BeerBorg

Hello all,
Gf just bought me 2g Brewdemon Fermentor, with the One Evil Pilsner, for xmas and just had a few questions before i dive into it. I tried to do a bit of research first and thats how i stumbed upon this site.
1.What kind of water should i use? I've read a few dif things about this and was unsure. All bottled, filtered from a water purifier, half tap/half bottled?
2.What temp should i pitch the yeast at & primary ferment at? I believe the instructions said between 64 - 82 F. I saw a few things saying because of it being a pilsner i should pitch and ferment at colder temps like around 52 F. Any adivce?
3.How long do you frement and also how long do you recommend bottling. 2 week ferment and 2 week or more bottling sound right?
4.Lastly what kind of priming sugar should i use? I saw a video of someone using premeasured tabs that looked like cough drops, where would you get these. Or should i use something else to prime when bottling?
Any help would be much appreciated.

Welcome to the Borg!!! Go to the Assimilation header and formally introduce yourself to the Borg. The OEP is one of their better recipes I hear.

Water, when I started w/Mr Beer I used half tap and half spring water, keep your top off water in fridge or just short of freezing it to get your wort to yeast pitching temp.

Yeast, pitch the yeast in the mid 60's to lower 70's and try to maintain your fermenting temp to 64-68 degrees, I believe the yeast supplied is an Ale yeast even though it is a Pilsner.

Fermenting, rule of thumb, if you don't have a hydrometer, is three weeks fermenting two weeks minimum four weeks preferred for bottle conditioning @ 70-75 degrees, refrigerate for 2-3 days to let the CO2 absorb back into the beer.

Priming Sugar, straight table sugar is good to use, do a search of one of our own, The Screwy Brewer and use his Tools And Calculations very good info for the beginner brewer.
Good luck and keep us informed of your brewing adventures!

Welcome.

TheCataluch wrote:Hello all,
Gf just bought me 2g Brewdemon Fermentor, with the One Evil Pilsner, for xmas and just had a few questions before i dive into it. I tried to do a bit of research first and thats how i stumbed upon this site.
1.What kind of water should i use? I've read a few dif things about this and was unsure. All bottled, filtered from a water purifier, half tap/half bottled?

If your water tastes good, you can use it for beer. I use filtered water, but I also filter drinking water and water for making coffee. If you want to use bottled water, you can, with a caveat. If you're making extract batches, you can use distilled or reverse osmosis water. But if you go to all grain, you'll want to use spring water.

2.What temp should i pitch the yeast at & primary ferment at? I believe the instructions said between 64 - 82 F. I saw a few things saying because of it being a pilsner i should pitch and ferment at colder temps like around 52 F. Any adivce?

That's a pilsner, but it's not a true lager. I would suggest brewing at around 65 or so. Keep in mind that fermentation is exothermic, and I'm talking about the fermentation temperature, not the air temperature. I use yeast that can ferment at lower temperatures than the yeast in the kits (especially in winter), and ferment in the mid to upper 50s.

You should generally pitch close to the fermentation temperatures, but there are other approaches. Some people pitch at a lower temp and let it warm up. I've also read that some people pitch at a higher temp (but below 80) and let it start warmer for the first 12-24 hours while the yeast are mostly multiplying.

3.How long do you frement and also how long do you recommend bottling. 2 week ferment and 2 week or more bottling sound right?

I generally ferment for three weeks, but in most cases, two would be enough. I haven't bottled much in the past 4-5 years, but when I was bottling, I considered two weeks in the bottle at room temperature and one week in the fridge to be the absolute minimum. I actually usually gave most beers at least a couple of months at room temperature and a couple of weeks in the fridge. But I also had built up a pretty big pipeline, so it wasn't difficult for me to be patient.

4.Lastly what kind of priming sugar should i use? I saw a video of someone using premeasured tabs that looked like cough drops, where would you get these. Or should i use something else to prime when bottling?
Any help would be much appreciated.

I always just used table sugar, but many people use the carbonating tablets, domino dots, or corn sugar. Some people say that corn sugar produces finer bubbles, but I'm skeptical, since the bubbles are just co2, and it shouldn't make a difference what kind of sugar is used. But since I've never tried it, I could be wrong. I batch primed most of the time. To batch prime, you determine how much sugar you need for the entire batch, Boi it in a small amount of water (but be careful not to boil it so long or in so little water that you make candy), then add that to a second container and mix with the beer (don't just add it to the fermenter or you'll stir up the trub). You can get a slimline from Walmart (and probably other places) to use as a bottling bucket.

Hi TheCat, welcome.
Water: I generally use tap water. We have very clean tap water on Long Island, with low minerals, and chlorine. The chlorine boils off or evaporates when warm. I ferment for three weeks, and bottle condition for about the same. Keep the fermenter in the mid sixties, out of sunlight. The bottles too. They may carb slowly if cool, try to find a warm spot. You can buy carb drops online, check Amazon and Ebay. You can also use Domino Dots sugar cubes, one per 12oz bottle.
All of this may seem confusing at first, but it's not really hard. Just be careful about sanitation, be patient. Study and practice, you'll make good beer. Please report your results. We will pat you on the back for success, and try to help you correct any problems.

Looks like the guys have already given you great advice, so I'll just say "welcome to your new obsession"!!!

Some people say that corn sugar produces finer bubbles

I think it's more likely a matter of wort composition and/or conditioning temperature differences and/or patience, and/or priming levels. It just so happens they also used different kind of sugar. Too many variables.

The one thing corn sugar does potentially do is give you a drinkable product quicker if you are impatient. Dextrose can be eaten directly by the yeast, where table sugar has to be split by an enzyme the yeast produce (invertase) - and seems to end up with more acetaldehyde (a green tart apple taste) because of this. Which will condition out with time, as the yeast will "eat" it when they run out of sugar. But if you want to drink it a bit sooner, then maybe dextrose helps. If you can ignore it for 3-4 weeks once in the bottle (which in general terms you should), then it shouldn't matter though.

EDIT: Oh and welcome to the borg!

mashani wrote:

Some people say that corn sugar produces finer bubbles

I think it's more likely a matter of wort composition and/or conditioning temperature differences and/or patience, and/or priming levels. It just so happens they also used different kind of sugar. Too many variables.

The one thing corn sugar does potentially do is give you a drinkable product quicker if you are impatient. Dextrose can be eaten directly by the yeast, where table sugar has to be split by an enzyme the yeast produce (invertase) - and seems to end up with more acetaldehyde (a green tart apple taste) because of this. Which will condition out with time, as the yeast will "eat" it when they run out of sugar. But if you want to drink it a bit sooner, then maybe dextrose helps. If you can ignore it for 3-4 weeks once in the bottle (which in general terms you should), then it shouldn't matter though.

EDIT: Oh and welcome to the borg!

If the corn sugar is more easily digestible, it could be that it would produce smaller bubbles in a given amount of time, since it would have a little more time for the co2 to be absorbed.

Good point. So tiny bubbles potentially for the impatient too. I think over time all equals out regardless.

Welcome aBorg!

Welcome aboard.

1) If your tap water tastes good to you, it is fine. Let it sit out overnight if it has chlorine in it.
2) Mid/upper 60s for that kit would be ideal. It is not a true lager.
3) 3 weeks fermenting, 4 weeks bottle conditioning.
4) Table (white) sugar is fine for carbing.

Welcome to The Borg
Good Luck and Happy Brewing

Welcome, it sounds like everyone has you covered

Hello again. So I started my first batch this past Sunday. Already i feel like i can improve on my technique next time around, so I've been taking little notes on just about everything I did and how I did it to see what I can change in the future if things go wrong. For example I completely forgot to put water in the bubbler. After the first day I looked at and realized that yeah there should probably be some liquid in there. So it was without water in it for roughly 24hrs until I fixed it. And after I heated the water and mixed all the ingridients together the mixture seemed a bit thick, not sure if i didn't mix well enough. But to the point I have another question. When priming your bottles do you put the sugar right in the bottles before adding the beer? I heard some people boiling all the sugar into a solution letting it cool then adding it right to the whole batch of beer before bottling. Any thoughts? I'm having tons of fun with this FYI.

Thanks again for all the tips.

You can do it either way. The shortcoming of "batch priming" (boil water/sugar, mix into batch) is that it should have another container, a "bottling bucket". Some sources suggest mixing it into your fermenter, then waiting a while for the trub to settle back down. Alternately, you can add measured sugar to each bottle, that can be a pain with a big batch. When bottling, I bottle prime, using a Domino Dot sugar cube in each 12oz bottle. If you are using 16oz bottles, you need more. There probably is a measurement in your instructions. Then the bottles should be put aside to carbonate, in a dark, room temp spot. If they are plastic, they'll be rock hard when the yeast has consumed the sugar. Chill them for three days to absorb the CO2, and clear.

What John said.

If you bottle prime (putting sugar in each individual bottle), you put the sugar in first, then beer, then cap.

If you batch prime (boil total amount of sugar in small amount of water then add to beer before bottling), you will need a second container. If you mix in your sugar/water into your fermenter you will be mixing up all that trub that settled out and transferring a LOT of it to your bottles.

If you decide to go the route of batch priming, just say the word. We can help you through that. Opinions vary, but I don't find one to be BETTER than the other, each has it's pros and cons.