Any amateur brewers on GS?

**Desert Rat** · 21-06-2018, 12:55

Gents, The Mangrove jack Craft Brewer Starter kit with SST Fermenter...any comments on that? Good , Bad Ugly...anyone used it? Also if you have this kit what is recommended to add to it to allow for full grain brew...sorry for the dumb questions but I am starting out and gathering equipment...cant afford a Grainfather so will have to make up as I go along. Thanks in advance.

P.S: You brewers out there...why not post some pics of your setups and kit?

**Toxxyc** · 21-06-2018, 13:07

It's a good kit. Expensive (I would recommend the plastic one first if you're just starting out to see what it's about), but it's a good kit. Get it if you know you're going to use it. With the price of beer skyrocketing, it's getting cheaper and cheaper to "load your own".

**atunguyd** · 21-06-2018, 13:47

I started with that kit and it is a really nice fermenter. So glad I have it and did not go plastic.

It is a good start and not an alternative to a grainfather. The fermentor is the cold side of brewing and you will always need one. The grainfather is the hot side and what is ideal to go all grain (but you will still need a fermentor)

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**Desert Rat** · 21-06-2018, 14:09

Originally Posted by atunguyd

I started with that kit and it is a really nice fermenter. So glad I have it and did not go plastic.

It is a good start and not an alternative to a grainfather. The fermentor is the cold side of brewing and you will always need one. The grainfather is the hot side and what is ideal to go all grain (but you will still need a fermentor)

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Thanks Atun ... got it... now for the Hotside ....(Grainfather out of the picture!...big bucks) what is the most cost effective and most functional way to do this? I have seen urns, Gas fired pots, etc etc...I like the inserted sieve to cook mash and sparge...can you you get a pot/sieve combo without breaking the bank? ...or what are the brewers here doing ?

**Toxxyc** · 21-06-2018, 14:19

Urns are most commonly used. If you don't want to break the bank you can go smaller scale - in other words, do smaller batches. If you're dead-set on larger batches though you will need a proper urn or gas burner, with the urn being the false-bottom type. You also have to build a mash tun and all that. For a starter I would HIGHLY recommend you get one or two kits, see where's what and focus on the basics, and then you can start struggling with the all-grain side of things. It's not a common opinion, but IMO it's A LOT cheaper to start (you can get a full kit and your first 23l of beer for under R2k) and it does teach you a lot of the basics (yeast and how it works, hydrometer use, temperature management, sanitary protocols, bottling and cleaning bottles, carbonation, etc. etc.).

**Juriew** · 21-06-2018, 15:00

HI Guys

I don't Brew beer as such, however i do distill. I am trying to make a single malt. however i only successfully produced 2.3l from the first batch of wash. the second wash failed. can i explain my process and maybe you can tell me where i went wrong?

I malted my own barley in a pillowcase- steeping in water twice and then drying in the oven slowly.
I then heated 15 L of water on the stove and added the malted barley (un-crushed). I let it carry on at about 85 celcius for about an hour. then i used one of those stick whisks with the blade to chop up the grains. let it carry on again for a bout 15 minutes.

Thereafter i threw the wash into the fermenter Bucket Through a sheet to filter (fermenter was sterilized) and let it cool for a few hours, i added 20 grams of ec1118 yeast and some anchor nutrient and sealed the fermenter with a bubble airlock.

The mix was placed outside, the hydrometer reading after 2 weeks said ready to bottle (i forgot to take an initial reading)

There was Virtually no alcohol in the wash. It was approximately between 1% and 2% as when distilling the wash the highest it would go was about 10%.
I am assuming that the cold weather played the deciding factor in killing the fermentation?

thoughts?

**doobleedee** · 21-06-2018, 17:36

did you determine end of ferment based on gravity ( 1.005 or 0.990 ish ) or based on yeast activity ( no more bubbles or change in gravity )
keep in mind that not all the sugars are fermentable and the yeast runs out of micronutrients during long ferments.

Temperature can also affect the ferment.

I use a equivalent to the ec1118 sparkling wine yeast

when I do a distilling run ( with sugar wash ) it usually takes about 2 -3 months before the yeast has finished fermenting to 0.990 ( and a few nutrient additions along the way - the yeasties have lots of sugar, but run out of other nutrients and stop making alcohol or at least slow down).

I use a tomato paste mix with raisins as nutrient, or wine nutrient powder that one can get from brewing places in the cape.

**atunguyd** · 21-06-2018, 19:27

Originally Posted by Desert Rat

Thanks Atun ... got it... now for the Hotside ....(Grainfather out of the picture!...big bucks) what is the most cost effective and most functional way to do this? I have seen urns, Gas fired pots, etc etc...I like the inserted sieve to cook mash and sparge...can you you get a pot/sieve combo without breaking the bank? ...or what are the brewers here doing ?

Sorry I cant help in that regard - when I looked at what people do for all grain it just looked like too much equipment to store so I went straight to the grainfather. I figured that I would end there anyway and why waste about R5k on a system I know I am going to upgrade anyway.

**Juriew** · 22-06-2018, 07:25

HI Doobledee

yes based on gravity and both no bubbles- there were very few right from the start.

so was it the temp? or the grain? the malted barley seeds looked correct as far as i could tell?

**Crafty** · 22-06-2018, 07:36

The mashing temp seems a bit high for your malted barley. Should not go higher than 73.
Beer is mashed at between 66 and 68c.
Google alpha and beta amylase. You can do a multi temperature mash for max yield.

To cover temperature, place your fermenting vessle on a 7watt reptile heater. If you want to be fancy, hook it up to a stc1000 controler.

What was your starting gravity?

Also a sugar wash should take no more than 10 days to ferment out.
My 120L washes takes between 10 and 14 days.
(I’m a brandy guy, ✌️‘’specializing’’✌️ in Marula brandy)