Welcome Beginning Brewers!

[IslandLizard]

This gelatin. I don't have it but I have seen it a dozen times so I assume next time I'll dump some into my fermzilla before transferring from 23c to 6c.

Just use plain (unflavored) Knoxx gelatin from the Walmart or your local supermarket. You don't need much, about 1 teaspoon of the powder per 5 gallons, pre-dissolved in a cup of hot (not boiling) water, before adding.
Example instructions: How to Clear Your Beer with Gelatin - Wine Making and Beer Brewing Blog - Adventures in Homebrewing

next time I'll dump some into my fermzilla before transferring from 23c to 6c.

You don't always need gelatin to clear, just cold temps and time will do it, the colder the better, such as -1°C. But gelatin helps when in a hurry or after a week cold crashing it's still hazy. Now Wheat beers (Hefeweizen, (Belgian) WitBier, many American Wheat beers, etc.) are traditionally hazy, keep that in mind.

Cold crashing, beware!!!
In light of things shrinking due to cold, make sure when cold crashing your fermenter is either:
a) not closed, or
b) has positive CO2 pressure, or
c) an expansion/contraction device.
Otherwise it will start to implode...

You can achieve this by one of these solutions:
a) leaving your airlock connected (S-shape preferred), so some air can get in when needed, or
b) leave CO2 in there under (slight) pressure (by use of a spunding valve during fermentation, or pressurized with a CO2 tank), or
c) using a Mylar (party) balloon, filled with CO2, connected to your airlock or a tube, to supply CO2 to your fermenter during chilling.

Now it's also important to prevent your beer from oxygen (air) exposure after fermentation has started. This becomes more important when fermentation has slowed or has ended as there is not enough or no more CO2 being generated to drive off any oxygen that (inadvertently) got in.
So be aware of this while tinkering with beer, and during cold crashing. Solutions b) and c) can protect your beer from oxygen ingress during cold crashing.

Although these are more advanced techniques, they're not all that difficult to apply, and can make a big difference to your final beer.

 

[chazam]

Okay, so next batch I'll try 1,25g for my 7,5 liters. We don't have Wallmarts (European here
) but same products different stores. I saw Dr. Oetker having gelatin in our stores and it'd be 1,25g for my 7,5 liter batch.

Spunding valve is the same thing as blow tie?

I just kept the airlock on once I carried the fermzilla from room temperature to the cold room (6c).

 

[IslandLizard]

1,25g for my 7,5 liters

I think the recommendation is 1g per gallon (~3.8 liter). So 2 grams for 7.5 liter seems more appropriate.
Spike Brewing: LET’S TAKE YOU THROUGH THE STEPS FOR USING GELATIN

Spunding valve is the same thing as blow tie?

A BlowTie is a spunding valve, yes.
There's a version 2 out with an integrated pressure gauge.

I just kept the airlock on once I carried the fermzilla from room temperature to the cold room (6c).

That should suffice to prevent it from crinkling or even imploding.

We don't have Wallmarts (European here

Sorry, I didn't realize you are in Europe.
You could add your (general) location in your member profile, to reflect your country (and city, if you want), so other readers would know by looking in the left sidebar when replying.

 

[chazam]

The 7,5 beer that I have, is that too little to carbonate in a 18 liter keg? Also does it really matter whether I force carbonate it with my CO2 tank or set-and-forget?

 

[jerrylotto]

The size of the carbonation vessel only mattes to take head space into account. 7.5 liters in an 18 liter keg is about 1/2 full so if you want 2.5 volumes of carbonation, you will only need about 15 psi or 104000 pascal (don't know what unit Europe uses for pressure) to get there, which is pretty close to serving pressure. So if you mean "high pressure" by "force carbonate" or just normal serving pressure, the latter should be fine.

 

[chazam]

Psi works well for me, at least I use it.

Force carbonate, I mean when they roll a keg on the floor while it's connected to a CO2 gas line.
I'll probably take my fermzilla out from 6c to 22c, transfer from fermzilla to a keg, calculate 2,6-4 volumes of CO2 @22c, attach the gas line, set the right psi and set it and forget it (for a while).
OR just take my fermzilla out from 6c to 22c, transfer from fermzilla to a keg, calculate 2,6-4 volumes of CO2 @6c, take it back to the cool room, attach the gas line, set the right psi and set it and forget it. I have done one force carbonating and got over carbonated beer. Getting the over-carbonation was more time consuming than needed. Although the speed of process is great.

The 6c cool room is used by others and I need to watch out a little bit my actions there so I won't get minor complaints.

 

[davidabcd]

This conversation gives new meaning to "beginning brewer" for me.
My beginning questions were something like, "What's that sugary powder for?" or "Is it necessary to run the grain through the crusher thing?"

 

[chazam]

This conversation gives new meaning to "beginning brewer" for me.
My beginning questions were something like, "What's that sugary powder for?" or "Is it necessary to run the grain through the crusher thing?"

Sorry, I haven't learned to use all the subcategories from the forum. But I am a beginner brewer, I haven't brewed one successful batch yet although close.

 

[IslandLizard]

take my fermzilla out from 6c to 22c, transfer from fermzilla to a keg, calculate 2,6-4 volumes of CO2 @22c, attach the gas line, set the right psi and set it and forget it (for a while).

OR just take my fermzilla out from 6c to 22c, transfer from fermzilla to a keg, [...]

Why would you warm up your beer? It carbonates much better and faster at lower temps.
Also, you cannot carbonate beer very well by just adding CO2 to the headspace and let it sit. More so when the headspace is relatively small. A (corny) keg full of beer has only a headspace of a pint to a quart (1/2 - 1 liter).

So... keep the beer at 6C (43F), it's at a good temp already, even considered a little warm for carbonating and serving certain styles.
Transfer your 6C cold beer to the keg. Then carbonate by either connecting a CO2 line to it for 1-2 weeks (set and forget), or burst carbonate by rolling.*

* There are ways to figure out how much CO2 to add while burst carbonating, without over-carbonating it.

 

[davidabcd]

Sorry, I haven't learned to use all the subcategories from the forum.

It's all good.

 

[garlicbread]

Hey!
My friends and I are thinking of pitching together for some homebrewed beer but I've no experience with this beyond making ginger beer . I'm curious about what kinds of tastes can I expect? I've had a hard time finding information about what kind of taste ranges can I expect to make with basic homebrew setups.

Most kinds of commercial beers we love to drink, especially brown ales and stouts and darker beers but also lagers and "wheaty" beers.
The craft beers sold in my local area have been hit and miss. Mostly it's pale ales with fruity or herbal flavors that were not our favorite. But I really enjoyed some of the brown ales and the more wheaty lighter craft beers I drank on a trip to Poland were some of my favorites.

Will I be able to brew something that tastes more like 'wheaty' lagers or darker beers or brown ales with a coffee-like flavor with the basic kit? Or will the beginner-friendly beers taste more like pale ales with fruity/herbal tones?

P.S. if you have tried simple beer kits with the kind of tastes I'm looking for I'd appreciate suggestions.
Cheers

 

[ncbrewer]

There's a lot of variety available in kits. Dark beer, wheat beer, etc. And the kits that I've tried have been as advertised IMO - you can look through the catalogs and see what is available. It probably won't be long before you'll be ready to put ingredients together yourself and not even rely on kits. Good luck.

 

[IslandLizard]

Basic homebrew "setups" or "kits" need to be considered as 2 separate things:

A. Equipment and Sundry kits, so you can brew beer​

B. Ingredients kits​

A. Equipment and Sundry kits:
Which equipment you need depends on the method of brewing you're going to use. There are 2 main methods, and many hybrids:

a) extract brewing - using premade malt extracts, and​

b) all grain brewing - using only crushed grain in a process called "mashing." Think of a very controlled steep in which grain starches are converted into sugars.​

Most beginners start out with extracts, to get the hang of it. It's simpler, easier, takes less time, and usually less equipment than all-grain brewing.

Extract brewing synopsis:​

1. Heat water in a large pot or kettle (say, 2-3 gallons for a 5 gallon batch).
2. When the water has reached 150-168°F, turn off heat source.
3. Steep crushed steeping grains, contained in a mesh bag; remove after 20 minutes. The liquid you now have is called: wort.
4. Turn heat source back on and bring the wort to a boil; when it reaches a boil, turn heat source off.
5. With the heat off, mix half the extracts into your wort. When fully dissolved, turn heat source back on.
6. Boil the wort with some hops for a certain time (30 minutes to 1 hour is common). You can add different hops at different times depending on the beer style.
7. Turn the heat off, and add the remainder of the extracts, mix until fully dissolved.
8. Chill the wort.
9. Pour into a fermenting vessel, such as a brew bucket, or another, fancier one.
10. Top up with cold water to your intended batch volume.
11. Add yeast, and ferment in a coolish place for 2-3 weeks.
12. When done, package (bottle or keg).

B. Ingredients kits
Ingredient kits come in many different "flavors," for different beer styles.
I'd avoid any pre-hopped, pre-flavored extracts. They're disappointing and don't deliver up to the promising picture shown on the label...

You can create pretty much any beer using steeped grains and light color malt extract.

Also, use Dry Malt Extract (DME), a dry powder in a sealed bag, over Liquid Malt Extract (LME), a thick, honey-like syrup. Unless you know the LME is very fresh, stick to using DME. Cans of LME that have been sitting on a store shelf, or in a boxed kit, for who knows how long (no packaging dates) are most likely stale and thus unsuitable.

Alternatively, instead of buying a "recipe kit" you can buy all ingredients loose from your Local HomeBrew Store (LHBS) or online homebrew retailer. There are 100,000s of recipes out there.
Sometimes kits are offered on sale, for a better bargain than compounding your own. But make sure they're fresh! Stale kits make stale (undrinkable) beer.

 

[garlicbread]

ncbrewer , IslandLizard​

Thank you!

I'll try starting with an ingredient kit to have at least a baseline of how it tastes like and then try experimenting.

 

[IslandLizard]

ncbrewer , IslandLizard​

Thank you!

I'll try starting with an ingredient kit to have at least a baseline of how it tastes like and then try experimenting.

YVW @garlicbread
Welcome to homebrewing!

If you want to link us to what you're eying up getting, we may give you some feedback.

What country or general region are you in? If not from the U.S., you may want to list your country (or general region) in the Location field on your member account's profile page.
It will show up in your info, underneath your avatar, in the left sidebar on your posts.

 

[garlicbread]

Thank you! The location would be more confusing than helpful I'm afraid I'm from the country of Georgia, which shares a name with the US State of Georgia and it's often source of confusion

I'm able to purchase from most US, UK, and German stores and have it shipped to me via relatively inexpensive shipping services. (8$ per KG)
I also found a local shop with a selection of grains and malt: Online store of Underground Microbrewery
I'll try to see if any recipes match the stuff they have and I think local microbreweries might be selling items as well.

Although I'm just guessing what might taste good.

 

[IslandLizard]

[...] and have it shipped to me via relatively inexpensive shipping services. (8$ per KG)

Excuse me, $8 a kg, just for shipping, doesn't sound like a good deal at all.

It takes 3 kg of DME for a 20 liter batch of 1.052, medium gravity beer.
That would be "$24" for just shipping.

That's in addition to the cost of the extract itself. Dunno what the case is where you live, but extract has become much more expensive the past 6 months, here in the U.S., now around $5-6 a pound, if bought in 3 pound bags.

1 kg = ~2.2 lbs.

 

[RM-MN]

Hey!
My friends and I are thinking of pitching together for some homebrewed beer but I've no experience with this beyond making ginger beer . I'm curious about what kinds of tastes can I expect? I've had a hard time finding information about what kind of taste ranges can I expect to make with basic homebrew setups.

Most kinds of commercial beers we love to drink, especially brown ales and stouts and darker beers but also lagers and "wheaty" beers.
The craft beers sold in my local area have been hit and miss. Mostly it's pale ales with fruity or herbal flavors that were not our favorite. But I really enjoyed some of the brown ales and the more wheaty lighter craft beers I drank on a trip to Poland were some of my favorites.

Will I be able to brew something that tastes more like 'wheaty' lagers or darker beers or brown ales with a coffee-like flavor with the basic kit? Or will the beginner-friendly beers taste more like pale ales with fruity/herbal tones?

P.S. if you have tried simple beer kits with the kind of tastes I'm looking for I'd appreciate suggestions.
Cheers

[/I]

I'll try starting with an ingredient kit to have at least a baseline of how it tastes like and then try experimenting.​

I also found a local shop with a selection of grains and malt:

The ingredient kit may not give you an accurate baseline, depending on how fresh it is. Since you know what kinds of beer you like, take a look at the ale recipes here on HomeBrewTalk. With some light dry extract and some of the grains from the place you linked you can make about any kind of beer you want and you will probably get nice fresh supplies to do them with. Look at the left side of the black bar on the top of the page and you will find the tab for recipes.

 

[OakIslandBrewery]

Hey!
My friends and I are thinking of pitching together for some homebrewed beer but I've no experience with this beyond making ginger beer . I'm curious about what kinds of tastes can I expect? I've had a hard time finding information about what kind of taste ranges can I expect to make with basic homebrew setups.

Most kinds of commercial beers we love to drink, especially brown ales and stouts and darker beers but also lagers and "wheaty" beers.
The craft beers sold in my local area have been hit and miss. Mostly it's pale ales with fruity or herbal flavors that were not our favorite. But I really enjoyed some of the brown ales and the more wheaty lighter craft beers I drank on a trip to Poland were some of my favorites.

Will I be able to brew something that tastes more like 'wheaty' lagers or darker beers or brown ales with a coffee-like flavor with the basic kit? Or will the beginner-friendly beers taste more like pale ales with fruity/herbal tones?

P.S. if you have tried simple beer kits with the kind of tastes I'm looking for I'd appreciate suggestions.
Cheers

You've come to a good spot to start off on your journey. In the US, the BJCP (Beer Judge Certification Program) style guidelines might be a good guide to help with tastes and such that you encounter sampling beer. You can download just the style guideline as a pdf. I keep a printed copy at my bar and one on my cell phone for quick reference. It contains lots of information for beer judging but I find it very valuable for beer sampling with friends.

Also as you get into brewing try some commercial example to first find what you'd like to try brewing. There's tons or kg's of beers out in the world so it gets overwhelming finding the style you want to brew.

Good luck and welcome to the group!

 

[garlicbread]

Thank you all for the very warm welcome and all the advice.
I will try to look up recipes and see what I can make with what is available locally first in terms of bulk ingredients.

Is there any downside to using plastic for fermenting vessels?

 

[renstyle]

Will I be able to brew something that tastes more like 'wheaty' lagers or darker beers or brown ales with a coffee-like flavor with the basic kit? Or will the beginner-friendly beers taste more like pale ales with fruity/herbal tones?

In my experience, wheat and dark ales are the easiest, most forgiving homebrew recipes, great to start out with! The grain bills are simple, as are the hops. Dry yeast can be used with great results.

Northern English Brown ale is my favorite style. Fermentation can be done in the 60s, easier to maintain than low 50s for making traditional lager. Same for wheat beers, coffee stouts, etc.

Basic kits, AG and extract can be obtained for all of these styles, with a bonus that they are (usually) on the more affordable end of the price spectrum.

 

[renstyle]

Is there any downside to using plastic for fermenting vessels?

If the fermenter is in good shape, it should be fine for several batches.

Longevity is what suffers with plastic fermenters, as each cleaning cycle can potentially introduce another scratch/crevice for a future bit of bacteria to get stuck in. Same applies for buckets as to plastic carboys.

 

[IslandLizard]

Is there any downside to using plastic for fermenting vessels?

#1 (PETE) or #2 (HDPE) plastics are safe and fine to use as fermenters. White being preferred over color ones for #2 plastics. Avoid any plastics with BPA, such as many polycarbonate containers do.

https://learn.eartheasy.com/articles/plastics-by-the-numbers/
Don't use any abrasives on plastics, as (deeper) scratches can prevent sanitizers to kill harboring microorganisms that spoil beer. A clean, soft cotton cloth drenched in cleaner or sanitizer should be all you need. The smoother the plastic the easier it is to maintain, clean, and sanitize.

While on this topic, what kind of cleaners and sanitizers can you obtain for your brewery?

We prefer solutions of Sodium Percarbonate ("Oxyclean Free" here in the U.S.) for general brew equipment cleaning. Where more tenacious grime removal is needed, adding 10-30% of Sodium Metasilicate ("TSP/90") superpowers it. 1 tablespoon of the powder per 1 or 2 gallons of water is all you need. It can be stored for several days or longer but will lose it's oxygen action after a few hours. It still remains a good general cleaner, even without the O2.

Starsan or an Iodine sanitizer (Iodophor or other Povidone-based) are on top of the list.

If you're serious about brewing, get a copy of: John Palmer, How to Brew, 4th Ed.
Make 100% sure to get the last, 4th Edition, not an older one.

 

[garlicbread]

Thanks! I think it would be a good idea to try some simple recipes at first so I have some hands-on experience and taste to compare/adjust things. And in the meanwhile get How to Brew book and learn from online resources.

I'm thinking of maybe following this YouTubers recipe somewhat loosely:
which is:
6.5L water
1 Campden tablet
.76 Kg Munich malt
13.5g Tettnang hops (Alpha acid 3.7%)
1/5 Pkg Saffale US-05 yeast
Priming sugar
No rinse sanitiser like 'Star San'

I think I'll get malt locally as it is heavy to ship.
Hops I'm not sure, how important is Alpha Acid %? The ones I found locally vary between 8 to 15 percent. I can order this if it's important.

I have 50$ amazon gift card so I'm thinking of getting these off amazon as they can be hard to track down here.


For Malt, I'm guessing this honestly but going by what is in local stores I'm thinking between these:
#1 Golden Ale Malt (Polish craft beers were out of this world when I tried it a few years ago. hoping their malt is good too )
http://ugmb.site/tproduct/228543720-693847926361-golden-ale-malt-500-gr
#2 Pale Ale
http://ugmb.site/tproduct/228543720-381726521798-pale-ale-1-kg
#3 CaraMunich Type 3 Malt Caramel malt (Weyermann®)
http://ugmb.site/tproduct/228543720-512604093553-carabelge-malt-500-gr
Or change for stout-ish beer instead of light beer. They have a bunch of roasted and caramel flavors.

 

[renstyle]

The higher the Alpha Acid in a hop, the more bitter potential it has per given amount of plant matter.

Using the above recipe as the example:

For 6.5L water, 760g of Munich malt (10°L) and 13.5g of 3.7% AA hops (dropped at 60min) you get:

roughly 6.1 SRM in color (gold-ish yellow) and
around 19 IBU (hop bitterness units).

This is where calculus would be handy, as the color of the beer (SRM) and the bitterness (IBU) are both moving targets which depend on:

1. amount of water used
2. amount of malt used (more malt will overshadow the hop flavor, and vice versa)
3. type of malt used (higher lovibond number = higher SRM number = darker beer)
4. amount of hops used
5. TYPE of hops used (higher AA% = bittering early in the boil, lower AA% used more later in the boil for flavor/aroma)
6. TIME said hops reside in the kettle (longer time = more bitter)

The final water/grain ratio will express itself directly as your wort's Original Gravity (how concentrated are the sugars).

Playing with these ratios is the fun part of recipe creation. Some folks will use the BJCP guidelines for a particular style, where it gives ranges for SRM, IBU, ABV, etc and create a recipe that fits whatever particular profile the brewer is trying to reach.

Or just go wild! Mixing/substituting different malts and/or hops or even trying a different yeast can greatly affect the resulting product.

 

[garlicbread]

Awesome, so If I understood this right.
The higher wheat to barley in malt and lower amount of hops will is generally what I want for a light wheaty beer?

I also just found out a ton of wild hops are growing at a camping spot (away from roads). Should I try collecting it or start with a store-bought one?

And would I run into any trouble for using mason jars with fermentation lids during the initial fermentation, before bottling? I figure I could split the batches this way and experiment with addition of ingredients.

 

[IslandLizard]

For Malt, I'm guessing this honestly but going by what is in local stores I'm thinking between these:

Mind, those are malted grains, they're for all grain brewing. They need to be mashed for an hour, which is like a steep in hot water, but within a narrow temp. range of 148-160F. After the mash is completed, the wort then needs to be separated from the grains before bringing the wort to a boil. Better read up on all grain brewing and mashing if you want to go that route.

Brew in a Bag (BIAB) is a very popular method for all grain brewing/mashing. More accurately, it's actually Mash in a Bag.
You need a fine weave nylon mesh bag to hold all your grain. After the mash you lift the bag out of the kettle, let it drip out, you may squeeze it too, to speed it up.
You can improve mash efficiency if you sparge (rinse) the bag with grain with some held over water in a separate bucket, then add the wort from the sparge to your kettle.

You need around 2-2.5 pounds of malted grain for 1 gallon of 1.050-1.060 wort.
The grain needs to be milled before you can mash it. For BIAB a rather fine crush is recommended.
The wort from ale malt needs to be boiled for 60'. Wort from Pilsner malt needs to be boiled for 90'.

 

[Toxxyc]

The wort from ale malt needs to be boiled for 60'. Wort from Pilsner malt needs to be boiled for 90'.

Traditionally, yes, but with modern malts it's not really required. 30 minutes is fine with a proper pils malt these days.

 

[IslandLizard]

My friends and I are thinking of pitching together for some homebrewed beer

When sharing with a few friends, you need at least 3-5 gallon-sized batches. To get started you can make smaller ones to get the hang of it, and prevent having to drink gallons of swill.

And would I run into any trouble for using mason jars with fermentation lids during the initial fermentation,

Those jars are really too small for beer. What size are those, 1 liter? That's 2 glasses of beer, max!

They make larger canning jars, probably 5 liter being the max. Or use wine jugs.
But beware when handling glass, especially larger glass vessels such as multi-gallon carboys. They can cause serious injuries when they break (unexpected and unintentionally); the shards are big and crazy sharp.
I'd stick with plastic (fairly cheap) or stainless (very pricey!).

 

[BrewnWKopperKat]

prevent having to drink gallons of swill

Didn't Brulosophy confirm (p-value << 0.075) that drinking just 2 oz of bad home brewed beer is sufficient penance for a 5 gal batch of beer?