Some Homebrew questions from NZ!

[xpandnz]

Hey guys.

Whenever I search something about home brew I always end up finding a lot of great stuff here and I have been lurking about for a bit reading up.

I was introduced to home-brew via a friend who does distilling and I asked him would he sell me some of his home brew in which he said 'No! Its fun to make and you have to wait for it to brew properly and I never give it away. But I trade, so, why don't you try it?'

I got some money, bought the Coopers Micro Brew Kit. I read the instructions, used boiling water to sterilise my fermenter and made my first batch using the Coopers Lager kit. That batch tasted like cat piss because I think I bottled it too early and obviously didn't do a good job getting the fermenter sorted out. It was real gassy and that. Still, if it gets you tipsy and drunk, just hold your nose and be done with it. So I did (lol!)

Next batch was Coopers Cerveza which I left for about 7 days in primary and then went straight to bottle. Two weeks later, I tried it, tasted great! I got some Sodium Percarbonate (i think thats what it is) to sterilize. Amazing stuff. Easy peasy.

So history finished. Here are my questions.

I brewed a Coopers Euro Lager which comes with a real lager yeast and left it in primary at about 14C for just over 2 weeks in primary. Straight to bottle. Now I reused my plastic PET bottles and part filled them with the solution made from the Sodium Percarbonate and shook them, left them for about 10 mins standing up and on the lid to clean the lid. They have now been out in the garage for about 3 weeks but the bottles are not getting hard. I had them inside for 2 days to keep them warm for a bit before sticking them out in the cold to 'lager' them. It says 12 weeks is required for this brew but you know, when your starting off, the prospect of drinking beer on the cheap is very tempting!
Is this normal? I did taste one today. Tastes fine. Just flat.

I brewed another Cerveza again, did the same thing with the bottles, re used them, and 4 days in, still not getting hard. Have tried a brew already. Again tastes great, just flat.

Am I being too impatient (probably a common trait among new home brewers!) or is something happening? Remember, around this time in New Zealand its winter.

I'm brewing a Coopers Dark Ale at the moment. That, I have heard, tastes amazing! Can't wait.

Any advice would be welcomed!

Thanks guys!

 

[Revvy]

The 3 weeks at 70 degrees, that we recommend is the minimum time it takes for average gravity beers to carbonate and condition. Higher grav beers take longer.

Stouts and porters have taken me between 6 and 8 weeks to carb up..I have a 1.090 Belgian strong that took three months to carb up.

And just because a beer is carbed doesn't mean it still doesn't taste like a$$ and need more time for the off flavors to condition out. You have green beer.

Temp and gravity are the two factors that contribute to the time it takes to carb beer. But if a beer's not ready yet, or seems low carbed, and you added the right amount of sugar to it, then it's not stalled, it's just not time yet.

Everything you need to know about carbing and conditioning, can be found here Of Patience and Bottle Conditioning. With emphasis on the word, "patience."

You don't need to do anything but give it more time.

And if they were pet bottles they're probably larger than 12 ounces? Add a couple more weeks to that carb time, larger bottle need more time.

 

[birvine]

+1 time and patience

 

[xpandnz]

Cool. Yeah. Patience!

I bought some commercial beer. And while I enjoy it, I love my home brews. I guess I should buy two fermenter's to keep beer brewing all the time.

While on this subject, since I love craft beers too, what are some good kits you could recommend or styles of beer you enjoy that are not the norm?

If you ever get the chance, see if you can find a beer called 'The Smokin' Bishop'. Its a New Zealand beer, craft of course, that has a lovely bacon and smokey taste. If you enjoy single malts like Laphroaig, you will love this beer!

 

[birvine]

Many brewers like to have a "pipeline" on the go. That way they have something on the way and don't have to wait too long for something new, yet gives the chance to be patient with the 3-4 week primary and long bottle conditioning time. It makes such an incredible difference as you'll find out - immense differences in new and properly-conditioned beer. At times I have had three carboys on the go.

I'm not sure what to suggest for "not the norm" brews. What I could suggest as a new brewer is to get something like a higher-volume extract kit which around here are really good (check out Brew House or Festa Brew from Canada). From those you can experiment in time once you're more comfortable with the process and move to extract/specialty grain brews and finally all-grain brews.

Enjoy!

B

 

[xpandnz]

I see a lot of people doing the mash and stuff and while that seems awesome, I just don't think I would have the time to do it.

I'm definitely keen to try brewing a stout and my love for dark ales has been resurrected. Ales in general make me feel good. I like Lager, but in New Zealand we have far too many. Even some of the brands that say they are ales, like Tui or Speights are more like lagers then anything else.

When I went to the states, I drank a **** load of Coors light. I hear that if I had had a Bud light or a Miller light I would have had the same beer. Its a shame I didn't try anything craft.

I saw a movie called Beer Wars which if you have not seen I recommend. Made me get back into craft beers.

Maybe later I will have time to use grains and hops and create my own craft beer. But for now, I guess its easy to use the kits.

 

[birvine]

Here is that I was talking about:

http://www.thebrewhouse.com/types/index.htm

rather than the canned ones.

If you have a local homebrew shop (LHBS) stop by and pick their brains. See if they have liquid or dry malt extract (LME, DME) and a few specialty grains. If you have a stove and a pot you can do it and it is not that tough but really opens up opportunities to make great beer and interesting recipes. You don't HAVE to go to all-grain (AG) which takes more time.

B

 

[xpandnz]

The red ale sounds like a winner. We got a great brew shop in Auckland (http://www.ebrewcraft.co.nz/afa.asp?idWebPage=10759&idWebSite=423&UN=ew) so will speak with them.

I also speak with the guy heaps who introduced me to home brew. He used to work there, has tonnes of knowledge and is a great dude. It seems all the home brewers I meet are rather nice people!

 

[birvine]

It's hard to tell but it seems that maybe the Brewcraft kits are similar to what I suggested. In our case the concentrate is in a plastic pouch which is added directly to the primary fermenter, water is added and possibly a few other ingredients from the kit and away you go.

It's a great hobby/pastime which I love, and it's great to hear when someone made a great batch here, there or anywhere!

We invite cross-country cyclists to our home all the time and end up sharing the homebrew with them. Hopefully I'll be able to call in a like-favour with them when we are in their neighbourhood!

B

 

[unionrdr]

Yeah,you def have to age them at least 3 weeks or more to carbonate & age properly. I've also found that bulk priming works way better "to style",& even speeds things up a bit with average gravity ales.
I also brewed the cooper's dark ale,but added 3lbs (about 1.4kg) of Munton's plain amber DME to it. Also 1oz (30g) each of Kent Golding & German Haulertau hop pellets. And just to take things a step further,I'd soaked 4oz (113.4g) of medium toast French oak chips in 5 jiggers (7,5oz,1 jigger being 1.5 shots) of 8 year old bourbon in a container at the point where I pitched the yeast on the wort.
Racked onto it in secondary (I used a grain sack for the chips/liquor). Great vanilla cream/bourbon flavor to the smooth dark ale. You could try that when you get comfortable with your process. Or just do the dark ale/amber DME/hops combo. You'll get a reddish brown ale.

 

[johnnyspade]

The 3 weeks at 70 degrees, that we recommend is the minimum time it takes for average gravity beers to carbonate and condition. Higher grav beers take longer.

Do you ever get tired of saying this? I mean, I know this is the beginner's forum but half the questions in it are people fermenting their beer for a day, letting it sit in the bottles for a half hour, and then asking why it's terrible. I exaggerate, of course.

I'm thinking about turning this into a drinking game. Whenever there's a post about weak carbonation after a week (or less) in the bottle, you have to down a pint.

 

[unionrdr]

I have that game in the closet from Spencer Gifts. It's called "Pass Out". :cross:

 

[two_hearted]

I'm definitely keen to try brewing a stout and my love for dark ales has been resurrected. Ales in general make me feel good. I like Lager, but in New Zealand we have far too many. Even some of the brands that say they are ales, like Tui or Speights are more like lagers then anything else.

Yeah Speights is fun and all but but when it comes down to it, it tastes pretty much like a cheap lager. The last few times I've been to NZ I stuck with Epic, Harringtons, Green Man and a few other micros.