first brew

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Permalink Reply by Reviled on December 30, 2009 at 4:00pm

US-05 is a good place to start, and adding some hops to the fermenter after fermentation for 7-10 days will add some aroma... Other than that, replace dex with malt extract...

Or....... Just look into BIAB ;o)

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Permalink Reply by denimglen on December 30, 2009 at 4:01pm

What Rev said.

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Permalink Reply by Rhys Parry on December 30, 2009 at 4:25pm

BIAB? i plead ignorance!

dried malt extract to replace the dextrose - 1:1 basis?

after adding my hops and leaving for 7-10days, do i bottle then?

cheers guys!

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Permalink Reply by Mike Neilson on December 30, 2009 at 4:29pm

BIAB?

Try conventional mashing!!

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Permalink Reply by Rhys Parry on December 30, 2009 at 4:58pm

sorry, i meant i don't know what BIAB is an acronym for!

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Permalink Reply by martin w on December 30, 2009 at 5:12pm

brew in a bag, just another way of making beer, its a little more involved than using kits but gets you much better results.

what tupe of beer are you planning on? which hops were you thinking of using?

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Permalink Reply by Rhys Parry on December 30, 2009 at 7:04pm

oh ok, thanks. will have to study up on this after my first brew.

i'm after a pilsner/IPA type brew. have bought some nelson sauvin hops...

cheers

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Permalink Reply by martin w on December 30, 2009 at 7:39pm

you want to try and ferment at as constant low temp as possible, maybe 17 degrees if you can to keep it as clean as possible, you might want to add hops during the boil as well, i found kits always finished quite sweet! or maybe it was just me!

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Permalink Reply by Rhys Parry on December 30, 2009 at 8:18pm

thanks, will attempt to keep at a constant temp!

Permalink Reply by denimglen on December 30, 2009 at 9:09pm

Yeap, dried malt or liquid malt extract at one to one. You will get a slightly lower original gravity and and slightly higher final gravity and therefore a little less ABV but your beer will be better for it.

The SO5 yeast will do wonders for the beer.

My usual fermentation schedule is to let the beer ferment for about two weeks, add dry hops to fermenter, sit another week, then bottle/keg.

I'd add about 20 - 30g of dry hops.

After this batch, and probably before doing a full grain batches I would suggest doing an extract with steeping grains. More info can be found at www.howtobrew.com

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Permalink Reply by Rhys Parry on December 31, 2009 at 7:28am

thanks for the info, can't wait to get started!

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