Advise please - Brewing from kits

[lateuk]

Hello all,
I'm new here, but not to brewing. I'm aiming to work my way up to propper ingredients once i have mastered brewing from kits. Unfortunatly the last 4 kits i have done have not been all that sucessful. Just wanted advise on the following please, in an attempt to get the next ones right. Thanks in advance.

- I only tend to brew in the winter as i struggle to find somewhere cool to keep my king kegs in the summer. But because of this i leave my kit empty for a good few months. After this i just use stericlean as directed on all the kit. Is this enough or should i use something stronger?
- I brew in a airlocked fermentor on a heat matt, what would be the ideal temperature for this be?
- should i remove from the heat matt before syphoning and allow to cool?
- When syphoning into the king kegs should i add standard sugar or glucose? Also should this be boiled first to sterilize the sugar?
- When syphoning into the king kegs should i be adding finings then?
- Once it is in the king kegs what temperature do i need to keep it at for the few days required for the extra fermentation? (ie. Is on the heat matt to hot?).
- What temperature should the place be where i keep the beer to clear and store for drinking? I think this may be too warm.
- Is it ok to use just tap water from the tap or should i boil it first?

Thanks

 

[markp]

Hello all,
I'm new here, but not to brewing. I'm aiming to work my way up to propper ingredients once i have mastered brewing from kits. Unfortunatly the last 4 kits i have done have not been all that sucessful. Just wanted advise on the following please, in an attempt to get the next ones right. Thanks in advance.

Firstly, welcome to the forum
- I only tend to brew in the winter as i struggle to find somewhere cool to keep my king kegs in the summer. But because of this i leave my kit empty for a good few months. After this i just use stericlean as directed on all the kit. Is this enough or should i use something stronger?
I've never come accross stericlean....personally I use vwp, rinse well follwed by videne. There is a lot of info here on the forum about sanitisation
- I brew in a airlocked fermentor on a heat matt, what would be the ideal temperature for this be?
For beers, 20 degrees is great
- should i remove from the heat matt before syphoning and allow to cool?
If you remove from the heat mat and allow to cool, you will tend to get more sediment settling out and hence a clearer beer, so yes it is benfecial...particularly if you have a secondary vessel
- When syphoning into the king kegs should i add standard sugar or glucose? Also should this be boiled first to sterilize the sugar?
You can use ordinary sugar or brewing sugar to prime....also consider using dried malt extract for priming and for your additional fermentables during the kit make up-
When syphoning into the king kegs should i be adding finings then?
I usually add finings when I rack to my seconday fermenter
- Once it is in the king kegs what temperature do i need to keep it at for the few days required for the extra fermentation? (ie. Is on the heat matt to hot?).

Yes, keep it at 20 degrees for another week and then in to the cold
- What temperature should the place be where i keep the beer to clear and store for drinking? I think this may be too warm.
Drinking temperature - about 10-13 degrees

- Is it ok to use just tap water from the tap or should i boil it first?
Just use tap water treated with half a crushed campden tablet
Thanks

ATB :)

 

[Aleman]

I leave my kit empty for a good few months. After this i just use stericlean as directed on all the kit. Is this enough or should i use something stronger?

As long as you put it away clean, then a simple rinse with water and sanitise using whatever you normally use should be fine . . .although I though stericlene was designed to be used to keep an already clean vessel 'usable' for up to 6 weeks . . . Something like iodophor would be excellent for sanitising as it is no rinse.

I brew in a airlocked fermentor on a heat matt, what would be the ideal temperature for this be?

The ideal temperature for fermentation is 18-22C so as long as the beer doesn't get hotter than this its OK . . . FWIW I wouldn't use any heat source without some form of thermostatic control.

should i remove from the heat matt before syphoning and allow to cool?

Yep allow to cool then syphon to another container.

When syphoning into the king kegs should i add standard sugar or glucose? Also should this be boiled first to sterilize the sugar?

I would go with Sugar . . . although I normally get to use malt extract . . .it doesn't really make too much difference. . . . Its always worth boiling the priming sugar.

When syphoning into the king kegs should i be adding finings then?

Add the boiling primings to the keg and then syphon the cold beer on top of that.

Once it is in the king kegs what temperature do i need to keep it at for the few days required for the extra fermentation? (ie. Is on the heat matt to hot?).

It needs to be at fermentation temperature to develop condition.

What temperature should the place be where i keep the beer to clear and store for drinking? I think this may be too warm.

Cask Marque suggest 12-13C is the ideal temperature . . . As I do ales and Lagers I store mine at 10C.

Is it ok to use just tap water from the tap or should i boil it first?

For kits the only water treatment you need to use is 1/2 a campden tablet in 5 gallons as you run it off to eliminate the chlorine added by the water companies.

 

[paulbrrtt]

Hi I was reading this because I want to add finnings to my beer when its ready but a bit stumped on the "add boiling finnings"? I have a packet of finnings and it just says add to brew when fermented nothing about boiling, any ideas?

 

[ni9e]

Irish moss is a boil fining you add it to the boiling wort usually in the final 15 mins but as your using a kit you just need to add the finings to the keg but saying that most kit beers do not require fining as given time they tend to clear on there own

 

[Wez]

You can add some finings to the boiler when brewing from grain these come in several forms, such as Irish Moss, Whirlfloc, Protofloc. For clearing beer in the keg or fermenter use something like Issinglass.

 

[paulbrrtt]

Ah TY for clearing that up. The kit Im using is the wherry kit, Im not even sure I will add finnings to it as Im hoping to keep this till xmas so it should have plenty of time to clear, Having heard so much about it I just want to get it right

 

[Aleman]

Hi I was reading this because I want to add finnings to my beer when its ready but a bit stumped on the "add boiling finnings"? I have a packet of finnings and it just says add to brew when fermented nothing about boiling, any ideas?

My apologies, my mind was somewhere else when I was writing that what I should have said was add the boiling primings (sugar) to the keg and then rack the beer on top. . . . . If I was to add finings I would do it about half way through the transfer, so the heat carried by the sugar has dispersed and the finings would be mixed in well with no extra stirring.

 

[Moley]

After this i just use stericlean as directed on all the kit. Is this enough or should i use something stronger?

I've never come accross stericlean....personally I use vwp, rinse well followed by videne.

Steri-Cleen is labelled as a cleaner & steriliser. It's in powder form (probably similar to Chempro SDP), dissolves easily, and for homebrew use it's 1-2 tsps per gallon of warm water, 5-10 mins contact, rinse well. 2 rinses usually seem sufficient.

£2.15 for a 250g tub from my LHBS, “makes up to 75 gallons of solution”.

 

[Aleman]

Thanks Moley for clearing that up . . . I was thinking about a product Brupaks sell which has a very similar name, which was designed to keep things sanitised once they were treated with a cleanser sanitiser.

 

[lateuk]

For kits the only water treatment you need to use is 1/2 a campden tablet in 5 gallons as you run it off to eliminate the chlorine added by the water companies.

Sorry what do you mean by when you run it off? What stage of the process? Thanks

 

[Aleman]

What I do when making kits is to run all the water I need into a fermenting bin from the tap . . . as it starts to run off I crush half a campden tablet and throw that in the FV . . . . Then when I have all the water I need, I give it a quick stir, and then take out what I need to boil to rinse out the cans ect. . . . Of course this means that you need a second 5 gallon container to prepare your water in for brewing . . .. but this is always a good idea anyway

 

[lateuk]

This is really helpful thanks for the replies. Just thought of a few more questions.

- When syphoning from primary to king keg would it make any difference if my syphon tube was short so the beer goes through the air and splashes into the keg? I'm trying to isolate potential problems with my brewing technique?

- Can i substitute some of the sugar/glucose for DME, if so would i do it 1:1 in weight?

- Is it ok to wash out the kit can with boiling water?

- What temperature do i need to get to before adding the yeast?

- In your experience how long does the average kit beer take to clear in a king keg?

Thanks again.

 

[Aleman]

When syphoning from primary to king keg would it make any difference if my syphon tube was short so the beer goes through the air and splashes into the keg? I'm trying to isolate potential problems with my brewing technique?

You want the delivery end of the syphon tube to be at the bottom of the keg so that it is very quickly under the surface of the beer and not splashing about . . .

Air + cold wort = Good
Air + Beer = :sick: BAD :sick:

Can i substitute some of the sugar/glucose for DME, if so would i do it 1:1 in weight?

Yes use a 1:1.2 ratio so 50g of sugar is about 60g of DME

Is it ok to wash out the kit can with boiling water?

As long as you take the water to fill the kettle from the campden treated water its fine . . . boiling doesn't not remove as much chlorine as people think . . . and barely touches chloramine.

What temperature do i need to get to before adding the yeast?

Ideally pitching temperature should be about fermentation temperature, but below 25C is fine . . . Below 30C is pushing it but acceptable if you can chill quickly (within an hour or two)

In your experience how long does the average kit beer take to clear in a king keg?

Between two and 4 weeks to become acceptably clear . . . . longer to become bright . . . use of finings can speed this up considerably. . . . I sachet of gelatine dissolved in 200ml of hot water (Just off boiling) and added to the keg during the beer transfer will clear the beer (As long as it has finished fermenting) in 24 hours.

 

[lateuk]

Between two and 4 weeks to become acceptably clear . . . . longer to become bright . . . use of finings can speed this up considerably. . . . I sachet of gelatine dissolved in 200ml of hot water (Just off boiling) and added to the keg during the beer transfer will clear the beer (As long as it has finished fermenting) in 24 hours.

This is one thing that puzzles me. You add finings but you also add sugar so it ferments more to add pressure to the barrel? Surely this stops the finings working?

 

[Aleman]

Secondary fermentation is pretty quick, and there is very little additional yeast added, the finings then act on the suspended yeast to clear the beer.

 

[lateuk]

Secondary fermentation is pretty quick, and there is very little additional yeast added, the finings then act on the suspended yeast to clear the beer.

Ah that makes sense. Thanks