Powdered hop extract - Admiral's Reserve

[Robbie87]

Evening all. Beginner home brewer here. I've got a Woodforde's Admiral's Reserve on the go at the moment, and on day 4 the instructions say to simply 'add' the hop extract sachet. Should this be stirred in, or more like with the yeast, sprinkled on top?

 

[Clint]

I would just sprinkle it in as it'll soon sink. If you're tempted to stir it in you MUST sanitise your stirrer!

 

[Robbie87]

Yeah, kind of paranoid about introducing anything I don't want in there. Cool, thanks for that.

 

[Clint]

Oh..and you wanna leave it for at least two weeks before considering it done.

 

[Haversham]

Evening all. Beginner home brewer here. I've got a Woodforde's Admiral's Reserve on the go at the moment, and on day 4 the instructions say to simply 'add' the hop extract sachet. Should this be stirred in, or more like with the yeast, sprinkled on top?

I’m also a new brewer who’s just bottled some Admiral’s Reserve. After reading conflicting advice I added the hops and yeast together, without stirring. No idea if that was the best idea but it smelt delicious yesterday when I bottled it. It was clear as a bell after 48 hours of cold crashing. I don't plan to taste it for at least another 4-6 weeks.

 

[Robbie87]

I’m also a new brewer who’s just bottled some Admiral’s Reserve. After reading conflicting advice I added the hops and yeast together, without stirring. No idea if that was the best idea but it smelt delicious yesterday when I bottled it. It was clear as a bell after 48 hours of cold crashing. I don't plan to taste it for at least another 4-6 weeks.

What day did you bottle it on just out of interest?

 

[Haversham]

What day did you bottle it on just out of interest?

I cold crashed on day 14 and bottled on day 16. Being an incompetent newbie I made a mess of my hydrometer readings but I guessed that fermentation must have finished. I took the FV out of the fridge, siphoned to a bottling bucket which had 80g of dissolved brewing sugar in it, and then bottled with a Little Bottler. I filled 36 500ml bottles. It smelled sweet and beery and was very clear after the cold crash. I’m optimistic!

 

[barry.morgan71]

I am pretty new to this and have so far brewed Wherry, Nelson's, a Minton's IPA/Bitter and Admiral twice. The first time I did the Admiral I added the hops after 3 days as per the instructions and it seemed to stop the fermentation dead, in fact the FSG ended being higher than expected. It still tasted good after bottle conditioning. The second time, I added the hops at the same time as the yeast, a post on here said that was the way the instructions used to be. The fermentation wasn't interupted this time, beer tasted good again. Might have been coincidence but I will do the same next time.

 

[Knuckles]

I cold crashed on day 14 and bottled on day 16. Being an incompetent newbie I made a mess of my hydrometer readings but I guessed that fermentation must have finished. I took the FV out of the fridge, siphoned to a bottling bucket which had 80g of dissolved brewing sugar in it, and then bottled with a Little Bottler. I filled 36 500ml bottles. It smelled sweet and beery and was very clear after the cold crash. I’m optimistic!

For the cold crash, did you set it up to draw Co2 back into the fermenter as the temp dropped? If not, it will have sucked air back in instead, and you dont want that,

 

[Haversham]

For the cold crash, did you set it up to draw Co2 back into the fermenter as the temp dropped? If not, it will have sucked air back in instead, and you dont want that,

Erm, no. I took the airlock out, replaced it with a tight rubber bung and put the FV into the fridge. Was that the wrong thing to do? How do you "draw Co2 back into the fermenter"?

 

[Donegal john]

Erm, no. I took the airlock out, replaced it with a tight rubber bung and put the FV into the fridge. Was that the wrong thing to do? How do you "draw Co2 back into the fermenter"?

When liquid cools it contracts and sucks air in wher it can (airlock etc) if the bung is tight the bucket will contract slightly with the lid being sucked down a bit. It’s not a worry at the min I would say not to panic.
Some people use a balloon filled with co2 so that gets sucked into the top of the beer and prevents any unnecessary extra oxidation.
It will be fine though

 

[Haversham]

When liquid cools it contracts and sucks air in wher it can (airlock etc) if the bung is tight the bucket will contract slightly with the lid being sucked down a bit. It’s not a worry at the min I would say not to panic.
Some people use a balloon filled with co2 so that gets sucked into the top of the beer and prevents any unnecessary extra oxidation.
It will be fine though

Thanks for the explanation. This may explain why the lids were so hard to remove. Seems like they did a pretty good job of keeping the air out. On getting the lids off, I siphoned one immediately into a King Keg and the other into a bottling bucket and from there into 36 swing top bottles. So overall I hope they won't have had much exposure to the air. Time will tell.