Hello, let’s Make Beer

[Yanibrew]

Hi everyone, I’m mostly new to the hobby. I love beer and want to see if I can make a decent beer. Followed a buddy for a couple of batches. Now I’m ready to try on my own. We’ll see how it goes. Glad to be here and hopefully try to gain some knowledge from you all.

 

[Dave Y]

Welcome to the forum.

So... what are you planning to try?
what kind of equipment are you using?

LOTS of friendly and helpful folks on here willing to offer help. Remember, every single one of us have been where you are at some point.

 

[Yanibrew]

Welcome to the forum.

So... what are you planning to try?
what kind of equipment are you using?

LOTS of friendly and helpful folks on here willing to offer help. Remember, every single one of us have been where you are at some point.

Thanks for the welcome,

I’m hoping to make a lager, since it’s summer. I’m a low tech brewer to start. I’ll be doing brew in a bag, with a boil kettle, and dump in a 4gal glass fermenter. My buddy recommends that I carbonate in a keg for my beers. So I will need to buy some more stuff. I should be ready to brew my first solo batch by next week. Pretty pumped for it.

 

[Dave Y]

do you have temperature control? can be as rudimentary as a fridge or fancy glycol chiller. You need for a lager.
I’m going to defer on carbonating in a keg.

My opinion is that there’s going to be quite a bit of trub leftover from the fermentation, so unless you’re using a floating dip tube, it’s going to be a royal pain getting all that yeast and sediment out.

Honestly, I did my first lagers in 6.5 gallon buckets, fermenting in a kegerator (aka, a small fridge with taps). when I cold crashed, I would rest it a day or two, gently remove the bucket, transfer to a 2nd cleaned and sanitized bucket. The 2nd bucket would then get transferred to a keg, and carbonated.
I got a local beer o’ the month for my 3rd lager done this way. Now I do airless transfers and all that but you don’t have to have all the fancy stuff to make good beer.

what kind of lager?

 

[Minbari]

Thanks for the welcome,

I’m hoping to make a lager, since it’s summer. I’m a low tech brewer to start. I’ll be doing brew in a bag, with a boil kettle, and dump in a 4gal glass fermenter. My buddy recommends that I carbonate in a keg for my beers. So I will need to buy some more stuff. I should be ready to brew my first solo batch by next week. Pretty pumped for it.

Wouldn't go with a lager to start. It's harder to make than an ale and you need a way to temp control fermentation and you need a way to actually "lager" it.

Start with a simple ale, non specific, just beer. Get your process figured out first

 

[Sandy Feet]

You definitely need temperature control for a lager. For something light, you might want to try a Blonde Ale or a simple Pale Ale if you want a little more hops.
BIAB is full volume, so make sure you have a big enough kettle. Also, make sure whatever burner you are using heats the big kettle evenly so you can hit your mash temperatures.
How big is the batch? Make sure you have enough head space in the fermenter. I would not use glass unless you really want to. Plastic is lighter, the big opening makes it easier to clean, and it is far less dangerous.

 

[Yanibrew]

Thank you all for the advice. I was thinking of making a Festbier and ferment it in my mini cooler. But it sounds like I should do an ale first to get a good process down. A pale ale might be the ticket. I’ll be trying to do a 3.5gal post boil batch to go into a 3gal keg. I guess I’ll review some more videos to get as ready as possible.

 

[Zambi]

Welcome!
I brew quite low tech, although I do keg these days.
I agree with the others, start with an ale.
Blondes are pretty straight forward.

Where are you located?
Do you have temperature control or an area with reasonably constant temperatures?
I put my fermenter inside a cooler box lined with duvets to maintain a "stable" temperature (since my fermentation fridge packed up).

I would keep it simple and reasonably small batch for your first brews and find out if you like brewing and what system you think fits you

Enjoy

 

[Sandy Feet]

Thank you all for the advice. I was thinking of making a Festbier and ferment it in my mini cooler. But it sounds like I should do an ale first to get a good process down. A pale ale might be the ticket. I’ll be trying to do a 3.5gal post boil batch to go into a 3gal keg. I guess I’ll review some more videos to get as ready as possible.

Yes, get the process down first. Down the road, when you want to do a German Lager, remember a few things:
1. You definitely need temperature control. Most of those lager yeasts like to be in the 50s, at least until they are fermented most of the way.
2. You need to pitch big with a lager.
3. Read up on the D Rest and a temperature schedule for fermentation. 34/70 is a very forgiving yeast to start with, and it ferments very clean.
4. Brew something like a Porter with the Munich in it first. In my very simple BIAB set-up, Munich over about 20 or 30% does not ferment well and leaves a high FG.
5. Any German combination of Pils, Vienna, Munich Light that are brewed correctly will probably taste good.

 

[Donoroto]

Thank you all for the advice. I was thinking of making a Festbier and ferment it in my mini cooler. But it sounds like I should do an ale first to get a good process down. A pale ale might be the ticket. I’ll be trying to do a 3.5gal post boil batch to go into a 3gal keg. I guess I’ll review some more videos to get as ready as possible.

I agree, a nice light ale would be also nice for a summer brew, using a forgiving yeast like Lallemand S-04.

You might consider getting a book called How to Brew by John Palmer. It covers brewing in great detail, too much at first but as you get better at it you find a lot of good details there.

Your plan sounds pretty good so far.

 

[Sandy Feet]

I agree, a nice light ale would be also nice for a summer brew, using a forgiving yeast like Lallemand S-04.

You might consider getting a book called How to Brew by John Palmer. It covers brewing in great detail, too much at first but as you get better at it you find a lot of good details there.

Your plan sounds pretty good so far.

S-04 will drop quickly too. If you want it Englishy, that would work. If you want it cleaner and dryer, S-05.
S-04 is going to like it a little cooler than S-05, but just a couple of degrees.