Beginner brew advice

[Toxxyc Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Toxxyc]

@Rainier Welcome to the forum

If you can't find bottles at the moment, you could use normal PET soda bottles until such time that you can get from a LHBS.

Otherwise, since restaurants are mostly open for food deliveries, phone the ones that also have a bar ... Im sure some of them are sitting with crates of empties that can't send back to their suppliers and they might be willing to sell to you in order to clear some space at their premises ??

Good tip. Just get an idea of what those empties are from. Plenty of commercial bottles can't be re-capped with those twin-level Emily cappers you get in the kits.

On a different note, I got my official quote from NFP just now, promptly paid it as well. Hoping to get my malts this week still!

Ordered enough malts, yeast, hops and other things (including a replacement hydrometer) to make three batches of beer:

1 x Pumpkin beer for a friend of mine.
1 x Pilsner for a friend of mine.
1 x Pilsner for me.

Just need some spices and stuff for the pumpkin beer and I'm good to go.

[HoboSpit Member Find all posts View Profile Close HoboSpit]

I've used packets of yeast from tins that expired 2 years before, that was just stored in some guy's garage, with no problems before. I think people underestimate the sheer willingness to survive when it comes to yeast cells.

Do you usually re-hydrate or just pitch dry? I genuinely get a bit nervous about re-hydration, as it just feels like an extra step where I might kill the yeast

Good tip. Just get an idea of what those empties are from. Plenty of commercial bottles can't be re-capped with those twin-level Emily cappers you get in the kits.

On a different note, I got my official quote from NFP just now, promptly paid it as well. Hoping to get my malts this week still!

Ordered enough malts, yeast, hops and other things (including a replacement hydrometer) to make three batches of beer:

1 x Pumpkin beer for a friend of mine.
1 x Pilsner for a friend of mine.
1 x Pilsner for me.

Just need some spices and stuff for the pumpkin beer and I'm good to go.

The pumpkin beer sounds lovely! I've tried a local craft pumpkin ale a few times (forget which brewery) and absolutely loved it. What malts and hops are you using?

@Rainier Welcome to the forum

If you can't find bottles at the moment, you could use normal PET soda bottles until such time that you can get from a LHBS.

Otherwise, since restaurants are mostly open for food deliveries, phone the ones that also have a bar ... Im sure some of them are sitting with crates of empties that can't send back to their suppliers and they might be willing to sell to you in order to clear some space at their premises ??

When using old PET soda bottles, is there anything else to watch out for other than keeping light out? I'll only have enough glass bottles for my stout, so I went out and bought some 1.5L water bottles to top up my fermenter when I make my IPA, and then subsequently to bottle with once it is ready. Never used PET before so I'm still tentative.

[Toxxyc Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Toxxyc]

Do you usually re-hydrate or just pitch dry? I genuinely get a bit nervous about re-hydration, as it just feels like an extra step where I might kill the yeast

I usually rehydrate. I do it in between other things. Warm up a cup of pre-boiled water to 35°C, dump in the yeast packet and let it sit. During this time I will pour the cool wort into the fermenter, set the chamber to temp, etc. etc. Then I just pitch and done. When I do fermentations with old yeast cakes, I'll take the jar out of the fridge the day before, add a bit of yeast nutrients (Fermaid O), a tablespoon or so of dextrose, mix it up and set it in the chamber overnight before pitching to ensure there's a healthy colony before pitch, but that's something else.

The pumpkin beer sounds lovely! I've tried a local craft pumpkin ale a few times (forget which brewery) and absolutely loved it. What malts and hops are you using?

I've never made a pumpkin beer before, but from what I could see is you're using spicy and resinous hops. The recipe calls for Northern Brewer which is characterized as "minty and resinous" which sounds odd to me. It's also only a 60 minute addition, so I HIGHLY doubt between the added roasted pumpkin, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger and vanilla you're going to get the "minty notes" so I'm just going to use whatever I have in my fridge that'll work. Admiral, probably. It works well as a bittering hop, and I can use very little because it bitters very well if you cook it for 60 minutes.

When using old PET soda bottles, is there anything else to watch out for other than keeping light out? I'll only have enough glass bottles for my stout, so I went out and bought some 1.5L water bottles to top up my fermenter when I make my IPA, and then subsequently to bottle with once it is ready. Never used PET before so I'm still tentative.

I'm not sure if still water bottles will work. I'm not sure if still water bottles will do the pressure thing well enough. You want them to hold pressure, I'd presume. Then again, I've never bottled anything in PET.

[camsaway Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close camsaway]

I've bottled in PET before - no problems. Pressure might be an issue on the still water bottles, I've found the caps tend to be thinner and quite weak compared to the sparkling water and soft drink bottles - doubt there would be an issue with the bottle itself - you can buy replacement caps at a plastics store if there is one open near you (I heard Mambos is now open somehow).

[Andreas Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Andreas]

I bottled in PET bottles for my first 10 batches in clear plastic 500ml bottles without issue. The bottles were kept in a dark cellar from the moment they were bottled until they went into the fridge. Never had an issue. Just stopped using PET bottles because I got a lot of 330ml and 500ml glass bottles from local Belgian restaurant.

[groenspookasem Banned Find all posts View Profile Close groenspookasem]

I usually rehydrate. I do it in between other things. Warm up a cup of pre-boiled water to 35°C, dump in the yeast packet and let it sit. During this time I will pour the cool wort into the fermenter, set the chamber to temp, etc. etc. Then I just pitch and done. When I do fermentations with old yeast cakes, I'll take the jar out of the fridge the day before, add a bit of yeast nutrients (Fermaid O), a tablespoon or so of dextrose, mix it up and set it in the chamber overnight before pitching to ensure there's a healthy colony before pitch, but that's something else.


I've never made a pumpkin beer before, but from what I could see is you're using spicy and resinous hops. The recipe calls for Northern Brewer which is characterized as "minty and resinous" which sounds odd to me. It's also only a 60 minute addition, so I HIGHLY doubt between the added roasted pumpkin, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger and vanilla you're going to get the "minty notes" so I'm just going to use whatever I have in my fridge that'll work. Admiral, probably. It works well as a bittering hop, and I can use very little because it bitters very well if you cook it for 60 minutes.




I'm not sure if still water bottles will work. I'm not sure if still water bottles will do the pressure thing well enough. You want them to hold pressure, I'd presume. Then again, I've never bottled anything in PET.

Hydrated dry yeast once, no difference in performance. I haven't used dry yeast in ages though. I'd use maltose / dme instead of dextrose - you're reviving and want to keep the stress levels low, although nutrients will help
I've had pumpkin beer once, some imported commercial thing, was not an experience I wanted to repeat. However, a craft made beer is usually better than any mass produced shite. Northern Brewer is a staple in my brewhouse, love it for bittering english styles and of course steam beer !

I'm sure pet would work if it handled carbonation before. Don't skimp out on cleaning and sanitizing

[Toxxyc Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Toxxyc]

Hydrated dry yeast once, no difference in performance. I haven't used dry yeast in ages though. I'd use maltose / dme instead of dextrose - you're reviving and want to keep the stress levels low, although nutrients will help

Yeah I really must keep some maltose or DME on hand, actually. I bought a few kilos of dextrose a long time ago and it's just sitting there. I use it to revive old harvests and to carbonate my brews. Works fine. I must say having Fermaid O on hand is a great thing (but I don't, not anymore, out of stock).

[groenspookasem Banned Find all posts View Profile Close groenspookasem]

Yeah I really must keep some maltose or DME on hand, actually. I bought a few kilos of dextrose a long time ago and it's just sitting there. I use it to revive old harvests and to carbonate my brews. Works fine. I must say having Fermaid O on hand is a great thing (but I don't, not anymore, out of stock).

I have some dextrose too, you can use it to push your OG for distilling washes/mashes, it's not ideal but if you stay at max 1kg at a time you'll be avoiding a 'twang'. Yeah, I'm running lower on my distilivite and dap. My sugarwash is nearly ready for the strip and I'd like to do another whiskey, but will rather spare my malts and run two beers in it's stead. Will check on molasses, perhaps do a rum. It's tasty and easy

[HoboSpit Member Find all posts View Profile Close HoboSpit]

I usually rehydrate. I do it in between other things. Warm up a cup of pre-boiled water to 35°C, dump in the yeast packet and let it sit. During this time I will pour the cool wort into the fermenter, set the chamber to temp, etc. etc. Then I just pitch and done. When I do fermentations with old yeast cakes, I'll take the jar out of the fridge the day before, add a bit of yeast nutrients (Fermaid O), a tablespoon or so of dextrose, mix it up and set it in the chamber overnight before pitching to ensure there's a healthy colony before pitch, but that's something else.


I've never made a pumpkin beer before, but from what I could see is you're using spicy and resinous hops. The recipe calls for Northern Brewer which is characterized as "minty and resinous" which sounds odd to me. It's also only a 60 minute addition, so I HIGHLY doubt between the added roasted pumpkin, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger and vanilla you're going to get the "minty notes" so I'm just going to use whatever I have in my fridge that'll work. Admiral, probably. It works well as a bittering hop, and I can use very little because it bitters very well if you cook it for 60 minutes.




I'm not sure if still water bottles will work. I'm not sure if still water bottles will do the pressure thing well enough. You want them to hold pressure, I'd presume. Then again, I've never bottled anything in PET.

I think going forward I will only rehydrate if I'm worried the yeast might be dead. I will definitely follow your advice when using an old yeast cake though. I'm going to attempt to harvest this one from my stout and see how it goes!

Please let me know how the pumpkin beer comes out. It definitely sounds tasty. I managed to find the one that I tasted before (https://craftquest.co.za/craft-beer/jolly-pumpkin-ale/). Definitely recommend giving it a try if you see it around.

I did a bit of research before heading out and it seemed like I should just aim for the best quality feeling bottle, and when I compared the still to the sparkling the bottle itself felt very much the same. But I didn't think of the caps being different which is a valid point that camsaway mentioned. I'll keep it in mind when bottling. Perhaps I should under prime just in case? Slightly under carbonated beer sounds like a worthy sacrifice for not having 22L of exploded IPA everywhere.

[HoboSpit Member Find all posts View Profile Close HoboSpit]

I've bottled in PET before - no problems. Pressure might be an issue on the still water bottles, I've found the caps tend to be thinner and quite weak compared to the sparkling water and soft drink bottles - doubt there would be an issue with the bottle itself - you can buy replacement caps at a plastics store if there is one open near you (I heard Mambos is now open somehow).

Thanks man, I didn't even consider the caps would be different. The bottles themselves felt very much the same (sparkling vs still). I don't think I have a Mambos near, but I'll go check out Westpack.

I bottled in PET bottles for my first 10 batches in clear plastic 500ml bottles without issue. The bottles were kept in a dark cellar from the moment they were bottled until they went into the fridge. Never had an issue. Just stopped using PET bottles because I got a lot of 330ml and 500ml glass bottles from local Belgian restaurant.

Were the 500ml bottles from water or soft drink? I'll definitely be popping them in the back of a cupboard until they go in the fridge. The smallest I could find were 1.5L. I guess it's just another excuse to have 3 pints instead of just 1

[Andreas Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Andreas]

water, or still juice. [QUOTE=Were the 500ml bottles from water or soft drink? I'll definitely be popping them in the back of a cupboard until they go in the fridge. The smallest I could find were 1.5L. I guess it's just another excuse to have 3 pints instead of just 1 [/QUOTE]

[HoboSpit Member Find all posts View Profile Close HoboSpit]

Hey Guys!

So just an update. I took a SG reading on my stout today and it's sitting at 1022 after 7 days. So it's still got about another 8 - 14 points to go. The bubbles halted about 3 days back already, so hopefully it all cleans up nicely and ferments a bit more in the next 7 days.

Tomorrow I'm brewing my partial mash IPA and I'm super amped. I just had a quick question about dry hopping though. Should I dry hop in the primary during active fermentation? Or should I add it in after the first week? Rack it to secondary after a week and then dry hop? I'm still unsure about what would work best or come out cleaner. Super excited though!

[jannieverjaar Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close jannieverjaar]

This is what I do. Dry hop on day 3 basically
http://brulosophy.com/2017/01/23/bio...iment-results/

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[BeerHolic Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close BeerHolic]

I dry hop during secondary fermentation. i.e. when I rack to the secondary fermenter. I dry hop for 3 to 4 days.
There is no said correct method, many dry hop after secondary fermentation.

https://learn.kegerator.com/dry-hopping/

[groenspookasem Banned Find all posts View Profile Close groenspookasem]

If I dry hop, and that has happened in a long time, I do it in primary after fermentation is complete and if using kveik on high temp - that's 3 days in. Secondary which I don't do anymore, is great for fruit additions etc.