Simple things to avoid when kit brewing.
Written by Mike Cheer - March 2013
Many kit brewers brew terrible beers when in fact, they could brew good beers with very little extra effort, just a different method. I don't really use kits any more but this should help those that do, and while this is aimed at kit brewers much of the advice transfers well to beginner extract/partial and AG brewers also. The advice given on the cans is often the exact opposite of what you should be doing...
DON’T USE A WHOLE KILO (OR MORE) OF TABLE SUGAR/DEXTROSE in the boil or in the fermenter. Too much sugar (along with hot fermentation, see below) is the primary cause of acetaldehyde (a cidery ‘bad homebrew’ off-flavour) and diacetyl. The yeast may also eat the simple sugar first and find it difficult to properly ferment the malt. You are better off to ditch the sugar and just get a can of light malt extract/kg of DME! See kit stats at the bottom for IBUs/colour of Mangrove Jacks/Lion/Coopers/Brewtec kits).
If you are after a more malty beer you might be better off with something like a Nut brown ale kit and a can of light malt extract...in this case I would DEFINITELY recommend buying two packs of refrigerated dry yeast (Preferably US-05 - or MJ M44 West Coast - as they are very clean fermenting. You can use S-04 if you like for a more 'british' taste but be careful without temperature control as it can throw a lot of esters).
(JR - Realbeer): When it comes to kits fresh is best. Get them as new as possible and if it is past its use by date then use it for making starters or throw it away.
CLEAN THEN SANITISE EVERYTHING that’s not being boiled. What Brewtec sells as ‘No Rinse Sanitiser’ is actually a cleaner, Sodium Percarbonate. You need to soak/store your fermenter/bottles/anything-that-needs-sanitation in this solution, then sanitise it with a sanitiser. Iodophor or Starsan are ideal, and can be purchased from Brew HQ, Your Shout etc or online sites like brewshop.co.nz. The four most important things to remember about good brewing are: Cleaning, Sanitation, Sanitation, Sanitation!
DON’T USE KIT YEAST!! (Mangrove Jacks Kits are the exception as they usually contain good quality yeast) Fermentis US-05 (American Ale) and S-04 (English Ale) are industry standard brewing yeasts that can be purchased for +/- $6 from Home Brew Shops. They have much more yeast cells than the 5g yeast that tends to come with kits, giving cleaner flavours from better fermentation. Also homebrew shops tend to refrigerate their yeast whereas kit yeast are not so lucky in the supermarket. Buy TWO packets per 23L and be prepared for a vigourous fermentation. Spend the extra $5 = better beer. It is very hard to overpitch with old yeast.
Oli Drake: Open your hops and sniff - if mostly cardboard, old cheese and sweet lawn clippings they're probably no good. Get them from a homebrew supplier who refrigerates them. Sniff the yeast packet, if it has a sharp smell of old marmite, and this smell persists after rehydration, maybe decide not to pitch this nastiness into the beer. My advice to kit brewers is smell and taste everything you can, if in doubt, buy fresh yeast/hops from a good home brew shop! (One that stores yeast and hops in the fridge/freezer). Unfortunately there's not much you can do if the malt extract is oxidised. Not sure how they can justify the BBE date they put on these kits, the only way in my mind that this product would still be at it's best is if you kept the whole kit close to zero degrees, even then the yeast would have pretty low viability.
DON’T PITCH DRY YEAST STRAIGHT INTO THE FERMENTER! Pitching dry kills about half of your yeast cells. If you’re only using a 5 gram kit yeast pack this means you will WELL underpitch and the yeast will struggle to start fermenting quickly = possible infection, stuck fermentation and bad beer. Always rehydrate your yeast if you can 20 mins before pitching in a jug of water (20-30C). Ideally this water should be boiled and cooled. Healthy yeast = better beer.
HAKE YOUR FERMENTER TO OXYGENATE THE WORT! Give the cold wort in the fermenter a vigorous shake for a good 5-10 minutes before and after adding the yeast to oxygenate the wort...the yeast need oxygen to reproduce faster. You should have a lot of foam and if you're not tired afterwards, you're not shaking enough! More oxygen = less lag time, heathier yeast which = better beer.
DON’T FERMENT ALES OVER 21C! The can often says to ferment between 22-28C, with a higher temp giving a ‘faster ferment’. Fast is BAD. You actually need to start fermenting ale yeasts between 17-19C. Don’t bother using a heat pad if your beer is in this range, just leave it! Your beer will be better for it. In fact in most situations (apart from May-June-July-August) you usually want to cool your fermenter down to 18C. The cooler and more stable the fermentation, the cleaner the beer. You want to avoid spikes and drops in temperature, so sitting it in a large bucket/fishbin filled with cold water in an insulated area (center of the house, unused chest freezer) is better than nothingl. You can wrap the fermenter in a wet towel and let it wick up the water in the bottom of the bucket, the evaporation with knock a few degrees off the fermentation temperature. If it gets really hot, use a fan. You can invest in a secondhand fridge and STC-1000 if you really want to nail your temps.
DON’T STOP FERMENTING AFTER A WEEK! Yeast needs time to reabsorb the by-products of fermentation, if you bottle after a week (or rack to secondary) you will remove the yeast from the wort and it will not be able to re-absorb off-flavour precursors. As a general rule, always stay in the primary fermentor for at least 2 weeks, 2 1/2 to 3 weeks if you can - ESPECIALLY if you can't control your fermentation! Even a 4 week fermentation will not hurt the beer and will actually help clear and improve it! (For lager yeasts you want 2-4 weeks in primary at about 10C followed by a 3-7 week 'lagering' period at 2-3C/fridge temps). If you have a spare fridge, or if it's winter outside, a 1-3 day crash cool to fridge temps (1-5C) before bottling will clear the beer still more. Use a siphon to bottle and you can reduce the lees even more. Racking to a secondary fermenter is not usually necessary and you risk oxidisation and contamination in transfer. Keep it simple and free up your fermenters for other brews!
DON’T DRINK AFTER TWO WEEKS IN THE BOTTLE! Your beer needs 3-4 weeks to properly carbonate and condition. Be patient. Keep the bottles in a warm place (hot water cupboard) if you can. The beer will continue to improve with time (hoppy flavours and aromas will start to drop off after a month or so, however). Fridge for 24 hrs to better settle the beer, then decant slowly and steadily into a jug, leaving the yeast and about 1 cm of beer at the bottom. Ashok Fernandez: For homebrew, always store your bottles upright. This ensures all the yeast in the bottle settles to the bottom. If you stack them up on their side in the fridge you get a bottle with a huge yeast strip down the side which isn't fun.
Kit stats from Mangrove Jacks - Stats are for 1 kit in 23L. 10g yeast pack per kit, Mangrove Jacks Craft Series strains - catered to style - usually unrefrigerated.
Craft Series brewery pouches (2.2 kg - with added dextrose/brew enhancer)
English Session Ale - IBU 18-24/Colour: Chestnut Brown/ABV 3.6% - Newcastle Dark Ale yeast 10g
India Pale Ale - IBU 35-45/Colour: Golden/ABV 4.7% - British Ale yeast 10g
Irish Stout - IBU 40-50/Colour: Black/ABV 4.9% - British Ale yeast 10g
London Bitter - IBU 28-36/Colour: Orange Brown/ABV 4.2% - Burton Union yeast 10g
Nut Brown Ale - IBU 26-34/Colour: Mahogany/ABV 4.1% - Newcastle Dark Ale yeast 10g
Pilsner - IBU 28-36/Colour: Golden/ABV 4.7% - Workhorse yeast 10g
Premium Lager - IBU 18-24/Colour: Pale Gold/ABV 4.4% - Workhorse yeast 10g
Bavarian Wheat - IBU 12-18/Colour: Hazy Gold/ABV 4.7% - Bavarian Wheat yeast 10g
Kit stats from Lion - One kit with dextrose in 23L vs estimated two kits in 23L (actual IBUs in doubled kits will be less due to more malt = higher final gravity, +/- 1.012 vs 1.008 kit +dextrose). 5g yeast pack per kit, Fermentis S-33 (beware old yeast).
Lion Lager – IBU 16/SRM 3 2x Lager= IBU 32/SRM 6 - (NZPA/APA/Pilsner range)
Lion Draught – IBU 17/SRM 6.5 2x Draught= IBU 34/SRM 13 (Amber range)
Lion Dark – IBU 16/SRM 25 With lager kit= IBU 32/SRM 27 (Porter range)
Lion Real Ale – IBU 21/SRM 12.5 With lager kit= IBU 37/SRM 15.5 (ESB/British IPA range)
Kit stats from Coopers - One kit with dextrose in 23L vs two kits in 23L (actual IBUs in doubled kits will be less). 7g yeast pack per kit, proprietary Coopers English ale strain (beware old yeast).
Coopers Lager - IBU 17-21/SRM 2.5 2x Lager IBU 17-21/SRM 5
Coopers Draught - IBU - 18-23/SRM 3.6 2x Draught IBU 36-46/SRM 7.2
Coopers Real Ale - IBU 23-30/SRM 6.4
Coopers Bitter - IBU 25-33.70/SRM 11
Coopers Dark Ale - IBU 27-32/SRM 16
Coopers Stout - IBU 32-38/SRM 50
Coopers Mexican Cerveza IBU 15-16 SRM 2
Coopers Australian Pale IBU 17-19 SRM 4
Kit stats from Brewtec - One 1.5kg kit with dextrose in 23L vs two kits in 23L (Measure as at 5 Brix/1.020 OG per kit, actual IBUs in doubled kits will be less). 5g yeast pack per kit. Not recommended due to smaller size.
Brewtec Lager IBU 16/max SRM 4
Brewtec Premium Draught IBU 21/SRM 12.5
Brewtec Brown Draught IBU 10/SRM 9
Brewtec Classic Dark Ale IBU 20/SRM 20
