Newbie Brewing

[frederickT]

Hi All,

I'm on my third brew only currently. Just to give context as to where I am coming from, I'm an OAP on a bare bones retirement now and love the low cost and sitting on my balcony enjoying my brew in the afternoon. So productivity  is important to me. I may be a disappointment but at the moment I am just gassing the beer with a soda stream as a keg is outside my pocket and carbonation drops are too slow for me. I haven't got any thumbs up from friends on my brews but I am the only one I need to please after all. I am wanting to start tailoring to my taste btw.

I have seen some discussion on yeasts and it seems they do contribute to taste (esters?). In my concrete apartment the temperature is pretty stable at 24-26 Celsius in summer/autumn and will be 16-18 during winter. I am never going to be able to do lower temp fermentation. After the third day fermentation slows substantially judging by froth - less sugars left I guess.

I would like a dryer beer than what I am achieving. First Q. For my ambient temperature is there a better choice of yeast to make and if I want to get dryer could a combo of say two yeasts help? Thinking one strain might perform better on lower sugar content than another and at the ambient temp I have.

I have seen a little on dry enzymes but I have not found much on what they do. I presume they help convert sugars to ones yeast likes. If I want dry is that the way to go?

I have just become aware that there are different malts. Too tailor beer to your taste is that something to experiment with or as a newbie am I better off trying different recipes and finding something I particularly like.

Thanks for your tolerance and any guidance you can give a newbie.

Cheers

 

[Classic Brewing Co]

Hi @frederickTfor a start here's a list of Coopers recipes, you will find many combinations of different yeasts & malts in here.

I brew many brews at ambient temperatures & have a lot of success, it is very important to understand the difference between an Ale yeast & a Lager Yeast as they are suited to different fermenting temps otherwise you will not achieve the desired result & can end up with off flavours etc. For a higher temp tolerant yeast try Kveik yeast, you can brew at 30c & higher, it is a great yeast & is good for lot's of Ales.

Malts come in either Liquid Malt Extract or Dried Malt Extract, both available in Light, Mid, Amber, Dark to suit different beers.

Dry Enzymes allows yeast to work harder on fermentable sugars. Use to dry out beers. Beers become thinner, more alcoholic & drier.

https://www.diybeer.com/recipes

 

 

Edited March 21, 2022 by Classic Brewing Co

[Aussiekraut]

8 hours ago, frederickT said:

Hi All,

I'm on my third brew only currently. Just to give context as to where I am coming from, I'm an OAP on a bare bones retirement now and love the low cost and sitting on my balcony enjoying my brew in the afternoon. So productivity  is important to me. I may be a disappointment but at the moment I am just gassing the beer with a soda stream as a keg is outside my pocket and carbonation drops are too slow for me. I haven't got any thumbs up from friends on my brews but I am the only one I need to please after all. I am wanting to start tailoring to my taste btw.

I have seen some discussion on yeasts and it seems they do contribute to taste (esters?). In my concrete apartment the temperature is pretty stable at 24-26 Celsius in summer/autumn and will be 16-18 during winter. I am never going to be able to do lower temp fermentation. After the third day fermentation slows substantially judging by froth - less sugars left I guess.

I would like a dryer beer than what I am achieving. First Q. For my ambient temperature is there a better choice of yeast to make and if I want to get dryer could a combo of say two yeasts help? Thinking one strain might perform better on lower sugar content than another and at the ambient temp I have.

I have seen a little on dry enzymes but I have not found much on what they do. I presume they help convert sugars to ones yeast likes. If I want dry is that the way to go?

I have just become aware that there are different malts. Too tailor beer to your taste is that something to experiment with or as a newbie am I better off trying different recipes and finding something I particularly like.

Thanks for your tolerance and any guidance you can give a newbie.

Cheers

 

Welcome to the forum and the wonderful hobby of brewing beer. 

I've never tried using the soda stream but always wondered if it would work. I'm just worried there will be a froth fountain coming out of the bottle when I remove it  

Yes, it takes a little to carb up bottles but I always found when I was bulk priming, in the warmer months, it took about 3 days for the bottles to harden up and thus being gassed enough to be drinkable. But you should also give the beer a chance to mature as it really improves over 2-3 weeks. Maybe you just need to get another fermenter and brew more, so once you are past the initial drought, you'll have plenty of beer available  

Generally, there are two types of yeast, top and bottom fermenting, the former usually used for ales, the latter for lagers. Lager yeasts ferment at lower temperatures, generally around 10-15C, ales like it warmer and most of us ferment ales around 18-21C. There are specialty yeasts for all sorts of purposes, some have a higher temperature tolerance than others. Generally, I'd keep an ale below 24C as it will start producing some esters that are undesirable. As @Classic Brewing Comentioned, Kveik is a special beast. It can handle in excess of 35C with ease but doesn't do much below 25.  I personally haven't had much luck with it but others here swear by it and even use it for lagers. Ideally you'd get yourself a ferment fridge. You can pick up cheap 2nd hand fridges on Gumtree for under 100 bucks and a temperature controller for about 40 on eBay. If that isn't an option or you aren't sure if this whole brewing thing is for you, you can use a swamp cooler. Put the fermenter into a tub with cold water in it, drape a bath towel around it and if possible use a fan to blow air on the contraption. That will drop the temp a few degrees. But consistency is also important. If the temp goes up and down like a yoyo, the yeast gets stressed a little and you don't want that.

As for malts, I would recommend using malts in your beers, rather than just plain old brewing sugar or dextrose. Brew Enhancers are better too but they only contain part malt, if any. Using malt will give you a better head formation and retention and more body in the beer. There are malts for any occasion, with liquid malt being my preference as it is an improvement over dried malt and you can get a better variety, depending on the beer you are brewing. But I would suggest you keep it simple until you have a few beers under your belt and then start hitting the recipe section here on the site. There are some really yummy beers to be made but first, you should get your process right and establish a baseline. 

Dry enzyme is used to make "dry" beers. Yeast can't eat all types of sugar and fermentation stops when it is all consumed. Dry enzyme converts some of the sugars yeast can't eat into sugars it can eat and thus the beer is thinner, has less body and a higher ABV level. But again, I recommend to establish your baseline first before you experiment with things like that.

You've come to the right place. We all share our love for beer and brewing, regardless on which level we brew. I don't think there is any beer related topic where we don't have some rather knowledgeable people here. If you have a question, ask and listen. 

 

[Classic Brewing Co]

13 minutes ago, Aussiekraut said:

Welcome to the forum and the wonderful hobby of brewing beer. 

I've never tried using the soda stream but always wondered if it would work. I'm just worried there will be a froth fountain coming out of the bottle when I remove it  

Yes, it takes a little to carb up bottles but I always found when I was bulk priming, in the warmer months, it took about 3 days for the bottles to harden up and thus being gassed enough to be drinkable. But you should also give the beer a chance to mature as it really improves over 2-3 weeks. Maybe you just need to get another fermenter and brew more, so once you are past the initial drought, you'll have plenty of beer available  

Generally, there are two types of yeast, top and bottom fermenting, the former usually used for ales, the latter for lagers. Lager yeasts ferment at lower temperatures, generally around 10-15C, ales like it warmer and most of us ferment ales around 18-21C. There are specialty yeasts for all sorts of purposes, some have a higher temperature tolerance than others. Generally, I'd keep an ale below 24C as it will start producing some esters that are undesirable. As @Classic Brewing Comentioned, Kveik is a special beast. It can handle in excess of 35C with ease but doesn't do much below 25.  I personally haven't had much luck with it but others here swear by it and even use it for lagers. Ideally you'd get yourself a ferment fridge. You can pick up cheap 2nd hand fridges on Gumtree for under 100 bucks and a temperature controller for about 40 on eBay. If that isn't an option or you aren't sure if this whole brewing thing is for you, you can use a swamp cooler. Put the fermenter into a tub with cold water in it, drape a bath towel around it and if possible use a fan to blow air on the contraption. That will drop the temp a few degrees. But consistency is also important. If the temp goes up and down like a yoyo, the yeast gets stressed a little and you don't want that.

As for malts, I would recommend using malts in your beers, rather than just plain old brewing sugar or dextrose. Brew Enhancers are better too but they only contain part malt, if any. Using malt will give you a better head formation and retention and more body in the beer. There are malts for any occasion, with liquid malt being my preference as it is an improvement over dried malt and you can get a better variety, depending on the beer you are brewing. But I would suggest you keep it simple until you have a few beers under your belt and then start hitting the recipe section here on the site. There are some really yummy beers to be made but first, you should get your process right and establish a baseline. 

Dry enzyme is used to make "dry" beers. Yeast can't eat all types of sugar and fermentation stops when it is all consumed. Dry enzyme converts some of the sugars yeast can't eat into sugars it can eat and thus the beer is thinner, has less body and a higher ABV level. But again, I recommend to establish your baseline first before you experiment with things like that.

You've come to the right place. We all share our love for beer and brewing, regardless on which level we brew. I don't think there is any beer related topic where we don't have some rather knowledgeable people here. If you have a question, ask and listen. 

 

Well answered AK 

[DavidM]

46 minutes ago, Aussiekraut said:

Welcome to the forum and the wonderful hobby of brewing beer. 

I've never tried using the soda stream but always wondered if it would work. I'm just worried there will be a froth fountain coming out of the bottle when I remove it  

Yes, it takes a little to carb up bottles but I always found when I was bulk priming, in the warmer months, it took about 3 days for the bottles to harden up and thus being gassed enough to be drinkable. But you should also give the beer a chance to mature as it really improves over 2-3 weeks. Maybe you just need to get another fermenter and brew more, so once you are past the initial drought, you'll have plenty of beer available  

Generally, there are two types of yeast, top and bottom fermenting, the former usually used for ales, the latter for lagers. Lager yeasts ferment at lower temperatures, generally around 10-15C, ales like it warmer and most of us ferment ales around 18-21C. There are specialty yeasts for all sorts of purposes, some have a higher temperature tolerance than others. Generally, I'd keep an ale below 24C as it will start producing some esters that are undesirable. As @Classic Brewing Comentioned, Kveik is a special beast. It can handle in excess of 35C with ease but doesn't do much below 25.  I personally haven't had much luck with it but others here swear by it and even use it for lagers. Ideally you'd get yourself a ferment fridge. You can pick up cheap 2nd hand fridges on Gumtree for under 100 bucks and a temperature controller for about 40 on eBay. If that isn't an option or you aren't sure if this whole brewing thing is for you, you can use a swamp cooler. Put the fermenter into a tub with cold water in it, drape a bath towel around it and if possible use a fan to blow air on the contraption. That will drop the temp a few degrees. But consistency is also important. If the temp goes up and down like a yoyo, the yeast gets stressed a little and you don't want that.

As for malts, I would recommend using malts in your beers, rather than just plain old brewing sugar or dextrose. Brew Enhancers are better too but they only contain part malt, if any. Using malt will give you a better head formation and retention and more body in the beer. There are malts for any occasion, with liquid malt being my preference as it is an improvement over dried malt and you can get a better variety, depending on the beer you are brewing. But I would suggest you keep it simple until you have a few beers under your belt and then start hitting the recipe section here on the site. There are some really yummy beers to be made but first, you should get your process right and establish a baseline. 

Dry enzyme is used to make "dry" beers. Yeast can't eat all types of sugar and fermentation stops when it is all consumed. Dry enzyme converts some of the sugars yeast can't eat into sugars it can eat and thus the beer is thinner, has less body and a higher ABV level. But again, I recommend to establish your baseline first before you experiment with things like that.

You've come to the right place. We all share our love for beer and brewing, regardless on which level we brew. I don't think there is any beer related topic where we don't have some rather knowledgeable people here. If you have a question, ask and listen. 

 

Amazing Clarity on what is needed to Brew, so well thought out.

Thank you for posting

[Stickers]

10 hours ago, frederickT said:

Hi All,

I'm on my third brew only currently. Just to give context as to where I am coming from, I'm an OAP on a bare bones retirement now and love the low cost and sitting on my balcony enjoying my brew in the afternoon. So productivity  is important to me. I may be a disappointment but at the moment I am just gassing the beer with a soda stream as a keg is outside my pocket and carbonation drops are too slow for me.

welcome mate

productivity tip.. grab yourself a second fermenter and make 2 batches at a time. it doesn't take twice as long as making 2 brews because you only setup/cleanup once and before too long you'll have a bunch of bottles maturing over several weeks and the fizz will be acceptable.

[terminal2k]

9 hours ago, Stickers said:

grab yourself a second fermenter and make 2 batches at a time

be warned, that if you go down this route, you can easily end up with four fermenters and four batches going at once

Edited March 22, 2022 by terminal2k

[ozdevil]

39 minutes ago, terminal2k said:

be warned, that if you go down this route, you can easily end up with four fermenters and four batches going at once

Cant see a problem with that   

i have 6 fermenters  admittingly i dont use them all  2 are retired 

[Classic Brewing Co]

2 hours ago, terminal2k said:

be warned, that if you go down this route, you can easily end up with four fermenters and four batches going at once

I have got 7 & usually have 4-5 going at once, it's the only way to keep up the beer stocks 

[Malter White]

Welcome to the forum @frederickT.
I'll stand corrected if I'm wrong and there's plenty of knowledge here to do just that if I am but from what I've read is if you just use dextrose as your adjunct rather than malts or brew enhancers you will achieve a drier beer/thinner beer as the dextrose ferments more fully than those other adjuncts. Keep in mind just using dextrose may give you a beer that has less body and poorer head retention. If these traits aren't that important to you I would suggest go with the dextrose.

[Tone boy]

Hey @frederickTwelcome aboard. 
If you’re after a drier beer there are a few things you can try as others have mentioned…

• Use less malt and use dextrose/sugar in its place. Dextrose and sugar are both more fermentable than malt so you’ll end up with more alcohol and less body/flavour
• use a yeast that has high attenuation. Higher attenuating yeasts will convert more sugars to alcohol. Most beer yeast manufacturers will provide information on their website about apparent attenuation. 
• use a dry enzyme in the fermenter when you add the yeast. This will break down the sugars even further so the yeast can convert them into alcohol. 

Doing these things will give you a thinner, drier beer. You will end up with less malt flavour, but head retention will be poor. 
 

Happy brewing 

Toner

[frederickT]

Thanks All for the advice and for everybody for welcoming me. When you are doing something new, you don't know what you don't know. So I really appreciate people helping me to short cut the learning process a bit. I am taking everything on board. I don't why multiple fermenting vats didn't occur to me but it didn't. I am a bit space challenged but I can convert an over sized wardrobe.

Much appreciated.

On the Soda Stream hack, YES indeed you can have foam frothing everywhere and mess to clean up. Then bar flies if you weren't thorough. So I do short squirts with time in between for the co2 to dissolve. My flock of bar flies moved on after I started doing that. Given the advice I will go back to carbonation drops.

Thanks again guys  

[jennyss]

Hi @frederickTWe are neck and neck newbies. I am just about to make my third brew tomorrow. I have just been cleaning the laundry and checking my supplies. I am going to do another Coopers Australian Pale Ale, mixed according to my Coopers pamphlet. But when it comes to bottling; I am going to use sugar instead of the carbonation drops.  My first two brews tasted OK, but had a very pathetic head, and could have had a bit more fizz. 

I agree; the Coopers Community members are very helpful.

 

 

 

[Classic Brewing Co]

2 minutes ago, jennyss said:

Hi @frederickTWe are neck and neck newbies. I am just about to make my third brew tomorrow. I have just been cleaning the laundry and checking my supplies. I am going to do another Coopers Australian Pale Ale, mixed according to my Coopers pamphlet. But when it comes to bottling; I am going to use sugar instead of the carbonation drops.  My first two brews tasted OK, but had a very pathetic head, and could have had a bit more fizz. 

I agree; the Coopers Community members are very helpful.

 

 

 

Good Move Jenny, I switched to white sugar ages ago, a much better result, I assume you have a sugar measure ? I have & it is about 6grams in a 750ml longneck, I am guilty of using the same measurement in 450ml Grolsch bottles & also 500ml German style bottles but I drink those first otherwise pressure builds up.

Are you adding LDME or LME to your recipe ? It will give you better head retention but be slightly darker & alter the flavour profile but it is the way to go. Also try mucking about with a few hop additions, easiest is an infusion ( cup of tea method ) & also consider stepping up to a premium ale yeast which will give you even better results as most of them are around 11gms.

All the best with it. Cheers Phil

[jennyss]

Thanks @Classic Brewing Co.  My father gave me a red sugar measure recently: one end for longnecks, the other for stubbies. I proudly took a bottle of my lager and pale ale to show off. Of course we compared with his pale ale, bottled in Grolsch bottles. Much better fizz and head than mine!

I had to google to find out what is LDME and LME ha ha. I am sticking to the one change at a time mantra!

[Classic Brewing Co]

5 minutes ago, jennyss said:

Thanks @Classic Brewing Co.  My father gave me a red sugar measure recently: one end for longnecks, the other for stubbies. I proudly took a bottle of my lager and pale ale to show off. Of course we compared with his pale ale, bottled in Grolsch bottles. Much better fizz and head than mine!

I had to google to find out what is LDME and LME ha ha. I am sticking to the one change at a time mantra!

Sorry I should have said Light Dried Malt Extract, it is only about $8-9 bucks but with Brew Enhancer No 2 & 500gms of this, it will sing. 

[Pezzza]

1 hour ago, jennyss said:

had to google to find out what is LDME and LME ha ha. I am sticking to the one change at a time mantra!

 

1 hour ago, Classic Brewing Co said:

Light Dried Malt Extract, it is only about $8-9 bucks but with Brew Enhancer No 2 & 500gms of this, it will sing. 

 

Very sensible to take things slowly in making your advances forward @jennyss that is sound strategy... 

Do consider trying the 'Triple Treat' approach tho at some stage - see below graphic - that way you will be able to show all including your Dad a festive creamy drop : )

Just sub in Coopers Real Ale or whatever choice Main Kit in the first box and then add in Coopers Liquid Malt and then some Coopers Brew Enhancer...

It is more ABV and more expensive : ( but you will have much better body as well as creamy mouthfeel, head and head retention... and still is way way cheaper than commercial beer and with the combo below and good practices you will end up with a cracking brew.... and as @Classic Brewing Co Phil notes too you could do a late hop if you wanted to as well to jazz it up : )

(But I would try the Triple Treat approach on its own first up without a late hop to begin with)

 

@frederickT G'day and Welcome mate --  and the below is also one option which you may like to consider possibly as well...

[Classic Brewing Co]

11 minutes ago, Itinerant Peasant said:

Very sensible to take things slowly in making your advances forward @jennyss that is sound strategy... 

Do consider trying the 'Triple Treat' approach tho at some stage - see below graphic - that way you will be able to show all including your Dad a festive creamy drop : )

Just sub in Coopers Real Ale or whatever choice Main Kit in the first box and then add in Coopers Liquid Malt and then some Coopers Brew Enhancer...

It is more ABV and more expensive : ( but you will have much better body as well as creamy mouthfeel, head and head retention... and still is way way cheaper than commercial beer and with the combo below and good practices you will end up with a cracking brew.... and as @Classic Brewing Co Phil notes too you could do a late hop if you wanted to as well to jazz it up : )

(But I would try the Triple Treat approach on its own first up without a late hop to begin with)

I agree with all of IP's comments, it is more expensive & a higher ABV but hey, who cares, it's all about a successful brew & a great result, more so a good beer with a good head.

I have done the above many times & vouch for it. I totally agree with IP.

[Pezzza]

5 minutes ago, Classic Brewing Co said:

I agree with all of IP's comments, it is more expensive & a higher ABV but hey, who cares, it's all about a successful brew & a great result, more so a good beer with a good head.

I have done the above many times & vouch for it. I totally agree with IP.

@Classic Brewing Co Phil you do consistently put out very good looking beers with KnK - so are some of yours done with NO additional liquid malt (besides that in the original Kit)?

i.e. the question is - if you use Light Dry Malt (dry powder) and BE2 - only dry powders - can you still achieve a nice creamy top?

When I was KnKing... I found the Liquid Malt was the way forward so I didn't bother trying just with dry adjuncts... be interesting to know if some of yours (and any other Brewers who might have input as well) are done without any additional LIQUID malt.. but rather just the dry ingredients - and are still achieving that lovely fluffy top and creamy mouthfeel head retention etc?

Edited March 28, 2022 by Itinerant Peasant

[Pale Man]

What a great forum this is.

[Classic Brewing Co]

13 minutes ago, Itinerant Peasant said:

@Classic Brewing Co Phil you do consistently put out very good looking beers with KnK - so are some of yours done with NO additional liquid malt (besides that in the original Kit)?

i.e. the question is - if you use Light Dry Malt (dry powder) and BE2 - only dry powders - can you still achieve a nice creamy top?

When I was KnKing... I found the Liquid Malt was the way forward so I didn't bother trying just with dry adjuncts... be interesting to know if some of yours (and any other Brewers who might have input as well) are done without any additional LIQUID malt.. but rather just the dry ingredients - and are still achieving that lovely fluffy top and creamy mouthfeel head retention etc?

I reckon that LME is king, but it does increase the malt presence in that it is a lot darker & at times more residue, however it is the boss when it comes to head retention, having said that I personally have achieved excellent results with the dried extract & found it to be a little lighter & much the same result but that is only my opinion.

[Classic Brewing Co]

3 minutes ago, Pale Man said:

What a great forum this is.

I 100% totally agree mate, it is the place to be whether you are a newbie or a mug like me switching from 40 years K&K to AG, I need help as much as anyone with this new deal but I am happy to pass on any info that may be helpful to anyone from my experiences with brewing, we all need advice at some stage especially when you buy new shiny stuff that can be scary at first. 

[Pale Man]

4 minutes ago, Classic Brewing Co said:

I 100% totally agree mate, it is the place to be whether you are a newbie or a mug like me switching from 40 years K&K to AG, I need help as much as anyone with this new deal but I am happy to pass on any info that may be helpful to anyone from my experiences with brewing, we all need advice at some stage especially when you buy new shiny stuff that can be scary at first. 

You're pretty much the KnK king. I haven't tried your beers but i imagine they are delicious. Your advice is spot on.

I seriously hope you get just as much enjoyment with your all grain venture. That will be a big bench mark to achieve from what i can gather.

[DavidM]

A few months back (9) when I started, I was lost on all the abbreviations..

some nice People put together this list, which I printed, to help understand what was said.

Hope this Helps.

 

[DavidM]

3 minutes ago, Pale Man said:

I haven't tried your beers but

I was lucky enough to try some and 

OMG I've got a lot to Learn about K&K

I'm sure @Classic Brewing Co will have it sorted by his second AG Brew

Go Phil