Another new brewer...

[dr_bob]

Well, after several weeks of umming and arring, and reading this forum, and various other sites, today I finally bit the bullet and invested in the 10 Gallon brewery kit from Hop & Grape. Pushing the barrell all the way out, I opted for the dual element boiler with the thermostat. I also picked up an immersion chiller too.

I'll be setting up in our garage/shed and should be able to rig up a 3-tier system, but I am a bit concerned about the power use of the dual elements. I've read horror stories on here about plugs being fused into sockets and all sorts! My garage is positively ancient, though the wiring is fairly new - but I'm not sure if it is on a seperate ring to the rest of the house. Am I right in thinking that as long as I plug each element into two physically seperate 13A sockets (eg. not two into a double-socket) I'll be ok?

Is it a bit ambitious to try out Norman's Fuller's ESB recipe (detailed here) for my first ever brew? Or should I go for something simpler? Any advice for a first timer?

I'm going to pick up a couple of 'cornie' kegs too - but I understand I'll need a gas cylinder and regulator too? I don't fancy the idea of bottling everything - much rather chuck it in a keg and pour off a pint as and when required.

I'm all excited now!

[maxashton]

You should be OK with one going into seperate 13 amp sockets.

Best advice for a first timer is be patient, i think. Take your time, make notes as you go if you're so inclined. Don't be too worried if you muck something up, chances are it will be OK in the end.

Sanitation is the most important step in your brewing. What are you using to sanitize your cold side kit?

You don't need a cylinder and reg per se, but if you can get them they're well worth the extra effort. I use a Widget World system, and it's a bit of a pain at times.

Oh, take lots of pics for us.

And welcome aboard!

[dr_bob]

Sanitation is the most important step in your brewing. What are you using to sanitize your cold side kit?

Cripes - sanitizing is something I didn't even really consider!

What do you recommend?

[maxashton]

Unless the Dr. prefix in your name marks you a Chemist and grants you access to Peracetic acid, i'd suggest iodophor. If you can't/don't want to wait for iodophor, fill the fermentor with water water and add 5% thin bleach at about 5ml per litre of water. Chuck in anything that will touch the beer after it's chilled to yeast pitching temperature and leave it for 20 mins, rinse well.

If you can get brupaks iodophor, 6ml per litre of water and spray on with a spraybottle. 30 seconds contact is sufficient.

[BarnsleyBrewer]

Hi Dr.Bob, welcome to Jim's.
Sterilization is the most important thing, you can "cock-up" whist brewing and all will probably be O.K with a drinkable brew, get the sanitation wrong, it all gets wasted!
I use SWP, watch-out for chlorine based cleaners on your stainless steel, I've been told it corrodes them.

BB

[pantsmachine]

I generally go through most of a 2 ltr bottle of thin bleach to do the whole process from brewing to bottling on a 5 gallon brew. Once its boiled you should have a bowl/bucket of thin bleach water mix at the ready and EVERYTHING that goes near your wort first goes through the bowl. Also a big fan of a clean cloth soaked in same solution for my own hands and general wipe down. My cut off point from hot to cold bacteria mentality is the immersion of the cooler last 15 minutes of boil. After that it all gets the treatment.

Oh aye while you are down the shop buying thin bleach pick up a pack of soda crystals for your post brew equipment clean up. A more effective gunk remover i have not yet come across. If they were good enough for your great granny they are good enough for you. Good luck with the brew and Welcome to the dark side youngling.
One more thing to bear in mind. You can mess up most stages of brewing to some extent and still come back from it and get a nice beer that you and your mates will like but you cannot mess up with the sanitation or its drain cleaning with vinegar time! I'm not trying to beat anyone over the head with this one but to me its THE most important part of the process, good ,luck and looking forward to reading ablout your adventures.

[Chiltern Brewer]

Well, after several weeks of umming and arring, and reading this forum, and various other sites, today I finally bit the bullet and invested in the 10 Gallon brewery kit from Hop & Grape. Pushing the barrell all the way out, I opted for the dual element boiler with the thermostat. I also picked up an immersion chiller too.

I'll be setting up in our garage/shed and should be able to rig up a 3-tier system, but I am a bit concerned about the power use of the dual elements. I've read horror stories on here about plugs being fused into sockets and all sorts! My garage is positively ancient, though the wiring is fairly new - but I'm not sure if it is on a seperate ring to the rest of the house. Am I right in thinking that as long as I plug each element into two physically seperate 13A sockets (eg. not two into a double-socket) I'll be ok?

For 23L brews you may be able to get away with using just one element, or otherwise switching one off when a rolling boil is reached.

Out of interest is the thermostat just connected to one element?

Is it a bit ambitious to try out Norman's Fuller's ESB recipe (detailed here) for my first ever brew? Or should I go for something simpler? Any advice for a first timer?

You could drop the maize in favour of more pale/crystal malt, and I wouldn't bother with the caramel personally. You could also use just one or two hop varieties for simplicity.

I'm going to pick up a couple of 'cornie' kegs too - but I understand I'll need a gas cylinder and regulator too? I don't fancy the idea of bottling everything - much rather chuck it in a keg and pour off a pint as and when required.

FWIW I use widget gas cylinders with a SODASH kit control handle and Norm's keg mounted flow control taps on mine.

Anyway, all the best with your first AG brew.

[Totem]

I just bought the same kit off hop and grape. Just made my own IC - pics to follow and marked volumes on the buckets. I done a test boil of 40lt to see how it would go. I’m planning on brewing this week, Tuesday or Wednesday and I’ve decided to get a camping mat to put round it and also use the lid for heating the water. It took:

33 min to get to 70oC
37 min to get to 75oC
40 min to get to 80oC
and just over and hour to start boiling

This was from cold tap water though. The mash tun had 15lt of 85oC water for 2 hours and only lost about 10 degrees, I imagine that would be lower if there were grain to help insulate and I’m also going to throw and sleeping bag round it too.

[adm]

I have the same kit - and it works well!

My tips:

1) For a 23l brew, start the boiler off heating up at least 40l of water to around 80c - get this going first of all while you get everything else ready

2) My H&G mash tun only looses around 1C over a 90min mash. I haven't needed to insulate it for brewing indoors or outdoors.

3) For sanitising, if I am inside, I fill a sink with warm water and VWP then just keep all the kit imersed in that. If I am outside, I do the same using the FV instead of the sink.

4) Keep notes, take pictures!

[Vossy1]

Welcome back to brewing d-b

[dr_bob]

Welcome back to brewing d-b

Thanks for all the advice, guys - I will pay special attention to the sanitation - no sense in ruining a whole brew.

Thanks for the welcome - not sure why it's a 'back' though, as I've never brewed any kind of alcohol before (not even the wilkos/boots 40-pints-in-a-tin jobs!) - but am looking forward to my first brewday. I will keep you all posted.

[Vossy1]

not sure why it's a 'back' though, as I've never brewed any kind of alcohol before (not even the wilkos/boots 40-pints-in-a-tin jobs!)

My mistake ....been catching up on a lot of new posts tonight.

[Parva]

I'd strongly recommend fishing around for someone local to you that's experienced in doing AG brews and joining them on a brew day. I was lucky that IanB is relatively near to me and he invited me to a brew day. Learnt so much that day, it was invaluable.

I too have the 10 gallon brewery from H&G and also bought the double element boiler. With hindsight I don't think I really needed it for my first 23.5l brew that I did last week though it'll probably come in handy for one that's double quantity.

I also decided that as I only had the one hot liquor tun / boiler that I'd invest in a 30l tea urn. I ended up with a 27l one which works perfectly. I know I could have worked round only having the one boiler but in my strive for perfection I decided not to chance it in the end.

First brew is fermenting nicely and should be going into a cornie in the next few days all being well, tastes great! I also only did a simple recipe for starters involving 5kilos M.O., some Progress and Amarillo hops. I'll get to the more complex stuff once I'm satisfied that I've pretty much got it nailed.

Only thing I need to do now is get across to Barley Bottom for a 25Kilo bag of M.O. and various hops and some SO4. Hope you have as much fun as I've had doing it.

[oblivious]

Good luck with the brewing