Complete newbie

[user 49754]

I got an Myo American IPA kit for Xmas. It's been sitting in my cupboard since. My daughter got it me as she knows how much I love real ale.
So I've taken the plunge and bought a 23 litre tub with lid. A tap which has been fitted about 1½" above the bottom. An air lock. A thermometer. A hydrometer.
I have just started my first brew. I like a hoppy well rounded beer. My go to off the shelf is green gecko from lidl or citra from Tesco.
I've used 1kg of sugars comprising of 250g of dem and 759g of silver spoon. I'm just waiting for the temperature to go below 26°c and then I'll put in the yeast.
I sterilised the equipment with bleach 1/10th solution.

Hoping for the best.
Thanks for the forum
Grandy

 

[Baldylocks Brewery]

Good luck with brew Grandy, and welcome aboard

 

[The Baron]

Welcome to the forum and good luck.
Any issues just ask the forum

 

[Chippy_Tea]

Welcome to the forum

 

[Twostage]

I used to work near Glasgow so recognise the name Lanark. I remember the turn-off from the M74 is close to a placed called Lesmahagow which I've got a feeling is one of those place names you don't try to pronounce unless you live there or thereabouts .

 

[Rwilts]

Welcome

 

[user 49754]

Good luck with brew Grandy, and welcome aboard

Thanks. I've always been a bit DIY so this is yet another extension. I've always wanted to brew my own beer and wine

 

[user 49754]

Welcome

Thankyou

 

[user 49754]

Welcome

Thanks muchly

 

[user 49754]

I used to work near Glasgow so recognise the name Lanark. I remember the turn-off from the M74 is close to a placed called Lesmahagow which I've got a feeling is one of those place names you don't try to pronounce unless you live there or thereabouts .

 

[user 49754]

Yeah it's about 8miles from here along the A70

 

[user 49754]

Good luck with brew Grandy, and welcome aboard

Thankyou. Hope everything goes swimmingly

 

[user 49754]

Welcome to the forum

Thanks . I like your username. Makes me feel hungry

 

[user 49754]

Welcome to the forum and good luck.
Any issues just ask the forum

Thankyou. I will. I'm a very curious person.

 

[old dog new tricks]

Welcome to the forum I got into this in a similar way son bought me a cider kit at Christmas started from there !

Great site loads of help on here only advice I would give is stable temperatures and the 2-2-2 rule ie 2 weeks fermenting 2 weeks to carbonate and 2 weeks to rest.

Hope you enjoy your creations

 

[user 49754]

Welcome to the forum I got into this in a similar way son bought me a cider kit at Christmas started from there !

Great site loads of help on here only advice I would give is stable temperatures and the 2-2-2 rule ie 2 weeks fermenting 2 weeks to carbonate and 2 weeks to rest.

Hope you enjoy your creations

Thanks that's helpful. Never heard of this rule before. Currently I have the date started as yesterday with the OG as 0.048. the airlock is bubbling away nicely. I'll keep an eye on it getting less bubbling. The temperature should be pretty stable as I'm in the house with central heating,so it kicks in to maintain 20°c automatically. I have 23 litres and it's supposed to be 4.8 abv when it's done. I've been pretty stringent with the cleaning and keeping to hinges out that haven't been sterilised so I'm hoping for the best.

 

[user 49754]

heres my first batch. 34 pints from 23 litres. 4 bottles were wasted when they got smashed putting the crown caps on. I have a little crown capper that you hit with a hammer. I tasted it and it's very hoppy. Gonna let these sit for 10 days so that the secondary fermentation makes some co2. Then it off to the garage in the dark for 3 weeks

 

[Twostage]

View attachment 100345heres my first batch. 34 pints from 23 litres. 4 bottles were wasted when they got smashed putting the crown caps on. I have a little crown capper that you hit with a hammer. I tasted it and it's very hoppy. Gonna let these sit for 10 days so that the secondary fermentation makes some co2. Then it off to the garage in the dark for 3 weeks

That's a nice collection.

A useful thing to do is to do a couple of bottles in PET (fizzy water/coke) bottles. That way you can give them an occasional squeeze, takes the guesswork out of knowing when they are carbonated.

 

[user 49754]

That's a nice collection.

A useful thing to do is to do a couple of bottles in PET (fizzy water/coke) bottles. That way you can give them an occasional squeeze, takes the guesswork out of knowing when they are carbonated.

Yeah. These bottles will get recycled and I'll be getting 1 litre pop bottles. Should make the process a whole lot simpler going forward and also having the benefit of not doing the crime of me spilling beer by hammering the tops on and smashing bottles. Gutted I wasted 4 pints of IPA. Lesson learned there

 

[jof]

Yep there is a heirachy of capping equipment.

You've found the weakness of the simple bash & pray devices.

Next up is a lever capper. I used one for 20 years & found them good when you have a mix & match collection of different sized bottles.

Then you go on to a bench press capper. I've just got one & I have to sort my bottles in height order so I don't have to adjust it for every bottle. It also takes up more space. Yes it's better, but I need a bit longer to get used to it.