Think I rescued my first brew.

[OldSchoolSi]

Like many others I decided to give brewing a bash at the start of Lockdown and was pretty stoked to find one of my favourite brews in kit form, (Tiny Rebel, Cwtch). FV, kit and a host of other exciting stuff arrived and me and my eldest got cracking.
The kit was a pleasant surprise with plenty of awesome smelling hops and a generous amount of malt. Instructions were simple enough to be fair and it was fun. Put the FV in the shed and before you know it she was bubbling away like a good un'. Ace.
What I'd not factored was temperatures, and before you know it, she stalled. I wrongly assumed more yeast was the answer....Ordered more it got lost in the post and 10 days passed, total arse ache. Eventually sussed it was temperature related and fetched the FV inside (Mrs not that chuffed). Added the yeast then waited, it did restart but really slowly and i was worried all was lost. As a last ditch attempt I fed in about 350g of sugar (let the mix cool down first). After about ten hours it picked up again and fermented for two days. Now reads as ready to bottle, so fingers crossed it doesn't taste like death.
I realise I've probably gaffes it, but it's been a learning curve.
Another brew is on the go and two more coming Monday.

 

[dwhite60]

Like many others I decided to give brewing a bash at the start of Lockdown and was pretty stoked to find one of my favourite brews in kit form, (Tiny Rebel, Cwtch). FV, kit and a host of other exciting stuff arrived and me and my eldest got cracking.
The kit was a pleasant surprise with plenty of awesome smelling hops and a generous amount of malt. Instructions were simple enough to be fair and it was fun. Put the FV in the shed and before you know it she was bubbling away like a good un'. Ace.
What I'd not factored was temperatures, and before you know it, she stalled. I wrongly assumed more yeast was the answer....Ordered more it got lost in the post and 10 days passed, total a**e ache. Eventually sussed it was temperature related and fetched the FV inside (Mrs not that chuffed). Added the yeast then waited, it did restart but really slowly and i was worried all was lost. As a last ditch attempt I fed in about 350g of sugar (let the mix cool down first). After about ten hours it picked up again and fermented for two days. Now reads as ready to bottle, so fingers crossed it doesn't taste like death.
I realise I've probably gaffes it, but it's been a learning curve.
Another brew is on the go and two more coming Monday.

It will be fine. I don't see anything you've done that would have ruined it.

Bottle it, give it four weeks or so, and it'll be good.

Let us know how it turns out.

 

[Dutto]

Buy a Hydrometer and use it to:

1. Obtain an Original Gravity (OG).
2. Obtain an Intermediate Gravity (IG). If you are worried whether or not fermentation is taking place. If the OG has fallen then fermentation is taking place.
3. Obtain what hopefully will be the Final Gravity (FG). This tells you two things:
   1. Using the ABV calculator the OG minus the FG will give you the ABV of the brew.
   2. It allows you to bottle the brew without fear of "bottle bombs" because fermentation hasn't completed.

https://www.wilko.com/en-uk/wilko-floating-hydrometer-for-wine-beer/p/0022575
Personally, the main reason that I use the 2+2+2 system is that after two weeks of Fermentation I don't need to risk infection by taking an IG and usually the FG is well below "bottle bomb" potential.

BTW, the other 2+2 is two weeks carbonating and two weeks conditioning. This means that from starting fermentation it is usually a minimum of six weeks before I even bother to taste a brew.

Enjoy.

 

[OldSchoolSi]

It will be fine. I don't see anything you've done that would have ruined it.

Bottle it, give it four weeks or so, and it'll be good.

Let us know how it turns out.

That's reassuring, thanks. That four weeks will feel like months, I'm really looking forward to trying it!

 

[OldSchoolSi]

Buy a Hydrometer and use it to:

1. Obtain an Original Gravity (OG).
2. Obtain an Intermediate Gravity (IG). If you are worried whether or not fermentation is taking place. If the OG has fallen then fermentation is taking place.
3. Obtain what hopefully will be the Final Gravity (FG). This tells you two things:
   1. Using the ABV calculator the OG minus the FG will give you the ABV of the brew.
   2. It allows you to bottle the brew without fear of "bottle bombs" because fermentation hasn't completed.

https://www.wilko.com/en-uk/wilko-floating-hydrometer-for-wine-beer/p/0022575
Personally, the main reason that I use the 2+2+2 system is that after two weeks of Fermentation I don't need to risk infection by taking an IG and usually the FG is well below "bottle bomb" potential.

BTW, the other 2+2 is two weeks carbonating and two weeks conditioning. This means that from starting fermentation it is usually a minimum of six weeks before I even bother to taste a brew.

Enjoy.

Some sound advice here, much appreciated.