HomeBrew advice needed please

[ukwrighty]

Good Morning,

I'm new to homebrewing (this is only my second batch) so please be gentle with me.

I'm currently brewing using a woodfordes Nelsons revenge kit and have a question.
I set it up last week (Sat) in my garage and left it there for a week with a brew belt on it to let it ferment.
I've gone in this morning (following Sunday) expecting it to be at the bottling stage and have taken the lid off to find what looks like a load of the yeast sitting on the surface (is this normal?). I've tested it with the hydrometer and it's not quite in the yellow (ready to bottle) it shows that there's 45g suger per litre and it's gravity is just below the 10 (about 11 or 12?). The temperature is reading about 59f.
I'm assuming that the temp is too low and it's not fermenting correctly?
I've now moved the brew into the house which has a constant temp of around 20c and given the brew a good stir. Will the fermentation automatically start up once it warms up or do I need to add anything else?

Thanks for your time.
Dan

 

[Wez]

Moving it to the house should help, if in doubt add another sachet of yeast :thumb:

 

[Mark1964]

Like Wez says move it indoors. Next time keep indoors it needs to ferment between 18- 24, degrees c but if you do keep it indoors dont use a brewbelt they ferment the beer at too high temp i made the same mistake when i started brewing. I dont use any type of heater now it ferments happily indoors :

 

[Moley]

As the others have said, move it back indoors.

However, if it has had a week with a brewbelt on, it should be almost done. Taking the lid off to find “what looks like a load of yeast sitting on the surface” is quite normal but might indicate that it needs a few more days yet.

I would suggest that you spend a bit of time learning how to read your hydrometer. There's a useful guide here: click me.

Ignore the coloured bands, they are of no use to us whatsoever unless we've all got the same make of hydrometer, and the bottling gravity can vary quite considerably between brews.

Have a close look at your hydrometer and you should find there are five divisions between 10 and 20, so those are each two points, i.e. 1.010, 1.012, 1.014 etc.

45g of sugar in the litre tells me your gravity should be 1.015, which is probably a good finishing gravity for a Woodforde's kit, but it may drop just a little bit further. If you bring it back indoors but the reading is still the same in 2-3 days time, it's finished, bottle or keg.

 

[ukwrighty]

Good Evening all,

Here's an update on my brew and another question
Tonight I used the hydrometer to test the brew and it was suitable to bottle. I've just bottled it all and capped it and will keep it in the warm for a couple of days before moving it to the garage for 14 days, then I'll drink it :-)

Ok here's the question (please remember I'm new so this might be a stupid question), is it normal to have a lot of gunk in the bottom of the container after a brew or does that mean it's a duff brew? This is what I found in the bottom of mine:

This is only my second brew but my last one didn't have that gunk in the bottom, last one was a single can kit if that makes a difference?!?

Thanks for your help
Dan

 

[keith1664]

perfectly normal, thats what your little packet of yeast grows into.

 

[robsan77]

Its just the yeast and it should be present after every brew. Just avoid sucking it up.

 

[ukwrighty]

Hi guys, quick question.

After bottling on the 24th Nov the beer has been sitting in my spare room at around room temp.

I was hoping the brew would be drinkable by Xmas but have just tried a bottle and it's very cloudy and tastes quite flat.

I'm assuming that it might need a cool spell so have moved it to my unheated conservatory.

Question is: should the lower temp help and roughly how long should I leave it before trying it?

Thanks
Dan

 

[Grumpy Jack]

I'm assuming that you primed it before bottling? i.e. you added some sugar either to the brew or the bottles? If so, that should slowly act on the remaining yeast in suspension and nicely carbonate your bottles so they aren't too flat. Yeast works in warmer conditions and whilst cold conditioning is a good way of developing the flavours and so on, it won't make it any fizzier, so if you're after more gas coz it's too flat, leave it where it is for as long as possible...

If you didn't prime it, it's done what it'll do so no harm moving, the cold (and time) does usually help the sediment drop out of it.

If it's a "flat taste" as opposed to being a bit flat in the fizz department, not much i can say I fear... older and wiser heads may be needed. Only thing that I would add is that I did a Nelson's Revenge and it was a cracker, but much better for being left longer... it was good at a month, but excellent at two months old and it was a lot clearer at that stage too.

Hope that helps in some way... good luck!