new brewer

[suckingthesyphontube]

just wanted to say hello, am new to brewing, and have been impressed by the generosity of brewers, when it comes to sharing information. I doubt I will have much of value to contribute for a while, except for being able to tell the forum how funky beer can taste when you do it wrong :sick: And I apologise in advance for any stupid questions I may ask :wha:

 

[BigYin]

Welcome to the forum :drink:

Remember that the only silly question is the one you don't ask :thumb:

 

[Annie the Ale]

Hi - I'm a complete novice and the chaps on here have been incredibly friendly and helpful.

So welcome :

 

[The Ginger Ninja]

Hello suckingthesyphontube! :

 

[luckyeddie]

Hello suckingthesyphontube! :

That MUST be a euphamism

Welcome.

:

 

[suckingthesyphontube]

Thanks for the welcome, and lol@luckyeddie. The history behind the name is my only real experience of home brewing. I had a friend who was into brewing when we were little more than kids, and we did a bitter kit, by way of a joint project, and when it came time to bottle it, while starting the syphon, I got a mothfull of the brew, thought it tasted rather nice, so spent longer than necessary starting, then re-starting the syphon, and by the time we had erm, "bottled" the brew, we had between the two of us, drunk most of it straight from the tube, then started to feel very ill, went home, and threw up over my little brother, but that is a whole other story lol.

 

[artyb]

welcome to the forum mr sucker..... :lol:

im sure we can point you in the right directions.... :thumb:

 

[fermentall]

Welcome Syphon :

 

[luckyeddie]

What you have to remember, syphon, is that it is possible to contaminate your beer with gob yeasts and stuff.

Fortunately, there is a tried and tested luckyeddie method of minimising said contamination (not quite as good as yours, i.e. 'drink the lot before it has chance to go off').

What you really, really need to have at hand is a syphon tube / bottling tube with a tap on the end, and a jug.

Start the syphon process in the normal way by sucking - then shoot the end into your jug. When you are confident that the possible gob bugs have been washed out into the jug, then close the tap, move the tube to the new FV or bottle or whatever you are syphoning into, and re-open the tap.

The size of jug and the amount of lovely, lovely beer you run off 'just to make sure' is up to you, but it ought to be directly proportional to your thirst. Half a gallon seems a reasonable amount - and it should be consumed immediately. Naturally, if you get a subsequent airlock or other common syphoning problem (usually caused by you being drunk from the previous safeguard), the exercise should be repeated as often as necessary.

 

[Kyral210]

Welcome to the greatest home brew forum on earth!

 

[suckingthesyphontube]

ty for the continued welcomes all, and I know what you mean luckyeddie, about the gob fungus. Have just bottled my first attempt, is a victorian bitter, tasted pretty good when I "accidentally" sucked some from the tube, but I was strong, I resisted my desire to just keep suckling like some demented calf, and I actually bottled most of it, with a sugar lump in each bottle to act as a primer, so 43 potential explosive devices are now simmering nicely in a cupboard :pray:

 

[luckyeddie]

ty for the continued welcomes all, and I know what you mean luckyeddie, about the gob fungus. Have just bottled my first attempt, is a victorian bitter, tasted pretty good when I "accidentally" sucked some from the tube, but I was strong, I resisted my desire to just keep suckling like some demented calf, and I actually bottled most of it, with a sugar lump in each bottle to act as a primer, so 43 potential explosive devices are now simmering nicely in a cupboard :pray:

:hmm:
A sugar lump is about 4g - that may be a tad too much sugar for a pint or half litre bottle - then again, I tend to err on the side of caution and maybe even under-carbonate.

When you say 'Victorian Bitter', I presume you mean the Brewmaker kit as opposed to the Aussie muck that is actually a lager and not a bitter?

 

[suckingthesyphontube]

ty luckyeddie, these sugar lumps are 3g, I was hoping for 2 to 2.5g, and this is the closest I could get, but having now sampled the bitter after a week of conditioning, I have decided to try using dextrose instead, and trying a 2 stage approach, I am getting some 5L plastic bottles (spring water bottles) and intend to add 30g of dextrose to 5L of bitter, then after a week or 2, I will cool to below 4 degrees to reduce fizzing, then re-bottle to glass, the reasoning behind this is that a 2 stage approach might reduce sediment, and using dextrose might reduce the slight vinegar twang I have noticed in my beer, but I do realise that contitioning for longer might make the beer more palatable :drink: I have also just learned about campden tabs, so will use them for next brew :geek:

 

[suckingthesyphontube]

Woo Hoo! just tried my beer again after a couple more days conditioning, and it was so much better, hardly twitched at all after drinking it :thumb:

 

[luckyeddie]

Clasps hands in classic Mr Burns style....

Eeex-cellent!

 

[suckingthesyphontube]

An appreciation for good beer, and the Simpsons, surely the benchmark for true civilisation. Have just started a Coopers English Bitter, using bottled springwater a-la-morrisons. Look at me go lol, there is no stopping me now.