Vipercat on 15/7/2006 at 10:58
Duncan you can get a brew warmer belt from K-Mart that fits around the fermenter and will keep the wort at the perfect temperature during winter. Its only about as wide as a ruller but it works a treat.
Im also doing the Coopers kits but have found that the nicest tasting was the Australian Pilsner using Brew Enhancer 2 instead of sucrose. Ive got 4 brew kits going at once all in various stages of fermantation and around 220+ bottles ready for drinking, if you can hold off for a couple of months it really is well worth the wait ... oh and also store in a dark place.
Heres a link to a couple of easy to use (
http://www.brewcraft.com.au/wawcs019616/ln-brewers-calculator.html) Brewers Calculators to tell you the alcohol content of your beer :thumb:
Cheers and bottoms up :cheeky:
littlek on 15/7/2006 at 12:41
My neighbor makes the most delicious beer that he freely allows me to sample. His best batch to date was the recipe for Modelo Negro. Legendary. He makes beer all year and does not seem to have a problem with temperature (Midwest USA) but I do know he has 2 refrigerators that he tinkered with to assist with the brewing rather than having to buy all those expensive beer making gadgets. I do know he cut a hole in the side of one frig and inserted a tap for dispensing the happy effercence.
I also encouraged him (and all you brewers) to enter the home brew contest that Sam Adams is hosting: (
http://www.samueladams.com/) http://www.samueladams.com/ :thumb:
Goblin on 15/7/2006 at 13:15
Quote Posted by Duncan
I've stopped brewing over winter since i do not have a way to keep the wort warm enough for the yeast to ferment.
Have you tried wrapping an electric blanket around the barrel? You've probably heard of this old trick before, but it works wonders. Takes a bit of tinkering, sometimes you'll need a thin layer of packing foam for insulation to keep it from getting it
too warm. Always used to do us fine through the Melbourne winters.
Balboa on 15/7/2006 at 13:38
(god help me, I'm posting in comm chat :eek: )
I've been brewing for several years, ok, more than several. I second the B3 recommendation, a lot of my gear came from them. I'm planning a Belgian Abbey Ale myself, as soon as I can move my wife's gardener's paradise out of the garage and convert it back to a brewery. (as it was meant to be)
I had a chance to fill in as a pro brewer a few years ago. I got to make minimum wage and a thousand gallons of beer, all at the same time. It didn't last long, but playing with 30 barrel stainless steel fermenters sure was fun while it lasted.
Gingerbread Man on 15/7/2006 at 16:35
Quote Posted by littlek
I also encouraged him (and all you brewers) to enter the home brew contest that Sam Adams is hosting
See, I'd encourage people
not to participate in that. Maybe I'm just a dick, but if I come up with a viable commercial brew I'm not about to sell it away for a $5000 one-time royalty in exchange for them using the recipe and my name / likeness / signature / image / voice in perpetuity. And the bit about them reserving the right to withold payment entirely if they determine the winner has "behaved in a manner that is substantial and damaging to the Contest or to homebrewing" -- while probably just a standard ass-covering clause that is unlike to be applied broadly and with ill-effects -- makes my bum twitch.
Don't get me wrong, it'd be a way cool thing to have a personal recipe produced by a commercial brewery. But on the whole and in the long run there's something kinda :weird: about it.
Renegen on 15/7/2006 at 18:55
So where's the joke for the winning recipee being one of Sam Adam's competitors?
dlw6 on 15/7/2006 at 22:33
Wow, something in CommChat worth responding to! Mmm, homebrew.
I'm envious because my 5 gallons of mead, which is almost ready to bottle, is on the far side of the planet. Since I started making my own wines, the chemicals they use for commercial wines give me a headache. So I guess I won't do much drinking for the next year.
At least I drank up all of the last batch before I had to leave.
Don
littlek on 15/7/2006 at 23:03
Quote Posted by Gingerbread Man
See, I'd encourage people
not to participate in that..
Now you are being just down right bloody selfish by not winning this bloody contest and allowing us bloody taffers the opportunity to enjoy this
Bloody Irish Ale and the resulting bloody beerbuzz.
I am most disappointed. Bloody Hell! :ebil:
Duncan on 15/7/2006 at 23:09
Quote:
Duncan you can get a brew warmer belt from K-Mart
I'll take a look for one. I only need to raise it a couple of degrees during the day. Temperature drops during the night quite a bit, but this belt warmer thing sounds like the go.
Quote:
if you can hold off for a couple of months it really is well worth the wait
That's the tricky part. ;)
Best i have managed is two months and that is only due to getting more bottles. With my 90 bottles i can have 2 brews aging while i consume the first batch. If it's just me and i hide it from everyone else that turns up, they will age nicely (since i'm not a complete piss head).
