Hello, and a couple of easy questions.. :)

[dom]

Newbie to brewing here - probably be popping up with questions now and again, so thought I'd say hello and thanks in advance!

I'm hoping to kick off my first brew on Friday - got myself one of these Young's kits to get me underway. Went for the one which comes with the IPA ingredients, read good things about it on here!

I've obviously read the instructions in the kit a few times alread, and been scouring the intertubes to get myself up to speed as quickly as possible. Think I know what I'm doing, but just wanted to run a few things past you all for peace of mind:

1) I've seen some people online using a blow-off tube, to catch excess mess during fermentation. My instructions don't mention this at all. Can anybody (probably somebody who's used one) confirm that they're safe enough to use without one? And if there are any rules of thumb for knowing when you do need one?

2) The ambient temperature in the boiler cupboard I'm planning to use seems to swing between 17/18 deg C at night and 22-24 deg C when the heating's on. I understand that the fermentation temperature will be a degree or so higher than ambient, and therefore my range should be pretty much spot on. Please let me know if any of this is wrong though.

3) I've attached a picture of the instructions that come with these kits, for anybody who's interested in them. And if anybody would be able to have a quick scan, and let me know if there's anything worth knowing that isn't mentioned, it would be much appreciated!:

 

[Joeyriles]

Hey Dom, a few things:

First: welcome to the club! You'll find plenty of brilliant advice on here and friendly banter.

Blowoff tubes are useful but I prefer an airlock-you don't actually need one of these to brew beer but it can help with the peace of mind, knowing your beer isn't likely to be open to the elements.

Temperature: my local home brew shop proprietor always says "if the room you're fermenting in is warm enough that you don't need a coat on then it is fine to ferment in." He's a wise soul, and your temperature fluctuations don't sound like they'll mess your brew up too much.

Instructions: take them with a pinch of dextrose. The best beers need time and if your kit says you'll be supping in three weeks, you'd better make it five at least. Check your hydrometer to see if your gravity has dropped and is consistent before you bottle it (lest you awake to the sound of explosions from your cellar at night.)

Anything I've missed, apologies.

Just dive in!

 

[GHW]

1) I wouldn't worry about the blow off (ho ho) tube, if you're doing 23L in a standard size fermenter (it'll have about 6 inches headroom) you'll be fine. Some kits are known for it though, perhaps someone here will have done one and advise. Just put the fermenter on a tray or towel if you're worried.

2) the more consistent the temp the better, your ranges aren't dreadful by any means and it will also depend on what yeast you get in the kit (again not sure). Perhaps wrap the fv in something to protect it from moving too far temp wise. It'll stay fairly consistent at a good temp then.

3) those instructions look way better than most kits, the main issue is usually they tell you fermentation is done in a week, but that kit say 10 days. The dry hop advice is good too, many say dry hop at day x, but you're better waiting til you know fermentation is finished then dry hopping 3 or so days before you bottle/barrel. I've added hops 5-6 days before barreling and the finished beer was too bitter.

Keep reading up and asking questions here though and you'll be fine.

Oh yeah, welcome to the forum!

 

[Covrich]

It does depend on the yeast you get but in general I would say try to keep the fermenting temp to the lower side on the 20s if it were me.. That is if you can.

The Youngs kits are pretty good indeed as far as kits go.. I never actually ever did the IPA but I hear it can take some people a few weeks to actually ferment.

Like Gareth says do your dry hopping after fermentation and work back from when you plan to bottle/barrel.

By the way you're about to be infected with a brewing disease where you will be obsessed with your new hobby! Just giving you a heads up!!

 

[Sonnal]

Just a quick addition to the instructions. It helps to warm the malt pouch in hot water for 10/15 mins before opening and tipping into the fermentor. This will make the malt a little more fluid and you'll get more out of the pack initially. After this use some of the 3 litres of boiling water to rinse the pouch out to get all the malty goodness out. Watch your fingers though.
Oh and Covrich is bang on about the obsession/ addiction of brewing. Enjoy :

 

[Hops_and_Dreams]

I've done this one. I brewed to 21ltr and the fermentation still came out of the airlock! Not a problem, just keep a spare one handy to swap over, had to do this a couple of times.

As covrich said, best to keep it as close to 20c as possible.

Mine took 22 days to ferment out, although I think the instructions say something along those lines anyway?

Results are very good though, wouldn't be disappointed if i'd bought a bottle of this in a pub/shop. Was good after 3/4 weeks in bottle.

Welcome to the obsession!

 

[dom]

Thanks for the replies so far, all helpful, even if just to confirm what I was already thinking!

The kit came with an airlock, this one to be exact. Won't have time to buy another one (as suggested by Hops_and_Dreams) before starting I don't think, so have to just cross my fingers and hope for the best.. Will put some old towels and bin liners or something underneath to be on the safe side. Unless anybody reckons I should definitely hold off until I have a spare for any reason..

Thanks to Gareth for the tip about wrapping something around the bucket to stabilise the temp as much as possible, and Sonnal for the tip about warming the extract. Will bear both those points in mind!

Oh, something that's just confused me a little about the hopping. Gareth and the instructions mention doing it 2-3 days before bottling. Does this mean wait until the SG has stopped falling for 48 hours, then put hops in and wait the 2-3 days before bottling? So bottling happens 4-5 days after stabilisation of the SG? Obviously I can't know in advance when the SG will stop falling, so can't put the hops in 2-3 days before tbat (if I don't know when it will be)?

To those mentioning the obsession.. don't worry, I can feel it coming on already!:-D

 

[yeastinfection]

I've just read your instructions. Wish I'd bought that kit now. I bought a coopers kit and the instructions were pants in comparison.
Welcome to the site.there are some really helpful and knowledgeable guys on here.
Enjoy :-)

 

[Toonahfish]

Thanks for the replies so far, all helpful, even if just to confirm what I was already thinking!

The kit came with an airlock, this one to be exact. Won't have time to buy another one (as suggested by Hops_and_Dreams) before starting I don't think, so have to just cross my fingers and hope for the best.. Will put some old towels and bin liners or something underneath to be on the safe side. Unless anybody reckons I should definitely hold off until I have a spare for any reason..

Thanks to Gareth for the tip about wrapping something around the bucket to stabilise the temp as much as possible, and Sonnal for the tip about warming the extract. Will bear both those points in mind!

Oh, something that's just confused me a little about the hopping. Gareth and the instructions mention doing it 2-3 days before bottling. Does this mean wait until the SG has stopped falling for 48 hours, then put hops in and wait the 2-3 days before bottling? So bottling happens 4-5 days after stabilisation of the SG? Obviously I can't know in advance when the SG will stop falling, so can't put the hops in 2-3 days before tbat (if I don't know when it will be)?

To those mentioning the obsession.. don't worry, I can feel it coming on already!:-D

The blowout tube isn't essential. It's ok if you have only 1 airlock, you'll just need to clean it out every so often.

As for temperatures consistency is probably more important that keeping to a range. As another poster said, err on the lower end of temps, I aim for 19 to 20 degrees. If you can spare £30 or so, invest in an STC 1000 digital temperature controller (cost me £10 on eBay) and a heating belt (cost me £20 on Amazon) and this does an excellent job of keeping the temp. right. On my current brew, which is just finishing today, I set it to 20 degrees, wrapped a towel around the FV, and the fermentation process itself kept it at a constant 21.5 degrees, the fermentation is now finished and when the temp drops below 20, the heat belt kicks it to give it a little boost. Well worth the investment, especially to keep brewing during the colder months.

As for the hopping, there are varying opinions as to when exactly to hop. I've come to the conclusion (others may refute this), that it's better to wait for the main fermentation to calm down, or to finish completely, before hopping, since the turbulence caused by bubbles of gas rising through the beer during fermentation helps to cause the aromatic molecules to vapourise rather than be absorbed into the fluid.

For example timings, this is what I am planning with my current brew. I started the brew on the afternoon of Saturday 2nd May. Fermentation has been fairly vigorous the last couple of days, and has calmed down somewhat today; it's essentially finished. Even if I wasn't going to dry hop, I would be looking to bottle it the weekend after next, i.e. a week on Saturday. The SG should stabilise over the next couple of the days and, in any event, it's good to let the beer sit for at least a week after the fermentation is finished, to let sediment settle, and allow the yeasties to finish processing the by-products of fermentation (some people might say to leave it for even longer, perhaps 2 or 3 weeks, or more, after fermentation before bottling). So, with all of that in mind, I'll probably dry hop with 25-30g of Fuggles hops a week on Thursday, the 14th May. That way it gives the beer a good amount of time to settle, and will allow the hops to give a good aroma, but not too much.

Take home message: when SG readings become constant, leave it for at least a week to settle, set a date for bottling, then add the hops at your convenience, a couple of days beforehand.

I hope that answers your questions. :)

 

[dom]

...

I hope that answers your questions. :)

Thanks for that, especially the bit about the hopping and bottling timings, all clear now!

I have been toying with the idea of a temp controller and belt already actually. Still keen to get this kicked off on Friday night, don't think it matters too much if I don't have it from day 1 since my ambient temperature swings are only a few degrees. Correct me if wrong though!

Question about using a towel and heating belt actually.. do you just put the heating belt immediately around the bucket and then wrap the towel around the whole lot?

 

[Toonahfish]

Thanks for that, especially the bit about the hopping and bottling timings, all clear now!

I have been toying with the idea of a temp controller and belt already actually. Still keen to get this kicked off on Friday night, don't think it matters too much if I don't have it from day 1 since my ambient temperature swings are only a few degrees. Correct me if wrong though!

Question about using a towel and heating belt actually.. do you just put the heating belt immediately around the bucket and then wrap the towel around the whole lot?

I did my first couple of brews without any additional heating and insulation and they simply took longer, because the ambient temp is around 17 or 18 degrees (I keep my house on the cooler side, apart from anythings to save money! Jumpers all the way...).

The belt is in direct contact with the FV, and the towel is wrapped around all of that, held shut and in place with clothes pegs. The temperature probe I have threaded thought the airlock. If I get a chance I'll take some pics to show you.

 

[dom]

I did my first couple of brews without any additional heating and insulation and they simply took longer, because the ambient temp is around 17 or 18 degrees (I keep my house on the cooler side, apart from anythings to save money! Jumpers all the way...).

The belt is in direct contact with the FV, and the towel is wrapped around all of that, held shut and in place with clothes pegs. The temperature probe I have threaded thought the airlock. If I get a chance I'll take some pics to show you.

Nice one, cheers again. Don't think I'll need a belt for now then - my cupboard only falls to about 17 at night, and it's up to 22/23 during the day I think. I'll just go with the towel/blanket at night to trap in a few of the daytime degrees! No worries about pictures, be interesting to see how you do it if you happen to have them anyway, but not urgent or anything cause description makes perfect sense :)

 

[dom]

I've just read your instructions. Wish I'd bought that kit now. I bought a coopers kit and the instructions were pants in comparison.
Welcome to the site.there are some really helpful and knowledgeable guys on here.
Enjoy :-)

Sorry, missed your message the first time round!

Yeah, I got lucky with the kit I think - went to brewstore in Edinburgh and they basically just gave me that one, with a choice of which kind of beer I wanted of course. Seems to be their default for people who walk in and ask how to get started. Wasn't sure how good it would be, so pleasantly surprised when I got online and saw all the good things people were saying about them!

And thanks, looking forward to getting the brew kicked off and lurking around the forum. Already been having a wee read of clibit's AG tutorial as well: