Home Brewing / Micro Brewery / My own beer

[Pooky]

Are you bringing beer to the festival?

 

[acidrain]

Ive been saving my liver for tomorrow... its gonna be goood.

 

[DerpiesFreud]

Hello
I'm thinking of trying to brew wine or vodka, opinions?

 

[Pooky]

Hello
I'm thinking of trying to brew wine or vodka, opinions?

Start with beer

 

[Dimpie (COMPUTEK)]

Start with beer

Wine is actually easier ... especially if you use a kit, but as it was with beer in the beginning, these kit are not freely available in SA.

 

[Dimpie (COMPUTEK)]

Hello
I'm thinking of trying to brew wine or vodka, opinions?

> http://www.brewcraft.co.za/getting-started.html
> http://www.winemachinerygroup.com/
> http://distillique.co.za/distilling_shop/

 

[Necropolis]

National food products in Emmerentia sell wine kits as far as I know

 

[Pooky]

Cool festival was a bit hot though... Apart from a beer that tasted like sweat. Please someone tell me who won the prize.

 

[MongooseMan]

Cool festival was a bit hot though... Apart from a beer that tasted like sweat. Please someone tell me who won the prize.

Troye Maye won the People's Choice.

Pretty stoked, our English IPA placed 3rd in the Wolfgang Cup

 

[Dimpie (COMPUTEK)]

3rd ... Cool & Congrats

 

[Dimpie (COMPUTEK)]

After some fun in the sun, my latest brew is now fermenting ( I really hope it comes out as good as i expect ).

Also thought to make a small test batch of Apple and Rooibos cider ( thats the orange stuff in the bergie bottle )

Cider
<Image on side>

Decanting after 90min Mash-in
<Image on side>

FIFY

 

[acidrain]

The London ale from lakeside breweries... My word that was a good beer. Next favourite was blouberg.

FIFY

Haha thanks, don't know why it came out like that because on my pc its rotated correctly.

 

[Gothan]

What do you guys use to keep the mash temp in BIAB? A towel or what?

 

[Necropolis]

I usually take the pot off the heat source - put it on a folded up towel, then wrap the pot in a towel.

I generally also keep a kettle boiled so that I can bring them temp up if it drops too much.

 

[Pooky]

Whose using urns for BIAB? Seems the easiest way once it's set up as you can boil in them too,

 

[Dimpie (COMPUTEK)]

I use that converted keg that some of you must have seen already for my BIAB .... wrap that baby in a thick sleeping bag & she hardly drops.

I did a brew on Sunday ... wrapped her up and only dropped from 64.4 to 63.5 in a 90min mash ... it dropped to 63.8ºC within the first 30min, but basically stayed there for the other 60min. I removed the sleeping bag on 80min to start heating it up for a mash-out @ 75.4ºC (10min)

I've tried blankets before, but the sleeping bag is a winner.

 

[Gothan]

I use that converted keg that some of you must have seen already for my BIAB .... wrap that baby in a thick sleeping bag & she hardly drops.

I did a brew on Sunday ... wrapped her up and only dropped from 64.4 to 63.5 in a 90min mash ... it dropped to 63.8ºC within the first 30min, but basically stayed there for the other 60min. I removed the sleeping bag on 80min to start heating it up for a mash-out @ 75.4ºC (10min)

I've tried blankets before, but the sleeping bag is a winner.

Comp when you mash out, do you suspend the bag by pulley or just leave it completely submerged in the kettle?

 

[Dimpie (COMPUTEK)]

HeHe, strange you should ask that, as this time it was the first time that I've decided to suspend it by pulley during mash-out. On previous brews I just left it in the keggle with no problems ... I think I will keep to leaving it in, as I find it easier to stir & circulate while bringing the heat up.

PS: I have a piece of grid at the bottom to act as a false-bottom in order to protect the bag.

 

[Gothan]

I just use clothes pegs to keep the bag from touching the bottom, just thought there was something mystical in suspending the bag

 

[MrR]

Why not look into urns? Electricity aside ( since I can't compare cost of elec vs. gas ), urns are much cheaper. I got a 50L one, brand new, for R899 and a second hand 50L for R399 off gumtree. You can't even find a decent SS pot for that price ( cheapest pot i found was ~R1400

The new kit is for a friend and not having any first hand experience with electric urns myself, I'm hesitant to suggest it. Using the goto source of info - http://www.biabrewer.info/viewtopic.php?f=24&t=80 - i see that there's not much drawbacks to it, which in any case wouldn't bother me for a few years. Can anybody with experience or knowledge add on to disadvantages or short comings using an urn instead of stove-top or gas?

Anything to look out for when purchasing an urn, other than exposed/sealed elements and thermostat cut-offs?

acidrain, how much electricity do you use on average during a brew? I'm using gas as I'm hesitant about what electricity might cost me (after doing my first stove-top BIAB I realised that it would be costly in the long run and the missus wasn't pleased either, so jumped to gas).