Returning brewer

[archno1]

Morning all, I've had a break for a few years after a couple of brews which did not turn out too well. I lost confidence, but am determined to persevere this time and get it right.

I am about to try Woodforde's Bure Gold and am going to use bottled water, as our water where I live in Essex is quite hard. Should I use bottled water for the initial 4 litres or so that is boiled first and added to the extract?

Thanks in advance, I am really looking forward to getting this one right, which will give me the confidence to try others in the future.

 

[terrym]

Welcome back to brewing.
Noting that others may disagree, my view on using bottled water for kits is that it is unnecessary unless your tap water doesn't taste or smell too good, but it really doesn't make much difference to an LME based kit whether your water is hard or soft. However if you are brewing extract or AG beers its a different matter and water treatment may be required and possibly using bottled water as a base.
But if you want to improve your chances of brewing a good beer, make sure all your brewing kit is clean and sanitised, try to keep your fermentation temperature steady, and use the 2+2+2 'rule' (weeks in fermentation+carbonation+conditioning) which often helps until you develop your own technique.
In the meantime you might find this helpful as a refresher
Basic beginners guide to brewing your own beer from a kit - The HomeBrew Forum

 

[cossie.j]

Welcome back . As mentioned above concentrate more on the cleaning and sanitation aspect, and you’re good to go.

I’m from Essex myself,and have to agree our water isn’t the best! However I’ve done many different brews with bottled water (ashbeck) and tap water, to be honest i didn’t notice any difference in the two.

 

[GerritT]

Welcome back! Hard water is preferred for ales (so I've read somewhere on the webs) so not bad necessarily.

 

[Rodcx500z]

Welcome back and happy brewing

 

[archno1]

Welcome back to brewing.
Noting that others may disagree, my view on using bottled water for kits is that it is unnecessary unless your tap water doesn't taste or smell too good, but it really doesn't make much difference to an LME based kit whether your water is hard or soft. However if you are brewing extract or AG beers its a different matter and water treatment may be required and possibly using bottled water as a base.
But if you want to improve your chances of brewing a good beer, make sure all your brewing kit is clean and sanitised, try to keep your fermentation temperature steady, and use the 2+2+2 'rule' (weeks in fermentation+carbonation+conditioning) which often helps until you develop your own technique.
In the meantime you might find this helpful as a refresher
Basic beginners guide to brewing your own beer from a kit - The HomeBrew Forum

Thank you Terrym, much appreciated. That's a very useful guide. I must admit, my tap water tastes and smells absolutely fine. I just wanted to remove one of the things that might go wrong from the equation. I'll probably use tap water next time. Cheers

 

[archno1]

Welcome back . As mentioned above concentrate more on the cleaning and sanitation aspect, and you’re good to go.

I’m from Essex myself,and have to agree our water isn’t the best! However I’ve done many different brews with bottled water (ashbeck) and tap water, to be honest i didn’t notice any difference in the two.

Thanks Cossie. j I'm using Youngs cleaner/sanitiser which hopefully does the trick. I'll probably use tap water next time, as it tastes fine to me. Cheers

 

[user 18729]

Nothing wrong with Essex water (Cornishman living in Essex) kit wise you need to remove any chlorine with a Camden tablet and you’re good to go

 

[terrym]

Nothing wrong with Essex water (Cornishman living in Essex) kit wise you need to remove any chlorine with a Camden tablet and you’re good to go

I never bothered with campden tabs when I did kits since the tap water was always fine, except for once when I tried it and didn't notice any difference. That said some places I visit have the classic TCP taste in their mains water and therefore campden treatment would be mandatory.

 

[archno1]

Evening all, I have had my Bure Gold in the FV for 7 days now and have just taken a reading. I looks like 1.014 or perhaps a little lower. There doesn't seem to be much in the way of bubbling going on now.
I was going to add the dry hops tomorrow and thought about leaving them in for a week or so, then bottle if the readings were stable. They seem to be about low enough already though. Are my thoughts about right? I'm just a bit concerned that the bubbles have slowed right up. Should I give the FV a bit of a swirl? Or does it really matter if I leave it another couple of weeks before bottling? Any advice gratefully received.

 

[dwhite60]

So, how did this turn out?

 

[archno1]

So, how did this turn out?

Hi dwhite60, sorry for the late response to your question. Well, I bottled the beer and left it a coupe of weeks to try. It looked fine, not cloudy and appeared to be lively enough. However, I am just not happy with the taste. The only thing that possibly went wrong is that the dry hops I added, had floated to the top of the FV (inside a muslin bag) I had not weighed them down enough. I don't think this made much of a difference though. I gave a couple of bottles to a work colleague of mine and he said that there was nothing wrong with it, but I don't think it has any body / flavour to it. I think in hindsight that I should have used less water, instead of topping it right up to the full 23 litres. My work colleague has given me about three different brews to try, that he made and they all appear fine to me. I would have been happy with any of them. I really do not know what, if anything, I did wrong. I was not happy with my last effort, a few years back and it does my confidence no good at all to put all the effort in and then be disappointed with the results. I will try again soon, using a different brew with less water, but in the mean time, if you could offer any advice, I would appreciate it. Cheers.

 

[dwhite60]

Hi dwhite60, sorry for the late response to your question. Well, I bottled the beer and left it a coupe of weeks to try. It looked fine, not cloudy and appeared to be lively enough. However, I am just not happy with the taste. The only thing that possibly went wrong is that the dry hops I added, had floated to the top of the FV (inside a muslin bag) I had not weighed them down enough. I don't think this made much of a difference though. I gave a couple of bottles to a work colleague of mine and he said that there was nothing wrong with it, but I don't think it has any body / flavour to it. I think in hindsight that I should have used less water, instead of topping it right up to the full 23 litres. My work colleague has given me about three different brews to try, that he made and they all appear fine to me. I would have been happy with any of them. I really do not know what, if anything, I did wrong. I was not happy with my last effort, a few years back and it does my confidence no good at all to put all the effort in and then be disappointed with the results. I will try again soon, using a different brew with less water, but in the mean time, if you could offer any advice, I would appreciate it. Cheers.

Thanks for the update.

I've brewed some bad ones myself. Stuff happens. You do get better with time and experience though. From what I've read some kits require an extended aging to hit their prime. I've read a couple of months.

Keep at it.

 

[terrym]

Your kit is made by Muntons. Whenever I did Muntons kits they always had traces of homebrew 'twang'. It is possible that you may have noticed that too. If you are thinking of another kit it might be useful to try another manufacturer. Coopers, Ritchies, Youngs and Mangrove Jack are some that are not made by Muntons (as far as I am aware) . So maybe worth a try??

 

[dwhite60]

The Mangrove Jack stuff seems to get good reviews. All inclusive with yeast and dry hops if required.