Newbie with Woodfordes Headcracker

[DaveofNorway]

Hi all, Just started brewing beer!

Im British but live in Norway these days and trust me the beer here is shockingly expensive and mostly shockingly bad.
Time to homebrew!

Ive started off with a Headcracker kit and I'm almost 1 week into fermentation. Ive read thats its best to leave the beer for 2 weeks before bottling, despite the instructions saying 4-6 days!

Anyone here that has brewed this previously that can give me some pointers or suggestions?
How long would you suggest to leave it fermenting?
How long to let it condition before drinking?
Should I use regular sugar when bottling?


Any help appreciated :)

 

[Beerlover]

What's with the ****ing stars?!

 

[rodabod]

I'm reading it as the F-word, and I'm confused.

 

[Redsnapper]

Hi, I have not done a Headcracker but got a decent result with a Wherry, and have done about 15 kits now,mostly two can like yours.

General tips are : Be scrupulous about sterilization,try and keep the temperature as constant as possible throughout the fermentation,this is supposed to help the quality of the final beer.Don't fiddle with it, keep the lid on to preserve the CO2 layer and prevent infection.I leave mine unopened for two weeks.It is hard not to peek but I would advise against this.
Also cover the fermenter or keep out of sunlight to prevent "skunking" of your beer.Don't bottle until fermentation has finished completely.So when the airlock has stopped for a couple of days,but always check with a hydrometer on two consecutive days the only way to be sure.Sterilize anything going into the fermenter for sampling as well.

I then "rack" my beer ie transfer it to a second FV for another week.This gets the beer off the trub or layer of dead yeast at the bottom of the initial fermenter.Another week in the second FV allows more yeast to drop out prior to bottling resulting in a clearer beer.You don't have to do this of course,you can bottle straight from your first fermenter after 2 weeks.
If you rack then there will be slightly less yeast in your bottled beer for secondary fermentation,so it will take slightly longer as well.Normal table sugar is fine for priming,you can experiment with brown sugar and brewing sugars, even spray malts, up to your budget.I tend to stick with table sugar.

What else? Give it a good shake in the bottles and again leave it alone some where nice and warm for another two weeks.Then it may need another two weeks !!! cold conditioning till it's ready to try.I usually stick one in the fridge at this point overnight to try, im patient but hey!!!
So it will take a few weeks, certainly not what all the kits say on the instructions.Be patient, take care with cleanliness, and you will be surprised and so will your friends, at how good some of these new kits are.
I have had particular success with all of the Festival range of kits that I have tried.

Sorry to bang on at length,but I remember all my questions when I got going.I hope this is of some help. :razz: Good luck and good brewing.It will get ya tho!! :razz:

 

[Slid]

I'm reading it as the F-word, and I'm confused.

So am I - contextually meaningless. I guessed **** as "brew" but can't interpret the repetition ********

Not convinced by the suggestion that this is just profanity, as it makes no ******* sense.

Maybe Nordic internet providers are instructed to filter out references to making alcohol at home?

Any other guesses?

Oh - And great post, Redsnapper. Nice One.

 

[Chippy_Tea]

Not convinced by the suggestion that this is just profanity, as it makes no ******* sense.

That made me :lol:

I will ask Austin to have a look.

 

[AndyKU]

Accidental grab by the censor. Looking into it.

 

[DaveofNorway]

Thanks a lot Redsnapper for the reply. It really helped a lot. I will leave mine to ferment out for 2 weeks for sure. I don't have any more containers or a carboy to rack the beer into right now (I also make wine and I've got quite abit right now ) but I guess I could get another but this could cause some wife issues....I have quite a few containers and carboys already :P
Would you suggest adding sugar to the bottles individually or adding to the brew in the fv and stirring it up? If I take the 2nd route should I wait any amount of time before bottling?

As for the other posts mentioning the stars...

I don't see any stars in my post at all. I haven't used any swearing in my thread, so I guess its an accidental grab by the censor as Austin says.

 

[DaveofNorway]

I did an edit on the first post by deleting it all then putting it back...perhaps this helped things? I dunno :P

 

[Redsnapper]

Hi, sorry for the delay in replying.Glad my thoughts were constructive.
I also have space issues so have to box clever with SWMBO. So you could just leave your beer in the primary F.V. for a little longer,if you can't rack it.Three weeks should do it no harm as long as you are not meddling and therefore risking an infection getting in.This will let your beer clear a bit too.
I personally prefer to prime each bottle using a kitchen measure of 1/2 a teaspoon of whatever I am priming with and a sanitized funnel.You have to let the funnel dry off obviously or it gets gunked up!! It is a bit laborious but is an excuse for a beer whilst doing it.I move each bottle across the worktop when done to avoid doubling up and over priming!! No1 wife reckons I am a bit OCD so leaves me to it.
With regards to batch priming you must rack your beer to do this,whatever you do don't add priming sugar to your first FV and stir.You will just stir up all the yeast which has settled over the primary fermentation,which is to be avoided.
Sounds like you are best to prime each bottle and syphon from your primary F.V. if it has a tap I reccomend a "little bottler" to make life easy.
With regards to when to bottle, you just need to make sure the initial fermentation has finished,so no airlock activity and you must check that your hydrometer reading is the same for two days.(Remember anything that goes in the FV must be sanitised).This means that all the fermentable sugars have been used up,thus ensuring only the priming sugar in each bottle is responsible for new activity to carbonate the beer in the bottle.
Any more queries just ask.
Cheers : :

 

[DaveofNorway]

Thanks Redsnapper, much appreciated. The fv I have the beer in has a tap on it but I don't have anything that will stop the beer from splashing into the bottle yet, So I was planning a syphon bottling. I think on my next beer I was use a regular fv first for two weeks then rack to this tapped fv and add one of these attachments for bottling. If I did that would I then be able to add the priming sugar to the secondary fv as one solution? Or is this just a bad idea ?

 

[mickthetrick]

yes you can add your priming sugar to the second bucket. mix it with some boiled water first to desolve the sugar.

 

[DaveofNorway]

Ok thanks :)

 

[Redsnapper]

Yep you can as mick says.The advantage of a little bottler gizmo is that it fills up the bottle from the bottom so avoiding any splashing or bubbling,nothing worse than having to wait for each bottle to settle properly when bottling.Takes ages.A cheap and indispensable bit of kit,which helps control of consistent headspace in the bottles.I wouldn't be without one.Just attach it to the tap on your second F.V. batch prime and bottle.

 

[Jazz]

yes you can add your priming sugar to the second bucket. mix it with some boiled water first to desolve the sugar.

Just wondering how much water do you use ? If you used too much wouldn't it water down the beer / produce a lower ABV ?

Also how would you batch prime when using finnings ?

Cheers

 

[DaveofNorway]

Yep you can as mick says.The advantage of a little bottler gizmo is that it fills up the bottle from the bottom so avoiding any splashing or bubbling,nothing worse than having to wait for each bottle to settle properly when bottling.Takes ages.A cheap and indispensable bit of kit,which helps control of consistent headspace in the bottles.I wouldn't be without one.Just attach it to the tap on your second F.V. batch prime and bottle.

Awesome, thanks , I will get one with the for the next beer I brew.

 

[DaveofNorway]

Just wondering how much water do you use ? If you used too much wouldn't it water down the beer / produce a lower ABV ?

Also how would you batch prime when using finnings ?

Cheers

Its a very small amount of sugar, you won't need much water.

 

[DaveofNorway]

Nice within one week sg is at 1030. I will keep it in for another week like suggested.

Anyone know how long to keep in the bottle before it will be drinkable?

 

[Redsnapper]

Hi, Dave
as I mentioned with my first reply I haven't done a Headcracker but did scoff a Wherry.It did take about six weeks in the bottle to get really nice.But some were sampled each week for quality control purposes .
Why not check out the A-Z of beer kit reviews elsewhere on the forum,as I am sure someone may have posted up their experiences with this kit.
I would maybe get something on as soon as your F.V. is free that is drinkable quickly.I am sure I have seen comments that the Coopers Stout is reliable and drinkable pretty early on ie practically right away.Just a thought.:lol:

 

[DaveofNorway]

Red snapper thanks for the reply. I checked out the Coopers stout and it sounds great, especially with a method I found by a guy called Ditch. I do love a good stout ,so I went to my home-brew store today and got what was needed and its in a FV now :)
Really appreciate your help :)