Simple kit plus mini-mash method to improve a kit

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I ordered mine from amazon, was quite chuffed with my purchase of 2 for £3.53. After I had completed the order I noticed that the delivery date was mid June. That'll be a US seller then! Should pay more attention.

LOL, Hops :-D

Great price if it is shipped from the US.

Could well be the same merchandise as mine. Ferried one half of the way across the globe, to fish the gunk out of some cheap grog.

The website I got mine from informs me that the "real" reason for a fine mesh strainer is to make sure the paint does not clog the blowers on an industrial paint sprayer.

Only we know otherwise. :hat:
 
LOL, Hops :-D

Great price if it is shipped from the US.

Could well be the same merchandise as mine. Ferried one half of the way across the globe, to fish the gunk out of some cheap grog.

The website I got mine from informs me that the "real" reason for a fine mesh strainer is to make sure the paint does not clog the blowers on an industrial paint sprayer.

Only we know otherwise. :hat:

I'd like to think we're putting it to better use than the original intention.

And yes, for that price it didn't even cross my mind they'd be abroad. As long as they're not made of Andrex when they finally arrive, it's not the end of the world. As i'm impatient, I will have to make do for the next brew, assuming my box of goodies arrives from geterbrewed before the weekend.
 
Are these paint strainer bags any better than the fine mesh nylon bags sold specifically for brewing? Asking as I used one of these in my APA brew and as mentioned still seemed to get a large layer of sediment settling out in the FV
 
Are these paint strainer bags any better than the fine mesh nylon bags sold specifically for brewing? Asking as I used one of these in my APA brew and as mentioned still seemed to get a large layer of sediment settling out in the FV

Was it a partial mash? you will always get some sediment anyway for yeast and bits
 
Yes it was a partial mash, the layer of sediment formed before yeast was even pitched though so presumably it was the hot/cold break that made it through the bag?
 
Yes I poured it back through the strainer bag (minus grains) after cooling to get it into the FV. This removed hops and some other mystery gunk but then still got a good inch and a bit of crap at bottom of vessel, think I posted a picture earlier in this thread. Apparently it's not a big deal anyway but just wondering if it's avoidable with different strainer I.e paint bag
 
You'll always get some seditment, as the break material/protiens go though most type of filters (paint stainers at least, which are pretty fine) but I understand the yeast use some of the sediment as nutrient any was so it's necessary to an extent. I think the idea is just to lessen the sediment somewhat rather than completely eliminated it.
If you don't want sediment in your bottles, rack to a bottling bucket just before bottling
 
Yup that is true, it is a bit of a shock when you go from a kit to throw in grains and see a lot more stuff, but it does settle down.

SOme people do a whirl pooling effect in the kettle where they create a vicious whirlpool as it is cooling down or after its cooled and leave it for 20 minutes. AFter 20 minutes you can rack from the edge of the kettle as all the hop and a lot of the break will form in a cone in the middle of the kettle..

Never tried it myself, I also have an auto syphon which I am not sure if they would be any use as I also heard powerful syphons can just suck it all up anyway
 
I use muslin. I get fine trub particles in the fv which appear to form a thick layer at the bottom quite quickly. But this carries on settling down and the actual amount is minimal, because the yeast layer that forms in the first few days ends up being about 1cm deep usually, and includes the trub. So I don't need paint bags flying over the Atlantic I reckon. The 2 quid piece of cloth from Leon's fabric does the job. :thumb: :-)
 
Thanks guys, I wont rush off to buy any more bits then! This months brewing expenditure is already pushing the limits.
As long as the beer is drinkable I'm happy, it is a bit worrying when you see all these strange substances floating around in the wort for the first time is all.
The APA brew does seem to have less sediment now it is settling back down after the initial ferment so I guess it can look worse than it actually is when it first goes in.
Once its done dry hopping I will crash cool it and rack off to a bottling bucket to try and get it as clear as possible in the bottles, smelling great by the way those galaxy hops are seriously fruity :razz:
 
Making beer with grain generates trub and hop debris etc. That has all been dealt with in kit brewing, before the kit is packaged and sent out to the shops. We deal with that by filtering as well as possible, and paint strainers are a good method, I might even try one myself. And by being patient, and allowing nature and gravity to have their say, by completing the fermentation process and dropping out all the solids, so we can rack the beer off it all and package clear beer.

It is common practice in the USA to rack from the primary after the main fermentation has died down to get the beer off the dead yeast and trub, and allow fermentation to continue its last quiet phase and then settle and condition before packaging. They generally use glass for the second phase. And they tend to dry hop in the second FV. But I have found that leaving the beer in the primary for three weeks allows all this to take place with no apparent ill effects. I may give it another go though, the yanks claim that leaving the beer on the dead yeast is not good, as the live yeast can start to devour the dead yeast and produce off flavours. I did a secondary using a steel stockpot once, and the beer was very very good. 16 days primary, 11 days secondary. Hmm....

John Palmer says, though, in the old online version of How to Brew:

"There has been a lot of controversy within the homebrewing community on the value of racking beers, particularly ales, to secondary fermentors. Many seasoned homebrewers have declared that there is no real taste benefit and that the dangers of contamination and the cost in additional time are not worth what little benefit there may be. While I will agree that for a new brewer's first, low gravity, pale beer that the risks probably outweigh the benefits; I have always argued that through careful transfer, secondary fermentation is beneficial to nearly all beer styles. But for now, I will advise new brewers to only use a single fermentor until they have gained some experience with racking and sanitation.

Leaving an ale beer in the primary fermentor for a total of 2-3 weeks (instead of just the one week most canned kits recommend), will provide time for the conditioning reactions and improve the beer. This extra time will also let more sediment settle out before bottling, resulting in a clearer beer and easier pouring. And, three weeks in the primary fermentor is usually not enough time for off-flavors to occur."

Which has caused me to generally do 3 weeks primary fermentation and then bottle, for most of my brewing career. I actually think the difference is likely to be negligible, and it's mostly about avoiding infection and oxidation and allowing enough time for the beer to ferment out fully and clear before you bottle or keg.
 
Brewing Software helps a lot
I use free software called Brewmate (now "Brewers friend for Windows") to calculate quantities. It is easy to use. You put in the ingredients and quantities etc and you can then adjust the batch size and it recalculates. Add a kit can to your recipe as liquid extract. But download Brewmate, it will teach you loads. And it stores recipes you enter.

I downloaded this software as I really want to try partial mash recipes at some point but can't see where to add liquid malt extract (only dry malt extract comes up on the list). Am I doing something wrong?
 
Dunno sorry. I have the old Brewmate version, before it moved to Brewersfriend. Mine has liquid extract. You can ingredients via the edit menu, but you need the gravity contribution figure. Which is easily googled with something like "liquid malt extract ppg".
 
Dunno sorry. I have the old Brewmate version, before it moved to Brewersfriend. Mine has liquid extract. You can ingredients via the edit menu, but you need the gravity contribution figure. Which is easily googled with something like "liquid malt extract ppg".

Thanks. On my edit menu there is an 'extract' type, but there are no entries for it - only for 'dry extract'. I will try and figure out this ppg issue and add my own ingredients.

Thanks again. I am planning to do your Amarillo pale ale next week from this thread and just wanted to play around with the ingredients in the software.
 
I couldn't figure out how to do this in Brewers Friend so I downloaded the trial of Beersmith which looks a lot better and has tutorial videos. The advantage of this program is that there is Coopers kit data online so it is easy to make semimash recipes using Coopers. I suspect other kit data is also around but I could't find any for Youngs.

Substituting Coopers pilsner for Youngs give the following:

Snap 2015-06-08 at 11.14.52.png
 
I think I might splash out the money for Beersmith as it has all sorts of cloud storage and recipe and ingredient addons built in. It's not really that expensive.
 
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