So my 14yr old kid is trying her first Home Brew....

[Harbourmaster]

So glad to see democracy working because I'd like to contribute to this post. 1st let me tell you my wife and I were publican's from '84 - '94 and you know how some things stick in your mind, in the SA Hotel Magazine during that time was an article about alcoholism and a survey at that time revealed that by ethnic groups Jewish people were less like to be alcoholic. This was put down to the fact that as children they grew up being allowed to have a drink with a meal in the evening. No big deal for those children then to have a drink with their peers when out with friends.
My eldest son when around 14 always wanted to "go down the street" so we let him with some conditions, he'd be home in 15-30 min because it was boring. The other kids weren't allowed down there so it was exciting to them. Tell a child they can't do somethig and they'll do their best to do it, I did. Hope you understand the analogy in this. When we were first in the hotel our children were allowed to serve, this is now no longer the case but we have bought up two wonderful boys we are very proud of, can't do any better than that I recon.

Reg I used to have a problem with heady beer especially in winter, brewery quality control put me on to Co2 with nitrogen never had a problem again but it is more expensive. Have been thinking of having a try at makeing some home brew, have an old 18 and a 10 gall kegs and the equipment to go with them. Even have some old beer line cleaner which I mixed up a brew of recently to clean some stainless steel and was surprised it still worked quite well and brought back a few memories
Anyway that's my two bobs worth :beer: arty:

 

[Reg Wilson]

Greenhornet_au When you turn the keg upside down the water escapes through the gas inlet which is opened when the coupler lever is depressed (open position) Simples.

 

[Occasional_panner]

I have reservations about any child 14 yrs old not only making beer and ginger beer. It is illegal for a child that age to be drinking/tasting beer at that age in Australia.
I am closing this topic until further discussions are made.

When I was about 12 or 13 I made a fractional distillation column (grog still)
I set it up in the back kitchen that didn't really get used, dad and his mate went through to go to the back yard and his mate said "what the hell is all that stuff?"
They got me to explain, then dad said, you little *******! (it had been there for 6+ months)
LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOOLL ahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha
F

 

[Manpa]

Capper shot, made from an old bit of apricot tree, collar is 43mm to match a drill collar, cap head just screwed to it. Lock in to drill press and away you go, just like the capper you showed. Worked well, did a lot of bottles over the years.

 

[Kai]

My brew kettle, with the cooling coil in it, sitting on a stand I welded up, gas burner sitting under the kettle.
I do the "brew in a bag method" , less hassle than a 3 vessel system imho.

 

[Greenhornet_au]

:idea: :/ OH ! now I get it, that is pretty cool, and when it is full of liquid and gas, no oxygen so no bad growth either, just a rinse - how good is that ?

Smart man there.

Thank you

Greenhornet_au When you turn the keg upside down the water escapes through the gas inlet which is opened when the coupler lever is depressed (open position) Simples.

 

[Greenhornet_au]

That is a great invention, you needed it and brought it into existence, love the ingenuity Manpa.

I can see it has done some work, good memories too. erfect:

Capper shot, made from an old bit of apricot tree, collar is 43mm to match a drill collar, cap head just screwed to it. Lock in to drill press and away you go, just like the capper you showed. Worked well, did a lot of bottles over the years.
https://www.prospectingaustralia.com/forum/img/member-images/11747/1553580358_image.jpg

 

[Greenhornet_au]

LOL

Jeez, Kai you are a bit serious about this brewing thing arent you ?

Thats where I was heading so many years ago, but seeing your lot scares me a little.....

Straight into a keg, is it ?

Keep up the good work dude.

 

[Greenhornet_au]

Hi peoples, the beer seems to have stopped fermenting, the yeast is starting to settle so I got her to
take a SG reading.
Start OSG = 40, Current SG = 10 right at the top of the stick

She is excited to be at this point and confirmed with her sip of the liquid that it does taste like beer, I actually
scoffed the rest of the SG test sample and it DOES taste like a nice brew, just a little flat.
The filling of the bottles ceremony should be soon, pics to follow.

While doing the SG test, we had more discussions about potential career paths and included food technology
right next to brew master and industrial chemist.

She already knows about tomato sauces, wine making, beer now, bread a little, AND thanks to DM !! She is keen
to make bloody Biltong too...
Cool weather coming.. pig season..for small goods, so I better build that Biltong box with her.

The more they experience the wider their thoughts and idea's range.

 

[Kai]

Nice work greenhornet, kids doin well, another feather in the cap, biltong sounds really good to go with a nice cool ginger beer

 

[RM Outback]

Hi peoples, the beer seems to have stopped fermenting, the yeast is starting to settle so I got her to
take a SG reading.
Start OSG = 40, Current SG = 10 right at the top of the stick

She is excited to be at this point and confirmed with her sip of the liquid that it does taste like beer, I actually
scoffed the rest of the SG test sample and it DOES taste like a nice brew, just a little flat.
The filling of the bottles ceremony should be soon, pics to follow.

While doing the SG test, we had more discussions about potential career paths and included food technology
right next to brew master and industrial chemist.

She already knows about tomato sauces, wine making, beer now, bread a little, AND thanks to DM !! She is keen
to make bloody Biltong too...
Cool weather coming.. pig season..for small goods, so I better build that Biltong box with her.

The more they experience the wider their thoughts and idea's range.

Loving this is thread, following a daughter /father interaction based on experiment and life's future erfect: :clap: :clap: top job GH and Kato :Y: :trophy: :beer:

 

[Reg Wilson]

Greenhornet, are you using finings to ensure a clearer beer? Finings are added at the end of fermentation or just prior to. Once your SG tells you that fermentation is complete you basically have two choices as to how you achieve a clearer non cloudy beer. (if that is what you wish for. Some recipes give a cloudy beer by design) You can leave the beer in the fermentor for up to several weeks if you choose, to give it time to settle, or add finings to make the dead yeast drop to the bottom faster. The choice is up to you. As I use a number of fermentors, I tend to let time clarify the beer, however if you want to get on with the bottling sooner, finings may be the way to go. The end result will be pretty much the same, as you will still have to wait a few weeks for the added sugar to be eaten by the yeast and the resultant sediment to sink to the bottom of your stubby or bottle. Finings have the effect of bonding the sediment in the bottom of the bottle or stubby so that when you pour into your glass the brew stays clearer.
I got into the habit of using 'sugar drops' rather than white sugar for final gassing, which you can get from your home brew supplier and even some supermarkets. They are just easier and faster to use, however some instructions advise using one drop per stubby, and this is just too much and will result in over gassing. I use a pair of garden secateurs to cut each drop in half, and use a whole drop for long necks (750mls). Other than the keg, my favorite vessel is a big German 'swingtop' 2ltr bottle, which can easily be resealed and takes a lot less time to decant from the fermentor.

If you think my beer making is cool, then you should see my still. Alcoholic?? Naah, you're only an alcoholic if you go to the meetings.

 

[MrPyro89]

Greenhornet, are you using finings to ensure a clearer beer? Finings are added at the end of fermentation or just prior to. Once your SG tells you that fermentation is complete you basically have two choices as to how you achieve a clearer non cloudy beer. (if that is what you wish for. Some recipes give a cloudy beer by design) You can leave the beer in the fermentor for up to several weeks if you choose, to give it time to settle, or add finings to make the dead yeast drop to the bottom faster. The choice is up to you. As I use a number of fermentors, I tend to let time clarify the beer, however if you want to get on with the bottling sooner, finings may be the way to go. The end result will be pretty much the same, as you will still have to wait a few weeks for the added sugar to be eaten by the yeast and the resultant sediment to sink to the bottom of your stubby or bottle. Finings have the effect of bonding the sediment in the bottom of the bottle or stubby so that when you pour into your glass the brew stays clearer.
I got into the habit of using 'sugar drops' rather than white sugar for final gassing, which you can get from your home brew supplier and even some supermarkets. They are just easier and faster to use, however some instructions advise using one drop per stubby, and this is just too much and will result in over gassing. I use a pair of garden secateurs to cut each drop in half, and use a whole drop for long necks (750mls). Other than the keg, my favorite vessel is a big German 'swingtop' 2ltr bottle, which can easily be resealed and takes a lot less time to decant from the fermentor.

If you think my beer making is cool, then you should see my still. Alcoholic?? Naah, you're only an alcoholic if you go to the meetings.

I got over cleaning bottles and individually priming, tried batch priming but still didn't solve the problem of washing bottle so i went to kegging instead, don't mind a still

 

[Greenhornet_au]

Hi Reg,

I always just used time to let the spent yeast fall to the bottom, so Kato is following that method, also it is in the 'proceedure' DVD
that came with the kit, and I told her to follow that because these kits are well tested before market sales.

The PET bottles from the kit are about 700ml and there are only 11 of them, procedure is to put two sugar drops into each bottle,
so she will follow that and we hope that nothing goes 'pop' in her room. LOL
Otherwise she may absorb it into her skin while she is asleep, and I will have to wring her out in the morning. LOL
PET bottles can hold up to 200PSI so I am not too worried.

Second ferment will be interesting, will be able to get her to squeeze the PET bottles and feel the tension grow as the yeast
produces the CO2 and gases the liquid over the next 2 weeks.

More pic's soon.

Lessons on properties of the plastics, recycling materials, manufactured shape of the bottles, why that shape, properties of gases,
further yeast life cycle and even maybe some harvest to grow it again, physics of pressure - I can relate that to Scuba diving,
yes she has tried that with me in a pool as a dive trial with an instructor - pressure effects on the body.
So many things, even temperature effects on gas in solution, this is so much fun and so easy to teach hands on stuff.

Hmmm... all from Home Brew - LOL poor kid to have me :8

You guys should see my kids learn about 'thrust' and pressure, venturi's when we do water rockets, that is so good,
especially when you do it at night with glow sticks inside the bottles.

 

[Kai]

I remember doing pressure experiments with plastic coke bottles and dry ice mixed with a little water, amazing how much a plastic bottle can stretch before goin pop

 

[Gpx5000]

I love brewing.
I put mine into 19litre kegs. I've ran a CO2 tube up the defrost channel and into the fridge where I have a twin outlet manifold so 2 kegs can be gassed at the same time.
The only problem I have.......is 19litres goes too quickly :beer: :beer:
I just made a strawberry lager....yum! Next is a chocolate stout, Great for winter.
Anyway, here's a pic of my setup.

Dunno why they are sideways.....too many beers I guess.
Mods can you please turn them the right way please.

 

[Reg Wilson]

Greenhornet, 2 drops for a 700 ml is too much. Don't say I haven't warned you. When you open them you will lose half.

 

[Greenhornet_au]

Well Reg, I did have concerns too, but she has followed the kit instructions, so we will see what happens,

if it has a good spray it is a lesson learnt in chemistry and following instructions or instinct. LOL

Greenhornet, 2 drops for a 700 ml is too much. Don't say I haven't warned you. When you open them you will lose half.

 

[Greenhornet_au]

GPX, mate you and Kai should get together and come up with a brew recipe for site members to prepare at home and share,

you guys are awesome with your setups.

LOL, maybe call it "Wandering Blindly"

 

[Reg Wilson]

To avoid losing too much when opening, make sure stubby is super cold and open over a jug.