My first ever homebrew (16th May)

[Brummy_Brewer]

Being new to this I've started off with a brew kit. Went down to my local homebrew shop and they advised me to get the Woodfordes Microbrewery starter kit (with a Wherry Premium Beer) - got it home and couldn't wait to get started.

Got off to a slow start and it was nearly 24 hours before it showed any signs of fermentation, but now it's chugging along quite nicely (but only after I gave it another good stir it seems)

Here's hoping for a successful first attemp :drink:

 

[jamesb]

Good luck BB :thumb:

 

[llannige]

Welcome to the forum B_B

Sounds as if you're off to a winner. :thumb:

Keep us updated.

 

[falafael]

Welcome to the wonderful world of homebrewing, and happy drinking! :

 

[tubby_shaw]

Good choice of kit B_B :thumb:
You'll enjoy it :drink:
I personally think that lack of aeration is one of the main reasons that kits have poor fermentations (apart from the dodgy yeast ) it may be worthwhile aerating your next kit a bit more :)

Btw which is your local brew shop ?

 

[Brummy_Brewer]

Thanks for the advice, I'll give that a try next time.

I moved to Wokingham about 10 years ago so my local homebrew shop is the Hop Inn in Reading. It's actually a Wine Merchants but they have a section dedicated to home brewing.

 

[Wez]

Nice one Brummy, let us know how it turns out :thumb:

 

[A T]

Good luck with yer first one mate :thumb:

 

[Brummy_Brewer]

My fermenting bin comes with an airlock, if you give it a good sniff you can smell the brew

.... it's smelling reeeaaaallly good :grin:

 

[commsbiff]

lol - it must be better than the TC I made. It smelt like rotten eggs :sick:

 

[Vossy1]

Hope the brews a good'un B_B, and welcome to brewing :thumb:

 

[Brummy_Brewer]

Casually talking to someone recently about the trouble I had getting my yeast activated they thought it might have been temperature and suggested a brew belt. I knew the problem was probably aeration of the wort as advised tubby_shaw)

Anyway, I thought it was an interesting item as I have a problem with temperature fluctuations where I keep it. I bought it and put it on the fermentation bin and when I checked it 24 hours later the temperature was 29'

I'm hoping that I haven't done any harm to my brew!

I've removed it and the temperature has stabilised, it still appears to be fermenting and the gravity is very gradually falling.

 

[gerrytds]

I try to keep the temp around 20-22 Deg if possible. I have also had problems with the yeast and have desided to change the yeast that comes with the kits for S0 4 ill let you know what happins on my next brew.

Cheers....G

 

[Wez]

If it was just for that 24hr period hopefully you'll be okay - i've made the same mistake and got away with it :thumb:

 

[Vossy1]

I've definately had problems with aeration in the past and none of them have started with a slow ferment.
Even if you haven't aerated your kit well, there will still be plenty of O2 to get a ferment off to a heatly and vigourous start. Poorly aerated wort tends to stall towards the end of ferment, having started well. Kits tend to have cold water added to them which relatively negates problems with poorly aerated cooled worts, as the cold water should have a good level of O2 in it anyway(unless from a stagnant source :sick:, and aerating is always better even if using cold water ). There's more chance the yeast wasn't at it's best prior to pitching, or that it was stressed at pitching.
Gerry's advice is always good regards kit yeast, though choose a yeast that suits you, (SO4 is bomb proof) :thumb:

I hope it turns out well :thumb:

 

[Brummy_Brewer]

Well I've bottled (and kegged) my beer now so it's wait and see (excitement stage 2 :grin: )

I'll be buying some better yeast for future brews. Do you subsitute it weight for weight with the kit stuff?

Also, how long does it keep. I make bread and know that once opened my breadmaking yeast only lasts about 1-2 months in the fridge.

 

[Wez]

Do you subsitute it weight for weight with the kit stuff?

Other dried yeast such as s-04/Nottingham etc comes in 11g sachets, kit yeast is 5g or 6g - use 11g per 23/25L batch - 5g is underpitching IMO. I often pitch 2x 11g Sachets in my beers especially if they are over 1.050.

Also, how long does it keep. I make bread and know that once opened my breadmaking yeast only lasts about 1-2 months in the fridge.

My above comment may make this question irrelavant, however if you buy a few packs in store them in the fridge (as you've said) and stick to the use-by date :thumb:

 

[Brummy_Brewer]

I had a sneaky taste about 10 days into conditioning. tasting quite nice but there is still a slight yeasty hint to it :hmm:

I've bottled about a quarter of it and kegged the rest, it was quite excited as it came out the tap so I had to let it settle a bit.

I'm guessing it needs a few more days for the yeast flavour to tail off.

Looking forward to drinking it..... then getting onto the next one :drink:

 

[Muddydisco]

I'd give it at least 3 more weeks if you can hold out that long. I have found most of my kit's got really nice to drink after that period. Don't get me wrong it was nice to drink before but the longer conditioning really helped improve the flavours.