Looking to brew my first beer

[lee_mason]

long time ale drinker, built a garden room last year with a bar so now im looking to brew my own beers and maybe send a bag in box to farther in law who also has a pub in his garden.
My favourite ale is oakhams citra, so im looking to start brewing something similar at home.

Luckily i live right on top of dark rock brewing in gornal, west midlands. Ill be going there soon but wanted to make sure i knew enough to ask the right questions when i get there.

They have a starter kit which includes everything i need (except maybe a kingkeg which i can get). And i will probably start with an extract kit then move onto a half grain kit in the future (baby steps).

The steps seem pretty simple, although im fully aware the quality will be down experience over time.

I just wanted to see if anyone can help me confirm a few things first.

Long term i want to build a cooler/heater out of a fridge in the garage, but for now ill be relying on temperatures i have available:



My garden room has a thermostat already kept at 20c and its very well insulated/holds heat fine. I presume i can just store the fermentor in there for the 7+ days it ferments, and the conditioning phase?

Ive looked into this "cold crash", right now i dont have a fridge big enough for this, but we are early feb in the uk. Would it work storing in my external garage for a few days, or would that be a pointless exercise?

My beer engine works off the bag in box beer systems right now, i plan to get some empty ones to transfer once the beer is ready (as my cooler in bar fits these boxes and is controlled at 10c). My question is "when is the beer ready?" Do i do the secondary fermentation, then transfer to bib? Or do i rack the beer into the solution for secondary in another bucker, then strait into bib boxes?

I presume transferring after secondary would loose the carbonation when transferring again.

And lastly how long do these brews last? i can get through an 18 pint (10ltr) before the beer is off in current bib purchases, but the kits are 40 pints. is there a stage i can "leave" the beer in that last longer?

Im sure i will have many more questions in future, just want to get a few things in my head right before spending any money.

 

[Clint]

The beer should be left for around 2 weeks to ferment.
When it's finished you then transfer to bottle or keg. At this stage you add sugar of some kind,this starts a secondary fermentation which carbonates the beer. Bottles usually get opened and drank immediately but as you know,kegs take time. To stop the beer going off in kegs a head of C02 is required,this also helps dispense the beer. If kept properly it will last months in the keg. As for refilling beer in a box type containers you'll have to work out how to carbonate and maintain carbonation. King kegs and the like are simple,you can add more sugar or buy gas and put some in when the sparkle drops.

 

[twopoint]

If you're about on Saturday the New Invention Brew Club are meeting at 12pm at New Invention Brewery, Bloxwich, Walsall WS3 3JS.

We've got a few members from down your way.

We'll have at least half a dozen of us, plenty of info to be shared.

 

[dad_of_jon]

My garden room has a thermostat already kept at 20c and its very well insulated/holds heat fine. I presume i can just store the fermentor in there for the 7+ days it ferments, and the conditioning phase?



And lastly how long do these brews last? i can get through an 18 pint (10ltr) before the beer is off in current bib purchases, but the kits are 40 pints. is there a stage i can "leave" the beer in that last longer?

20c is a good temperature for many styles of beer, the ales you mention for instance, not so good for lager or kviek. most yeasts give the ideal temp on the packet.

you could bottle the beers or use old 2 litre fizzy pop bottles - if you dont want to pour yeast in unitentionally you ideal empty the bottle in a single pour whoever you could decant into a fancy 2 litre jug