for a week or so otherwise they won't carbonate. Keep them in a cupboard away from the light, then put them in the fridge a day or so before you want to drink them (if you can wait that long :-)

[Tilt]

Congrats on catching the bug - and welcome to the forum - my brewing has improved great guns after joining - the brewers here are a great source of useful info and wisdom.

To add to the already good info I'd say:

Improving clarity, if you're boiling your wort, comes from using the right amount of kettle finings, letting the yeast attenuate and settle out naturally and then chilling the finished beer to below 5degrees for a few days before bottling/kegging.  The best brewing quality improvement step I've made is getting an old banger of a fridge and using it to control ferment temps and crash chill.

The other thing thats useful is keep close records of your process and observations along the way.  Even if you don't understand why something worked well or not - having records to refer back to can help diagnose and fix problems - particularly if you post a question here using the info you've written down.  Taking hydrometer readings before during and after fermentation is part of this - and a reason to taste the beer regularly for "sensory evaluation".

Changing one thing at a time is a great way to go - and one I don't have the discipline to stick to which trips me up occasionally!  Decent amounts of healthy, good quality yeast makes a huge difference.  As they say - the brewer makes the wort and the yeast makes the beer so shelling out on good yeast is money well spent.

Early on, reading a good reference like John Palmers How to Brew and trying things out for yourself is a good way to go.  If you need some inspiration and more detailed info then the Brew Stong podcasts are also useful.

Good luck

[jacknohe]

Hi Phill

 

Good on ya mate.  Asking for advice can go a long way towards the life long journey of brewing.  The advice already provided is sound and I can't add much more other than to say the most significant improvement in my brewing came from fermentation temperature control.  Sure, you can make 'beer' without it, but it becomes a variable every single brew depending on weather, fermenter location, etc.  When I was brewing in my shed it would have temp swings from day to night and couldn't figure out how to troubleshoot other issues when my ferment was out of control.  Not to mention the yeast esters...  So regarding the different yeasts available, you will find that temp control will still be important.  If you can minimise the temp fluctuations, then US-05 is a good all-rounder.

 

For me, my brewing journey was gradual.  SWMBO kept me restrained on my gear purchases but in some ways that was part of the fun having to work around it.  Moved through kits, extract, and then full BIAB All Grain.  Just recently got Corny kegs and wondered why I hadn't done it earlier.  For my early temp control method I scored a 100 Can Cooler that could fit a standard 30L fermenter in it with room around the outside for frozen bottles that I'd swap twice a day. Depending on weather and yeast I used I would add more or less frozen bottles.  I now have a fermenting fridge and controller that can both heat and cool which makes things so much easier so you can now focus on playing around with different recipes etc.  Anyway, my point is, if you've made a few brews and you've caught that brewing bug then its time to commit and invest in some gear.  But don't let that put you off, you can build up gradually over time or go balls out if you have the means.  Like the others have said, an old fridge with a temp controller is a good start and will go a long way.

[Kelly Milligan]

Absolutely get a copy of John Palmer's How to Brew (www.mightyape.co.nz has it), the first 1/3 of the book has such a breadth of required knowledge, then the other 2/3 are there when you want to start doing extract+specialty grains and All grain. Great resource :)

[Paul Fraser]

Hi Phill. I know you might want to try more kits before progressing but my advice is move towards all grain as soon as possible. Even doing partial mashes makes a huge difference, is a lot more rewarding and more educational for you. Definitely get rid of the yeast supplied. I am using finings and have fairly clear-ish beers but i have tried some of Dougals beer and they were crystal clear so i may try crash chilling myself soon.

I have discovered temp control is a massive factor in quality of beer. In the hot summer months even having a fridge without temp control and just turning the fridge on when needed every so often to help keep temp down works wonders. It's basically an insulated box so holds temps very well. Once you get temp control you can do lagers and pilsners etc or warm the fridge up over winter.

Other advice i highly recommend is to read as much as you can. Especially on this site. +1 on buying How To Brew by John Palmer - heaps more advice then the freee version available online. Other than that, i'm sure others will give you the heads you need.

Good luck and enjoy the addiction!!!!

[Phill Chevsi]

Think you might be right about moving onto grains asap.  Jump in the deep end.  No need to be timid about it. Cheers for your thoughts and advice.

Phill

[Phill Chevsi]

Cheers for all your great advice people.  Getting an old fridge to control temp is something I hadn't thought about but thinking about it now it seems like a variable that really needs to be controlled.  Will start looking into that asap.  Will start looking into getting some different yeast for my next batch I will put down in the next couple of days.  For a first question post I am over the moon like a cow with the responses.  Cheers everyone

Phil