Home Brewing

Anything else NON- BBQ
rotten
Posts: 82
Joined: Tue Jan 22, 2013 10:07 pm

Re: Home Brewing

Post by rotten »

Do the coopers tins still say ferment at 27c?? :roll:

Do yourself a favour and drop it back to 18-20c if you can
barls
Posts: 226
Joined: Wed Feb 16, 2011 12:02 am
Location: sydney

Re: Home Brewing

Post by barls »

rotten wrote:Do the coopers tins still say ferment at 27c?? :roll:

Do yourself a favour and drop it back to 18-20c if you can
second this.
sydking
Posts: 343
Joined: Mon Oct 08, 2012 11:38 am

Re: Home Brewing

Post by sydking »

Ive had the bucket warped in frozen water bottles and a wet towel, Freshen up when ever its needs, Looks like it sitting around 23 now.

il be using dextrose, Il go with your measurements and see how i go, When i Rack the brew il find out the exact volume and go off that.
jynormous
Posts: 10
Joined: Mon Oct 08, 2012 9:03 am

Re: Home Brewing

Post by jynormous »

23 is still too high, unless your in the middle of a d-rest.

You want to be sitting around 17-18 deg for the best possible result.

For some great advice - check out John Palmers online reference guide
http://www.howtobrew.com/section1/chapter10-4.html

Also, get yourself a fridge to ferment in - you can get them from ebay, gumtree, hard rubbish, etc.

Best money you will ever spend in your beer setup.

Jynormous.
sydking
Posts: 343
Joined: Mon Oct 08, 2012 11:38 am

Re: Home Brewing

Post by sydking »

What is everyone using to sanitize, I have the PWR powder which is 1tsp per L and some bottled instant stuff.

Ive been thinking, when its come time to sanitize the bottles, Is this stuff even OK to consume? one would think the non rise stuff is, But mine just smells of bleach.

so, Not only to keep the cost down, But i think is a bit more edible...

I'd use a bleach/water/vinegar solution. When mixed properly it is a safe and easy no-rinse sanitizer.

Use 30ml of plain unscented bleach, dissolve in ~ 19L COLD water, RINSE YOUR MEASURING DEVICE IN HOT WATER, add 30ml of vinegar.

Never mix vinegar and bleach directly. It will make chlorine gas. Only mix it when diluted with water.

I will give a go and report back
Archie
Posts: 27
Joined: Sun Dec 09, 2012 7:06 pm

Home Brewing

Post by Archie »

Had some Milton (http://www.milton-tm.com/sterilising_fluid.html ) that we used for baby stuff and works a treat. Great for removing mould from stuff and can use as a food grade disinfectant. Bit pricey but that's the only down side I've found.
barls
Posts: 226
Joined: Wed Feb 16, 2011 12:02 am
Location: sydney

Re: Home Brewing

Post by barls »

http://www.craftbrewer.com.au/shop/details.asp?PID=4332
this one was made for the food industry.
great value. 0.7ml of it in 500ml of water. been on the same bottle for nearly 6 years.
also its no rinse which is a big plus over most of the other as then its only a clean as the water your rinsing with.
the missus has been using it on the babys items as well
rotten
Posts: 82
Joined: Tue Jan 22, 2013 10:07 pm

Re: Home Brewing

Post by rotten »

Use starsan, its cheap, safe, no rinse, and will last for years. Pbw is only a cleaner not a sanitiser if anyone isn't sure

Sent from my HTC One XL using Tapatalk 2
barls
Posts: 226
Joined: Wed Feb 16, 2011 12:02 am
Location: sydney

Re: Home Brewing

Post by barls »

rotten hes talking about psr, pink stain or what ever other name they also call it. its basically tri chlorinated phosphate. it works alright as a cleaner and can also be a sanitizer.
Joeka
Posts: 147
Joined: Thu Feb 09, 2012 4:00 pm
Location: Sydney - Inner West

Re: Home Brewing

Post by Joeka »

I use 1 Tbsp Pink Stain Remover in 1L hot water. Shake it around in the fermenter for a bit, like a minute or so, then drain, a bit through the tap.

Then 1 Tbsp sodium metabisulfite in 1L cold water. Same treatment: shake & drain. That's about it. When I drain this stuff, it's into a plastic jug, so I can re-use it to wash down my airlock & stirrer etc.

When it comes to bottling, it's the same stuff, in the same proportions: 1Tbsp/L. The only difference is to rinse the PSR out with hot tap water, before squirting the bottles inside with sodium metabisulfite. Let the bottles rest on a bottle tree for about 15min to allow the sodium met solution to drain / evaporate a bit.

Sanitation-wise, this has always worked for me. Always open to suggestions, but I don't feel any strong need to fix something that isn't broken.
barls
Posts: 226
Joined: Wed Feb 16, 2011 12:02 am
Location: sydney

Re: Home Brewing

Post by barls »

hate to tell you but the metabisulfate isnt reusable.
basically one in solution it releases a sulphur based gas that does the sanitising so its a one shot wonder.
id say your getting more of an effect from the psr than the meta.
btw its a nasty one and can cause seriously bad asthmatic reactions in some people.
move to sodium percarbonate aka nappy san or the equivalently for cleaning and a decent no rinse saintlier lie starsan or iodafor
not only is it cheaper but you will find your beers will start to taste better.
Joeka
Posts: 147
Joined: Thu Feb 09, 2012 4:00 pm
Location: Sydney - Inner West

Re: Home Brewing

Post by Joeka »

Do those products work in the same kind of timeframes & quantities? Just asking, because I don't want to be arseing around soaking equipment for hours (or heaven forbid, overnight) or having to fill the fermenter completely full with solution. Shake & empty, it's great. I've had 1 batch go bad out of 40 so far which I blame on the shitty little fruitfly who got into the wort.

Funnily, I don't actually PSR the stirrer or airlock. Very recently (past 5 batches or so) I have, however, been putting them in the fermenter with the lid on for 15 mins with the sodium met solution, to let the gases do their work. Can't say I have any issue with the fumes. Asthmatics may suffer, but I'm not asthmatic. Burns the lungs a bit if you take a big whiff, but you only ever do that once. Easy enough to avoid breathing the fumes if you pay attention to what you're doing.

I do want to give this starsan a try.
barls
Posts: 226
Joined: Wed Feb 16, 2011 12:02 am
Location: sydney

Re: Home Brewing

Post by barls »

as ive said before starsan uses less for a better finish 1.5ml in a litre and can be reused till it goes cloudy.

percarb can be used the same as what your doing but its real benefit is in soaking. ie one table spoon in a full fermentor of hot water wait about 30 minutes and its done. no scrubbing needed.
ive lost count on how many batches ive done in the last 10 years.

as for 1 in forty i havent had a bad batch in over two years now.
i even manage to do reasonably in the state home brew comps
Joeka
Posts: 147
Joined: Thu Feb 09, 2012 4:00 pm
Location: Sydney - Inner West

Re: Home Brewing

Post by Joeka »

I appreciate the advice, honestly.

PS- the bad batch was an aberration. I had to take the little guy to childcare. Halfway out the door I thought "shit, I forgot to put the airlock in....ah, hell, what can happen in 10 minutes? The wort is always exposed early on..."

Shitty fruitflies is what can happen.
rotten
Posts: 82
Joined: Tue Jan 22, 2013 10:07 pm

Re: Home Brewing

Post by rotten »

I have a one litre squirty bottle for my starsan. Spray ensuring complete coverage, tip out excess, let dry if you're patient enough, and you're done.
Kegs, fermentors, hoses, spoons, cubes etc all get treated the same. I fill the chiller and drain when I ever use it these days. Unscented nappisan for cleaning. Clean everything straight away and you don't have to soak.

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