Im no longer a virgin!

[Pete H]

Morning Men!

After receiving a coopers home brew DIY kit for my 30th i have finally started my first brew, the coopers australian lager.

I think i went into over drive a bit with steralising my equipment and surface areas but at least when the wife comes home the house will be spotless, so maybe a few brownie points there!
As this is my first i just wanted to be extra carefull by making sure everything was clean as i have read a few reviews of brews going horibly wrong due to contamination.

Its been a couple of hours and there is already a lot of sediment on the bottom of the FV is this normal as i made sure everything was well mixed when applying all the parts?

I took a hydrometer reading and it came out at 1.038 and i have a steady temperature of 20-22 degrees, is it better to have your temperature slightly lower or higher?

Looking forward to the next few days so i will keep anyone who is interested up to date.

I have quite low equipment as i have just started so was after a bit of advice on the best way to sanitise my bottles. I have a tub of VWP so what im intending to do is sanitise the aread fill a bowl with warm water, add 1 teaspoon of VWP, put a bottle in at a time filling an inch with the steralised water put my thumb over the top, shake and leave standing on the bench, do the same with all the other bottles shaking each one again and then rinse with water. I will then leave them standing upside down on the bench where i have sanitised until dry!
Does this sound OK or just a big pile of pants? :pray:

Cheers

Pete

 

[operon]

I've just bottled my second brew on tuesday night so you can take my advice with a pich of salt, but this time I got a bit bucket, filled it with vwp and water and put as many of the bottles in there as I could and left soaking for 15 mins, rinsed them like mad afterwards and used a bottle tree to hold them before bottling. THe bottle tree is fantastic hadn't one for the first brew and tried to stand bottles up to drip was a pain. I'm sure others have better ideas.

 

[alanywiseman.]

Well done for popping your cherry :clap: :clap:

Now the hard part begins. Dont lift the lid on your brew for at least a week. This is to help stop infection.

You are best to ferment at 20C. This way you dont produce fusal (spelling might be off here but is somethinig like that) alcohols. This is what will give you a nasty hangover so try and keep the temp at the lower end.

Your steralising of the bottles sounds fine. Just amke sure to rinse them well or you could end up with a TCP taste in your beer from the chlorine in the steraliser. When it comes to steralising bottles though I have found you can save a lot of time and effort if you use a non-rinse steraliser like Star San. I only just started using it and it cut my bottling time from about 3 hours to just over 1.

A bottling wand also makes life easier and helps to prevent oxidation of your brew.

 

[BrotherMalice]

I have only kegged 1 batch so far, I am planning on bottling the next brew that I have on at the moment, from what I have read the bottle tree is the way forward. Putting the bottles upside down on your counter wont let them drain properly will it?

 

[operon]

I second the bottle wand, definetly makes bottling easy

 

[BrotherMalice]

Is that the "little bottler" I have one of those, I played with it before I set up this brew and it seems to be the best way by far to fill the bottles without too much mess and it was so east to use!

 

[Baz Chaz]

Is that the "little bottler" I have one of those

Yup, me too :thumb:

it seems to be the best way by far to fill the bottles without too much mess and it was so easy to use!

Especially if you have a dishwasher :wha:

When bottling I put the FV on top of the kitchen worktop above the dishwasher, open the dishwasher and you have a worktop that will collect any spillages and at a reasonable height :thumb:

 

[BrotherMalice]

Sounds like another reason fro me to get a dish washer

 

[Pete H]

Thanks very much for the replys, i think i will get myself a bottle tree cuz i can see it being i right pain doing it the way i described. Also some star san.

I seem to have white lumps floating on the top is this normal? I have used brew enhancer rather than sugar, i dont know if that would make a difference though!

I bought some beer finning from Tesco would anyone recommend that i use this to help clear the lager or are these kits good enough not to use them?

Thanks

Pete

 

[pittsy]

well done pete , yes use the finings and remeber to leave your brew for around 10 days before taking a reading as longer (ish) is better. And yes lower temps are better than higher temps from 18c to 22c no higher as will mess up brew no lower (much) as will either take ages or won't ferment

 

[alanywiseman.]

Lumps sound like spraymalt. What was your OG?

 

[Pete H]

Pittsy

The temp is steadying at around 20 degrees

Alan

My OG was 1.038. Theres probably about 15-20 lumps and every now and again one may slowly drop and another rise! not that im totaly sad and sitting watching it like an episode of corronation street eh im mean bear gryls!!! :party:

:

 

[alanywiseman.]

I think the lumps are spray,alt present in the enhancer. It is a bugger to dissolve as it clumps together really easily. It is nothing to worry about though as the yeast will still find it :thumb:

 

[Pete H]

Alan

Thanks for re-assuring me!

Woke up his morning and the fermenting is on its way and i have a steady temperature of 20 degrees.

:

 

[Pete H]

Its been 6 days since i started my lager, im going to give it another couple of days as its still fermenting then take a hydrometer reading. When adding my finning should i just pour this onto the top and leave to work its way in or should i lightly stir this in? I only have the 1 FV so im unable to rack this.

Any suggestions would be gratefull.

:

Pete

 

[Pete H]

Bottled my lager today, nice and clear, smells great and although at the moment a little bit bitter but its got good potential. Keeping it in a warm cupboard for 2 weeks then into the shed to chill for a further 2 weeks.

Im off to the local brew shop to pick myself up on the rocks apple cider kit so im hoping to get this going on Wed. I have now got a good selection of bottles which im picking up from my local social club, 1 bin bag full every Sunday so im in the process of giving them a good bleeching.

Thanks for all your help and im looking forward to starting my cider

:

 

[Baz Chaz]

Bottled my lager today, nice and clear, smells great and although at the moment a little bit bitter but its got good potential. Keeping it in a warm cupboard for 2 weeks then into the shed to chill for a further 2 weeks.

The longer it's left the better :thumb:


........... but it is perfectly acceptable to have the odd tester :whistle:


Hope it turns out OK :

 

[Pete H]

Baz

Its not me who will be sneaking a drink, its wor lass shes a beer monster so got my eyes peeled! :evil:

: