Hi im new here

[mickbrew11]

Hello everyone I'm new here.
I've had a look round and the general feel of the forum is great, every one seems friendly willing to help which is cool.
I have never brewed a home brew but I have tried some and I'm hooked. I have ordered my gear just waiting for it to come, here is what I have ordered. A coopers 44 bottle starter kit (wheat beer ) and a woodfords wherry 40 pint starter kit with pressurized keg (bitter) a brew belt and a jar of sterling powder any thoughts on what else I might need? I am planning on setting it up in the boiler cupboard. Any ideas or suggestions would be much appreciated also I am in the Liverpool area is there any specialty home brew shops in the area?
Thank you and I look forward to hearing from you

Full list of gear on order should arive any day noe
Home Brew Coopers Wheat Beer Starter kit
The Woodfords Wherry Starter Kit
Brewbelt heater
Coopers Brewmaster 40 pint Wheat Beer Kit
Muntons 500g Light Spraymalt
Brewing Sugar 1kg
VWP 400g
:drunk: :drink: :

 

[Mark1964]

Hi Mick welcome to the forum in addition to what you have already i would suggest you get yourself a hydrometer so you know when your beer has finished fermenting also some syphoning tube to get the beer into bottles/barrel etc and maybe a thermometer too. You might not need the brew belt unless your planning to ferment in a shed etc in my experience brew belt temperatures are a constant too high for beer which can produce off flavours. Ferment between 18-24 deg c it will be fine

 

[mickbrew11]

Hi mark thank you for the quick reply!!
The two kits that I have ordered each come with the above mentioned items plus a dvd and a book. Thank you for your advice on the brew belt. I will give it to my mate as he does his brews in his garage and on the last one he got a bad aftertaste, could that have been due to temperature fluctuation because of the low temperatures during the night

 

[Mark1964]

no its because the belt temp is too high it doesnt have a thermostat to turn it off when the beer reaches the desired temp. The belts are ok if used in conjunction with a stat. I measured our belt temp at a constant 29 degrees which is too high thus off tasting beer.

 

[mickbrew11]

Hi sorry he did not use the belt on his last brew. Can you fit a brew belt with a thermostat? would a heat plate be a better investment

 

[Mark1964]

you could buy an aqurium 50 watt heater then stand your 5 gallon bucket with the beer in inside another bucket filled with water drop the aquarium heater in the water which keeps the water around your beer bucket at a constant temp. The temp is adjustable too. Most people just drill an extra hole in the lid of their buckets and take the plug off the aquarium heater push the wire through the hole re attatch plug and use the heater directly in the beer but its up to you really. We dont use any extra heat as our spare room is 18 degrees which is fine

 

[mickbrew11]

Thanks you for your help mark :drink:

 

[Wendy1971]

Hi and welcome to the forum :thumb:

 

[Darkbrewer]

welcome to the forum

 

[mickbrew11]

Hi and thank you both wendy and darkbrewer :

 

[Grumpy Jack]

Welcome on board, :thumb:

...sounds like you're jumping in the deep end with several brews... my advice, sterilise well, and make notes! I wish I'd done the latter with my first couple of brews, I'd have learned a lot that I then relearned... :grin:

 

[mickbrew11]

Thank you grumpy jack, I will do got a new notebook ready for the notes any other advice would be great thank you.
I am planning on brewing around February 6th getting the extra info needed and advice I gain from this great community. I am planning on setting up in my boiler room which is about 1.5m wide by 1.5m deep and about 3m high keeps the temperature well. What is your experience with the starter kits are they idiot proof?

 

[Aleman]

What is your experience with the starter kits are they idiot proof?

Make something Idiot Proof and they'll invent a better idiot!

Welcome to the forum Mick

 

[stevander74]

Hi Mick, welcome to the forum. :
Like mark said, too high temps will ruin a beer. You say youre planning on setting up in a boiler cupboard. Id suggest you Check the temp of the cupboard over a day at least to check for fluctuating temps and to make sure the cupboard doesnt get too hot with the boiler in there. Ideally it should be between 18 and 24 degrees and even lower (15) if your doing lagers.
Hope this helps and good luck with the brews. :thumb:
Steve

 

[luckyeddie]

Keep a record of everything you do - especially if you start to get adventurous and deviate from the packet instructions. My info lives in an Excel spreadsheet - it's a useful way of keeping everything together, recording OG, finishing gravity etc, and when you move into all-grain brewing (which you will), recording the grains, hops etc you used.

As has already been said, sterilise everything. Airborne yeasts and bacteria are your enemy. It's also worth getting a bottle of some really cheap vodka. It serves two purposes:

a) You can drown your sorrows if you have a disaster
b) Use it in your airlock to prevent having said disaster.

If you move your fermenter around or knock it, absent-mindedly put something on top of it etc, it is quite easy to blow out a load of carbon dioxide, thus lowering the pressure inside to below atmospheric. If that happens, your airlock will work in reverse for a second or two, with the possibility of sucking the contents of your airlock into your precious beer. That could spell disaster - especially if your airlock contains water. Any spores from the atmosphere will happily live in water - but they cannot live in 40% alcohol.

 

[Dieseljockey]

Hi & welcome...

Just take some time and read the old post....take a good long look at the "how to" post...then get stuck in...any problems just holler.

 

[mickbrew11]

hello stevander74, Aleman, luckyeddie and Dieseljockey. Thanks a lot for the welcomes and help really appreciate it!! :