Recipe for making a substitute PBW beer equipment cleaner

There are many facets of beer making that are important:

The right hops.

The right temperature at which to brew.

The right yeast.

The right sized kettle.

The right whatever else you think is important.

But as any cook, painter, website designer or astronaut will tell you, preparation is the key to success and the father of successful brewing is making sure that your beer making equipment is clean!

We've previously recommended PBW as a literal solution to cleaning your brewing equipment as it is a proven cleaner and degreaser.

But as a branded home brewer product, Powdered Brewery Wash can cost you some real cash money. Many brewers swear by and believe in its value but if you are looking to get a substitute product at a cheaper price, there's a handy wee trick you may wish to try to make your own version of PBW.

What you are going to do is replicate the two main ingredients of PBW to make your own recipe.

We are looking to source these two active ingredients found in PBW.

• Sodium percarbonate 
• Sodium metasilicate

So where does one find these ingredients in home products?

The good news is that you might already have the percarbonate on a shelf in your laundry at home!

Many washing machine soaker's main ingredient is based the chemical we are after, sodium percarbonate.

Examples of the brands we are talking about are the household names such as Tide, Oxiclean, or Napisan.

For the metasilicate, we've found that many home DIY brewers use a cleaner called Red Devil TSP/90. You can find it on Amazon or local stores such as Walmart, Lowes or Home Depot. Sparklebright is also well known for containing TSP.

The TSP stands for tri-sodium phosphate. That chemical is not actually used much in America due to environmental concerns so the TSP/90 is actually a substitute product, hence the meta-silicate!

Confusing much?

So how to prepare this combo?

Now, mixing chemicals found in the kitchen or laundry can be dangerous but we are not using chlorine or ammonia here so we are on safe ground to mix our formula's ingredients.

The ratio to prepare is 70% Oxiclean with 30% TSP/90 - by weight. This ratio gives you your DIY version of PBW.

How much powder to use?

The concentration is 1 ounce per gallon of water which equates to 30 grams per 3.5 litres which is basically about 10 grams per litre.

Safety precautions

While Red Devil TSP/90 contains no phosphorous, lye or other abrasives and the laundry soaker is pretty benign, it is prudent to use protective gloves during use. This is because the chemicals are alkaline and contact with your skin is not recommended.

You can then use your cleaner in the usual manner to soak and scrub your fermenter and other brewing equipment. 

You can also wash beer gear with dish washing liquid to get gunk off first.

Leave a Comment cleaning your equipment, PBW, sanitization, tri-sodium phopsphate

7 simple tips for the beginner beer brewer

7 handy tips for new beer brewers 

If you're sick of drinking 'dry white wine' at dinner parties and want to take the plunge and brew your first batch of home brew beer, good on you!

If you take the time to do it right, you will be rewarded with a refreshingly good beverage.

Are you with me?

A good start to your 'brewing campaign' will give you the confidence that brewing home brew is actually easy and you might continue with it as a hobby.

There's certainly a lot to learn, so if you are a first-time beer brewer, you might want to have a read of these tips and tricks.

1. That starter beer kit your wife gave you for Christmas is not enough

While the beer kit you were given for Christmas by your loving wife or partner will help you on your way to making a good homebrew beer, you can do better.

Kits that only come with a bag of sugar or dextrose alone will contribute to a beer that's weak in the sense that it will seem thin in terms of its 'mouth feel'.

Think of mouthfeel as that sense of 'full heartiness' that you get from that first mouthful of a well-deserved beer. In response to this need, the home brewer should consider adding more malt - either liquid or dry malt.

For the dry malt, a 'brew enhancer' pack is what you need.

In this writer's experience, making a homebrew beer kit without the enhancer most definitely results in a weaker feeling beer, so make sure your starter kit comes with it or at the least, head to your local brew shop and grab a packet.

It shouldn't cost more than ten bucks.

2. You'd do best to brew an ale than a lager

The truth is that the darker the beer, the more forgiving it will be in the home brewing process. It's very easy to make a brewing mistake with your first home brew so a beer style that's good to drink and is also easy to take care of is the brew you are after.

Basically, the heavier flavor of the beer will mask things such as 'off' bi-products of the fermentation process caused by things such as temperature mismanagement.

While you should feel free to start with a lager, and yes, many beer kits do come with lagers, bear in mind that lagers need to be cooled rather more quickly than an ale and they also require a bit more yeast in the fermentation process.

You can drink them sooner too!

We love brewing Nut Brown Ales for this reason!

3. In the cold cold, night

Fermentation is a process that requires just the right kind of temperatures and the right kind of times.

Different temperatures brew different kinds of beers.

A constant temperature is also very important as the yeast can react to a temperature variance in ways that are not good for tasty beer! So when doing your first brews, make sure it can be done in a warmish area and one that's going to keep that temperature.

A very rough guide is that you should aim to brew lagers between 10-14 degrees and get those ales done between 18-21 degrees.

You got that White Stripes reference right?

4. You don't need to bottle straight away, just because the fermentation bottle has stopped bubbling

If the bubbles in the airlock have stopped completely, this is not necessarily a sign that the fermentation process has completed. It's quite likely that there's still some fermentation quietly happening in the drum.

So let that play out a bit longer. It could be that you let your beer rest longer than the written instructions that came with your beer kit.

Give the yeast time to do its thing. Maybe you could add some hops.

If you are feeling brave, you could even consider cold crashing the beer just before you bottle. Basically, you just leave the drum in a fridge for a week when fermentation is complete.

Then bottle away.

5. But don't bottle too early!

Simply put, don't bottle too early.

This basically point four repeated.

If you bottle before fermentation has completed too early, you could be in for some trouble.

Did you ever see that Breaking Bad episode where Hank woke up in the night thinking he was being shot at but in reality, it was just his home brew exploding?

That's what happens if you bottle your beer too early, the primary fermentation continues, the CO2 pressure builds and then kaboom! Don't be like Hank, let your beer mellow in the fermenter just a bit longer.

Chances are it will taste better too!

6. Using a hydrometer will help you develop your home brewer's 'Sixth Sense' about how your brew is going.

A hydrometer, correctly used will help you to determine if your batch has finished fermenting. If you get the same reading twice in a row, the fermentation process has finished - but leave it just a little bit longer before you bottle.

Trust us on this one.

You can also use the hydrometer to work out the alcohol content of your beer.

7. Good things come to those who wait

Once you've managed to get your precious liquid gold into your well-sterilized bottles we can only imagine how keen you are to sample your efforts. You're going to have to wait.

The instructions in your beer kit may suggest you need to wait two or three weeks.

Believe them. Or not.

Let your beer have time to make those bubbles.

You will be rewarded with a better-tasting beer. If you can't wait, get yourself busy with a second brew and at the very least, give your equipment a good clean.

So that's plenty of things to think about. Once you've done that, get brewing!

When you've become a pro brewer, you can then start to think about ph meters and propane burners and the best conical fermenters!!

Beer image courtesy James Palinsad by way of Creative Commons licence. We have no idea if James prefers Star Trek or has even read Mortal Engines.

Leave a Comment dextrose, how to brew that first beer, hydrometer, steralisation, sugar, tips for beginners, tricks and tips

↠ Best faucet tap for pouring beer

What's the best tap for pouring beer from a keg?

If you're going to make a kegerator, jockey box or beer dispenser for your bar or keg system that's any good, you are going to need a quality beer faucet. They are integral to your dispensing system.

A good faucet will not leak and you'll feel like a king when pouring a cold beer from something you've installed yourself. 

When looking for the best kind of faucet for your set up, you may want to consider the following attributes.

• Your tap ideally will have a 4-inch shank threading which means it's suitable for all standard tap handles.
• It should be leak proof when tapping a keg
• It should be durable
• The faucet and shank are ideally made of chrome-plated brass or stainless steel.
• The produce a smooth pouring action

That's your basic set up for a tap faucet.

As with most beer brewing equipment, there is an absolute range of faucets on the market from your basic steel versions that retail for cheaper than 15 dollars to the high end of the market where a quality chrome faucet will cost you a sharp 55 dollars. 

It's up to you as the master of your domain to install whatever kind of faucet you want, but just remember, cheap and cheerful is for dining, not a good beer drinking experience. Cheap equipment can corrode over time, many you'll need to replace it, effectively doubling your cost!

We would recommend you go at least mid-range when selecting a beer faucet for your kegerator. 

If you don't want to muck around deciding on what to buy, then it may interest you to know that the beer faucet that is most often bought via this site is the renowned Perlick 630SS tap.

The Perlick is a bit of a premium champ went it comes to faucets - it's a genuine quality product. 

Featuring a forward seat design to prevent the lever from sticking and quick handle action, it's easy to take apart and clean as well. 

The Perlick also features a 'spout angle' that helps keep your homebrew from collecting inside. This feature reduces the chance of beer drips.

Many industrial players install these faucets on coffee dispensers due to their exceptional performance and low maintenance needs.

Here are some reviews from brewers who have installed these units after buying them on Amazon:

"Amazing faucet! Never gets stuck or clogged like others. I can keep the keg pressure significantly higher than my old faucet and still get a smooth pour. Highly recommended."

"So far I have 2 Perlick 630SS taps and they both work flawlessly. I have not tried any of the generic taps but went straight to these. If these keep working as they are then I will be enjoying these for years to come."

"Great taps, and a good price. They seal quite well, and don't leak at all"

If these genuine, real deal testimonials seal the deal, check out the price on Amazon.

If you are looking to drop down to a mid-range draught beer dispenser that's a bit easier on the wallet, then consider this basic G Francis model:

It's sturdy and made to do the business of tapping a keg. To install one simply pulls out and then down on the lever handle to properly couple the keg.

The 4.9-inch length and 4.2-inch width of this beer faucet make it easy to handle and function. It has a standard 4” shank threading makes this beer faucet quite suitable for all standard tap handles.

The black knob is a twist on and can so you can swap it out with your own personal knobs!

Check out the price on Amazon.

To add and remove faucets, a specially designed wrench may be of use. These handy tools will help you install your facuet relatively easy. The key thing to remember is to not over tighten the faucet!

Leave a Comment beer taps, faucet, jockey box, kegerator, perlick

How to get all the malt out of the kit can

When I was a young lad at High School, it was mandatory to take a woodwork class.

It was simple stuff like make a pencil case, make a toolbox, turn a candle on a lathe.

The teacher was a 'dude' who wasn't like other teachers. He didn't care about pulling socks up or shirts tucked in.

What he did care about was cutting wood properly.

His mantra was that 'if you cut on the line of your measurement mark, you are changing the size or shape of your intended cut'. That is to say you saw next to your mark, not on it. 

I never forgot this and I randomly remembered it the other day when I was using a kit (a nice nut brown ale) and was trying to ensure I got all the malt out of the can. This was because the kits are designed to make a certain amount of beer and if you leave malt in the tin, you are changing the 'shape' of the recipe. But it can be a pain to get it all the malt out. It is thicker than chainsaw bar oil and takes some time to come out of the can.

So here's what I did to get all the malt out:



As you can see, I opened the tin with an opener but didn't completely cut it off. I then bent it up so I could rest it as pictured. I was quite happy with this little discovery!

I let it sit there for a few minutes and most of it goes into the fermentor. Then I add boiling water to the can and let that site for a short while. The water dissolves any residue and then I pour the rest into the fermenter.

If you'll note that glass on the window sill - that's the yeast soaking in water prior to pitching.

Leave a Comment ale beer kits, beer kit, malt