I've been drinking real ale for years, and have for ages had half an intention to try brewing my own. Knowing me rather well, my wife was pretty sure I'd never actually get round to it so as a surprise Father's Day present she's bought me some kit, bless her. There's no way I'd be able to leave it lying around so there's a newby on the forum asking for advice! This might be a bit long, but any pieces of advice gratefully received!
I have a 25l fermentation vessel, airlock, syphon, some steriliser (VWP) and a Young's Harvset Yorkshire Bitter kit.
I will buy a pressure vessel, a hydrometer and a thermometer. I've also been doing some reading in the past (the CAMRA Brew Your Own British Real Ale book, which has been very informative).
In the (far?) future I'd like to give malt extract brewing a go, but for the present there's no possibility of having a big boiler so I'll be sticking with kits.
Some questions:
- I was wondering whether sterilising the cold tap water was required, I've been advised elsewhere to stick a portion of a Campbell tablet in as both a steriliser and also chlorine removal agent. Is it it OK to do this in the fermentation vessel (i.e. the chlorine isn't going to end up in a precipitate or anything is it?)
- Aeration of the wort: since I'll be using unboiled tap water as the bulk of the liquor I assume I won't need to specifically aerate? I'll be having to pour the water from a pan into the FV anyway, so it'll probably get a bit more air in it then (should I sterilise the pan, or will the Campden tablet sort that out anyway?)
- Dissolving the kit ingredients: is there any harm in boiling this for a bit to ensure sterility, or is it better just to get it dissolved into some pre-boiled, hot water?
- The kit instructions use added sugar, I was intending to use some spraymalt instead of household sugar as I reckon this'll be more flavoursome
- I'm considering making a yeast starter culture to ensure a rapid onset of fermentation and to check the yeast is OK. I might as well use the yeast that comes in the kit (assuming there's some in there, I haven't opened the tin yet!). It might be of interest to use a different one, the CAMRA book notes that Safale-O4 is a fool-proof beginners' yeast but a bit lacking in character. They also mention Danstar Windsor. I might be tempted to try recovering some from a bottle, since I'll be making a starter anyway, but maybe that's not a great idea to start with!
- I think I will get a hydrometer, I'm a scientist by trade and will enjoy seeing the progress of the fermentation and getting an idea of the ABV!
- Casking: I need to get a cask. My gut feeling is to get a cheapish one, with the possibility of upgrading in the future. Is it worth thinking about getting one with a valve for gassing it to help get the beer out after some has been drunk, without getting too much air in?
- Bottling: I'd quite like to be able to bottle some as well, as drinking it all in one go might be a bit of a challenge. Ideally I'd take a few bottles worth off after it's been in the cask for a while, but I'm not sure that'll be easy without aerating the beer in the bottle (since there'll just be the standard tap on it, but I should be able to get a piece of tubing into the nozzle I suppose), and letting air into the cask. Perhaps for the first batch I'm better off just casking it and seeing how it turns out?
That's it for now I think, it's got quite long enough already!!
Thanks in advance.
Chris
I have a 25l fermentation vessel, airlock, syphon, some steriliser (VWP) and a Young's Harvset Yorkshire Bitter kit.
I will buy a pressure vessel, a hydrometer and a thermometer. I've also been doing some reading in the past (the CAMRA Brew Your Own British Real Ale book, which has been very informative).
In the (far?) future I'd like to give malt extract brewing a go, but for the present there's no possibility of having a big boiler so I'll be sticking with kits.
Some questions:
- I was wondering whether sterilising the cold tap water was required, I've been advised elsewhere to stick a portion of a Campbell tablet in as both a steriliser and also chlorine removal agent. Is it it OK to do this in the fermentation vessel (i.e. the chlorine isn't going to end up in a precipitate or anything is it?)
- Aeration of the wort: since I'll be using unboiled tap water as the bulk of the liquor I assume I won't need to specifically aerate? I'll be having to pour the water from a pan into the FV anyway, so it'll probably get a bit more air in it then (should I sterilise the pan, or will the Campden tablet sort that out anyway?)
- Dissolving the kit ingredients: is there any harm in boiling this for a bit to ensure sterility, or is it better just to get it dissolved into some pre-boiled, hot water?
- The kit instructions use added sugar, I was intending to use some spraymalt instead of household sugar as I reckon this'll be more flavoursome
- I'm considering making a yeast starter culture to ensure a rapid onset of fermentation and to check the yeast is OK. I might as well use the yeast that comes in the kit (assuming there's some in there, I haven't opened the tin yet!). It might be of interest to use a different one, the CAMRA book notes that Safale-O4 is a fool-proof beginners' yeast but a bit lacking in character. They also mention Danstar Windsor. I might be tempted to try recovering some from a bottle, since I'll be making a starter anyway, but maybe that's not a great idea to start with!
- I think I will get a hydrometer, I'm a scientist by trade and will enjoy seeing the progress of the fermentation and getting an idea of the ABV!
- Casking: I need to get a cask. My gut feeling is to get a cheapish one, with the possibility of upgrading in the future. Is it worth thinking about getting one with a valve for gassing it to help get the beer out after some has been drunk, without getting too much air in?
- Bottling: I'd quite like to be able to bottle some as well, as drinking it all in one go might be a bit of a challenge. Ideally I'd take a few bottles worth off after it's been in the cask for a while, but I'm not sure that'll be easy without aerating the beer in the bottle (since there'll just be the standard tap on it, but I should be able to get a piece of tubing into the nozzle I suppose), and letting air into the cask. Perhaps for the first batch I'm better off just casking it and seeing how it turns out?
That's it for now I think, it's got quite long enough already!!
Thanks in advance.
Chris