homebrewandbeer.com

Some philosophy for Newby brewers
by Gym_ on Sunday Jan 11, 2009 6:13 pm

Some philosophy for Newby brewers
Ok grab yourself a beer and relax wile i tell you a true story.

Few years ago I got into tropical fish,

Got all the good stuff really expensive spent hrs testing the Acidity, Nitrite, Nitrate, cleaning filters ever few days, making little houses for the fish making sure there’s heaps of oxygen flow, checking water temp every few hrs, buying the best food, water changes ever few days, constantly reading about fish and tanks and new ideas on the hobby and then spent at least 1 hr every week pulling dead fish out of my tanks PS I Have ( 4 x 6 foot tanks )

Then I found something that worked really well its call “STOP STUFFING AROUND WITH THINGS”
You would be really surprised how well something so basic works, I have not cleaned a filter in 6 months, have not checked any water reading in over a year, all I do is feed them and change the water ever few weeks,

And you know what I have had like 2 dead fish in 12 months instead of over one a week.
Now some of you are saying hang on Gyms on the wrong forum here, he’s talking about fish this forum is about beer..

Well let me fill you in,

I have been brewing on and off for over 20yrs and in the beginning I had heater pads and belts, taking hydrometeor readings, taking temp reading every few hrs.. Using brew enhancers, dextrose, LDME, waiting for the perfect day to put beer to bottle.

Then one day I help my grandfather yes still alive aged almost 90 make some beer.

He used a small plastic garbage bin that looked like it was 30yrs old..
Chucked in 1 kg of white sugar a can of coopers,
a kettle of boiled water and gave it a quick stir with a Old flat stick,
Filled it up with the garden hose using the pressure of it to stir it,
Pitched the yeast without checking the temp and covered it with a old tea towel and then walked away.

Grandpa I said that’s going to taste like shit and lol

He then grabbed a long neck out of his old fridge must have been 1970s covered in rust and rather shitty looking on the inside,
Opened the bottle with a rusty old bottle opener that he had nailed the leg of his home made bench and poured the bottle into a old glass jug again looking striate out of 1970s

Then poured it from that into two small non matching glasses .lol
And ya know what .. ???
The bloody beer was as good if not better then I had ever made.

No longer do I take hydrometeor readings or check temps or stuff around, no longer do I weigh ingredients or use fancy ass additives.
Sure I don’t use an old stick to stir it nor do I cover it with a teatowl but I learned something that day..

“STOP STUFFING AROUND WITH THINGS”

So How Do I Make My Beer ?..

I chuck a crap load of sugar in a bucket sometimes using a LDME or DDME sometimes not all depending on how board I am..
Peg in some hot water and a tin of brew and hit it with my with a giant brew spoon on the end of my drill for a few min pour in some water and leave it for 2 weeks to a month depending on when I could be bothered kegging it.. Chill it, Gas it and drink it..
and ya know what .. its bloody good beer too

Moral of the story you can make things as complicated or as simple as you like doesn’t mean its going to be any better..

Racking.....what a waste of time!
Ive been brewing for 16 yrs without racking & I can pour the entire bottle without getting a cloudy glass.
just a thin dust on the bottom of the bottle.
A friend of mine racks his beer & I still prefer mine. I am a firm beliver in the KISS principle.
It came about when my youngest son was born, I couldn't always bottle on that particullar day so I tossed the wort in the beer fridge until I could,(I latter realised this is lagering) some times up to a fortnight, this meant my beers were in the primary for up to 4 weeks.(trouble is I could drink my self out of stock by then)

it smoothed out the flavours & when I bottle they are clear as crystal & taste good straight out of the primary just no bubbles.
the only trouble I had was getting the yeast to fire back up for carbonation after being at such low temps, being as it was mid winter & even inside the hot box with the next batch & heater they took a little longer to carbonate fully.

The other important factor I found was using glad wrap over the top I could easily see when fermentation had stopped & the beer would start to look black as night (due to the black Brigalow fermenter) giving almost no sediment whether lagering or not. but lagering definately took it to the next level.

I used to use hydrometer readings, but found they were always predictable, I guess because I was always brewing the same kit at the same temp, now use the glad wrap method & same deal, same s.g same colour, so hydrometer not nescessary for the way I brew.

Did Coopers Lager for about 16yrs & have now switched to Aussie Pale ale with the BE2, :- 10 days @ 24C every time (kit yeast)

Clean Brewer wrote:
Great to hear youse are being converted, you HARD ARSES...