Newbie first time brewing

[mini me]

Hi my names Andy and I have just received a coopers beer kit which I am very excited to start getting going. I have read around a little and it all seems vet daunting so I figure I will just do what it says on the tin and see what happens.

I would like to get to a stage where I can make my own beer and be proud to put a label on something extremely quaffable but know that this may take some time. For now I'm going with this starter pack I have. So questions:

My house is very very old, has no insulation to speak of and can, therefore, get fairly cold. Right now it's 14deg C in here and I would call that average. Will this be a problem for brewing?

When I bought the kit ( it's a lager version) I also bought a heater. Internal which sits in the bucket? This has temp control although it seems quite rough. Problem here is that I assumed I was buying the older kit with an airlock and that I could somehow get the heater lead in with this. I have a new style kit which has no holes for an airlock however the heater comes with a rubber bung on the lead and a hole for, I assume, the airlock.

So do I just go for it without heating. Will this work at an average 15 deg c? Or should I attempt to drill a hole in the plastic lid and fit the heater?

Also is there anything I can/ should add to the kit to make the end result a little different? I have seen a video online of a chap adding hops at some point to gain a different flavour?

Any advice gratefully received.

Andy

 

[PD]

Welcome Andy.

As its your first brew I would suggest you follow the kit manufacturers instructions without any additions.
Although they state the beer can be made in a short period of time...take that with a pinch of salt and double the times they stipulate. Beermaking ( along with the ingredients ) needs 2 things...plenty of time and the correct temperatures.
Ambient temps of around 14 degrees is cool, ( although lagers can be made cooler than ales ) I would guess your kit lager is using an ale yeast, so temps up around 18C are needed for fermentation
Look into the possibilities of making a water bath with heater to stand your fermenter in. The heater you have may be suitable if not a cheap fish tank heater will suffice. After fermentation cooler temps are required.
Have a read of our How to guides, theres lots of good basic info for you there.

 

[EskiBrew]

Hi Andy, welcome :thumb:
I've moved your post to the Introduce Yourself area :

 

[fermentall]

Hi & Welcome

 

[mini me]

Welcome Andy.

As its your first brew I would suggest you follow the kit manufacturers instructions without any additions.
Although they state the beer can be made in a short period of time...take that with a pinch of salt and double the times they stipulate. Beermaking ( along with the ingredients ) needs 2 things...plenty of time and the correct temperatures.
Ambient temps of around 14 degrees is cool, ( although lagers can be made cooler than ales ) I would guess your kit lager is using an ale yeast, so temps up around 18C are needed for fermentation
Look into the possibilities of making a water bath with heater to stand your fermenter in. The heater you have may be suitable if not a cheap fish tank heater will suffice. After fermentation cooler temps are required.
Have a read of our How to guides, theres lots of good basic info for you there.

Brilliant thanks. I hadn't even thought of that! So I can possibly use the heater I have to warm some sort of water tank which sits around my fermenter. Why didnt I think of that!

It's a fairly large sized vessel mind. Any ideas on a cheap way to contain it in water with the heater heating the outer jacket?

Many thanks for this though. I can't believe I didn't think of that myself!

 

[PD]

I got a couple of Gorillas !... :grin:



large plastic/rubber builders buckets

 

[mini me]

I got a couple of Gorillas !... :grin:



large plastic/rubber builders buckets

Ok after a couple of google searches for gorilla vessel and gorilla bucket ( I don't recommend it) I then read your footnote. Duly noted. I shall go on a search tomorrow. I really want to get this started!

At first I got this

Then I googled gorilla vessel and got this:

Then I read the footnote and got this:

Another mission for tomorrow then.

Many thanks

Andy.

 

[carl_saint]

Hi and welcome!

 

[Stu]

I've mentioned it in a couple of places elsewhere. Be careful with these.

Mine split and I ended up with water on the floor. It was a week old.

 

[mini me]

I've mentioned it in a couple of places elsewhere. Be careful with these.

Mine split and I ended up with water on the floor. It was a week old.

I assume you were using this with a heater? Was it a heater/ gorilla interface? Or did it just split on its own for no apparent reason?

 

[PD]

line it with a bin liner if you must...can't see how they can split unless faulty

 

[joe1002]

Welcome to the forum :

 

[mini me]

Ok it is done. I actually found the biggest gorilla bucket I could find, but it turned out to be unusable due to the fact that I have a tap on the bottom of my fermenter. This would not fit and also I really didnt like the thought of it sitting in water for a week

To this end, I drilled the lid. I had to then file the hole out a bit to get the bung to fit. The hole in bung for airlock was filled with a 13 mm bolt from the shed. All was cleaned and sterilised to the best of my current a abilities.

The heater now sits within the fermenter and I have no idea if it is even working or not. Temp seems constant at 18 deg c so far. We will see.

The whole thing was a bit if a mission as a first timer. All I have read is that cleanliness is a big key so I think I must have spent about 4 hrs cleaning my new kit in every way imaginable but im actually worried now that I may have cleaned too much or left some residue of cleaner which will ruin my beer.

Anyway, it is done. Here it is after approx 1 hr.

I'm already looking at getting a keg and a pack of ale so I can actually try something I have made before spring is through.

Difficult to know what to go for though. There's a lot of choice.

Am I right in thinking that an ale will be better for a keg.

Can't stop checking on my fermenter now. Very excited!

Also, I seem to have some separation at the top of the mixture. I guess you can see this from the picture. Is this normal? I wasn't expecting that tbh.

 

[Stu]

Yup, that's exactly what I did. I took the plug off and fed it through the hole (along with a rubber bung).