Home Brew

[Slingshot]

Last week I brought myself a home brew kit, and I've got my first brew fermenting as we speak and should be ready for bottling in the next day or so.

Are there any other KBer home brewers? Have you got any tips for a noob or any favorite recipes?

What about bad experiences with home brew...come on...lets hear 'em.

[Wasp]

cool, so what day should we turn up at your place?

edit: you comming to our bbq?

[Swoop]

Used to brew my own. Still have the kit downstairs.
It became a hassle with the exploding glass bottles!!!
The occasional batch was OK, and there were several VERY pleasant batches. Good luck with your endeavours.

[mikey62]

Above all thats the main thing. Can't recall what temp it should be at but what ever it is make sure it doesn't vary too much. Also, when doing a dark brew don't do the black jelly bean trick.... YUCK ! The longer you can leave it before indulging is also an important one. Have been known to drink a batch after only a few days in the bottle..... more yuck.

Also, I hope your partner gets used to sleeping with the window open. And although guys find dutch ovens are funny, women don't . Esp home brew farts

[James Deuce]

One kid and he turns to drink.

Pathetic.

Hi, my name is Slingshot and I'm a Dad, err, Alcoholic, errr Demented Motorcyclist - I'm so confused!

[Ozzie]

I consider myself an expert. (pt)fficeffice" />>>
>>
Have tried my hand at home brew, and have to say it is easier in the summer.
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From memory, you should keep it at a constant temp (can’t remember the exact temp), in summer I kept it in the shed, no problem (it generates a little heat on it’s own). In winter, or now, a little more difficult. I found a water bed heater did the trick.
>>
Just as important is the timing, I think it was 14 days in the barrel, 14 in the bottle, (which is too slow for my thirst), but don’t drink it early, you will bet a buzz, but it your doing it for enjoyment, avoid it.

[Hitcher]

Hmmm. Beer.

[Shadows]

Pitfalls for young players as I understand them...

Adding extra sugar and/or malt extract in an attempt to get higher strength beer - more often than not it tastes like shite and can cause bottles to explode in the secondary fermentation stage if the recipe change hasn't been taken into account when checking the S.G.

Drinking it green out of the fermenter - tastes like shite, has no bubbles, gives you the screaming shits. Trust me on this. Drink 10 litres, expect to shit 20 litres.

Bottling too early when S.G. is not at the right level. Once again, tastes green, can cause bottles to explode before one gets to drink them.

Not washing the bottles or fermenter properly, or not rinsing the bottle washing stuff out properly. Kills the yeast. Adding more yeast won't help.

Adding the wrong amount of sugar to the bottles for secondary fermentation. Not enough = flat beer. Too much = big mess when bottles blow up.

Storing freshly bottled beer in fridge. Yeast needs to be at room temperature to keep working and create bubbles/head. Store in fridge after a couple of weeks and just prior to drinking.

Fermenting at too high a temperature.... yeast does not fully work out sugars before running out of steam. Piss weak green flat beer. Refer screaming shits comment above.

Mixture in fermenter too hot when adding yeast - kills yeast, no reaction. This can be fixed by adding another pack of yeast after it has cooled down.

Not washing S.G. meter before checking how the brew is doing and introducing an "infection" which can kill the yeast.

[Skyryder]

Always been tempted to brew but I don't drink enough now to warrent it. Good luck.

Skyryder

[Steam]

I brew very well and used to do it often.
At one stage I had over 20 full crates in the basement, clarifying and maturing.
I also did fruit wines which were fun but not as nice as the beer.
Here's a great NZ forum http://realbeer.co.nz/forum/ with heaps of tips.

The main advice I'd give is to get rid of the yeastiness before you bottle. There's nothing worse than a yeasty beer.
To do this use Islinglass or another "clarifying agent" to get rid of the yeast cells before bottling. The clarifying agent makes the yeast sink to the bottom. Available from brewing shops, about $5.
Then siphon the clear beer into another vessel, and allow it to clarify and mature for up to a month before bottling.
Enjoy! Mmmm... beer.

[Slingshot]

One kid and he turns to drink.

Pathetic.

Hi, my name is Slingshot and I'm a Dad, err, Alcoholic, errr Demented Motorcyclist - I'm so confused!

Actually, I'm drinking less now that I'm a dad...but I plan on increasing my intake at least to the pre-fatherhood days.

Also, I hope your partner gets used to sleeping with the window open. And although guys find dutch ovens are funny, women don't . Esp home brew farts

Haha...an added benefit of home brew that I wasn't aware of...the home brew it seems will help with the home brew.

cool, so what day should we turn up at your place?

edit: you comming to our bbq?

BBQ?

Here's a great NZ forum http://realbeer.co.nz/forum/ with heaps of tips.

I entered my details to register about a week ago, I'm still waiting for the administrator to activate my account .


The brew that I've got going at the moment has been sitting between 18 and 20`c so far and the bubbles have all but stopped coming out the air lock, I'm going to check the S.G. tomorrow and will probably rack for a couple of days and then bottle.

I've got to decide what recipe I'm going to make for my next batch...I'm thinking a Belgium Strong Ale of some description.

[kevfromcoro]

home brew,,been making it for years,,got pissed off with washing bottles,so went and bought 3x50ltr kegs ,use one for the fermenter.takes about 5 days to work,in the sumer,ok when it has finished working.i syphom it of into a steralised keg and leave it for about another 5 days to settle.then charge it up with co2..takes over nite.ready to drink..the longer it settles .the clearer it is.ok..with the 2 empty kegs,,start another brew.good system once get going..allways got between 100 to 150 ltrs.just incase a thirsty mate turns up.the rental of the co2 bottle is about $35 a yr,,from boc gases.

[dnos]

Home brew is great, and once ya get the hang of it you can get some damn fine results.
I won a kit when i was at uni and it was a godsend, saved me a lot of money.
The most important thing has to be cleaning, make sure everything is sterilised and rinsed out at each stage - anyhting that touches the beer must be clean. Otherwise it all goes wrong and you may have to tip it all down the sink.
Keeping a good temperature has been mentioned above, you can wrap it in a heater or put it on a heater pad during winter. Personally I found that a higher temperature (24-25c) and faster fermentation was not as good, better to try and keep it down around 20c. But after a few goes you will start to see all this stuff for yourself.

The brew shops these days have all sorts of stuff to make it easier, glass bottles i believe can produce better beer but plastic ones are sooooo much easier to use. For secondary fermentation get some of the sugar tablet thingys so you don't have to measure sugar into the bottle.

There is also a huge range of malts available, buy the good stuff you will not regret it. The brewery store i used to go to recommended using a flavour enhancer instead of just sugar and it was very worthwile.

I am now inspired to order some more supplies and lay a brew down.
Enjoy it mate, but please be patient enough to give it 2 or 3 weeks in the bottle. Blowing your own bubbles with a straw sucks.

[Trudes]

My step-dad used to brew his own beer (and wine) and then drink it and cry for his mummy for hours afterwards. I remember him having to "burp" it by letting out built up gas. Had a party at my place one night when the folks had gone away for the weekend and a couple of mates got into the brew before it was ready, fark they were sick, so I guess you don't drink it while it's still "brewing". Good luck, and do we get to sample??

[lb99]

Last week I brought myself a home brew kit, and I've got my first brew fermenting as we speak and should be ready for bottling in the next day or so.

Are there any other KBer home brewers? Have you got any tips for a noob or any favorite recipes?

What about bad experiences with home brew...come on...lets hear 'em.

cool, go for it.

start by following the instructions on the kit to the letter, clean everything real well, I use bleach, its heaps cheaper than sterilising shit, just make sure you rinse it untill there are no fumes left and you are good to go., I got sick of washing bottles, so I made a bottle washer out of a supermarket basket and some irrigation risers and stuff from the warehouse, chuck the bottles in, hook it up to the hose tap, and turn on the pressure, instant rinser

if beer is too hard, then try making spirits, the initial outlay is higher unless you can make your own still, but the process is so easy that its scarey.

also if you have a still, then you will never have to pour a bad brew down the sink, just scrape the thrush off the top and run it though the still,= clear spirits

enjoy