New Brewer - How does it look?

[TheKench]

Morning all!

Was given a Youngs / Woodfordes Wherry kit for Christmas, much to my pleasure! Kit went on a few weeks ago and has been conditioning in the garage for only a week. I couldn't resist and took a sample:

Anyone fancy giving me an opinion? I'm not sure how it is meant to turn out, but it looks (and tastes) pretty great. I'll certainly drink the lot, and if it is better in 2 weeks for having more conditioning, then great! Plus I have a party in 2 weeks and could do with some free booze...

All pointers and advice welcome. I have been well and truly bitten by the bug and i'm going to be doing a lot in the future. Probably a few more kits before attempting Partial Mash... might make some Fiery Ginger Beer on the side!

Regards,

Kench

 

[Green Ninja]

Looks good.

That's the right colour alright.

Wherry does benefit from a bit of conditioning and does take a while to get crystal clear so don't worry too much.

All Woodfordes kits I have tried have been excellent.

I'm into AG now but still do the odd Woodfordes kit.

Try Nog next or Nelson's revenge. Both are as good if not better than Wherry for my palate.

Welcome to the most addictive hobby I've tried.


Terry.

 

[TheKench]

Cheers Terry. What a useful forum! I'm looking forward to some tasty experiments!

 

[dennisking]

Hi and welcome.

 

[31bb3]

welcome to the forum nice looking brew :thumb:

 

[carl_saint]

Looks good to me but trust me you will appreciate it even more if you leave it for another 4-6 weeks!

 

[puravida]

Looks tasty! :thumb:

 

[BarnsleyBrewer]

Hi,
Welcome to brewing!!!
Looks great if maybe a little cloudy :hmm: Was it or just the picture?

BB

 

[TheKench]

No, not the picture - it was a bit cloudy. I had another "sample" last night and it was the same. I was guessing that it might condition out, but Hell, what do I know? Is there anything I can do to help it on its way?

P.S. SWMBO very impressed - apparently it tasted gorgeous (!!) And was "much less hassle than I thought it would be". So we're looking good for round 2! And 3, and 4....

 

[Dave1970]

If you possibly can I'd leave that for a few weeks longer, it'll clear and you should get a finer carbonation as well. If you can't wait get your next brew on asap...it's much easier to leave things to condition properly when you've got plenty of other brews to drink.

 

[BarnsleyBrewer]

No, not the picture - it was a bit cloudy. I had another "sample" last night and it was the same. I was guessing that it might condition out, but Hell, what do I know? Is there anything I can do to help it on its way?

P.S. SWMBO very impressed - apparently it tasted gorgeous (!!) And was "much less hassle than I thought it would be". So we're looking good for round 2! And 3, and 4....

Did you bottle it? if yes was there a big "hiss" when you took the top off??

If you did bottle.....
Going by the amount and size of bubbles I wonder if you bottled to early or with to much sugar. :hmm:

How long did you leave in the fermenter and how much bottling sugar did you use?

BB

 

[TheKench]

Primary ferment for about 10 days at 20-22 degrees ish. FG was 1014... didn't take OG since I was still learning. Transferred to pressure barrel (came with the kit) with about 70g sugar, batch size just shy of 5 gallons. If my memory serves me correctly!

 

[BarnsleyBrewer]

Primary ferment for about 10 days at 20-22 degrees ish. FG was 1014... didn't take OG since I was still learning. Transferred to pressure barrel (came with the kit) with about 70g sugar, batch size just shy of 5 gallons. If my memory serves me correctly!

King keg or standard barrel?? reason I ask is that King Kegs draw ale from the top via a floating drain, standard kegs draw from the bottom so takes longer for the ale to drop clear..
Did you use gelatine to help drop the yeast?

BB

 

[springtime]

Hey man that looks good - a bit cloudy so you need to leave it a few weeks. Wherry does get better with age.

 

[shearclass]

Wouldn't worry about it being cloudy, it's not liek it's for a competition or anything, so long as it tastes nice that's all that matter!

You can worry about using finings etc later for subsequent brews, but it isn't crucial. i use finings in all my brews as standard, but that's not really necessary.

 

[TheKench]

Standard barrel, judging by your description, as the tap is at the bottom. Which makes sense with the beer needing to drop. And no to gelatine, is that purely a cosmetic addition or are their flavour benefits too? If finings are cheap then a perhaps a worthy addition... will see how future brews go.
Party in 2 weeks, so I think it will be perfectly drinkable by then, but as you say - longer is better!

 

[BarnsleyBrewer]

Standard barrel, judging by your description, as the tap is at the bottom. Which makes sense with the beer needing to drop. And no to gelatine, is that purely a cosmetic addition or are their flavour benefits too? If finings are cheap then a perhaps a worthy addition... will see how future brews go.
Party in 2 weeks, so I think it will be perfectly drinkable by then, but as you say - longer is better!

It's normal gelatine that's used in cooking, here's a link to another good brewing site showing you how to add priming sugar and gelatine..... Should be o.k with the mods... it's JBK
<<CLICKY>>