devonjester
New Member
- Joined
- Nov 5, 2012
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Hi all,
My parents have been making wine from kits as well as all sorts of raw ingredients, as well as dad making beer from kits very successfully for years so I've grown up with the constant sound of an airlock doing it's job (my old bedroom in the family home is now the brewing room)! I got through my student years brewing beer from kit and have never had a problem. Maybe I should stick to kits!
As a new addition to a local Movember charity event, a few of us at my local rugby club have decided to brew some beer from raw ingredients very kindly donated from a local microbrewery (we're calling it a 'beer'd festival). Kind chap also gave some instructions, but I couldn't attend the breiefing so have got them second hand. After 48 hours, I'm getting very little fermentation with my brew and think something is wrong. Any advice greatly received. The process I used is as follows;
1. Roasted pearl barley at 130 deg C for about 45 mins, allowed to cool and then crushed.
2. Added 3.6kg pearl barley to 20l of filtered water, along with a small amount of "salts and mash"(?) and kept at 70 degC for about 90mins.
3. Strained into a sterlised brewing bucket and flushed the spent barley, the zest of 4 oranges and 12g of crushed corriander with warm water until I had about 23l. I was told to then leave to cool, so I went out for the day and came back about 5 hours later (didn't really see the need for this step, but did it anyway).
4. I then boiled for 20 minutes.
5. Allowed to cool to 70 deg C, then I added a pint of dried hops (don't know the varities unfortunately) and kept at 70 deg C for 30 mins.
6. Added another variety of hops (pint ish) and kept at 70 deg C for another 30 mins.
7. Added a final variety of hops (pint ish) and I think it was a Protofloc tablet for a final 30 mins at 70 deg C.
8. Added 4 tablespoons of honey to re-sterilised brewing bucket, strained brew in and topped up with warm water to 23l.
9. It was late, so I left to cool overnight with the lid on. The next morning (Sat) I turned on the heating band about 06:00 and then sprinkled the yeast on top about 2 hours later, with a good stir. Yesterday, as I wasn't seeing any fermentation, I put an old blanket over to try to insulate, (our house is not that warm) and although it seems to have evened out the temperature, the yeast does not seem to be at all busy. I am getting about 6 or 7 small brown spots on the surface, but no bubbles or froth that I was expecting.
The brew smells lovely and I'd hate for all my hard work to be wasted - any advice (especially on how to recover my brew but also on what I may have done wrong) would be greatly received.
Many thanks for your time,
Colin (wannabe brewer!) :
My parents have been making wine from kits as well as all sorts of raw ingredients, as well as dad making beer from kits very successfully for years so I've grown up with the constant sound of an airlock doing it's job (my old bedroom in the family home is now the brewing room)! I got through my student years brewing beer from kit and have never had a problem. Maybe I should stick to kits!
As a new addition to a local Movember charity event, a few of us at my local rugby club have decided to brew some beer from raw ingredients very kindly donated from a local microbrewery (we're calling it a 'beer'd festival). Kind chap also gave some instructions, but I couldn't attend the breiefing so have got them second hand. After 48 hours, I'm getting very little fermentation with my brew and think something is wrong. Any advice greatly received. The process I used is as follows;
1. Roasted pearl barley at 130 deg C for about 45 mins, allowed to cool and then crushed.
2. Added 3.6kg pearl barley to 20l of filtered water, along with a small amount of "salts and mash"(?) and kept at 70 degC for about 90mins.
3. Strained into a sterlised brewing bucket and flushed the spent barley, the zest of 4 oranges and 12g of crushed corriander with warm water until I had about 23l. I was told to then leave to cool, so I went out for the day and came back about 5 hours later (didn't really see the need for this step, but did it anyway).
4. I then boiled for 20 minutes.
5. Allowed to cool to 70 deg C, then I added a pint of dried hops (don't know the varities unfortunately) and kept at 70 deg C for 30 mins.
6. Added another variety of hops (pint ish) and kept at 70 deg C for another 30 mins.
7. Added a final variety of hops (pint ish) and I think it was a Protofloc tablet for a final 30 mins at 70 deg C.
8. Added 4 tablespoons of honey to re-sterilised brewing bucket, strained brew in and topped up with warm water to 23l.
9. It was late, so I left to cool overnight with the lid on. The next morning (Sat) I turned on the heating band about 06:00 and then sprinkled the yeast on top about 2 hours later, with a good stir. Yesterday, as I wasn't seeing any fermentation, I put an old blanket over to try to insulate, (our house is not that warm) and although it seems to have evened out the temperature, the yeast does not seem to be at all busy. I am getting about 6 or 7 small brown spots on the surface, but no bubbles or froth that I was expecting.
The brew smells lovely and I'd hate for all my hard work to be wasted - any advice (especially on how to recover my brew but also on what I may have done wrong) would be greatly received.
Many thanks for your time,
Colin (wannabe brewer!) :
