Home Brew

LEX

Likes Dirt
Hey guys, Im just about to venture off into the land of home made beer :D. Iv Got a proper setup to brew with and the ingrediants thanx to my local home brew shop.
My question is for all you brewers out there.
Are there any tricks to it?
What should i watch out for?
 

The Zigster

Likes Dirt
Get yerself a proper capper. Doing 50 long necks witha hammer and hand held capper=poor seal, broken shit, sore wrist.
Thats all we (me and housemates) have learnt from our first batch. Might be able to tell you more in about a month when the will (hopefully) be drinkable.
 

scblack

Leucocholic
I've done a few batches, not many though. Some of my points:
1.Do get a good capper, my brother-in-law nearly severed a finger off with a broken bottle from hammering cap on.
2.Make sure you REALLY REALLY disinfect everything well, as it can lead to infected brew, which is undrinkable.
3.Don't try to drink them too early, it needs the full brew time to brew properly.
4.Don't put the bottles (just after capping) under your bed or somewhere close to yourself or carpet, as they can explode.

Otherwise follow directions, and cheers
 

bb7 rider

Cyclone Imports
stuff the bottle process just get a keg setup like i have lex, heaps quicker, easier and cleaner beer.

and start a book and write everything you do in it, so if a brew comes out exactly how you want it you can do heaps of them. and share brew formulas with others too.
 

LEX

Likes Dirt
AHahh we have 2 kegs, but this is a team thing so we are doing the first batch in botles, but when party's are on keg all the way. Iv herd that bottles explode if you dont give them enough fermenting time. The instructions i have say 12 days depending on temperature. is that right?
As for sterilisation, the thing im usuing has a proper airlock and i will be making sure to make it very clean b4 starting. can i have a look at ur brew book johnny boy?
 

CHEWY

Eats Squid
Bottles will explode if you do not let the primary fermentation finish fully. Because there will still be left over fermentable sugars in the brew when you bottle them, adding more sugar at the bottling stage will cause the bottle to over gas during the second fermentation and explode.
Also adding to much sugar when bottling will cause them to over gas and explode.
For the second fermentation, try and find an old Kelvinator fridge from the 60's and put a 40wtt light in it. Thats what I use cause its way too cold down here in geelong, and I cant be assed waiting weeks for a brew to be ready.
Use longneck bottles, cause then you have to clean half as many as you do when using stubbies (a big bonus) and make sure you rinse out every bottle after you've drunk them so that they dont grow mold, saves a hell of a lot of time in the long run, write down all the recipies, and save a couple of bottles from each batch so you can drink them in a years time when they're 10x better.
and most of all, enjoy it. Its great fun getting plastered, but its even more fun when you're enjoying something you've made yourself. And it tastes better than almost any commercial brew you can buy.
saying that, me and my mate just bottled up about 45 litres last night. :p
 

cheese

Likes Dirt
One thing you must do is put something over the end of the airlock (piece of cloth, gauze, whatever, just make sure air can get out) other wise the same thing that happened to me might happen to you. Me and my mates were bottling it straight out of the cupboard it was hidden in :roll: so we couldnt see the top, we also ended up drinking it at the same time so didn't finnish bottling it. Next day I was feeling shit thinking "man I didnt drink THAT much" we came back later to finnish bottling it but this time since it was half empty we took it down from the cupboard, and there it was, a cockroach stuck half way in the airlock, if you know how the airlocks work it had got stuck in the bit where the water is and died there. I almost spewed as we found little legs floating at the top of the brew. :cry:
 

cheese

Likes Dirt
Sure did, I also lost 25 L of beer :x
Another thing is once it's finished fermenting don't open it then close it and leave it for a while, bottle it all at once or it will get infected pretty easy, another lesson you won't have to learn the hard way. (that takes it to 50L lost, holy shit that is so much beer)
 

roffle

Likes Dirt
That cockroach was damn disgusting. Definatly put something over the airlock, you never know what might fall in..
 

LEX

Likes Dirt
What type of yeast did u guys use? Iv herd that ale yeast only works when it it is warm. Should i try to get lagar yeast?
 

cheese

Likes Dirt
Ahh Sam you bitch, mix it with OJ, that'll disguise the flavour
:p
We just use the coopers stuff you buy from the shelf at coles, comes with yeast, any brew will ferment faster when it is warm, up to a point where the yeast dies (37 C I think?). Just get whatever you preffer?
 
Nice pointers.
you said that "instructions i have say 12 days depending on temperature. is that right?"
Seems like a long time, being winter, and living in melbourne i use a little belt heater you rap around the fementer. then put the fermenter in a box, keeps it nice and warm. 18-28 is a must.
My brew normally sits about 22-24 and is done in 4-5days

Luk with it

big tip: worst part of brewing is cleaning bottles! (dishwasher works well)
 

roffle

Likes Dirt
cheese said:
Ahh Sam you bitch, mix it with OJ, that'll disguise the flavour
:p
We just use the coopers stuff you buy from the shelf at coles, comes with yeast, any brew will ferment faster when it is warm, up to a point where the yeast dies (37 C I think?). Just get whatever you preffer?
Piss off. :lol: OJ makes it bettah..
A MAJOR pointer is sterilising all the equipment which the beer will touch. I think that was part of the problem last time..?
We need to make another brew Ryan.
 

hozewell

Likes Bikes
distill vodka, its way easier and cheaper, if anyone wants to know how just pm me. costs about 10 bucks for the equipment and about 3 for ingredients. one load of ingredients will make about 6 L at about 50%. i would post it on the site but its supposedly "illeagal" in australia. but i say bollocks to that. i just don't wanna get banned by some mod with a problem.
 

roffle

Likes Dirt
cheese said:
Okay, your house this time. 8)
EDIT: What jump are you doing in your avatar?
For sure, the third garage. It stays cooler down there, so it should be right. The pic is the A-Frame on dippers.

*Edit: Sorry for sort of hijacking. If you distill Vodka incorrectly can't it blow up..?
 

cheese

Likes Dirt
I was looking into making a home distillery but it looked difficult and expensive. From what I saw I think beer is much easyer.
Mabey you have a easy method of doing it? one that doesn't involve lots of copper pipe, barrels and distilling columns?
 

Ell

Likes Dirt
i have been thinking about starting the home brew factory for a while now...but the only question im still stupmed on is where the hell do you buy a homebrew kit in sydney?
...i obviuosly havent looked but some pointers would be nice :p
 
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