another newbie!

[Dansage]

evening all,

well after thinking about it enough, and staring to really enjoy a good bitter, ive decided to start homebrewing.

ive watched tons of videos and trawled forums and am at the following stage:-

kit:-

1 x 23ltr fermentation bucket
water trap
23ltr pressure barrel
syphon
2 x tin (40 pints) wilkos own brand bitter
long spoon
capden tabs
hydrometer

i followed the initial stages after a through clean and after 4 days the bubbles stopped and have been getting a hydrometer reading of 1012 for the last 2 days. the beer smells great and the brown foam on the sides of the bucket look good.

ive took the plunge (wrongly probably) to syphon into the barrel tonight with 20 tablespoons of brewing sugar. I didnt add any sugar at the primary stage as the kit (malt extract) said i didnt need to at the first stage?

the beer tasted rich when syphoning, and there was a light brown/green thick layer in the bottom of the bucket when finished.

i am to leave the barrel in a warm place for 2 days, and then in a cool place for 2-3 weeks.

question is does it sound right?

thanks in advance

its so exciting!

Dan

 

[bobsbeer]

Welcome. : You may want to leave it longer than 2 days in the warm to carbonate. I would give it a week then a cool place.

 

[Dansage]

Thanks. Did forget to mention that the temp during the first ferment was about 26. I know this is high but would this be why the first stage was quite quick?

 

[dennisking]

Hi and welcome, yes it will ferment faster at a higher temperature but higher temperatures can result in off flavours.

 

[Dansage]

Thanks. Hopefully I'm ok as it tastes ok. I'll make sure it's cooler next time. How warm should the initial week of the second ferment be?

Thanks again.

 

[winelight]

That isn't really critical. 21 or more.

I do (it keeps changing, but this is what I do now, anyway): 10 days at 18C, then assuming FG is reached (which it always is), 5 days at 21C, then 6 days at 12C. That's all in a brewfridge. Total 3 weeks in the primary FV.

Then into pressure barrel or bottles, 2 weeks at 21 (approx, I just leave it in the lounge) and a few weeks at a cooler temperature (cloakroom).

 

[Dansage]

Jeez 3 weeks in primary fv? Mine was only 4 days at the same temp ;-(

 

[winelight]

So was my first kit, and it was perfectly OK. But the many additional steps and tweaks I now do make them a whole lot better. My daughter just this evening tasted a recent Wherry and was amazed that it's better than stuff she drinks in pubs.

That's really the whole point of this forum - how to get impressive results, rather than the OK results you get from following the kit instructions.

With the two-can kit you started with, you got a really good starting point. There's not much that's worth doing to two-can kits, but even so I would typically add extra fermentables (malt extract if I want a "fuller" pint, or just sugar if I simply want more alcohol and don't mind it being slightly thinner), dry hops (I am currently making Sundew that was dry hopped for 5 days), and a different yeast (I used S04 for the Sundew).

 

[Dansage]

Excellent and thanks for the advice. I'm looking forward to learning along the way, and suffering a few self brewed headaches!

 

[darrendoors]

hi just bought an air still has anyone had any good results if so pleases tell

 

[NickW]

hi just bought an air still has anyone had any good results if so pleases tell

:nono: :nono:
You shouldn't be posting that here.