johnfarquhar74
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- Jul 31, 2010
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Righto chaps, first ever batch and wondering where I went wrong so please be gentle.
My first batch was a youngs lager kit, something simple, how could I go wrong eh? Followed all the applicable instructions and placed my fermentation bucket in a wardrobe next to my hot water storage tank which should have kept a nice steady 20 degrees. At first there as a lot of activity/foam but this settled after a few days. I left the lager in the FV for 10 days then took a reading with my hydrometer, got an FG of 1004, with an SG of 1040 meaning around 4.8%ABV.
Took the FV downstairs to the kitchen so I could syphon it off to a pressure barrel where I added my conditioning sugar, the intention being to allow the sugar to mix in the barrel then immediately rack off to bottles. I finally got the beer into bottles(bloody messy process, now investing in a little bottler), capped them and have placed them back in a warm cupboard for a few days before I move them somewhere cooler to finish off the conditioning process.
NOW, when I look at the few clear bottles I used to check on progress, the beer is starting to clear at the top(after 24 hours from racking) but is pretty cloudy at the bottom, in fact it looks like a good quality organic cider, bright in colour but not a lot of light passing through. The worrying thing though is, in the bottom of each of my sample bottles there is a creamy white ring of sediment, I assume this is here to stay? If so, the whole batch will be the same and I'm just wondering where I went wrong. I reckon moving the FV downstairs might have upset some sediment but I did move it v. v. gently.
Anyone any ideas, am I just being impatient or do I bin it and put it down to experience.
My first batch was a youngs lager kit, something simple, how could I go wrong eh? Followed all the applicable instructions and placed my fermentation bucket in a wardrobe next to my hot water storage tank which should have kept a nice steady 20 degrees. At first there as a lot of activity/foam but this settled after a few days. I left the lager in the FV for 10 days then took a reading with my hydrometer, got an FG of 1004, with an SG of 1040 meaning around 4.8%ABV.
Took the FV downstairs to the kitchen so I could syphon it off to a pressure barrel where I added my conditioning sugar, the intention being to allow the sugar to mix in the barrel then immediately rack off to bottles. I finally got the beer into bottles(bloody messy process, now investing in a little bottler), capped them and have placed them back in a warm cupboard for a few days before I move them somewhere cooler to finish off the conditioning process.
NOW, when I look at the few clear bottles I used to check on progress, the beer is starting to clear at the top(after 24 hours from racking) but is pretty cloudy at the bottom, in fact it looks like a good quality organic cider, bright in colour but not a lot of light passing through. The worrying thing though is, in the bottom of each of my sample bottles there is a creamy white ring of sediment, I assume this is here to stay? If so, the whole batch will be the same and I'm just wondering where I went wrong. I reckon moving the FV downstairs might have upset some sediment but I did move it v. v. gently.
Anyone any ideas, am I just being impatient or do I bin it and put it down to experience.