First brew attempt with Wherry 40 pt kit - Help Needed!

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Wooby

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Hi guys,

I wonder if any of you could help me with my first brew?

My missus bought me a Young's microbrewery kit that came with a 40 pt Wherry kit. I followed the instructions perfectly and after about 14 days transferred the beer from the primary fermentation vessel into the pressure barrel. I then left the barrel at room temp for about 4 days and then moved it into my brick shed at the end of the garden to condition. After about three weeks I took a small sample and the beer had an almightly head to it and it was still pretty cloudy. I assumed (probably wrongly) that the shed was too cold so moved the beer back inside into my spare room which has no heating and left it there for a further 3 weeks. I checked it again today its still pretty cloudy. I've attached a picture of the beer in its current condidton after 6 weeks of conditioning.

I have read on numerous posts that Wherry is notoriously bad at clearing and can take up to 7 weeks. I did sample some today and it smells rather sweet and fruity but tastes quite bitter - I dont think in its current state I could drink a lot of it.

My questions are...

1) By moving it have from cold climates to warmer climates messed up the conditioning process?
2) How much longer could I leave it to condition before it goes past a drinkable state?
3) Should I move the beer back into the shed outside because from what ive read putting it in a cooler place as possible will speed up the cleaing process;
4) Should I just give up and start another batch?

Your help would be greatly appreciated!

Cheers

Jon


Attachment deleted, please re-post using photobucket
 
1) By moving it have from cold climates to warmer climates messed up the conditioning process?

Not sure about that one.

2) How much longer could I leave it to condition before it goes past a drinkable state?

6 months to a year perhaps. Maybe two. Depends.

3) Should I move the beer back into the shed outside because from what ive read putting it in a cooler place as possible will speed up the cleaing process;

Not sure about that one.

4) Should I just give up and start another batch?

I wouldnt. You have nothing to lose by waiting. Buy another keg and brew up another kit, the Coopers kits are quite good.
 
I`ve brewed about five or six wherry kits and have bottled them all - i have a wherry kegged at the moment that has been in the spare room since the beginning of august (it`s for xmas!)

it can be a bugger to clear - but i find that it`s more the yeast sediment that doesn`t pack down tight - so even when you have a clear beer it`s really hard to pour without ending up with a cloudy beer! Some people don`t mind this and i hear some people even shake bottle conditioned beer to mix the yeast sediment into the beer - each to there own ;)

as for moving the barrel - this is fine if its allowed to settle before you disperse some beer - the first few pints are always a bit heady from a pressure barrel - even though it`s time consuming i prefer to bottle - or prime the barrel as little as you can get away with.

I would keep it and just leave it for a while longer - the shed would be fine as long as it can`t freeze!! I store all my brews in the spare room - no problems as yet - a garage would be ideal but i don`t have one (this hobby gets exspensive when you seriously consider moving to get a house with a garage so you can have an AG brewery in it!!)

Keep me posted on how it goes - i`m hoping 5 months in the barrel will give me a good beer for xmas!!

Hope this helps :cheers:
 
Is the keg a top or bottom tap ?
If it's a bottom tap keg the first couple of pints will be cloudy as the sediment that settles on and around the tap will be drawn into the beer, but if you leave the keg still and don't disturb the sediment further the other 30 odd pints should be fine :thumb:
 
Thanks guys for the replies and words of encouragement.... big help! :thumb:

The keg is a bottom tap so it probably is all the sediment in the bottom as you say. I think I'm going to leave it to condition for at least 6 more weeks and have it as a xmas brew too!

In the meantime, i'm going to shop around for some bottles / capper or another keg so I can get a few different beers on the go at the same time! I'm getting really addicted to this homebrewing!

Again, thanks for the help.

Cheers :cheers:

Jon
 
Wooby - it`s easy to get addicted!! I brewed my first kit five months ago - and just bottled my first AG brew tonight :party:

have fun :drink:
 
Aye first of all. Welcome to the forums. I've always enjoyed the woodfordes kits that i've done. I would suggest trying the Admirals Reserve. I enjoyed that the most as it had a very nice bitter taste to it and generally a good head. Going to be doing one of them for christmas I think for myself. Need to start it this coming weekend thou ....

The only thing I can really do is echo the comments about moving the keg and leaving it to settle for a day or two. I currently have a habit of going to house parties with mine, which is a pain since I need to drop it off a day or two in advance. And even then it leaves it at huge risk them two days before the party (Mates having a pre-party party with my beer!!!)

Still. Welcome to one of the best hobbies currently available.
 
Hello guys...

Just a quick update to let you know that I sampled my beer again this past weekend and leaving the beer for a further 4 weeks to condition was just the ticket! The beer is crystal clear and tastes pretty damn tasty too!

If it hadn't been for your words of advice all 40 pts wouild have been straight down the plug hole! :clap: In fact I've only got about 10 - 12 pts left its that yummy so need to start another brew sharpish.

Thanks again

:cheers:
 
good to hear it has sorted itself out

(this hobby gets exspensive when you seriously consider moving to get a house with a garage so you can have an AG brewery in it!!)

I have started having dreams about owning a garage hahaha
 
great result Wooby!!! Hopefully my barrel will be clear for xmas (not tried it yet!)

so you better brew a few kits and get them conditioning :thumb:
 

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