My first ever brew..... ever.

just_steve · Oct 28, 2012

So this is my first ever brew: a beer kit of Woodfoorde Nog in time for Christmas if it all goes well :pray: . I did all this last Wednesday:

Unfortunately I can't yet put up image urls as I'm still a new user but I'll describe as best as I can.

So I sanitised everything in my FV with a powder steriliser from Young's. I was quite surprised to find it smelt of chlorine, if I'm honest, although maybe I should have expected that, given how toxic chlorine is to bacteria and wild yeast alike! The bit that worried me was getting the chlorine smell out of the FV after rinsing it out. It seemed to take a few rinses and a short soak in a solution with a Campden tablet but I got there.

I then did a few extra things to what the kit advised:

I added my dry yeast to a jug of water while I was heating up the extract cans just to start them hydrating.

Once the cans were heated, I added all the extract to a stock pot with some pre-heated water to help dissolution. I only left it in there for a couple of minutes and decided not to boil this solution. This is because I guess the extract comes with hop extract in it too and if I'd boiled it for any length of time, it would probably affect the profile for the hops in the beer (ie. move it away from aroma and towards added bitterness)... although I am probably expecting too much from a kit!

I then had my second panic: After adding the extract solution to the FV and a solution with half a Campden tablet, I wanted to top up the wort to 5 gallons, aerating it in the process. I decided to do this by using the shower head in my new bath because it has a high-speed jet. BAD MISTAKE! The force from it was so powerful it made a huge foamy head on top of the wort which meant I struggled to dip my sampling jar in for a hydrometer test without my hand coming into contact with the foam! Note to self: don't use the shower head and get a 50-100ml syringe for taking out samples for testing!

Afterwards, I calmed down a bit, chucked in my jug of yeast, attached the lid and switched on my final little experiment: an aquarium heater set to 20oC which I wired through the lid with a rubber grommet and vaseline to seal. I'm aware that some of you probably won't like this last point as there are heating mats but I fancied an experiment :geek: . I've read a rather old paper (1960s I think) on heat transmittance through sugar solutions of varying gravities and I'm not convinced, at the gravities usually experienced in beer brewing, that the heat transmittance is reduced enough that it creates a localised heat spot around the heater... but I figured the only way to find out was try it and see if the beer comes out fine. So we'll see!

It's now Sunday, the airlock has been bubbling away fine and it's actually started to slow down now so I guess I'll check the airlock every day now to see when it stops and then start taking hydrometer readings. I've got yeast nutrient in case the readings aren't low and the fermentation has become stuck. Speaking of readings, my OG came in at 1.038 @ 20oC which I thought was low but I guess I'm new to this...

One question I have, from another thread, there is a suggestion to leave the FV for a week and half or just over that... If my fermentation has stopped (confirmed by gravity readings) before then, surely I'd want to transfer it away from the sediment before yeast autolysis? Does anybody know how long it takes before autolysis is likely to start? And, therefore, how long could I leave the beer in the FV to make sure the sediment has settle out but feel safe?

pittsy · Oct 28, 2012

hello and welcome , a few people have mentioned how that kit is a nice 1 , you should leave your brew around 10 to 14 days to help the yeast clean up the brew to help rid of off flavours , i have left a brew over 3 weeks with no ill effect but you should leave longer than 4 , if planning on leaving beer in fv for long periods , after around 5 to 7 days from start of fermentation transfer beer to new clean fv (avoid splashing) and this will also help improve beer clearing but will allow you to safely leave brew in fv for longer time (however you run the risk of brew spoiling the longer its left ) Hope it all goes well for you .

PD · Oct 29, 2012

well done.
I hope your shower head was sanitised !
Next time use a ladle and elbow grease....
Allways give your brew at least 10 days to ferment out fully, if possible a few days more. Whether you leave it in one vessel or transferr it to a cleaned fv is up to you...there's a debate and views for both scenario's.
The Nog is reported to be a nice drink ( I've only made Woodefordes Wherry ) and all being well you should be able to gave a couple of tasters a few days before Christmas time.

For taking samples to do your gravity readings. get a turkey baster from the supermarket, only a few pounds. Make sure its well sterilised before and after use, even inside the bulb.

1.038 seems a little low perhaps your readings wasn't as accurate as it should have been, making from kits there should be enough fermentables already present to give you the suggested %abv for that beer.

just_steve · Nov 4, 2012

So my Nog has been fermenting for 11 days now. I wasn't able to check it yesterday but today I've had a pleasant day of rest, relaxation and plenty of time to check out my fermentation. I've been monitoring the time between successive bubbles in the airlock to get a feel for the situation and it's slowed down to 8 minutes between bubbles, so very close to finishing I think. So I opened the FV briefly to take a sample for an SG reading: 1.014 @ 20oC I think. Initially I was little disappointed, hoping for 1.010 or thereabouts, but I guess it's not like the fermentation got stuck on 1.020. So I guess my aquarium heater did well in my otherwise cold man shed. Being the chemist, I didn't put the sample back as that can lead to contamination, but usually my samples in the lab go down the sink or in a waste bottle when I'm done, so this evening was a nice change as I decided to take a cheeky sip of my sample to test for off flavours :drink: (no other reason.... honest

). I'm glad to report that it tasted rather nice.

Two points to make from this:

Firstly, I didn't get the dreaded infection of bacteria I was expecting for my first ever brew! I'll now admit that I never thought to sanitise my showerhead but must have got away with it. However there was a part of me thinking that bacteria are probably just as likely to collect in a tap as they are in a showerhead, so... But lesson learnt and I'll NEVER use a showerhead again

.

Secondly, wrt the current SG: After tasting the sample, Nog seems slightly heavy, almost stout-like but not quite. Now I particularly like stouts and if part of the reason for my Nog tasting the way it does is because of a slightly high FG then that's fine by me :) . I'll just take a couple more readings over the next two days and hope to keg on Tuesday night (day 13) and leave to condition for a month.

just_steve · Dec 18, 2012

So it's well over a month now since I started conditioning my Nog in the keg. Some friends and I have tried a couple of pints in time for Christmas and it's gone down pretty well! No bacterial propagation as feared!

I was worried about the keg itself at first as there was a very slight leak out of the seal of the tap but I think as carbonation pressurised the keg, it forced the o-ring in the seal to bed itself in better and make a better seal. There is definitely no problem with the seal now: no leak and it's definitely pressurised, given how fast the beer comes out if you open the tap too much!

The beer itself has a pretty lively head if you're not careful in how slowly you pour it. It started out being quite mellow with some Guinness-like flavours -- that was about 2 weeks ago. But now it's got more bite. My father-in-law thinks it reminds him of Hobgoblin. It's been a long while since I've personally had a Hobgoblin but I'm inclined to agree with him. We both think I need to do my own hydrometer calibration because he thinks there's more than 3.2% ABV (from OG = 1.038 to FG = 1.014), having had a couple of pints...

Next up? Maybe another kit, but I'm already reading up on BIAB methods and a lot of theory to do with mashing! I've also got a 33L stockpot from Germany, so my slippery slide to the darkside is well under way!