Hi - New brewer here

[biggtime]

Hello all,

A new brewer here, about to start my first homebrew tomorrow, finger's crossed. The easy route to begin with for me - a Young's Home Brew kit making Woodfordes Wherry.
But still so many questions....
Like how to maintain the temperatures needed at different times in a house that is always rather too cool.
And how long the beer will last once made - especially if stored only in the pressure barrel. Will it start to go off when you pour the first beer from the barrel? Or will it still keep for some time?

Cheers!

Dave.

 

[dennisking]

Hi and welcome.

 

[Wendy1971]

Hi and welcome to a great forum :thumb:

 

[Kyle_T]

Hello and welcome to the forum :

One of the most common ones I've seen is wrapping the Fermting Bin in a towel/duvet or storing it in a old fridge leaving it off.

As for how long it lasts, I can only talk of a bitter, I've had mine in a pressure barrel for 5 weeks now and it's still going stong, tastes much better too. Unfortunately I am no a lager person so I can't be more specific.

Good luck.

 

[biggtime]

Thanks Kyle. Fear not, I am a bitter man myself. Ale all the way! I wondered about the duvet idea. I'll give that a go. And great to hear that the beer will last well even once 'accessed'. I suppose what's confused me there is that I know when you tap a cask of ale, you need to get through it in 3 days.

 

[bobsbeer]

Welcome. : Wherry gets better with age. Try to condition it for at least 4 weeks if you can stand the wait, but it is a good pint and a good one to start with. You can add co2 as you drink it, so it lasts for weeks. Don't panic if the fermentation takes a while to get going. Mine took a couple of days at 22c, so if your temp is lower it may take longer. Just remember the three rules of Homebrew. 1. Keep everything steralised. 2. Don't worry, and the most important. 3. Keep everything steralised. Enjoy. :thumb:

 

[falafael]

hi, and welcome to the forum, plenty of helpful people on here, myself, nothing brewing just yet, but a bitter is planned for later!!

 

[biggtime]

Welcome. : Wherry gets better with age. Try to condition it for at least 4 weeks if you can stand the wait, but it is a good pint and a good one to start with. You can add co2 as you drink it, so it lasts for weeks. Don't panic if the fermentation takes a while to get going. Mine took a couple of days at 22c, so if your temp is lower it may take longer. Just remember the three rules of Homebrew. 1. Keep everything steralised. 2. Don't worry, and the most important. 3. Keep everything steralised. Enjoy. :thumb:

Thanks Bob. Sound advice. Clean it will be, in that case! Finger's crossed!

 

[LeedsBrewer]

welcome to the forum. the wherry is a great kit. i've got mine bottled and at 6 weeks it was awesome :thumb:

 

[joe1002]

Welcome to the forum :

Just remember the three rules of Homebrew. 1. Keep everything steralised. 2. Don't worry, and the most important. 3. Keep everything steralised. Enjoy. :thumb:

Rule number 4: be patient, very patient :thumb: :lol:

 

[biggtime]

Thank you, all of you, for the welcome and the hints and tips. I can happily report that my first brew is now on, and bubbling away nicely despite the coolness of my house. A camping mat round the fermenter seems to have done the trick and I've got it at around 20 degrees C. Possible even a little warm for the Woodfordes Wherry, according to the kit, but not too warm as far as I can see. Fingers crossed for the results! Very much looking forward to it. I'm even blogging about it. Not that I can work out how to link to the blog here as the forum doesn't seem to like it

Cheers!

Dave

 

[sc0tty81]

I do mine in my outhouse which is really cold, I have the FV in a water bath with an aquarium heater with thermostat control( only £7 off eBay) and its maintained a constant 20 degrees :)

Oh and welcome, I only started at Xmas but I'm hooked, haven't been off this forum it's full of useful info!!

 

[tbert33]

Hi BiggTime and welcome to a fantastic forum. Im a noob at this game too. Would love a link to your blog!

 

[biggtime]

Hi guys,

Thanks again for all the advice. Quick update on progress - the beer is in the pressure barrel and all seems well. Had a nice little sip of the sample I siphoned off for reading the gravity to check it was ready for the barrel, and that tasted pretty good even then. Woodfordes obviously know what they're doing!
Fingers crossed, this first brew will have conditioned and settled in time for friends coming for Burns Night. Would be better to leave it longer, but it seems the ideal time to crack it!
Still a couple of questions though:
1, Now that it's in the pressure barrel, and it's had a couple of days 'warm' in a room around 22 degrees C, how cool should I be looking to store it? Is 18 degrees cool enough?
2, Once it's conditioned, if I wanted to bottle some straight from the barrel, would that work? Would you still need to prime it in the bottles?
TBert, would love to give you a link to the blog, but apparently I'm still too new to post links! But if you take a look in my signature, you should be able to get it! Let me know what you think, if you give it a look...
Cheers all!

 

[sblair1979]

I've just started my first brew with the same kit. Hope both of them turn out good :thumb:

Mine is still in the fermenting vessel at the moment. Looking forward to testing it in the next few days.

Good Luck

 

[biggtime]

I've just started my first brew with the same kit. Hope both of them turn out good :thumb:

Mine is still in the fermenting vessel at the moment. Looking forward to testing it in the next few days.

Good Luck

All the very best with that. As far as I can tell, it's a pretty fool-proof kit to start with, and it seems it'll taste pretty nice too.