First brew????

[ollieollie]

Hi All,

So...
On Thursday(10/3) i began a woodfordes sundew kit, as kits seem to be the best place to start with learning the basics and it seems to be where most people start. I followed a combination of the instructions on the box and some tweeks i have picked up from various web sources which were brewing short(2 litres) and using a better yeast(muntons gervin). 3 days in my fermentation vessel has been sitting between 19-21 degrees celcius and fermentation is well underway, from the outside of my FV i appear to have about 15mm of krausen(?) and my air lock is bubbling away happily, the bubbles have slowed considerably but are still going as i write. The contents seems to be lightening up in colour in the FV as it ferments.

During the process so far i have discovered my first mistake, in my excitement on brewday i forgot to take the OG reading so am brewing blind at the moment, my plan is to wait for the bubbling to stop and then wait until i reach the 3 day consistent SG reading before transferring to barrel, Does this sound ok??

Also another tweek i intend to use is the substitution of priming sugar for DME, i have seen differing opinions on how to use DME, am i correct in thinking i substitute gram for gram? so between 50-80g for a 5 gallon barrel?

All responses and help is gratefully received
Cheers and happy brewing

Ollie

 

[taxidiver]

Don't get too worried about not taking a starting gravity with a kit. The temperature is right, it is fermenting well, do as you plan and all should be OK.
With regard to the use of DME instead of sugar, I've only ever used sugar with great success. It seems like unnecessary expense.
Geoff

 

[terrym]

Why not just stick to sugar? Its cheap, it dissolves easily, unlike DME, and the flavour addition you get from using DME as a priming fermentable will be negligible.
Keep it simple.
And if you are using a PB, the norm is about 85 - 90g of sugar per 23litre brew. Less than that and you run the risk of undercarbonation, more and you may pressure stress the barrel, although the safety valve should ultimately protect it. PBs are fine for lower carb beers but if you want to up the carb rate (e.g for a lager) you should use glass or PET bottles.

 

[JapanBrew]

Terrym is right. Keep it simple first.

 

[Robbo100]

I have been brewing for 13 years (4 years of that have been All Grain) and I have never used DME for priming.

Stick with sugar, it is all you need. At the end of the day, all you are using it for is to add bubbles and not flavour (in that small quantity) and it does the job very well.

Keep it simple.

 

[ollieollie]

Transfer complete, it smelt a bit funny(vinegar ish) on opening the FV but after a while the smell went. Is now conditioning in PB so hopefully should be drinking in a few weeks!

 

[taxidiver]

:lol: If you can wait a couple of weeks. :whistle:

 

[ollieollie]

:lol: If you can wait a couple of weeks. :whistle:

well i moved it into the cold today for a week or 3 but i sampled a half pint(in the name of quality control of course) and i was pleasantly suprised! tasted nice, good head, quite clear - happy days!!

also got a milestone lions pride going in the FV as the bug has bitten

photo of first pint to follow