homebrewdave
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Hey guys. I've been quiet for a couple of weeks as I'm on holiday here in Nova Scotia with the wife and in-laws for a month. However, that's not stopped me from brewing because my brother-in-law wanted to give brewing a go so we bought a load of kit and a ME kit that quite impressed me. I've only ever done kit brews so having grains and a stainless steel brew pot was a bit daunting at the start but all became quite clear as we progressed through the instructions. The kit we brewed included the following:
Piccadilly Porter 23ltrs
-Malt Extract Syrup (about 2 pints of dark stuff and smaller honey coloured one that smelled of honey)
-Specialty Grains
-Hops
-Yeast
-Grain Bag
-Bottling Corn Sugar
-Instructions
The brewing equipment we bought was a basic one as follows:
-FV1 (same as you get with the Woodfordes kit) bung and airlock
-FV2 plastic carboy, bung and airlock
-Hard plastic siphon elbow
-Siphon tubing
-Bottling stick similar to the one in Cooper's kit
-Thermometer
-Hydrometer
-Brewbelt
For the water we used pure spring water. Yep, spring water that we collected from the local spring which was ice cold and crystal clear. It's tested every 3 months and is apparently the best water in the area.
The instructions are as follows (in brief):
1. Heat 4-5 ltrs of cold water until hot but not not too hot to touch. Switch off heat.
2. Pour crushed grains into grain bag and tie top. Immerse the grain bag into water and steep for 20mins at an ideal temp of 155F but do not boil the grains! Agitate bag regularly to help release extracts.
3. Add all malt extracts to hot water and stir to dissolve.
4. Turn heat on and bring to boil being careful not to boil over.
5. Add hops and start 30mins boil stirring occasionally to avoid scorching.
6. Upon completion of boil pour hot wort into FV1 containing 4 ltrs of cold water. It is not necessary to strain the hops as they will settle out later.
7. Top up FV1 to the 23ltr mark. Temperature should ideally be below 30C (we achieved 25C).
8. In a sterile cup ad 3/4 cup of luke warm water and sprinkle yeast into water and cover for 10mins.
9. Stir yeast starter and pour into the unfermented beer and mix well.
The following steps, highlighted in bold, are to my mind a bit controversial so your comments would be appreciated.
10. Place lid on FV1 (DO NOT SNAP LID DOWN) and maintain a temp of 18-23C.
11. After approximately 12-24hrs you should see yeast activity in the form of a foam head. In about 2-3 days you will notice the foam head will change in appearance developing holes and starting to collapse. It is now time to transfer the beer into FV2. Never leave beer in FV1 for more than 5 days.
12. Siphon beer into FV2 avoiding splashing and disturbing the sediment. Add water to airlock and place bung and airlock on FV2.
13. Maintain the same temperature and provide a dark environment.
14. In about 7-10 days the bubbling airlock has slowed or stopped. The beer is now ready to bottle but can sit for a few days more if airlock is still active.
15. Check the SG with a hydromoter making sure that the final reading is 1.020 or below and the airlock is stable.
16. Batch prime FV2 with Corn Sugar provided by mixing with 1 cup of water and bringing to boil on stove. Pour into cleaned and sterilised FV1 and gently rack beer from FV2 into FV1. Stir the beer gently to dissolve sugar solution. Syphon beer into bottles.
17. Keep beer at room temperature for 7-10 days then move to a cooler location and enjoy. Beer will improve with age so the longer you leave it the better it will get.
So that's about it really. We achieved the correct temp at step 2 and everything else went according to the instructions. However, step 10 was bugging me as it went against all the previous brewing I had ever done so I sealed the lid and added the additional airlock we bought. Step 11 also seemed a very short period of time as I'm used to leaving my brews in FV1 for up to 2 weeks before transferring to FV2 them leaving for 48hrs before bottling.
The one problem we did encounter was leaving a towel over FV1 with the brewbelt also installed overnight the first night which caused it to overheat as the temp was 28C the next morning. Hopefully this hasn't caused any problems as the yeast has been doing its thing.
Brewday was on 19/12/12 and we finished at 3pm so its been in FV1 for almost 4 days. The airlock has been bubbling a lot slower today so I'd say we are ready to transfer to FV2 later today or tomorrow.
I took a few photos which I'll post up when they upload (1MB connection here as we are out in the sticks!). Any comments are gratefully received. I think we have done ok with this brew but as I've never done this method before I have a few doubts in my mind so any advice or nuggets of wisdom would be great.
Cheers guys'n'gals :
Piccadilly Porter 23ltrs
-Malt Extract Syrup (about 2 pints of dark stuff and smaller honey coloured one that smelled of honey)
-Specialty Grains
-Hops
-Yeast
-Grain Bag
-Bottling Corn Sugar
-Instructions
The brewing equipment we bought was a basic one as follows:
-FV1 (same as you get with the Woodfordes kit) bung and airlock
-FV2 plastic carboy, bung and airlock
-Hard plastic siphon elbow
-Siphon tubing
-Bottling stick similar to the one in Cooper's kit
-Thermometer
-Hydrometer
-Brewbelt
For the water we used pure spring water. Yep, spring water that we collected from the local spring which was ice cold and crystal clear. It's tested every 3 months and is apparently the best water in the area.
The instructions are as follows (in brief):
1. Heat 4-5 ltrs of cold water until hot but not not too hot to touch. Switch off heat.
2. Pour crushed grains into grain bag and tie top. Immerse the grain bag into water and steep for 20mins at an ideal temp of 155F but do not boil the grains! Agitate bag regularly to help release extracts.
3. Add all malt extracts to hot water and stir to dissolve.
4. Turn heat on and bring to boil being careful not to boil over.
5. Add hops and start 30mins boil stirring occasionally to avoid scorching.
6. Upon completion of boil pour hot wort into FV1 containing 4 ltrs of cold water. It is not necessary to strain the hops as they will settle out later.
7. Top up FV1 to the 23ltr mark. Temperature should ideally be below 30C (we achieved 25C).
8. In a sterile cup ad 3/4 cup of luke warm water and sprinkle yeast into water and cover for 10mins.
9. Stir yeast starter and pour into the unfermented beer and mix well.
The following steps, highlighted in bold, are to my mind a bit controversial so your comments would be appreciated.
10. Place lid on FV1 (DO NOT SNAP LID DOWN) and maintain a temp of 18-23C.
11. After approximately 12-24hrs you should see yeast activity in the form of a foam head. In about 2-3 days you will notice the foam head will change in appearance developing holes and starting to collapse. It is now time to transfer the beer into FV2. Never leave beer in FV1 for more than 5 days.
12. Siphon beer into FV2 avoiding splashing and disturbing the sediment. Add water to airlock and place bung and airlock on FV2.
13. Maintain the same temperature and provide a dark environment.
14. In about 7-10 days the bubbling airlock has slowed or stopped. The beer is now ready to bottle but can sit for a few days more if airlock is still active.
15. Check the SG with a hydromoter making sure that the final reading is 1.020 or below and the airlock is stable.
16. Batch prime FV2 with Corn Sugar provided by mixing with 1 cup of water and bringing to boil on stove. Pour into cleaned and sterilised FV1 and gently rack beer from FV2 into FV1. Stir the beer gently to dissolve sugar solution. Syphon beer into bottles.
17. Keep beer at room temperature for 7-10 days then move to a cooler location and enjoy. Beer will improve with age so the longer you leave it the better it will get.
So that's about it really. We achieved the correct temp at step 2 and everything else went according to the instructions. However, step 10 was bugging me as it went against all the previous brewing I had ever done so I sealed the lid and added the additional airlock we bought. Step 11 also seemed a very short period of time as I'm used to leaving my brews in FV1 for up to 2 weeks before transferring to FV2 them leaving for 48hrs before bottling.
The one problem we did encounter was leaving a towel over FV1 with the brewbelt also installed overnight the first night which caused it to overheat as the temp was 28C the next morning. Hopefully this hasn't caused any problems as the yeast has been doing its thing.
Brewday was on 19/12/12 and we finished at 3pm so its been in FV1 for almost 4 days. The airlock has been bubbling a lot slower today so I'd say we are ready to transfer to FV2 later today or tomorrow.
I took a few photos which I'll post up when they upload (1MB connection here as we are out in the sticks!). Any comments are gratefully received. I think we have done ok with this brew but as I've never done this method before I have a few doubts in my mind so any advice or nuggets of wisdom would be great.
Cheers guys'n'gals :
