New member, first brew

[terrym]

Following the instructions is absolutely key, but packets of yeast tend to claim you can just sprinkle the dry yeast onto your wort. You can, but you won't get the vigorous fermentation that you'd get if you made a yeast starter first. That's a pretty easy thing to do. You just need some dry malt extract and a container. It makes a big difference.

Sadly If you follow kit instructions to the letter, you are more likely to be drinking beer that was fermented at too high temperature, bottled too soon, and not conditioned for long enough time, all geared towards claims that you can be drinking your beer asap to hook people in. Most experienced brewers ignore the instructions, and for new brewers on here the usual advice is to follow the 2+2+2 rule which gives newbies a fighting chance of producing something better than just drinkable.
And personally when I did kits I usually sprinkled the yeast, but sometimes hydrated before pitching and apart from noticing little difference in the speed of fermentation start, it made no difference to how the beer turned out. However if you have one of Muntons kits with the miserly 6g packets (assuming they still do that), it might well be good advice to build up the yeast since 6g has been known to produce stuck fermentations, as many on here will confirm, including me.

 

[BGM]

I was a new brewer about a year ago and started with a kit. It looks like you're off to a good start, but here are 2 bits of advice that should help:

1) Following the instructions is absolutely key, but packets of yeast tend to claim you can just sprinkle the dry yeast onto your wort. You can, but you won't get the vigorous fermentation that you'd get if you made a yeast starter first. That's a pretty easy thing to do. You just need some dry malt extract and a container. It makes a big difference.

2) Some basic temperature regulation is worth it. Personally, brewing in the UK, I rarely need to cool the fermenter, but I do have a heating pad in place to keep it from getting too cool overnight. My first brew was a bit of a disaster because I couldn't keep it at a constant temperature. You can regulate the temperature with an Inkbird (a temperature sensor that connects to a heater and cooler) and a heater (there are 'pads' and 'belts' out there).

Those additions won't cost too much and will improve your brews.

Enjoy.

Thanks. Very helpful info

 

[BGM]

You are really working a little bit in the dark without a hydrometer. If used for nothing else they usually tell you whether a fermentation has finished or not. Anyway your beer has been going for a week now so the likelihood is, if it has been kept warm enough and you pitched with enough healthy yeast, it has finished or thereabouts. But lack of a hydrometer makes advice difficult. However I suggest you make sure, as far as possible, that the temperature does not drop below 20*C and then leave it until Sunday, as was advised to you earlier. Then open it up and have small taste. If it's sweet it has probably stuck, if it tastes like beer, leave it two days longer, then find a cold place for a couple of days to get it to clear before you bottle. But because of the uncertainty use one PET bottle at least so you can monitor how the carbing process has gone.

Ok, thank you. I’ll post a picture on Sunday and have a little taste. Then take it from there. One thing I don’t understand and I maybe be being a complete ***** but the sediment seems very high, hopefully it will settle. But is it just around the outside or is it all the way through the liquid?

 

[BGM]

Good morning. So it’s Sunday, a week and three days after initially pouring my wort into the fermenter. Any advice on next steps or intervening? I just need to let it sit for another week according to the instructions.

 

[BGM]

Forgot to mention that I had a little taste and it’s not sweet, quite bitter actually.

 

[BGM]

I guess what I am most concerned about is siphoning this into bottles if that sediment doesn't fall further to the bottom of the demijohn. It just seems like way too much and very little beer

 

[SmallSpacesBrewing]

I guess what I am most concerned about is siphoning this into bottles if that sediment doesn't fall further to the bottom of the demijohn. It just seems like way too much and very little beer

Seems to be quite a bit of sediment in there. I've never seen an extract kit behave that way. Normally they clear up nicely in a week and we leave them another just for the yeast to clean up after itself. It almost looks like an allgrain batch where half the wort is left out and a lot of trub is in the fermenter. Weird

 

[BGM]

Seems to be quite a bit of sediment in there. I've never seen an extract kit behave that way. Normally they clear up nicely in a week and we leave them another just for the yeast to clean up after itself. It almost looks like an allgrain batch where half the wort is left out and a lot of trub is in the fermenter. Weird

Yeh it’s odd isn’t it. In fairness it has dropped a little since then, so perhaps it will keep on doing that

 

[BGM]

Morning guys. So today should be bottling day and as you can see there’s still a huge amount of sediment? It’s fallen a few millimetres on a week. Any suggestions for the best way to rack this?