Thread: Home Brew

A few quick tips to avoid some pitfalls along the way:

Cleanliness is of the utmost important, if it is going to touch (or come close to touching) any ingredient or the wort itself (don't forget about the funnels, spoons, measuring items, bottle caps, etc) it should be absolutely clean (one step cleaner works great and so does a water/bleach mixture). If you skip this step or don't get it right the result will be "Skunky" Beer.

The Mr. Beer instructions have you measure sugar into each bottle for the bottle conditioning. This method is fine (time consuming) as long as you get the measurements exact. If the measurement is off it can cause problems ex. too little sugar=lower alcohol content, less carbonation. too much sugar =higher alcohol content & exploding bottles (if you're using glass).

When filling bottles, invest in a wand system. It will make the bottle filling faster, easier, & give you just the right amount of headspace when the wand is removed.

Stainless steel brewpot, spoon, funnel, strainer, etc are excellent investments.

Have Fun!

I have done a fair amount of home brewing, and I have to say it's a rewarding hobby.

I would suggest if it is something you want to pursue, get this book Charlie Papazian - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia this is essentially the book that will give you the best foundation on the subject. My advice would be to start by going to a store that sells lots of beers and start grabbing bottles and trying lots of different styles so that you'll have a taste foundation so when you're deciding what to make you'll know roughly the ball park of the style you're trying to create. The other piece of advice is to start with the kit as that is going to help you learn the fundamentals, but once you are comfortable with that I would then move to partial grain and dry extract. I find the wet extract tends to be oxidized by the time you use it and you can taste it in your finished beer. If you are really brave go all grain, I used to do all grain but I ended up going to partial grains because the time required to do all grain is more than I have to spare.

That being said this is a great hobby. Just make sure you pay very close attention to your level of sanitation any unsavory bacteria can ruin a batch. Also, as far as water goes if your tap water tastes good use that you don't need to use distilled water or bottled water. Good luck feel free to PM me if you have any questions I really like to talk about brewing.

All the above advice is good, but do leave it at least 3 months, most of mine is a year old because I only brew in the Autumn and Spring, about 8 brews a year. Use rain water and be good about your bottle and equipment hygene, as soon as you finish a bottle fill it with water and let it sit awhile then later rinse and put through dishwasher, saves a lot of stuffing about cleaning bottles for you next brew

Cheers

Heelerau

Originally Posted by Styptic

And if you are ever down Melbourne way Mick give me a shout an we can try Thomas hardy

Thanks for the invite mate, I did almost go to Melbourne once. One day I might fly south, but not for the winter though...


Mick

Awesome tips everyone! Ultimately I'd like to have a couple seasonal brews and I'd be happy with that. I'm sure you guys have had some flops as well... What's the biggest flop or worst mistake yet?

I've had two major mistakes in my early days. The first was poor hygiene/careless cleaning that produced a bad batch. The second was doubling up on the bottle suger. Admittedly this was due to an in-experienced friend who wanted to get in on the process, but never-the-less, it was still my responsibility in the end. I had some exploding bottles from that batch and over gassed beer from the bottles that survived. I use plastic bottles, so I didn't have the danger of broken glass to worry about thankfully.
I have also had a few minor stuff ups with some of my experiments, but that is to be expected I reckon.


Mick

P.S I agree with Heelarau about using rainwater (or springwater) if possible, it makes for a better tasting beer IMHO. I will say though, that I reckon it still needs to be filtered to remove the bugs and cr@p it collects on it's way down. They could ruin a good beer. Alternatively you can use tap water, but get it from the hot water system, if the water authority chlorinate it. The first lot of water before everyone has a shower will be the hottest. That way, when it cools down the chlorine will have evaporated out. Not as tasty, but if the area you live is smoggy etc it may be the better alternative.

Great ideas, and i will make sure to keep a strict eye on the measurements. Also the idea of rainwater is something i would have never considered it. Looks like i'll start collecting rain water, and give it a try. Thanks for the tips thus far. Any others you may think of keep them coming.

I used to do some homebrewing, but haven't lately due to lack of space in my new house. Another investment that I think is worthwhile, particularly if you want to drink right away, is a keg system (e.g., 5-gallon soda kegs). I did my first few batches in bottles, and quickly tired of the cleaning, etc. After that point I did kegging almost exclusively. On batches that I really wanted to age, though, I had a 2.5 gallon keg so that I could keg half of the batch, and bottle the other half.

Most of all, just have fun!

All great advice so far so not much to add beyond what was mentioned in the post above mine... kegging. Awesome way to package and consume your beer and much easier to do. I still bottle for those seasonals and specialty beers but for my daily drinkers I built a keezer and keg them.

http://straightrazorpalace.com/finer...need-fill.html

Originally Posted by MickR

Thanks for the invite mate, I did almost go to Melbourne once. One day I might fly south, but not for the winter though...


Mick

Yes it does get a touch cold down here during winter but I'm comforted by the fact it's still not as cold as what the Tazwegians get.