Home Brew

[mace]

hey everyone, i bought a homebrew kit a little while ago and i have made my first brew but it wasnt very alcoholic and it didnt taste very nice, would this have been because it was to cold for it and it didnt ferment properly? i would love to get some tips on making a nice homebrew.

 

[ozballer23]

Chad's the expert, worth asking him!

 

[BorderMailSpecial]

Hey mate, speak to Coey, he did a bit of brewing a few years ago with some nice results.

Then get me toasted!

 

[Billyhoyle]

Chad only makes celtic green beer though

 

[graham]

hey everyone, i bought a homebrew kit a little while ago and i have made my first brew but it wasnt very alcoholic and it didnt taste very nice, would this have been because it was to cold for it and it didnt ferment properly? i would love to get some tips on making a nice homebrew.

Can't believe Chad didn't see this thread.

He will give you so much info you will be sorry you asked

I'll let him know it's here.

 

[Allstar cards inc]

The website below is also very good for advice etc....

Oliver and Geoff's homebrewandbeer.com

 

[footycardswaps]

g'day Mace, Cleanliness is the key, make sure there is a hydrometer and a thermometer in the kit, use only quality ingredients, try the Coopers range and don't use sugar in your brew, use either Coopers no.1 brewing sugar (I know I wrote not to use sugar but this is a generic term) or dextrose which you can get from the supermarket or Big W/K Mart .
Follow the instructions to the letter, look at the Coopers web site or look at home brewing on You Tube or google, when you've made a few sucessful brews you might want to venture into a home brew store and see what's in 'store' for you to make the next improvement in your brewing, talk to the store owner, research and ask questions, learn from your mistakes, you'll make a few but keep records of everything you do and persist with it as you can only get better and don't try to be too cheap with your brewing as it won't save you money, you'll just make crap beer...............cheers Leroy

 

[razor77]

Been brewing on and off for about 3 years, I very rarley use the expensive brewing sugars,
I just use regular sugar and have only ever had 1 bad batch.
As leroy said above everything must be cleaned with either bleach or sanitizing solution.

Fermenting is about finished when the airlock on top stops bubbling, however i leave my brew in the fermenter for another 3-5 days.

I have brewed using all of the available coopers brews, done te tooheys brews and have also done a hahn premium clone,

How long did you leave the beer in bottles before you consumed them, the longer you leave the beer in the bottles the better they will become.
Good luck
Rey

 

[mace]

thanks for all of the feedback. i made sure i cleaned everything twice with sanitizing solution. after fermenting had finished i bottled it and left it for 3 weeks before i had a couple of stubbies, i had another couple about 3 weeks after that and it was still no good. i think that even though i had a heat mat and put blankets around the fermenter it was still to cold over the night to complete the fermenting process properly. thanks again for the feedback. i will try again and again and as you said i should learn from my mistakes and hopefully the brew gets better.

 

[footycardswaps]

hey Mace, did you prime the bottles when you bottled the beer and seal properly?. Leigh

 

[chadjaja]

I'm brewing tomorrow!

Sorry mate didn't see this thread amongst the hundreds each day now.

Clean
Temps
good ingredients
patience
yeast.
patience

Thats the most important when starting out.

Kits are decent enough these days but you will get better beer by adding hops and different yeast fermenting at the right temp and please just leave the fermenter alone for two weeks. People are in too much of a hurry to bottle stuff.

I do all grain so don't use kits and I keg most of my brew now but post away any questions you want and I'll help you out.

Sugar and dex will bring out cider type of flavours in beer though, better off adding just malt if you are using kits. If its too cold to brew ales do a lager as they like a temp of around 10-12 degrees. Just get a lager yeast like safale 23 though from a brew shop or online. Or better yet ditch the kits and do all extract with just malt, grain, hops and yeast although its the most expensive form or brewing and you will need a large pot to boil it all in.

Tomorrows brew is a full mash orange honey wheat beer for me. :-D

 

[Tricolour]

yea make sure the lids of the bottles are on tight

 

[howzat]

When it comes to cleanliness mate, all good brews start there, whether they be kits or from scratch! That sanitizing solution is rubbish IMO! I used to use a small amount of bleach to wash and rinse rinse rinse. Once you have a "neutral" smell you are good to go Don't use scourers though or anything abrasive to clean as they leave minute scratches that can be a haven for bacteria. Such bacteria could be the difference between your beer tasting like coopers or fosters

Tomorrows brew is a full mash orange honey wheat beer for me. :-D

Sounds Tasty!