Newbies 1st attempt.

[Chris]

Hi all,

Last week I bought my 1st simple brewing kit from my local brew shop (Stockport, Manchester). I bought the equipment on the basis of spending as little as possible as I may never use the stuff again, so didn't want a huge cost & equipment filling a room up.

So I bought a Youngs 40 pint bucket with lid, long plastic spoon, hydrometer, sterilising granules, siphon, a stick on thermometer & a can of Coopers Mexican style mix all for £32.

My method after sterilising everything properly was as follows:

4 litres of hot water in the bucket
Empty the contents of the can, refill & empty that
Fill to the 20L mark with cold & warm water
1kg of granulated sugar
The 2 x sachets of yeast that came with the kit
Stirred it all thoroughly then topped it upto the 23L mark, sealed the lid but left a tiny part just off the seal to allow it to vent.

Anyhow, this was last Friday, since it's had a good head on it that's almost gone, but still a little bubbling is going on. The first reading on the hydrometer was 1045, the last 2 readings have been 1006. I'm going to leave it a few more days before I siphon it out.

Now I have a question (as us newbies do :party: ), I've got myself a load of new 1L empty bottles, the instructions say to add 1 teaspoon of sugar per 740-750ml of beer. So would I be right in thinking a slightly heaped teaspoon should be sufficient, given the slightly larger bottle?

Chris :drink:

 

[A T]

It depends on the level of carbonation you're after, most the lads on here go with a half a teaspoon per 500 ml bottle for a carbonation something like real ale, you won't be 2 bad with a slightly heaped spoon. If you're using litre bottles it would be good to remember with bottled conditioned ale you really need to pour it in one go because if you stop half way through and put it down you will introduce the yeast back into suspension making cloudy yeasty beer.
Did you by any chance treat your brewing water with a camden tablet? this neutralizes the chlorine and chloramines in the water

 

[Chris]

Did you by any chance treat your brewing water with a camden tablet? this neutralizes the chlorine and chloramines in the water

That's a new one on me AT, not heard of that. All I'm after is a decent bit of fizz, but not quite as much as what you'd get from a premium branded beer you'd buy from the supermarket etc.

Everything I know so far I've took from the internet & the knowledge of the shop owner from my local brew shop.

 

[A T]

You might get away with it but i strongly suggest you use half a crushed camden tablet on your next kit, they are cheap as chips and are worth their weight in gold

 

[Chris]

You might get away with it but i strongly suggest you use half a crushed camden tablet on your next kit, they are cheap as chips and are worth their weight in gold

Thanks for that, I'll get some & use them on my next kit .

As it was last Friday I started the brew, the instructions say 6 days, I'm inclined to leave it an extra few before I bottle it, would this be wise? :mrgreen:

 

[corby_brewer]

evening chris and welcome to the forum :thumb:

some of us on here leave our brews in the FV for up to 14 days. but its ok to bottle or keg when you get the same hydro reading for 3 days running. are the bottles your planning on using brown? if the are clear it is advised to store the in a cardboard box to stop the light getting to them.

 

[Chris]

are the bottles your planning on using brown? if the are clear it is advised to store the in a cardboard box to stop the light getting to them.

They're clear plastic 1L bottles, suitable for fizzy drinks / homebrew. :thumb:

 

[Moley]

Hi Chris, and welcome to the forum.

If you've had a stable reading of 1.006 for a couple of days, that sounds like it has finished. You may wish to give it a couple of days longer to start to drop most of the yeast, I generally find I'm bottling at around 10 days.

Plastic bottles (PETs) will withstand far more pressure than glass, so you should be fine :

 

[Chris]

You may wish to give it a couple of days longer to start to drop most of the yeast,

Thanks Moley,

When you say 'drop the yeast' what exactly does that term mean? I'm guessing it'll go to the bottom of the FV?

3rd day of a reading of 1006, as good as done I'd say. although I'll bottle it early next week.

 

[Parva]

You may wish to give it a couple of days longer to start to drop most of the yeast,

Thanks Moley,

When you say 'drop the yeast' what exactly does that term mean? I'm guessing it'll go to the bottom of the FV?

3rd day of a reading of 1006, as good as done I'd say. although I'll bottle it early next week.

Once fermentation is over the yeasts work is not done, it starts to clean up after itself. I forget the name of the stuff that it cleans up but basically, whilst you can bottle / keg after 7 days you will likely find that you are bottling / kegging clearer beer if you leave it a few days longer. I always leave mine 10-14 days in the primary then straight to keg.

 

[Chris]

Thanks for all the help folks.

Today I bottled my brew after 12 days. All went well, although I wasn't impressed by the rather simple siphon (a tube & some form of plastic upside down cup) & how awkward it was to use with 1 pair of hands, especially trying to keep the tube steady in the FV & stop it flowing when a bottle got full, the thing kept moving around in the FV, I don't know if there's anything out there that'll clip it to the side of the FV more securely? Is there another sort of siphon perhaps with an in-line primer & a tap? Or am I better off getting a tap fitted to the FV?

Anyway, all bottled, I was left with a creamy looking layer at the bottom of the FV, it looked thick but was easily rinsed away in the bath :party: . Primed with 1 teaspoon of sugar in each 1L bottle, I can already feel the pressure on the bottles, looking forward to cracking them open in a few weeks. :