General advice required please...

[beattun]

Hey folks,

I'm about to start my 3rd brew, made a cock of the first one (briggalow lager), just bottled the second one (coopers lager) about a week ago and i have an empty fermented and 3 beer kits!

ive got :

Coopers Canadian Blonde
Coopers Mexican Cerveco
Coopers Draught

just looking for some suggestions as to what brew might be the best to do next? and any tips for stuff i should add to it?

sorry if this is a bit vague, but im still a newbie at this brewing game and would appreciate any pointers!

thanks!
Brian.

[r.magnay]

G'day Brian,
I am not much into lighter bodied beers, but I make quite a bit of lager for my son. I am only a kit brewer and have been for about 12 years, so I am not an expert by any means when it comes to brewing additives.
Because it is only your 3rd brew and you reckon you cocked up your first, I would keep it simple until you get a couple behind you as a reference.
I would try whichever one you please, but use a brew enhancer such as Coopers BE2, be sure your gear is clean and sanitised and have some reasonable sort of temp control in place.
Read some of the sticky posts and do some searches for more ideas and answers, that is my suggestion.

[mobydick]

Lager is more difficult to make than ales, so I would be sticking to ales until you've got a few under your belt. Have a look at the sticky about 'simple things to make your home brew better'. Use all malt and a decent quality yeast (not the freebie that comes under the lid) and your brew will be better. Have a look at Palmer's How to Brew, and you will learn a lot. http://www.howtobrew.com/

[beattun]

thanks guys ill check out those links

im a bit of lager fiend! cant really take to ale personally, if i can make something that tastes something like carlton draught ill be happy enough

theres a grape and grain just down the road from me, should i go in and annoy them?

cheers!
Brian.

[Kevnlis]

Your first step has to be reliable temperature control. You will not make a good lager without it. Find a second hand fridge and order a Fridgemate from Ross.

Once you have sorted that, you need to consider that lagers and ales are not far off from one another. What exactly is it you dislike about the ales? Is it only certain ales, or do you simply refuse to like anything that is not Carlton Draught?

I hate to say this, but before you go annoy the guys at G&G, maybe you should branch out and try a nice selection of lagers (import and domestic) from your local bottle shop to get a better idea of what you are after?

[beattun]

Your first step has to be reliable temperature control. You will not make a good lager without it. Find a second hand fridge and order a Fridgemate from Ross.

Once you have sorted that, you need to consider that lagers and ales are not far off from one another. What exactly is it you dislike about the ales? Is it only certain ales, or do you simply refuse to like anything that is not Carlton Draught?

I hate to say this, but before you go annoy the guys at G&G, maybe you should branch out and try a nice selection of lagers (import and domestic) from your local bottle shop to get a better idea of what you are after?

i havent got the space for a fridge in the house im in now, ive already got a bar fridge to keep my stubbies icey cold, but maybe ill try the wet towell approach?

i like quite a range of beers, ive emigrated here from ireland where i used to love carlsberg and budweiser but since reaching these shores i have become very fond of carlton draught, its definitely the beer i buy the most, from looking at G&G's website a few mins ago i see they have a recipie for something similar to calrton draught using the coopers draught kit and malt / dextrose, so im gonna try that one today.

will use the kit yeast for this one but from now on i think ill investiage getting other yeasts as everyone seems to reccomend that

[Kevnlis]

You are going to be doing it tough to keep a wort at lager temps with just a wet towel. If I were in this situation I would probably use a liquid California steam beer yeast which is very clean even at higher than normal lager fermentation temps.

[beattun]

You are going to be doing it tough to keep a wort at lager temps with just a wet towel. If I were in this situation I would probably use a liquid California steam beer yeast which is very clean even at higher than normal lager fermentation temps.

im sorry to say i think youre dead right kev, pitched the brew yesterday to find out it was 30 degrees, even with the towel its only at 28 degrees today

does this mean my brew will fail?

this might explain my first beers failure, and my doubts for the my second one, as i didnt even have a thermostrip until the other day

[Kevnlis]

28C is rather high even for most ale and wheat yeast. The brew will ferment out, but it may not be very nice...

16C is the absolute highest you would want to ferment any lager yeast, ale yeast can be fermented up to about 20C and wheat yeast to 24C.

[beattun]

28C is rather high even for most ale and wheat yeast. The brew will ferment out, but it may not be very nice...

16C is the absolute highest you would want to ferment any lager yeast, ale yeast can be fermented up to about 20C and wheat yeast to 24C.

should i just tip it and do another one when the weather cools down a bit?

[Kevnlis]

Nah mate, it will be drinkable. Serve it VERY cold and drink it VERY fast.. just like VB

[JubJub]

Don't tip it. It will probably taste like bad homebrew for a couple of months, but after that it will be drinkable when very cold. Just pretend it's VB.

But do try and do yourself a favour by getting an old fridge. Even without a temperature controler you can do nice ales at an average 20 *C by turning the fridge on during the day and off at night.

Then you can use nice ale yeasts successfully at least.

Jub

[JubJub]

Nah mate, it will be drinkable. Serve it VERY cold and drink it VERY fast.. just like VB

Hah, great minds think alike. I'm a bit slow on the draw.

Jub

[beattun]

lol, not a big VB fan but itll do in case of an emergency, still deffo have nowhere to put an old fridge though, what if when im doing my next brew, put in 21 litres of chilled water on top of the 2 boiling litres?

[Kevnlis]

lol, not a big VB fan but itll do in case of an emergency, still deffo have nowhere to put an old fridge though, what if when im doing my next brew, put in 21 litres of chilled water on top of the 2 boiling litres?

That would be a good start. You also could try to get hold of one of those 100 can soft sided esky's and rotate a couple 2L bottles of ice into it to keep the temps down.

[The Carbonator]

Hi beattun,

Im a massive lager fan myself, and Im afraid Kev is correct - you need a fridge.
I have a wine cooler fridge from Big W, cost me only $160. (Check if a fermenter fits inside before you buy it.)
The temp control goes from about 8*C to 18*C......perfect! 8*c for lagers, 18*C for ales.
Well worth $160.

I also have 2 regular fridges, and I normally ferment my lagers in these with no fancy temp controller - just turn the dial to the 'warmest', which is about 4 or 5*C. They ferment fine, albeit a little slowly.

If you want great lagers, chuck 10gs of Saaz, Hallertua or Tettnanger hops into the mix.
You could steep them in hot water for 10mins for a little bitterness, or just chuck them into fermenter when adding can for more flavour. I just thow it all in......it falls to the bottom during fermentation.

When you get temp control, buy good liquid lager yeasts.

You'll never buy Carlton Draught again

[beattun]

thanks for the advice guys, ill get there eventually!

ill let this brew run its course (hasnt started gurgling yet and i pitched it 48 hours ago????)
ill have to sort something out for temp control before i start my next brew

tried another one of my first brew (the one that never even bubbled through the airlock) after 4 weeks since bottling and its not horrific to drink, gave me a little bit of heartburn

[Kevnlis]

What yeast did you use? Coopers yeast should have gone off like a rocket by now at those temps!

[beattun]

What yeast did you use? Coopers yeast should have gone off like a rocket by now at those temps!

coopers yeast, ive had a wet towell over it the whole time and i just took off the towell now, theres about half the water left in the airlock than what i put in at the start and a sort of a crusty orange scum on the OUTSIDE of the airlock, thermostrip reading 26, and no sign of activity at all

have we got a failure?