Noob in trouble with first brew !

[Wez]

You are worring unecessarily :grin:

That brown floaty stuff it just the deposits thrown off the yeast through the process of fermemtation, you'll find that as you siphon/run-off into a keg most of it will stick to the sides of your fermentation bucket and the little that gets through will form part of the trub at the bottom of the keg as the suspended yeast settles out.

It sounds like it's got down to a good final gravity (FG) if you are able to i'd try to leave it 10 days before you keg it, you might find it drops to 1.012.

What keg are you using and how much priming sugars are you planning to use?

 

[westy]

Cheers Wez!

The kit says to use ha;f a teaspoon of sugar per pint. I've got a Youngs 40 pint plastic keg. Re sugar- the kit says normal sugar is fine but I'm guessing I could get better, yes? Any help on that would be appreciated!

Also, my fermenting tub doesn't have a tap, but i do have a syphoning tube. How do I get the brew from the tub to the keg?!

Thanks :thumb:

 

[Wez]

You're correct in that you can do better than sugar, although I have achieved good results using normal household sugar in kit beer. For best results dissolve 80g of DME (Dried Malt Extract) aka Spraymalt in some (400ml) boiled water, allow to cool, put that in the bottom of your empty keg and syphon you beer onto it. If you can't get any, use the same process and weights (80g) with household sugar. I use medium spray malt, it also comes in light and dark. It's the consistency of custard powder so try not to get it wet once opened :thumb:

Re Syphoning, there are techniques for 'clean' syphoning with basically involves not sucking the end of the tube that the beer will pass through, before I fitted taps to my fermenters I would sterilse and rinse the syphon tube and the clear outer part of a bic biro, then shove the bic tube inside the end you would have sucked and suck the pen part instead removing it before the beer gets to it. :grin: Does that make sense :wha:

 

[westy]

Yep, makes sense, thanks!

Where could I get some Spraymalt? Would I have to order it off the net? Might have to wait until my next batch for that and use normal sugar for now, but will definitely try and get some in.

By the way, the 'turbo cider' you're fermentin sounds interesting...?!

 

[Wez]

You can get Spraymalt from most of the home brew shops, I'd say use sugar for now and get it for next time :thumb:

Ah! Turbo Cider - wonderful stuff, we have 20L fermenting at the moment and it's a piece of pish

sterlise a fermenter
empty in 20 1L cartons of Apple Juice
add yeast
ferment
bottle or keg (keg in a corny in you want a fizz)

have a look at this thread : Turbo Cider Clicky

 

[westy]

Excellent! My girlfriend loves cider so I'll get a batch on the go nearer to her birthday!

Thanks for the help again Wez, will keep you updated this week on progress. Off for a Doom Bar now before bed and then work tomorrow. Boooo.

Cheers :

 

[Wez]

No worries, glad to help!

Cider for Birthday sounds like a plan :thumb:

I have work tomorrow too, after a week off, double boooo!

:

 

[westy]

Ok so I'm ready to put it in the keg tonight - very exciting!

Quick question (another one!) - what should I use to lubricate the seal on my keg? It's a plastic one and says to lubricate it before using.

How long do you reckon it will take before its (hopefully) drinkable?

 

[Jonnyv]

You can use vaseline/petroleum jelly to lubricate the lid o-ring washer - only use a small amount. Don't use any on the tap washer though.

 

[westy]

Perfect, thanks Jonny

 

[Vossy1]

You can use vaseline/petroleum jelly to lubricate the lid o-ring washer - only use a small amount

Yep, you can, but long term use will make the o-ring perish ie, crack.
Ideally you need a silicon based lubricant, something like this but from a UK supplier.

 

[westy]

HELP!!

May sound stupid, but how in god's name to you syphon?!

I've sterilized everything and am sucking through the pen shell as suggested but the why I stop sucking when the brew is near the end of the tube and transfer it to the barrel, all the liquid just rushes back down the tube into the fermentation pot...!

What am I doing wrong?!

Speedy replies most welcome... :

 

[Wez]

The sucky end needs to be lower (as far as you can) than the intake end

 

[Wez]

Westy :? you there :?

Or are you drowning in a pool of beer :shock:

 

[Jonnyv]

Westy :? you there :?

Or are you drowning in a pool of beer :shock:

Not a bad way to go

 

[westy]

Haha! I'm here!

So I got it done...quite embarrassing that simple common sense would tell me to put it higher than the barrel, but there you go! Thanks for the quick help Wez!

I've said before, and I'm sure veryone with expereince will have no doubt felt the same, that this first brew is all about getting to know the process and I suppose in a way mistakes are a good thing at this stage - I'll know now for next time. Unforunately in moving my fermentation tub I disturbed the sediment a bit and saw one or two 'bits' going down the tube as I siphoned!

But it's my first one so however it tastes, it's going to taste good to me because I made it!

So it's into the understairs cupboard for a few weeks now (the beer, not me). How do I ensure it doesn't blow up? Is there any way of keeping the pressure under control?

Thanks to everyone who's helped me get to this stage, I'm not lying when I say I wouldn't have got this far without the forum's help. :thumb:

I will of course keep you updated on how it tastes in the end. I've become addicted to the process of brewing already so there will be many, many more!

 

[Wez]

Nice one westy, we all had to do a first brew once

Re the keg and pressure - what sort of keg is it again - many of them have a pressure relief valve (PRV) which will let out c02 if too much builds up.

:thumb:

 

[westy]

A plastic jobby...doesn't appear to be a valve of any kind though...

 

[Wez]

A pic would be good, if you can?

Otherwise try it tomorrow just give the tap a tweak to see if pressure is building up or not, the other thing you want to avoid is finding out in 2 weeks that there is a leak around the lid and you have no pressure :thumb: