Brew 7, 8 & 9 Real Ale, Dark Ale & Stout, and mixiers.

I bought a Coopers Dark Ale and a Coopers Stout at P & S and I got the added extracts from the Brew House to go with those as well as lots of PET bottles.
So next brew I'll try the dark ale. Then, maybe the Real ale, then the stout. So thats me set up for the next 3 weeks or so as far as the brewing goes. 

Mixers

I've been getting a bit of a headache from the Double Stouts, especially the OatMeal ones. So I decided to see if there is something I can do to alter them, by maybe mixing them or doing something with them (like watering them down in some way).

So, on looking on Mr YouTube there are beer mixes such as Black & Tan (Stout & Ale/Lager) and also Radlers, which are just the German term for shandies.
Also there is something called Black Velvet, which is a stout and champagne, so I decided to give that a crack and bought a $10 bottle of Brut (lindau, so top of the line stuff, yeah, Right!). I'll see how that works out.
I also bought some Coke & Lemonade to try Shandies with light beers and Coke for combining with stouts. Maybe diluting them will stop the sore head.
Unfortunately, at the moment, as I have is all the potent stuff, so I need to wait for the Real Ale and Lager to come right.
The Black and Tan I can try as I still have a couple of Stella's left. We'll see if that works. A bit like an irish coffee where you try and keep the two beers seperate, so you get the lager at the bottom and the stout floating on the top, lots of videos showing how to pour the stout over a spoon to keep the 2 beers separate. 
 So, a couple of things at the moment. Firstly using the Beer Finings to clear the beer, and secondly shandies or mixers to be tested also.

Coke and stout- yuck. A fail, so I'm glad I bought a cheap coke to try, that just tasted like lolly water.
Black Velvet- Champagne Brut & Stout. Gives a bit of Fiz but its betwixt and between, neither one nor t'other. Pleasant but not that interesting.

So , I'll need to wait for a Shandy but I don't think that will go with real ale, or bitter tops. Jeri was into that but I like the taste of beer, so I don't see much success with that.

So maybe Black and Tan? That one seems a bit mixed up too.
I think I'll just have to carry on practicing until I can get a brew I like and stick with that, or maybe a mix, some strong, some light. I'm still trying to brew a spectrum so I can choose between them.

Brew 7- Real Ale or Dark Ale? 

A dilema, in some ways, depending on the bottling of the lager, it would be interesting to do the test for another Real Ale and use the Finings to see if the beer is more clear than the first test. Although I'm keen for a mix so a Dark Ale would be fun to do too.
I suppose I should do the finings test as I've only just done the other Real Ale, so they will be easier to compare if they are closer together.
So, Tuesday 24th sept, a real ale again. OG was 1040, I added a bit of dextrose, like the first brew (Brew 5).

Coopers kits
 I have only done a couple of Double Stouts and a Real Ale so far (still awaiting on lager (21/9/2019) ) but they have come out all right. I'll carry on exploring these for the time being. I've now seen them at Countdown in Newtown and they have a box of enhancer 2 ($10, versus what you get at Brew House for $8.80) so I'll stick with the Brew House but will check out if they have any different types of Beer can types.
P & S have the Cervesa but that is a bit more expensive than the others, and a light beer. I think I want to get a few Real Ales brewed as well as some Dark Ales as that is what I used to drink in the UK, so will try and see if I can do some of those to get a reliable brew.

Brew 7 Real Ale  friday 4th Oct.

I decided to go with real ale and did all the processing OG was 1040  and FG was  1006 and I included finings for a couple of days and I bottled today. All went pretty steady. I added the brew house enhancer and 330g of Dextrose, so OG was a bit higher than what they say on the can, so alc/vol of 4.45% which is OK, not too strong.
So now I've to wait a couple of weeks to compare against the other Real Ale without finings. As that's drinkable now I have noticed its a little bit cloudy.

Brew 8 Dark Ale

So I've just done the Dark Ale, its supposed to have OG of 1038 but as well as the Brew House Dark Ale Enhncer (1kg) I also added 500g of Dextrose, so OG is 1042. If I get an FG of 1006 then it'll be about 4.7%, still not the 5% I'm sort of aiming for as a standard. It came in at FG of 10065 so about 4.9%. I also used the finings to clear it a bit. We'll see what it looks like in a week.
But that brings up the question of the 2nd fermentation with the added sugar lumps. I'm not sure if that is taken into account, I need to do some research into that. Anyway, the Dark Ale is on its way. Research on 2nd fermentation, as its sugar and no yeast aparently only something like .1% extra, so the blogs I read seem to say. Its more to do with giving the beer a head.
Bottled on monday 14th October 2019.

Review

I'm actually finding this one quite soporiphic. I haven't been blown away by the taste, but have found that I seem to sleep more heavily. No I'm not drinking double the amount of other beers! I'll have to try this again and see if I can get a better flavour into it.
A more dreamless sleeep, I'm not sure that I wake up any more refreshed but I do seem to sleep longer. Maybe a medicinal beer?

Stickers

I've coloured stickers now so hopefully the colour coding will help identify the brew, I'll also put numbers on the caps too.

Brew 9  Stout. Started monday 14th October 2019.

This one I've had for a while. I'm planning to head up to see Zoe & Karl in Waikato for a couple of weeks so will keep an eye on it the first week and then just let it sit. See what happens there.
A bit of a cock up on setting it up. I hadn't turned the tap off after cleaning so the enhancer and 500g of dextrose mix with boiling water leaked out a bit, and I'm not sure how much actually got out. A bit tired after a day of baking and cooking.
Anyway an OG of 1042 (they say 1038 with recomended mix on packet).
FG is 1006, measured on 12 Nov. 
On watching some of the videos I saw people adding oxygen to the mix for fermentation and others stirring up wort to try and get a lot of oxygen into the liquid, apparently this helps with activating the yeast.
There were a few articles recommending you do not necessarily use the yeast with the extract as it cold be old and out of date, some recommend you buy from the brew shop. There are liquid as well as dry ones.
 You can also wash the yeast at the end of the fermentation brew, I may try this out.
Some of the liquid yeasts are about $20 so you'd need to recycle to get the best oyut of them.
There is a comment that some of the extracts are not that flavoursome and can taste a little like each other. I'm starting to notice that they don't have that distinctive a flavour. Still nice to drink though. So I'll maybe start experimenting a bit.
 I gort through a lot of the first Stout brew (because it was the only one I had) but I'm starting to stock pile some now. I have a few under the table that I'll take up to Waikato and try.
 Some light ones next, the lager & upmarket European lager and Cervesa, so I'll brew them with all the bits I have.
My biggest expense sems to be the bottles. Maybe I should be collecting more on recycle day from other people.

Looking to bottle around 12th November. 

I went up to visit Zoe & Karl so  left it doing its first ferment for a month. FG is 1006. So about A 4.76% alc/vol. Which is fine. A light stout for summer.
Now I need to do some bottling.

Brews 3 & 4. Coopers Stout x 2 malt extract tins, one with dextrose(5.76% alc/vol) one with Dark Ale Brew Blend (6.55% alc/vol)

Brews  3 . Coopers Stout x 2 malt extract tins, with dextrose 1Kg- alk/Vol =5.76%

I thought that brew 2 Oatmeal stout extract tins were rather expensive.
I noticed that Pak'n'Save sells Coopers Home Brew cans and sanitizer and carbonating pills so I've been keeping an eye out for some Stout cans as the first time I saw the area there was only one can of stout.

Last week they restocked, and the Coopers cans are about $14 compared to $24 for the extract.
So a couple of cans of this and dextrose should do Ok.
 I started the fermentation process on the day I bottled the Oatmeal (4 weeks before I can try), that was Thursday 8th August.
I inspected it on Sunday and the air trap was clear of water and covered in froth at the top, also the top of the fermenter. A bit of spatter on the duvet wrapped around it too. It was a bit too active.
I cleaned the air trap and put it back, hopefully no damage done and the brew will be fine.
The OG was 1.058 and the bits of docs that I can see online suggest it should get down to about FG 1.014. I'll leave it for about 10 days , like the oatmeal stout as its also a double can brew.
So if the Coopers stout is tasty that is what I'll aim to use.

I don't think I'm making headway on the financial side of the brewing yet.
 I've had to get extra kit (the bottle press).
I thought I'd save by using empty beer bottles but the extra money on the press has offset that to date.
Also the heating of the cupboard to keep the temp above 18 Deg C, that's an added cost component I hadn't foreseen.
Hopefully I'll get a brew that I can make and enjoy so that I can maintain the process for budget reasons.
The first brew I'm drinking now, as its not that strong I'm drinking a lot more of it, so that's not working, although alcohol content is low.
I need to collect a lot more bottles, and I do prefer beer from a bottle (rather than a PET bottle). Its a bit like coffee from a wax paper cup, what extra flavours are you getting from the vessel?
I'll re-use whatever I have, bottle or PET and carry on, I need to justify the bottle cap press.
So not as economically viable as I'd thought to begin with, and I've got to get a few brews made and aged in the bottles so that I've got a few different types to try. That is going to be my next objective, to get a few successful brews that I enjoy.

Bottling

I've had issues doing the bottling in the laundry room as the bench is standard height and you are bending down to view the level of the fill in the bottles.  Also there is not that much room in there for the process.
So I moved it to the dining area and used a chair on the table and the process went so much more smoothly. The bottle fill was nearer eye level so easier to judge when to stop, so less waste.
 I also put the carbonation drops in all the bottles first, so I ended up with a more efficient process.
I didn't have that many glass bottles so bought another 15 PET bottles for this batch, I only needed about half of them.
I had 10 glass bottles so used the bottle press, which is nice to use. 

So now they are bottled I'll have to wait for 2nd fermentation before drinking them.
The FG of this was 1.014   so its alcohol content should be about 5.76%.

Brew 4 -Coopers Stout x 2  tins with Dark Ale Brew Blend- 20/8/2019- Alk/Vol =6.55%

This is same as before but putting a bit more body in with Dark Ale brew blend from Brew House.
I picked it up when I went to get extra PET bottles.
I had everything ready for when I did the bottling so could just steralise everything and set up for the next batch.
It was not as frothy a mix as the previous batch, maybe the Brew Blend has less sugars. The OG was 1.060 which was slightly higher than Brew 3 (1.058). Hopefully it will not blow the seal.
I've put the duvet around the tank and as the first days are more active than the later days I wont heat the cupboard but monitor the temperature. Its started at 24 deg C.
I'll leave that to ferment  for about 10 days then check.
I'll most probably need some more bottles as although I've bought some Stella's I'm working my way through the first batch of Brew that I've made, about 8 bottles to go then back onto the lager.
Actually, I should hold a few of the original batch back to do a taste test on some of the other brews.

The OG of this was 1010, so that is a 6.55% brew, so quite strong.

 
The new bottling process went well and minimal spillage.

Next batch? 

I feel I've made enough Stout for the time being, so maybe make some lighter beers. There is a Coopers Real Ale and Dark Ale so maybe I need to try doing some of those as well. It would be good to have a variety of beers to try.
So I should prepare to purchase something next time I head to the shops.
I'll stick with the Coopers for the time being.  I'm not sure whether to do a double extract or add an enhancer.
I've bought a couple of  Coopers Real Ale cans and dextrose, but I think I'll try only 500g of dextrose for this.
Brew 4 went mad, like brew 3 and frothed out of the air lock, a couple of times. So I think its a bit too active. Not sure if that's too much yeast or too much sugars. Will try with a reduced sugar level initially(see comment above).

Too Much Yeast

In the last 3 batches I use 2 cans of extract and I used 2 sachets of yeast. I think that sped up the reaction causing it to overflow on all the first fermentations on the first couple of days. I'll have to check up on that next time I do a double can. Maybe test out only one sachet of yeast.

Wine making

This looks interesting too, I watched a couple of videos on that and the process is similar to the Beer kitset process. I'd like to give it a try sometime. The basic kit is about $129-$140 and the concentrate pack is about $120 ish. This will do about 30 bottles. You also need a corker and maybe a sealer too.
Also the bottles, but I could collect those. About 4 weeks from start to bottling.
It works out about $8.50 per bottle (starter Kit & concentrate kit) and 2 bottles a week  would work out about 3 1/2 months worth of wine.
This is one vid that shows a process, seems reasonably straight forward.s:

Tasting

Brew 2, only about a week for the 2nd fermentation, but as I've hidden away the first brew (mild strength) I thought I'd like to try it. I've been wondering about the coopers flavour, and I like it. A bit of sediment in the bottle, I'm drinking this one first so I can have a couple of lagers after, so hopefully the sediment wont be too hard on my head. Nice taste, flavoursome, more body than the first brew, so a thumbs up for this one so far. May not be the same view tomorrow morning.

15th Sept 2019 - Tasting Brew 3. 
This one has a bit of strength to it. You do not notice the alc content but it is a thick and rich flavour. I like it. I've been mainly drinking these over the OatBear Stout as that gives me a bit of a head. Although this one is mainly in 750ml bottles so I tend to drink more of this and get mellow, then i drink some of the Oat one , so its sneaking below the radar and I'm drinking too much at times.
 The 4th brew is ready, so I'll have to try some of that one now and see how that is doing.
I like the flavour of the Coopers Stout. I will have to try to make a milder one  with only one can to have for summer. Its good that I've got some strong ones now, but its time I got a few more milder ones for summer.

First attempt at beer brewing, a stout 3.14% alc/vol

I was looking on Mr Tube and saw some vids on brewing. I'd always thought I'd like a crack at doing it. I had a tenant in the flat below and he made his own beer, pretty rugged stuff and he'd got an old fridge with a tap in it. Not a bad tenant, no trouble from him. I think his beer was quite high on the alcohol content.

The purchase

Anyway, I saw that there was a local shop in Newtown that sells starter kits for beer making, so I thought I'd give it a try its a Mangrove Jacks kit for $110. I wanted to start with a stout and the chap in the shop kindly switch it over from the beer type that came with the starter kit. A different brand. On switching over I got a Muntons Irish Style Dublin Stout.

The chap had recommended an Oatmeal stout but I thought I'd try a taste that I know. So went for the Irish Stout. If its not too much of a disaster then I can always try other ones. There was a big bag and a tin. The bag goes in first apparently.
I'd parked at Countdown supermarket opposite so I didn't have far to carry the stuff, and whilst there had a concern about the water, so ended up buying 26 l of still water ($16). The concern seems to be about the chlorine affecting the taste. Also the chap in the shop, when I said I'd most probably cock it up didn't disagree but said there was usually something drinkable at the end.
 So , cost to date is $126. And after preparing it it will take 5-10 days for fermentation. After that it needs 3-4 weeks for the carbonation drops (I think sugar) will need to react with the beer so 3-4 weeks after that. I'll be thirsty by the time they are ready.
I'll leave it until tomorrow to set it all up.

The preparation videos

I thought this  video was useful for setting up from the UK:

There is also this double one, video'd in Petone, not the most thrillingly paced but goes through the process:

The process

Wednesday 17th July, 2019.
I did the sterilization as they suggested. I used a cloth to wipe out the inner side of the fermenter and put that in its own bag so no cross contamination.
Initially I put in 2 teaspoons of the sterilizer then on reading instructions again saw it was 2 tablespoons  so adjusted to suit.
Put some in a sprayer to spray hands and other stuff.
Used bottled water to fill up. Put the sugars in first (as the man in the shop said) to stop clumping , then the tin and used kettle to get the stuff around the tin edges.
With 3 1/2 l of boiling water and bottled water for the rest, the temperature is 22 degrees, so I need to cool it down a bit before I can put in the Yeast, so I'm waiting on that.

It seems to be sitting on 22 deg C so I put it in the bath (I'm worried the sink may fall out of frame in laundry) sitting in cold water up to about the 7l mark. So will watch until it gets to below 20 deg C to put in the yeast.
I will also need to test the specific gravity as well.
This came out at 40 or 140 or 1040 - (still figuring out markings on the hydrometer.

So the start reading is 1040 which is the OG, and 5% alcohol/vol.
I had to do a lookup on this. So it seems you have the start alcohol and you get the end alcohol and you subtract one from the other to get final alcohol content.
So, in a blog I read (here) and it suggests final should be about 1.008 FG,  so that alcohol content there should be 1% so difference of alcohol content should be 4%, which is about right for a normal stout (Guinness 4.2%).
So all made , yeast added, in the cupboard and I'll have to wait 5 to 6 days. So that will stink out the house with guests coming Sunday.
I'll need to take it out to test the alcohol content on Monday 22nd and again on Tuesday 23rd to test FG and see if its stabilized.
Other calc is :
(OG-FG) x 131 = ABV (alcohol content) ,w here OG = 1.040 , so if FG 1.008 then sum will be .032x 131 = 4.192%

Day 1. Wed 17th July

 

I put the fermenter in my "hot press" (Airing cupboard). I 'd put a temperature logger in there before for a few hours and the results were that the temp was just above 15 deg C (note- datalogger battery died and there was only one reading)

When I put the fermenter in the cupboard it was at 20 deg C. As the temp was steady at 15 deg C in the cupboard I decided to wrap the tank in a duvet. I checked the temperature the next day in the AM and it was at 18 deg C.
I'll keep an eye on it and if it drops then I'll have to put a bit more heat in the space somehow.
There is a bit of a brewing smell as the cupboard is in the middle of the house, I may have to get a hose and run it into the attic space. Top of airlock is 25mm internal so I think it might be hose pipe size.

Day 2/3/4 of ferment

I was a bit concerned with temperature. The thermometer had dropped to 18/16 (so 17 deg C) so I thought I'd better raise the temp in the cupboard on day 3. I put in an electric oil heater on to try and even the temperature. I thought I'd had it on low but on checking day 4 the temperature was at 20 deg C. So I wound down the heater to a lower setting. I'll keep an eye on it. I'll also check the temp logger.
It seems to be bubbling away quite merrily so that is good.
My car was stolen Thursday night so will need to plan how to get the hose. As its off gassing into linen cupboard I may need to get the vent running soon or very beer smelling linen.

 Day 5  first measure

Monday 22 July I took the fermenter out and poured some beer out for the hygrometer. The reading was 1.016. It needs to be around 1.008 and when getting it out it was still bubbling through air trap, so I don't think its finished fermenting. Back in the cupboard and let it brew some more.

DAY 6/7 CONSISTENT MEASURE AT 1.012

On day 8 I decided to bottle as it was not going to go down to 1.008 too fast. Zoe & Karl were around so Zoe helped do the bottling, she was definitely better than I was.
So now have 30 bottles with 2 carbonator pellets in each of the pert bottles . I am storing them in their original box and I need to leave them in a warm place for 5 days. We turned the bottles upside down so that the pellets would dissolve.
Next, 5 days in warm place and then put in cool place and can drink after 14 days. 2 weeks to go before the tasting.

 Day 5 of storing

I  tried a bottle on day 5. It did not have much of a head and was quite sweet, but pleasant enough, although not much of a bite to it. I'm glad I've tried but will wait for a while longer so hopefully it will get a bit more oomph.
Am supposed to put in a cool place but as temperature has dropped I'll keep it in the dining area for now.