First Brew

[NewbieBrewer]

Hi
my very first brew has been in the FV a week today, and I plan to bottle on Sunday, is there any real benefit in racking to a secondary FV? Its a Youngs Brew Buddy Lager kit. on the advice of my lhbs I bought a 33ltr FV in case it got a little excited there was more head space, also sturdier than the one in the kit and airtight. I plan to use the bucket from the kit as my bottling bucket, also on the advice of my lhbs I bought brew enhancer instead of using table or brewing sugar as being a cheap kit should make a better brew. I plan to bottle in plastic coopers 500ml brown bottles with screw caps due to them being cheap to buy and reusable, does anybody see any issue with this? also the how to guide suggest 1tsp of sugar per 500ml bottle for lager, whereas my kit suggests half a tsp per 500ml bottle (don't want bottle bombs) what do you more experienced kit brewers think? also any huge advantage to batch priming? if I go down the bottling route I will keep them indoors for the first 2 weeks, then stick them somewhere cool for another month maybe impatience getting the better of me and trying it once its been in the bottle after three weeks.

sorry for the long post any hints tips or suggestions for my first brew being a success will be gratefully received

Regards Carl

 

[RobWalker]

your bottling bucket is your secondary. you transfer, stir in the priming sugar, make sure it's mixed well and then transfer to bottles. batch priming is very good, it makes life easier and provides consistent carbonation. mix your sugar with a little boiling water, stir through and let it cool, then dump it in the bottling bucket with your lager :thumb:

brew enhancer will make a better beer indeed!

Coopers bottles are fine, just store them upright and they will catch the sediment well. They're very good to have around and don't look too shabby either!

Lager you want just under 1 level teaspoon per bottle for 500ml (it's 1 teaspoon to a pint,) half a teaspoon is more for ales/stouts/etc as different levels of fizziness denote the style of the beer.

This is handy -

http://www.tastybrew.com/calculators/priming.html

6 US gallons actually equals 5 imperial gallons, so you want 5.8oz of table sugar or 164 grams to the entire batch :)

good luck dude!

 

[wilsoa1111]

Sounds like you have a cracking lhbs, short story: i agree completely that best bet with this kinda kit is to not really bother with a secondary (more for clearing cloudier brews and letting flavours develop, think allgrain stuff) and do the leave till well done, bucket, add sugery stuff then bottle and leave (i find lager kits improve vastly if can be left to laager properly in a cool garage, thats if u can resist not drinking them all lol ). Also agree with 1tsp or 5g of table sugar to 500ml bottle, may need a touch more with brew enhancer seem as if memory serves me, they are a mix of spray malt (less fermentable) brewing sugar and good ol table sugar.

For me buying anything other than cheap 2l pop bottles at 18ea seemed expensive as had lots about the house and didnt want to buy a capper(hard to finish in one go like), but the ones your considering will definately do a lovely job and u wont have to keep them in the dark as much-now using some dubiously aquired high pharma grade presterilised and new hdpe 500ml bottles. Good luck :)

Also i reckon to get a pop bottle to explode u would be going very off the beaten track, like fermenting from the start in them, so ur v safe

 

[Davybarman]

Never mind buying bottles. Havent bought any bottle yet and have a stock of over 150!!

Find a bar that has a good selection of pint bottles. The more unusual the better and then get friendly with them and ask nicely if you can relieve them of some empties. :whistle:

As long as the bottle are damage free. Leave them to soak for a couple of days in bleach then give them a good rinse. Couple of runs to a good bar will see you set up in bottles for a good while. :thumb:

Plus recycling is the big thing now!! :thumb:

Love the feel of my beer in bottle, seems more satisfying when you pop it open!!

 

[NewbieBrewer]

Hi RobWalker,

Thanks for your very prompt reply, in regards to racking to secondary FV what I meant was rack to second FV and leave in there for a couple of weeks to clear further before bottling. poor explanation on my part. With bottle or batch priming is table sugar ok? my only concern with batch priming is introducing oxygen into my brew when stirring the sugar in are these fears unfounded?

Regards

Carl

 

[Davybarman]

Hi Carl

Have a look here
http://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=30&t=8536.

Gives a good explanation of batch priming

David

 

[ScottM]

I would give it a little more time to be honest. Better to let the yeast clear up in the primary/secondary than in the bottle as you will only get more sediment/less useable beer.

If it were me I'd rack to the sterilised secondary this weekend and leave it as is till next weekend. I would clean out the primary and sterilise it and then use it as a bottling bucket for batch priming. This will allow the yeast to clear up the mess while off the trub, it will make clearing a bit easier in the bottle and you will have less sediment to deal with.

I generally go with 160-180g per 40 pints of lager.

 

[NewbieBrewer]

Hi wilsoa1111 and Davybarman and thanks for your input,

the coopers bottles are cheap and will last almost forever, so recycling has been taken into consideration Davybarman. I have about 25-30 brown glass bottles that I have collected so far, my lhbs advised that there are 2 cap sizes 27ml and 29ml and I thought as its my first brew having perfect bottles with screw caps will prevent any bottling disasters half way through the bottling process.

thanks for the link Davybarman I will have a good read later

Thanks for your Input Scottm

Regards

Carl

 

[NewbieBrewer]

Any other opinions on transferring to secondary FV at the weekend and leaving to clear in there for another week while I go on holiday? I assume there will still be sediment in the bottles due to secondary fermentation.

Regards

Carl

 

[ScottM]

Any other opinions on transferring to secondary FV at the weekend and leaving to clear in there for another week while I go on holiday? I assume there will still be sediment in the bottles due to secondary fermentation.

Regards

Carl

Only giving the yeast a week to do its work will mean there will still be lots of cleaning to be done when you rack into the bottles. This will lead to lots more sediment.

You could leave in the primary for the week and it would be almost as good, but due to all the solids in the primary the gravity will be higher and I think that will mean the solids will be more likely to stay floating.

If you transfer to a secondary all that will be transferred is the solids that are floating just now (those that need cleaned up) and a tiny bit of sediment from the primary. When you come back your holidays most of this will have dropped meaning that when you bottle the yeast will literally only have to deal with the priming sugar and the remains from the bottle fermentation etc.

I would always go with the secondary option but other people think differently. It's all down to your opinion really, read what other people think on the subject and base your opinion on what's important to you :)

 

[NewbieBrewer]

Cheers Scottm

I think that's what I will do, certainly cant do any harm. Ive not had chance to get the bottles yet anyway, with the hours Ive been working.

Regards

Carl

 

[NewbieBrewer]

****Update***

Well opened up the primary FV this morning after 11 days and it looks like lager and smells like lager and lo and behold for warm flat lager it tasted pretty good. I decided to rack it to secondary FV and leave it there for a week till I come back off holiday hopefully the little yeasties will clean it up some more. I will batch prime and bottle on bank holiday Monday, but so far so good for my first attempt.

Regards

Carl

6 weeks and counting till :drink: if I can be that patient of course