First Brew - Already made a mistake?!

[Bezza]

Hi All,

I got my brewing kit yesterday and after watching the DVD instructions which came with it I decided to go for it and have a bash at my first Brew.

Everything went smoothly and the beer is now fermenting (i hope)

After being happy with how smoothly it went and being impatient I have been looking at other (future) beers and instructions, differences for brewing lager etc...

The DVD I have and the instructions provided do not say to add any sugar in the initial brewing stages.... this looks to be wrong?!

My brew was at 24'c when I mixed it, stirred it lots to aerate and then sprinkled the year on top. The lid is now sealed with the gas/water chamber stuck in the top to allow the gasses out etc. and resting at about 20'c.

The instructions say to only add sugar to the brew during secondary fermentation after it has been kegged.

When do I add sugar? And if I have ballsed it up can it be saved?!?!?!

Bezza

 

[PD]

what brew/kit is it ?

 

[Bezza]

Its the coopers english bitter, only came with one tin.

The videos/reviews I have seen today suggest I should have had either two tins or one tin with brewing or granulated sugars?

 

[mike77]

You add sugar during the primary fermentation to increase alcohol content. For the secondary fermentation you add "priming" sugar when you are bottling/ kegging to carbonate your beer and make it fizzy.

If your kit says only add sugar at the secondary fermentation then just do that. You don't say if you have added sugar already or not. If you did add your sugar already then it won't be a big deal but you'll need to add the same amount of priming sugar again when you come to kegging

 

[Bezza]

Hi Mike, sorry! I haven't added any sugar. All I have is the contents of the tin, water and yeast so far. Thanks.

 

[JonnyD]

Did you take an original gravity reading with your hydrometer?

 

[Bezza]

Yea, I wrote it down. Don't remember exactly but if I did it right it was about 1.26 I think

 

[JonnyD]

Yea, I wrote it down. Don't remember exactly but if I did it right it was about 1.26 I think

1026 seems very low. 2.1% ABV. I'd take it again but make sure u calibrate your trial jar before hand and make sure it's at 20 degree c (if that's the calibration reading of your hydrometer - it will say on the label) If it's not make sure you use temperature correction in the calculators (top left of the forum page)

 

[Bezza]

Right, I've just been back and tested a sample and it looks more like 1.24 now. I think the wort has reduced in temperature also.

What, if anything, can I do to save it?

 

[MattN]

Hi Bezza

I would dissolve 1kg of sugar in as little boiling waster as it takes, leave it to cool for 20 mins and then stir it in.

Matt

 

[Bezza]

I was just playing with the sample and added some sugar water which increased the level. I was going to ask if that will work.

What reading should I expect from the hydrometer?

 

[RobWalker]

don't worry about your hydrometer for kit brewing.

all you need to do is put the tin of syrup stuff, 1kg white sugar, and make it up to 23L then add the yeast when its roughly at room temp. if you havn't added the sugar yet, just make sure you add a total of 1kg sugar including whatever you've already added when tinkering.

there's nothing wrong with adding the sugar after fermentation starts, but it doesn't help in any way either. there will be plenty of active yeast to work through it at any stage after putting the yeast in. you should end up with 23L beer at around 4%, kits have a set amount of sugar so a hydrometer isn't really required until at least extract brewing, and for wines etc.

hope this helps. just relax and take it easy. kit in, yeast in, 1kg sugar in, 23L. activity should abate anywhere between 2 and 5 days, maybe a tad longer. :thumb:

 

[JonnyD]

Don't want to try complicate matters cos what rob said is spot on. But if you have a home brewing shop local to you, use beer enhancer instead of sugar, it will add a lot to your beer :thumb:

 

[booosh]

I did the same thing with my first brew. Didn't add any sugar. Came out not too bad but only around 2.8% alcohol.

 

[Awfers]

Hi Bezza,

Welcome! Good to hear you're starting out in brewing :-) I personally would let this one ferment out, then bottle it and see what it gives. As Charlie Pappazian said: Relax, sit back and have a homebrew! (or any other beer you might have on hand) :drink:

If you like the idea of brewing, then check out Palmer's site howtobrew<dot>com/intro<dot>html (replace the <dot> with . ) where he explains in detail a lot about brewing your first batche(s) through to fermenting and bottling.

Hope you keep on brewing! :

Cheers,
Awfers

 

[Bezza]

Hi all, thanks for all the tips! I hadn't quite topped it up to 23 litres so added 850grams of dissolved sugar (no brewing shops near me so I used all the normal white granulated I had)

I know you said not to worry about the hydrometer reading too much but I have now noticed the mark which says 'brew beer' and the read is now within this range . The brew is also settled at a constant 20'c still which I'm very happy about!

Hopefully it will turn out OK and I will be sipping my way through 40 pints of Bezza's first bitter sometime soon :

 

[Bezza]

Hi guys, just thought I'd do a quick update.

I ended up dissolving all the sugar I could find in some water and mixed it in on day two. Totalled 850g and a starting gravity of 1038.

Waited 11 days and the final gravity was 1006, which from the calculator looks to be around 4%, which I am very pleased with!!

Kegged with 8g white sugar per litre and of course I couldn't resist having already tried some! It has already lightly carbonated and has a nice taste which stays in the mouth for quite a while. Far better than a lot of the local brews I've tried. It's a bit thin and not much body to it but i'm hoping this will improve with time. It's going to be in the warm for the week and then out to the shed for some clearing.

Thanks to all for the tips and helping me rescue my brew from being a 1% waste! :

 

[EddyE]

Quick question, Bezza.

I have this kit and the instructions say to add the dry ingredients, including the 'brew enhancer' first, then the water/malt extract. The brew enhancer includes sugar, I think?

 

[Bezza]

Hi Eddy,

I didn't find the instructions to be particularly clear and I had a DVD which was still just as confusing!

It's my understanding that with a one can kit like this, you need to dissolve the contents of the can, make up to the required volume and add 1kg of either the sugar, brew enhancer etc or a combination of them. As long as it totals 1kg.

I'm sure somebody will correct me if I am wrong though!

 

[EddyE]

Understood. The DVD I received said to add the beer enhancer to the dry keg first, then add the liquids. My kit only turned up yesterday so maybe I have more up to date instructions?

EDIT: I found the video online. Skip to 1:58 - "While the can is warming pour the dry ingredients ['brew enhancer', which is basically sugars] into the fermenting vessel and add two litres of hot water to dissolve."

All this said, I've not actually done this yet! :)