Auto Siphon Wine\Beer?

[Underboss]

I know not to use the same Fermenting Bucket for wine and beer.Would it be okay to use the same auto siphon or should I get one just for beer?

 

[grapeman]

I certainly hope it is OK. I have benn doing it for a few years with no ill effects.

 

[Underboss]

Thanks Appleman. I thought it would be okay but never made a beer before and want to make sure I'm doing it right. I was going to make a Coopers no boil kit. Do you know anything about them? I was thinking about the Bitter. I've read both good and bad about them. I'm wanting something that will be along the lines of a Sam Adams Boston Lager.

 

[Wayne1]

I have made4 Coopers no-boil kits - the "lager" that comes with the kit, the Cerveza,the Real Ale, and the Irish Stout.I am not a beer expert, but, to me, they are delicious and better than just about anything I buy in the store. I guess the Cerveza was my least favorite of the group (although I still enjoyed it and it is gone now). I would do the Real Ale and the Stout again - even the lager would be good for a summertime brew.

 

[Underboss]

Wayne, you have me thinking about the Real Ale. I started an Irish Stout from IronMaster this past weekend. I am going to start another batch this weekend. I like full body beer with lots flavor so I might go with the Ale. Thanks.

 

[Underboss]

When you are making beer what kind of sugar do you use; Dry malt extract or table sugar? The dry malt extract is kind expensive but if it will make a much better beer I'll use it.

 

[Wayne1]

I wouldn't use table sugar unless I was just plain broke - I understand it gives the beera "cidery" taste and imagine the beer would be very thin. if you use Coopers, you can see what they recommend you add to the extracton their web site (in terms of additives) and then buy the whole kit from them (expensive) or buy the ingredients at a LHBS (less expensive). Or the people at the LHBS could advise you on what to add.

 

[Wade E]

Malt extract od corn sugar if thats not available, try not to use sugar with beer for 1 reason as Wayne just mentioned and another 1 being that you want it to ferment properly and corn sugar is more easily consumed by yeast then table sugar.

 

[Jeff D]

Just adding table sugar will throw it all out of whack. All you will get is alcohol and no flavor.

 

[Underboss]

When I boughtthe IronMaster Irish Stout they told me to add 11oz of dry malt extract and 1.25lbs of table sugar. Do you think it will be bad?

 

[Wade E]

Since the wort had plenty of sweeteness and you did add some extract I think youll be fine, I would though from now on use Corn sugar from now on.

 

[Wayne1]

OK - I have never madeIronMaster but I see it makes 6 gallons so 1.25 pounds isn't that much table sugar for that amount I would think as far as messing it up - I'm sure they have tested the recipes and that it will be ok. I would, as others have suggested, probably use corn sugar in the future. These canned kits can be tweaked and customized. Have fun and enjoy!

 

[Underboss]

Thanks for everyones help. I have learned my lesson and will never listen to the people at my local brew shop again. I was there last night I got the IronMaster Imperial Pale ale along with 3lbs of dry malt extract.Not thistime or ever again will I add table sugar.

 

[Jeff D]

It probably would have been ok with sugar, but it will defiantly will be better with malt. It's pretty hard to make a home brew that is not better than a Bud or Coors.

 

[smurfe]

You can make really good beers from extract kits but you need to be choosy about the kits somewhat. The kits that just have a packet of yeast and a can or two of extract will make beer but not really the best beer. Table sugar will ferment but it is not as fermentable as corn sugar. Dried Malt Extract is the preferred way to raise your OG.


To make a decent extract beer you need to get the extract, normally the light malt extract, grains that you can steep in a pot on the stove, the proper yeast and hops. Some call this Mini-Mash, others call it extract with steeping grains. It is easy to do, many times less than the pre-packaged kits and way better in the long run in terms of beer quality.


Many of the beer retailers kits are made up in this manner. Like I said, you can make beer with the pre-packaged extract onlykits but rarely is it really to style or going to taste like something you recognize. I believe many of the Brewers Best kits George sells come with steeping grains and have heard they are decent kits. The BrewHouse kits are pretty good to. The only thing that lacks in most of the kits are the type of yeast included.


I will throw a link here to a great site to learn to brew beer. It is kind of dated but contains all of the information you will need. If you ever buy a book about brewing, buy this one. The current edition doesn't contain much more than on the site there which is the first edition but it is in my opinion a must have reference if you brew beer. The author of that site and book is probably the most respected expert in the homebrewing world and a really fantastic, great guy. You won't meet a nicer dude.


http://www.howtobrew.com/

 

[Underboss]

Thanks for the great link smurfe. After the two no boil kits I have now I will start making the better kits. I'm going to go after work today and get a brew pot. My question is....Is the 20qt stainless pot what I need or should I move up to the 30qt. My brew shop is telling me to go with the 30qt but I don't want to spend the extra money if I don't need to.

 

[Pablo]

When buying stuff for brewing, one item leads to many more. How much liquid are you boiling? If you boil a 5 gallon batch of beer for 1 hour, you will need to start with at least 6+ gallons of wort. When the boil is complete, you must chill the wort quickly. You need a wort chiller or lots of ice and a tub. If you do partial boils then use chilled water to cool the wort. You will need to find out how far you want to go with brewing. You can always use a larger pot but not a small one. I recently bought a 32qt pot. I think now it needs to be 40. A good rolling boil of 6.5 gallons of wort takes a lot of room. This brings me to another item. How will you heat this? I picked up a propane burner from Home Depot. My electric stove will not get this to boil. Decisions. Decisions.

 

[Underboss]

I was looking at the URL that smurfe provided. It looks like the most I will be boiling will be 3gal at one time. I will only be making 5 gal kits. I will heat with electric range.

 

[dragonmaster42]

As Pablo mentioned, for a boilover 2-3 gallons apropane burner would be highly recommended. I can do 2-3gallons on my electric range, but it was taking forever to get it up to a full boil (~30-45 minutes!) . Using apropane burner,my last batch of 7 gallons was boiling in about 15 minutes. Just something to keep in mind.

 

[smurfe]

You can do it on the stove OK. Like you said you only boil a couple gallons of liquid. I am lucky in one aspect that where I live boil pots and burners are dirt cheap and a staple in most households. You can buy them everywhere so they are cheap. I know in many areas you have to order them and they aren't so cheap. I have numerous pots from 8 gallon (32 qt) to 16 gallon. I have done many 5-6 gallon full boils in that 32 qt pot. You don't have to have the boil rolling that hard. I can easily do a 6 gallon boil in my 32 qt pot. I use it quite a bit instead of dragging the 16 gallon keggle out.


My suggestion, buy the biggest you can afford. Is the brew shop the one selling the pots? If so, they are actually giving you good advise. They aren't trying to get you to buy more and as stated, one thing normally leads to another. I am a prefect example of that. Stainless is preferred but there is really nothing wrong with aluminum. Just keep it clean and don't use it for other stuff. The 20 gt is fine.