Have I ruined my first Wherry???

[ammiteur connoisseur]

Hiya people :thumb: , i purchased a beer making kit this week for the first time & I think that I may have screwed it up???
Any comments or suggestions would be gratefully recieved. . . . . .

Ok I got a Woodfordes wherry 4.5%abv kit & through rushing around with other things that needed doing I firstly filled up my FV with to much water by about 3 1/2 liters. So day 2 (after assuming that I may lose some alcohol strength), I thought that it may be an idea to add 1/2KG of caster sugar to compensate.

I'm now sitting here with a big stupid grin on my face :) thinking what you all must be thinking of me about now & now that I write down my actions I feel so embarassed :mrgreen: !
Anyway thirdly my FV is on some shelving in the livingroom atm & it seems that the temprature maybe to high at 23c because its now day 3 & it do'nt seem to be doing much. The beer frothed up on day 2 after adding the sugar, but seems to have gone down hill now.

So 1, does it matter that I added to much water at the start?
2, did I do good by adding caster sugar or not?
3, has the room temp killed the yeast?
4, Should I just tip it away & try again or is it fixable?


Please, . . . .be kind! lol

 

[ammiteur connoisseur]

Whoops!!!

have i posted in the wrong place?

Sorry I'm Justin, A complete novice ready to learn from the experts.

I've never used a forum before but it seems straight forward enough (so I thought). Do I need to re-post somewhere else now :wha: ?

 

[justink]

Hi Justin - I'm another Justin and also not long finished my first brew which was also a Wherry!

Anyway, I'm not really experienced enough to answer all your questions but from my limited experience it seems things are not too bad for you.

You tend to get lots of foam in the first 24 hours and lots of bubbles coming from the air lock (you have an airlock right?) then things slow down and you will only get occasional bubbling from the airlock, if any (that you'll notice anyway).

The extra water will make it weaker in ABV and possibly taste too but wont stop it turning into beer! Temp sounds fine too, your yeast will be doing their thing.

As for the extra sugar - I really dont know what difference that will make apart from making the whole thing sweeter. Not sure it'll help the ABV much.

Did you take a hydrometer reading?

Dont panic - its a learning curve that I'm still on myself. Your next brew will be amazing and so will this one probably!

:

 

[ammiteur connoisseur]

Thanks Justin, Yeah I have A hydrometer (which i'm struggling with also!) it reads level with the bottom of the red line, so one mark lower than 40 (towards 50 if that makes sense).

And yeah I have an airlock, but I'm not so sure that anything has happened yet coz the water level of it is still the same!

 

[justink]

So roughly 1042 as your original gravity - that sounds fine especially if you had extra water.

Read this post, its really useful explaining how to use a hydrometer:

viewtopic.php?f=30&t=3326&hilit=hydrometer

The water level in the airlock will stay the same, it should just 'glug' every so often to release CO2. Although your may have stopped doing that to often now. Did you notice it glugging during the first 24/48 hours?

 

[ammiteur connoisseur]

Thanks for the link Justin & no, didn't notice any loss of gas from the airlock, however I did remove the lid to add the sugar on day 2, so maybe that's why? But shouldn't there be more than just a glug or two, even after say 48-72 hours?

 

[justink]

I've only just started my second ever brew so not sure mate. All I can say is that my Wherry had a lot of airlock action in the first 20 hours or so and then hardly anything for the rest of the week. I wasn't looking at it very much so I imagine it let out some gas during that time but very infrequently....

 

[calumscott]

Hi Justins!

I wouldn't be worrying about your brew. My best guess is that it'll brew out somewhere north of 4.5%.

I'm guessing you are brewing in a big plastic bucket with a clip on lid and a hole with an airlock in. You might not even get a single bubble in that lock depending on how well your lid seals. Mine does sometimes, not others... something to do with butterflies flapping their wings in Bolivia...

The extra sugar will give you a bit extra ABV once it's all done, caster is sucrose which in turn is a couple of glucose molecules joined together (or is it one glucose and one fructose.. can't remember...) all fermentible anyway...

Temp is fine if towards the hot end of fine - leave it where it is.

If you've had a nice big foamy head that's great, you've got live yeast in there. All you need to do is wait. Stick the lid on and don't even go near it for another week or so.

After then crack the lid a tiny bit and peer in for any little bubbles coming to the top in little streams. If you don't have any, take a sample and read the gravity with your hydrometer then leave it anther couple of days and do the same. If you are under the expected final gravity and it stays the same over the two days then you are good to go. IIRC the Woodfordes kits expect an FG under 1.012. Check that though - I don't know for sure!!!

So if you are under and the reading is the same two days apart then you are ready to bottle or keg.

So in short - too much water, just means weaker finished beer. Adding sugar just adds alcohol to the finished beer - how much 1/2kg adds to 26.5 litres I would be guessing though. The temp won't kill the yeast - don't let it get higher though or you might get odd flavours.

Most importantly, don't tip it. There's nothing wrong with it. Just let it get on and do its thing.

Come back and let us know what's doing once you check it in a week! Meantime, off to the snug to keep you busy and distract you from tinkering any further with your brew!

:

 

[ammiteur connoisseur]

Thanks calumscott.

yeah I had the frothing part & yeah it's in a bucket with a lid & airlock.

I feel better now, I'll leave it a while longer.

Cheers :