new to brew

[Just-Brew-it]

Hi, so this is the second time i've attempted brewing my own beer.
The first time I got a beer brewing kit for my birthday but i didn't have any of the proper equipment or sanitizing stuff and the beer ended up undrinkable.

I've done little bit of reading since then and on tuesday i went out to wilco's to buy my equipment. I got a 6 gallon fermenting container(£12), a 5 gallon pressure keg with a tap on it(£22), sanitizer, spoon, bubble counter,young's beer finings.
I also picked up a woodforde's wherry beer kit(£15).
I've got some other equipment from the first brew like a hydrometer, tubing, bottle capper, ect.

so anyway i've got a question about the bubble counter thingy. so i started the brew on tuesday night, i think it may have produced a few bubble that night not too many, then yesterday the bubble counter was really bubbleing away and then now this morning it's not bubbleing as much? it's not even been 48 hours and the amount of c02 being produced is dimminishing.
is that normal i thought it was going to produce more c02 at this stage?

I'll tell you the instructions on the kit.

1. sanitize the equipment and put cans in warm water 5 mins, add cans to container.
2. add 3 litres of boiling water, top up with cold water to 23 litres, mix thoroughly ensure contents are fully dissolved.
3. add yeast(packet of dried yeast) (i did stir the yeast in the container, should i have done that or should i have let it float on the top?) leave to stand for 4 to 6 days in a warm area 18-20 c, (it's in my kitchen which is quite warm)
fermentation is complete at a constant gravity of 1014
4.transfer beer to pressure barrel or bottles with a little sugar, stand in warm place for 2 days then transfer to a cold place for 14days until beer has cleared.

i'm using beer finings so at the end of step 3 i add the beer finings in to the fermentation container, stir it in, leave for 2 days, transfer to pressure barrel (which i'll put in my garage for 2 weeks)

also i haven't opened the fermentation container but is it bad to do so at this stage, and when should i test the gravity?

so what do you think?

 

[Cussword]

Welcome to the forum :
Don't worry about the airlock, it should bubble less as the fermentation progresses. Give it another 3 days & take a gravity reading, when thats the same for three days then you can add your finings.:thumb:
Don't forget you may need gas for your keg.
Good luck :drink:

 

[Just-Brew-it]

yea i was thinking of getting some gas for it but the keg i got only has a air bleed on the cap so no way to add c02 to it. you can replace the cap for the ones that can hold a c02 cartridge but thats another £10, i'm just going to try it without the gas for this brew see how it goes.

 

[homers brew]

yea i was thinking of getting some gas for it but the keg i got only has a air bleed on the cap so no way to add c02 to it. you can replace the cap for the ones that can hold a c02 cartridge but thats another £10, i'm just going to try it without the gas for this brew see how it goes.

You may already know this, but gas is not needed necessarily.

When you transfer you beer to the keg, you add a small amount of sugar, this is called priming. Then seal the keg and the sugar you added then ferments producing co2 and pressure in the keg thus getting dissolved in your beer and carbonating it. For the quantities needed have a look at the how-to section as I can't remember.

80g per 5 gallon seems to ring a bell, but don't trust me, I don't.

edit: The one point I forgot to add is that as you pour the beer you then loose pressure in keg, this is when your gas comes in handy.

 

[Just-Brew-it]

[quote="Just-Brew-it":2rnnomc0]yea i was thinking of getting some gas for it but the keg i got only has a air bleed on the cap so no way to add c02 to it. you can replace the cap for the ones that can hold a c02 cartridge but thats another £10, i'm just going to try it without the gas for this brew see how it goes.

You may already know this, but gas is not needed necessarily.

When you transfer you beer to the keg, you add a small amount of sugar, this is called priming. Then seal the keg and the sugar you added then ferments producing co2 and pressure in the keg thus getting dissolved in your beer and carbonating it. For the quantities needed have a look at the how-to section as I can't remember.

80g per 5 gallon seems to ring a bell, but don't trust me, I don't.

edit: The one point I forgot to add is that as you pour the beer you then loose pressure in keg, this is when your gas comes in handy.[/quote:2rnnomc0]



thanks for the tips, the beer finings is surposed to act like the priming sugar, so when i add ther beer finings it's like i'm doing my second fermentation in the primary fermintation container but you don't want to leave it there longer than 2 days apperently because you want the beer still to be a bit active when you transfer it to the keg or bottles so you get the carbonation. i think thats right. this is the first time i've brewed properly

 

[homers brew]

[quote="homers brew":1kh64pjq][quote="Just-Brew-it":1kh64pjq]yea i was thinking of getting some gas for it but the keg i got only has a air bleed on the cap so no way to add c02 to it. you can replace the cap for the ones that can hold a c02 cartridge but thats another £10, i'm just going to try it without the gas for this brew see how it goes.

You may already know this, but gas is not needed necessarily.

When you transfer you beer to the keg, you add a small amount of sugar, this is called priming. Then seal the keg and the sugar you added then ferments producing co2 and pressure in the keg thus getting dissolved in your beer and carbonating it. For the quantities needed have a look at the how-to section as I can't remember.

80g per 5 gallon seems to ring a bell, but don't trust me, I don't.

edit: The one point I forgot to add is that as you pour the beer you then loose pressure in keg, this is when your gas comes in handy.[/quote:1kh64pjq]



thanks for the tips, the beer finings is surposed to act like the priming sugar, so when i add ther beer finings it's like i'm doing my second fermentation in the primary fermintation container but you don't want to leave it there longer than 2 days apperently because you want the beer still to be a bit active when you transfer it to the keg or bottles so you get the carbonation. i think thats right. this is the first time i've brewed properly[/quote:1kh64pjq]

You seem to be getting a bit muddled up with primary, secondary, fining and fermenting. Fining is not fermenting, Fining is the addition of a substance, such as the stomach of surgeon, which attracts the matter you want removing on an ionic level - I believe its an electrical attraction anyway. Somebody else may probably explain that better than me as I am no chemical engineer.

Then in order to carbonate, I.e. produce an atmosphere of co2 under pressure, therefore absorbing some, you need to kick off some additional fermentation by adding a fermentable substance to the beer in a sealed environment, I.e. bottle or keg.

and primary is bucket 1 and secondary is bucket 2 - and quite subjective. I will let everyone else argue the merits of secondary use or not.

 

[nigel]

4.transfer beer to pressure barrel or bottles with a little sugar, stand in warm place for 2 days then transfer to a cold place for 14days until beer has cleared.

I have always found the Wherry a slow beer to clear, 14 days could be a bit optimistic.

 

[john_s]

I left my Wherry for a month, and it was cleared, but didn't taste great... after another 2 months, it was much improved.

In terms of gas, the priming sugar didn't provide enough to dispense all the beer. I needed to use a CO2 bulb about half way down the keg, and it's still blowing beer out now with less than 10 pints remaining.

 

[Just-Brew-it]

do i need to add priming sugar if i'm using beer finings?

 

[homers brew]

do i need to add priming sugar if i'm using beer finings?

Finings = Clearer beer

Priming Sugar = Ferment = Co2 + Pressure = Carbonation

Different processes. HTH.

 

[abeyptfc]

do i need to add priming sugar if i'm using beer finings?

i bought a few packs of youngs beer finings to try out on my kits, used my first sachet tnite on my european lager(coopers).
on the back of the sachet it tells you to add after fermentation and stir gently then leave for a few days, then bottle, at that point you then have to add sugar to carbonate when bottling.