Not much choice

[vanillabrewer]

At the moment I have got all my equipment nearly ready and i have some Pale ale malt i think it is. I got bittering hops and yeast from a foresters ale. With this combo what do you think is best beer i can make with it? i really dont know more about the ingredients as im still really new. but I can organise either top or bottom fermenting yeasts? once again dont really know the difference

[Ó Flannagáin]

Vanilla, I promise to give you a good response here but I have to head out real quick. Expect a run down on what ya got soon... you will need more than pale malt to make a real beer, with basic equipment you will need some malt extract as well which comes in either liquid or powder form. I'll expand on this a little later tonight (maybe tomorrow for you ;) )

[Ó Flannagáin]

OK, Vanilla. Here's a quick run down. If you have any questions feel free to make new threads in the beginners section for each one... god knows we need content over there.

1) If you are just starting brewing you should start with malt extracts. You can get Dry malt Extract (DME) or Liquid Malt Extract (LME) from a homebrew supply.

2) You will also need some malted grains, crushed, like you mentioned in a previous thread

3) You will bring your water up to around 150 Farenheit and let your grains soak in that for 10 or 20 minutes... keeping the temperature below 160. YOu will need to have your grains in a mesh, nylon bag to so you can pull them out after 20 minutes or so. This process is called steeping your grains. It pulls flavors and sugars out of the grains.

4) What you have now is wort. You want to bring this to a boil and add your DME or LME and boil for 60 minutes. Throughout that 60 minute boil you will add your hops at different times depending on the recipe.

5) Once the boil is over you will need to cool down the wort. Once cooled throw it in your fermenter followed by the yeast and let it sit.

You may have already known a lot of that, but I figured I'd clarify. If you use regular sugar (glucose, dextrose, sucrose) instead of malt extract you will get a very dry beer that may have a bit of a cidery off taste so it's not recommended. That's the first thing that stood out to me with the recipe you showed in another thread. If you don't follow this procedure mentioned above you will probably make some hard to drink alcohol.

We can provide you with all sorts of recipes that will follow the guidelines above. Pick a style and we can help.

[Shenanigans]

Check this out Vanilla.

They use a keggle on a propane burner, but they are only boiling 2 or 3 gallons. You can do it on your stove top if that is what you plan on doing. They do a pretty good job explaining the extract with specially grains process. Do not worry about the gypsum. You only add your hops, when your recipe calls for them, and you do not have to have a hydrometer. Also, you do not have to have a glass carboy or even any kind of 2ndary for that matter. And after the boil everything that comes in contact with the beer, including your thermometer must be sanitized

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lXQV_FqvY44&feature=related

[Shenanigans]

If you list all the ingredients you have, someone can probably tell you a good recipe to make, or do you already have a recipe? I'm a bit confused.

[JustDave]

Vanilla, you're in South Africa, right? How's your access to supplies, is it very limited?

[vanillabrewer]

Thanks for all the replies. Flannagain, i have made one beer with a kit and one with only malt extract. That beer does have a offish fllavour to it. Equipment wise i have an urn, cooler box im going to turn into a masher (I think its a masher, where put grains to soak and than let off slowly?) and obviously a fermenter. By putting the grain into the nylon bag, is this the same as doing the thing in the masher with the slits in the pvc pipe at the bottom?

Yeah another problem here in SA is the supplies. The best we got is a midas that sells the coopers kits.

I sent an email to a local boy who supplies hops asking him what he has but it means nothing to me. Ill post them up when he gets back to me.

[vanillabrewer]

Oh yeah and this hops guy only supplies 500 gram bags and 1 kg bags but i dont know how much im going to need. Does it go off or can i store it for ages?

[Barley-Davidson]

You can store hops, but not for ages. You'll want to keep them in the freezer, in an oxygen free bag if possible.

[Barley-Davidson]

500 g is a little over a pound, that'll last for multiple batches, although how many batches depends on the style of beer and type of hops.

[Ó Flannagáin]

Streeping the grains is similar to mashing except when you are mashing you need to be a lot more precise because you are getting alllll of your fermentable sugars from the grains whereas when brewing with extracts you just want to get some flavor and body from the grains. Mashing is not that hard, but you need to get some details down before jumping into it. You need to know how to calculate your water temps before adding grains so that it will be the temp you want after stirring in the grains. YOu also need to be sure and vorlauf when pulling the wort out after the mash.

[Redweasel]

I'm really not trying to be a dick but if you get time skim through http://www.howtobrew.com/intro.html. He does a good job with the basics and could answer some of your questions.

[vanillabrewer]

Oh ok yeah had a quick look through it. Quite a lot of new stuff yeah. Ill have a proper read through before brewing this weekend though. Thanks

[vanillabrewer]

This guy is good. he covers a lot of what I've asked Ha ha;)

[Redweasel]

Glad to help. Keep asking questions though we all like to get new brewers on the right track. Hell, I still have to ask for advice on about every beer i make.