Brew n00b!

[grim]

Hi Everyone,

Me and my fiancée have just started out in home brewing. I've got a Coopers lager kit on the go and my better half has a Zifandel Blush kit bubbling away nicely.

Aside from me thinking I'd killed the yeast by using water that's too hot :? , it's not gone too bad!

One thing I'm not too sure about. We bought some sodium metabisulphate for sterilising, but I'm not sure how much to use/litre for the bucket I've got, and should I be using it to clean my PET bottles before bottling? If so, how (do I soak or can I mix some up in a spray bottle then rinse out?)

Any help is always appreciated!

Thanks.

 

[BigYin]

Welcome to the forum :

 

[PD]

: welcome

Have a read of this....

viewtopic.php?f=36&t=33843

 

[RobWalker]

sodium metabi I make up at 2 heaped tsp to a gallon. you can hang on to the solution after if you want too, i keep a bucket with 2 gallons in and all my plastic kit (stuff that won't rust/discolour.) on brew day, it's all ready to go!

PET bottles are fine to use sodium metabi with. I'd suggest making up a gallon and dunking the bottles in, fill them up about a half inch and give them a shake, it'll take about 20 mins to effectively sanitize.

 

[BigYin]

: welcome

Have a read of this....

viewtopic.php?f=36&t=33843

Thanks PD, took me rather longer than I'd have liked to find that because I'm on my phone at the moment - see you saved me the trouble :

 

[bobsbeer]

Welcome. :

 

[joe1002]

Welcome to the forum :

 

[dennisking]

Hi and welcome.

 

[carl_saint]

Hi and welcome!

 

[fishplate]

Welcome

 

[cnelsonplumber]

A warm welcome to both of you :-D

 

[grim]

Thanks for the welcome and the info everyone. The cupboard we have the brew in is smelling beautiful at the moment, it's just a case of having to resist messing with/sampling it!

One thing that I have wondered, if I draw a sample for SG check, can I return the sample to the bucket or do I have to discard?

 

[cnelsonplumber]

Thanks for the welcome and the info everyone. The cupboard we have the brew in is smelling beautiful at the moment, it's just a case of having to resist messing with/sampling it!

One thing that I have wondered, if I draw a sample for SG check, can I return the sample to the bucket or do I have to discard?

Best play safe and bin the sample rather than risk the batch

 

[grim]

Thanks for the welcome and the info everyone. The cupboard we have the brew in is smelling beautiful at the moment, it's just a case of having to resist messing with/sampling it!

One thing that I have wondered, if I draw a sample for SG check, can I return the sample to the bucket or do I have to discard?

Best play safe and bin the sample rather than risk the batch

Thanks, figured as much :thumb:

 

[cnelsonplumber]

If you get really into brewing you might want to think about a refractometer as you only need 3 drops to get an SG reading. Less waste :-D

 

[grim]

If you get really into brewing you might want to think about a refractometer as you only need 3 drops to get an SG reading. Less waste :-D

Last time I used one of those was testing antifreeze! I'll bear it in mind though.