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Your First Brew
The Equipment and Ingredients Fermenter This is a 25 or 30-litre container made of food grade Polyethylene. It will guarantee an airtight fit for all your ales and lagers. The fermenter comes complete with a graduated volume scale and a stick-on thermometer. Normally you fill the fermenter to the 23 litre mark on the scale. An airlock and grommet are fitted into the lid. When half filled with water, the airlock allows carbon dioxide produced during fermentation to escape while maintaining a seal against airborne contaminants. In the base of the fermenter is a tap fitted with a sediment reducer, which restricts the amount of sediment being drawn into your bottles or secondary fermenter. Sugar Measure This has 3 measuring scoops. The scoops are marked with .33, .5 and .75 to be used with 330ml, 500ml and 750ml bottles. Use normal white or raw sugar in these. Capper & Crown Seals The capper is used to fix the crown seals to your bottles, ensuring an airtight and pressure resistant seal. To use, place the crown seal on the bottle and the capper on the seal and give it a firm blow with a hammer. Always cap on a solid surface, preferable a concrete floor with a thin layer of cardboard over it (never on a springy surface). Brewers Bottler This makes the task of bottling much simpler. The bottler is fitted into the tap on the fermenter. When the tap is turned on, the weight of the beer snaps the valve on the bottler shut, and the beer won’t flow. When the bottle is brought up over the bottler and pushed upward, the valve opens and the bottle is filled. Spoon The long handle of the spoon makes it ideal for reaching into the fermenter to dissolve all the ingredients when making up the brew. Hydrometer & Test Jar The hydrometer has two fuctions: determining the alcoholic content of your beer and establishing that fermentation has finished. To calculate an approximate alcohol percentage by volume, follow the procedure on the next page.
example: Original Gravity 1040
In addition to this, 0.3% alcohol will be produced from the sugar in the bottle. Therefore, the alcohol content will be 4.9%. In order to avoid the exploding bottles, it is essential to get into the habit of using the hydrometer. Any other method of determining when the brew is ready for bottling is pure guesswork, whereas if you ferment the brew down to a certain specific gravity, you will always be certain fermentation has in fact ceased. It is important to note that hydrometers are designed to be read at an exact temperature, usually 20 degrees Celsius. Check your own hydrometer to determine this. Brewing Sugar We include a 1.5 Kg can of light malt extract as standard, we are happy to replace this with a 50/50 mix as described next if that suits the style of beer you would like to make. The can of malt extract adds a rich toffee like flavour, adds head retention and also adds body. When using the 1.5 Kg can of malt extract, you would expect a final gravity of 1012 to 1014. The 1 Kg 50/50 pack of brewing sugar includes 500g of Dextrose (a sugar derived from wheat), often called glucose and 500g dried malt extract. This provides a far superior combination to either the cane sugar recommended on most brewing kits or straight dextrose. Expect about 1010 to 1012 for a final gravity when using a can and a 50/50 mix. Occasionally we substitute other sugar blends if a brewer is attempting to make a particular style of beer. Ensure that you take this into account when you are checking the final gravity of the beer you are making. Generally speaking, malt extract, lactose and malto-dextrin powder include some unfermentable sugars which will result in a higher final gravity. Ask at the shop if you are unsure. Brewshield A Hydrogen Peroxide-based sterilising solution used to sterilise everything that comes into contact with the beer, i.e. Fermenter, bottles etc. Refer to full instructions on the back of the bottle. Bottle Brush Used for cleaning dirty used bottles. The Kit The tin of concentrated wort (pronounced wert) included with your Brewery contains extract of malted barley and hops. These ingredients, with water, yeast and sugar, are the basis of all standard kit beers. Also included with the kit is a packet of yeast.
Cleaning and Mixing the Batch Step 1 Step 2 Step 3 Step 4 Step 5 Step 6 Step 7 Fermentation
Try to maintain the temperature within this range. Any cooler will slow down the fermentation process but will not have a serious impact on your beer. Warmer temperatures, however, will impart off-flavours. Adding finings Finings are a clearing agent used in beer making. Once fermentation appears to have slowed and the specific gravity has reached approximately 2 to 4 points above the expected final gravity (ie. 1012 – 1014 in the case where a final gravity of 1010 is expected), finings may be added. If there aren’t any in your first kit, don’t worry about it, but it’s worth considering in the future. Simply dissolve the finings in a cup of very hot water and add to the brew. Allow 2 to 3 more days and your beer will be ready to bottle. Confirm this by using your hydrometer. (If in doubt, ask us how to read it.) Bottling Clean beer bottles are essential for good beer. If you don’t have enough on hand, you can purchase new ones from Grain and Grape. We stock a strong, heavy bottle, which works well with all capping devices. Make up a solution in a bottle of about 100ml of Brewshield diluted according to the instructions on the Brewshield container. Shake the bottle vigorously and then pour the contents into the next bottle through a funnel. Drain the bottles, then dose each bottle with priming sugar. Use the sugar measure or, in 750ml bottles one rounded teaspoon of sugar (half of this amount for 375ml bottles). Fill each bottle, and then cap it. Give each bottle a good shake to dissolve the sugar. Maturing Store in a warm, dark place for two weeks, and then place them in a cool and dark place. The beer can be drunk after two weeks but will not be fully matured until six weeks have passed. If the beer is still flat after two weeks don’t be too concerned as it will come good given a little longer in the bottle. Improvement will occur for the next 4-5 months. It is advisable to avoid temperatures over 25 degrees when storing your bottles. Important: Never store beer in direct sunlight. Tried a Few Kits but You’re Looking Kit beers need only be the foundation for your own tailor-made recipes. A lot of our customers have inquiries about making beers that taste like their favourite brands or styles, for example Guinness, Vic Bitter, Fosters Lager, English Style Bitters or European Style Lagers. It is possible using kits and a variety of ingredients to fairly closely approximate these styles. Don’t, however, expect a precise copy, as it is impossible for the home brewer to exactly match the procedures of a large brewery. Below are a few suggestions. Don’t
be afraid to experiment, and please contact us if you have any
queries or want a bit of
help with a recipe. 1 Tin Bacchus & Barley Bitter Follow the normal procedure, substituting the ingredients listed above for the dextrose supplied in the standard kit. Fosters Lager Style 1 Tin Coopers Lager Follow normal procedure, substituting the malt extract for the dextrose supplied in the standard kit. Guinness Stout Style 1 Tin of Bacchus & Barley Stout European Style Pilsener 1 Tin of Coopers Pilsener Boil 20 grams of the hops in a litre of water for 10 minutes. Turn off the heat, add the remainder of the hops, put the lid on the pot and allow to soak for 2 minutes. Strain through a kitchen strainer into the fermenter. The boiled hops will add some bitterness and flavour to the brew while the soak will bring out the aroma. Follow normal procedure, substituting the malt extract for the dextrose in the standard kit. Coopers Sparkling Ale Style 1 Tin of Coopers Sparkling Ale Blue Light Ale 1 Tin Bacchus & Barley Pilsener Follow procedure as per Fosters Lager recipe
Lager Yeast Any lager will benefit from the use of SafLager yeast in place of the yeast included with the tin. For more information have a read of our booklet, ‘Brewing in Winter’. Secondary Fermentation While perhaps not essential for the first-time brewer, the secondary fermentation process will certainly improve your home brewed beers. A vessel exactly the same as your fermenter is perfect for this job. Once your primary fermentation appears almost complete, transfer your brew into the secondary fermentation vessel, leaving the sediment in the primary fermenter. This will separate the beer from the yeast, reducing bottle sediment, and the flavor and shelf life of beer will be greatly improved. Be sure to sterilise your secondary fermenter and transfer hose. To avoid aerating the beer, place the end of the hose right in the bottom of the second fermenter and attach the other end to the tap on the primary fermenter. If you are adding finings to your brew, this is the time to do it. You should leave the brew in your secondary fermenter for at least 5 days and can leave it as long as 10 days before bottling. This process can increase the time taken to gas-up the beer. Hops Hops have a great influence on the flavor and aroma of your beer. For details and descriptions of the hops we have available, please ask for a price list. See also the leaflet entitled ‘Calculating Hop Quantities’. Malt Extract One way of greatly improving the flavor and adding body to your beer is to use malt extract either completely or partially, as a replacement for the sugar or dextrose specified in kit recipes.
We have another leaflet, simply entitled Grain and Grape Kit Recipes, with more recipes for modifying kits. If you’ve experimented with a few kits and would like to try something a little more adventurous, see Malt Extract Brewing it has the basic procedure and recipes. Please ask at the shop or give us a call if you have any queries
or suggestions for additions to this brochure.
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