New Guy...

[Robbo]

Hi all, I'm Rob, been homebrewing for a while, signed up here to discuss a few things with people more pro than me and generally pick up some recipies and ideas.

first on the list: i've been given half a dozen cans of coopers lager from (probably) about 2 years ago, they've been kept under his house (cool and dark)...
the last time i brewed old beer i ended up with 27 phucked bottles. is this likely a case of a) old yeast, b) over priming, (they got the recommended dose) c) old bottles d) coopers is just shit?
and following from that: should i use new yeast (or recovered from my last lager brew) rather than the old kit yeast?

also, i saw a delicious looking stout the other day, and wondering (from the pros) if stout will do well with a hot brew (being summer, in northland, average temperature is near 30)

cheers all.

[Smiffy]

I started with cooper's kits. Throw away the yeast. The cans should be fine, if in doubt, you could boil the contents. If your beer was bad (rather than not good) I would suspect dirty bottles rather than "stale" kits.

[mattd2]

I too started with coopers. For the cans you have I agree with Smiffy, should be fine - just check for any bulging cans and throw those away.

I would not recomend doing any normal ale fermentation at around 30°C, you will likely get some off flavours from the the yeast. Even saison yeasts are maxing out at around 30.

Look into either getting a fridge or freezer with a temp controller to ferment in (if you can spare the cash) or sit the fermenter in a tub of water with a towel/t-shirt over it and swap out bottles of frozzen water to keep the temps around 20°C until the fermentation slows.

 

[Robbo]

i've done plenty of non-coopers brews, this just happens to be what this guy gave me...

would you count stout with ale? i have a nice shady spot to stash the bucket, plus i've got a draught and dark ale to get through first, also the 6 cans of lager... so what's a tolerant high-temp (mid 20s) lager yeast?
(i know that goes against the definition of lager.. but hey) so if i brew lager fast (and warm) can i leave it long to mellow, or is it not worth trying in summer? (I can manage a waterbath, but i'm out for most of most days, so.....)

unfortunately refrigeration isn't an option either, due to an astounding lack of electricity. i've got plenty of fridges, though...

[Robbo]

i did suspect an infection, as what was all over the place smelled a bit vinegary...wondered if the yeast had mutated into some kind of super-evil stuff.. but meh.

[Liam Callaghan]

Welcome aboard Robbo!

 

Two step cleaning is the way!  Step one remove organic matter, step two sanitise.

First step use an oxi cleaning agent (caustic soda, Oxi Action I think I use...Pink lid) as my mate put it, "I've seen what it gets out of nappies,  whats in the fermenter and bottles is nothing".  Soak the bottles in it over night or even a couple of days if it needs it.  The agent does all the work for you and basically dissolves the organic matter.  Bear in mind if it doesn't feel slick between your fingers its not going to work.  The slickness is it it dissolving the proteins of your fingertips, same as it breaks down the proteins in the organic crud in the bottle.

Give em a good rinse with fresh water and then sanitise with a contact agent.  Star Sans is my weapon of choice, but use what ever you can get your hands on.  Star sans is an acid based sanitiser that you don't need to rinse and works in minutes.  Great to keep in a hand sprayer too and use it liberally as you work.

Only ever made a few extract beers in my time but have tasted loads, no reason why you can't be making mint beers!

I'd definintley invest in a new fermenter rather than use a second hand one though, the basic bucket ones from the brew shops are perfect and with care can last years.  Just don't use any abrassives or scrub them.  Soft cloth only and they are good to go.  I have a few over 10 years old and still going fine.

Loads of good people on here mate and some awesome recipes :p

My personal tips for making good beers great. 

• Control the temperature of the ferment so the yeast is stable and producing just what you expect. 
• Replace bulk sugar with liquid malt.  Sugar is good to dry a beer out but use it when you want to do that.
• Get good healthy yeast and learn how it works.

Stout is an ale yes and if you are going to make lager with your lager kits use an ale yeast with that temp

A good strong hop tea is good.  On the stove with 2-3 litres of boiling water, switch off the heat, 50-110g Motueka hops steeped in the hot water for 2 minutes and pour through a sanitise sieve into your fermenter.

 

 

[Robbo]

everything gets double cleaned: sodium hypochlorite then boiling water.

spending money on new things is anti-thetical to me. new ferms, temp control etc, not going to happen any time soon.

you mentioned malt... i was going to ask about fermentables, too. as the last brew (lion dark ale) i didn't have dextrose on hand so i used most of the sugar in the house: about 70% soft brown sugar, 20% raw (what i normally use - like coffee crystals but smaller) and 10% white sugar. OG came out about 53 and beer seems quite drinkable.
unfortunately i don't write enough down so can't compare this to the last time i did lion dark (7 feb '12).
but saw also "brewtec liquid sugar" at paknsave which AFAIK is just corn syrup...
but i wondered what effect it would have if i primed with dark sugar rather than glucose or normal cane sugar...

[Chris P]

I understand the not wanting to spend money on the temp side of things but found that maintaining a constant temp has been the biggest improvement to date. If you want to keep it ghetto you can get a paddling pool and fill it with cool water and then if it still wont drop to where it needs to you can rotate some ice (most just fill up and freeze some water in coke bottles).

 

[Ralph]

temperature control is definitely a big thing about getting home brew tasting good. Water baths can definitely be used to control the temperature. Quite literally sitting it in the bath at home can work too.

[Tilt]

Pre fermenting fridge I used a fan directed at the fermentor which was sitting in a tub of water and draped in an old towel to wick water up around the outside - cheap and effective - kept the initial few days of fermentation temps under control.  If it's winter you can chuck a cheap as fishtank heater off Trademe into the tub too to keep temps up.