RickBuck Brewery - Woodfordes Wherry (again)

[homebrewdave]

So, following kegging of my previous brew (St Peter's Golden Ale) I was keen to crack on with another one. I looked in my store cupboard and decided to do another Wherry. I short-brewed to 21ltrs but this time used tap water after I'd shut-off the water softener and purged the kitchen tap. My SG reading was 1042 before adding the yeast and again I created a yeast starter solution with 100ml of boiled/cooled water, stand for 15mins, whisk then add 100ml of wort. I decided to experiment a bit and added a teaspoon of brewers sugar/dextrose also then whisked again. I covered with clingfilm and placed on the radiator and left for 30mins. Upon my return there was about 2inches of foam head so it had worked a treat. I whisked again, added to the FV and gave it a thorough mixing with the paddle then popped the lid on. Talking about the lid I decided to modify it by cutting a small hole to fit the aquarium heater I had bought a while back. The hole was slightly bigger then the cable so I wrapped the cable with plumbers tape which sealed it well. I set it to 21C so hopefully this will work and be more stable than the brew-belt I tried on my previous brew so I'll keep my eye on it and report back. Thanks for reading, I'm now going to browse bench cappers in readiness for bottling this latest Wherry :

 

[winelight]

Talking about the lid I decided to modify it by cutting a small hole to fit the aquarium heater I had bought a while back. The hole was slightly bigger then the cable so I wrapped the cable with plumbers tape which sealed it well.

OK a couple of thoughts here. I've been thinking about doing this and is it going to be easy to wash the lid / heater with it still attached? It would be crazy to have to take the plug off each time. Or, realistically, are you going to have to remove the plumbers tape and bin it (the tape, not the heater!) between each brew? I was also thinking about a grommet, trouble is the cable is not round in cross-section, it's pretty flat. Wish I knew an easy answer!

 

[homebrewdave]

winelight, your comments are founded but I thought to myself "how hard is it to re-wire the plug" and it wasn't. Yes its a faff to dissmantle the plug every time I clean/sanitise but having a stable temp is more important to me. I will get a grommet when I'm next at the DIY store but for now the tape will do. Just give it a go and see how it pans out. I'm certainly one for dwelling on things and "planning" but this time I just did it and I'm pleased I did. I will no doubt adjust the setup as time goes by but for now I'm well chuffed with how it turned out.

 

[Scott]

For ease, pop the FV in a water bath with the heater in that. Then you don't have to modify your FV and the beer gets a good all round heater.

You can pick up the builders style rubber mixing buckets from Tesco and Asda for a few quid.

 

[johnnyh]

Just a quick question re the aquarium heater, without any kind of circulation in the FV (as provided by the filtration in an aquarium), wont you just get a bit of a hot spot in the FV?

 

[winelight]

Just a quick question re the aquarium heater, without any kind of circulation in the FV (as provided by the filtration in an aquarium), wont you just get a bit of a hot spot in the FV?

heat rises so if you dangle it in so that it's near the bottom it should create its own circulation, hot liquid rising up the middle, spreading across the top and then down the sides which will be naturally colder anyway - at least that's the theory

 

[winelight]

I thought to myself "how hard is it to re-wire the plug" and it wasn't

Good point, probably takes less than a minute :) I should just go for it!

 

[homebrewdave]

Yeah, go for it winelight :thumb: The aquarium heater seems to be doing its thing and the brew has a nice dense tall head of foam with the airlock bubbling away regularly. It's not dropping below 18C overnight and not going above 22C during the day and this is with the heater set at 21C so I'm happy with that. I might hook it up to a timer and see if I can keep to 21C during the day and then it would be spot-on.

 

[homebrewdave]

Update - Bottled this at the weekend and it looks fantastic in the bottles. SG was about 1008 so happy with that. I'd collected nearly 50 SA Gold bottles and used 40 of them along with my new bench caper. I thought cleaning/sterilising PET bottles was tedious but jeez, the glass bottles are even worse! I used VWP to initially clean them and then stored them in the shed outside. When I brought them in to clean them again I used hot water to rinse, Star San to clean and sterilise and then hot water to rinse again. Star San was used at a ration of 1/4 ounce SS to 1ltr water. Next time I will remove all the labels as one of the bottles had a pea sized blob of green algae looking stuff growing in it but was hidden by a label :shock: . I only noticed this after I'd finished bottling so I had to ditch it, thoroughly clean and sanitise again and fill from the last bit in the FV. I then checked all the other bottles which I'm glad to say were spotless. I don't think the shed is the best place for storing the bottles so they will have to go in the spare room next time. When I bottled I primed them with 1/2 a teaspoon of dried Munton's Medium Spraymalt. The colour of the ale is a nice golden/brown almost the colour of a conker nut. It looks so good and I'm really looking forward to trying this one.

 

[joe1002]

In future, I would just prime with granulated sugar. It's cheaper and I don't think you will notice a difference :thumb:

 

[alawlor66430]

Just a quick question re the aquarium heater, without any kind of circulation in the FV (as provided by the filtration in an aquarium), wont you just get a bit of a hot spot in the FV?

heat rises so if you dangle it in so that it's near the bottom it should create its own circulation, hot liquid rising up the middle, spreading across the top and then down the sides which will be naturally colder anyway - at least that's the theory

This is exactly right the heat rises spreads and then drops in temp at the opposite side to create circulation

 

[Brewbob]

Hmm, some good ideas here, I'm doing a Wherry on Fri, my 1st one. I like the idea of stabilising the heat, think I need to do that after my last brew

 

[bunkerbrewer]

Star San to clean and sterilise and then hot water to rinse again.

StarSan is no-rinse (don't fear the foam) - that'll save you a bit of time next time! :thumb:

 

[winelight]

Just a quick question re the aquarium heater, without any kind of circulation in the FV (as provided by the filtration in an aquarium), wont you just get a bit of a hot spot in the FV?

heat rises so if you dangle it in so that it's near the bottom it should create its own circulation, hot liquid rising up the middle, spreading across the top and then down the sides which will be naturally colder anyway - at least that's the theory

This is exactly right the heat rises spreads and then drops in temp at the opposite side to create circulation

Fine in theory but my aquarium heater floats, I've discovered!!!

 

[alawlor66430]

Mine floats to but I can take a thermometer reading from any part of my fv and it's a steady temp so it must be working ok

 

[winelight]

Thanks - that's reassuring. I'll stop worrying about it then :)

 

[alawlor66430]

After you've used it in a few brews and they turn out great you won't even think about it anymore, :-)

 

[homebrewdave]

Moved the two crates into the cold this weekend just gone. I checked them on Wednesday and noticed sediment hanging in suspension and they were in a particularly cold part of the dining room. I decided to move them to a warmer part and when I checked on them Saturday morning they had settled out and were nice and clear with a bit of sediment at the bottom. I have now moved them into the conservatory which is very cold at present. Hopefully the temps won't get too warm in there and after about 2 weeks I'll move them into the shed. Looking forward to trying one of these.

 

[homebrewdave]

Update - Tried a bottle of this last night and I have to say that it's possibly my best brew to date. Opening the bottle gives a pleasant hiss and a nice dense "smoke" from the top of the bottle. When poured it's crystal clear and gives a nice thick tall head. As you drink the head stays which is very much a first for my brews so I was very pleased. The taste is lovely and malty, nice bitterness and a twang of hopes towards the end. Carbonation is perfect for me, similar to commercial bottled ale like London Pride or SA Gold just a bit less. The only negative is that from using the DME to prime the bottles, there's a bit of sediment to contend with. It's not unpleasant like a traditional sediment would add that "twang" so as long as the bottle is kept still and poured gently you don't get any in the glass. Overall I'm very pleased with this so a big :thumb: from me.