Hiya,

Completely new to this and just running from a shop bought kit. Just some
simple questions:

Should I boil the water? Doesn't say so in the instructions, and I am
running all the water through a Brita filter first (b/c the water tastes
awful round here without it)

Do I sterilise bottles & bottle tops or just the brew equipment? Is the
sterilised stuff only trulely rinsed when it no longer smells like the
inside of a dentist surgery? :)

cheers
Catchy

catchy <catchy@catchy.net> wrote in message
news:1067360753.72657.0@despina.uk.clara.net...[color=blue]
> Hiya,
>
> Completely new to this and just running from a shop bought kit. Just some
> simple questions:[/color]

First off, go here:

[url]www.howtobrew.com[/url]
[color=blue]
>
> Should I boil the water? Doesn't say so in the instructions, and I am
> running all the water through a Brita filter first (b/c the water tastes
> awful round here without it)[/color]

It really depends on the kit. Some are no-boil, some require boiling. Ask
the owner of the shop where you bought the kit.
[color=blue]
>
> Do I sterilise bottles & bottle tops or just the brew equipment? Is the
> sterilised stuff only trulely rinsed when it no longer smells like the
> inside of a dentist surgery? :)[/color]

Again, it depends. You want to sanitize (as opposed to sterilize) the
bottles and caps. If you're doing a boil kit, anything that touches the
brew prior to, or during the boil doesn't need to be sanitized, because the
boil will kill any bugs. With no-boil, or anything that comes in contact
after the boil, needs to be sanitized.

Rinse vs. no-rinse is dependent upon the sanitizer used. Iodophor in
concentations of 25 ppm doesn't need to be rinsed. Bleach does.

Beer here,

Mike

--
sarge0503 at sbabootcamp dot commercial
[url]www.schwedhelm.net/brew/[/url]

cheers!

"Mike D'Brewer" <me@privacy.net> wrote in message
news:bnmop4$1323n0$1@ID-204732.news.uni-berlin.de...[color=blue]
> catchy <catchy@catchy.net> wrote in message
> news:1067360753.72657.0@despina.uk.clara.net...[color=green]
> > Hiya,
> >
> > Completely new to this and just running from a shop bought kit. Just[/color][/color]
some[color=blue][color=green]
> > simple questions:[/color]
>
> First off, go here:
>
> [url]www.howtobrew.com[/url]
>[color=green]
> >
> > Should I boil the water? Doesn't say so in the instructions, and I am
> > running all the water through a Brita filter first (b/c the water tastes
> > awful round here without it)[/color]
>
> It really depends on the kit. Some are no-boil, some require boiling.[/color]
Ask[color=blue]
> the owner of the shop where you bought the kit.
>[color=green]
> >
> > Do I sterilise bottles & bottle tops or just the brew equipment? Is the
> > sterilised stuff only trulely rinsed when it no longer smells like the
> > inside of a dentist surgery? :)[/color]
>
> Again, it depends. You want to sanitize (as opposed to sterilize) the
> bottles and caps. If you're doing a boil kit, anything that touches the
> brew prior to, or during the boil doesn't need to be sanitized, because[/color]
the[color=blue]
> boil will kill any bugs. With no-boil, or anything that comes in contact
> after the boil, needs to be sanitized.
>
> Rinse vs. no-rinse is dependent upon the sanitizer used. Iodophor in
> concentations of 25 ppm doesn't need to be rinsed. Bleach does.
>
> Beer here,
>
> Mike
>
> --
> sarge0503 at sbabootcamp dot commercial
> [url]www.schwedhelm.net/brew/[/url]
>
>[/color]

Should you boil the water: Yes!!! Boiling the water for 60 minutes
will give you a nice "hot break" removing certain proteins and other
things known as "trub" which can affect appearance and flavor.

Sterilize anything that isn't coming in contact with your boiling
brewpot. Clean it too. Clean means free of debris, sterile means
sterilized with bleach, TSP or iodine (be careful with iodine). Any
bacteria can ruin your beer, and may again give it off flavor if the
yeast has to compete with it. The cleaner the better.

As for the smell after sterilization, I would cut down on the
concentration of whatever you are using to sterilize a bit. Or switch
to TSP. I've had no problems with it.

HTH, Steve
catchy wrote:[color=blue]
> Hiya,
>
> Completely new to this and just running from a shop bought kit. Just some
> simple questions:
>
> Should I boil the water? Doesn't say so in the instructions, and I am
> running all the water through a Brita filter first (b/c the water tastes
> awful round here without it)
>
> Do I sterilise bottles & bottle tops or just the brew equipment? Is the
> sterilised stuff only trulely rinsed when it no longer smells like the
> inside of a dentist surgery? :)
>
> cheers
> Catchy
>
>[/color]