What do i need

[Michael Bilby]

OK i want to put down a brew from scratch so what do i need and whats a good lager recipe what is the process for that  can anyone help plz.

[Brett Soanes]

do you have ferment temp control?

[Michael Bilby]

no i dont

[John S.]

Sounds like you have a lot of research to do... I'd say first stop is youtube 'all grain brewing', maybe also check out howtobrew.com and the 'library' sticky post of this forum. Also look into 'Brew in a bag' aka BIAB if you don't want to spend a bunch of cash on equipment to start off with.

[Michael Bilby]

yea looks like it the BIAB looks good  thanks

[Chris P]

Maybe if there is someone nearby you could tag along to their BIAB/AG Brewdays until you get the hang of it. Or they could come along.

Definitely need to get onto How To Brew though.

[Michael Bilby]

that would be cool if there is someone  in Napier maybe they can contact me

[Dougal]

Lagers can be quite challenging without temperature control. A good lager is fermented at about 10C, and aged closer to 2C for another month.

Do a blonde or golden ale with Safale S-05 yeast for your first all grain instead. You'll get similar crisp flavour and be able to crank it out in a few short weeks if you keep the fermentation down around 16-20C. For your technique, try brew in a bag. http://www.brewerscoop.co.nz/biab.html

For a recipe, you can't go past Joe Wood's West Coast Blonde. Substitute your favourite hop... Motueka would be a good start if you like lagers.

West Coast Blonde

6-B Blonde Ale

Author: Joseph Wood

Date: 29/12/2008

Size: 23.04 L

Efficiency: 82.0

Attenuation: 85.0%

Calories: 175.71 kcal per 12.0 fl oz

Original Gravity: 1.054 (1.038 - 1.054)

Terminal Gravity: 1.008 (1.008 - 1.013)

Color: 3.08 (3.0 - 6.0

Alcohol: 5.98% (3.8% - 5.5%)

Bitterness: 21.0 (15.0 - 28.0)

Ingredients:

5 kg Golden Promise Pale

8.0 g Simcoe (12.3%) - added during boil, boiled 60 min

22.0 g Simcoe (12.3%) - added during boil, boiled 10.0 min

22.0 g Simcoe (12.3%) - added during boil, boiled 1 min

20.0 g Simcoe (12.3%) - added in secondary for 10 days

.6 g Carageenan - added during boil, boiled 10 min

1 ea Fermentis US-05 Safale US-05

Schedule:

Ambient Air: 21.11 °C

Source Water: 15.56 °C

Elevation: 0.0 m

Mash at 67C for an hour

[Michael Bilby]

thanks for the recipe where would i get a temp control from

i am trying to get hold of x2 IBC's so i can ferment in one for the primary and transfer the brew to settle for the bottling so would need a recipe for at least 800lt to 1000lt what do you think .  This is for when i have done a couple of brews first though

[Barleyman]

Build a fermenting fridge, and wire up one of these http://www.ebay.com/itm/Digital-Temperature-Control-Controller-Ther...

[John S.]

Haha dude... you will be looking at thousands if not tens of thousands of dollars worth of equipment to be able to brew those kinda quantities of beer. Then of course you would likely need to be registered with customs and paying duty on your beer (around $1.50/litre duty), and be registered through your local council for food hygeine regulations. Unless of course you actually were drinking all of the beer yourself and not sharing it around. 

[mattd2]

As others have said 1000 litres of beer is a huge amount, that would be drinking 3 litres of beer every day of the year just to get rid of 1 batch! As far as I know NZ laws are also written around the supply of alcohol, so even if you don't "sell" and only give away that beer for no return, I would expect you might still come under the scrutiny of the excise department for their tax money :D.

Going back to square one to ask a few basic questions to get an idea where you are at:

Why do you want to brew beer?

Who do you want to brew beer for?

What sort of beer are you looking to brew, example of existing an brand(s)?

How much money do you have? (I only ask because brewing 1000 litres of beer at a time is going to cost a lot of money - at a rough guess ~$30k to do it on the extreme cheap DIY for beer you can not potential even share with other people! and that is equipment costs only, ingredients are extra)

[Scarrfie]

Not sure that brewerscoop do a bag for 1000L there Dougal, maybe Michael could get one custom made. A bit of voile from spotlight might do the trick, can you sew Michael?