Dipping the toes

[Marv]

Hi All,

Completely new to this hobbie. Found this website today whilst I was planning on spending £300 - 400 on a beginners setup - BIAB. Stumbbled on a post from a member (clibit) stating; to just try a small brew in the kitchen and ferment. I decidied to go this route, although, I do know that I can't expect anything special.

So I went ahead and bought the following (10L);

- 1Kg Maris Otter
- Variety of hops (Citra, Galaxy and Amarillo)
- Youngs all purpose yeast (mistake on my part, forgot to buy yeast from an online brew shop and resorted to general yeast from amazon).

Any pointers would be greatly appreciated. I just want to dip my toes into this hobbie, make a brew that is as tasty as possible given the minimal set up.

Thanks folks!

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[Rwilts]

Welcome..

 

[conorm]

Start with liquid kits, learn the basics of hygiene, temperature control and timing, thorough trial and error. Then think about going for grains and hops.

One step I, and others have made, was using liquid malt extract, steeping speciality grains and making hop teas / dry hopping. I still fondly remember the chili chipotle chocolate porter I made when i was messing around with cans of malt extract and caramelised grains.

 

[The Baron]

Welcome to the forum

 

[Agentgonzo]

Any pointers would be greatly appreciated.

Relax, enjoy it and have fun. Kits are a great way to start and they take the complexity out of it (either extract kits, or grain kits).

Do a basic brew, don't fret about doing it wrong, and ignore things that seem 'too complicated' for a brew or two. You can get a whole lot of things wrong and still make pretty good beer and enjoy the process!

 

[Marv]

Thanks folks, I will take on this advice. I plan to attempt the AG brew to see how it turns out. Not 100% of the yeast but I will report back with an update in the weeks to come. Look forward to chatting with you all and thanks for the speedy replies!!

 

[Chippy_Tea]

Welcome to the forum

 

[Clint]

As said your biggest friend is hygiene. Clean and sanitise.

 

[fluketamer]

welcome



i really feel yeast and temperature control are as important or more than sanitation , boil and recipe.

that being said i wouldnt use general purpose yeast , and i would definitely try to cotrol the temperature.

 

[Marv]

Can you recommend a good strain of yeast that its fussy about temp? Is there such a thing?

 

[Agentgonzo]

i really feel yeast and temperature control are as important or more than sanitation , boil and recipe

I completely disagree. If you put 25% black malt in your recipe, it'll taste ***** no matter how good your temperature control is

A recipe (if you download one from the internet or use a kit) is trivial to get right and involves knowing how to use a set of kitchen scales.

Similarly, a boil requires turning the heat on and know how to use a timer.

Sanitation requires knowing how to read a set of instructions and how too pour liquid into a tub and leave it for 5 minutes.

If you get the recipe wrong, or the sanitisation wrong, the beer will be undrinkable.

Temperature control requires a bunch of extra kit and reading. And you can still make damn tasty beer by "chucking it in the back a cupboard and leaving it 2 weeks". It won't be world class beer, but that's not what beginners are aiming for.

Many people (including myself) have won competitions with no temperature control whatsoever. I don't think anyone would be able to win a competition without a recipe.

In my opinion, all of the "temperature makes the biggest difference" arguments are based on "I've been brewing for over 5 years and have taken for granted that it's trivial to get a half decent recipe, know how to boil and know how to sanitise of all my stuff". Beginners don't have 5 years brewing experience where all of those basic steps are as natural as walking

 

[Agentgonzo]

Can you recommend a good strain of yeast that its fussy about temp? Is there such a thing?

If you live in the UK and ferment indoors, any yeast will do a great job. Down to 5 degrees or up to 25 degrees, pretty much any yeast will make tasty beer.

The reason there are a lot of people on the internet insisting that temperature control is super important is because a lot of the people on the internet live in middle/South America (sorry, "North Mexican Riviera") where it sits in the mid - high 30s or above for a lot of the year.

Lager yeast produces great beer in the 2-15° Range.
Ale yeast produces great beer in the 15-28° range.
Kviek goes up into the 40s.
Any reliable yeast will work well for you, provided you don't ferment it in a shed or the sun.