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[Disildor]

Hi,

I've been home brewing 20 to 50L all grain batches for almost 2 years. I sometimes come to find answers to my questions on this forum, so why not register and participate from time to time ? :)

I have a 50L homebrew setup with 3 direct heat (gas) kettles. I usually brew batches of 20/25L to experiment and keep the 50L batches for refilling my stocks with approved recipes.

For now, I ferment in plastic buckets with no temperature control. I will soon improve my fermentation setup with a DIY fermentation chamber (thermo regulated old fridge) and either a Fermzilla or a stainless steel fermenter. I'm still wondering if the pressurized fermentation is worth the trouble or if it is just fine to pressurize the beer once in a keg after a pressure transfer. So far the information I've found has been quite contradictory !

I do prefer not too bitter IPAs and Belgian ales even though I like to brew all styles of beers to experiment and broaden my knowledge.

Looking forward to reading from you.

 

[The Baron]

Welcome

 

[AnimatedGIF]

Welcome to the forum!

 

[An Ankoù]

Welcome Disildor. Your set up sounds much like mine, which hasn't evolved much in 50 years except that I've now got two fridges and a couple of controllers for summer brewing. So what's your favourite beer, the one you keep coming back to while you're experimenting with others?

 

[Disildor]

Welcome Disildor. Your set up sounds much like mine, which hasn't evolved much in 50 years except that I've now got two fridges and a couple of controllers for summer brewing. So what's your favourite beer, the one you keep coming back to while you're experimenting with others?

I have two regular recipes so far : a Belgian golden strong ale and a Wheat fruit beer with fresh seasonal red fruits. This year I added elderberries (10g/L for the red colour), strawberries (100g/L) and raspberries (50g/L) during the secondary.

 

[Hazelwood Brewery]

Hi Disildor, welcome to the forum!

I’d advise you start with temperature control and maybe some water chemistry if you’re not doing that already. These will probably give you the biggest bang for your bucks.

 

[Disildor]

Hi Disildor, welcome to the forum!

I’d advise you start with temperature control and maybe some water chemistry if you’re not doing that already. These will probably give you the biggest bang for your bucks.

Thanks for the advice. Both are in progress :)
I bought the "Water" book for brewing to initiate to water chemistry and I will soon build a small fermentation chamber.

 

[Hazelwood Brewery]

Thanks for the advice. Both are in progress :)
I bought the "Water" book for brewing to initiate to water chemistry and I will soon build a small fermentation chamber.

That “Water” book is good but a bit of a drain on the brain. You’ll find a really good intro here…

https://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/...ore-advanced-water-treatment-in-post-1.64822/

 

[An Ankoù]

Thanks for the advice. Both are in progress :)
I bought the "Water" book for brewing to initiate to water chemistry and I will soon build a small fermentation chamber.

I have the Water book and it's not the most accessible. You could do far worse than look at strange-steve 's beginners guide to water chemistry. I'll see if I can find it.

Here it is:
https://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/...-water-treatment-in-post-1.64822/post-1001455
Ha, I see Mr Hazelwood was thinking along the same lines.
I'd be interested to learn how the elderberry beer turned out. I've got loads of them here and I make elderberry wine and elderberry jam, but never thought of putting them in beer.

 

[Hazelwood Brewery]

I have the Water book and it's not the most accessible. You could do far worse than look at strange-steve 's beginners guide to water chemistry. I'll see if I can find it.

Here it is:
https://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/...-water-treatment-in-post-1.64822/post-1001455

Great minds…!

 

[Chippy_Tea]

Welcome to the forum.

 

[Disildor]

Thanks for the link, I'll take a look at it !
I also feared that the water book would be overwhelming.

The elderberry beer turned out surprising. Even though I added only 10g/L of elderberry, it is the most prominent flavour and the beer took a nice red colour. :)
Before adding the elder berries, I boiled them in a pan to pasteurize them. I then filtered the juice from the puree, poured the juice in the fermenter and added the puree in a hop sock.