New to brew, hoping for a few (answers)

Hello there everyone,

I've brewed once batch of beer and it came out a disaster (Hmmm, this tastes like a great bottle of soap). I have a new homebrewing kit, for a dark ale. Midwest supplies Power pack porter. I live somewhere where it's very hard to get brewing equipment, so I'm in a bind. Plus I have about a zillion questions, I'll start with a few.

Secondary fermentor. I probably can't get a hold of a 5 gallon glass carboy, but I understand there's a problem with plastic: too much airspace for bad oxygen and it can scratch and bad stuff can grow in small scratches. Is it better to leave to ferment in primary fermentor (plastic bucket), move to a different plastic bucket, or put in several large glass jars/carboys.

Do home-made wort chillers work well?

Is it bad to use a rubber stopper with my airlock, what alternatives are there?

Those are my questions for the equipment section. Thank you!
B

What do you use for your primary fermentation now?

For secondary fermentation most people use a glass carboy big enough to fit all the beer in.

Homemade wort chillers can work well if they are made properly. Sort of hard to answer your question because it depends on the individual case. There are a couple DIY articles on making a chiller if you are interested.

It is not bad to use a rubber stopper with the air-lock, actually it is necessary if you are using a carboy. The primary fermenter buckets usually have a hole in the lid with an o-ring for the air-lock to be placed in.

Hope that helps.

dmoore, thanks for the help,

I don't have the primary fermenter but I can get my hands on a proper food grade plastic bucket fermenter.

The problem with a glass carboy is that I don't think I can get a 5 gallon one.

If you haven't bought anything yet and and doing 5g batches maybe use a 6g Better Bottle (plastic) carboy or even a 6g glass carboy. The better bottles are good because even though they're big they're still light so they can be cheaper to send, but I don't know if you guys in the states have postage that is sent by weight or size or a combo of the two.

That way you can use it as primary and leave it in there two - three weeks, no problems, although I wouldn't be worried about leaving a beer in any foodgrade plastic for 3 weeks.

A secondary isn't really that important for average beers, most people here don't use them.

Like above, wort chillers depend on how they're made, my DIY one works ok, I just need to mess with flow and stuff to get it right for my setup I think.

No problems using a rubber stopper, I use one on one of my fermenters, as long as it's sanitised no problems.

HTH

EDIT: www.morebeer.com for ordering stuff online, great service.

balzur said:

Hello there everyone,

I've brewed once batch of beer and it came out a disaster (Hmmm, this tastes like a great bottle of soap). I have a new homebrewing kit, for a dark ale. Midwest supplies Power pack porter. I live somewhere where it's very hard to get brewing equipment, so I'm in a bind. Plus I have about a zillion questions, I'll start with a few.

Secondary fermentor. I probably can't get a hold of a 5 gallon glass carboy, but I understand there's a problem with plastic: too much airspace for bad oxygen and it can scratch and bad stuff can grow in small scratches. Is it better to leave to ferment in primary fermentor (plastic bucket), move to a different plastic bucket, or put in several large glass jars/carboys.

Do home-made wort chillers work well?

Is it bad to use a rubber stopper with my airlock, what alternatives are there?

Those are my questions for the equipment section. Thank you!
B

Click to expand...

There's nothing wrong with using plastic containers (better bottles), I personally use Glass, but it's much more a mtter of personal preference than it is one product being superior to the other.

If made properly, a home-made chiller should work just as well as something that you can purchase.

A rubber bung with an airlock is the standard. You can also attach a blowoff if you need one.

balzur said:

Hello there everyone,

I've brewed once batch of beer and it came out a disaster (Hmmm, this tastes like a great bottle of soap). I have a new homebrewing kit, for a dark ale. Midwest supplies Power pack porter. I live somewhere where it's very hard to get brewing equipment, so I'm in a bind. Plus I have about a zillion questions, I'll start with a few.

Secondary fermentor. I probably can't get a hold of a 5 gallon glass carboy, but I understand there's a problem with plastic: too much airspace for bad oxygen and it can scratch and bad stuff can grow in small scratches. Is it better to leave to ferment in primary fermentor (plastic bucket), move to a different plastic bucket, or put in several large glass jars/carboys.

Do home-made wort chillers work well?

Is it bad to use a rubber stopper with my airlock, what alternatives are there?

Those are my questions for the equipment section. Thank you!
B

Click to expand...

Everyone has access to brewing equipment, unless your broke - then you shouldn't really be wasting more time and money on something that isn't really going to make you any $ (personal view, of life in general).

I am ordering from Midwest, they seem to have the best all around kits:
http://www.midwestsupplies.com/products/ProdBySubCat.aspx?SubCat=11166&fd=1

I would start with the kit that comes with a Fermenting bucket, a Bottling bucket, and 5gal Carboy (or Better Bottle). For about 100.00 total, you will have your equipment and delivery. I've priced it local, and it's about 200-250, not including beer. To this kit I would add two things, 1x extra air lock. It only comes with one, so you would only be able to ferment one container. I'd also get an extra grommet for the lid in case you lose/break the ones it comes with. The other thing would be a Fermtech Wine Thief. They say it makes taking reading much easier - I believe them. I don't think the kit comes with a test jar anyway..

I was going to get the Better Bottle instead of the Carboy, because I'll be brewing in a kitchen where kids are always around... I then decided I'd get better use out of my glass carboy, less likely to scratch.. A milk crate and a foam liner and I'll be gold.

Have you read the how-to-brew site? I've gone over it a couple of times this week - really easy read and straight to it.

Some say secondary is not needed, but the price difference for adding the carboy to the package is worth it, especially if you don't have access to a brew shop should you need one one day... I plan to start with a Wheat beer - w/ no secondary, so the first thing going into my Carboy will be 5 gallons of juice for that special apple juice EdWort has been pushing.

About multiple vessels for fermentation/conditioning - you will need multiple airlocks...that could get messy.

Best wishes man, hope you stick it through!

Edit: don't worry about a chiller for now, use an ice bath.. You're better off buying the chiller yourself, unless you can get free copper.

http://www.howtobrew.com/section4/chapter21-2.html

Soapy
Soapy flavors can caused by not washing your glass very well, but they can also be produced by the fermentation conditions. If you leave the beer in the primary fermentor for a relatively long period of time after primary fermentation is over ("long" depends on the style and other fermentation factors), soapy flavors can result from the breakdown of fatty acids in the trub. Soap is, by definition, the salt of a fatty acid; so you are literally tasting soap.

Click to expand...

balzur said:

dmoore, thanks for the help,

I don't have the primary fermenter but I can get my hands on a proper food grade plastic bucket fermenter.

The problem with a glass carboy is that I don't think I can get a 5 gallon one.

Click to expand...

For the primary, a food grade plastic bucket is good, but you need an air lock of some sort..keep the nasties out. If you can't get a lid with hole that allows you to use an air lock, you can (in a pinch) put a sanitized soaked towel over the lid and rubber band it. Not recommended, but will do the trick if you can't afford/find the right equipment. You will have a difficult time making good tasting beer until you are able to properly ferment. Too many things can potentially go wrong if you don't have the right equipment (kind of like my son hammering in a nail with my socket wrench).

My first brew was also very "soapy" and the bottles would gush when opened. Make sure you get Star-san from an online homebrew supply, like morebeer.com. That should take care of any questions about soap residue/infection. Don't worry about using a secondary until you can get your sanitizing process down pat. It's just one more chance for infection, and until you make bigger beers, it won't be necessary. Just let your beer sit in primary about 3 weeks, then bottle, and you're good to go.