Brewing 101?

[Asrial]

First post besides my intro-thread, here we go!

General small questions regarding brewing in general and some subtopics.

1. How much does indirect lighting affect a brew?
   My "fermentation chamber" is lighted up during the day, but never hit by actual, direct sunlight. That's why I am concerned.
2. Do I need to ferment beer in a cool place, or can it survive room temperature?
   The chamber is actually floor heated to a constant 20 degree celcius. I do not own an actual cold storage chamber, this is the best we got.
3. Proper sanitazion/cleaning, help?
   I sanitized my first brew with denatured alcohol mixed 50/50 with tap water and some dish soap. No infections or anything, but was I just lucky?
4. Can I use freshly squeezed juice (with added suger) as a carbonation primer?
   Would love to experiment on a later day with using golden raspberries for a hefeweissen. Seems like a neat idea.
5. How much flavour will be present in the brew if the above question is confirmed?
6. After cooler conditioning, can I leave them to store in a room temperature area?
   Again, lack of space is problematic. Especially stable cooler-space.
7. What beer would be advisable to try out and brew first? (except pilsners. Would love some heavier beerstyles!)
8. Exact pH values are how important to the final brew? And calcium contents?
   Our tap water is fairly consistent in regards to calcium and pH values, but I will of course get some equipment for that if needed
9. Filtration of the brew; do I need a filtration system, or can I use the redneck filtration technique (gelatine) with equal success?
   I'm studying, so money is not an endless resource for me, and they are fairly expensive.

Hope you guys can help me!

 

[jigidyjim]

Oof. So many questions in one thread!

1) Put a towel or t-shirt over your fermenter to block the light.

2) Temperature control is the easiest way to go from good beer to great beer. 20 celsius ambient temp is probably a little warm for most yeast, remember that fermentation causes more heat (some on this board say + 10F). With that said, don't worry about it for now if you can't do anything about it. Come back to it later if you aren't happy with how your beers turn out.

3) Dish soap isn't a great cleaner (it probably has an odor, right?). I don't know about the alcohol. Most people here use idophor,starsan, or unscented bleach.

4) Be careful with any priming sugar that you don't know what the actual measurement of sugar is. You could end up with bottle bombs.

5) dunno.

6) I don't know about storage temps. Just don't let them get super hot, or else you risk waking up the yeast more and bottle bombs.

7) Any style you like is a good one for an early brew! There are beginner recipes for almost every style.

8) If you are worried about Ph and calcium, you are more advanced than most homebrewers... someone else will have to chime in here.

9) You don't need to filter to enjoy homebrewing. With that said, if clear beer is important to you, someone else can help out.

Good luck!

 

[brewit2it]

First post besides my intro-thread, here we go!

General small questions regarding brewing in general and some subtopics.

1. How much does indirect lighting affect a brew?
   My "fermentation chamber" is lighted up during the day, but never hit by actual, direct sunlight. That's why I am concerned.
2. Do I need to ferment beer in a cool place, or can it survive room temperature?
   The chamber is actually floor heated to a constant 20 degree celcius. I do not own an actual cold storage chamber, this is the best we got.
3. Proper sanitazion/cleaning, help?
   I sanitized my first brew with denatured alcohol mixed 50/50 with tap water and some dish soap. No infections or anything, but was I just lucky?
4. Can I use freshly squeezed juice (with added suger) as a carbonation primer?
   Would love to experiment on a later day with using golden raspberries for a hefeweissen. Seems like a neat idea.
5. How much flavour will be present in the brew if the above question is confirmed?
6. After cooler conditioning, can I leave them to store in a room temperature area?
   Again, lack of space is problematic. Especially stable cooler-space.
7. What beer would be advisable to try out and brew first? (except pilsners. Would love some heavier beerstyles!)
8. Exact pH values are how important to the final brew? And calcium contents?
   Our tap water is fairly consistent in regards to calcium and pH values, but I will of course get some equipment for that if needed
9. Filtration of the brew; do I need a filtration system, or can I use the redneck filtration technique (gelatine) with equal success?
   I'm studying, so money is not an endless resource for me, and they are fairly expensive.

Hope you guys can help me!

Welcome!!

1. If you are brewing in glass or clear plastic even indirect UV can react with your hops and cause "skunking" of the beer so just cover the carboy with a towel or old shirt. If it's in a plastic bucket then less to worry about.

2. Room temperature is good for brewing ales assuming room temp is below 74 degree Farenheight (23 C) so 20 degrees is perfect.

3. You would be better off getting some no rinse sanitizer. The most popular one here is Star San which is an acidic food safe sanitizer. You should be able to find something similar either on line or at a restaurant supply store. Detergent is hard to rinse completely and can leave an off flavor and kill head retention. Denatured alcohol is a poisonous plus will make an expensive cleaning sanitizing agent.

4. I wouldn't. You risk infection and inconsistent carbonation (too much=bottle bombs, too little=flat beer).

5. I'm not a fan of fruit beers so will defer to others. But if you are set on adding fruit flavor do some reading here, there are lots of threads and recipes discussing it.

6. If you are bottle conditioning you will want to leave them at room temp for 2-3 weeks or longer, and preferrably somewhere warmer than the 20 degrees you mentioned.

7. Brew ales, a nice English Bitter or american style pale ale would be a good place to start.

8. If your water tastes good then it should be good to brew with. I wouldn't worry much about water chemistry unless you are finding you have a problem. If you are doing extract brewing you almost certainly will be fine using your tap water, preferrably boiled prior to use.

9. You don't need a filtration system. Gelatin is one option for clarifying beer. Finings is the term of these agents and often they can be purchased at a home brew store but they aren't really needed in most cases. I've never heard of Gelatin being called redneck filtration. I'm really surprised the term "Redneck" is even known in Scandinavia. What would be your definition of "Redneck" just out of curiosity?

 

[brewit2it]

Oof. So many questions in one thread!

1) Put a towel or t-shirt over your fermenter to block the light.

2) Temperature control is the easiest way to go from good beer to great beer. 20 celsius ambient temp is probably a little warm for most yeast, remember that fermentation causes more heat (some on this board say + 10F). With that said, don't worry about it for now if you can't do anything about it. Come back to it later if you aren't happy with how your beers turn out.

3) Dish soap isn't a great cleaner (it probably has an odor, right?). I don't know about the alcohol. Most people here use idophor,starsan, or unscented bleach.

4) Be careful with any priming sugar that you don't know what the actual measurement of sugar is. You could end up with bottle bombs.

5) dunno.

6) I don't know about storage temps. Just don't let them get super hot, or else you risk waking up the yeast more and bottle bombs.

7) Any style you like is a good one for an early brew! There are beginner recipes for almost every style.

8) If you are worried about Ph and calcium, you are more advanced than most homebrewers... someone else will have to chime in here.

9) You don't need to filter to enjoy homebrewing. With that said, if clear beer is important to you, someone else can help out.

Good luck!

We pretty much told him the same stuff with the exception of temp. 20 degrees C= 68 degrees F is perfect for home brewing other than lagers. If he has a fermentation chamber that holds a steady 68 degrees he's golden:rockin:

 

[janivar123]

Put the fermenter on a stool or something to keep it off the direct heat
I bet the floor hits much more than 20C on cold days

20 is still on the high end. Can you live in 18C

 

[Frodo]

20 degrees C= 68 degrees F is perfect for home brewing other than lagers. If he has a fermentation chamber that holds a steady 68 degrees he's golden:rockin:

Like a previous poster indicated though, fermentation produces heat and ambient temp vs. fermentation temp can be a big difference; I recently had an IPA at 62F ambient and fermentation temp was at 71F. There are tricks to keep the fermenter cool of course, like a wet towel wrapped around the fermenter, putting the fermenter in a water bath and adding a bit of ice once in a while, etc.

 

[Asrial]

Okay, most of my questions has either been directly or indirectly answered, yay!

I should've mentioned it, but my main brewing container is an unclear 25 liter (alittle more than 5 gallons) plastic bucket.
I will stay off fruit acting as a primer untill I can get some equipment much later on to determine the sugar content.
Think we got a zinc container somewhere that should be able to keep the brew watercooled, might look for it later.

Anything else was already speculations that has been confirmed or knocked down.

 

[jd3]

Add the rasberries in secondary and allow them to ferment out. Use corn sugar to prime. Guessing is not something you want to do with bottles. BOOM.

 

[Bob]

Welcome to HBT!

How much does indirect lighting affect a brew?

If you're fermenting in an opaque bucket, don't worry about it.

Do I need to ferment beer in a cool place, or can it survive room temperature?

As others have noted, your normal ambient temperature looks perfect, but is really too high; 20C ambient means it can be as high as 25C in the ferment. That's too warm.

Also as others have noted, keeping the fermenter off the floor surface will help. Doesn't have to be fancy; a couple of bricks will do. If you can find an old stool somewhere, though, that's perfect - if it's already off the floor, you don't have to pick up the bucket to rack!

Proper sanitazion/cleaning, help?

Any good cleaning detergent is acceptable for removing soils from equipment. Some are easier to use than others. Avoid abrasives on plastics at all costs. Many prefer OxyClean products, which probably are sold under another name in EU; a good soak in a solution of OxyClean and hot water overnight removes even the most stubborn fermentation deposits.

For sanitation, use a dedicated sanitizer, if such is available to you through your hobby-brewing support and sales channels. StarSan is immensely popular here in the US, and I personally swear by it. If you can't get that product where you are, look to the food-processing industry suppliers. Look for acid-based no-rinse sanitizers with a short contact time, say, 2 minutes or less. You may have to buy a large container of the stuff, but if you band together with a group of hobby-brewers, the cost per individual can be lessened. NB: Industrial sanitizers are DANGEROUS. Carefully read all MSDS before using, and don't use them if you're freaked out by chemicals. Use gloves and safety goggles!

Can I use freshly squeezed juice (with added suger) as a carbonation primer?

You can do whatever you like. Whether you should is another question. In this case, the answer is "No".

Priming sugars must be carefully controlled in order to achieve a predictable level of condition in the bottle. With fresh juice, that's possible but much more difficult than using dextrose (brewer's corn sugar) to achieve the same goal.

After cooler conditioning, can I leave them to store in a room temperature area?

In fact, leaving the freshly-bottled beer at ~20C for three weeks is highly recommended!

What beer would be advisable to try out and brew first? (except pilsners. Would love some heavier beerstyles!)

Many new brewers are very pleased if they start with a variety of English Brown Ale. The styles are quick to mature, full-flavored and full-bodied. Seek out a recipe here in HBT's Recipes section. I've an excellent recipe in my library, too, which I don't mind sharing.

Exact pH values are how important to the final brew? And calcium contents?

If you're not mashing, it's not all that important. If you are mashing, don't worry about water chemistry until you master the physical process.

Filtration of the brew; do I need a filtration system, or can I use the redneck filtration technique (gelatine) with equal success?

You don't need a filtration system. The overwhelming majority of hobby-brewers don't even use a "ghetto filter" (finings); they just use patience. I own a filter. I use it regularly, especially on beers which I want to be star-bright and want to drink young (like my Mild and Brooklyn Lager). But the rest of my beers get patience and sometimes finings.

Good luck to you, and if I can be of more help, just ask!

Bob

 

[janivar123]

PBW and Oxyclean should be available at your LHBS or at a web store
kalcineret Soda (washing soda) should work till you get that but is not nice to metal

Star san is popular here too

Corn sugar can be hard to find so table sugar will do fine for carbonation