several questions

[odh2507]

hey, new to home brewing, and gonna get started and buy a starter kit very soon here. have a few questions though

carbonation drops: i thought yeast produces its own carbonation, so are these necessary? when do you use them?

brew kits: are there expiration dates on these, or is it possible to stock up with a good sale coming, or will they just go bad? freshness of the grain plays a role im sure, but how long are they good for?

all grain/extract/partial mash: i understand the difference between all grain and extract. what is partial mash? and will the quality of my beer be considerately better with all grain compared to extract?

thanks, guys/girls. answers are much appreciated

EDIT: i'm looking at northernbrewer.com and morebeer.com any suggestions to these two websites, when it comes to purchasing?

 

[beninan]

Welcome to the forums!

1. The yeast does produce the carbonation. Carb drops are a regulated amount of sugar that you add to the bottles for the yeast to eat and produce the carbonation. They are not necessary, but some people prefer them. I do not use them, I simply prime the entire batch (add a regulated amount of sugar, usually between 3-5 oz per 5 gallons) at bottling time, so each bottle has the same amount of sugar.

2. The kits do somewhat have an expiration. They will be better if used sooner, but that are also made to last longer than a couple of months on the shelves. The only thing that worries me about kits, is the yeast. The kits are usually not refrigerated, so any yeast inside is usually not properly cared for, so the yeast is usually the first thing to "expire".

3. Partial mash is a combination of both extract and all-grain. One scenario to use a partial mash- some people don't have the equipment to do a full all-grain batch, so they substitute some of the base malt for some malt extract. Thus only doing half of an all-grain batch, but still getting the full ingredients of the recipe. Another scenario to use a partial mash is to convert special grains for an extract recipe. Not all speciality grains can be steeped, some have to be mashed. If you were doing an extract recipe and want to incorporate some of these grains that need to be mashed, you will need to add some base malt and perform a partial mash to convert the starches in the grains to fermentable sugars. Beer quality between the two can be highly argued about. Essentially, there is no difference if good brewing practices are performed, and some very nice beers can be made with only extract.

 

[el_caro]

hey, new to home brewing, and gonna get started and buy a starter kit very soon here. have a few questions though

carbonation drops: i thought yeast produces its own carbonation, so are these necessary? when do you use them?

brew kits: are there expiration dates on these, or is it possible to stock up with a good sale coming, or will they just go bad? freshness of the grain plays a role im sure, but how long are they good for?

all grain/extract/partial mash: i understand the difference between all grain and extract. what is partial mash? and will the quality of my beer be considerately better with all grain compared to extract?

thanks, guys/girls. answers are much appreciated

EDIT: i'm looking at northernbrewer.com and morebeer.com any suggestions to these two websites, when it comes to purchasing?

Welcome to home brewing you will love it.

I assume you will commence your brewing by bottling. You will need some form of priming for the bottle conditioning to occur. Yeast only produce CO2 as a byproduct of their converting the sugar to alcohol. Hence you will need to feed them. Carbonation drops are fine if you have regular sized bottles to suit them. Personally like most brewers who bottle I use bulk priming and just happen to use dextrose. Do a search on priming as there is a wealth of info on this site.

Kits do certainly deteriorate with time and one of the secrets of producing good beer is to use fresh ingredients.

Partial mash could be described as using both grains and extract in varying proportions . It is like having a foot in both camps (AG and Extract)

 

[BegginerBrewer]

If i may add, if your bottling as a rule of thumb i use one LEVEL teaspoon of ordinary sugar. No water no fuss just fill the bottle with beer a couple of inch from the top then add your needed sugar. Job done.

 

[odh2507]

yes, i would be bottling, kegging sounds interesting, i will most likely get into that a few years from now.

got the part with the priming of the beer, makes perfect sense now, do all kits already come with the priming sugar as well, or is that separate?

thanks for all ur answers, its much appreciated

 

[Waynep005]

Some shops put the primming sugar in the kits others do not. If the shop you use does not you can buy it by the pound and have some on hand.

 

[Calder]

If i may add, if your bottling as a rule of thumb i use one LEVEL teaspoon of ordinary sugar. No water no fuss just fill the bottle with beer a couple of inch from the top then add your needed sugar. Job done.

Batch priming is more consistent. When I was back in the old country, it used to be a teaspoonful for a pint (20 ozs in UK/19.2 ozs in US). But people use different sized bottles, there are different carbonation rates for different styles of beer, teaspoons do differ in size (not all are the standard 5ml), and level vs heaped makes a lot of difference. Find a priming calculator, weigh the sugar, and batch prime.

Carb drops are an expensive way to carb a beer, best suited for folks who just want to bottle a few beers when they keg.

There also is no need to use 'Priming' sugar. Regular table sugar works fine, but is more fermentable, so you need to use less.