Brewing magazine
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Ales, beers and lagers "Brew enough to go around "

[Equipment guide] [Beer recipes] [Free Beer & Wine Calculators] [Priming your beer] [BEER TROUBLE SHOOTER] [Stuck fermentation] ]Typical Larger / Bitter kit instructions] [Some Typical Beer Drinking Temperatures]

Beer introduction

The best beers have got to be Newcastle brown, Fullers E.S.B., Guinness, The cheap & nasty cans sold in super markets are usually hardly worth drinking (poor taste, low alcohol, and enough CO2 to make a good fire extinguisher).
I brew from good quality kits and the end results compete with the superior brews. My aim is quality. If I was saving loads of money but was drinking a nasty brew then no way. It must be as good as the premium beers and it should be because its home made. I would love to say the I do it all from the raw ingredients but I'll be honest as far as beer, lager and ale is concerned the kits suit me just fine. From time to time I dabble with the raw process.

The main points to brewing kits are:-

1) Keep everything clean & sterile
2) Follow the instruction (do not add extra sugar etc. When you are more confident you can try things like using less water)
3) Leave for at least a month to mature or risk drinking a yeasty immature brew.

First steps in beer brewing. (Buy the minimum kit to start with).
1) Buy a bitter kit (lager is a little harder)
1 x 40 pint bitter kit + sugar as recommended
1 x fermentation bin
(Use plastic lemonade bottles (PET) or if you must you can use a pressure barrel but I prefer not too. If you use neither then you can drink it still as in real ale. Syphon into glasses for drinking and avoid the sediment at the base) (See below for using PET bottles instead of a pressure barrel)

2) Follow the kit instructions they are usually straight forwards.
3)Act now brew it straight away because the little extra time provided for the brew to mature improves the quality significantly. (At least 1 month)
TIME is where the home brewer wins. Extra storage time is expensive if you are a major brewer. This is especially true of stronger full bodied ales. Weak lagers do not need as much storage.

Beer Recipes.

You can design your own recipes or modify other recipes although a Beer Calculator is very useful. You can download my FREE calculators from this site, YoBrew - Free Beer and Wine calculators. At present they are available in the Excel, Open Office & Ashampoo PlanMaker formats.

You may also find the YoBrew - Recipe Design page useful.

Here are some easy malt extract beer recipes designed & tested by me, Peter Laycock, they can be made using readily available ingredients and the minimum of equipment. The only additional equipment required by the kit-maker are a boiling pan (I use an 8l stock pot which will safely hold a maximum of 6l) and a large sieve (200mm dia. or more preferred) or a colander. Dry and wet malt extract can be interchanged, but note that 1Kg dry extract is approximately equivalent to 1.18Kg wet extract, or 1Kg wet is equal to 0.85Kg dry. The boil volume/time is generally chosen to get a 20% Alpha acid extraction from the hops as this seems to be the general practice. Glenn Tinseth's bitterness calculations were used as I consider these to be the most accurate (visit his site, it's very good, or do a search for the excellent, and free, "tinibuw" bitterness calculator).

All the recipes are for relatively small volumes as they were basically “experimental” & I always think it is easier to shift 5 litres of rubbish than 23, especially if I have to drink it! Larger quantities can easily be made simply by scaling up all the ingredients, apart of course, from the yeast. These are not award-winning recipes as the idea is to produce some cheap beers of reasonable quality in various styles. As expected, some beers were much better than others but, if recipes are broadly made to the BJCP guidelines then it is quite hard to make a bad beer. Part of the guidelines is essentially reproduced as one of the YoBrew calculators pages.

B FUGGLED/GOLDINGS ONLY/RUDOLPH THE RED-NOSED TARGET

These 3 beers were made to compare different hop characteristics, hopefully setting a basis for good recipes. (They did.)

Dry extract (light)                                         500g                                     Calculations
Crystal malt                                                  50g                                       O.G.                                   42 (exc. priming sugar)
White sugar                                                  50g                                       F.G.                                      8 (exc. priming sugar)
Fuggles OR Goldings OR Target hops         13 OR 11 OR 5g                  % ALC.                                5 (inc. priming sugar)
Any good Ale yeast                                                                                  Initial/Final volume                  5/4.5l
Priming sugar                                               1tsp (5g)/l                              Bitterness                            24/24/26EBU
                                                                                                                 Colour                                 24EBC

NOTE: All figures are approximate.
For larger quantities a proportionally larger boiling pan will be required.

Make the extract & crystal malt up to 4l & boil for 40 min with the required hops, a few hops can be added for the last 10 min for extra aroma. Sieve onto the sugar in a fermenting bin/bucket & sparge (wash out) the contents of the sieve with hot water from a kettle until 5l of liquid is obtained. The yeast can be re-hydrated if required in lukewarm water for 15min (see packet for manufacturer's recommendations) or added to the cooled worth straight from the packet, cover & ferment & bottle as normal.

Comments:- I enjoyed all the beers although the Goldings Only was, surprisingly, my least favourite of the trio.

SANTA'S REINDEER LINIMENT

I made this one Spring time as a Christmas beer, allowing a reasonable maturation period for a high gravity beer.

Liquid malt extract                               900g                                          Calculations
Crystal malt                                         140g                                          O.G.                                70 (exc. priming sugar)
Roast barley                                        20g                                            F.G.                                 13 (exc. priming sugar)
White sugar                                         100g                                          % ALC.                           8.2 (inc. priming sugar)
Challenger hops                                   15g                                            Initial/Final volume            5/4.5l
Any good Ale yeast                                                                               Bitterness                         45EBU
Priming sugar                                       1tsp (5g)/l                                  Colour                              90EBC

NOTE: All figures are approximate.

Comments:- This beer is very strong in both flavour and alcohol. DRINK WITH CARE!

PETER ABBOT 1 & 2 (TWO EXPERIMENTAL BREWS – USING “TRADITIONAL” OR “QUICK” BREWING METHODS)

My beer calculators (YoBrew - Free Beer and Wine calculators) use Glenn Tinseth’s equations to predict a beers’ bitterness. If you have no sugars present in the calculation when boiling the hops, you get a high bitterness value for a relatively short boil time. At first I thought of this as an anomaly that occurred when silly figures were entered into the formula but, on looking at it a bit deeper, I thought it must be correct & the only way to find out was to put it to the test. Below are the recipes I tried, run concurrently, for a high alcohol & high bitterness beer. A York Brewery yeast was re-hydrated & split equally between the brews.

PETER ABBOT 1 PETER ABBOT 2 CALCULATIONS (Approx.)

Dry extract (light Spraymalt)               500g                                       500g                                    O. G.                       68 (exc. priming sugar)
Crystal malt                                        45g                                         45g                                      F. G.                        10 (exc. priming sugar)
White sugar                                        150g                                       150g                                    Alcohol                     8.36% (inc. priming sugar)
Fuggles hops                                      7 (few late added for 10 min)   6                                          Initial volume            3.25 litre
Challenger hops                                  7 (few late added for 10 min)   6                                         Bitterness                  40 EBU
Priming sugar                                      5 g/litre                                                                               Colour                      28 EBC
Any good Ale yeast
Boil Vol.                                             2 litre                                      1 litre
Boil Time                                            45 min                                    15 min

The recipes are identical apart from the hops and boil times/volumes, they were designed to give very similar results, the only difference being the way the beers were made. PETER ABBOT 1 had the hops boiled with the malt extract and the crystal malt (“Traditional” method) whereas with PETER ABBOT 2, the hops were boiled alone (“Quick” method). It may be worth pointing out that my calculators do allow for any sugars (apart from priming) to be boiled with the malts & hops but this can complicate the process by needing longer boil times/hop quantities.
After plodding through my ramblings, all you want to know (possibly!) is if the experiment worked. The short answer is YES! The beers were blind-tasted only 6 weeks after bottling, they had similar colours, both had very good heads & condition with some clinging to the glass sides. They had a very hoppy aroma and taste (I used home grown hops, consequently they may have had quite a different alpha acid content to what was used in the calculations). There were slight differences between the two, I thought PETER ABBOT 2 was slightly hoppier with a cleaner taste although it did not clear as quickly as version 1, I assume this is because the malt extract was not boiled.

Whilst sampling my two beers, the wife, who arranged the blind tasting with two 450ml Grolsch bottles, started laughing at me about half-way through my tasting session, (she says) I was talking more and more rubbish, luckily for her it was not a fighting beer! On second thoughts it was probably lucky for me!

Comments:- Very enjoyable. With time a slightly “herby” character developed.

PETER'S LAGER

Designed using YoBrew calculators “Extract Calc.”. The “quick” (blue) hop section was used, this is where the hops are boiled separately.

Spraymalt malt extract                       500g                                              Calculations
White sugar                                       100g                                              O.G.                                           39.8 (exc. priming sugar)
Hallertauer hops (2%)                       15g                                                 F.G.                                             6.5 (exc. priming sugar)
Lager yeast                                                                                            % ALC.                                     4.96 (inc. priming sugar)
                                                                                                               Initial/Final volume                   6/5.75 litres
                                                                                                               Bitterness                                      20 EBU
Priming sugar                                     1tsp (5g)/l                                      Colour                                            8 EBC

The hops were boiled in 1 litre of water for 20 mins.

NOTE: All figures are approximate.

Comments:- Colour <10, slight chill haze, modest head, good but fairly short lasting condition, some clinging to the glass & a citrousy finish. V. G.

BAVARIAN LAGER

The above recipe was modified by adding 25g crystal malt (to get about 12 EBCs of colour), & boiling 30g hops in 2 litres of water for 55 min. to give about 35 EBU.

Comments:- Colour about right, very big lasting head, good condition, some clinging & quite hoppy but not excessively so.

It’s Peters’ Ale

Again the YoBrew calculators “quick” (blue) hop section was used.

Spraymalt malt extract                         500g                                              Calculations
Crystal malt                                          75g                                               O.G.                                             34 (exc. priming sugar)
White sugar                                         110g                                              F.G.                                              8.5 (exc. priming sugar)
Fuggles hops                                       6.5g + 0.5g for last 10 mins            % ALC.                                        8.2 (inc. priming sugar)
Challenger hops                                   6.5g + 0.5g for last 10 mins            Initial/Final volume                         7/6.5l
Any good Ale yeast                                                                                   Bitterness                                     30 EBU
Priming sugar                                       1tsp (5g)/l                                       Colour                                          17 EBC

NOTE: All figures are approximate.

Comments:- Very hoppy without being harsh, good head/cond./clinging. Colour about right, yeast slightly loose, dry finish. Excellent!

Priming your beer (i.e. putting the fizz into it).

If you want to serve your brew with a bit of sparkle then the fizz can be added by two main methods:-
1) Natural priming (secondary fermentation takes place in a sealed pressure vessel).
2) Gas injection. (CO2 or Nitrogen gas injected from a gas canister into a pressure vessel containing your brew)
A combination of the two methods is often used. Initial priming is by method 1 (natural priming) and then if the brew goes a bit flat and lifeless then a method 2 (direct gas injection) is used to top up the fizz.

I now use natural priming only and no longer use my CO2 injector. Natural priming produces a higher quality sparkle (explained below). I do not need a top up injector as I have moved from barrel storage to bottles that do not lose pressure, even after several months.

Pressure containers and Priming sugar table
Priming sugar used is white granulated
(1 level Tablespoon = 15ml = 12 Grams)
(1 level Teaspoon = 5ml = 4 Grams)

Pressure Container	Max working pressure	Suggested amount of priming sugar	Suggested priming pressure
2 Litre fizzy drink PET bottles	over 100 PSI	1 Level table spoon (15 ml / 12 Grams)	22.5 PSI
40 Pint / 22.5 Litre Homebrew plastic Pressure Barrel	10 PSI	4 Level Table spoons (48 grams) sugar for a pressure barrel, ideally made up to a syrup - i.e. in 1/2 pint of hot water dissolve the sugar	8 PSI
Champagne Bottles 750ml	90 PSI Max. (60-75 PSI for used champagne bottles. These must be sound and have no scratches)	1 level Table spoon (12 grams) per 750 ml bottle. This pressure is a bit too fizzy for beer. For Champagne: Carbonate to no more than 4 or 5 atm (60 - 75 PSI). Use pressure tight stoppers (e.g.. wired stoppers) Serve cold 6 - 8C	60 - 75 PSI
1 Pint / 0.5 Litre Glass pressure bottle	Estimated 50 PSI (Avoid being close to the limit as exploding glass bottles are very dangerous)	1/2 Level teaspoon (2.5 ml / 2 grams)	13 - 15 PSI

Note: PET Bottle refers to a standard lemonade / cola plastic containers that are made from a plastic called PET. These bottles handle high pressure extremely well. They usually come in 1, 2 and 3 litre sizes. I prefer to use the 2 litre bottles and will try a few experiments to see what the limits are. There is supposed to be a limit that the yeast can exert and this is around 90 PSI. I should be able to prove this by trying to see if I can get the yeast to blow up a PET bottle. This would probably be a dangerous experiment, so I will need to design some sort of safety shield.

Note: Exceeding any of the safe limits on pressure containers is dangerous. Glass bottles must be used well within their defined limits and you should avoid any bottles if they have any scratches or any other damage.

The weight of sugar - I use granulated, but really I should go by weight as different sugar weighs different amounts.
Castor/caster sugar 2 level tablespoons = 1 oz = 28.4 grams
granulated sugar 2 level tablespoons = 1 oz = 28.4 grams
icing sugar 2 1/2 level tablespoons = 1 oz = 28.4 grams

Natural priming is the process of adding a small amount of sugar to the completed brew and allowing secondary fermentation in a pressure tight vessel to produce CO2 that is naturally dissolved in the brew. Indeed I have read a chemistry account that states that the CO2 produced by the yeast forms a special weak chemical bond rather than just dissolving and this is why natural priming results in a quality fizz that lasts longer giving off fine bubbles over a longer period. I used to say how much better pressure barrels are compared to bottles on the basis of ease of cleaning. Having said this I have recently reverted to crown cap bottles as these keep their pressure for month and months and therefore no need for gas injection and I can keep a few bottles in the fridge for serving my brew, especially lager, cold. Usually natural priming leaves a thin layer of yeast sediment which means you need to be careful when pouring to avoid disturbing the sediment.. I now avoid this issue by first priming in 2 litre PET bottles and then siphoning the primed beer, and not the sediment, into the crown cap glass bottles.

Details of my solution for natural priming without a yeast sediment.

WARNING: This is a bit hit and miss. Many have tried but not that many sucseed. As such I am re-working the fizz with no sediment method

Siphon the brewed beer from the fermenting bin into the 2 Litre PET bottles. NOTE Do not fill the bottle to the top. I leave at least 1 inch of head space.

Add sugar to the beer in the PET Bottles (1 level Table spoon (15 ml) of sugar per 2 litre PET bottles)
Screw the cap on and leave at room temperature 16C - 23C for secondary fermentation to take place.
The purists allow secondary fermentation to take place at around 16C, this slow priming of the beer improves the quality of the fizz. This is copied from the findings of the makers of champagne who found that to get fine bubbles that last, you need to get the fizz by natural secondary fermentation. This fermentation needs to be done slowly and under high pressure. Gas injection results in large bubbles that results in a drink which starts very fizzy and losses its fizz much quicker.

After 7 days the secondary fermentation should be complete and the sediment left at the base of the PET bottle. I leave it for two weeks to be sure.

Place the PET bottles into the fridge and cool to around 4C
Siphon from the PET bottles into crown cap bottles. Leaving at least 1 inch head space.
Seal the bottle with a crown caper and store the bottle for maturing and drinking when ready

NOTE: Since secondary fermentation took place in the PET bottle and the fizzy beer was siphoned into crown cap bottles you have avoided the yeast sediment so you no longer need to worry about yeast when pouring your beer from the bottles. Siphoning fizzy beer can be tricky and the trick is to:
a) Cool the beer to 4C before siphoning, this reduces the beer fizzing.
b) Use a bottle filler at the end of the siphon tube; this is an excellent device that has a sort of on/off sprung loaded button at the end of the tube. The button is pressed against the bottom of the bottle and this turns the flow on and then the beer fills from the bottom of the bottle. This is the least disruptive method of filing bottles and even worked for primed beer. (I am not sure if I have described it well but trust me this is a great device)

My next plan for that perfect fizz
The champagne makers have found that the best quality fizz is obtained by natural priming in the bottle. They tried to produce the fizz by natural priming in a larger tanks and then transferring the primed champagne into the bottles but the quality of the bubbles suffered. True top quality champagne is primed by a very difficult method of priming in the bottle. Allowing the yeast sediment to settle on the cork of the upturned bottle and then using a freezing technique to remove this sediment.
I reckon I can do a similar method by allowing secondary fermentation in the upside-down PET bottle to allow the sediment to settle on the screw cap. I may need to tap the upturned bottle from time to time to ensure that the yeast sediment slides down to the screw cap. I can then expel the sediment by holding the upside-down PET bottle over the sink and applying a short half unscrew of the screw cap such that only the yeasty sediment is released. With the screw cap re-tightened and the yeast expelled the PET bottle can be returned to its upturned position and ready for serving or storing. I have not tried this yet and reckon the tricky bit is getting the sediment to settle on the cap, and the skill of the quick release on the screw cap to release just the yeast sediment.

Update: 6th July 2011

I have used the upside down PET Bottle method to produce clear fizzy beer. My first attempt the cap shot off, fizzy beer shot out like a volcano. Beer and sediment covered me from head to toe, covered the wife and most of the kitchen LOL. When I was sort of forgiven I had another go. I left the fizzy beer in the upside down PET bottles in the fridge overnight and the next day I carefully unscrewed the cap and only lost a small amount of beer and nearly all the sediment. The beer in the bottle was fizzy and clear. The small amount of beer lost nearly all found its way to my T-Shirt LOL.

I am now trying out a new technique that I am pretty excited with. This method is quite simple and can be done using things you buy in the supermarket. Basically is involves attaching to a 2 liter PET botle a smaller ex fizzy drink bottle. It done in a way that the liquid in the small bottle cannot get into the big bottle but any gases can. The gas goes doen a straw. The top bottle has sugary water and ferments to produce CO2 the CO2 goes from the top bottle to the lower bottle and causes the liquid in the lower bottle to become fizzy without the two liquids ever touching. This means I should be able to make fizzy tap water using this method. I plan to try this out and document it in the next Yobrew magazine expected out 1st September 2011.

Example of typical kit instructions click here

The Cornelius keg

This keg was kindly sent to YoBrew to try out. Whilst it was I that opened up the delivery and was ready to take it home for brewing trials, I felt duty bound to lent it out to a more experience home brewer. I asked my friend Nick, a fellow member of the YoBrew team, if he would give the keg a go. I have had to use the sponsor's picture as Nick has become very attached to the keg (hint hint Nick). Nick always has a brew on the go as he does a load of entertaining. He has three of the best plastic kegs going and his findings on the Cornelius keg are:

The Cornelius keg costs more than the average keg but it is worth it. It holds its pressure well and it’s easy to top up with a CO2 injector. The keg comes with a dispensing tap that is attached to a tube. This is great as it means you can have the keg on the floor when you dispense your beer. Dispensing beer is easy with the keg's design. Overall the keg is great and if I was to point out any short comings then it's a little harder to clean inside than a normal keg but this is not a real problem. The volume it holds is slightly less than a normal keg but again this is not a real problem. Overall, in my opinion having used many different type of Kegs, this it's the best keg on the market and if Stephan wants it back he's gonna have to buy one (ho ho ho).

Regards Nick (Team YoBrew)

P.S. Stephan I'll drop the photos round.

Brew kit tips

Bottles
I used to say "Avoid pressure bottles as 40 bottles are a real pain to wash" but I have see these bottles in a better light.
They have the following advantages:

o        Easily fit in a fridge. (Ideal for lager as lager should be served cold)

o        A few bottles are much more portable than A 40 pint barrel.

Crown capper
If you do go for bottles you will need a crown capper .The cheaper ones use a mallet or some sort of stone age bashing device. These are cheap but not worth it in the long run. The lever based ones from specialist homebrew shops are far better.

Hammer based crown cappers

Good point Cheap
Bad points   Hard to do on your own
      (One holds the bottle the other bashes the crown cap into submission)
      Some bottles smash on impact
      (Smashing a bottle of your amber nectar is not good)

Lever based Crown capper

Good points Easy to use
      No smashed bottles
Bad point    Costs a bit more

Pressure barrel

A pressure barrel is nice, but if you get one, save up for a top of the range one. So until then your first brew you may be serving non-sparkling bitter. (Call it real ale and give it your monster beer name e.g. "Pit bull bolter")
Since writing this I have been impressed with the merits of the humble plastic fizzy drink bottles. I now keep my old lemonade / cola PET bottles as they are ideal. See the priming section at the top of this page. In Asda I bought a 2 litre bottle of lemonade for 15p. This has got to be the cheapest and most convenient pressure store for your brew.

If you are getting a pressure barrel then a Cornelius keg is a good choice. There are also available smaller kegs 2 x 20 pints instead of the one big keg. I'm not sure about this. At the really advanced end of the scale are pressure barrels that have a pressure gauge. This is handy it tell you when secondary fermentation is over and also lets you know when to inject CO2 assuming you have a CO2 injector. (All a bit top of the range and more suited to the keen home brewer than the dedicated beer monster) I went to my local home brew shop with a load of money determined to spend it. My two pressure barrels are both second hand and cost a total of one pound. One of the pair is no longer keeping the pressure. Time for a new top of the range job. Nitrogen injected with pressure gauge etc. The shop keeper managed to talk me out of it. He suggested I bring the barrel round as it may just need new seals. So no new toy.

I'll be back. Next time I'll be strong, I'll not leave until I have parted with at lease a tenner.

Beer Trouble Shooter
Fault	Cause	Prevention	Remedy
Fermentation Slow or stopped	Normally due to the fermentation temperature being too low	Use a thermostatic heater set at around 20C	Warm up the brew and give the brew a good stir with a long handled spoon. Warm the brew either warmer room or get a thermostatic temperature controller.
Unpleasant smells during fermentation	Caused by a brew having a top fermenting yeast	None if you want to use these types of yeast.	Unavoidable, Fumes can be dispersed by uncovering; However this adds to the risk of contamination. Best way is to leave it.
Flat beer	Lack of priming sugar before sealing bottles or barrel. It could be poor seal for a barrel.	Use 2 litre plastic (PET) ex-lemonade bottles not a pressure barrel. If you do use a pressure barrel make sure you grease the rubber seal.	Add more priming sugar and then Use 2 litre plastic (PET) ex-lemonade bottles not a pressure barrel. If you do use a pressure barrel make sure you grease the rubber seal.
Cloudy / Yeasty beer	Storing beer at a temperature too high. Poor settling agent (finings). Poor flocculation of the yeast. Poor decanting method.	Ensure beer is stored a cool temperature. approx 16C Ensure good fining are used if in doubt or suspect a settling issue use Irish moss, a sort of seaweed) This is often added to the wort when boiling so should not be needed for kit brewers. Use a quality yeast known for its ability to settle. Use a barrel that allows the beer to be taken from the top by means of a float and a tube rather than a barrel that draws the brew from the bottom nearer the sediment. Or use 2 Litre PET lemonade bottles. These are clear so you can see the yeast settle.	Cool your beer if too warm Re-apply fining but best to talk to your local homebrew shop to see what is best.
Cloudy but not yeasty	Bacterial infection	Clean and sterilise all equipment / utensils	None
Poor head retention	Can be caused by very small traces of household detergent when washing the glass	Always rinse liberally in plain water after washing. Some brewers try to avoid detergents when washing because of this problem	None
Beer too lively	Often caused by excessive priming	Ensure exact priming sugar for the amount of fizz you want	Place in refrigerator for an hour. I assume we are not using glass bottles. Glass is way too dangerous to over prime. Exploding glass bottles cause a lot of damage

Typical lager / Bitter kit instructions.

1) Stand can in hot water for 5 minutes
2) Open the can and pour the contents into a clean, STERILISED fermenting bin
3) Into 6 pints of boiling water , dissolve 1 kilo (2.2lbs) of sugar. And pour this into the fermenting bin, stir well
4) Pour 31 pints of cold water into the fermenting bin and stir well
5) The temperature should now be 65-70F (18-20C), sprinkle the yeast over the liquid and stir. The fermenting bin should now be covered and put into a warm place 65-75F (18-24C)
6) Fermentation takes 4 - 6 days, and will be complete when bubbles stop rising, or, when the Specific Gravity is below about 1.006 for 24 hours
7) Using strong bottles or a suitable pressure barrel with a safety valve fitted, syphon the beer ( avoid sediment disruption), and add 1/2 teaspoonful of sugar per pint bottle. Fill to an inch below the crown cap. (use 4 oz sugar for a pressure barrel, ideally in a syrup - i.e. in 1/2 pint of hot water dissolve the sugar)
8) Cap the bottles/ seal the pressure barrel and leave in a warm place for 2-3 days to produce the pressure to prime the brew.
9) Place bottles / barrel in a cool place for al least 4 weeks to clear and mature.

Some typical beer drinking temperatures (°C).

These figures are a rough guide only, they should only be regarded as “typical” as there are many exceptions, especially amongst the Abbey/Trappist beers. I have collated the information form various sources & cannot vouch for their accuracy or whether a degree or three deviation makes any discernable difference.

Style	Temp °C	Style	Temp °C
Abbey/Trappist <8.5% ABV	10-14	Kriek (Cherry)	9-13
Abbey/Trappist 8.5% + ABV	15-18	Lager inc. Munich & Vienna, Helles	9
Altbier	9	Lambic Fruit	8-9
Baltic Stout/Porter	13-18	Lambic/Gueuze	9-13
Barley Wine	10-13	Marzen/Oktoberfest/Maibock	9
Belgian Ale	7-12	Old brown Lager	8-9
Belgian Strong Ale	10	Pilsner, Golden Lager	9
Biere de Guarde	10-13	Porter inc. Alaskan	10-13
Bitter, ESB, IPA, Old ale, Pale Ale, Strong Ale	10-13	Rauchbier	9-12
Bock, Double Bock	9	Saison	10-13
Brown/Mild Ale	10-13	Scottish Ale inc. Strong & Wee Heavy	10-13
Dark lager/Dunkle/Schwarzbier	9-11	Stout, Dry, Sweet, Milk, Oatmeal, Oyster, Irish	10-13
Dortmunder	9	Tripel	10+
Flemish Red/Brown	9-13	Weiss/Wit/Wheat - dark	9-12
Framboise (Raspberry)	9-12	Weiss/Wit/Wheat - light	9-11
Imperial Stout	13-18	Wheat - Belgian	9-10
Irish Red Ale	9-10
Kolsch	9	Rubbish beers & lagers	0-5

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Ales, beers and lagers "Brew enough to go around "

Beer introduction

Beer Recipes.

Priming your beer (i.e. putting the fizz into it).

Details of my solution for natural priming without a yeast sediment.

The Cornelius keg

Beer Trouble Shooter

Typical lager / Bitter kit instructions.

Some typical beer drinking temperatures (°C).