Aussiedistiller, Home Distilling, Moonshine, Home Brew

Ok Guys its been a rough night for me.
I picked up a draft beer kit coopers with the intent to brew it how I've always done with not the best results.
My method was chuck it all in throw it in the shed wait a few weeks put it in a keg.. well the last one was ok but not great.

Anyhow I was in the shed watching my TPW(S) bubbling away nicely with the aquarium heaters I put in them that weekend.
That's when it all started I had my old mini fridge so I decided I'll use that along with a temperature controller and a aquarium heater (in the beer) and have a temp controlled brew.
Possibly a great start to making a lot better beer...
Then I realized none of the fermenters I had fit in the fridge :( so Off to Bunnings and $25 later a new 30L drum that fits :)

Got to work, installed the heater through the lid put in the air lock grommet then went on to sterilising every thing

I warmed up the kit can a little to pour easier, put as little hot water as possible to dissolve the Mangrove Jack's Brewblend #15 (that I was suggested to use instead of sugar) then filled to 23L of water

This is when my night started to turn to shit. I Had it all together hadn't pitched the yeast but couldn't find where I put my air lock after a good solid 15minuits Of stressing and getting angry I gave up on finding my airlock ripped out the heater and seal from the lid put the heater (sprayed with sanitiser) in the brew put some gladwrap for a lid and the seal to hold it on (with the heater flat cord coming out from under the seal) So I put the yeast in around 24c then chucked it in the fridge set the temp controller to 18c so its cooling as I type. I sanitised the living crap out of every thing paranoid about trying to make a good beer (this was my make it good or not do it again batch). So then I thought right where the F*** is this air lock and I started thinking crap I hope its not in the beer! turns out its not.... I found it in my cooling tank for my still! When I was done with my bucked of water/starsan I chucked it in my trough for cooling water not realising the airlock was still in the bucket. at this stage I was just happy it wasn't in the beer.

Like I said I sanitised every thing even the gladwrap for the lid even the can opener and the knife I used to open the yeast packet.

The only 2 down falls I can thing of when I pitched the yeast I nearly dropped the yeast packet in the beer the very corner of the packet just touched the top of the beer
Also I had the lid off the wort for about 10 maybe 15 mins looking for the airlock before pitching yeast :|

The Yeast I used was safale us 05 Dry ale yeast
I've never done a beer with anything other than the kit and a 1kg of sugar

I'm used to Sugar washes where I don't sanitise a thing and they always turn out good

Anyway Thanks for taking the time to read what do you all thing

I should also mention my SG was 1030

Man chill out, i make beer all the time and if you sanitized everything you will be ok,I have made beer in a fermenter sanitized with water out of the kettle. Secondly us05 is a good yeast to use and you are brewing in a temp controlled fridge which is great this time of year. Beer is all about temp control and time the more you have of both the better, keep your brew at 18-20 degrees and just wait until you have 3 sg readings that are the same and bottle or keg your brew, wait 2 weeks and drink.
Also using sugar to make beer results in average beer, use coopers brew enhancer 2 or 1 kg light dry malt powder for a much better brew.

Thanks Plumby I think I'm just a little rattled tonight lol
I'm Planning on kegging. once I keg am I best going direct to the keezer or leave it at room temp for a bit.

:text-thankyoublue:

Not sure about kegging mate, I bottle my beer because I love the sound of a tallie being opened after working outside all day. I would just keg it the way you normally do.

straight in the keezer mate
For ease of mind, leave your beer for 2 weeks then gravity sample a few days in a row
If it's sitting around 1.012-1.009 she'll be finished, drop the temp in the fridge down to 1 or 2 degrees and leave it for another 4 days to crash chill
Now keg and because your beer is already cold, the CO2 will go into solution much easier so you can force carb (the shaking method) if you wish and it'll be "ready" to drink right away
but another few weeks in keg and it'll be at it's best
Brewing is a slippery slope, now you've added a decent brew enhancer and yeast, you'll start dabbling in hops, then specialty grains, then go to all grain with BIAB, then a 120L 3 vessel brew rig, then a HERMS, the list never ends :))

Thanks sp0rk feelin a lot better about it all now.

120l hehe gota find a bigger fridge. I have a back room in my shed that was a thearter or well still is with junk in it.
I'm thinking of convert it to my distillery brewry room. :)

Beer is all about temp control and time the more you have of both the better

:text-+1:

True that... temp controller + fridge has done bloody wonders for my lagers & Pils.

geez a story of the "late night must do's" try to avoid them bastards

The Road to beer heaven is a rewarding walk.

bt1

Had a look at it this morning top of the liquid in the drum was 18 middle was 15.5 lower next to the tap was 14.5 so I moved my temp sensor a little lower. Doesnt seem to be any activity yet no foaming or fizzing just flat looking liquid. I'll check again around lunch time

Jord,

Once your brew have finished fermenting I would rack it into another sterilised vessel and put it back in your fridge at 4 degrees for a few days. Your beer will clear up nicely.

Now your beer is ready to be siphoned into your keg and gassed.

Racking beer creates a fair nicer end product.

Will do thanks :handgestures-thumbupleft:

choppy wrote:Jord,

Once your brew have finished fermenting I would rack it into another sterilised vessel and put it back in your fridge at 4 degrees for a few days. Your beer will clear up nicely.

Now your beer is ready to be siphoned into your keg and gassed.

Racking beer creates a fair nicer end product.

It's also another potential point of infection and oxygenation and really unnecessary unless you're racking onto fruit, lagering/aging for extended periods ( as in months, to avoid yeast autolysis) or have a gigantic trub/yeast cake
I'd only ever do it for a Pils or Lager that I want crystal clear, even then I've done lagers (that have won comps) and not transferred to secondary and they've turned out crystal clear after a few weeks in keg
needing to always rack to secondary is a bit of a myth that the yanks keep perpetuating for some reason

I should have also mentioned, secondary fermenters are also useful if you're bulk priming, so you're not stirring up all your trub
But we're talking about kegging here, so that's irrelevant

:text-+1: spork

Secondaries are pain ...I do PILS and lagers only and with lagering for 2- 3 weeks (with Polychlar admittedly) but have no issues.

As to keg priming, If you have a slow feed of dex soln. directly into keg syphon line there's no issues - disperses evenly through beer, keg is CO2 purged and no additional infection risk.

bt1

Thanks for all the info guys
just checked on my brew its 18c had a look through my gladwrap lid and really its looking dead
checked the sg its reading 1040 now I can only asume because of the temp difference? Thought it was supposed to go down not up lol

view from top of glad wrap 12 tofay

I take your point on racking beer and infection, but my mates and I have been doing it for years and never had any problems as long as we keep it clean.

If I don't have the cold storage I put a small amount of dextrose in the secondary to rid the headspace of air and have kept beer in this state for a month or so.

I suppose it's a personal preference.

Looks like its starting to go today :) starting to go a little foamy :happy-partydance:

Hey mate, my advice is to have a look at this http://www.howtobrew.com/intro.html. I've read the thing about 3 times over and it's a great way to get your head around brewing. The first section is a quick walkthrough of the best things to do when brewing from extract. Then the rest of the sections go through in detail about what's going on and how to use specialty grains and do all grain. You don't have to read those though if you're not interested, the first thing is helpful enough.