[Closed] Brewers of STW

Nice links, thanks!

Just stocked up on malts and hops as it happens. Got some crushed chocolate to try out for a change. Latest effort was a crushed crystal and Goldings affair. Not 100% sure yet, as it's conditioning in the bottle, but I may have slightly overdone the hopping. Nice and clean, clear beer though, and pre-conditioning sample went down well.

Is this the place to ask for an idiot's guide? I have absolutely no knowledge but wanting to start brewing my own. We live in France and struggle to get any proper ale! One thing I think might be a problem is that we lack anywhere cool...this was a problem when we tried home-made cheese.

At present wanting to limit expenditure, but in time don't mind investing a bit.

[url= http://www.brewerscoop.co.nz/BIAB.pdf ]This[/url] shows you the basics of BIAB. Best advice is just to get brewing and you'll soon learn/research as you go along 🙂

One thing I think might be a problem is that we lack anywhere cool

This could be problematic. How warm are we talking? I generally ferment at around 15-18 degrees, which works well for me, but to be honest, most ale yeasts are fine up to around 22 degrees.

You can make a brewfridge on the cheap. Just pick up an old fridge/freezer that someone is throwing away and follow one of the many guides available online for converting it into a unit which will keep a constant temperature inside all year round.

I just completed my first batch and handed a few bottles off to some friends for their opinions. I'll have another go at it soon but I need to drink this lot first 😉

That's great thanks. Very very tempting. Shame we recently sold a chest freezer and took an old smaller freezer to the tip....

Would one of your recipes above be good for a first try?
Any online suppliers you can recommend?
Hope you are still enjoying the Highlands by the way.

I used [url= http://www.brewuk.co.uk/store/ ]these[/url] guys recently and was impressed.

In all honesty, for your first few recipes, I'd stick with something really simple, since it means less to think about, less to go wrong and it will help you identify what ingredients are leading to specific flavours. But, that said, the Sierra Nevada pale ale is pretty straight forward (no dry hopping etc). You could leave out the yeast nutrient too.

Have a google for "first all grain recipe", since I suspect there will be loads of blogs/forum posts with recipes in them 🙂

(as for the highlands...i'll be there in t minus 5 hours... 😉 )

Is it possible to brew gluten-free beer?

Thanks. 🙂

cg - yes, I believe it is. not sure how, but I think it's possible

nice idea PF but try here before you go re-inventing the wheel...
http://www.jimsbeerkit.co.uk/forum/viewforum.php?f=5&sid=6325a104841127a7ca3b38c142ee7031

There's a million recipes online John, the purpose of this was for STWers to share their favourites 🙂

One thing I think might be a problem is that we lack anywhere cool..

cool is only really a problem if you want to brew lagers... as long as your fermentation room is below 25C you should be ok for ales

Finished this book the other day. Light hearted and not in massive depth but this guy visited 60 breweries in Scotland but does talk a bit about the process different brewers used:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Leaf-Paradox-Discovering-Beer-Whisky- [url]ebook/dp/B00DP8S2JU/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1391781617&sr=8-4&keywords=the+tea+leaf[/url]

There's a million recipes online John, the purpose of this was for STWers to share their favourites

fair point 😳
actually, come to think of it, I have a few favourites that I'd like to share too...
later...

anyway, there's also this:
http://www.brewmate.net/recipe

lots of repetition there but the "Dirty Celebration Ale" is one of my favourites

Oh, also, the Open University are currently offering a full online course in the the "Chemistry of Beer" for FREE 🙂

I've already done the first couple of modules...it's quite full on. A background in chemistry would be a distinct advantage!

Slick interface too, it's well put together.

[url= https://janux.ou.edu/landing/course.chem4970.html ]Chemistry of Beer[/url]

cg - yes, I believe it is. not sure how, but I think it's possible

Thanks john. 🙂

I'd just like to thank peterfile publicly as i've been one of the email lurkers and his advice has been great so far. I haven't brewed any BIAB so far, but i'm really looking forward to it and some of the recipes up there, particularly the SNPA, look awesome!

Second vote for BrewUK here, used them lots and always delivered well. Likewise i think the forum is great over there, haven't been able to identify the "big hitters" yet 😉

I've got an Oatmeal Stout on the go at the moment, it's one of the best beers I've done in the last 6 years:

Pale Malt 4600g 75.4%
Roasted Barley 600g 9.8%
Flaked Barley 300g 4.9%
Flaked Oats 300g 4.9%
Pale Chocolate Malt 300g 4.9%

Challenger 60mins 32g
Fuggle 10mins 32g

23litres / OG1.059 / 5.2% / 30IBU

Cheers,
Jamie

Oh, also, the Open University are currently offering a full online course in the the "Chemistry of Beer" for FREE

Cheers,
Jamie

Is it possible to brew gluten-free beer?

Cheers,
Jamie

I'd just like to thank peterfile publicly as i've been one of the email lurkers and his advice has been great so far. I haven't brewed any BIAB so far, but i'm really looking forward to it and some of the recipes up there, particularly the SNPA, look awesome!

Ah ha! It's you then 🙂

Jamie, that's quite like an oatmeal stout I did recently, I had some black malt and carapils in there too, with northern brewer instead of challenger.

Jamie, that's quite like an oatmeal stout I did recently, I had some black malt and carapils in there too, with northern brewer instead of challenger.

Cheers,
Jamie

Thanks jamie. 🙂 This place is a mine of information!

Jamie, I brewed a [url= http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f12/chocolate-espresso-stout-40754/ ]Chocolate Espresso Russian Imperial Stout[/url] a few months ago. Soooo much fun to brew. It's an enormous beer (about 9.8%), so I think it's going to need 6-12 months to mellow, however I had a sample at the 2 month mark and it's coming along very nicely.

I brewed some espresso and added to the secondary FV. Think I used 1 shot of espresso per 1.5-2 litres in the FV.

Give it a bash, definitely worth sticking batch down for a while!

I've been thinking about getting an RIS on the go for ages, it's the tying up of a keg for a year + that's putting me off! It weird, I don't drink coffee, or any hot drinks for that matter, but love coffee-y stouts, coffee cake, tiramisu - I think I'm actually a closet classic STW coffee ponce!

Cheers,
Jamie

t's the tying up of a keg for a year + that's putting me off

bottles!

bottles!

If I am bottling I tend to bulk condition in a Corny keg then once dropped clear then rack into bottles.

Cheers,
Jamie

yeah they're a faff but on the other hand, if one goes 'off', you only lose 500ml. If your keg isn't properly cleaned, you lose the lot...

First time Brewer, Woodfordes Wherry, Bottled up last Sunday, Looking forward to results in 9 days and counting!

I'm just waiting for my third batch to be ready for drinking. Only standard kits so far but really enjoying it so far.

Also have some wine that I'll be bottling this weekend. Not sure how long to leave that before drinking. I'll try a month.

[b][u]Dirty Celebration Ale[/u][/b]
Original Gravity 1068 Final Gravity 1014
Colour (SRM / EBC) 9.5/18.7

Bitterness Alcohol by Volume
64.3 IBU 7.0%

Brewhouse Specs
Recipe Type All Grain / BIAB
Batch Size 20L
Boil Time 60min

[b]Fermentables[/b]

Pale Ale Malt 4.61 Kg
Munich I 0.92 Kg
Carared 0.25 Kg
Wheat Malt 0.25 Kg
Caramunich III 0.12 Kg

[b]Hops[/b]
Name Amount Use Time
Nugget 27.24g Boil 60 mins
Amarillo 19.74g Boil 15 mins
Cascade 19.74g Boil 15 mins
Centennial 19.74g Boil 15 mins
Amarillo 19.74g Boil 5 mins
Cascade 19.74g Boil 5 mins
Centennial 19.74g Boil 5 mins
Amarillo 19.74g Boil 0 mins
Cascade 19.74g Boil 0 mins
Centennial 19.74g Boil 0 mins

[b]Yeast[/b]
Safale US-05

[b]Mash Steps[/b]
Saccharification Rest 60.0 min 66.0 °C / 150.8 °F

If I where to brew it again, I'd add a little black malt- just to give a bit more coffee-ness to it. The fuggles and challenger hops where home grown, now is the time to get planting! If anyone want's some cuttings, just shout.

Cheers,
Jamie

Started this two weeks ago insane Belgian Quadruple for a mates 60th bday in September
going to bulk condition it in a cornie then bottle into 250 ml bottles
a sipping beer I think

Alien-Evil-60
Belgian Dark Strong Ale (18 E)Type: All Grain
Batch Size: 23.00 l
Boil Size: 25.81 l
Boil Time: 60 min
End of Boil Vol: 23.92 l
Final Bottling Vol: 23.00 l
Fermentation: Ale, Two Stage
Date: 23 Jan 2014
Brewer: Troutie
Asst Brewer:
Equipment: Trouts equipment
Efficiency: 72.00 %
Est Mash Efficiency: 72.0 %
Taste Rating: 30.0

Taste Notes:

Ingredients Amt Name Type # %/IBU
5.00 kg Pale Malt, Maris Otter (5.9 EBC) Grain 1 45.5 %
2.00 kg Munich Malt - 20L (39.4 EBC) Grain 2 18.2 %
2.00 kg Vienna Malt (6.9 EBC) Grain 3 18.2 %
0.25 kg Acid Malt (5.9 EBC) Grain 4 2.3 %
0.25 kg Carafoam (3.9 EBC) Grain 5 2.3 %
0.25 kg Caramel/Crystal Malt - 60L (118.2 EBC) Grain 6 2.3 %
0.25 kg Melanoiden Malt (39.4 EBC) Grain 7 2.3 %
1.00 kg Candi Sugar, Dark (541.8 EBC) Sugar 8 9.1 %
60.00 g Goldings, East Kent [5.00 %] - Boil 90.0 min Hop 9 21.2 IBUs
50.00 g Tettnang [4.50 %] - Steep/Whirlpool 60.0 min Hop 10 7.4 IBUs
2.0 pkg SafBrew Specialty Ale (DCL/Fermentis #T-58) [23.66 ml] Yeast 11 -

Gravity, Alcohol Content and Color
Est Original Gravity: 1.108 SG
Est Final Gravity: 1.016 SG
Estimated Alcohol by Vol: 12.3 %
Bitterness: 28.6 IBUs
Est Color: 82.8 EBC Measured Original Gravity: 1.106 SG
Measured Final Gravity: 1.010 SG
Actual Alcohol by Vol: 12.8 %
Calories: 1040.6 kcal/l
Mash Profile
Mash Name: Single Infusion, Light Body, No Mash Out
Sparge Water: 9.75 l
Sparge Temperature: 75.6 C
Adjust Temp for Equipment: FALSE
Total Grain Weight: 11.00 kg
Grain Temperature: 13.0 C
Tun Temperature: 6.0 C
Mash PH: 5.20 Mash Steps Name Description Step Temperature Step Time
Mash In Add 26.08 l of water at 71.9 C 64.4 C 75 min

Sparge: Fly sparge with 9.75 l water at 75.6 C
Mash Notes: Simple single infusion mash for use with most modern well modified grains (about 95% of the time).

Carbonation and Storage
Carbonation Type: Bottle
Pressure/Weight: 135.29 g
Keg/Bottling Temperature: 21.1 C
Fermentation: Ale, Two Stage
Volumes of CO2: 2.3
Carbonation Used: Bottle with 135.29 g Corn Sugar
Age for: 30.00 days
Storage Temperature: 18.3 C
Notes

Created with BeerSmith

Damn it Trout that sounds dangerous!!

I'm still using my massive brewery stuff, great way to start!, getting the hang of things now and producing some nice bitters.

I started out trying to do all sorts of recipes and clones but I think mastering a standard brew is fairly important, you can see what you're doing wrong or where you can improve.

Got to start looking into water treatment and controlling fermentation temperatures next!

It was only meant to be 11% but ended up at that though not yet got an ending gravity.

cheapest way for fermenting temp control is a large builders bucket and a fishtank heater surround the fermenter with water and set the thermostat on the fishtank heater and leave somewhere that is not too hot

[URL= http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa46/amticoman/Home%20Brew/2013-03-10141655.jp g" target="_blank">http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa46/amticoman/Home%20Brew/2013-03-10141655.jp g"/> [/IMG][/URL]

second way is a insulated cupboard and a 50 watt greenhouse heater controled by a STC digital controller

[url= http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Digital-STC-1000-All-Purpose-Temperature-Controller-Thermostat-Aquarium-w-Sensor-/181006904049 ]STC 1000[/url]

[URL= http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa46/amticoman/Home%20Brew/2013-06-21200133.jp g" target="_blank">http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa46/amticoman/Home%20Brew/2013-06-21200133.jp g"/> [/IMG][/URL]

Then a more complex way is a fridge with heater and STC 1000 to heat and cool if needed

other than a campden tablet in the water to get rid of any chlorine, treatment may or may not be necessary, depending on the quality of your water to start with.
I've never treated my water other than the campden tablet; so far it's worked fine without.

I'm doing a BIAB demo at my LHBS tomorrow and the owner normally uses a bit of gypsum & epsom salts when he brews at home, but doesn't bother when he brews at the shop. seems to work for him as well

Trout, that cupboard looks great, I hadn't though of insulating mine. My cupboard never goes below 14 degrees in winter, but can sit at 25 in summer, so my biggest battle is trying to keep it cool. Any ideas other than having to build a fridge? I've not go space for that at the moment.

I just opened an oatmeal stout that I bottled a few weeks ago. Expected to be a bit wild at the moment, but it was fantastic! I can't see how it could improve that much over time, but if it does then I'll be a happy man! Really straight forward recipe, nothing special, but just came out really well. Will post the recipe up when I get home.

I'd gratefully take some cuttings off you but I think I'm a bit far away (Manc). Love the idea of planting some rhizomes but not sure how the reality works out - do you not need some serious trellis work?

PM me your address and I'll and get some cut, probably at the weekend. Nothing fancy needed to train them, I simply extended a fence panel using 1m lengths of 1"x1/2" timber and zig-zaged garden wire / bailer twine up the panel and posts. Hops grew really quickly, once they get going tuck them round the wire / twine everyday.

Cheers,
Jamie

Hey all, great thread and as always its surprising how many common interests span STW and the depth of knowledge that exists here 🙂

First time Brewer, Woodfordes Wherry, Bottled up last Sunday, Looking forward to results in 9 days and counting!

tacopowell, welcome to the world of home brewing! As a complete novice myself (brewed my first wherry last June) I can suggest the most important skill to master (IMO) is patience! I bottled a festival IPA in July and it was fully 4 months before I felt it was at its best. It’s like a punch in the face from a grapefruit, not unlike Punk IPA but a lot less refined than that. Still my best kit brew to date although I would definitely recommend the Festival beer kits range over any others I’ve tried (albeit the only others I’ve tried are Woodfordes kits)
Luckily my garage store is a mile from my house (sister’s garage) so the immediate urge to drink beer is tempered by a 15 minute round trip to get it... I find with almost every kit brew I've done they taste a lot better after 3 months, but I’ve still noticed the homebrew "twang" which is why I’m thinking about dabbling with BIAB 🙂

In terms of the brewfridge there is a great guide on building a temp controller based on the STC1000 mentioned by Trout on the previous page. Even a mildly competent DIY’er and a few bits scavenged here and there can make something that looks pretty good and works really well. I managed to pick up an old fridge from freecycle, reinforced the bottom shelf and jammed the temp controller probe and a 60w greenhouse heater in there and it will keep my brew within 0.5 degrees for the life of the fermentation. One tip - make sure the probe is well insulated on the side not touching the FV otherwise the controller will start hunting i.e. fridge cools below threshold it so immediately starts heating, heat rises quickly above threshold so it turns the fridge on to cool etc. As some have said it might not be top of the list for a novice brewer but I really liked putting the project together and I think maintaining a steady temp can only be good for the brew.

Link to the [url= http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forums/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=2804&hilit=stc1000 ]thread[/url] on BrewUK here, which is an excellent source of info and people on there are helpful too.

Sadly last weekend’s project didn’t go quite to plan 🙁 I decided to have a go at building a wort chiller out of copper. I’d managed to procure the copper coil at a reasonable price from a local plumbers' merchant and found a paint can approx. the diameter that I needed, but it wasn’t tall enough to wrap the copper all the way up. In the usual style of “if in doubt, flat out” I set about it on the kitchen floor and actually got on quite well until a momentary lapse in concentration produced a slight (note slight) kink in the tubing. Cursing myself I carried on to about 95% completion, but the kink was bugging me already. I’m sure more than a few of you are aware of the gnawing, nagging sensation that it’s just not 100% right and once you acknowledge this debilitation condition all rational thought goes out of the window 🙂

The reality was the kink was so slight I could have left it, or just squeezed it gently with pliers to sort it but no, I had to do something about it. After confirming the external pipe bender I had would never get to it in a million years (it was about 1/3 way up the coils) I foolishly decided to unroll the coil and start again. BIG MISTAKE. The project rapidly unrolled in front of my eyes, figuratively and literally. The coil began kinking at every turn, probably because I’d moved out of the relative warmth of the kitchen into the cold garden and the copper did not take kindly to being bent a second time. Cue lots of huffing and puffing, muttered swearing and a few slaps for the shed, then the whole 10m coil of copper was consigned to the recycle bin. Needless to say I was raging at myself for a: attempting it without having everything I needed to get the job done properly and b: letting a pretty insignificant event derail the whole thing and cost me £16.

Needless to say I’ve learnt my lesson and have a couple or revisions to make before I attempt it again.
We’ve all been there when the screwdriver is good enough to do the job, then it slips and gouges the frame…..

Anyway, that’s my painful weekend experience laid bare so I feel at peace now and ready to move on. Keep the great tips, advice and recipes coming.

PS peterfile that RIS sounds magic and Trout that death cocktail you posted sounds scary awesome! 🙂

Cheers

can anyone post a link to that micro kettle kit that was posted up on here just before christmas? it was 99 quid or something like....otherwise whats the basic kit required to progress from two can kits as im doing now to all grain...I obviously have a fermentation bin and pressurisation barrel and hydrometer ect.

http://www.massivebrewery.com/index.html

do it....

donks - Member

can anyone post a link to that micro kettle kit that was posted up on here just before christmas? it was 99 quid or something like....otherwise whats the basic kit required to progress from two can kits as im doing now to all grain...I obviously have a fermentation bin and pressurisation barrel and hydrometer ect.

[img] [/img]

It's quite hard to keep the temperature right on an Aga, by the way! 🙂

Cheers Clobber.

Might have to purchase one of these just to ease me into the process. Have read some of the older posts on this system and so far i gather my ceramic hob may be a bit crap, so as an alternative i have a 2 ring camping stove in the garage which may be better plus the steam and smell would be confined to there leaving my kitchen and wife well out of it. Will this be ok..this should be fine?

Hmmm... can't vouch for the power of your camping stove boiling 10litres... try it first, it might be fine...

I have a gas wok hob on my cooker and it powers it beautifully... And I love the smell of boiling wort in the kitchen... Missus, kids and dog not so keen...

I think the massive set-up is a great way to start, you will want to upgrade eventually but it answers a lot of questions.

I think the massive set-up is a great way to start, you will want to upgrade eventually but it answers a lot of questions.

Agreed in full.

One thing I would suggest is to buy a second/third FV bucket. That way, you can spread out the fermentation to bottling times nicely, and build up a decent stock of stuff conditioning in the bottle, as well as having a failover if a brew goes wrong!

Finally got round to doing my first brew with the Massive kit on Saturday. IMO it's great value as it includes almost everything you need, even a (very well made) immersion chiller. The only other thing you need to buy is steriliser, but there are loads of places to get that so it isn't a problem.

It went well (I think!), got the first bubbles of fermentation after about 18-ish hours so hopefully on the way to some nice beer! It really is so straight forward, I think you'll wonder why you ever bothered with a basic kit (I jumped straight in with this!)

The limited size (going to get 15-16 pints out of it I think) might be an issue for some but it's perfect for me. I don't actually drink that much but I'm looking forward to doing lots of experimenting with different recipes (which is where the AG method really shines).

Agreed in full.

+1

I've already started swapping things out and planning some gear that I can scale up recipes on.

The best thing about the Massive Brewery kit, if like me you were a complete novice, is that you can't make any equipment buying errors. You get (almost) everything you need to make beer and it all works well together.

After a few brews you start getting a feeling for what's happening, why it's happening and how you can change/tweak that process, along with what might make it easier.

I reckon my 10 litre kit will always be used though, since it's great being able to play around with a new recipe and getting it right before committing to a big batch. Also, I prefer variety - there's no point in my knocking out 40+ bottles of an IPA at a time, because I just won't get through them all at their best, especially since I'm likely to have other beers knocking around.

I've currently got two IPAs, two double IPAs, RIS, Black IPA, oatmeal stout and a porter on the go! You couldn't have that much variety when you're producing large batches.

Based on a quick count, I think i've brewed about 20 batches on the kit now. If I was brewing large batches I would only have about a fifth of the brewing experience I have already.

going to get 15-16 pints out of it I think

I get between 12 and 14 bottles on average. I tend to fill the kettle as full as it will go without guaranteed boil over, but rarely get more than 12-14 bottles. About 8.5 litres normally ends up in the fermenter, then I lose about 1-2 litres to trub, dry hopping and shrinkage.

I get between 12 and 14 bottles on average. I tend to fill the kettle as full as it will go without guaranteed boil over, but rarely get more than 12-14 bottles. About 8.5 litres normally ends up in the fermenter, then I lose about 1-2 litres to trub, dry hopping and shrinkage.

Will definitely get another couple of FVs, can see easily see myself having 2-3 on the go at a time!

Black IPA

do tell, that sounds intriguing!

I picked up a few Youngs 10l fermenting buckets from my LHBS for about £5 each. I always keep the Massive Brewery fermenting bucket empty and use that is a bottling bucket, so I just sipon the beer into that once it's ready to be bottled.

I bought a bottling wand which goes over the little tap, which has made bottling MUCH easier. [url= http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Little-Bottler-Complete-Easy-Bottle-Filler-with-Tap-all-in-ONE-Homebrew-/181244203203?pt=UK_Home_Garden_Food_SM&hash=item2a32ff10c3 ]Little Bottler[/url]. I also add my sugar + water mix to the bottling bucket before I siphon in the beer - this has given me easy and consistent carbonation across at the bottles.

david, the black IPA is a fairly new style. It's hoppy like an IPA but carries the lovely malt profile of a dark beer. It's not my favourite style to be honest, but is good fun to brew and gives a really interesting mix of flavour.

The recipe I used was:

4 lbs 12.4 oz Pale Malt (2 Row) US
7.0 oz Carafa III
5.0 oz Munich Malt - 10L
4.7 oz Caramel/Crystal Malt - 40L
0.4 oz Northern Brewer [8.5%] -
0.2 oz Centennial [10.0%] - Boil 60 min
0.4 oz Centennial [10.0%] - Boil 30 min
0.4 oz Northern Brewer [8.5%] - Boil 5 min
0.8 oz Centennial [10.0%] - Boil 0 min
0 pkgs California Ale (White Labs #WLP001)
0.8 oz Centennial [10.0%] - Dry Hop 7 days

I picked up a few Youngs 10l fermenting buckets from my LHBS for about £5 each. I always keep the Massive Brewery fermenting bucket empty and use that is a bottling bucket, so I just sipon the beer into that once it's ready to be bottled.

I bought a bottling wand which goes over the little tap, which has made bottling MUCH easier. Little Bottler. I also add my sugar + water mix to the bottling bucket before I siphon in the beer - this has given me easy and consistent carbonation across at the bottles.

Was wondering about something like the Little Bottler so will order that up if it's recommended! Was also going to get some Star San for the bottling as have read a lot of good things about it online, unless anyone has any horror stories?

Have tried a couple of Black IPAs as we're lucky enough to have a very well stocked boutique-beer stall at the local farmers' market. Definitely a cool idea but not for me though really!

Star San for the bottling as have read a lot of good things about it online, unless anyone has any horror stories?

I'm currently using this stuff;
[img] [/img]
Pretty cheap, easy to use and to date haven't had any issues with taste/tang/horridness from it!

Then again, for bottling, I'm lucky to have two Belfast sinks in the kitchen, so can have one with the bottles submerged/soaking and then rinse them off in the other, over which I have the tap for bottling.

Haven't had too much issue with bubbling/air when bottling, but trying to roll it down the inside of the bottle helps. That little bottler thing looks tidy, though!

A no-rinse sanitiser is a good idea IME - makes things easier. Star san works great once you get over the sight of all the foam it leaves behind. Yeast love that stuff though.
Iodophor was another popular one before star-san was introduced.

Used VWP loads and it is fine - you do need to be careful that it all dissolves, though. It can be quite resistant to dissolution in cold water so not something to rush.

I've got the youngs 23l autosyphon and the little bottler - fantastic pieces of kit that save lots of time too.

+1 for Starsan - DFTF (Dont Fear The Foam!)

PF - that black IPA does sound intriguing!

Was wondering about something like the Little Bottler so will order that up if it's recommended! Was also going to get some Star San for the bottling as have read a lot of good things about it online, unless anyone has any horror stories?

I love Star San. I have a spray bottle filled with it and everything that touches the wort post boil gets a blast.

For bottles, I clean with PBW first, then sanitise with Star San. To sanitise I mix up star san in about 2 litres cold water, then fill up 3 bottles to the brim. Leave for a minute or two, then pour the contents into the next three bottles and so on.

There is a little bit of foam left in the bottle, but as they say, don't fear the foam! Using the Little Bottler wand means that the foam is pushed out of the bottle as you fill it. If you try to fill from the top of the bottle after using star san, you'll just end up with a huge bubbly mess (speaking from experience here!)

so can have one with the bottles submerged/soaking and then rinse them off in the other

As i understand it flashy, it's not a good idea to rinse sanitised bottles with tap water, since it's not sterile (which is why a no rinse sanitiser like star san is preferable).

I used to use VWP. Last summer I lost 5 or 6 21litre batches to phenols - a germolene like taste - due to insufficient rinsing and/or contamination in my fermenting bins. Threw out 5 FVs and the VWP, not lost a batch since. I now use chlorine-free cleaner. Starsan is supposed to be very good.

I can now smell phenol in beer from the other side of a room. Hateful stuff.

Well, to date, I've been OK with rinsing with tap water. Will have to have a look at/try Starsan at some point, as removing the rinsing would be a more hassle free process!

another bit of kit which is really good is the Fastrack system. Its not perfect for 500ml bottles, but i find them really handy for bottling day.

[url= http://thefastrack.ca/main/homebrewer ]Fastrack bottle holders[/url]

I've got the youngs 23l autosyphon and the little bottler - fantastic pieces of kit that save lots of time too.

another bit of kit which is really good is the Fastrack system. Its not perfect for 500ml bottles, but i find them really handy for bottling day.

Hi zilog,

the 23l syphon is designated like that because of the length of it i.e. its long enough to get to the bottom of a standard FV. the 4.5l syphone is much smaller and used for demijohns I think. For your needs a 23l syphon would be needed. Som might say they are overkill but its just one less thing to worry about on bottling day.

As for the fastrack i think its really handy, although i haven't used a bottling tree. As i say you can't get 20 x 500ml bottles in one rack because of the diameter of them, so you have to stagger them across the holes, but i have got enough bottles (c.40) on 3 racks without too many issues. if you have the space these are really stable and easy to use i.e. rinse / sanitise your bottles, rack them here to dry off, get the rest of your bottling gear ready and then pluck them from here when you are ready to bottle. The bottling tree wins if you are really tight for space, but i dont know how stable they are.

Cheers

@ DavidRussel

Would you be interested in a Stainless Steel wound 10mm pipe to cool your wort? They are approx 12ft long once unwound and are from the insides of box chillers tht pubs use to flash cool Lager, Cider and Guiness.

roughly 12" x 14" and fit inside a Burco or bucket FV easily.

Black IPA's .- See if you can source some Carafa S 3 for Wvyerman of Germnay . Its a de- husked roasted barley with approx 1300' of colour . More importantly it leave a smooth taste as the astringent burnt skin of the kernal has been removed.

Red IPA's are worth looking at if you can find some CaraRed from Wvyermans as well.

Thanks david, that's good info. I'm going on holiday soon (leaving a friend in charge of the fermentation!) but will get some bits ordered ready to do the bottling when I get back. Looking forward to doing the next brew(s) already!!

Do any iPad wielding brewers have app recommendations? Reading online the big hitters seem to be iBrewmaster 2, Beer Smith and Beer Alchemy Touch 2. There are plenty of reviews of each but can't seem to find much comparing them directly, probably as they're quite expensive as apps go so I guess most people have only bought one.

How do the brews stack up cost wise for 10ltrs for say a reasonable pale ale? I'm all up for some real brewing but looking at the kit, ingredients and process I wonder if it works out cheaper than buying 10 or so bottles. I realise that you can tailor the beer to your liking and it gives a good sense of achievement so just cost comparison really. And how vital is the cooling, as running water through the coil for half hour seems quite a waste....even considering all the rain recently. Just wondering really?

It costs me about 50p to £1.50 per bottle to make (excluding the bottles themselves, that's just ingredients).

It's a hard calculation to give accurately for smaller batches, since sometimes you'll have to buy all the ingredients, which might include a few 500g bags of speciality malts which you're only using 100g of...but then other times you'll be making recipes from the stuff you have in your cupboard already.

Cooling is pretty important, although some don't bother and seem to get away with it. Your wort is vulnerable to infection as it cools, so the quicker the better. It's not a huge amount of water to be honest, since you don't need the tap on full. I'd be surprised if I use half a bath worth of water when cooling.

I bought the Massive brewery kit as a complete beginner. i've now just completed 5 brews, but i've been upgrading the kit also.

the 10litres pot is a bit small (but i will continue to use it now that i want to experiment a bit). I ended up buying a bigger pot from themaltmiller. i've made a nice mash-tun from a cheap cooler from tesco.

^in terms of cost, its been a bit of an expensive hobby due to the upgrades, but i recently spent £40 on grain & ingredients, and i expect easily to get about 240lites of beer frmm this grain.

I've done a few IPA's, 2 batches of hoegaarden (brilliant cause it only takes a week from brew to drinking) have a nice porter in bottles and i've created a hoppy porter in FV atm.

really enjoying it, it is hard work, i probably spend 5hrs on a brew on one day

And how vital is the cooling, as running water through the coil for half hour seems quite a waste....even considering all the rain recently. Just wondering really?

I think if all I were interested in was saving money then the Massive kit would probably be too small, you'd get a lot more pints out of a bigger setup for a similar level of effort plus the cost-per-pint would be reduced.

2 batches of hoegaarden (brilliant cause it only takes a week from brew to drinking)

some figures from a recent SMASH ( Single malt and single hop ) 23 ltrs
or about 40 pints

5 kilos of Marris Otter malt if bought from a homebrew shop would have been £1.60 per KG = £8
100 grams of East kent golding hops £3.00
Nottingham yeast £2.50
total £13.50
or £0.33 per pint

But if you can get a few mates interested and do group buys this is what it cost me
5 kilos MO @ £0.72 per kg = £3.60
100 gms EKG hops @ £1 = £1
Nottingham yeast = £2.5
total = £7.10
or .18p per pint

plus energy costs I use Propane for the boil and reckon on about £2 per brew

if on a water meter then get a 12v solar pump and use water from a rainwater butt and recirculate it through the chiller .

though you do get about 25 litrs of hot water which I use for the washing up after so using the heat 2 times.

Any ideas for lifting a full FV out of a chest freezer? Or should I build a cupboard like Trout's?

Bob, a full FV is a tricky thing to manouvere at the best of times, getting mine into the brew fridge was a chore and thats not much lifting. Getting it into / out of a chest freezer would be an undertaking. How about 🙂
[img] [/img]

Just thinking though if the freezer hardware gubbins isn't running through the front wall you could very neatly cut a portion of the freezer out and put hinges on it to make it walk in? You wouldn't lose much efficiency in the insulation and it would be a lot easier to get in and out. This is all based on you never actually needing the freezer again though 🙂

Would you be interested in a Stainless Steel wound 10mm pipe to cool your wort? They are approx 12ft long once unwound and are from the insides of box chillers tht pubs use to flash cool Lager, Cider and Guiness.

Singletrackmind is it 12" diameter on the coil? My pot is 26cm diameter (10") in old money so it sounds a bit too big i'm afraid. Would have been ideal too probably. i'm going to build something 6-7 inches in diameter and will post up pics of either the completed chiller or the carnage i cause during hulk rage when i screw it up again... Thanks very much for the offer though Singletrackmind.

hmmm I've been doing some research and starting to understand a little bit. As a complete novice with little idea and no kit would it be best to buy one of the kits using an extract as a starting point?

I'd thought about chopping a door out of the front (and the engine hoist :-)) but I wonder if it would be easier to build an insulated front-loading cupboard? Problem is, I want to both heat it (using a greenhouse heater or a paint can lightbulb jobbie) and be able to do a clearing chill before racking to bottle/keg. I doubt the cooling gubbins from a freezer could be easily transferred to a cupboard?

The short term solution is a chest freezer and two pair of hands come racking time 😀

mugsy, it's really no harder to do an all grain 'brew in the bag' than to brew from a kit. There's a bit more cleaning up to do, and a bit more smell in the kitchen, but it's mainly just waiting the extra 90m or so while you mash the grain.

Check out the vids posted by JohnDrummer and consider doing a smaller volume (10l, or a bit less than half a 'traditional' 5 gallon brew).

edit: the videos on page 1 of the thread

david, the black IPA is a fairly new style. It's hoppy like an IPA but carries the lovely malt profile of a dark beer. It's not my favourite style to be honest, but is good fun to brew and gives a really interesting mix of flavour.

Cheers,
Jamie

hmmm I've been doing some research and starting to understand a little bit. As a complete novice with little idea and no kit would it be best to buy one of the kits using an extract as a starting point?

As I understand it, a Black IPA is made by cold seeping the dark grains then adding the dark liquor to the boil. This is done so just the colour is extracted and not the roasty-ness of the dark malt.

Where did you read that? As far as I understand the style, the dark malt aroma [i]and[/i] flavour is supposed to come across?

Carafa Special III seems to be the key. All of the commercial offerings I've tried have had that roastyness.

Although, I suppose it's hardly a developed/established style, so I doubt there's much agreement between brewers! Mine turned out pretty well I think.

here is the recipe i used for a hoegaargen clone. the thread is unfortunate at 21 pages, but find the time its an interesting read.

http://www.jimsbeerkit.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=38303

As i understand it flashy, it's not a good idea to rinse sanitised bottles with tap water, since it's not sterile (which is why a no rinse sanitiser like star san is preferable).

I been using Videne (local chemist ordered it in for me) at a rate of 1.25ml per litre in a spray bottle as a no-rinse sanitiser. I avoid using VWP on stainless so the Videne gets used in the Corny kegs and bottles. Much cheaper than Star Stan- I think I paid £4 and still have half a bottle left after 4 years!

Cheers,
Jamie

Any ideas for lifting a full FV out of a chest freezer? Or should I build a cupboard like Trout's?

I use a cheap old fridge (£10 off ebay) to regulate temperature - the controls for the fridge and a heat mat are on a fish tank heat controller, they switch on and off to maintain whatever temp I set, very useful.

It's a +1 on the starsan front here was well - really worth making the switch, once you get over the initial price it's actually pretty cheap as well because it lasts so long.

I'd also add get a bottling tree if you are going to bottle in any quantity (10gal brew lengths and above) saves me no end of time, and the foam from the starsan stays in the rinser.

[img] [/img]

Where did you read that? As far as I understand the style, the dark malt aroma and flavour is supposed to come across?

Edit- here it is:[url= http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f14/proposed-style-guidelines-cascadian-dark-ale-161579/ ]Some brewers prefer to cold steep the dark grains to achieve a very dark beer without the tannin contribution of adding the grains to the mash.[/url]

Cheers,
Jamie