My first try of making Beer

Huascar · Oct 24, 2011

Dear friends

My name is Huascar, I'm from Bolivia and yesterday I did my first try to make my own beer. I had serveral problems and I need your comments for the second try.

1. ¿How does it work the "Iodo test"? I taken out some drops from the mashing tank and put them, above one napkin. I applied one solution of (iodo, 5% mixing with water) and observed the color. I seemed that all the times, the colour was the same. ¿Someone could send me some pictures? ([email protected])

2. In Bolivia there are only few people that make their own beer and for this reason, I bought the Lupulo from Argentina but I forgot to buy the yeast. I read and found that "Saccharomises Cervisae" is present in suplements, then I bought one suplement of yeast beer and used for the process of making my beer. ¿Is it fine what I did? Someone could explain me about this topic, I repeat that I don´t have the possibility to buy the yeast in Bolivia I must wait but I am tired of waiting, and I want to make my second beer very fast.

3. I used for fermentation a (20 L) plastic tank but when I saw the beer inside the tank I could see a organic material layer at the bottom. I think that I did a mistake in the filtering process. ¿Is it normal, observe material at the bottom of the fermenting tank?

Thank you for your answers.

Best Regards,

Huascar

unionrdr · Oct 24, 2011

Never had to go looking for supplements to get brewer's yeast. did you look strictly for brewer's yeast,or another supplement containing it? And Iodo test? Never heard of that,but it sounds like you're trying to do a PH test. That's something to do with the water in all grain brewing.
20L size tank is going to be a little tight for the typical 5 gallon (19L) brew. Not enough head space to allow for krausen formation when using ale yeasts. Krausen is the yeast foam formed on top of the fermenting wort during initial fermentation. Anyway,welcome to Home Brew Talk! :mug:

solbes · Oct 24, 2011

1) I'm assuming this iodine test is looking for residual sugars from mashing grains? If so, it will tell you if you have residual sugar that was untouched by the mashing process. If you are using liquid or dry malt extract (instead of all grain methods), there is no reason to perform an iodine test.

2) I don't know, but you will get different tasting beer with different yeast strains. I would try to get a strain that works well for many different types (dry Nottingham for example) and then wash the yeast for future batches if its really difficult getting yeast in your area. Research the stickied Yeast Washing thread for more info.

3) If you see material at the bottom of your fermenter, we call that trub. It's proteins, hot break, cold break, and other materials that should not affect your beer adversely. Just make sure you leave them behind when you rack the beer out of the tank prior to secondary or bottling.

Welcome to HBT. I guess summer is coming in Bolivia?

motleybrews · Oct 24, 2011

pretty sure the iodine test is only for all grain. that being said, if you did the iodine test after your mash, and the sugars converted correctly, the color should not change. if it changes to black, you did not have conversion.

cms · Oct 24, 2011

Can you get bread yeast? You can use a packet of dry bread yeast with pretty good results.

I'd skip the pH test until you get more experience and just go by rule of thumb to know when the mash is complete (i.e. 60 minutes at 154° and you can be pretty confident that conversion is complete.)

Crud in the bottom is totally normal. Don't worry.

Huascar · Oct 24, 2011

Thank you for the answers.

Yes, we are entering summer in Bolivia.

1. Yes, I'm using the iodine test for searching residual sugars in the mashing process. It is not a PH test and It works mixing the drops of mash with drops of iodine. The result must be a yellow color with brown stripes. But I don´t have a patron to compare. I'm not using liquid or malt dry extract, I made my own malt. I hope fine!!!!

2. For the fermentation I bought "BREWERS YEAST". It comes in pills and the people also use these like supplements.

Best Regards,

Huascar