My First ever Brew...

[DanBarnes]

Will be this Saturday!

Both excited and nervous, but raring to go and join you brewers

Im off to a local supplier to buy the Coopers Home Brew English Bitter Starter Kit. I thought this would be a good place to start, as the kit seems to include near enough everything I need. Incidentally, does anyone know if the FV has an airlock or will i have to buy one and a bung?

I will buy proper sanitising equipment as well...any pointers?

Will also buy an expandable syphon to make the bottling easier and a bottle rinser.

Could anyone be kind enough to give me any final words of wisdom/advise to help me on my way? Really want my first batch to be as much a success as possible. If theres anything you think i'm missing thats blatantly obvious please say :thumb:

Just a few quick questions...

-What temperature should i be keeping the FV at during fermentation?

-When will i know when the batch is ready for bottling?

-I have seen people putting a small amount of sugar in each bottle before bottling to act as
secondary fermentation...is this correct?

-What is the best technique for head retention?

Finally Dextrose or DME, or both?

Thanks so much guys : :rofl:

 

[RobWalker]

Whew. Welcome! Here we go...

Beer enhancer is best for kits. Too much dme reduces bitterness, too much dextrose causes a thin beer. I always recommend enhancer over 1kg sugar, but 1kg dme may be overkill.

Head retention, time is the best thing. Second to that, you can buy some carapils and steep that in, 300g will add considerable head retention. Rinse your glass before pouring too as washing up liquid kills it.

Investing in a good sanitizer will probably save a batch of beer, so entirely worthwhile.


1/2 campden tablet in your water prior to brewing will eliminate chloramines, depending on your water line it can drastically alter quality.

Priming with sugar is indeed for carbonation, like you say it ferments again, but this time there is no ecape for the co2, so it carbonates. 1/2tsp to a pint for ale, anywhere up to 1tsp for lager or really fizzy cider.

 

[Hop Fancier]

Hi Dan

I bought myself one of these kits in the big red box for Christmas so hopefully my replies are based on experience.

1) The FV does not need an airlock as it uses the concept of positive pressure i.e. the co2 pushing out stops stuff getting in. Airlocks are notoriously unreliable at telling you what is going on in your brew.
2) Sanitiser I use StarSan, costs about £10 for a bottle but it will last you ages, I use it in a spray bottle with Tesco water
3) The kit comes with a bottling wand, so you don't need one of those, as for the rinser, I bought one and found it rubbish, the bottling tree is a better idea as it allows you to store your rinsed bottles ready for use
4) Temperature wise as it's an ale 18-24 degrees about 24 you may get off flavours, below 18 the yeast will take ages and may die off. I use a pantry under out stairs as it stays around 21 at all times
5) You will know it is ready using the supplied hydrometer and sampling jar, but be patient, just because the SG has dropped it may benefit from staying on the yeast for a little while longer
6) The coopers kit comes with carbonation drops, simply drop 1 into each bottle (and not 2 which I did by accident unless you like stuff fizzy)
7) Pass on head retention, over to one of my colleagues on that
8) The coopers kit comes with a packet of Beer Enhancer so you don't need to buy any extra fermentables to begin with. Going forward DME will give you a better mouthfeel as not all of it can be processed by the yeast, but it is more expensive.

I really enjoyed my cooper kit and apart from the bottle tree I really didn't need to buy anything else. I haven't actually made the coopers kit yet.

Lastly patience it will probably be a good 3 months from before you get a good pint that you would want to give to other people, this is one of the reasons why the guys on here are constantly brewing.

 

[DanBarnes]

Thanks guys!

So the main ways to know when the brew is ready to be bottled is to take a hydrometer reading and see if it has the desired SG or when there is no sign of further fermentation?

How long would people leave the brew in bottles before drinking? Can you leave it too long?

:thumb:

 

[BigYin]

bottled beer I always leave at least 4 weeks - as for too long - hope not! Some of my bottles are over a year old now, and always taste good :drink:

although I use cornies for the majority of my beer - this waiting for 4 weeks stuff is a pain - 4 or 5 days in the cornie is good enough :mrgreen:

 

[BarnsleyBrewer]

Good luck with you first brew. :thumb:

 

[RobWalker]

At bare minimum your beer will, for all intensive purposes, be ready 2 weeks after bottling. In a few months it will taste much, much better. But as the rules go, if it tastes good and gets you drunk, go for it.

Sg readings are best indeed. It's pretty rare that my beer won't ferment down in 3 days, and when the krauzen head has subsided and you're left with patches of foam on top, its pretty unusual that its not ready. But yes, always take a gravity reading, its the only scientific way to tell.

 

[DanBarnes]

So the brew is on! Closed the fv lid at 7:30pm, 24c with a sg of 1.043. Pleased with how it went, topped up the water to 23 litre mark from height and got a really frothy head whilst mixing. Used coopers beer enhancer kit 1 as the fermentable in the end, which is mixture of both dextrose and malt extract.

Now the waiting game :)

 

[BarnsleyBrewer]

Don't mess with it now, the more you look inside the more of a chance you'll get an infection setting in..

Good look with it and let us know how it tastes. :thumb:

BB :drink:

 

[DanBarnes]

Thanks mate. Don't think I'll be tempted the remove the lid at all!

Any idea how to upload pics?

 

[BarnsleyBrewer]

Thanks mate. Don't think I'll be tempted the remove the lid at all!

Any idea how to upload pics?

You'll need to upload them onto a file sharing site like photobucket first then follow site instuctions..

<<CLICKY>>

BB

 

[DanBarnes]

 

[BarnsleyBrewer]

Bet ya still at school you two....LoL

BB

 

[bobsbeer]

Looks like your son is hoping to have a few brews when it's ready. Well done. Apply rule 2 of home brew. Don't worry. It will turn out fine. :

 

[RobWalker]

hahah, i love your passion! reminds me of my first brew a few years ago, a magnum kit, getting the bus home with a keg and FV with my best mate, looking absolutely ridiculous.

good luck chaps!

 

[DanBarnes]

Haha! That's actually my mate (21) and his younger brother (13) just giving myself (22) a helping hand

Good times!

 

[DanBarnes]

Just checked on it this morning, 14 or so hours later. Still sitting at around 23-24c and starting to look like something may be happening. Almost like condensation on the insides of the fv above the krausan ring and little patches in the brew itself going as far down as the drain off.

Is this temp ok?

:thumb:

 

[bobsbeer]

I would go slightly cooler if you can, but as long as you don't go higher it will be fine.

 

[Andyhull]

Also hope it's not still on that cream carpet

 

[DanBarnes]

In a cooler cupboard now. The cream carpet remained cream. Was amazed how quick, easy and clean the kit was!