Newbie Wherry advice needed

[BicesterTerrier]

Brewing only my second ever brew. First was a St Peters Golden Ale and I think I rushed just about every aspect of it.

Not wanting to make the same mistake again with the Wherry I need some advice.

Started the brew off on Sunday 24 March, so it has had around 11 days, still releasing some gas as air lock is still bubbling, around every 5 minutes or so. Took the lid off the FV this morning to check gravity and you can see bubbles risign along with some "lumps" of yeast rising and falling. Reading is somewhere between 1012 and 1014. Kit says to bottle when below 1014 or when bubbles stop. Which is the best to follow, clearly the yeast is still there and there is clearly viable food for them.

The top is clear of the foam but the beer is obviously very cloudy, do I need to let it to clear before considering bottling or can I bottle as is and just deal with more sediment in the bottled product?

Can I transfer to a second FV to allow it to clear in there? Thinking I might make less mess with the last few bottles by not disturbing the bottom too much. Is there any point?

Do I need to use some finings to help in the clearing?

Managed to sample a little this morning and the taste seems very dry/bitter, does it mellow upon conditioning? Realistically what is the youngest this can be drunk at? (beer not consumer).

I am reusing 1ltr PET bottles from the last brew, do I need fresh lids or is the broken seal there more from a tamper evidence point of view rather than sealing?

Sorry to list so many questions.

Thanks!

Rich

 

[morethanworts]

I'm a fan of racking into secondary for at least a week. You could do that now, but if you want to go straight to bottles then the guideline is 3 consecutive days at the same gravity before priming and bottling. Whenever you do it, batch prime in the spare FV and syphon into bottles from there.

Finings are a personal choice - I have used gelatine in my best brews so I'm planning to again this time around, at the bottling stage.

 

[joe1002]

And as for your bottles, they will be absolutely fine with the same lids. You are correct, the seals are only there as a tamper proof device / evidence.

As to whan you can drink it, once bottled leave them somewhere warm for a couple of weeks to carbonate then move to somewhere cooler to condition, for at least another two weeks but longer if possible. I understad the temptation is great and obviously you will need to try one or two to see how they are maturing The best thing to do is get another brew on once you have bottled, do that a couple of time then you will have enough stock to let your beers mature properly :thumb:

 

[BicesterTerrier]

Thank you both for the advice, all very good points.

 

[winelight]

My personal preference is firstly to wait a full 2 weeks, and then to move the FV into the cold rather than rack into another vessel. Leave it there for a full week to settle / clear before bottling. If you have a racking cane and are careful you shouldn't disturb the trub.

As stated above, then 2 weeks in the warm, and 2 weeks in the cold.

Good that you rushed the first one, actually - I did that and then you really appreciate the difference the extra time makes!

 

[PD]

woodfords wherry is a nice drink when young and can be drunk from say 2 or 3 weeks after bottling. However as it matures the beer markedly improves and around 5-8 weeks is a superb drink. Be as patient as you can.
I am a big believer in syphoning to a second fv ( others are not ) for a week or so before bottling to let as much yeast fall out of suspension. The choice is yours.

 

[rpt]

As your beer is down to a gravity of 1014 then it will be fine to bottle provided the gravity remains constant for 3 days. This also gives time for the yeast to clean up after itself. Leaving it even longer will do no harm.

My Wherry took about 4 weeks to be properly drinkable and after 8 weeks it was fantastic. (This is the time in the cold after it's had a couple of weeks in the warm to carbonate).

 

[BicesterTerrier]

Looks like I am going to me drinking shop bought for a while yet then. Going to get the Wilko Pilsner in later on, see how that one goes, think I saw a review of that one on here somewhere, will read up well before I get on with that one.

 

[Brewbob]

Hmm, I think I rushed my Wherry, it was the first two-can kit I've done and I think it takes more patience than a one-can

 

[warnie]

Wherry, the most disapointing brew I've done so far

Everytime I think it's coming right, I open another and it's back to being cloudy and week in the taste department. I can tell there's a good beer just waiting to come out, but where as the Coopers and Betterbrew Kits have far exceeded my expectations without much conditioning at all, the wherry continues to let me down :sulk:

I partly put it down to the coopers carbination drops which I haven't used since and also I believe I must have had either a dodgy batch or messed something up in the proccess. I bottled it early feb so it should now be spot on.

Anyway I'm going to be doing it again, and when I do I'll be leaving it for 10 days at 18-20 then 1 week at around 12-14 degrees, hoping that the yeast will drop out and clear up. I think you need to do this with the wherry as the yeast they use just dosen't want to compact in the FV or the bottle, hence my clearing issues.

 

[morethanworts]

Wherry, the most disapointing brew I've done so far

I think you need to do this with the wherry as the yeast they use just dosen't want to compact in the FV or the bottle, hence my clearing issues.

Sounds like some finings are needed with this one!

 

[Inneed]

Wherry, the most disapointing brew I've done so far

I'm glad someone else has said this. I can stand my Wherry, don't get me wrong, but compared to the extract brew I did, it aint close. Ok, it's only had 3 weeks conditioning and the advice I've read is to leave the Wherry for as long as possible. Somehow I don't think I'll find it that hard...

 

[PremierCru]

Hi, I started my Wherry on 19 March and it now looks very similar to how you describe yours, still bubbling just a little, lots of bits floating around and gravity between 1012 and 1014. After 16 days in primary I'm just about to rack it to secondary and give it a week or so in my attic where the temperature is about 12C. This seemed to clear my last brew well so I'm hoping for similar results with this one.

 

[rpt]

Wherry, the most disapointing brew I've done so far

I think you need to do this with the wherry as the yeast they use just dosen't want to compact in the FV or the bottle, hence my clearing issues.

Sounds like some finings are needed with this one!

My Wherry is crystal clear with no finings. Another brew I did is cloudy but that was my fault so I think it's all down to technique.

 

[BicesterTerrier]

UPDATE -

Trasnfered the Wherry to a secondary FV last tuesday, so had a total of 15 days in the primary (a little more than the 4-6 days suggested on the pack), gravity was a little around 1012. There was a good deal of sediment in the bottom of the first FV and the brew looked quite good. Added brewing sugar to the secondary FV and bottled in 1 litre PET bottles.

After a couple of days the bottles started to feel harder when squeezed, I guess the sugar is working and the pressure is building. Only worry is the beer is not clearing a great deal, after a couple of days there was a visible line around 4mm below the top of the liquid as it began to clear, now there is a sign of solids in the bottom of the bottle but the beer looks hazy. The line that was there is no longer there, but the beer above where it was looks cloudier than before, is this just a time thing? Or is the haze a sign of bad things. Bottles are in the utility room in the house, pretty consistent temperature, no windows.

Any thoughts greatly appreciated.

Rich

 

[rpt]

It could take quite a while to clear, but it won't clear much until it is in the cold.

 

[BicesterTerrier]

I realise it will clear more when in a cooler area, but the last one (St Peter's Golden Ale) cleared very well in the warmth of the house, just wanted to make sure I hadn't lost it.

Thans for the reply.

 

[BicesterTerrier]

UPDATE - Stupid mistake dawned on me.

I tried a bottle of mine last night, 2 weeks since bottling, just moved from the house to the garage. It tasted a little weak in my opinion, reasonable fizz to it, no head as such and not quite cleared fully, the flavour just wasn't there, a little hint of a nice taste left in the mouth, but all in all I was underwhelmed.

Sadly (or fortunately for future) I think I can put a finger on why it tastes a little weak. Too much bl**dy water in the FV. I realised whilst starting the Wilko Pilsner that I had stupidly added 23 litres of water to the Wherry, not made it up to 23 litres. The measuring jug I use is actually only 1.9 litre to the 2 litre mark (also discovered yesterday), so I would have under measured there by around 1 litre, but the fact that this is a 3kg kit means I am probably well over 1 litre too much in the FV. I thought the level looked high even assuming the FV's sticker was badly placed (really badly). To compound the problem, I had to remove a jug (around 1 litre) to drop the level when the fermentation meant I was losing the froth on the top out through the airlock.

I think now is the time to accurately mark the FV with increments of 1 litre from 20 litres up to 25 just ot give me some reference, rather than counting jugs as I add them.

:x Really annoyed with myself, hopefully as the beer continues to age the flavour will improve and I will just end up with a weak beer that still has a bit of something to it. After all, alochol content is not the be all and end all (is it?).

Fingers crossed it turns out ok, should be eh? :

 

[rpt]

Your beer should turn out fine, just a lower ABV than planned. You definitely should calibrate your FV and your measuring jug. You need to weigh the water as all jugs seem to be badly out.

 

[BicesterTerrier]

Your beer should turn out fine, just a lower ABV than planned. You definitely should calibrate your FV and your measuring jug. You need to weigh the water as all jugs seem to be badly out.

I weighed the jug yesterday when I realised my problem. Fortunately it was under.