Homebrew thread

[Blue Jam]

Not sure if I'm really mature enough to be drinking alcohol.

[Sebastian Cobb]

I hope to kick off another batch this weekend. This involves shifting the current stuff in bottles out the way. I've read about homebrew being susceptible to sunlight, so the ones I want to keep for a while I've shoved in a box and chucked a bin bag over it to keep the light out, is that alright? They're in my spare room which is at a roasting 27c just now but I think that's exceptional.

When does beer get too hot to brew properly, I know the last bit of yeast wanted something around 20c, but when do you actually run into problems from it being too hot?

[Ferris]

The light/UV = beer skunking is a bit of an urban myth really. You're best off keeping as much as possible in the fridge, the rest somewhere cool and dark. I've only had a skunked beer once, and it was a clear bottle of Sol that had obviously been in some intense summer sun for weeks. As long as your beer is in brown bottles, it'll be fine unless you leave it in a solarium for weeks. As for homebrew being more susceptible - it's the same as commercial beer, but homebrew is more prone to other off flavours (DMS/poor fermentation/poor temp control etc) due to the skill of the brewer, and those off flavours can be mistaken for skunking because that's a more commonly known issue than DMS, for example. That's my opinion anyway.

As for being too warm? You'd have to really go some. The heat/energy capacity of 5 gallons of water is pretty significant, so it'd take a while for it to heat up past the yeast's tolerance. Depends on the yeast strain, but I reckon as long as you're fermenting indoors you'd be fine more or less anywhere in the UK.

[Ferris]

To add though, there's nothing wrong with what you're doing by keeping it in the dark. It'll be alright, I'm just not convinced it'll make a difference either way. As always, advice comes with the Ferris seal of "I'm not an expert, just an experienced piss artist"

Edit: and last addendum to my first post there, you're better off keeping beer in the fridge after the bottle has carbonated for 2 weeks. Do it before, and you'll impact the secondary fermentation

[Sebastian Cobb]

Grand cheers. The beer's in dark green bottles. Which is good enough I think. I really ought to rearrange my fridge to get more bottles in (just using the pocket in the door just now). But I've got 6 held back because my parents are supposed to be visiting at some point once covid calms down and my dad expressed an interest in trying some.

I thought it might be overblown risk wise, my old man said he used to use newcastle brown bottles and they're famously clear. I've noticed proper homebrew forums have quite a bit of argument about what is real and what's an old wives tale.

This first batch is good stuff. Being a double strength, if you've had 3 or 4 bottles it's like you've had a bottle of wine.

[Ferris]

Yeah dark green bottles will do the job, it's just the clear ones you have to watch (and even then, it's not easy to skunk a beer in my experience).

Half the joy of brewing has been sharing it. I'm a sucker for making things, and being able to give it to people and help them make it is something I really enjoy. Hope your dad likes the hooch!

[Sebastian Cobb]

Just kicking off another kit now. I think I've dropped the washer from the end of my shower hose into the brew as it's filling. I left the end of it dangling in steriliser before I started so I assume it'll make matters worse trying to fish it out.

On second thoughts, fished it out. Took the sg at 1040, it should be 1050 but I guess I put a bit too much water in.

[Ferris]

Tip some brown sugar in there (not too much) to get it up to SG. A few hundred grams should do it.

Washer should be alright as long as you sterilized the end of the hose first, but the sooner the yeast gets going and becomes the dominant microbe in the brew, the better. It will likely be completely fine.

[Sebastian Cobb]

Cheers Ferris, I chucked 100g of demerara in there and that got it pretty much dead on. Thanks!

[Ferris]

Nice one - it'll get a strong ferment going a bit quicker, but still leave it the full time as sugar can taste a bit "hot" so it'll use the extra time to mellow.

100g will have basically no impact ok overall flavour, might taste slightly crisper and the brown sugar will add body (vs white sugar which will ferment super clean and just give you booze).

[Calistan]

I'm trying the oven sterilisation method for the first time. I managed to fit about fifteen bottles in there. Sealed them with tinfoil, gradually increased the heat every fifteen minutes and now they are on 170°c. Will turn off the oven after one hour and then leave them for a couple of hours to cool down. I sterilised the remaining bottles using VWP and a rinser. I only used about half a teaspoon as I want to avoid that horrible bleachy smell. Hopefully that's sufficient. I rinsed them well enough anyway.

[Ferris]

Mate, an hour at 170c? That's overkill, poor old microbes never had a chance!

I used to go to 120c and turn the oven off when it gets to temperature, though I've switched to the good old dishwasher/hot wash combo since we moved somewhere with a dishwasher

[Blue Jam]

I bake my bottles at 150 degrees celcius (probably a bit lower because my oven isn't correctly calibrated) and have had no funky-smelling beer yet. Sometimes I just put the bottles in when I'm cooking something in the oven.

This may be a stupid question, but is there a limit to how many times you can re-use bottles? I've been bottling the various Northern Vole brews in some nice big 660ml Peroni bottles but will there come a point when they become weakened by repeated heating and at risk of cracking or exploding? In the lab I autoclave Pyrex glassware which is a bit sturdier and designed for repeated heating and cooling cycles.

[Ferris]

I'm sure there's an upper limit on how many times you can use them, but it must be hundreds and hundreds of brews. I've never heard of bottles breaking through normal use, though most people do liquid sanitizing with starsan which probably applies less stress on the glass than heating/cooling cycles. I reckon you'll be alright

[Calistan]

Mate, an hour at 170c? That's overkill, poor old microbes never had a chance!

I used to go to 120c and turn the oven off when it gets to temperature, though I've switched to the good old dishwasher/hot wash combo since we moved somewhere with a dishwasher

Ha, noted. I was going by some video tutorial and also John Palmer's How to Brew book. I went away for an hour and a half and the bottles are still very hot. My girlfriend needs the oven so I have put them in a box with the aid of some oven gloves and will start the bottling in a few hours after dinner. Really wish I had a dishwasher, that's the dream for whenever we change flat in the autumn.

[NattyDread 2]

liquid sanitizing with starsan

Yep, it's a total breeze with starsan and one of the wee washer contraptions. If my bottles are a bit manky from too long in the shed or sitting outside, then I'll put them in a bucket and soak them with some oxi-clean powder first (great for removing labels too).

Aren't you all using steriliser on your buckets/stirrers/siphons and stuff anyway? Why not do the bottles that way too?

Finally bottled my wheat beer yesterday. I started it around 5 weeks ago. It seemed to have done its stuff but when I went to bottle a few weeks back, it had only got to 1020. Bunged in some more yeast and it was bubbling heartily away, yet 2 weeks later it's still at 1020. That brings it to only 3.9% A bit shite really when it's supposed to come out at around 5%. Hopeful that it'll still taste decent enough. Don't think I've ever had a brew totally finish with that high a reading. 

[Blue Jam]

Made some tomato/pesto swirl bread today. It was supposed to look like this:



Mine is very light and it tastes nice, but it looks like this:



Fuck's sake, I'm too immature to be allowed near a kitchen.

Used up all the Glory Vole yeast slurry, bring on Prairie Vole!

[Ferris]

That is a lot of orifices to immortalize in bread form.

[Ferris]

Have I fucking banged on about resigning from my job and moving to a small city in this thread yet?

Main motivator - get a decent workshop for projects, space for a home recording studio, and a kegging operation going. Oh yeah, I might say it is to see more of my wife's family but come on - kegs, mate. Gonna be fucking great.

I resigned today. They are scrambling to either keep me working remotely forever (ok lol I'll be drunk) or find me something else. Amazing news tbh. I'm a bit tiddly, obviously.

[Calistan]

Good work Ferris. I'm back brewing only a month or two and already I'm running out of space to store bottles and all my equipment. Would love to have a shed again.

I think I'll make my next batch tomorrow: a Mangrove Jack's Rye IPA. I spent a few days worrying that it arrived without the yeast but apparently it's sealed inside the bag and the malt is in another bag within.

[Ferris]

Good work Ferris. I'm back brewing only a month or two and already I'm running out of space to store bottles and all my equipment. Would love to have a shed again.

I think I'll make my next batch tomorrow: a Mangrove Jack's Rye IPA. I spent a few days worrying that it arrived without the yeast but apparently it's sealed inside the bag and the malt is in another bag within.

Will be living that #ShedLife no doubt.

Is the strain of yeast a big thing in the UK? It seems to be mentioned in passing a lot but not sure if that's because of kits or what. It's a really big thing over here, but maybe only because I've gone looking for that type of homebrew store

[touchingcloth]

Have I fucking banged on about resigning from my job and moving to a small city in this thread yet?

Main motivator - get a decent workshop for projects, space for a home recording studio, and a kegging operation going. Oh yeah, I might say it is to see more of my wife's family but come on - kegs, mate. Gonna be fucking great.

I resigned today. They are scrambling to either keep me working remotely forever (ok lol I'll be drunk) or find me something else. Amazing news tbh. I'm a bit tiddly, obviously.

Nice one! I've done permanent remote working before and I've been remote in my current job for exactly one year to the day before I was furloughed and it's fucking great. Are you going from city to rural?

And one for Blue Jam: Wookie Vole.

That is [sic] as I imagine you could have like a shrew Chewbacca on the label or sutin.

[Ferris]

Huge city to smaller city (Toronto to Halifax, NS). I love TO and we are really fortunate to live downtown in the neighbourhood that we do for the price that we pay, but it is so fucking busy. It wears you down.

I've been at my happiest in small cities (Edinburgh and Sheffield), and Halifax is about the same size so I'm looking forward to it. Also the province with the most breweries per capita, we have a load of family there, and houses are affordable. We've been in the same 600sq ft box for coming up on 8 years. With our son running about and 2 of us working full time, it just wasn't sustainable to continue as we are.

If they give me the heave-ho, I'll be stuck with the other shitmunchers in a recession but that's alright.

[touchingcloth]

I have zero concept of how much one square foot is, but I hope the move goes well - I'm the same and have always been happier outside of cities, so I feel very glad to have made a permanent move, and all the best to you, sir.

[Blue Jam]

And one for Blue Jam: Wookie Vole.

That is [sic] as I imagine you could have like a shrew Chewbacca on the label or sutin.

Oh good one! Cheers, I'll get working on some clipart of a big hairy vole going into a cave... Oh FFS, this is an innuendo minefield.

[Ferris]

I have zero concept of how much one square foot is, but I hope the move goes well - I'm the same and have always been happier outside of cities, so I feel very glad to have made a permanent move, and all the best to you, sir.

Thanks!

Wookie Vole is a very good pun. Little vole with one of those silver space-bandoliers on! Could be very good.

[bgmnts]

Vole Painless, for the Predator crowd.

A little vole wielding a huge minigun, shooting beers.

[Calistan]

Good work Ferris. I'm back brewing only a month or two and already I'm running out of space to store bottles and all my equipment. Would love to have a shed again.

I think I'll make my next batch tomorrow: a Mangrove Jack's Rye IPA. I spent a few days worrying that it arrived without the yeast but apparently it's sealed inside the bag and the malt is in another bag within.

Made this yesterday but there has been no movement or bubbling which makes me think I pitched the yeast when the wort was still too warm :( That or something went wrong with the sterilisation. Is there anything I could do to try to activate the yeast?

[tao of wub]

Yeah dark green bottles will do the job, it's just the clear ones you have to watch

I just wanted to weigh in on skunking.  It has been pretty well understood since the 60's and is caused by exposure to light in the 350nm to 500nm wavelength range.  That is cyan, blue, violet through to near UV.

Brown glass cuts off wavelengths shorter than 500nm so is ideal.  Green glass lets some of the undesirable energetic light through and clear is, as you would expect worse.  All normal glass attenuates the UV part to some degree so will reduce skunking, even clear glass.  It will let the cyan, blue and violet through though.

What is worse is using PET bottles, (Code 1 in the triangle), usually used for fizzy drinks.  These let a lot more of higher frequency energetic light in and for this reason are actually preferred for solar water disinfection of biologically contaminated water, the SODIS method, see

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_water_disinfection

So, if you are re-purposing plastic drinks bottles, take more care.  Most plastics let visible light and some longer wavelength UVA through.

If you smell the bottle cap of Sol or Corona beer you may often smell the skunky odor trapped in the  foamy material of the bottle cap seal.  It is faint though, as they don't have much hop to skunk in the first place!

Some brewers hydrogenate iso-humulone, which prevents the skunking reaction from proceeding.

If any of you want to get right into the chemistry of it, this paper from 2008 is a good one,

Beer Lightstruck Flavor: The Full Story

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/285025989_Beer_lightstruck_flavor_The_full_story

A lighter read is

http://professorbeer.com/articles/skunked_beer.html

https://www.benchfly.com/blog/the-chemistry-of-skunky-beer/

Salut!

[Sebastian Cobb]

I've just checked my 2nd batch after 2 weeks - 1010, so it might budge slightly. Away to chuck the hop tea in and give it until next weekend.