Simple things that make HB better

[Tipsy]

Experiment.
try a bit of orange peel, coriander, ginger, honey, chilli, whatever....

I'd like to try some of these things, but how do you add them to the wort? Say I wanted to add chilli for example, would I just chop up some chillis and chuck them straight into the boil?

Put the chillis in the bottle, I did it with 8 bottles out of a batch so then I found I only had to throw out 8 bottles
I've found the best way to have chillis with beer is to buy chilli flavoured chips and eat them with a nice pale ale

[gregb]

'Cept chips are bad for you.

Cheers,
Greg

[ex0ja]

'Cept chips are bad for you.

Cheers,
Greg

The way my beer gut is increasing in size I'm pretty sure beer is bad for you too

[gregb]

See http://www.homebrewandbeer.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1315 for discussion on the beer gut topic.

Cheers,
Greg

[MattR]

Hi Guys,

I'm still new at this gig but I have picked up a few tips along the way.

1. Get a good thermometer. The stainless steel "Jam making" ones are fantastic.

2. If you use Hop pellets instead of teabags buy a plastic kitchen strainer. Prepare the hops seperate to the wort then strain the liquid using the strainer.

3. I fill the fermenter with RO water and leave it in the beer fridge the night before I mix the wort. I can usually pitch the yeast straight away.

4. Find a good HBS. If they are friendly and carry most of what you need don't shop around looking to save a few dollars on every purchase.

Cheers,
Matt

[shazzam]

This weekend's work seems to be

3 coopers pale ales with 50gm choc & 50gm crystal (infused using coffe plunger)

1. 1kg liquid amber malt

2. 1kg liquid dark malt

3. 1kg liquid light malt

just to see the affect this has on the colour and taste of a standard pale ale.
Wondering if I should be adding any dextrose into the mix ? Also have some hop tea bags but might wait for a brew or two so far cause I only have two & dont have transport to get a third

[The Carbonator]

thats gonna be very sweet.

boil the hops and chuck em in

[ex0ja]

5) Do a stove-top boil.

Save yourself from dancing around the brewing area with a boiling kettle in one hand, a hot can of concentrate in the other, and your thermometer in your third hand, trying to wash the last of the concentrate out of the can, mix in your malt, and hope that the brew is the correct temperature to pitch your yeast.
Put it all (not the yeast!) into a big pot on the stove, leasurely scrape out the can, gently stir in your malt, sit back and have a beer whilst it heats up. Then when you are ready, add your steeped specialty grain (point 6) and your extra hops (point 7).
Easy.

Could this be explained further? What size pot is needed for to do it? Once its all boiled and mixed up to I just tip it all into the fermenter and add the water? Do I need to add water to the pot?

[Shaun]

You only need a 10l pot for this. What you do is bring 2l of water to the boil as it is heating add your fermentables then let it come to the boil.

Add hops as required then tip it into your fermenter add your kit top up with water and pitch yeast.

[ex0ja]

You only need a 10l pot for this. What you do is bring 2l of water to the boil as it is heating add your fermentables then let it come to the boil.

Add hops as required then tip it into your fermenter add your kit top up with water and pitch yeast.

Oooh, I added the kit and the fermentables to the pot, and didn't put any water in there. When it boiled I put in the hops. Then I tipped it into the fermenter and topped it up to 23 litres.

Is this bad?

[Shaun]

It may have a burnt stout like flavour if any of the malt was scorched and the colour may be darker than normal.

[ex0ja]

It may have a burnt stout like flavour if any of the malt was scorched and the colour may be darker than normal.

Well in a stout I like that flavour, might not go too well in this ale though .

It does look a little dark in the fermenter. When I've taken SG readings it looks a nice golden colour.

[shane_vor]

Experiment.
try a bit of orange peel, coriander, ginger, honey, chilli, whatever....

I'd like to try some of these things, but how do you add them to the wort? Say I wanted to add chilli for example, would I just chop up some chillis and chuck them straight into the boil?

Put the chillis in the bottle, I did it with 8 bottles out of a batch so then I found I only had to throw out 8 bottles
I've found the best way to have chillis with beer is to buy chilli flavoured chips and eat them with a nice pale ale

throw out beer my arse!!!!

I've put the odd mini chilli in the bottom of bottles! 'Tis great for winter time and the longer you leave it the more chili is imparted to the beer.

I've often had bets with people with my chili beer. i.e. that they couldn't drink a full bottle of my homebrew...okay it's not really a fair bet but I imbibe as well so there's fairness for ya!

Chilli is good for a difference. haven't tried ginger or anything else...

Now my chili plants are going nuts I must do another HOT brew!

[Tipsy]

Experiment.
try a bit of orange peel, coriander, ginger, honey, chilli, whatever....

I'd like to try some of these things, but how do you add them to the wort? Say I wanted to add chilli for example, would I just chop up some chillis and chuck them straight into the boil?

Put the chillis in the bottle, I did it with 8 bottles out of a batch so then I found I only had to throw out 8 bottles
I've found the best way to have chillis with beer is to buy chilli flavoured chips and eat them with a nice pale ale

throw out beer my arse!!!!

I've put the odd mini chilli in the bottom of bottles! 'Tis great for winter time and the longer you leave it the more chili is imparted to the beer.

I've often had bets with people with my chili beer. i.e. that they couldn't drink a full bottle of my homebrew...okay it's not really a fair bet but I imbibe as well so there's fairness for ya!

Chilli is good for a difference. haven't tried ginger or anything else...

Now my chili plants are going nuts I must do another HOT brew!

I actually did drink 2 of the bottles, I think it was my 3rd when I thought "why am I persisting with this crap when I've got so many good brews to drink".

[count_andy]

Following on from tip 3) "never use kit yeast" - does that go for all the Coopers range including the Pilsener? I notice in another topic that the Pilsener kit has a saflager yeast included - is that better than the yeast provided in the standard original series?

I am fairly ignorant of the yeasts available and have usually relied on the kit yeasts for my brews and haven't had any complaints but I certainly favour the taste of the Pilsener over the standard Lager/draught etc.

As Pilseners are my favourite type of beer - what kit/yeast/temp would you recommend?

[gregb]

I think 'never use kit yeast' is a generalisation.

Some kits come with quality yeasts. Examples include: ESB 3Kg kits come with a SAF yeast, Coopers Premium and Wal's kits have specially selected yeasts.

If you are not confident in the supplied kit yeast, sub it out by all means, but have a look at it and the info supplied with the kit.

Cheers,
Greg

[The Carbonator]

Following on from tip 3) "never use kit yeast" - does that go for all the Coopers range including the Pilsener?

I reckon that the coopers ale yeast make your beer taste like homebrew. I'll never used them again.

The best thing I have done to get rid of that "homebrew" taste is buy liquid yeast, and culture up some starters.
It is the best improvement I have made to my brews - better than adding hops or steeping grains.


Im not sure if the lager yeasts in coopers are saflager, but to tell you the truth, I not too keen on Safale or Saflager either.

Go to your homebrew shop and order some WLP800 Pilsner yeast, from White Labs.

You'll never look back

[sozzled]

the only way to get a dryer beer is to use enzymes, use the usual amount of malt and sugars, but add enzymes. This will let the yeast ferment out a lot more malt sugar and give more alcohol, leaving the mouth fresh with no heavy afrtertaste.

[rwh]

the only way to get a dryer beer is to use enzymes, use the usual amount of malt and sugars, but add enzymes. This will let the yeast ferment out a lot more malt sugar and give more alcohol, leaving the mouth fresh with no heavy afrtertaste.

Or you can just add more fermentable sugars in the first place, and reduce the amount of unfermentable ones. For example, substitute malt with dextrose. Of course this affects the body of your beer, making it more alcoholic, but also more watery. I guess it's all a matter of taste.

A lot of people on this forum don't like enzymes. I've never used them myself, but I reckon if you're after consistency and predictability, you're probably better off controlling your ingredients rather than trying to mess with them once they're in your wort.

[50% Mogman]

Using liquid yeasts really "cleans up" your brews.
I'm with Carbonator....I don't use dried yeast anymore.