Few questions for my first brew

[FridgeSpaceBrewing]

Hi all. In the next week or so I'm going to do my first ever brew (extract). I have watched hours of videos online and read some really good posts on here. I have a couple of questions.

1) is there a difference between plastic and glass bottles? Or do they pretty much have the same effect during carbonation? Videos I have watched haven't really mentioned this.

2) I might be a bit eager here. I am itching to do a part mash part extract brew and maybe a bit of dry hopping. Shall I just stick to a complete extract brew and get used to it? I am slightly impatient and want to get stuck in at the deep end.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Steveruch]

1) As long as the bottle you use is food grade either works.
2) I think a straight extract brew is a good first step.

 

[dwhite60]

Hi all. In the next week or so I'm going to do my first ever brew (extract). I have watched hours of videos online and read some really good posts on here. I have a couple of questions.

1) is there a difference between plastic and glass bottles? Or do they pretty much have the same effect during carbonation? Videos I have watched haven't really mentioned this.

2) I might be a bit eager here. I am itching to do a part mash part extract brew and maybe a bit of dry hopping. Shall I just stick to a complete extract brew and get used to it? I am slightly impatient and want to get stuck in at the deep end.

Thanks in advance.

I use Cooper's plastic bottles. Love them. Caps last multiple fillings. They pour nice too without "glugging" on the first few ounces. I use a few clear one liter soda bottles too. No problems.

All grain is easier than you might think. Throw together a small, one gallon, brew in a bag. You can do it stovetop. Mechanics are all the same for bigger batches. Check out the "One Gallon Brewers Unite" thread.

There's a book, "Beer Craft" that's all one gallon recipes. Goes through the whole process. It's a wealth of information. Money well spent.

All the Best,
D. White

 

[McKnuckle]

There's nothing wrong with brewing an extract-only batch, but...

If you can make hot cereal, but with a thermometer instead of just turning the heat to a random level, then you can brew with grain. The mashing part is just not that mysterious after you have tried it. It's just cooking where you reach and hold a specific temperature. I think I had 2 extract batches before I went to straight grain.

Take the brew in a bag (BIAB) advice, and also the small batch advice. Creating 50+ bottles of mediocre beer with a standard 5 gallon recipe is annoying. And even if your first brew is pretty good, you might not want that much of it to plough through, since you are going to immediately want to practice brewing again.

Fermentation and packaging are the same regardless of how your wort was made. And that's really where the quality is either preserved or lost.

Good luck and have fun!

 

[camonick]

Hi all. In the next week or so I'm going to do my first ever brew (extract). I have watched hours of videos online and read some really good posts on here. I have a couple of questions.

1) is there a difference between plastic and glass bottles? Or do they pretty much have the same effect during carbonation? Videos I have watched haven't really mentioned this.

2) I might be a bit eager here. I am itching to do a part mash part extract brew and maybe a bit of dry hopping. Shall I just stick to a complete extract brew and get used to it? I am slightly impatient and want to get stuck in at the deep end.

Thanks in advance.

I have never used plastic bottles, but I have read comments by others that they can be useful to determine the progress of carbonation by how firm they are becoming.

 

[RM-MN]

Plastic bottles can allow some oxidation that glass bottles do not but...just how long will it take you to drink your beer. If less than 6 months it shouldn't matter. Make sure to tighten the caps well, they do tend to leak more often than the crown caps on glass bottles.

 

[dwhite60]

Plastic bottles can allow some oxidation that glass bottles do not but...just how long will it take you to drink your beer. If less than 6 months it shouldn't matter. Make sure to tighten the caps well, they do tend to leak more often than the crown caps on glass bottles.

The Cooper's bottles are double walled making them much less oxygen permeable. The regular clear soda bottles I use get consumed first.

After your first few all grain batches starch conversion just loses the magic. You'll wonder why you didn't do all grain sooner.


All the Best,
D. White

 

[mattdee1]

Plastic bottles are underrated, IMO. A box of 24 of them is light as a feather, reusable caps, built-in carbonation check, they don't shatter when you inevitably drop one while bottling, etc. I know they supposedly allow more oxygen to get in but I always used a mix of plastic and glass and never noticed any difference between the two in terms of beer quality, even on beers several months old. As far as I'm concerned the only disadvantage is they look kind of ghetto, but you pour into a glass anyway, so who cares?

My very first brew was all-grain, but I read "How to Brew" in full before doing anything, which helped a LOT, and the beer (a stout) turned out great. It's definitely possible to do right out of the gate, but if you don't really prepare yourself with an understanding of the process and a basic set of tools to do the job, you may duff something up and waste a bunch of time/money. Extract lets you focus on a more approachable "sub set" of the process, allowing you to grow into the hobby in steps. Probably not a bad thing at all.

I will say this, though. After doing many all grain batches, I started seeing some appeal in extract because it would enable me to do short brew days in my kitchen during the winter months when brewing in the garage is no fun. I bought a smaller stove-friendly kettle, made a smaller chiller, and a few other things. I tried about 5-6 batches and, while they're OK, they definitely do not hold a candle to comparable beers I've made using an all grain process. They just have this tell-tale taste to them that bugs me. I believe this is known as "extract twang." It's a real thing.