American Oaked Rum Ale kit.

[Longhead23]

Hi all,

I am very new to this brewing game, but am immensely keen to learn as much as I can. I have 1 batch of Wilko's 20pint Starter kit English Bitter conditioning in the shed. But from what I have heard, I'm not holding my breath on this. Hopefully it is drinkable.

On Sunday, I started a Young's American Oaked Rum Ale kit, which I do have high hopes for.

I have been using this forum for all sorts of questions, so I hope I am not asking too much too often.

As I said, I started this kit on Sunday 7th Jan, so it has only be three days. On Monday the bubbler was bubbling away quite happily and regularly. Yesterday I felt it had slowed down somewhat, and this morning, I didn't see or hear it bubble once between 6am and 7:15am when I left for work.

Is it usual for the batch to start off lively and then slow after a couple of days? I don't think the CO2 is escaping any other way, but I need to test the airtightness of the bubbler. How do I do this?
The temperature is 22 degree C which is within the suggested 20-25 degrees.
Might there be other reasons for this behaviour?
Am I just worrying to early, or do I have legitimate concerns?

Thanks in advance.:-?

 

[Graz]

Great kit, finished the last few bottles of one I made last year over Christmas and it was probably even better after a bit of conditioning.

As for the bubbling, probably nothing to worry about. Are you using a bucket type fermenter as the lids on these are rarely ever airtight? The airlock has probably been bubbling a lot initially due to the usual frenzied initial fermentation so the gas as been escaping through both that and wherever it is leaking. Now it has slowed down a little the gas is probably just finding the easy way out through the leak. It's nothing to worry about though, I don't use airlocks on mine, I just crack the lid open slightly and leave it that way to let the pressure out. Never has an issue doing that. Just leave it for 2 weeks and then check the gravity, if it's in the 1.010 - 1.014 range then you're good to bottle / keg though if it were at the higher end I'd probably check it again a few days later. If it's the same then it's finished.

Don't know what you're using for temperature control but I ferment all my ales at 20°C. 22°C should be fine but fermentation will be over quicker.

 

[Ciaran12s]

I've had beers go mad for two or three days then stop. I'm assuming that's fermentation finished or more or less finished anyway. I leave them for a minimum of two weeks without even checking the SG.

You don't need to test the airlock. As long as you've got sterile water/starsan in there it'll be fine. One of my buckets doesn't seal great and there's little to no activity in the airlock. Others that seal pretty good bubble through the airlock. As long as everything was clean and sanitary before starting and the lid is on and it don't get disturbed too much it'll be fine.
The co2 will sit on top of the beer like a blanket anyway protecting it from oxygen.

 

[Longhead23]

Ahh Graz. Thanks so much for the advice. I can rest easy for a while then. On a side note, as you only recently did this kit, how do you get rid of the oak chips/dust?
I will decant the brew into a second bucket, then add the priming sugar, then bottle. But I assume I need to do something to stop all that oak chip dust getting in to the bottles?
Thanks again.

 

[Pavros]

When you say 'decant into a second bucket', do you mean pour? If so, then you have to be very careful not to splash into the second bucket at this stage as you don't want to mix any more oxygen into your fermented wort. I would syphon rather than pour.

 

[Graz]

Ahh Graz. Thanks so much for the advice. I can rest easy for a while then. On a side note, as you only recently did this kit, how do you get rid of the oak chips/dust?
I will decant the brew into a second bucket, then add the priming sugar, then bottle. But I assume I need to do something to stop all that oak chip dust getting in to the bottles?
Thanks again.

I reused one of the little strainer bags that you get with Festival kits (& some others). Sterilize it by boiling in water for a while then you tie it tightly over the end of your syphon (the end that goes in the beer) and it keeps most of the crud out. If you've not got one already they're like this:

http://www.home-brew-online.com/equ...-nylon-hop-straining-bag-with-pull-cord-p2336

 

[Longhead23]

OK, prepping for bottling. The kit comes with its own priming sugar, but I hear people saying that these kit sugars are poor. Would I be best off using Crafty Fox's Carbonation Drops or sticking with the provided priming sugar?