First "official" brew day. "Hot Goblin" + Supermarket Wine!

[Polymath]

So its my first official "brew day", so this should be fun. Todays (or in this case last nights) aims are :

1) Get a christmas brew on. Something very similar in taste to Hob Goblin.
2) Try out this supermarket wine idea. So without further ado, here we go :

All my starting items for both brews. In the end didn't actually use the Orange Juice. Kinda misunderstood all the items I needed and got a few too many.

Got slightly confused with making the brew. Its coopers dark ale, and it was suggested that I try some dark spray malt. Thinking this was an extra I also got some Beer Kit Enhancer. Reading the instructions suggested I put in an equal amount of the spray malt in, to the same amount of normal sugar that was needed. But only had 500grams, so put that in with 500g's of Muttons BKE. So will see how that works out.

Started over night and this afternoon it looked like this :

So rather happy. I intend on kegging about 30 pints worth of this and bottling the other 10 pints. Going to make a custom label for it and use it as a christmas present for the beer drinkers in the family. Also giving a few to my local pub to raffle off during christmas and to say thanks for the supply of bottles (See below!)

The second brew started today was the supermarket wines. This was just White Grape Juice + Apple Juice from lidl. A kg of normal sugar, and some Young's Super Compound Wine Yeast. Last night it was a bit quiet, but this afternoon its started to get going. Doing one pop in the airlock every 4-5 seconds. Here is how things are looking :

Final break through recently has been the supply of bottles from the local pub. On members advise I went and talked to the owner of the local pub last week and he was happy to keep some to one side of me. Turned up yesterday to find about 40 newcastle brown bottles, 40 magners (Main target!), 40ish assorted smaller bottles, 20 wine bottles and a few spirits. Took a car to get them home. Cleaning and working them through now, but man did they smell. Found two plastic boxes, put the bottles in with cleaner and left them outside for a few days. Here is how they look now :

 

[Polymath]

Minor note. Was meant to put this into the beer "brew day" section, but somehow missed. Damn me. Was going to put it in there as most of the brew day was the beer, not the wine.

 

[Wez]

Looks like you had fun!

What was the OG of the beer?

I'll move to beer brewdays now :thumb:

 

[llannige]

Nice one P,you seem to have it all under control. :thumb:

 

[ni9e]

Looks like you had a busy day great pics :thumb:

 

[Polymath]

Cheers for the comments. The OG to start was 1050, which is about normal I think for this kind of beer. Looking forward to trying it out in a week or two :-)

 

[Wez]

1.050 - thats an excellent start to fermentation looking at the yeast spirals!

:clap:

 

[Polymath]

So last night I noticed this had happened :

I found it funny in a strange way. Glad i also cleaned the lid the day i set it up.
Anyway this morning it had gone down

My current question is this : On the last image you can see the bits that have flaked out and over the side. Should i scoop them up and put them back into the bin? Or not?

 

[corby_brewer]

My current question is this :[/b] On the last image you can see the bits that have flaked out and over the side. Should i scoop them up and put them back into the bin? Or not?

I would say no, just wipe it off the side of the FV and put the lid back on.

 

[theboytony]

I wouldn't put them back, just clean them off

 

[A T]

I would lock her back up and wipe her down with a damp cloth

 

[Vossy1]

Ditto :thumb:
Great pics P, a nice healthy ferment

 

[Polymath]

Aye cheers for the info guys. I've cleaned it with some kitchen roll and its happy still. Its getting towards the later stages now, but im heading to Spain for a week. Hoping it will still be good when I come back. That and my wine which is still going at it at about 30-40 pops a minute. Will update you all in a week.

But for now. its a lads week away in Spain. Should be good, sampling the local beers and women ;-)

 

[Polymath]

Hey guys. Back from Spain (Which was excellent fun!). Came back to find my beer ready to be put into keg.

Then bottling :-)

Note : Can anyone see the mistake in this picture?

Okay final problem. Had some issues when bottling the beer, I kinda lost track of which bottles have had sugar added or not. Then i capped them all. So now I knew I have 3 or 4 bottles that are NOT primed, which is a problem. So I need to know. How can you tell if a bottle is actually primed or not. Is it possible? I could not remember exactly which ones had and which hadn't. Won't make that mistake next time ....

 

[Moley]

I kinda lost track of which bottles have had sugar added or not. Then i capped them all. So now I know I have 3 or 4 bottles that are NOT primed, which is a problem.

And this is why many brewers rack to a secondary and add the priming sugar to the bucket.

I don't, but I work methodically, line up 12 bottles then go along the row with my little sugar funnel and a half tsp. measuring spoon.

Missing one ain't the problem, it probably won't be entirely flat, doing one twice might make things interesting though.

 

[ano]

Note : Can anyone see the mistake in this picture?

Anything to do with the large amount of air you've got in your tube?

As has been said, batch priming effectively eliminates the problem of missing a bottle. Put your priming sugar in a jug, pour on some water, microwave, leave to cool, put in the bottom of a bucket, syphon beer onto the priming solution and bottle from that.

 

[Aleman]

The mistake would be not putting anything under the bottles when bottling over a carpet

 

[Polymath]

I guess its not a big problem that one or two are missing the priming sugar. Next time I will remember to prime a set of say 10 bottles with sugar, add the beer and then cap. Then move onto the next set. I was considering the other method mentioned of racking it from the FV to another bucket and add the sugar, then into the bottles. However that would mean more time syphoning from one to the other. Time was against me as my mum wanted the kitchen back to start making tea. And my stomach also agreed with the concept of food.

As for the mistakes in the picture.
Yes, the air bubble in the picture. That formed as I got my mum to take the picture ....
And yes, nothing on the carpet incase the bottles leaked.

Cheers for the feedback guys. It all helps :-)

 

[SheyMouse]

Looks like a lot of fun polymath. I can't wait to get going on my first beer (just freed up my fv from making blackberry wine).

 

[Vossy1]

As for the mistakes in the picture.

Found another one, clear bottles

Then i capped them all. So now I knew I have 3 or 4 bottles that are NOT primed, which is a problem. So I need to know. How can you tell if a bottle is actually primed or not. Is it possible?

You won't know until you open the bottles and even then it may only be a matter of difference. If you don't get the hiss you expect on opening, you could always add the priming sugars then, and re-cap, just make sure you have a spare in the fridge to quench your thirst :P

Some folk wait until fermentation is over until adding priming sugar. Ferment being over is usually judged by 2 hydrometer readings that are the same over a 48 hour period.
Others know when the yeast they are using should stop, and they delibrately bottle a few gravity points higher than target FG, thus eliminating the need for priming sugars.
And some don't add priming sugars any old way, leaving the bottles for at least 12 weeks, knowing the yeast will drop a few points in the bottle anyway **

Above all enjoy your beer, you may be surprised how good low carbed beer tastes :drink:

** unless the beer is filtered into the bottle, not really a common practice with homebrewers in the UK.