Home brewing

[kev7937]

When I used to brew beer from kits I used an aquarium heater to control the temperature in the fermenting bin. They are not expensive and the settings can be adjusted. Had to give up the brewing as five gallon barrels

 

were being consumed at an alarming rate.

 

 

Will this work if I try it in the shed or garage? Fancied having a crack myself but space in the house is limited.

[brewpup]

Done a dozen full mash brews now. Takes 5 -6 hours though but good fun. Temprature is controlled by an extended front to an old fridge made from celetex.. In side is a green house heater . With a controllable temp setting so can chill or heat as in either fermenting or conditioning. Very hand. Especially at time to drink . And was good fun to make ..And electric box of tricks is about £50 and every thing else is scavenged.tried heat mats but seemed to get to warm. And belts also got to warm at point of contact.

[brewpup]

Regards the op, sorry went of post. Brew kits are a good way to start of in the practice of cleanliness and temperature.and is reasonably quick. But main thing is cleanliness we find.so those old barrels will want a good clean. Demestos original 22.5 ml to 5 litres of water. Contact time of half hour and rinse rinse rinse. Also new barrel taps would not hurt.

[Vectislad]

Will this work if I try it in the shed or garage? Fancied having a crack myself but space in the house is limited.

 

Perhaps, especially now the weather is warming up. I used to brew in the house which was warmer than the garage. Maybe try two heaters.

[sloth]

Cheers for all the replies

I'm all set ready to go now but have a couple of questions.

Is tap water ok? My tap water tastes not great, so I generally drink cheap tesco mineral water, even squash is tainted (but drinkable) with tap water! Would it be worth using bottled mineral water?

 

Other thing is 'conditioning'. I'm supposed to put sugar in the barrel after the fermentation to condition the brew. What does this really mean, and what if I don't add extra sugar at this stage? Could I use honey instead?

 

Thanks in advance...

 

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[bobh]

My tap water is from a burn straight off the hill so unless a deer dies and falls in its great, have heard of people using bottled water instead, your call I guess.

I had the same thoughts about conditioning when I started and used to bottle rather than keg my beer so I tried a couple of bottles without sugar in, still don't understand the processes involved (and probably don't need to) but suffice to say I will always add sugar in future.

 

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[Lucan]

Will this work if I try it in the shed or garage? Fancied having a crack myself but space in the house is limited.

 

Kev, I've been home brewing for a couple of years now and found this website very helpful, still go back to it each year to refresh the old memory

 

Temperature Control - Love Brewing

[GreenGui]

Cheers for all the replies

I'm all set ready to go now but have a couple of questions.

Is tap water ok? My tap water tastes not great, so I generally drink cheap tesco mineral water, even squash is tainted (but drinkable) with tap water! Would it be worth using bottled mineral water?

 

Other thing is 'conditioning'. I'm supposed to put sugar in the barrel after the fermentation to condition the brew. What does this really mean, and what if I don't add extra sugar at this stage? Could I use honey instead?

 

Thanks in advance...

 

Sent from my GT-I9100 using Arbtalk mobile app

 

 

I used to use tap water in the UK and found I had variable results depending on where I lived - sluggish yeast and fementation that would stop for no apparent reason.

 

I am lucky enough now to have water straight out of a 65 meter bore hole and although the ph is a tad low I never have a problem with 'stuck' brews. I think the main problem with tap water is the chlorine which will vary in quantity (up to a maximum allowable figure) depending on the water quality where you live. some sources state drawing the water and letting it stand for 24 hours before brewing helps let the chlorine evaporate. On the times when I did full mash in the UK I found the results to be better but don't know if it was the longer heating times evaporating the chlorine before pitching the yeast or if it was just the result of a 'superior' brewing process:confused1: