hello fellow brewers

[regkov]

Just bought the gear apart from pressure barrel but hoping to get one soon, have placed advert on site for one

Anyway my main question is what is a good safe 1st brew ? Bitter, stout, lager I love the lot

Your suggestions would be appreciated, oh and any top tips

Reg

 

[31bb3]

Welcome to the frorum .... It all depends on what brew your planning im assuming it will be of kit form in my opinion i would go for the 2 can kits as opposed to the 1 can 1 kg of sugar their slightly more expensive but you do get a better brew then its all down to personal preference as to the style

 

[luckyeddie]

I would avoid the lager for your first brew - they take a lot longer than the others and the pong during the start of the fermentation process has fooled many a first-timer that they have screwed up and that their beer is 'off'.

Stouts are very forgiving - who cares if they are a bit cloudy - so I would advocate doing one of those to get you rocking and rolling, or a darkish bitter.

As has been said, and to mis-quote Orwell, 1-can good, 2-cans better.

Welcome to the best hobby you will have in your life. :

 

[golder247]

I am a bit of a newbie myself but in all honesty I have only done the single can lager kits (not including wine) and I haven't had one fail. Plus they are cheap enough that if you do bugger it slightly it won't be vastly painful.

I am yet to try the two can kits, are they really that much better?

Lucky eddie are the lagers that much longer? I have bought a couple of very cheap 1 week conditioning stuff (just to build the bulk so I never have to buy pre canned evil) but have some nice coopers stuff conditioning for when I have my cycle sorted.

I ask because the cheap kits (youngs harvest) are a week to ferment and a week in the bottle. I will be happy to accept on that these are clearly not the greatest ever but couldn't really imagine anything being faster than that?

 

[Hollow Legs]

I agree with you Golder, I have brewed some good kits from Coopers and Geordie brew, o.k. I used beer enhancer but all my kits so far have turned out far better than I thought they would. I must admit that I would like to try the two can kits but for the extra cost I will wait for the time being.

 

[keg9]

hi go for the 3 kilo twin tin kits , wherry or st peters or brupaks.
paul
keg9
http://stores.ebay.co.uk/KEG-9-Homebrews or email me [email protected]

Just bought the gear apart from pressure barrel but hoping to get one soon, have placed advert on site for one

Anyway my main question is what is a good safe 1st brew ? Bitter, stout, lager I love the lot

Your suggestions would be appreciated, oh and any top tips

Reg

 

[stevander74]

Hi Reg, welcome to the forum.
Ive just moved to all grain brewing after a year of kit brewing and ive had lots of success with Coopers kits. The 2 can kits are arguably better but i always found the coopers kits to be very good and couldnt justify the extra cost for premium kits.
Try Coopers IPA, Real Dark Ale, or English Bitter. Use Coopers beer enhancer 2 in place of sugar and buy Safale S-04 yeast
(the coopers kit yeast is ok but the S-04 is better and more reliable) and you will end up with a good reasonably priced brew.

 

[luckyeddie]

Regarding "...do lagers take longer?" - well, I'm not really a lager man myself but I have done a few kits in the past for the missus and a solitary AG batch for the family gannet. A couple of the kits took an eternity to ferment out and clear - at least a month from the end of primary fermentation. This may be because I never use finings. It doesn't normally matter to me because I have a couple of hundred bottles of beer lying around from previous brews so there's plenty of other stuff to drink while I'm waiting, but seeing as it's for SWMBO, "whinge, whinge, it it nearly there yet?" etc doesn't do much for my patience.

The all-grain lager I made is now 7 weeks in - 3 weeks primary fermentation at 12C, diacetyl rest, 3 weeks lagering at 1C and I got the priming and bottle conditioning under way last week. It's had 3 days in the airing cupboard and is now back in the fridge at 12C. I drank the 'is it ready yet?' sample bottle (the 200 mls left over after I filled all the other bottles) last night and the carbonation is still a little on the 'light' side.

On the plus side, it is crystal clear, no chill haze and tastes remarkably good (i.e. it actually tastes of something, as opposed to the bland, rice-based weasel-wee they sell in pubs). I shall pass it on to my brother-in-law in the next few days - I brewed it for him as payback for some plumbing he did for me.

 

[golder247]

lucky eddie... bland, rice-based weasel-wee.. Genius, absolutely love it, much politer than my descriptions.

Hollow legs, how much of a difference do you think you get with the brew enhancer?? I have bought some spray malt which I was going to mix with sugar (which arguably is the same thing)? I got it originally for my next ginger beer and some cerveza, but am thinking about adding to my ordinary lager kits?

 

[shearclass]

The all-grain lager I made is now 7 weeks in - 3 weeks primary fermentation at 12C, diacetyl rest, 3 weeks lagering at 1C and I got the priming and bottle conditioning under way last week. It's had 3 days in the airing cupboard and is now back in the fridge at 12C. I drank the 'is it ready yet?' sample bottle (the 200 mls left over after I filled all the other bottles) last night and the carbonation is still a little on the 'light' side.

Mr Eddie, did you add any extra yeast before bottling? I haev finally got myself a fridge and am going to set away a kit lager tonight, either cooeprs European or Coopers Pilsner. When i coem to bottle this, after fermentign and largering, I am unsure as to wehther i shodl add extra yeast to carbonate. I think I am going to try it without the yeast, unless i am told I need to add it. I imagine it will take a good while to carbonate as I assume most of the yeast will have dropped out, but i'm in no rush.

 

[golder247]

you won't need nay extra yeast for it to carbonate. just prime and away you go.

It can carbonate surprisingly quickly. the kits can often be ready to drink in a week.

They will improve appreciably if you can leave them for longer.

good luck, it is easier than you may think. At least the kits are.

 

[shearclass]

you won't need nay extra yeast for it to carbonate. just prime and away you go.

Even after 2 weeks fermenting, and a month or so stored cold in a fridge?

 

[golder247]

yeah, it should be fine, as far as I know. I never bother to put mine near a fridge until I am about to drink it, so I may be incorrect. I certainly wouldn't bother adding extra yeast ever though.

 

[Hollow Legs]

Hollow legs, how much of a difference do you think you get with the brew enhancer??

Sorry Golder I must have let this one slip through Beer enhancer is a definite yes for me as in the beginning it was sugar then brewing sugar but now Beer enhancer for me, it adds more body to the brew, try it to a brew your used to and then compare, I'm sure you'll be converted. :

 

[golder247]

wow that's a fairly emphatic yes. Not bothered with the brewing sugar either but may give a try to the next brew.

What you putting in? 500g spray malt and 500g sugar to a standard kit?

 

[golder247]

oh and the youngs harvest stuff, is drinkable but nowhere near as good as coopers...

 

[Hollow Legs]

wow that's a fairly emphatic yes. What you putting in? 500g spray malt and 500g sugar to a standard kit?

Just buying the Muntons Brew Enhancer, it's spray malt and dextrose mixed together in a bag.:thumb:

 

[golder247]

so no actual sugar at all.... I haven't seen what the cost difference is. just done a brew (cerveza) with light spray malt and standard sugar but definitly using spray malt on the next one.

 

[luckyeddie]

The all-grain lager I made is now 7 weeks in - 3 weeks primary fermentation at 12C, diacetyl rest, 3 weeks lagering at 1C and I got the priming and bottle conditioning under way last week. It's had 3 days in the airing cupboard and is now back in the fridge at 12C. I drank the 'is it ready yet?' sample bottle (the 200 mls left over after I filled all the other bottles) last night and the carbonation is still a little on the 'light' side.

Mr Eddie, did you add any extra yeast before bottling? I haev finally got myself a fridge and am going to set away a kit lager tonight, either cooeprs European or Coopers Pilsner. When i coem to bottle this, after fermentign and largering, I am unsure as to wehther i shodl add extra yeast to carbonate. I think I am going to try it without the yeast, unless i am told I need to add it. I imagine it will take a good while to carbonate as I assume most of the yeast will have dropped out, but i'm in no rush.

No, I decided against adding extra yeast. It carbonated well enough and the family gannet is now drinking it at a rate of knots.

I would give 4/10 personally - I never really got it clear after the lagering and secondary. Perhaps it didn't have long enough - I suspect it was a combination of chill haze and yeast. I'm going to try again next week, I think. I'd like to get a 5 gallon carboy.

 

[bungouk]

Hello and welcome to the forum