General advice for first ever brew

[liammiller]

Hello all, I'm brewing a Brewferm Kriek and just pitched my dry yeast into the wort at 19C at 21:00 today (18/10/15). I put the wort together about 24 hours before pitching the yeast, should this still be ok? No signs of any bubbling in the airlock yet but hopefully will see some action tomorrow morning.

The equipment that I have came with the FV and another smaller bucket which I was told was just for racking. The lid for this bucket doesn't have a hole for an airlock. So when it comes to bottling do I just siphon from the FV into this bucketand then siphon from there into the bottles?

Should I add the priming sugar into this second bucket or into the bottles individually?

The wort is too shallow to take a hydrometer reading so should I siphon some into a container and get a reading from this? Is a reading at the start of the brew necessary?

 

[brewmandan]

Yes, you can't determine the final ABV without the first reading.
Siphon it in to a different container and take a reading the first reading is quite important

On the racking/bottling part. Its all up to you what you feel is best.
You can put everything in the 2nd bucket prime it and then bottle or you could do them all individually. Whatever is easiest for you.

Make sure everything is clean and sanitised!

 

[Fil]

get a turkey baster, its easy to sanitise and then draw off small volumes to take a gravity reading from, dont return the sample, drink it to gauge flavour.. that way you needent sanitise the hydrometer and sample glass. Or more importantly increase the risk of something unwanted getting in.

dont keep opening the beer unnecessarily, and when you do crack the lid and peek in from the side, dont stand over looking down into the beer.
the biggest risk is from air borne spores dropping in..

Ideally you want to pitch asap as you have just prepared a huge bucket of easy to digest food for micro life.. and the air is full of it.. when we pitch the yeast we introduce a large population on the basis it will out eat and out grow anything else that has dropped in during the prep.. But if you kept the wort covered it should be fine, just in future perhaps avoid leaving it so long..

dont worry about airlock activity, the co2 will find the easiest way out and a slight gap in the lid seal will let it all escape without disturbing an airlock..
you could wrap the lid seal with poormans parafilm (ptfe tape) to try an ensure a seal but thats not foolproof either..

Yes add the sugar to the small bottling bucket to batch prime best made in a solution with off the boil water to help it disolve and mix well, then siphon the beer into it before bottling to ensure an even distribution,

Or dose each bottle with its own priming charge and fill directly, its up to you
Batch priming will ensure no dead bottles due to overlooking to prime them..
(more of a risk with larger batches 40 bottles +)

 

[Sandimas]

Since you've already pitched the yeast, it's a bit too late to take an initial hydrometer reading as the yeast has probably already started to work. With those smaller volume brews, you can normally take a reading by tipping the FV to 45 degrees creating a deeper bit to drop the hydrometer into. I find hydrometer readings more important with All Grain brews, with kits they come out pretty much as expected so not absolutely necessary.

Another tip - next time, re-hydrate your yeast for 30mins before pitching, in half a cup of water no more that +/- 5C of the wort temperature. This will give it a much better chance.

Those Brewferm kits are great, I'm bottling one today (Abdij).

 

[terrym]

dont worry about airlock activity, the co2 will find the easiest way out and a slight gap in the lid seal will let it all escape without disturbing an airlock..
you could wrap the lid seal with poormans parafilm (ptfe tape) to try an ensure a seal but thats not foolproof either.

Or use four lengths of cling film stretched over the edge of the FV top (but don't forget to make sure the airlock hole is not covered when you fit the lid).
This works for me.
I usually do this after the first part of the primary has died down and there is no chance of the krausen touching the lid and the airlock activity has calmed down. Once fitted you will see how much CO2 leaks past what you thought was a well fitting lid.

 

[liammiller]

Thanks for all the replies. The airlock is happily bubbling away now.

So wgen batch priming, should I dissolve the amount of sugar I need, pour that into the bottling bucket, put the lid on while it cools and then siphon from the FV into there? Do I need to wait for my priming sugar solution to cool before siphoning into it?

 

[rodabod]

Don't open it once it has started fermenting, as you'll let oxygen in and increase risk of contamination. Airlocks are awful tools for monitoring fermentation activity. All of my vessels leak around the lid at times. Make your gravity measurements in a trial jar.