Thread: Home-brewer stuns with international gold

Seasonal adjustments for temperature is par for the course really in the case of home brewers.
A constant brewing temperature being more important than one a bit higher or lower than the desired one.

Commercial brewers have their brew rooms and vats at stable temperatures the year round.

In my case, I just adjust the distance of light bulb to brew barrel and increase or decrease the insulating layer over the brew box I use over the barrel.

It's a great hobby alright, but now I've found two or three recipes I enjoy and stick to them.
I enter a few local home brewers' competitions and always get a thumbs up for my brews, not a great prize-winner, like, more of a "Hell mate, that's a good drop!"

Good luck with your brew. good health and long life to ya.

Originally Posted by Butterfly

English beers are crap, but again not surprising since the English have no taste in anything

^^^ A damned good idea, constant temperature.

I have three fridges with digital thermostats attached. One fridge can take one brew during fermentation or two beer kegs for conditioning and serving.

I don't do a bottled second fermentation as a norm, I just draw fresh beer off from the barrel.

Do you?

Originally Posted by VocalNeal

Originally Posted by Butterfly

English beers are crap, but again not surprising since the English have no taste in anything

Coming from the nation that deciding eating snails is a worthwhile enterprise.

They learned that off the Romans, who introduced the Roman snail to Europe and UK.

Originally Posted by ENT

I don't do a bottled second fermentation as a norm, I just draw fresh beer off from the barrel.

Do you?

Primary and secondary fermentation is done in a plastic carboy, either with or without racking in between. Conditioning and carbonation is done in the keg after fermentation has finished.

Originally Posted by Marmite the Dog

Originally Posted by Little Chuchok

award-winning pilsner

Originally Posted by Little Chuchok

Asia Beer Awards

Tasteless piss judged by a bunch of feckless ignoramuses. Yawn...

The system is meant to be idiot proof.You should buy one Marmers....

Originally Posted by Butterfly

English beers are crap, but again not surprising since the English have no taste in anything

I love it when uneducated trolls make statements like that

Originally Posted by ENT

They learned that off the Romans, who introduced the Roman snail to Europe and UK.

Well they copied most of their cuisine from other people, so that's not a surprise.

True, but the Brits didn't take to snails much so the British isles are infested with the big Roman snails everywhere you look.
There's gotta be a market for them, frogs eat snails.....

Originally Posted by madjbs

Originally Posted by ENT

I don't do a bottled second fermentation as a norm, I just draw fresh beer off from the barrel.

Do you?

Primary and secondary fermentation is done in a plastic carboy, either with or without racking in between. Conditioning and carbonation is done in the keg after fermentation has finished.

Proper job, eh? Good luck mate.

I used to rack my beer into a second barrel in temperate countries but found that doing that in CM had its drawbacks due to infection once the brew was exposed to the air.

Tropical countries have a lot more active wild yeasts and so on floating around, and infection became a problem.
Bottling for secondary fermentation immediately after racking into a second closed barrel cut the risk of infection down, but oxygen was already mixing with the brew by then.

In the end I limited my brew kit to one 22 litre brew barrel with a tap an couple of inches above the ridged base, sans lid, but sealing it with a clear plastic sheet held tight over the top by the large rubber "O" ring from the barrel lid
The brew starts to ferment, CO2 increasing to dome up the plastic sheet.
A pin-hole in the top of that lets the pressure off, and the brew's sealed in under a layer of protective CO2.

I can see the process through the plastic, so know exactly what's going on.
Fermentation over and no more bubbles rising, the plastic dome will slowly deflate,

I let the lot settle for a day, then open the tap and draw half the beer straight into bottles for secondary fermentation.
The pin-hole in the top allows the air in, but not fast enough to reach through the CO2 layer in the barrel
The remaining beer I draw into a litre jug each day and keep it in the fridge for my daily tipple of fresh beer, which always pours with a good head. Taste is great, no yeasty flavours, temperature constant, no shaking of the barrel, etc.

The CO2 in the barrel keeps the remaining brew infection free the whole time.
No syphons or air or anything touches the brew from start to finish,totally sterile.
I usually start the next brew in a second barrel the day I bottle the first, so get 20 litres a week that way.

I don't bother ageing the beer too much, as a week after bottling the stuff is well drinkable and I've got enough stored..

I have never had a problem with infections here, even when fermenting in a carboy for over 3 weeks for some of my heavier brews. As long as everything is sanitized properly and you use an airlock, it should be fine. Risk of infection after primary fermentation is greatly reduced anyhow due to the alcohol content, the major risk is oxidation from incorrect racking or bottling technique, which will severely effect the flavour and longevity of the beer. I much prefer draught beer so I never bottle my beer, it is always kegged.

For a light golden ale my schedule would go like this.

1. 4 days primary fermentation at 22c (until foam subsides)
2. Rack to secondary fermenter and let ferment for 5 more days at 22c
3. Transfer to keg and let age for one week at 7c (can dry hop here if wanted)
4. Force carbonate for 24 hours at 3x desired final PSI, then reduce to final PSI
5. DRINK!

Obviously the actual process is a lot more complicated than that but that is the general schedule for my blonde/golden ale.

Good on ya, I prefer draught beer too, fresh brewed. The first sup is 6 days after the brew is started.
If the beer is kept in the barrel and not bottled, I chuck out what's left after the 10th day, it's flat and starts getting ropey.

I see you brew at a much lower temp. than I do, 22 v 27(often), but the brewing time is the same, 5 days.

What's your opinion on ageing a beer versus not?
There used to be a belief that a beer had to age or mature before drinking.

I put that down to residual yeast inherent in the bottled beer, not enough time allowed for the yeast to settle out in the brew barrel after primary fermentation before racking.

My son would rack into a second barrel and let the brew settle for a further 24 hours before bottling or kegging.
Both of us now don't do a secondary fermentation unless we brew a pale ale,
I'm quite happy with my results, no yeasty flavours etc.

The biggest problem I found in early days was light strike after bottling, it'd kill the beer within a couple of hours.

I have started not to rack to a secondary fermenter as well. You have to leave it a couple more days to settle out and be more careful when kegging but the flavour is the same. Whether a beer needs ageing or not entirely depends on the type of beer, in general the higher the OG the longer the ageing period needed. My schedule above is the shortest time from grain to glass that I would do for any beer. Some of my heavier IPAs need at least double that time to taste 100%.

Good to see that we came to the same conclusion/decision re. settling and skipping the 2nd fermentation.

In the bad old days it was illegal to brew your own and a lot of "secret" recipes and dodgy methods were used.