Youngs American IPA newbie first brew. A few questions

tms5735 · Jul 15, 2017

Hi all.

I just started my first homebrew today. Youngs American IPA.

All seems to have gone well and It is now in the fermentation bucket and hopefully on its way to becoming a great beer!

My first question is.

It says in the instructions to ferment at between 20 and 24 degrees

I have a heat mat linked to an inkbird.

What would be the best temperature to regulate the fermentation bucket to? I currently have it set to 23 degrees with 0.5 degrees tolerance before heater is turned on. Is that ok?

Also my og reading was 1.052. Does this sound about right? ( og was taken prob at about 24 degrees instead of the 20 degrees my hydrometer is calibrated to if that makes a difference)

Many thanks

Fil · Jul 15, 2017

hi and welcome,

Wow thats warm for fermentation, generally as a rule of thumb its prudent to ferment at the cooler end of the temp range published for the yeast your using..
if the kit has any further information on the yeast strain supplied it may be prudent to follow that up..

warmer fermentations tend to encourage more of the unwanted easter and fusel flavours, and at this time of year most of us are frantically chilling our brews so i would pull the heat input off asap. As the fermentation will generate upto 5C over ambient itself.

a lil extra heat at the start will probably have no detrimental effect so dont panic, but really pull the heating NOW.

you can google temp corrections for hydrometers as it does make a difference but your certainly in the right sort of ball park for a 5% abv brew

my #1 tip as usual is to keep the lid on the brew, and if you need a look see do so from the side thru a cracked lid rather than stood over the lidless brew scratching your chin/bonce

happy brewing

tms5735 · Jul 16, 2017

Thanks for the reply. I have now dropped temp on the inkbird to 20.5 degrees and also installed a fan onto the inkbird cooling circuit to hopefully keep it there.

I am so glad I posted on this forum. Seems like I may have saved my beer from being a disaster!

Thanks again for the advice mate

Fil · Jul 16, 2017

I had to check out the kit instructions as i have not brewed that kit myself. https://www.youngsgroup.co.uk/images/instructions/New American Beer Kit Instructions1.pdf

Pretty good as far as kit instructions go, even recommends a 1 month maturing in the cool, tho with a heavily dry hopped aipa i would be sampling after a couple of weeks myself..

But not much of a clue to the yeast strain employed

whole thread about the kit here tho http://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=45221.

terrym · Jul 16, 2017

@tms5735
There is a good thread on this beer here
http://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=45221
My comments are
- it will take longer than most kits to ferment out, longer than three weeks is not uncommon, so be patient
- I would leave it until it has properly finished and starting to clear before I added the hops, irrespective of what the instructions tell you, that way you have control over the time the hops are on the beer and that will also minimise the yeast carry over into your bottles
- keep an eye on the primary fermentation, it can be very 'robust' and may want to climb through your airlock; a blow off tube may be of use here (check this out on this forum)
- I found that this kit is ready to drink as soon as it is clear which could be as early as two weeks on from bottling

Oneflewover · Jul 16, 2017

Terrym has it spot on. This was the second kit I ever brewed, and one of the best. Excellent place to start brewing :)

tms5735 · Jul 17, 2017

Thanks for all the advice.

Fermentation kicked off yesterday evening and airlock is now bubbling very nicely (about 2 a second). No foaming over yet but perhaps I still have this to come.

Anyway. It's looking promising for my first ever brew. I must admit I was a bit worried I hadn't properly sterilized or done something wrong when it hadn't started fermenting after 24 hours. But that was just first time nerves! Here's hoping for an excellent beer!

LarryF · Jul 17, 2017

Welcome aboard tms, there's some good threads on here to occupy your time waiting on your AIPA to ferment out:

http://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/forumdisplay.php?f=26&order=desc

GhostShip · Jul 17, 2017

I've only done three kits to date but if I could pass on one piece of advice it would be 'don't rush anything'!

Three weeks in the FV is what I now aim for, then a further two weeks in the barrel or bottles at room temperature and then two weeks in the cold. Once it's back at room temperature, it's just a case of trying to keep your hands off it for as long as you can bear!

Are you putting it into a barrel or bottling?

Good luck - hope it's a success.

tms5735 · Jul 17, 2017

Thanks for the advice ghostship.

I will be bottling it into 1 litre pet bottles. I have an auto siphon and bottling wand on order so hopefully won't be too much of an ordeal

GhostShip · Jul 18, 2017

tms5735 said:
Thanks for the advice ghostship.

I will be bottling it into 1 litre pet bottles. I have an auto siphon and bottling wand on order so hopefully won't be too much of an ordeal

Both the auto siphon and bottling wand are brilliant pieces of kit that just make life so much easier.

I actually really like PET bottles. Just a slight squeeze gives an instant indication of carbonation - something you can't do with glass bottles and if you do get a 'bomb', plastic is so much more forgiving than glass!

I'll be really interested to hear how it turns out as it's a kit I'd like to do. I look forward to a review in a few weeks.

Good luck with it all.

tms5735 · Jul 29, 2017

Update: just took a hydrometer reading after 14 days in fermentation bucket. I get 1.009

My question is. Should I add hops now as gravity reading is below 0.010 recommended in instructions for adding hops.

Or should I wait until fermentation has finished completely?

Also. I am going to add hops in a muslin bag. Will 4 stainless steel teaspoons be enough to weigh it down?

Thanks. Appreciate any thoughts you all have.

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