The saga begins

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avisler

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Oct 17, 2024
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ammanford
happy day my brew kit has arrived and fully inspected

20241022_151118.jpg

note the disappointment as it contained no treats.

going to start my first brew in the morning i have a geordie lager kit and a caxtons lager kit, not sure which to begin with.
my assigned storage area for the fermenting bin sits at a stable 18.7° on the low end of the instruction temperature so should be okay.

Any pitfalls i should know ?

cheers
john
 
He’s got some plums on him.

Be clean, be patient, don’t keep poking things and taking measures.

Just let it do its thing for 2 weeks in the bucket and get an old fridge to brew in as soon as you can.
 
Be a bit careful when transferring the beer to the bottles (or keg) to avoid oxidation. Likewise, do not shake bottles to mix priming sugar! A fermenter with a tap and a bottling stick will make life easier if you don't have one already.
 
He’s got some plums on him.
Hare says thankyou.

@Bitter_Dave yes got a bottling stick but forgot to get temperature strips so will go with an electronic sensor.

havent decided where to store the filled bottles yet and i think a brew fridge may be a long way off, as my hobby room is becoming a tad cramped.
 
To mix in the priming sugar, you can just invert the bottles a couple of times. Once they're corked of course. 🤣

Storage this time of the year could be done outside. No need for a fridge. Crates would be helpful though.
 
okay so the first batch is done, geordie lager with 1kg brewing sugar at 1.030 sitting at 22.6°. now just have to have patience.

sterilised everything with chemsan including multiple parts of myself, a lid and tap check now goes on the list when swilling the fv.
 
well it has been 7 days so i had a small taste test and checked it with a brix scale refractomoter, it tasted like flat lager and 1.018 . still getting regular bubbling in airlock.
 
No disrespect meant, but are you sure you are reading your hydrometer correctly? I found this tricky the first time I brewed a beer. If you are not sure it's worth doing a bit of googling on it.

1.018 is high as an fg for a one can kit made to 23 litres.
 
Grasping at straws here, but have you checked the calibration of your hydrometer? The paper insert in those has been known to slip. Check in 20° water if you haven't already done so.

Otherwise it's a bit of a mystery. Those kits should be bulletproof in terms of reaching target FG. The only other possibility is the yeast. Sometimes the kits give the bare minimum and if there's been any degradation through age or storage conditions, it could just underperform.
 
Yeah, that's fine.

So could be the yeast. Though if you're still getting some activity in the airlock, I'd leave it sit for a bit longer. I don't know what yeast is provided, but lager yeasts normally ferment at lower temperatures 12-18° would be normal. But a lot of those kits include ale yeast instead of lager, so the temp could be fine.
 
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