How to make a premium beer kit, from start to finish.

[jtourettes]

I have what I assume is a pretty noob-ish question but in the OP it says that two can kits are good as you don't need sugar/enhancer/whatever, does this mean that I might get better results ordering an extra can or am I misunderstanding? I've ordered the Coopers Australian lager starter kit. Thanks.

 

[CrystalRain]

:shock: Amazing guide mate this was quite a lot to take it all in but it gives me a tickle to try it. Love the pics it just makes me to go to the bar. :

 

[Grotzilla]

Great guide mate followed it today to make my 1st brew!

 

[farrell2012]

hi i'm new to brewing, i found this 'how to' very helpful :thumb:

i was wondering when adding co2 is there any way of knowing how much to add without a mechanical relief valve??

thanks.

 

[Vossy1]

Welcome to the forum F :thumb:
It depends what you're serving, for normal ales around 3psi should be plenty, but if you like it lively go up to 5.

 

[Vesalius]

This made a good read! Thanks!

 

[miiikeee101]

Thanks for the guide.

Two questions :

If kegging, is the addition of co2 via an injector required ... or just a nice touch? I though the addition of malt/sugar was meant to create the necessary Co2?

Leading on from the above and from a few comments in the thread... once I have poured the first pint from the keg (via the tap) how long can I expect the rest to last for?

Cheers

Mike

 

[Aleman]

If kegging, is the addition of co2 via an injector required ... or just a nice touch? I though the addition of malt/sugar was meant to create the necessary Co2?

If you consider that once full a Keg has say 2 pints of head space. If you pressurise that to 1Bar then you can draw off two pints before there is insufficient pressure to eject the beer. You then have to wait for the gas to come out of solution before you can draw off any more beer. of course what happens is that this reduces the condition in the beer.

Also 80g of sugar will produce a lot more gas than 2 pints and once the pressure exceeds 10psi it will escape through the pressure release valve and therefore will not be available to push the gas out.

Injecting CO2 is really the only viable solution to this, unless you are happy to only drink a few pints and accept that eventually (once you have emptied 1/2 the keg) you will be drinking 'flat' (low conditioned) beer. . . . and also still only be able to draw off a couple of pints as there is not enough gas in solution to pressurise the head space to a sensible level.

If you let air into the keg to get some beer out, then you have the issue of staling and possible/probable infection . . . ideally, in this circumstance, you would want to look at drinking the keg in 7-10 days

 

[rmason00]

hi
Great how to and its amazing how simple it looks when done by someone who knows what they are doing, this will certainly make it a lot easier for me when I have worked my way through the 2 kits my wife bought me for Xmas have just put the second can down as this goes to press, really looking forward to getting back into this hobby. The 1st can I put down I was really amazed by the results from when I used to brew before 30 years ago.

 

[FC101]

Thanks for taking the time to write this. Great help with my first kit which just bottled. 2nd kit is already in the FV

 

[mouldy]

I've got a batch of st peters ruby ready to go into secondary just now and was planning on splitting it between bottles and a pressure barrel, the reason being that my first homebrew I allowed the barrel to glug and it turned nasty in a couple of days, I had to get really drunk so as not to waste it. Tragic tale, anyway I digest.

I don't have any CO2 apparatus so my question is,- If I split my 20l and put half into bottles and the other in the barrel.-

Will it keep enough pressure to purge the 10l all the way through?

Should i clasp my lips round the barrel top and do some vigorous exercise to a davina mcoll video to fill it with CO2 before I put the 10l in?

Should I over sugar it in the hope that it produces enough pressure?

Also, I brewed it to 20l instead of 23l and got an OG reading of 1.090 on march25th @23deg and it sits at 1.018 just now and was the same 2 days ago. This gives me an abv of 9.5% or thereabouts. How has this happened? its meant to be 4.5% with 3 more litres surely something's up I have photo evidence of the readings?