Brent Home Brews Some Fucking Beer

Fourth Beer

Mon, 07 May 2012 05:27:00 -0400

God damn there’s quite a lot that’s gone through my head, but this year has been busy as shit. I literally JUST bottled the fourth beer, the Pale Ale. It was (I think) ~32 330ml bottles and 10 740ml bottles. I was actually so busy I’d never topped the water level up to the neck in the fermenter, so probably going to have a pretty shit beer hey? Fuck it who knows, we’ll see what happens.

Uh.

Yeah I’ll update more of my thoughts tomorrow maybe.

Third beer, Fourth Beer, Beer Shed.

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 00:15:57 -0500

First, beer shed seems to actually be pretty awesome. the two lights and the bench works out pretty well. Still need to scrub the walls and floor a bit better and I’m also thinking of making a new frame for the lights so I can screw them into the roof.

It’s pretty tight though so taking photographs has been tricky, I’ll just have to make a panorama or something.

Third beer, the Boags Premium was bottled Sunday 5 February 2012. There was definitely oxidation on the top so I only bottled 2/3 of it split between 15 x 750ml long necks and 10 x 330ml stubbies.

Fourth beer has been bought and is going to get put on in about an hour and a half, this time Cascade Imperial Voyage Pale Ale, 1kg dextrose and 0.5kg light malt.

A mate of mine has a spare fermenter so my plan for this time is leave it in mind with the heater for a week, then siphon it into his one for a second week before bottling. Been reading shitloads on homebrewing and apparently it’s a great way to get a clearer beer.

Beer shed plans.

Wed, 01 Feb 2012 01:55:00 -0500

So in the rental I’m currently living in there is a shed in the backyard split into three sections:

Is powered and is currently an exercise room, with carpet. Not ideal for wet beerness, especially the shaking from a treadmill.
Is powered and filled with storage stuff.
Is not powered, has a single window where light doesn’t enter, has a door that just barely closes and is pretty fucking dusty. But it only has my stuff in it, it has a bench and a shelf going on the long side and a set of shelves on one of the small sides.

This third shed will be my beer shed. Today I spent a few hours going to a few hardware stores casing out outdoor lighting, outdoor extension cords and power boards that I could use to make the beer shed into a brewing paradise. Or atleast serviceable. Should be purchasing these with my next pay.

What I’ve set in are:

2 x 150w Lights with stands and brackets - $11.90

1 x 500w Light with stand and bracket - $14.90

Extension Cord + Power Board - $22

2-3 Crates - $8-12 depending on what I choose.

I’m not that sure about how bright certain wattages are so I’ll try and find someone who knows or try and google/youtube it to figure it out, but two or three lights should work a treat and they’re fairly cheaper than I expected.

The crates are tricky because I didn’t think to bring a bottle with me, but there were good stacking crates that didn’t have lids and some stacking(ish) crates with lids. I’d rather get ones with lids, because if the room goes back to being dusty or I have to clean it quite frequently I’d rather keep everything fairly sealed then clean constantly. Condoms on the fermenter tap? I think so.

The extension cord and power board were from a cheap place, because the awesome industrial versions were like $100 and I’m not quite ready for that. If the power board doesn’t work I might just plug the fermenter straight into the extension cord and use a head torch whilst it’s still summer, then save up for a better powerboard. What I need to do is figure out how much power will be used from an immersion heater and 2-3 lights.

Regardless, then I’ll be able to grab a chair, have my bottle capper and all my equipment in the one place, not ever have to move the fermenter for bottling and be able to store empty bottles in there when not in use.

The last thing I’ve thought of is getting some device that can read and store temperatures over a month or something, so I can keep track of the weather in the shed vs out the shed. This’ll be important because like I said, it’s fairly dark, and if it keeps cool I could store my long term beers in there too.

Hopefully photographs to come soon!

Fucksticks (Third Beer)

Wed, 01 Feb 2012 01:36:00 -0500

I forgot to post that I had started on my third beer!

It was started on Friday 27th of January, it’s a Boags Premium which is:

1 can Black Rock Colonial Lager

1 Half’n’Half

Kit yeast

Which should make a 5% alcohol. Once again I forgot to Hydrometer as soon as it was all in the fermenter, but on the second day it was 1011. This is really annoying, because it’s Wednesday today, I worked on Monday and Tuesday, and I honestly can’t remember which day it was I started the beer. I bought the beer kit stuff on Friday, but went home early because I was sick. Regardless I’ll just stick with Friday.

On Monday I found an amazing forum of resources: http://www.homebrewtalk.com/

They had a ‘n00b’ thread that was quite inspiring and good to read, although half of it I didn’t understand. I probably will if I move onto extracts or mashes.

The important thing that I’m going to do with this beer is Hydrometer properly, daily, to keep a track of OG. I won’t bottle it exactly at 2 weeks, I’ll bottle it when the reading is perfect and stays perfect for a few days.

I’m now going to write a second post about the hopefully soon to be beer shed!

UPDATE [02/02/2012]: Hydrometer reading 1010. I’m a bit worried the ring around the airlock wasn’t in properly and was letting air in.

Bicycle Beer Holder

Fri, 27 Jan 2012 01:26:31 -0500

Bicycle Beer Holder:

This is amazing, I was trying to find if there were any DIY ways to make 6-pack holders when I stumbled upon this.

Some reflections on my second beer

Mon, 23 Jan 2012 23:04:47 -0500

So I might, if I get around to it, update this more on this coming weekend but here are a few things I’ve realised whilst doing my second beer, although first maybe some back story.

Ette, my girlfriend, was planning on moving back to Melbourne on Saturday 21, so we decided to put the second home brew on down at her place in Kingston, so we could bottle it just before she goes. A few plus’ to this was the fact that we could have it fermenting anywhere, because it was just the two of us, and her house stays quite cool so it was easier to control the temperature.

However this meant I wasn’t always on hand to help out with problems, and because of this the beer was oxidised, which is a bad thing but doesn’t mean the whole thing is wrecked. After doing some reading I think the problem was that Cascade Lager brews at a lower temperature (18-20 as opposed to 22-24 Celsius) so when it was at a steady 24 from the heater it really made the yeast mad and it all bubbled up through the airlock and out onto the bathroom floor. After it was done doing that there wasn’t any water left in the airlock, so it got a bit oxidised. So lesson learnt.

Once again I didn’t take a start Hydrometer reading so that I could calculate the alcohol % at the end, because I had left it back at home when we started the brew, and through some of the other steps. I also did a reading when we figured the fermenting was done, but I haven’t done a second reading since. I really need to get a better sterilising thing so that I don’t have to turn a 5 minute job into a 2 hour job.

On the lighter side, because I have the capper I’ll start doing my bottling half pet half 330ml glass bottles. I’ll probably also figure out a better bottle cleaning system/storage so I just have to sterilise them rather than having to wash them all then sterilise them. It took about 20-30 minutes of soaking and 30 minutes of washing for 14 bottles.

Finally I’m going to buy a bucket. Because this time I had a 2L jug and it still involved quite a few back and forth trips for filling the fermenter and for sterilising the bottles.

Look who got a beer capper! The second beer is ready to bottle,...

Mon, 23 Jan 2012 22:49:03 -0500

Look who got a beer capper!

The second beer is ready to bottle, we’ll be bottling it today even. It’s a Cascade Lager but it’s had some problems, it all bubbled quite a bit over at one stage and so the air lock had no liquid left in it, so there was some oxidation.

However, after checking The Home Brew Shop website they said just bottle 2/3 of it rather than throwing it away which is what we’re going to do. 2/3 bottled is 20 750ml bottles, so ‘cause Ette is moving back to Melbourne we’re using 14 330ml Squires and Little Creatures bottles for her to take with her and 13 750ml PET bottles. This is pretty exciting, ‘cause I haven’t capped glass bottles before so it feels real. When I get back to my place and start the third brew I’m going to look into completely turning the third shed into a beer shed with the capper, fermenter and storage for the bottles.

Possibly more photographs later!

Second beer!

Tue, 10 Jan 2012 02:33:00 -0500

So last night Ette and I started the second beer, a Cascade Lager! I’m posting this from my phone so can’t really be bothered typing much more but ill have to write a final blog for the Crown Lager! Brent out!

I have been lax

Tue, 03 Jan 2012 05:03:20 -0500

there is a lot to type, but I don’t have the energy to type it.

However, in short, after 3 weeks bottled the home brew tastes wonderful.

I could not be happier.

It's been a while

Tue, 06 Dec 2011 06:37:37 -0500

I’m sorry, not entirely sure to who, that I haven’t updated this in a little while. The last two times I’ve written up huge blog posts they’ve been deleted by me receiving a phone call, and there isn’t a draft system when writing posts on phones it seems.

Regardless this is where I’m at now: with some good news and some bad news.

Good news:

Today I am (hopefully) going to bottle the beer. Then after a week in the sun and three weeks under the stairs I will be able to drink the beer. This will be around new years.

I also bought 45 Coopers PET bottles and have about 30 stubbies now, so I should be fine to start another brew straight away after my two weeks of camping around new years. I still have to get a capper but I might just get that as a christmas present, or borrow Andys.

Bad news:

Some might just be some problems I had whilst brewing beer, but here are the few things that haven’t gone right.

I left the fermenter unsealed for 48 or so hours. After the first hydrometer reading I didn’t tighten the lid all the way, and because I was trying to get to work I didn’t check the air lock water levels to see if it was sealed. This has me pretty worried, but we’ll see how it tastes in a month or so.
I need to get a different sterilising solution for the Hydrometer, as suggested in some useful info on the Tas Home Brew Website. The current stuff I’m using, Sodium Meta-something takes 2 hours to sterilise and doesn’t keep so going past 2 hours is a bit shifty. The best time for me to check is before I go to work, but I don’t have 2 hours then and I’ve consistently forgotten most nights for the past week and a bit. This has resulted in only 4/10 readings. But it should be okay fermentation-wise, it’s just a bit dumb or whatever. There is meant to be a better sterilisation thing.
I forgot to do a hydrometer reading at the start, so I don’t know what the alcohol content is. The alcohol content should be 6%, and so it’d be a good way to know I’ve done everything right. I didn’t because I was confused about how it works and what time to do the first reading, but now I know.
I don’t have any dextrose. Hopefully Andy has some or else I’ll have to bottle it tomorrow, because you need to put it in the bottles before you fill it with the beer. Not sure why I didn’t think of this until earlier.
I keep doing things on a Tuesday before I have dinner with my dad. This is dumb, because having the sterilisation finished half an hour after I’ve left to have tea might make things taste crap.
If I’m typing on my phone I need to ignore the call coming in, post what I’ve written, then call them back to avoid losing everything.

That’s all I can really think of at the moment. But I’m super excited to hopefully bottle the beer tonight and if not tomorrow.

Still haven’t done the Futurama GIF’s.

Sidenote: check what I’m posting to before I hit create post. Stop posting to my graphic design blog.

Crown Hydrometer Readings.

Sat, 26 Nov 2011 23:25:02 -0500

So I’ve turned the heater off and did a reading to determine how it’s going.

27/11/2011: 1010 at 22 degrees

Now I’m gonna try and find the silly thing that converts it, ‘cause it’s calibrated to 20 degrees.

MOAR TO COME

To follow on, I’m pretty confused and I’ve realised now I’ve missed a step which sort of doesn’t matter. Turns out when you mix the beer mix, dextrose and malt together and have set it all up you’re meant to take a reading then as a start reading.

You then do some maths involved with the start reading, the end reading, and some dividing to work out how alcoholic the beer is. It’s a safe assumption that mine is going to be 6%, but what happens if we’ve entered crazy insano land?

Regardless, I know that a consistent reading over 5 days shows that the beer has finished fermenting. So I feel that it doesn’t quite matter about that working out the alcoholic content part, although if I had a start reading it would have shown if it was done right, but as long as this last part works out correctly things should be fine.

Fine just fine.

Interesting fact.

Sat, 26 Nov 2011 07:35:00 -0500

Turns out Coopers is the largest independent brewery in Australia. I’d taken it for granted that everything was owned by Lion Nathan or Fosters but there you go. Here’s a breakdown of the beers owned by the two companies:

Lion Nathan:
XXXX
Boags
James Squire
Hahn Cascade
Tooheys
Emu
Knappstein
West End
Southwark
Swan
Becks
Little Creatures*

*Lion Nathan only own a 40% share of the company that makes Little Creatures, but still.

Fosters:
Beez Neez
Carlsberg
Carlton
Cascade
Corona
Crown
Fosters (oh ho ho)
Melbourne Bitter
Pure Blonde
Stella
Victoria Bitter

Independent:
Coopers
Moo Brew

… I honestly can’t think of any others at the moment. There are plenty, but in terms of being readily available in most pubs around Australia they’re not worth researching for just now. Might thought at some point just for shits and giggles.

Interesting how alcohol companies are the same two horse race that dominates our supermarkets and our politics. Sure there are independents but in the end people just don’t get a shit about them.

side note on tumblr: spending ages formatting a post to find it all going to shit is horrible. Gotta remember not to do that again.

Sizes of bottles

Sat, 26 Nov 2011 07:11:49 -0500

I have an assortment of bottles that are pop top that I’m collecting to bottle some of the home brew in, so I thought I’d use this as a reference point for myself.

330ml

Little Creatures Pale Ale
Chang

345ml

Squires Golden Ale

Another stage complete!

Thu, 24 Nov 2011 20:43:31 -0500

Instructions were to let it ferment for two days then top the water up from 3/4 to the bottom of the thread to eliminate the air from inside the barrel.

When I unscrewed the lid the beer actually just smelt beautiful already, I was so super excited. Water was topped up 1L at a time which took forever, my next step in beer brewing is to buy a larger jug.

A problem I found is that after I screwed the lid back in I realised the air lock had lost some of its water, and after I’d topped it up and came back to it some of the beer had been sucked up from the barrel into the air lock. Not quite sure how I’ll fix this, I think it’s possibly from putting too much water in the air lock, but I’ll see how it’s going when I get home tomorrow.

I’ve also gotten 12 Chang bottles from Rhys, so starting my crown top collection. Sort of regretting not getting the bottle capper at the time I got everything else, but from my calculations I’d need around 66 375ml bottles so I’ve got a small while. I also saw the Coopers 12 long neck bottle pack at Big W last night so if the Home Brew Shop doesn’t get some in I actually know where to go hey.

Actually might do a mix of stubbies and long necks if I have the cash for a capper. Also just remembered I think there is a capper you can get that does screw tops. That’d be fantastic.

Lastly Futurama gif’s haven’t been done. What a shame. Soon though hey.

Well

Wed, 23 Nov 2011 00:04:23 -0500

Turns out there aren’t many Futurama gifs of that specific episode, so I’ll have to make some.

I’ve also been playing with the instruction sheet to try and represent some of the time//amounts as graphics so that its much more glancable. I think I just made that word up. Hopefully ill have somethin to show tonight after work.

This is how I felt this morning when I saw it was Fermenting!

Tue, 22 Nov 2011 20:57:42 -0500

This is how I felt this morning when I saw it was Fermenting!

Fermentation rules the nation

Tue, 22 Nov 2011 16:52:59 -0500

So holy shit its tormenting, stage one complete!

I went down to the shed to check it before I showered and freaked out ‘cause it was still, ducked around checking the seals then decided to come back to it.

So I had my shower, came back and bam! The motherfucker was bubbling away happily. So now I just have to wait till Friday to fill it up the rest of the way.

Also just remembered the Futurama ep where they brew beer so might post pics of that.

Double also Tumblr app for Android is amazing.

Many litres of water later

Tue, 22 Nov 2011 06:10:27 -0500

Many litres of water later

1kg of Dextrose and 500g of Light Malt Extract. Exciting.

Tue, 22 Nov 2011 06:09:00 -0500

1kg of Dextrose and 500g of Light Malt Extract. Exciting.

Home Brew Shop in Hobart

Tue, 22 Nov 2011 00:04:44 -0500

Home Brew Shop in Hobart:

So this is the website I’ve spent the last few weeks reading information on, it’s fucking tip top. When I went in today to buy my stuff the lady in there was awesome, kind, helpful and pretty funny. They were out of bottles so she’s going to call me when she gets some in both otherwise I’m going to have to re-use coke bottles or something.

Still they’re worth checking out, design is a bit funny and the function takes some getting used to but at the same time it’s funny and very well written.