Considering homebrewing but need advice...

[nicklawmusic]

Hello there,

I'd like to get into home brewing but I need a bit of advice. I've researched what I need and the general process but I have two major questions:

1) The only place I realistically have space to keep my fermenting bucket, etc, is in my cellar. It is cold and slightly damp, as most British cellars are, so I'm interested to find out if anyone else does this and how they keep their fermenting bucket warm in a cellar?

2) Obviously, I'll be buying a beer kit so all the ingredients will be measured, but should I want to undertake precise brewing at some later stage, is that possible with the same equipment that'd you'd get from Wilkos or somewhere, or would I require additional items?

Thanks,
Nick

 

[bobsbeer]

Welcome :

I'll answer your question in reverse order. The equipment you get in the basic starter kit will be used for all types of brewing, whether kit or all grain. It's an easy way to get started. So I would go ahead and get one. They usually cost in the region of £50 and come with a kit of your choice. A good one to start with is a Woodfordes Wherry, but it depends on your taste in beer what you choose.

As for maintaining the temp of your fermenting beer, there are a few tried and tested ways without going to huge expense. The simplest is a heat mat. There is also a heated brew belt that wraps around the bucket. Both of these types are popular and work. You can also use the fish tank immersion heater method. That too is poplar, but it means you have a wire going in the bucket making it difficult to seal. All of these methods are tried and tested. My advice is to visit a homebrew shop so you can look at the various options and discuss with the shop owner. But there is no need to think you can't brew in your cellar. In many ways it's a great location as the temperature doesn't shift much.

 

[PD]

Welcome Nick.
The great British cellar is not the best place to ferment beer, especially in winter.
You do need to keep the brew at about 20c so you will have to intervene.
Either a simple water bath with fish tank heater, or lots of insulation from blankets or the better solution is to instal a fridge and convert it into a fermenting fridge with a tubular heater added inside.

Cellars are great tho for storing and maturing your beers and for all grain brewing with boiler and mash tun, but thats for the future.

A starter kit from someone like Coopers has all the equipment ( some even include bottles ) that you will need and will form the basic equipment you will need for however long you brew and by whatever method you eventually choose.
Of course additional items will be required as you better your brewing techniques, but the basics are there.

oops bob beat me to it....

 

[PD]

have a good read of the How to's in the index...
heres an example.

viewtopic.php?f=30&t=24822

 

[colt56]

welcome

i brew in a simple cellar type room,(cold and damp),i use a plastic bust bin with about 6" of water and a aquarium heat in. put your fv in and there you go.i have mine on it lowest setting of 18 which keeps my brew at 19.5. heater only cost £10

 

[andyakameatloaf]

Welcome to the forum.
I don't brew in a cellar, but my flat is freezing. I use the waterbath fish tank heater method. look on eBay, I got mine from Hong Kong for about £4, but I had to wait 15 days for delivery. Unfortunately mine just broke, so I got another from a UK seller for £6.20 (both prices inc. postage). I then went to Asda and bought a large 33ltr children's storage flexi bucket for £3. Sit the FV in it and fill with water, set heater to 18*c and put in flexi bucket.

Does the trick nicely, and all for under a tenner.
Just make sure to heed the warnings about not having it on (or indeed off but still warm) outside of water. I burnt my carpet and then smashed my heater because it was on and out of water .

RE equipment:
I've been doing this just under a year, I've just done my first extract brew and still use every bit of kit from my starter kit.

 

[oldbloke]

A lot of my stuff is in the garage, which is effectively a cellar the way my house is built. Cold in winter but not damp. I use a waterbath which is well insulated so it only needs a fairly low powered heater.
A damp cellar may have various interesting mould spores floating around. I'd try to move only sealed fermenters in and out as far as possible to avoid contamination, or maybe clean and bleach the whole place before you start like it was a cafe kitchen.

 

[Good Ed]

Most cellars in old houses are damp but they are ventilated, or should be otherwise the floor joists to the floor above will rot, also there is no need to do any cleaning with bleach.

I've been happily fermenting in our cellar with a brew fridge for temperature control. Just buy an old fridge and put a tubular heating element in it, the 300mm version is about £16, you can then get by using a time clock device to, by trial and error, get the temperature correct, or by spending a bit more money use a STC-1000 temperature controller that will then also operate the fridge with heating and cooling.

My cellar varies from around 17C in summer to 12C in winter, ambient, and the floor then cools another 1-2C, so is the perfect place for brewing lagers; in winter use an ordinary lager yeast and in summer use WLP810 San Francisco Lager yeast at 14-18C. Also you will find that you can use the steps going into the cellar for brewing and use that temperature gradient to suit, top step highest, bottom step lowest, Nottingham is a good yeast to use at lower temperatures. The good thing about a cellar is that the temperature is quite stable and does not heat up or cool down quickly.

Also when you have brewed it is the perfect place to store the beer.

 

[dennisking]

Where do you live. There might be a member near you happy to let you join them for a brew day, you can then ask lots of questions.

 

[nobyipa]

I use two fish tank immersion heaters in my fermenters untill tomorrow i am getting a brew fridge set up

I have them on and controlled by a stc 1000
heaters cos around 6 quid ech delivered and the stc 1000 is on amazon for 14 quid

http://imageshack.us/a/img23/9066/wx96.jpg
using blue tack to seal rubber bung with bubbler and immersion heater

 

[andyakameatloaf]

I use two fish tank immersion heaters in my fermenters untill tomorrow i am getting a brew fridge set up

I have them on and controlled by a stc 1000
heaters cos around 6 quid ech delivered and the stc 1000 is on amazon for 14 quid

http://imageshack.us/a/img23/9066/wx96.jpg
using blue tack to seal rubber bung with bubbler and immersion heater

is there a need for temperature controller? Every fish tank heater I've had has a built in thermostat and regulates itself correctly +/-1*c :S

 

[JKaranka]

You might want to consider a flexible dual nature yeast strain as well, I've seen good and interesting reviews for the Mangrove Jack's Workhorse. Some people find it restarts fermentation when temperature drops and the balance between strains changes. I'm in a slightly similar situation but using an attic room in Autumn-Spring which might drop to 10c.

 

[Papa G]

lucky lucky b!£&*5, when I was lad, we dreamed of having a cellar. :lol: