Just sampled a pint of my first homebrew.

[jondread]

Well here it is, the first beer that I've ever made. I'll be completely honest, it isn't amazing, but its not **** either. It has only been bottled for 2 weeks so I'll give it another month and see if it improves, (hopefully it will?) but its definitely beer and its definitely getting me tipsy! Surprisingly carbonated too, considering I used absolutely no Co2 at all.

There was quite a fair bit of sediment in the bottle though, which was a shame as I had to throw about 1 inch of it away, luckily I kegged it 70/30 (keg/bottle) so that should eliminate that, next time I'll let it stand in the keg a while before I bottle it. Careful pouring ensured it was clear in the glass though.

All in all though I'm quite happy, I'm glad it hasn't gone bad and turned out utterly sh**e and for a first attempt I'm quite proud of myself really!? This was a Wilkos kit called Hoppy Copper bitter, and I followed exactly the steps on the tin, and did nothing extra. I want to get another one on the go soon, and planning to 50/50 bottle keg this lot. I only have one spare pressure barrel and thats a small one though, so I'll wait til this lot has gone and then make another in time for Christmas :) any suggestions?

Anyway, cheers all!

 

[Dusty]

How about a Woodfordes Wherry? Wilko's are doing this for £16 at the moment or if you want the one can kits they are £8 so why not stock up and fill ya boots :drink: :thumb:

 

[jondread]

How about a Woodfordes Wherry? Wilko's are doing this for £16 at the moment or if you want the one can kits they are £8 so why not stock up and fill ya boots :drink: :thumb:

I hear good things about the Wherry :) I like the look of the Milestone Green Man actually, I think I might need to buy a secondary fermentation bucket and get two of these on the go at once!

 

[Dusty]

Sounds like a plan :lol:

 

[PD]

welcome...there are hundreds of beers to sample and enjoy

 

[bobsbeer]

Your brew looks good. Well done. :thumb: :

 

[Grumpy Jack]

That's not looking too bad for only two weeks in and a first attempt, you should feel pretty chuffed. However, there was another thread recently and it did suggest that whilst a lot of us drink our brews quite early, the longer you can leave it, the better it is. Two months is usually pretty good in my experience... And is also usually about 3/4 into the brew, so only a few taste truly great. The lesson is, brew more and store more and age longer... If you have space.
Woodfordes two can kits are pretty good, though I've heard that the Wherry does occasionally get stuck... Whatever you decide, welcome to the satisfaction of knowing that the beer that you drink is your own work :-) I reckon you won't be just doing one more brew between now and Christmas... :thumb:

 

[brewtim]

Get three on the go and drink commercial beer until the first one is ready after 2 months, then brew at least once a month and you'll wonder why you never buy commercial beer again :party:

 

[Mick May]

the woodfordes wherry is great....
but also is the wiko golden ale ... :drink: .
by the way that pint of yours seeing its so young is fantastic ...
you are defo getting it right... .

very well done .. :clap: .
by the way im in bristol if your near me ...
you can have some fvs from me free of charge ...
as iv got more than i need .. .


regards mick... :hat: .

 

[Sandimas]

there was another thread recently and it did suggest that whilst a lot of us drink our brews quite early, the longer you can leave it, the better it is. Two months is usually pretty good in my experience

+1

I didn't really subscribe to this view until recently, but two of my most recent beers improved significantly after being left 2 months. Another one took around 5 months to come to its best.

Don't want to sound patronising, but I never had a lot of luck with those cheaper Wilko kits. Spend a bit more on one of the higher quailty kits like Muntons Smugglers, Woodfordes Wherry/Nog, or Festival and you'll get a better result. And if you can brew a kit you can do an Extract brew (extra stage of boling some hops), which'll produce you a beer as good as any pub.

It's so great when you sample your first home-made pint, well done. :thumb:

 

[jondread]

Thanks for all the replies :) it is good to know I seem to be on the right track. I wanted to try out a cheap kit first before I tried anything a bit more expensive, just to get the hang of it really - but I went and bought myself a Woodfordes Wherry 2 can kit this morning as they were on offer in Wilkos so I will be doing this one as soon as I can.

the woodfordes wherry is great....
but also is the wiko golden ale ... :drink: .
by the way that pint of yours seeing its so young is fantastic ...
you are defo getting it right... .

very well done .. :clap: .
by the way im in bristol if your near me ...
you can have some fvs from me free of charge ...
as iv got more than i need .. .


regards mick... :hat: .

And thank you so much for the offer, Mick, unfortunately though I'm a couple hundred miles away from Bristol, in Kent. That's really nice of you to offer though.

I do have an empty fv at the moment which I was thinking about getting the Wherry into, but my larger keg is full of the first lot of Hoppy Copper that I brewed. I do have a slightly smaller keg though, not sure what liter (as it doesn't say on it) but if anyone could let me know the capacity of this other keg that I bought then I may start the Wherry at the weekend.
Here's a comparison picture between the two sizes, this is probably a really silly question :P

Anyway, I have that empty keg, and approx 24 empty bottles. Just worried about whether or not I'll be able to fit it all into bottles/kegs after its finished fermenting, or shall I get my mates round to help me drink the stuff which is in the bigger keg, haha!

 

[Rolfster]

I just put the word out to my mates that I needed their empty bottles when they had finished.
I now have a big pile of bottles in my cellar!
R

 

[Rolfster]

By the way, your first brew looks great :

 

[jondread]

I have something interesting to report.

I just randomly decided to try a glass of beer from the keg too (the first try was bottled) and a very interesting and different result.
This beer tastes..... much better than the bottled one!? How is this possible? I also have a head on my beer! (didn't get one from the bottle)

https://www.dropbox.com/s/xxuw68l0mwri6et/IMAG2985.jpg
https://www.dropbox.com/s/ab4af3f9m3itlzc/IMAG2986.jpg

Very surprised at how different it tastes. I was going to leave it in the keg for another 4 weeks and drink it around Halloween but I am not sure it'll keep that long now. Plus I want to get my Wherry on the go.

Just three quick questions:
1) How long will it keep in the keg for?
2) Do I need to top it up with CO2 now, as I have not added any CO2 to my keg.
3) How can I chill this? I have seen these little mini-kegs at my local hb store, they're like little aluminum or stainless steel kegs, I think 5L.

Thanks so much in advance :) :drink:

 

[Duxuk]

I have no idea why keeged beer matures quicker than bottled. I only know from experience that it does.
It will keep in a keg for many months, at least. It's protected by a layer of CO2 which sinks beneath any air.
You only need to inject CO2 when it gets less lively than you like it.
I don't know why you would want to chill an ale. It's best in a garage at about 12 degrees.

 

[jondread]

I don't know why you would want to chill an ale. It's best in a garage at about 12 degrees.

Thanks for the info! I'll go out and get myself a Co2 injector thing tomorrow then. Oh and its a bitter, not an ale :)

 

[Wezzel]

Depends on the time of year. My garage is about 18 degrees at the moment and my keg is tucked up in my brew fridge at 11 degrees.

 

[Slid]

I have no idea why keeged beer matures quicker than bottled. I only know from experience that it does.
It will keep in a keg for many months, at least. It's protected by a layer of CO2 which sinks beneath any air.
You only need to inject CO2 when it gets less lively than you like it.
I don't know why you would want to chill an ale. It's best in a garage at about 12 degrees.

Is it just the case that beer will mature faster in a large vessel than a small one?
(In the same way that a banana is supposed to ripen faster in a fruit bol than on its own?)
I would suppose that a larger volume of beer will be less affected by fluctuating temperatures - such as night to day, for instance. Is this a contributing factor?

 

[rpt]

That looks like an excellent pint for your first effort - so clear already. Leave it for longer and it will get better. I've found kits take longer to mature than AG but even that gets better after a few weeks.

The Wilkinson two can kits are also made by Muntons so should be as good as the Wherry etc. The biggest problems with kits, in my experience, is they don't supply enough yeast - the Wherry has a reputation for sticking at 1.020 and I'm sure if you replaced their yeast with S-04 it wouldn't and you'd probably get a better pint too.

Oh and its a bitter, not an ale :)

Bitters are ales! Roughly speaking you can divide beers into two types: ale and lager. The difference is the type of yeast. Lager yeast is a bottom fermenter and fermentation is at a cooler temperature. Ale yeast is a top fermenter and fermentation is at a warmer temperature. There are many types of ale: bitter, pale ale, stout, porter, mild etc. There are also some hybrid beers and not all "ale" yeasts are proper top fermenters, just to confuse.

 

[markmark]

Nice one on your first brew :thumb:
Whenever I need to throw a kit on, I always go back to the Coopers IPA brewed to the instructions on the tin....you will need to add dried malt extract and a little brewing sugar .....and a month conditioning does it great.
Good luck :