New To Brewing - Read This First.

[damon]

Big thanks to drewthebrew for this contribution

This "Sticky" contains pretty much everything you need to get you brewing. Andrew has used a 3KG kit, but the same process applies - you just need to add brewing sugar/spray malt or beer enhancer along with the malt extract.

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I've put a few pics together to help with some of the questions posted. This is a mix of two brews (great eastern start and wherry at the end) but hopefully shows most of the steps (a couple of pics are missing)

Remember the 6 P's - proper planning prevents p!ss poor performances - prepare everything you need and sterilise everything you use.

Most importantly... its thirsty work so pour yourself a beer.



I brew in an outbuilding and use the sinks to prepare the dogs dinners in so the sink is first for a good clean - the tap comes off just to make sure that theres no nasties lurking around the spout (a bit excessive for brewing in the house - but I'm not)



Two kettles (old ones that the OH was bored of) make sterilising and brewing a quicker process



In cooler months, warm up the cans - boiling water in a pan is the norm but as I have no cooker top or pans in the room, I warm them up on the wood burner. The cans go on there as soon as I start sterilising to warm nicely



Sterilise all your equipment - I'm kegging and putting another brew on so theres all manner of bits in the sink (KK tap in bits). The keg and bucket were also sterilised (didnt make exciting photos though). For the bucket and keg they get hot water and steriliser - clean all around, swill with two cold rinses, followed by a boiling water rinse.



The lid gets a good smear of vaseline. Check out this thread http://www.brew-it-yourself.co.uk/forum/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=2533 for how to care for and set up your King Keg - it will save losing pressure later.



Two cans of BIYs (very reasonably priced damaged stock) Great Eastern go into the fermenting bucket



.... along with 2 kettle fulls of boiling water - dissolve the malt




I pour one of the kettles of boiling water into the two cans to dissolve the remaining malt



top up to 5 gallons (the 5 gal mark on my bucket is slightly out so I have a mark slightly lower to indicate 5 gals). I've not taken the temperature as I know that this mix of hot and cold water will give me 22 degrees (and I've lost my thermometer )



get as much air into the brew as possible and add the yeast - I didnt take the OG as I couldnt see for froth and I know that the kits are consistant enough .... plus I dont bother calculating ABV



Clip the lid on loosely so that any CO2 produced can escape without blowing the lid off. I use a heating belt now as the building isnt that warm - in the house this shouldnt be needed. I also add a label so I know what it is and when I brewed it (the tops of woodfordes boxes make great tags)



21 hours later and a good crust shows that the beer is fermenting. This crust will subside and bubbles will be seen coming to the surface



9 days later the hydrometer says its done



add the 3oz sugar to the keg - normal white supermarket sugar is fine (measured out ealier as the scales are in the house)



pour the brew into the keg - make sure that the tube is on the bottom of the keg and no air gets in. The tap is a little bottler with the bottler bit removed and a tube fitted thats an interference fit to the inside of the tap





a view of the bucket as its emptying - the bits of yeast are normal



... and the yeast (trub) left over in the bottom of the bucket



Keg left in a warm place for three days and then transferred to cold for 4 to 6 weeks before drinking (the label that was on the bucket now transfers to the keg so I know what I'm drinking - like it matters !)



Job done !


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Why pay Gordon when you can "Brew It Yourself"