Brewing beer

[HBS Guy]

OK you want to bottle then bottle. Be a little bit wary, and open a bottle a week after say two weeks. If they are getting quite fizzy put them in a fridge, overnight say, then uncap and rebottle. Bottle bombs are not fun.

Increase the malt content of your worts.

[Sprintcyclist]

I turned the temp up to 23 last night and checked the wort this arvo
the sg was still about 1020 this arvo but the sample was fizzy, cloudier and tasted better.
It is alive again. Turned the temp back down to 19 .

I do hear your ' ........... Be a little bit wary, and open a bottle a week after say two weeks. If they are getting quite fizzy put them in a fridge, overnight say, then uncap and rebottle. Bottle bombs are not fun.

Increase the malt content of your worts...............'

That is a good way to get excess pressure out of a bottle.
I prefer malty beers so will prefer that.


Again, thank you.

Will let it continue to ferment till probably friday.
Am busy thursday night, tomorrow night will be too soon.

[HBS Guy]

If the beer is not too warm can leave it a few more days. If you have the time, turn the controller down to 10°C, let the beer sit a week.

No ferment will happen—you will love how clear (bright, in brewerspeak) in appearance and clean in taste it will be.

[Sprintcyclist]

SG now under 1020, about 1015.
I may have had 'premature yeast flocculation'. Stirring it up and heating it up a bit appeared to have helped.
Will bottle it on friday at the earliest

OK you want to bottle then bottle. Be a little bit wary, and open a bottle a week after say two weeks. If they are getting quite fizzy put them in a fridge, overnight say, then uncap and rebottle. Bottle bombs are not fun.

Increase the malt content of your worts.

............. More specifically, worts with large non-grain components (i.e. significant amounts of glucose or fructose) can create a number of problems with the yeast cell’s activities – the most important being the inhibition of the yeast’s ability to transport maltose through the cell wall. This problem can lead to a long and disordered fermentation. ...........

http://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/13142/1/Apostolos_G._Panteloglou_PhD_Thesis_Post_Viva_Jan_2013.pdf



Good advice HBS, waiting to bottle it is hard for me. Patience is not easy for me.
Having bottles explode would not be easy either !!!!!

Will try a maltier beer booster next time I do this sparkling ale.
Now I have a trick I can try to get a brew restarted if it stalls.

[HBS Guy]

Cultivate patience—remember I waited 12 months to bottle my IPA and Russian Imperial Stouts.

A keg system is nice, $$$ to get started tho.

[Sprintcyclist]

12 months ...........

NNNNNNNNNnnnnnnnnnnooooooooooooooooooo

Maybe this home brewing will teach me more than home brewing

It was a big step for me to wait another few days before bottling ........
But it just wasn't right as it was. Even I thought that. SG of 1020 .......... NAH.
All other brews have been 1010 or less.

Here are a few ways to revive a stuck fermentation.
Make sure fermentation really has stalled.
In case you don’t have enough good reasons to always measure the original gravity (OG) of your wort, here’s another. Maybe you overshot your efficiency and what you thought was 1.060 wort really came out to 1.067. The final gravity is going to be a little higher, but you won’t know this unless you have an OG with which to compare it.


Heat things up.
Warming up the carboy is probably the most reliable way to restart a stalled fermentation. Some yeast strains are more temperature sensitive than others and may require some warmth to complete the job. The Saison Dupont strain is famous for stopping at around 1.035 and refusing to budge until it’s warmed as high as 95°F (35°C).


Ferment up a storm.
Imagine that the contents of your fermentor are the waters of the Bay of Bengal and the yeast cells tiny boats carrying casks of IPA. Give those suckers a maelstrom. Some British yeasts are so stubbornly flocculent that it’s worth giving the carboy a good swirl a couple of times a day just to keep them in suspension until they’re done.


Add more yeast.
Additional yeast may be able to revive a sluggish fermentation, although simply tossing in a fresh pack of yeast may not be enough, especially if most of the nutrients have been depleted. You’re likely to have better results with a method called Kräusening. In this approach, you prepare a small yeast starter, and when it reaches high Kräusen, you add it to the main fermentor. Introducing yeast cells at the height of activity may encourage them to chomp down on what the initial population left behind.

https://beerandbrewing.com/6-tools-to-unstick-your-fermentation/

[HBS Guy]

To prevent a stuck ferment—aerate aerate aerate the wort before pitching the yeast.

[Sprintcyclist]

To prevent a stuck ferment—aerate aerate aerate the wort before pitching the yeast.

thought about that.
I aerated the wort well, I thought.
Water under high pressure into a 4 litre glass jar, then poured that into the fermenter from a high height.
But then left it to stand while I was hydrating the yeast. So for about 30 mins it would have lost some O2. Should not be so ....... sensitive though ?



My process went well with the coopers dark beer, but stalled on the coopers sparkling ale.
Am thinking next time with the sparkling ale might use a maltier beer booster and/or gently swirl the fermenter around every few days.

It is an improvement, last time it stuck I added yeast, that did not work so I dumped it all.
This time same thing stuck so I tried your suggestion of stirring , then raised the heat, that worked. Still pretty sluggish for Nottinghams.
Will give it a swirl tonight.

From when I started my results have improved a lot.

[HBS Guy]

Yup, so a Pack with more malt than dextrose will need to do that little boil.

Once you can boil possibilities open up: adding hop aroma/flavor, steeping some actual malt (crystal malt aka caramalt or roasted malt, chocolate malt, roasted malt and roasted (unmalted) barley.

You can then buy the cheapest kits (the Coopers Lager can, clean light malt with just 21IBU (not very bitter) and improve it with fresh ingredients, some grain, some hop pellets.

Heh, in the shop I had some old age pensioner customers. They would say quietly “I bought the can from the supermarket” and ask for a Pack to add for some decent beer. I made fuck all out of selling cans (some of the top range a little bit) but made my money out of Packs (3 x cost of ingredients plus $1 for bag and label etc) so was happy to help and understood their financial situation.

[Sprintcyclist]

Yup, so a Pack with more malt than dextrose will need to do that little boil.

Once you can boil possibilities open up: adding hop aroma/flavor, steeping some actual malt (crystal malt aka caramalt or roasted malt, chocolate malt, roasted malt and roasted (unmalted) barley.

You can then buy the cheapest kits (the Coopers Lager can, clean light malt with just 21IBU (not very bitter) and improve it with fresh ingredients, some grain, some hop pellets.

Heh, in the shop I had some old age pensioner customers. They would say quietly “I bought the can from the supermarket” and ask for a Pack to add for some decent beer. I made fuck all out of selling cans (some of the top range a little bit) but made my money out of Packs (3 x cost of ingredients plus $1 for bag and label etc) so was happy to help and understood their financial situation.

Good on you.
Everyone was happy.
You made the real profit, the pensioners saved some money and made good beer.

Did you find old aged pensioners to be good customers?
I used to run a small gardening business and they were my good customers.
They knew what they wanted, never wasted my time, no problems with them.

the boil you talk about, is that like the 'boil in a bag' kit brew?
But you are making your own 'bag' ? Or it is not in a bag ?

[HBS Guy]

Yeah, they were good and steady customers. Tradies were the big spenders—but when there is a building boom on you don’t see them.

Nope, the boil I am talking about:

1. a 5L pan (4L will do, needs more vigilance from you)

2. 2L COLD water (tap water, from cold tap.

3. Brew Pack with ≥ 50% dry malt extract

Empty Brew Pack into the 2L cold water, stir to dissolve. Turn on the heat, bring the wort to a boil, add any hop pellets (10g finishing hops.)

Now, without being so pussy as to turn the heat down bring the 2L wort to a boil and let it boil for 5 minutes. It will try to foam over so blow, stir, spray a bit of cold water but keep a nice vigorous boil going for 5 minutes. Before you started this you emptied the can kit into the fermenter and started the yeast rehydrating (it can live in the rehydration water for 30 minutes with no loss of vitality.) Pour the boiling hot wort through a sieve into the fermenter, stir to dissolve the contents of the can kit, top up with cold water, pitch yeast.

If you can do a boil you are actually BREWING! Opens the way to steeping some grains, doing longer boils with 2 or more hop additions—eventually to part mashing (3Kg of malted barley/wheat plus rolled oats, flaked barley, puffed wheat etc etc.) 3Kg of pale malt mashed, 500g roasted barley cold steeped = a full mash Guinness clone. A part mash brewday isn’t very long but with the can kit replaced with actual malt and actual hops (just a can of light liquid malt extract added) the flavor is 1000% better!

[Sprintcyclist]

right, have copied and emailed that to myself

that will be a fair way down the road.

[HBS Guy]

Yup. First step—get into doing a boil.

Brewing means boiling, just like brewing tea or coffee involves boiling water. So master the boil.

[Sprintcyclist]

I have a battle on my hands doing this easiest method !!

Raising the temp to 23 degrees has restarted the fermenting.
It is now 1012, so getting close to bottling standard. Is also tasting more complete. Took me much angst to get here.
With nottinghams yeast, should be done in about 5 days. This has been 9 so far.
This brew is coopers sparking ale malt extract with a light beer booster.

Last batch with the dark beer was done in 6 days at 20 degrees. 1 week after being bottled was lovely.
Ran out of carbonation drops when bottling, used sugar for last 8 bottles, worked well

Have bought same coopers sparking ale malt extract with a darker beer booster (50% dextrose, 30% light malt, 20% dark malt) for the next brew.
Should give it a bit more body, not a lot. Might enable it to ferment at 20 degrees.

[HBS Guy]

Have to boil that. Look for packs with 75% malt.

Avoid packs containing dried corn syrup. This is sold in a brew Pack to put some body in a beer made with a lot of sugar. Will put a nasty taste in your beer. You are moving to more malt, that gives your beers the extra body the real way!

[Sprintcyclist]

Found some good instructions

http://www.brewmart.com.au/brewmart-shop/PDF/ITEMS/basic%20beer%20brewing%20instructions.pdf

Basic beer brewing instructions. www.brewmart.com.au
BASIC BEER BREWING INSTRUCTIONS
1/ Clean and Sterilise Equipment
Assemble all equipment and ingredients needed for your brew. All equipment will need to be cleaned and sterilised prior to use. Wash your fermenter and other equipment (spoon, airlock, tap, etc) in hot water with a brewer's detergent. Ensure that all equipment is thoroughly rinsed with clean cold water and allowed to drain well. Washing and rinsing thoroughly will clean and sterilise the equipment. If you are using normal detergent or brewer's detergent, you will need to sterilise your equipment as well. Using a sterilising product like Sodium Metabisulphite or equivalent, soak all your equipment in the solution and allow to drain well then rinse. Do not forget to run some cleaner and steriliser through your fermenter tap. For hard to reach places, a plastic spray bottle can be used to apply steriliser.

2/ Add the Beer Kit
Pour boiling water into a 250ml mug containing your hops bag and leave for ten minutes. Pour 2 litres of boiling water into your fermenter, first making sure that the tap on the fermenter is turned off. Open the tin of concentrated wort (pronounced wert, this is what unfermented beer is called) and pour into your fermenter. The can of wort is much easier to empty if it has been pre-heated in some hot water. Use a little boiling water from your kettle to get all the wort out of the tin. Add 1kg of Brew Booster and stir until all the ingredients are dissolved. For a better brew, use Ultra Brew, or malt (liquid or powdered)
instead of the Brew Booster. Dextrose and Body Brew can also be used as cheaper alternatives, but never use sugar.

3/ Fill the Fermenter
Top up your fermenter with water to 22.5 litres. Your fermenter should be calibrated, allowing you to do this easily. (It helps to mark the 5 litre and the 23 litre points in black pen before you commence brewing) Use hot and cold water to reach a temperature between 20 to 30 degrees C, which is ideal for pitching your yeast. In summer, you may need to use fridge-cooled water to achieve this temperature. (Ensure all containers for water are cleaned and sterilised) When pouring the water into the fermenter, splash it as much as possible and stir vigorously to aerate the water. After stirring, empty the cup including the hops bag into the fermenter. Open the packet of yeast and sprinkle evenly on top of the wort.

Basic beer brewing instructions. www.brewmart.com.au
4/ Seal the Fermenter
Seal the fermenter and fit the airlock. The airlock should be half filled with clean water (preferably cooled boiled water). When the fermenter is sealed properly, the water in the airlock should sit at two different levels.

5/ Primary Fermentation
The yeast consumes the sugars and converts them into alcohol and waste gases which escape through the airlock. This is known as the primary fermentation stage. Ideally, the best temperature for fermentation of most beer kits is 18 to 25 degrees C. Try to keep your fermenter in this temperature range for best results. If the temperature is too hot it may kill the yeast, and if it is too cold, it may put the yeast to sleep. Cool the fermenter or use a heat pad, as necessary. Aim for a constant temperature, if possible.

6/ Wait
There is no fixed time for fermentation. The time taken will depend on how well the yeast is working. Under normal circumstances, the brew should start fermenting in about 6 - 12 hours and finish in around 7 to 10 days. Visible signs of this will be foaming on top of the wort and the airlock should start bubbling. Do not rely on the airlock as the only sign of fermentation - if the fermenter is not sealed properly, the airlock will not bubble.

7/ Check Specific Gravity
Using your hydrometer, you can measure the progress of your fermentation. Simply run some beer from the tap into a test tube and float the hydrometer in it. When the brew is first put down, the hydrometer should give a specific gravity reading of approximately 1040 for an average beer. (You should get into the habit of recording the specific gravity of your beer when you prepare it). After your brew has been fermenting for a few days, the specific gravity will be lower. An average beer made with 1kg of Brew Booster should ferment out to a specific gravity of approx 1005 - 1008. (Adding extra malt to your brew will give you a higher finishing specific gravity reading). The only way to ensure that fermentation is completed is to use your hydrometer. Take a reading and record it, then take another reading in 24-48 hours time. If the reading is the same, fermentation is complete. Bottling before primary fermentation is completed can result in exploding bottles.

8/ Add Finings
If you wish to add finings to your beer, you can do so when the specific gravity reaches approx 1010. In a sterilised mug/jug, pour in 250ml hot water, add the sachet of finings and stir well until dissolved. Pour this mixture into your fermenter giving a very gentle stir. The finings will help settle the yeast and improve the clarity of the beer.

9/ Prepare the Bottles
When you beer has finished fermenting, it is time to start the bottling stage. An average brew will make approx 30 x 750ml bottle or 60 x 375ml bottles. You will need to thoroughly clean your bottles using brewer's detergent and a bottlebrush. Ensure the detergent is rinsed out well and the bottles drained. After washing and rinsing your bottles, they must be sterilised using Sodium Metabisulphite or other steriliser, rinsed and drained well. Any equipment being used (e.g. bottling tube, funnel, crown seals) must also be sterilised.

Basic beer brewing instructions. www.brewmart.com.au
10/ Secondary Carbonation / Filling
Before bottling your beer, you need to add a small amount of sugar to each bottle for secondary carbonation to occur. The yeast present in the beer will ferment the sugar and convert it into carbon dioxide, which gives the beer its carbonation. Add 1 teaspoon of sugar to each 750ml bottle and 1/2 teaspoon to each 375ml bottle. If you are using white sugar, make sure that you use a measured spoon and never increase the amount of sugar. If you do, the end result can be exploding bottles. Carbonation drops may be used in place of sugar and are less messy. Use two drops per 750ml bottle and 1 drop per 375ml bottle.
(Adding the sugar before filling the bottles ensures no bottle is missed) Insert the bottling tube into the fermenter tap, and fill the bottles to about 50mm from the top. (A one meter piece of clear tubing can be attached between the fermenter and the bottling tube to give you more freedom) Cap each bottle with a crown seal and give the bottle a good shake to help dissolve the sugar. Store your bottles out of direct sunlight, at around 20 degrees C, for two weeks to allow secondary fermentation to complete. After two weeks, the beer will be ready to drink but the quality will improve dramatically if left for a longer maturation period. (6-8 weeks).

Remember, if you have any questions or problems, call us. We want to help you make your brewing a success.

[HBS Guy]

Big beers will ferment without priming.

I never bothered sanitising the bottle caps.

[Sprintcyclist]

Brew # 4 under way.
Used can of Coopers Sparkling ale, also bag of 'Liquid Amber'. 500gms dextrose, 300 gms light malt, 200 gms dark malt


Improvements to my process this time were:

1/ Aerated the wort with an small aquarium pump. Used a few pieces of hose, a filter joining them. Sanatized the hose that went into the wort.
Started the air pump while the yeast was rehydrating. It had about 8 minutes of aerating before yeast went in.

2/ Read that when the lid is screwed down onto the vat there should be a pressure difference in the airlock even with no activity inside.
I had not noticed that on mins. Last week checked the vat for any manufacturing irregularities where the seal is. Found 2 areas where the vat was joined together that had a raised edge under where the o-ring was. Sanded these smooth.
Similar manufacturing marks on the 2 sides of the airlock. Sanded these smooth. Tap seal are was ok.

3/ This time when lid was screwed down onto the wort immediate air pressure differential was shown in airlock.
Within 15 minutes this pressure had grown, withing 30 minutes it had grown more.

Given yeast needs oxygen, I can see where extra aerating can only benefit it.
As well as being well oxygenated the wort is now well agitated mixing all the LME and dextrose mix.
It is a lively wort before the yeast is added.

OG 1.038

[HBS Guy]

Don’t worry about the airlock. You are dealing with plastic gear, not precision–made stainless steel.

Take an OG, 1/4 of that is your FG.

If that aquarium pump is sterile—brilliant!

[Sprintcyclist]

Ah, sorry, it is not a submersed aquarium pump.
It is a small air pump. I ran a small hose from there to a filter, then a hose from there to inside the vat.
The 2nd hose I sanatized, that is all that is on the wort.

What do you mean by ' Take an OG, 1/4 of that is your FG.'
The OG was 1.038, 1.038 X 0.75 = 0.778.
AH , 38 X 0.25 = 9.5 !
So, ignore the 1000, just use the figure above 1000.
Final figure I am looking for is 1.0095 ?

This is all much harder than the manufacturers of the cans of malt extract say so on their cans.

[HBS Guy]

Use gravity units

SG 1038 is 38 gravity units

1/4 of that = 9.5 or 1010.

[Sprintcyclist]

This brew is visibly much more active than any other.
It is giving a bubble out the airlock every 4 - 5 seconds, I timed it.
In the past I could see a pressure differential but did not see it bubble.
I guess the small leaks due to manufacturing flaws that I smoothed over has helped it.
I am certain the extra aeration makes a significant difference.

Put it down on wednesday midday, using nottinghams yeast kept at 20 degrees day and night.
At this rate it could be ready to bottle on sunday, certainly tuesday.
Once it hits 1.010, that will do.


Thanks HBS, the aeration idea is a big improvement.

[HBS Guy]

Just remember—the airlock is there to let CO2 out without letting bugs in.

Your hydrometer is for determining when fermentation has finished—NOT your airlock!

[HBS Guy]

You will find mosquitoes will drown in your airlock—just empty it out, rinse, refill and refit. Mozzies home in on CO2.

[Sprintcyclist]

You will find mosquitoes will drown in your airlock—just empty it out, rinse, refill and refit. Mozzies home in on CO2.

ah, the fermenter is totally enclosed within my temperature controlled enclosure.
All 4 sides, top and bottom, it is a cube 600 X 600 X 600. The airlock is within the enclosure.
The top is removable, it has a raised inspection cover about 100 mm X 100 mm so I can see the airlock .

when I removed the top inspection cover once to see the airlock a mozzie came around the airlock
I used cooled boiled water for rinsing.

Feel at last I am making good beer. Last batch was passable by my standards. This batch should be better.
Have made the aeration improvement . That will be significant.
The fermenter now has no leaks. is an improvement.
Bottle sanatization is 100% by the suns heat. My research has shown this to be much better than by chemicals.
To sanatize the vat, tap, lid and O-Ring, used a chemical sanatizer, then rinsed with water.

Am keen to do another batch of cooopers dark beer.
That is very nice. Creamy.