First brew - preperation.

[Brewski]

Ive mentioned this on a couple of other posts......Even better than a builders type trug is a plastic B+Q dustbin (£7.00) Just place your FV in the bin, top up with warm tap water, place your fish tank heater inside. If you can throw a old quilt over it even better.

That sounds good Johnny, should work just fine.

My setup is pictured and described in the first post of this thread. I'm using two large plastic tubs (stacked for insulation) for my water bath. I arranged 3 half-bricks in the bottom for the FV to stand on and the aquarium heater lies horizontally in the middle of the water bath floor, i.e. directly under the FV. It seems to be working a treat.

 

[Brewski]

The aquarium heater's been plugged in constantly for the last 2 days and nights and with its thermostat set to 22C it's kept the FV and water bath solidly between 19 & 20C - perfect. I love it when a plan comes together.

Barring any drama, the next couple of weeks should be plain sailing. Roll-on bottling day!

 

[Brewski]

It's been a week and everything seems to be going well. The water bath is working a treat and although fermentation has slowed down since the first few days, the airlock is still bubbling away (every 5 seconds or so).

 

[mook1979]

I really enjoyed reading this thread. I have been brewing for almost two years and have gone through this kind of obsession more times than I can remember. I have now reached a stage where I trust my setup and know that a small fluctuation is not the end of the world.

We live in a tiny house with two small children, so the only space for FVs is in my shed (no electricity, so a fridge is not an option). I bought 50mm insulation sheets and built a fermentation box using an old computer desk. Take a look at this:
[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kS_ETRx7Byg[/ame]

Regardless of the time of the year, I can ferment lagers or ales relatively close to the recommended temperatures. During the summer, I keep two 2L bottles in the freezer. I rotate them between the freezer and my fermentation box every 12 hours. During the height of summer, I add a couple of ice packs from the freezer as well. During the winter, I do the same with two hot water bottles. Both bottles are placed inside the box, with something between the bottle and the glass FV. It works a treat. I have a temperature guage inside the box, which also tells me the temp inside the shed. The temp can easily stay within 2 degrees while the temp in the shed can jump by more then 20 degrees either way. I'm sure the actual temp inside the FV is even more stable.

I have also done the same (ice or hot water bottles) in a large plastic tub filled with water. This does not work as well, but did the trick when I used the box in the summer to keep bottled beer and cider from getting too hot while needing a place for FVs as well.

I did not mean to take over this thread, but I hope that sharing other temperature control options would be useful to someone. We are going to be moving to a larger house later this year where I can keep this insulated box in a garage. I'm sure it would be even more effective then.

 

[Brewski]

That's a good little setup you have there Mook. It's always interesting to see/hear about other people's methods, thanks for posting. I'll probably experiment with something similar in the summer when keeping temps down becomes the challenge. That should be fun. :)

My brew's now been in the fermenter for about 12 days and is still bubbling away, every 5 to 10 seconds so I think I'll be leaving it for another week, at least.

I haven't taken the top off the fermenter at all so I have no idea what's going on in there but over the last few days it has started to smell absolutely delicious. So much so that I've developed an unhealthily compulsive habit:

I'm Brewski and I'm an airlock sniffer.

 

[mook1979]

As you can see from my video, the glass fermenter is great for keeping an eye on things. Good luck with your brew.

 

[Brewski]

As you can see from my video, the glass fermenter is great for keeping an eye on things. Good luck with your brew.

That one's going like a snow-globe! Do they all do that?

 

[mook1979]

That one's going like a snow-globe! Do they all do that?

In my experience, yes. I pitched an entire yeast cake from a previous batch, so I reckon some of those almost solid bits may be spent yeast from the yeast cake. I'm no expert. All I know is that batch turned out really well.

It is interesting to see what the wort looks like at different stages. It turns quite light at one stage before settling at the colour you end up with in your glass.

 

[Brewski]

It's been fermenting for two weeks now and everything's still ticking along nicely. One thing I noticed yesterday is that the bubbler activity has dropped significantly over a very short period of a couple of days. It's gone from bubbling every 5-10 seconds to 20+ seconds. I was expecting a more gradual slowing, is this normal? (Temps are still constent at ~19C).

 

[Brewski]

It's been fermenting for almost three weeks and things have slowed down a lot in the airlock so I thought it was about time to whip off the FV lid for the first time, have a look-see inside and take a sample to measure with the hydrometer.

Most of the krausen/head/foam has sunk, with only a few small spots of of it remaining on the surface and the hydrometer showed a SG (specific gravity) of 1008-1009. I was planning on bottling tomorrow but I'll give it a few more days and see if it goes down further.

Of course I had to taste the test sample, as you do, and I tell you what - it tasted a lot nicer than I thought it would at this stage. In fact, I'd say I've had worse pints in pubs over the years!

I've made beer! Marvellous. :drunk:

 

[Brewski]

I've just finished hosing the FV and water bath down and washing all the bits & bobs. That's right, after a second hydrometer reading of 1008, my brew is now primed and sitting in a load of freshly capped bottles. :

 

[clibit]

Good feeling innit?!

 

[howyoubrewin]

Good effort! Now the hard bit... waiting! 😉

 

[Brewski]

Good feeling innit?!

You're not wrong there!

I couldn't help feeling a bit sad to see it leaving the FV though - I think I might actually enjoy making beer more than I enjoy drinking it, which is something I never thought I'd hear myself saying! (Or see myself typing.) :wha:

Anyway, I can't wait to get the next brew going - but which one? Decisions, decisions!

 

[Brewski]

Good effort! Now the hard bit... waiting! ������

Cheers, I'm wondering how long I'll be before they start whispering, "drink me... drink me... drink me NOW!" :)

 

[BruinTuns]

Brewski, best advice I can offer is to keep at least a few bottles back, the longer the better, to taste what time can do for them. If necessary, give them to a friend to keep for you, tell him/her that UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES are you allowed to reclaim them for at least 3 months. Even though you beg, weep and threaten..
I've read so many posts and blogs that promise that a much longer wait is more than worth it. I think this applies more to kit beers (which are what I'm doing as yet)
I'm going to try to take this advice myself as, so far, it seems to have some truth. 4 weeks in bottle = drinkable (ish). 6 weeks = nicer. 8 weeks = starting to taste like commercial good beers (Hobgoblin, Theakstons etc)
Hoping that 3 months will be delicious, googling suggests this isn't unrealistic.

 

[Brewski]

Yes, I've heard (read) that said many times too and whilst I can't guarantee all the bottles will survive for 3 months, :whistle: I will keep a few to see how they improve.

That said, I find it quite drinkable as it is. I was quite happy having to restart the syphon every time the end came out of the beer in the FV, I'm surprised there was so much beer left to fill the bottles! :grin: (I need to get one of those clip things because the clothes peg didn't fit as planned).

It's worth mentioning a handy tip I picked up on here somewhere - a hygenic way of suck-starting a syphon for those who don't know: I have cut a short length of tube, a couple of inches long, to attach below the syphon tap just for suck-starting the syphon. Once it's flowing (...into my mouth, yum yum!..), I close the tap (...eventually... ) and replace the short piece of tube with a piece which is long enough to reach the bottom of the bottles for filling them. It works a treat.

 

[clibit]

You can get a little tap that fits onto the end of the syphon tube. Only about 2 quid. Or better still, a bottling stick, only about 3 quid, which also fits on the end of the syphon tube. Worth getting.

 

[Brewski]

The syphon I use has a tap - it's this one: http://www.wilko.com/homebrew-accessories+equipment/wilko-syphon-pack/invt/0022573

I've just modified it by cutting two pieces off it, to attach below the tap:

- One bottle-length piece to use instead of a bottling wand.

- One very short piece (about 1 to 2 inches long) used only for suck-starting the syphon (as described in my previous post).

It's hard to describe but really simple to do and it works very well.

 

[clibit]

I've done that too. I now use a sanitized syringe to start the syphon. No sucking. I have to taste the dregs!