The Do and Don't thread.
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reincarnationfish
New Member
1, I did suck start the first three batches I bottled. No problems, possibly due in part by a thorough rinse with Colgate Plax TM immediately before hand. It does annoy me that I didn't realize it can be done without suck starting or anything other than just the pipe though, and since noone has mentioned this...
You fill the syphon pipe with water with a funnel, when it's full, put you finger over the opposite end of the pipe (or just close the tap or whatever). Now put the funnel end in the beer and place the finger end of the syphon pipe below the beer vessel and let go of the other end of the pipe. Just drain off the water and it will suck beer up into the pipe in it's place. Job done.
2, The one thing I wish I'd known *before* I started brewing, just because I'd have tried it years earlier is that Malt extract didn't just come in big tins like my dad used to use, but in dried form allowing you to make smaller batches than 20 Liters and also that it's perfectly possible to do a 5 Liter all grain brew in even a kitchen as small as mine.
3, Also I wish I'd known before I started brewing that it was so much fun.
4, I like my beers hoppy, so I'm annoyed I didn't know that the gravity of the wort effects the effectiveness of your hops.
5, Oh, and because I did jump straight into all grain and partial grain brews, the thing that annoys me most that I didn't know about that is too leave the lid off when boiling the wort to eliminate Dimethyl Sulphate.
6, I wish I'd realized that stronger beers take longer to ferment and condition before I dived in to making up my own recipes, I would have started on weaker beers.
7, I wish I'd known that using table sugar is bad. To be honest nothing I have made so far has come out terrible, but now I'm trying to eliminate it from my brews.
8, Batch priming at bottling. Like suck syphoning, I thought adding a spoon full of sugar to each bottle was the way to the job because that's what my dad did 30 years ago. It's not.
You fill the syphon pipe with water with a funnel, when it's full, put you finger over the opposite end of the pipe (or just close the tap or whatever). Now put the funnel end in the beer and place the finger end of the syphon pipe below the beer vessel and let go of the other end of the pipe. Just drain off the water and it will suck beer up into the pipe in it's place. Job done.
2, The one thing I wish I'd known *before* I started brewing, just because I'd have tried it years earlier is that Malt extract didn't just come in big tins like my dad used to use, but in dried form allowing you to make smaller batches than 20 Liters and also that it's perfectly possible to do a 5 Liter all grain brew in even a kitchen as small as mine.
3, Also I wish I'd known before I started brewing that it was so much fun.
4, I like my beers hoppy, so I'm annoyed I didn't know that the gravity of the wort effects the effectiveness of your hops.
5, Oh, and because I did jump straight into all grain and partial grain brews, the thing that annoys me most that I didn't know about that is too leave the lid off when boiling the wort to eliminate Dimethyl Sulphate.
6, I wish I'd realized that stronger beers take longer to ferment and condition before I dived in to making up my own recipes, I would have started on weaker beers.
7, I wish I'd known that using table sugar is bad. To be honest nothing I have made so far has come out terrible, but now I'm trying to eliminate it from my brews.
8, Batch priming at bottling. Like suck syphoning, I thought adding a spoon full of sugar to each bottle was the way to the job because that's what my dad did 30 years ago. It's not.
Being a tight git i came up without a cheap alternative using something we already have in the house, connect an empty airlock to the syphon tube to start it.
.
Can you get away with granulated sugar you stir into tea? Yes
Is it recommended? For your first few kits possibly, to get the hang of brewing. As you get a little more advanced, maybe but for different reasons, read on friend...
What you need to understand is what the yeast does with the sugar you add. The granulated bag of Tate and Lyle you get from the supermarket for about 60p a kilo in tesco is all sucrose. Usually it's extracted from either sugar beet or sugar cane, in a processing plant, refined and purified to give you that white powder. Now sucrose is what's described as a complex sugar, (basically the molecule that makes it up is big with lots of stuff in there to make it up.
Now you mix up your brew, add yeast and the yeast needs a few things, oxygen, nutrients and food. The food in this case is the Sucrose, your complex sugar. The yeast finds it and can't readily feed off the sucrose, so it has to break it down into a simpler form before it can feed from it. In the case of the yeast it will split the sucrose into two different simple sugars, namely fructose and dextrose. And it can now feed directly from the dextrose and fructose, converting it to CO2 and alcohol as byproducts of the fermentation process. In the case of your lager, this is very desirable to have a fizzy alcoholic end product.
Now Brewers sugar is generally a blend of powdered fructose and dextrose, so you're removing a step out of the fermentation process, which leads to a quicker, and some would argue a purer finished brew. Yes it's £2 a kilo but if you're going for quality, I'd argue it's a worthwhile investment.
Now that's not the end of the story, there are times when it's desirable to add a processed sugar. The brown sugars from Demerara to common brown sugar all have a process that is less pure and incorporates a small amount of molasses (waste product in producing white sugar) for that characteristic caramel to toffee note. This can add a nice twist to your brews in the right quantities. You can even buy pure molasses at Holland and Barret as a flavour enhancer.
Then there's the syrups, black treacle, and golden syrup. These were an attempt by the sugar industry to manufacture something roughly similar to Honey, not entirely successful in this respect, but produced something interesting to us in its own right. Golden syrup is white sugar mixed with a water, and a little acid. The acid breaks down the sucrose into fructose and dextrose. And this is essentially what the yeast does, so you're one step ahead. It will add a lovely golden colour to your brews, and can add a hint of caramel to the finished flavour, very useful in itself. As there's water in the mix, treat the syrup as being about 80% sugars when making your recipie. Now if you add a little molasses to your golden syrup, you get black treacle. It will give you a darker coloured brew, and offers a toffee/treacle type taste (nice in a dark beer when used with restraint). Assume 65% sugars on treacle.
Is it recommended? For your first few kits possibly, to get the hang of brewing. As you get a little more advanced, maybe but for different reasons, read on friend...
What you need to understand is what the yeast does with the sugar you add. The granulated bag of Tate and Lyle you get from the supermarket for about 60p a kilo in tesco is all sucrose. Usually it's extracted from either sugar beet or sugar cane, in a processing plant, refined and purified to give you that white powder. Now sucrose is what's described as a complex sugar, (basically the molecule that makes it up is big with lots of stuff in there to make it up.
Now you mix up your brew, add yeast and the yeast needs a few things, oxygen, nutrients and food. The food in this case is the Sucrose, your complex sugar. The yeast finds it and can't readily feed off the sucrose, so it has to break it down into a simpler form before it can feed from it. In the case of the yeast it will split the sucrose into two different simple sugars, namely fructose and dextrose. And it can now feed directly from the dextrose and fructose, converting it to CO2 and alcohol as byproducts of the fermentation process. In the case of your lager, this is very desirable to have a fizzy alcoholic end product.
Now Brewers sugar is generally a blend of powdered fructose and dextrose, so you're removing a step out of the fermentation process, which leads to a quicker, and some would argue a purer finished brew. Yes it's £2 a kilo but if you're going for quality, I'd argue it's a worthwhile investment.
Now that's not the end of the story, there are times when it's desirable to add a processed sugar. The brown sugars from Demerara to common brown sugar all have a process that is less pure and incorporates a small amount of molasses (waste product in producing white sugar) for that characteristic caramel to toffee note. This can add a nice twist to your brews in the right quantities. You can even buy pure molasses at Holland and Barret as a flavour enhancer.
Then there's the syrups, black treacle, and golden syrup. These were an attempt by the sugar industry to manufacture something roughly similar to Honey, not entirely successful in this respect, but produced something interesting to us in its own right. Golden syrup is white sugar mixed with a water, and a little acid. The acid breaks down the sucrose into fructose and dextrose. And this is essentially what the yeast does, so you're one step ahead. It will add a lovely golden colour to your brews, and can add a hint of caramel to the finished flavour, very useful in itself. As there's water in the mix, treat the syrup as being about 80% sugars when making your recipie. Now if you add a little molasses to your golden syrup, you get black treacle. It will give you a darker coloured brew, and offers a toffee/treacle type taste (nice in a dark beer when used with restraint). Assume 65% sugars on treacle.
Having read this post I'm now worried I've done everything wrong! I sucked my siphon, I've not been too scientific about temperature, I added too much priming sugar! How will I know if the beer is ruinned??? How soon after putting it into the pressurised keg can I check it??
MyQul
Chairman of the Bored
.
First off, relax! Beer is surprisingly hard to **** up.
Don't worry about sucking the syphon. Plenty of forum members do it with no ill effect. There was a big thread/debate about it on the forum a while back. If I can find the thread I post a link.
If you added extra priming sugar your beer will just be fizzier - no problem
As long as your temps weren't like 27C you'll be ok and even if they were some off flavours can be countered by extra conditioning (diacytl for example).
The best test to tell if your beer is ruined is smell it/taste it. If it taste's/smells ok then 99% chance it will be ok
![BREWING THERMOMETER STICKERS ACCURATELY MONITOR FERMENTING BEER & WINE LIQUID TEMPERATURES 5PCS HOME BREW SPIRITS WINE LCD ADHESIVE [US]](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/311DDjo2X3L._SL500_.jpg)
MyQul
Chairman of the Bored
Yeah, leave it to ferment then clean itself up for a couple of weeks before having a taste
I haven't had a chance to read this thread, but have noticed a large number of threads in other parts of the forum about airlocks not bubbling, so I propose a DO NOT rely on the airlock to gauge whether your brew is fermenting or has finished. Purchase a hydrometer from your LHBS/Wilko/Tesco or online for about ã4 and learn how to use this. CO2 will escape your FV via the easiest route, and if your lid is not 100% airtight it will escape from there instead of pushing through the water in your airlock.
wfr42
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Disclaimer: I'm still very new (1st brew done in June) to this so please don't take any of this as gospel, but I wanted to try and give something back to the forum community. Apologies if any of it appears condescending.
SWMBO got me a learn to brew your own beer voucher (after some hints I wanted to start). My LHBS took a half dozen of us through the process of kit brewing, with a whistle stop tour of 3 vessel brewing to create the wort and offered a 10% discount on any purchases made that day.
Maybe I have been lucky but my first 3 (and a bit, bottling tomorrow) brews have gone off without a hitch. Here are some tips from this that have stuck with me and things I have picked up.
1 - Cleanliness, you must sterilise your equipment before use AND clean it properly after use. I keep a wash basin full of steriliser for equipment to sit in and rinse before using while mixing my kits. The LHBS suggested resting equipment on the sterilised lid of your FV as an alternative.
I have been using VWP after using the youngs steriliser that came with my starter kits. (I bought a second after realising it was cheaper than a 2nd barrel and the kit by themselves). When cleaning, starting a new brew or before barrelling, I half fill the FV/barrel with hot water and steriliser, giving a reasonable swirl and using my hands and elbow grease to remove any marks/stains before leaving it to stand for 20mins.
If I have other equipment to clean I leave this in the FV. If the vessel has a tap, I drain half the liquid through the tap, sometimes into bottles if they are still to be added to the collection, before tipping and rotating as I pour the remaining steriliser out. This is also a good chance to clean off any stains from previous brews, I tend to put the lid of my FV in the sink as I rotate and pour.
WORD OF WARNING - check you vessel is empty before tipping - I lost a hydrometer this way.
I then repeat this at least once with water, again draining through a tap and into bottles if appropriate. With bottles I give a good clean with a bottle brush while they are filled with steriliser and then rinse, at least twice before hanging on a bottle tree, while I batch prime and transfer the beer to a bottling vessel or barrel. (I am not looking forward to 40 bottles tomorrow, can see some non rinse steriliser in my future).
Even if I am sure I sterilised something after using it, I sterilise it again before using it.
2 - Patience/details, still one I'm working on TBH. Yes it's exciting getting a new brew on but take your time, give yourself enough time and space and check and double check readings and give the instructions a read - different kits may need more/less sugar may be 30/40pints. I very nearly added the priming sugar instead of the brewing sugar to one kit
.
Before adding the yeast, check the temperature is cool enough for your yeast. I was also advised to aerate the wort, by stirring vigorously for at least 2mins, the yeasties need oxygen to get to work so make sure they've got it - your wort should have a nice frothy head before adding the yeast (the youngs kits I have done have had 15g of yeast and I have not rehydrated the yeast to date).
Once it's in the FV give it time, at least 2 weeks as suggested on here and once bottled barrelled at least another 4 weeks to maximise the taste, that's the hardest part IMHO. Use your hydrometer to check if fermentation has stopped, I tend to siphon into my sample jar, not saying if that is that is the best way to do it though, but my experiment with a tapped FV didn't go to plan (but was rescued) as documented on here.
Keep records - I enter hydrometer readings into my phone calendar and have set up a spreadsheet to calculate abv from these, keep track of costs to date and cost per litre to date :)
3 - Barrelling/Bottling, lots of advice on here. Having started with barrelling the batch priming makes most sense to me. My first attempt with bottling was last brew where I barrelled most and siphoned off 15 (i think) bottles. After adding the dissolved and cooled sugar to the barrel I placed one tube in the barrel and connected the tube in the FV with the one in the barrel with a tap to minimise splashing. Before removing the tube out of the barrel I then siphoned out what I wanted to bottle, connecting the tap to a bottling wand to ease filling.
WORD OF WARNING - check your barrel/tapped FV is water tight before adding beer, it is not enjoyable seeing your beer drip drip drip away.
When reattaching a tap remember to vaseline the threads and by the washer.
Barrel lids should be vaselined and not overtightened, if you have over tightened a lid, the O ring seal can be reshaped in boiling water if required.
I have also started to double check the brass CO2 valve is tight enough, ie more than finger tight (use a spanner if not).
WORD OF WARNING - taps, check they are closed before adding beer to a vessel, and make sure you know which way is opened/closed when siphoning/pouring. Spilt beer is not enjoyable.
4 - Enjoy it!
SWMBO got me a learn to brew your own beer voucher (after some hints I wanted to start). My LHBS took a half dozen of us through the process of kit brewing, with a whistle stop tour of 3 vessel brewing to create the wort and offered a 10% discount on any purchases made that day.
Maybe I have been lucky but my first 3 (and a bit, bottling tomorrow) brews have gone off without a hitch. Here are some tips from this that have stuck with me and things I have picked up.
1 - Cleanliness, you must sterilise your equipment before use AND clean it properly after use. I keep a wash basin full of steriliser for equipment to sit in and rinse before using while mixing my kits. The LHBS suggested resting equipment on the sterilised lid of your FV as an alternative.
I have been using VWP after using the youngs steriliser that came with my starter kits. (I bought a second after realising it was cheaper than a 2nd barrel and the kit by themselves). When cleaning, starting a new brew or before barrelling, I half fill the FV/barrel with hot water and steriliser, giving a reasonable swirl and using my hands and elbow grease to remove any marks/stains before leaving it to stand for 20mins.
If I have other equipment to clean I leave this in the FV. If the vessel has a tap, I drain half the liquid through the tap, sometimes into bottles if they are still to be added to the collection, before tipping and rotating as I pour the remaining steriliser out. This is also a good chance to clean off any stains from previous brews, I tend to put the lid of my FV in the sink as I rotate and pour.
WORD OF WARNING - check you vessel is empty before tipping - I lost a hydrometer this way.
I then repeat this at least once with water, again draining through a tap and into bottles if appropriate. With bottles I give a good clean with a bottle brush while they are filled with steriliser and then rinse, at least twice before hanging on a bottle tree, while I batch prime and transfer the beer to a bottling vessel or barrel. (I am not looking forward to 40 bottles tomorrow, can see some non rinse steriliser in my future).
Even if I am sure I sterilised something after using it, I sterilise it again before using it.
2 - Patience/details, still one I'm working on TBH. Yes it's exciting getting a new brew on but take your time, give yourself enough time and space and check and double check readings and give the instructions a read - different kits may need more/less sugar may be 30/40pints. I very nearly added the priming sugar instead of the brewing sugar to one kit
.Before adding the yeast, check the temperature is cool enough for your yeast. I was also advised to aerate the wort, by stirring vigorously for at least 2mins, the yeasties need oxygen to get to work so make sure they've got it - your wort should have a nice frothy head before adding the yeast (the youngs kits I have done have had 15g of yeast and I have not rehydrated the yeast to date).
Once it's in the FV give it time, at least 2 weeks as suggested on here and once bottled barrelled at least another 4 weeks to maximise the taste, that's the hardest part IMHO. Use your hydrometer to check if fermentation has stopped, I tend to siphon into my sample jar, not saying if that is that is the best way to do it though, but my experiment with a tapped FV didn't go to plan (but was rescued) as documented on here.
Keep records - I enter hydrometer readings into my phone calendar and have set up a spreadsheet to calculate abv from these, keep track of costs to date
and cost per litre to date :)3 - Barrelling/Bottling, lots of advice on here. Having started with barrelling the batch priming makes most sense to me. My first attempt with bottling was last brew where I barrelled most and siphoned off 15 (i think) bottles. After adding the dissolved and cooled sugar to the barrel I placed one tube in the barrel and connected the tube in the FV with the one in the barrel with a tap to minimise splashing. Before removing the tube out of the barrel I then siphoned out what I wanted to bottle, connecting the tap to a bottling wand to ease filling.
WORD OF WARNING - check your barrel/tapped FV is water tight before adding beer, it is not enjoyable seeing your beer drip drip drip away.
When reattaching a tap remember to vaseline the threads and by the washer.
Barrel lids should be vaselined and not overtightened, if you have over tightened a lid, the O ring seal can be reshaped in boiling water if required.
I have also started to double check the brass CO2 valve is tight enough, ie more than finger tight (use a spanner if not).
WORD OF WARNING - taps, check they are closed before adding beer to a vessel, and make sure you know which way is opened/closed when siphoning/pouring. Spilt beer is not enjoyable.
4 - Enjoy it!
kimosabby
Regular.
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how best can you use a traditional or digital thermometer. sorry if its a daft question
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the ' simple' 2 point calibration test thats available to most folk is close to 0C and close to 100C temperature tests using water ice and boiling water.
the actual temps of boiling water depend on both atmospheric pressure and elevation and you can look those up if your thermometer is highly accurate.
pages 14-16 iirc in this thermometer use guide detail the tests,
https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&r...MTAQlYb3Q8v1iLRJPCj8gA&bvm=bv.104317490,d.bGQ
once you have verified a thermometer reads true temps you can then use that in conjunction with another thermometer to reveal if it too reads true or has a significant error ie reads +4c or something. test in the range your interested at monitoring/holding..
Bevvied
Life Support System For A Beer Belly
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As a complete newbie myself, my advice to potential newbies is...
Do.
Enjoy it! It's a hobby.
Ask questions here (experience and friendliness to be found in abundance) or use the search facility.
If you fancy making a kit you've seen, look at the kit reviews A-Z for tips.
Don't
Don't guess about owt.
Don't rush.
Don't order a 60L FV online and then tell the missus you need it, as the x3 30L you already have isn't enough.
Do.
Enjoy it! It's a hobby.
Ask questions here (experience and friendliness to be found in abundance) or use the search facility.
If you fancy making a kit you've seen, look at the kit reviews A-Z for tips.
Don't
Don't guess about owt.
Don't rush.
Don't order a 60L FV online and then tell the missus you need it, as the x3 30L you already have isn't enough.
durangokemre
New Member
Based on my 18 month-ish journey from noob to slightly less of a noob, here's my advice.
DON'T: WORRY. Whatever's gone wrong on your brew day, you will probably still get beer. Don't be afraid to leave it in the fermenter for another week. Don't be afraid of all grain. Can you make porridge? Then you can handle all grain. Don't assume that just because someone in a forum had answered your question, they've given a good answer. But most of all, don't worry.
DO: become obsessed with cleanliness. And don't forget to rinse. Then if your not sure if you've rinsed enough, rinse again. Missed a bit? Clean it again. Invest in Starsan. Read John Palmer's How to Brew.
DON'T: WORRY. Whatever's gone wrong on your brew day, you will probably still get beer. Don't be afraid to leave it in the fermenter for another week. Don't be afraid of all grain. Can you make porridge? Then you can handle all grain. Don't assume that just because someone in a forum had answered your question, they've given a good answer. But most of all, don't worry.
DO: become obsessed with cleanliness. And don't forget to rinse. Then if your not sure if you've rinsed enough, rinse again. Missed a bit? Clean it again. Invest in Starsan. Read John Palmer's How to Brew.
If you are confused by the many different abbreviations used in the forum this will help (Glossary tab at top of page) - http://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/glossary.php
keat64
Landlord.
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Lesson Number 1.
Don't put all your hops in one tub.
I weighed out my 3 varieties and lobbed them all in the same bowl, only to realise that i'd read the instructions wrong.
One Variety was for the full boil, two others for the last 10 minutes.
I've now had to split them in to 3 measures and hope for the best.
Oh well.
Don't put all your hops in one tub.
I weighed out my 3 varieties and lobbed them all in the same bowl, only to realise that i'd read the instructions wrong.
One Variety was for the full boil, two others for the last 10 minutes.
I've now had to split them in to 3 measures and hope for the best.
Oh well.
Alan_H
Active Member
I believe someone mentioned "make sure the tap is closed when you pour the wort into your FV" - common sense but most of us have made that mistake at the beginning 
A second one would be: make sure there's no leak on your FV tap [if you've got one on it] - I usually test it before, with round 5 litres of water, and occasionally I have to screw it back again / tighten it until there's no leak any more... that happens before sanitising it, of course.
A second one would be: make sure there's no leak on your FV tap [if you've got one on it] - I usually test it before, with round 5 litres of water, and occasionally I have to screw it back again / tighten it until there's no leak any more... that happens before sanitising it, of course.
Ignore times in instructions they are always optimistic, if you haven't got one get yourself a hydrometer then you will know for sure when fermentation has finished and you can work out the ABV of your beer, wine or cider.
Wilko hydrometer and trial jar - http://tinyurl.com/h7dchsv
Wilko hydrometer and trial jar - http://tinyurl.com/h7dchsv
