The Range Bitter kit.

[Dave 666]

Right I've just got this 1 on (I did intend to do the IPA kit next but hay ho might still get that on this week) tonight. Brewed short to 20 litre instead of 23 as I wanted something a bit more. As might be said, the instructions suggest just adding 1kg of dextrose, but not wanting the lack of flavour from doing that and wanting more body I added 500g medium DME, 500g extra light DME about 170g of dark brown sugar, about 175g white sugar & about 150g syrup.

SG & 22° was 1050 so if I get a FG of 1010 that would give me a ABV of 5.25 which is what I wanted.

Only thing is the hops to add on day 7 (will be day 10 when I'm back from a trip) only look about 15g worth so I assume that some hops were in the liquid malt. Will likely add more hops than that as I like my ales very much on the hoppy side though have to bare in mind this is a bitter so maybe not to much extra hops.

 

[Dave 666]

Due to fermenting at low temps 12-16c fermentation still seems to be occurring and taking far longer than expected. Not overly bothered by a slow fermentation period as such. But I'm now at the stage I want to get the hops in. Only the hop addition seems very small so I assume the bulk was in the malt mix already.

My question is should I just add these (in a hop bag) or add some of what I have here in the chest freezer in addition to give extra hop & flavour to the brew?.

 

[Dave 666]

So, having put the hop bag in about 10 days ago now I come to test the beer as strangely its still bubbling through the air lock despite it having been 4 weeks since brew day. Ok, I'm brewing at lower than average temps, about 12\13° at the moment as that's the unheated utility room temp. But the gravity is today 1.010 against 1.013 11 days ago, so must be finished at 1.010?.

Now here is the thing, hop bag in 10 days, beer itself looks OK on the surface but there appears to be little bits of floating matter (and fine matter in the test sample) that I guess is partly present due to what looks like natural light carbonation (test tube retains gas bubbles on the side) The matter could be from both the yeast and the breaking up of the hop pellets that were in the hop bag. Don't know if this is normal (my brewing temps certainly isn't) or more an indication that its just not finished yet?.

So any advice, is it just an incredibly slow fermentation due to temps or something else?. As that aside the test sample tastes good to me, no sign of a problem there.

 

[Arcs]

Get a heat pad? Move FV to a warmer room for future reference? It will be slow because temps are lower so additional patience is required. You could always just pop it into a barrel and let it self carbonate also if that option appeals to you. Others may have better advice

 

[Dave 666]

Get a heat pad? Move FV to a warmer room for future reference? It will be slow because temps are lower so additional patience is required. You could always just pop it into a barrel and let it self carbonate also if that option appeals to you. Others may have better advice

Well as long as its more just not finished fermenting than anything wrong is my main concern. That and if the hop bag is OK to leave in for the time being as its been 10 days now. But at 1.010 it currently stands at 5.25% abv, which is a decent result in itself even if it doesn't drop further. Timing isn't a major issue as such and if best to leave at a stable temp where it is now (as must be coming to an end) then that's fine.

A pressure barrel would have been an option had it not already been holding the Irish Stout & getting another right now might slightly pee off the other half. So will likely just move it into the kitchen in a bit to slowly rise the temps a few ° over the next day or so if a slow rise won't affect the brew. I guess the "light carbonation" may be as much still having an active yeast in there still doing its work?.

 

[Arcs]

Moving it will only upset the yeast cake at the bottom of the FV, it won't ruin the brew, it will just need time to settle - I move mine all the time due to the number of FV's I have, kitchen being small and sometimes racking. ABV @1.010 aint bad, I usually let mine drop at low as they will go, sometimes that's 1.001, it's all down to how long you want to wait. As for carbonation, I usually boil my sugar and let it cool then pour in the FV. This gives me usually a draught style beer, even from a bottle. I am not a fan of putting sugar into each bottle individually as I don't particularly like fizzy beer but will make exception for lagers and ciders. There is always active yeast in the FV, even after racking, bottling or kegging, which is why some people harvest their yeast from the FV

 

[Dave 666]

Moving it will only upset the yeast cake at the bottom of the FV, it won't ruin the brew, it will just need time to settle - I move mine all the time due to the number of FV's I have, kitchen being small and sometimes racking. ABV @1.010 aint bad, I usually let mine drop at low as they will go, sometimes that's 1.001, it's all down to how long you want to wait. As for carbonation, I usually boil my sugar and let it cool then pour in the FV. This gives me usually a draught style beer, even from a bottle. I am not a fan of putting sugar into each bottle individually as I don't particularly like fizzy beer but will make exception for lagers and ciders. There is always active yeast in the FV, even after racking, bottling or kegging, which is why some people harvest their yeast from the FV

Hmm, assumingly boil with water?. If so what are the suggested process such as sugar to water ratio?. I recall in the past with 1 kit (cider) the recommendations was to prime with a liquid sugar solution.

 

[terrym]

As for carbonation, I usually boil my sugar and let it cool then pour in the FV. This gives me usually a draught style beer, even from a bottle. I am not a fan of putting sugar into each bottle individually as I don't particularly like fizzy beer but will make exception for lagers and ciders.

Assuming the fermentation has finished, the degree of carbonation you get is determined by the amount of priming sugar you add to your beer, not the method by which you add it. So if you want 'draught' beer from a bottle you add less sugar, if you want fizzy lager add more, whether its either adding the sugar as it comes or as a solution. More here
https://www.brewersfriend.com/beer-priming-calculator/