Questions from a newbie in Korea

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Bosh

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Probably a lot of stupid questions, but I started my first batch on Saturday (so far so good) and would appreciate some advice.

The starter beer kid I'm using has these instructions:
http://www.muntons.com/homebeer/instructions/htm/instructions_5.asp

What does "Stand bottles or barrel in a warm place for 2 days then allow 14 days in a cool place or until the beer has cleared" mean? How cool is cool? Do I stick the bottles in the fridge after two days?

My only good supply of ingredients is here: http://www.goodbeer.co.kr/
Anyone know if the ingredients listed here (specifically the yeast, malt and hops) are any good?

The starter kit that I bought doesn't come with any kind of siphon hose. IThe primary fermenter is sort of a big white plastic bucket with a nozzle on the bottom. Would it be OK to just stick the bottle to the nozzle when I pour the beer into the bottle for secondary fermentation or would that let too much oxygen in?

To get the beer out of the primary fermenter and into the bottles I have to lug it inside from the veranda and put it on the kitchen table. I assume that this would mix things up and move some dead yeast around. How long should I let it sit on the kitchen table (my wife really cranks up the heat inside so its hotter than is good for beer inside the kitchen) to let things settle?

When I get the hang of the easy stuff enough and start using grain instead of the canned stuff is there any way I can cook up enough wort using my crappy little gas stove? Is there any feasible way to cook up wort in a few smaller pots and then combine it in the fermenter?

Can't seem to find any filtration equipment. What sort of thing could I use that I could use to strain wort?

The beer that I normally drink is a Chinese beer (its cheap and more drinkable than the Korean stuff) and the bottles are pretty bad quality I think (they break really easily for some reason). Is there any problem that could happen with bottling my beer in cheaply-made bottles?
 
Woah. Lots of questions. Since I can't read kanji, I have no idea what you have as far as yeast, etc. Keep it between 70 - 75F. Do not let it get above 78 no matter what. A secondary usually refers to a glass or plastic carboy. It sounds like you are using a bottling bucket for a primary, hence the spigot.

I'd say leave it in the primary for the full 14 days and do not bother with a secondary.

Read Howtobrew.com or homebrewtalk.com/wiki for some background.

Also you may want to PM Yuri. He was recently in Korea and may be able to help you locate equipment etc.


Good luck.
 
Since I can't read kanji, I have no idea what you have as far as yeast, etc.
Just click on the menu on the left side of the screen where it says malt, hops, etc. It has English there as well as Korean.
Hangul, not kanji ;)

It sounds like you are using a bottling bucket for a primary, hence the spigot.
Right. The instructions say to transfer it out of the bucket and into some bottles after 7-8 days, then into the bottles, then into a "cool" place.
 
Well I can't load the Language kit on this laptop, so even the english characters get messed up.

The yeasts on the site appear to be white labs. You can go to http://www.whitelabs.com/ and find out what the yeast characteristics are as well as the perferred fermentation temperatures are.

I more or less stand by my advice. Don't follow the muntons instructions. Go read howtobrew.com.

I'll repost tomorrow after I get to work and see if I can get a better read on the site.
 
Thanks!

How to brew looks good but some of its calls for equipment that I don't have (for example the hose to transfer the beer). Sure it will end up OK through trial and error, took a little taste/smell through the spigot of the green beer and the yeast is definately doing fine, its not sweet anymore and there's plenty of good hoppy flavor.
 
Yea, that website seems to have fine quality ingredients. As far as your bottles go, just store em around 68-75 degrees for 2 to 3 weeks, THEN stick in the fridge, chill and drink. If you stick in the fridge after 2 days the carbonation won't be done and will probably not finish. after 2 weeks at 70ish degrees the carbonation will be finished and you can chill them.
 
Also, about cooking in smaller pots then combining: Yes, I've done this, you have to be sure to split up your hops evenly between the pots though.

Get a turkey fryer though, makes life WAY easier.

You don't have to strain the wort, you can just pour it all in to your fermenter after the boil, yea, there will be a lot of sediment, but it will settle to the bottom and you can pull the beer off it no problem.




Also, secondary fermentation is not done in the bottle, it should be done in a second bucket. If you let fermentation take place in the bottle, then you will have some bottle bombs on your hand. You bottle after fermintation is COMPLETELY done, add a little sugar to help them carbonate in the bottle which technically is fermentation but not enough to make bottle bombs, just to make some bubbly ;)
 
Yea, that website seems to have fine quality ingredients.
Ya, good quality, just limited selection. After I get the hang of the hopped can stuff I'll probably try to make an amber ale with the spraymalt and work my way up from there to cooking up real wort...

Also, secondary fermentation is not done in the bottle, it should be done in a second bucket. If you let fermentation take place in the bottle, then you will have some bottle bombs on your hand.
Ah ok, so I've got to be really careful to make sure the fermentation has finished. The beer gets a bit cold at night (wife cranks the heat up way to high, so it wouldn't be a good idea to bring it inside, hmmmm maybe I should stick it in the bathroom at night since that's colder than the rest of the apartmetn since the floor isn't headed in there) so I've got to take some time to make sure the fermentation is completely done to avoid having my bottles explode. Good to know.

Thanks all!
 
Well the instructions don't have a secondary and I don't have anything to put a secondary in, so I guess its 1 week primary, 2 weeks bottles?
 
You can skip the secondary, but you need to make sure you still give the time to ferment in a bucket that youw ould in the secondary. so, 3 weeks primary, 3 weeks bottles, instead of 1 primary 2 secondary.

You can get away with 2 weeks in primary then to bottles, but 1 week isn't long enough and could lead to bottle bombs.a

Are you measuring gravity? That's a good way to tell if fermentation is done or not, measure before the fermentation, then after. If you get the same reading for 4 days in a row then fermentation is most likely done.
 
Bosh said:
Well the instructions don't have a secondary and I don't have anything to put a secondary in, so I guess its 1 week primary, 2 weeks bottles?
No if you don't have a secondary then the best idea is 2-3 weeks primary, 3-4 weeks bottle. After a week in the bottles it should be carbonated and drinkable but will improve with age. A total of 6 weeks from brewing to drinking is a pretty good rule of thumb.

You should pick up a second fermenter with spigot to use as a bottling bucket. Some vinyl food grade tubing is also a good idea. Boil the priming sugar (3/4 cup corn sugar) in a small amount of water and add it to the bottling bucket. Transfer the beer from your primary to the bottling bucket using the tubing to avoid splashing and aerating. Then you can use the spigot on the bottling bucket to fill the bottles.
Poor quality bottles may break when capping or under pressure from the carbonation. If you can get better quality bottles do so. Not sure of the situation in Korea but in the US most mass market beer does not come it bottles well suited to bottling homebrew. We have to look for craft beers or buy new glass.
Craig
 
Also, when you put the beer in bottles, you need a small piece of tubing (or a bottling wand) to fill the bottles from the bucket. You can't just open the spigot and pour- it'd oxidize for one thing, and overflow the bottles, too, I'd think. Can you find a small vinyl tubing to fit one end of the spigot and the other end in the bottle? (or maybe you have that taken care of- if so, sorry I missed it)
 
Yooper Chick said:
Also, when you put the beer in bottles, you need a small piece of tubing (or a bottling wand) to fill the bottles from the bucket. You can't just open the spigot and pour- it'd oxidize for one thing, and overflow the bottles, too, I'd think. Can you find a small vinyl tubing to fit one end of the spigot and the other end in the bottle? (or maybe you have that taken care of- if so, sorry I missed it)
This is the recommended method however a friend of mine have been filling bottles from the spigot for a couple of years without a problem. So it is definitely a workable solution.
Craig
 
Thanks so much all, I think I've got things mostly figured out now.

The hydrometer sample I just drank tastes almost exactly like Becks Dark. Not my favorite beer, but definately very drinkable and a hell of a lot better than Asian beer so so far so good.
 
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