Questions Questions.

[snail59]

The closer my first brew day gets the more questions I keep thinking of so here goes with the thick stuff.

1:- Water. Ive got 2 FVs one i plan to use to measure and treat the water before adding to the kit. Is it good or bad practice to fill the FV with water the night before to get the temp up.

2:- Is it best to use spray malt or brewing sugar.

3:- My Kit instructions (Coopers English Bitter) say to keep between 21-27 *C on here it seems the opinion is 18-22 *C ?????????

4:- Yeast. It seems agreed that the kit yeast neads to be changed so what is the best yeast for this kit & when I add the yeast do I just sprinkle on top or give it a good stir to mix??.

sorry for asking what may have been asked 100 times before.

mick.

 

[jonewer]

The closer my first brew day gets the more questions I keep thinking of so here goes with the thick stuff.

1:- Water. Ive got 2 FVs one i plan to use to measure and treat the water before adding to the kit. Is it good or bad practice to fill the FV with water the night before to get the temp up.

2:- Is it best to use spray malt or brewing sugar.

3:- My Kit instructions (Coopers English Bitter) say to keep between 21-27 *C on here it seems the opinion is 18-22 *C ?????????

4:- Yeast. It seems agreed that the kit yeast neads to be changed so what is the best yeast for this kit & when I add the yeast do I just sprinkle on top or give it a good stir to mix??.

sorry for asking what may have been asked 100 times before.

mick.

1. Dont worry too much about treating water, particularly with kit brews. I always used boiling water to dissolve the syrup when making kits, then topped it up with cold tap water to bring the temp to just under 30, which should be good for pitching your yeast.

2. Spray malt will add more body but may cause some cloudyness because it hasnt been boiled. Sugar will have a neutral taste but will thin the body (no, not yours, the beer's!)

3. Lower temps make for less off-flavours during the brew, but IMO, its better to pitch when a bit warmer to get the yeast going faster. Let it settle to a lower temp after the yeast takes off.

4. I'd use SO4. Its nothing fancy, but its a solid, reliable ale yeast. Aerate first by beating with a sterilised paddle until its frothy. Then just sprinkle the yeast on top and close the lid. Leave for several hours at least before checking for signs of life. By the way, I have heard that Coppers kit yeast is actually top-drawer, so maybe no need to change it this time.

Good Luck! :thumb:

 

[Sean_Mc]

1 There's no need to warm the water as you'll be adding boiling water, but treating the water the night before with a crushed campden tablet won't harm

2 I'd use half spray malt to half granulated sugar or just brewing sugar

3 Coopers kits always seem to say 21-27, I keep mine at 18-24

4 If I do change the yeast, I've only used S-04 and I like a sprinkle

 

[johnboy]

Hi Mick,

I normally use Nottingham Ale Yeast. It's a good performer with a fairly neutral flavour. I normally hydrate it to make sure it's not a dud packet.

I use airtight FVs with an airlock so I aerate the wort by putting the lid on and rocking it back and forth, I then add the yeast and rock it again. Some of the more experienced guys might know if this is a good or bad idea but it works for me.

Good luck

 

[chiefstoker]

The closer my first brew day gets the more questions I keep thinking of so here goes with the thick stuff.

1:- Water. Ive got 2 FVs one i plan to use to measure and treat the water before adding to the kit. Is it good or bad practice to fill the FV with water the night before to get the temp up.

2:- Is it best to use spray malt or brewing sugar.

3:- My Kit instructions (Coopers English Bitter) say to keep between 21-27 *C on here it seems the opinion is 18-22 *C ?????????

4:- Yeast. It seems agreed that the kit yeast neads to be changed so what is the best yeast for this kit & when I add the yeast do I just sprinkle on top or give it a good stir to mix??.

sorry for asking what may have been asked 100 times before.

mick.

Mick, all i can say is 'quit talking about it and get on and do it!!' :party:
Then you can move onto the next brew :grin: you seem to have a good grasp of the situation, I'm new to this too but so far everything has turned out lovely so no need to worry


Stoker


Pysst,
W-s-M
:

 

[Wez]

1:- Water. Ive got 2 FVs one i plan to use to measure and treat the water before adding to the kit. Is it good or bad practice to fill the FV with water the night before to get the temp up.

With kits I used to add a crushed campden tablet to the water I was going to use in a seperate FV. Campden tablets work pretty much straight away so you can do this just before you brew if you like. The boiling water that you dissolve the 'goo' with will balance the temp and hope fully give you your yeast pitching temp of around 20 - 22c.

2:- Is it best to use spray malt or brewing sugar.

Personally I'd go with spraymalt, but others here have said 50/50 spraymalt/sugar - I wouldn't argue with that :thumb:

3:- My Kit instructions (Coopers English Bitter) say to keep between 21-27 *C on here it seems the opinion is 18-22 *C ?????????

18-22 :thumb:

4:- Yeast. It seems agreed that the kit yeast neads to be changed so what is the best yeast for this kit & when I add the yeast do I just sprinkle on top or give it a good stir to mix??.

I used to add safale s04 but I really dont like the stuff now although others really do like it, Nottingham is an OK yeast though - so replace with 204 or Notty if you can. I'm a sprinkler

sorry for asking what may have been asked 100 times before.

No problem, it's nice to be able to help out.

Now get that beer made :

 

[snail59]

Thanks for the answers chaps. Just one more question when its time to barrel my brew is it best to let the beer flow gently into the barrel via a pipe placed from the FVs tap into the bottom of the barrel or alow it to drop straight into the barrel.

Mick.

 

[Wez]

Let it gently flow to the bottom of the keg using some tube, you dont want to splash it about at that stage. :thumb: