Chaps,
My first brewday. Well, brew evening more like. Mrs zcacogp was watching X-factor on TV, so we weren't allowed to go out, and I had been meaning to try this brewing lark for a while. And it seemed like a good excuse to get away from plastic-pop, and the kitchen was free ...
OK, that's a lie. This is my second attempt to brew beer. First attempt was a year ago, with the assistance of my father. He has brewed his own beer for some time, and bought me much of the kit, but it wasn't a success. I don't know what went wrong, but the end product wasn't really drinkable. So, in disappointment, I left the kit, unwashed, in the basement for almost a year. A couple of weekends ago I dug it out and cleaned it throughly, and had another pop this evening.
Last time, my father did pretty much all of the making and I watched, but now realise I don't remember much of the details. Hence, this is pretty much a beginners effort. I've read various guides on here and elsewhere, and waded on in.
I thought I knew what I was doing when I started, but realised fairly soon in that there were still a number of questions. I'll highlight them as I go through and try and explain what I did to answer them.
To start, I had these:
This lot:
And a tin of gloop, like this:
(It's the gloop my dad uses, and seemed as good a place as any to start. I know that the other chaps on here seem to be into the detail of precisely what sort of beer they are trying to achieve, but I'll be happy with something that makes me want another sip ... )
I had some brewing sugar, but reasoned that the chances of failure were still high so I didn't want to waste the 'good stuff' an opted to use the domestic granulated sugar instead (as pictured.)
I also had an able assistant:
... who was neither able nor an asset, but who offered encouragement from the other end of the kitchen, with her nose in her foodbowl ...
The kit was all physically clean, having been washed well with warm water a week or so ago, but my dad said that cleaning it with washing soda was a good idea as well.
So I made up a weak solution of washing soda (20g in a pint of water) and swilled everything around with this, putting it first into the bucket with everything in it:
... then pouring it from the bucket into the barrel, swilling it around the barrel and letting it sit for 5 minutes or so, then draining it from the barrel back into the bucket.
I then (using a new dishcloth) 'washed up' the various bits and bobs (thermometer, hydrometer, paddle, syphon etc) in the bucket.
I clearly didn't want washing soda in the end beer (it would - at best - taste bad, and - worst - probably make it poisonous. Or non-alcoholic, or something.) So I washed things through again carefully with tap water. This raised a question of how clean things need to be? When I was washing things through with tap water, I was surprised at how un-clean the water was. It was sparkling clear, but there were small bits of debris clearly visible in it. I suspect these were limescale from the tap; will these cause problems?
I guessed that this gave me physically clean utensils, but that's about all. So the next step was to use the campden tablets to sterilise stuff. The instructions were 5 crushed tablets to a pint of water, so I make that up - with boiling water.
Tablets were crushed with a clean spoon in a measuring jug:
(and - dammit - those buggers were hard to crush!)
... and then dissolved in a pint of boiling water. This was then put into the bucket, and swilled (with the lid on and the utensils inside it, making sure that every part of the inside was swilled over with the solution), before tipping it into the barrel, as before, and shaking it vigorously, and draining it out of the barrel tap into the bucket again.
And, another question arose - around sterility. How sterile do things need to be? I was careful not to put sterilised utensils down on the kitchen side when I wasn't using them - I always either put them in the measuring jug I mixed the campdens solution up in - like this:
.... or, I put them on the upturned lid of the bucket, reasoning that this was pretty sterile as it had had the campdens swilled all over it. But, is this enough? Or was it too much in the way of clean-ness? I guess the answers will only be known when the end result is tasted, but I wasn't sure what was normal.
Next stage - the gloop. It being gloopy stuff, I boiled a pan of water and stood the tin in it to soften everything:
(I know, the label fell off) ... before opening it:
and pouring it, on top of the sugar, into the bottom of the bucket.
(Another cleanliness question - I used a kitchen tin opener to open the tin, although scrubbed it clean beforehand. However, the gloop would have run over the cut edge that was made with the tin opener. Odds of introducing bugs via this route?)
Les Instructions said that the approved procedure was to add four pints of boiling water to the mix, then top up with cold water, aiming for a temperature of between 18 and 24degC. So, this I did - swilling the gloop tin out with the boiling water beforehand.
A suggestion on here was to use a campden tablet in the water used to make up the wort, so I put this in at this stage as well (crushed, again. And it was just as tough to crush as the last 5! You can just about see it in the bottom of the measuring jug.)
So, the bucket now had the gloop, sugar, hot water and a crushed campdens tablet in it, and I topped it up with cold water from the tap.
(East London water and Yorkshire bitter. That'll make for geographically interesting beer!)
However, using the thermometer, it rapidly became clear that more boiling water would be necessary otherwise the temperature would be well below 18degC, so two more kettlefuls went in:
Final temperature of the mix was 23degC. So I sprinkled the yeast over.
And there were problems with that too; the yeast sat in the bubbles on top of the wort and wouldn't mix in. I stirred it with the paddle and it got fid of the froth, but the yeast still sat in clumps on top of the liquid - it certainly didn't dissolve. Here's a (bad) picture:
The yeast is the white lumps visible floating on top of the water. Is this a problem?
Next step was to put the lid on the bucket and decide where to leave it. And there's another question; the house (victorian draft-box) will be nowhere near 18-24degC over the coming couple of weeks, so I expect the mix will cool down. How do I prevent this from happening?
It is now wrapped up in an old blanket, by a radiator, but the radiator is only on for 5 or so hours a day. (The cat has now snugged up next to it, so maybe she is not entirely useless, but that won't make much difference to the temperature I don't suppose.) Is this likely to be a problem?
And so ... what's next? I understand that I need to test the alcohol in the mix over the coming week or so, and when it reaches a relevant level I put it into the barrel, but a few more questions arise:
1. I test the alcohol using the hydrometer, but how do I do this? Do I just float it in the top of the bucket? If so, do I leave it in there, or do I take it out when I have taken a measurement? If I take it out, do I need to sterilise it before I put but back in again - the following day? Or can I just wrap it in some cling film - or similar - and that will keep it clean enough?
2. I have swilled the barrel around with campdens solution this evening, but it will be at least a week (and probably two) before I put the beer into it. Will I need to sterilise the barrel again before I put the beer into it, or will be it OK with the lid on it and the tap closed?
3. When I syphon the beer from the bucket into the barrel, how do I make the syphon work? I am guessing I will need to soak the syphon in some campdens again before using it (although the same question about it remaining sterile - as per the barrel - applies.) Clearly, I dip the stiff end of the syphon into the bucket, lower the tap end down over the barrel, and suck on the end of the tap. However, surely this will make everything un-sterile - how do I get 'round this?
There. That's enough photos, questions and typing for one night. If anyone has any answers I'd be very grateful to hear them - thanks. And, if not, I'll update this thread with the barrelling stage, and the drinking stage as well.
Fingers crossed ...
ETA: For reference, that little lot took me the thick end of two hours. With about 90 minutes of that time spent cleaning, and only about 30 minutes actually making the wort. And most of that 30 minutes was spent waiting for the kettle to boil, repeatedly. I guess these things will get quicker as I get more experienced. Or buy a better kettle ...
Oli.
My first brewday. Well, brew evening more like. Mrs zcacogp was watching X-factor on TV, so we weren't allowed to go out, and I had been meaning to try this brewing lark for a while. And it seemed like a good excuse to get away from plastic-pop, and the kitchen was free ...
OK, that's a lie. This is my second attempt to brew beer. First attempt was a year ago, with the assistance of my father. He has brewed his own beer for some time, and bought me much of the kit, but it wasn't a success. I don't know what went wrong, but the end product wasn't really drinkable. So, in disappointment, I left the kit, unwashed, in the basement for almost a year. A couple of weekends ago I dug it out and cleaned it throughly, and had another pop this evening.
Last time, my father did pretty much all of the making and I watched, but now realise I don't remember much of the details. Hence, this is pretty much a beginners effort. I've read various guides on here and elsewhere, and waded on in.
I thought I knew what I was doing when I started, but realised fairly soon in that there were still a number of questions. I'll highlight them as I go through and try and explain what I did to answer them.
To start, I had these:
This lot:
And a tin of gloop, like this:
(It's the gloop my dad uses, and seemed as good a place as any to start. I know that the other chaps on here seem to be into the detail of precisely what sort of beer they are trying to achieve, but I'll be happy with something that makes me want another sip ... )
I had some brewing sugar, but reasoned that the chances of failure were still high so I didn't want to waste the 'good stuff' an opted to use the domestic granulated sugar instead (as pictured.)
I also had an able assistant:
... who was neither able nor an asset, but who offered encouragement from the other end of the kitchen, with her nose in her foodbowl ...
The kit was all physically clean, having been washed well with warm water a week or so ago, but my dad said that cleaning it with washing soda was a good idea as well.
So I made up a weak solution of washing soda (20g in a pint of water) and swilled everything around with this, putting it first into the bucket with everything in it:
... then pouring it from the bucket into the barrel, swilling it around the barrel and letting it sit for 5 minutes or so, then draining it from the barrel back into the bucket.
I then (using a new dishcloth) 'washed up' the various bits and bobs (thermometer, hydrometer, paddle, syphon etc) in the bucket.
I clearly didn't want washing soda in the end beer (it would - at best - taste bad, and - worst - probably make it poisonous. Or non-alcoholic, or something.) So I washed things through again carefully with tap water. This raised a question of how clean things need to be? When I was washing things through with tap water, I was surprised at how un-clean the water was. It was sparkling clear, but there were small bits of debris clearly visible in it. I suspect these were limescale from the tap; will these cause problems?
I guessed that this gave me physically clean utensils, but that's about all. So the next step was to use the campden tablets to sterilise stuff. The instructions were 5 crushed tablets to a pint of water, so I make that up - with boiling water.
Tablets were crushed with a clean spoon in a measuring jug:
(and - dammit - those buggers were hard to crush!)
... and then dissolved in a pint of boiling water. This was then put into the bucket, and swilled (with the lid on and the utensils inside it, making sure that every part of the inside was swilled over with the solution), before tipping it into the barrel, as before, and shaking it vigorously, and draining it out of the barrel tap into the bucket again.
And, another question arose - around sterility. How sterile do things need to be? I was careful not to put sterilised utensils down on the kitchen side when I wasn't using them - I always either put them in the measuring jug I mixed the campdens solution up in - like this:
.... or, I put them on the upturned lid of the bucket, reasoning that this was pretty sterile as it had had the campdens swilled all over it. But, is this enough? Or was it too much in the way of clean-ness? I guess the answers will only be known when the end result is tasted, but I wasn't sure what was normal.
Next stage - the gloop. It being gloopy stuff, I boiled a pan of water and stood the tin in it to soften everything:
(I know, the label fell off) ... before opening it:
and pouring it, on top of the sugar, into the bottom of the bucket.
(Another cleanliness question - I used a kitchen tin opener to open the tin, although scrubbed it clean beforehand. However, the gloop would have run over the cut edge that was made with the tin opener. Odds of introducing bugs via this route?)
Les Instructions said that the approved procedure was to add four pints of boiling water to the mix, then top up with cold water, aiming for a temperature of between 18 and 24degC. So, this I did - swilling the gloop tin out with the boiling water beforehand.
A suggestion on here was to use a campden tablet in the water used to make up the wort, so I put this in at this stage as well (crushed, again. And it was just as tough to crush as the last 5! You can just about see it in the bottom of the measuring jug.)
So, the bucket now had the gloop, sugar, hot water and a crushed campdens tablet in it, and I topped it up with cold water from the tap.
(East London water and Yorkshire bitter. That'll make for geographically interesting beer!)
However, using the thermometer, it rapidly became clear that more boiling water would be necessary otherwise the temperature would be well below 18degC, so two more kettlefuls went in:
Final temperature of the mix was 23degC. So I sprinkled the yeast over.
And there were problems with that too; the yeast sat in the bubbles on top of the wort and wouldn't mix in. I stirred it with the paddle and it got fid of the froth, but the yeast still sat in clumps on top of the liquid - it certainly didn't dissolve. Here's a (bad) picture:
The yeast is the white lumps visible floating on top of the water. Is this a problem?
Next step was to put the lid on the bucket and decide where to leave it. And there's another question; the house (victorian draft-box) will be nowhere near 18-24degC over the coming couple of weeks, so I expect the mix will cool down. How do I prevent this from happening?
It is now wrapped up in an old blanket, by a radiator, but the radiator is only on for 5 or so hours a day. (The cat has now snugged up next to it, so maybe she is not entirely useless, but that won't make much difference to the temperature I don't suppose.) Is this likely to be a problem?
And so ... what's next? I understand that I need to test the alcohol in the mix over the coming week or so, and when it reaches a relevant level I put it into the barrel, but a few more questions arise:
1. I test the alcohol using the hydrometer, but how do I do this? Do I just float it in the top of the bucket? If so, do I leave it in there, or do I take it out when I have taken a measurement? If I take it out, do I need to sterilise it before I put but back in again - the following day? Or can I just wrap it in some cling film - or similar - and that will keep it clean enough?
2. I have swilled the barrel around with campdens solution this evening, but it will be at least a week (and probably two) before I put the beer into it. Will I need to sterilise the barrel again before I put the beer into it, or will be it OK with the lid on it and the tap closed?
3. When I syphon the beer from the bucket into the barrel, how do I make the syphon work? I am guessing I will need to soak the syphon in some campdens again before using it (although the same question about it remaining sterile - as per the barrel - applies.) Clearly, I dip the stiff end of the syphon into the bucket, lower the tap end down over the barrel, and suck on the end of the tap. However, surely this will make everything un-sterile - how do I get 'round this?
There. That's enough photos, questions and typing for one night. If anyone has any answers I'd be very grateful to hear them - thanks. And, if not, I'll update this thread with the barrelling stage, and the drinking stage as well.
Fingers crossed ...
ETA: For reference, that little lot took me the thick end of two hours. With about 90 minutes of that time spent cleaning, and only about 30 minutes actually making the wort. And most of that 30 minutes was spent waiting for the kettle to boil, repeatedly. I guess these things will get quicker as I get more experienced. Or buy a better kettle ...
Oli.
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