Tips For A 2nd Time Novice

[LanceDeepwood]

Hey!

Have just brewed and drank my first batch of Ale from a Woodforde Real Ale kit, which was about as straight forward as it gets - didn't require any additional sugar or anything - just followed the instructions to a tee and was fairly happy with the end result, just totally flat.

Any way now I have a Brupaks Belgium Whitbier to brew, but I want it to be a little stronger than it would be just using what's included in the default kit, which I'm guessing is made to finish at round 4 or 5% abv. I've also got some flip-top glass bottles, so I'm going to bottle this time instead of using my plastic pressure keg. From what I've read this should help my brew not to be as flat???

Inorder to make a stronger brew (I'd like somewhere between 6-8%), would this be a good approach, and if not, what advice can you give:

1. Make up the brew following the default kit instructions up to the point where I am supposed to add the yeast.
2. Take a gravity reading with my Hydrometer and top up with brewing sugar until I reach the desired gravity (I tend to look at the potential % alcohol scale - so around 7% or 8%)

3. I have bought an extra two saches of the exact same yeast that comes with the kit. So I have twice as much yeast (I'm actually using two 10 litre kits) as I should have. My question is, would it be best to add just the kit yeast a first and leave it for a week or so and if the fermentation gets stuck, to then add some more yeast and wait for the gravity to reach bottling point, or am I better off putting all the yeast in from the start???

Also, my last kit told me to only put my fermentation bucket lid on loosely, not tightly. Is this correct, baring in mind that my lid doesn't have a hole for a pressure thingy and I don't want to risk the top blowing off an making a mess (it's in my dining room :-P). I know there's a lot of questions there, but I'd be grateful for some advice, thanks guys!

 

[fbsf]

I wouldn't add too much sugar. All it will do is add more alcohol, which will dilute the flavour.

You would be better either adding dry malt extract (also called spraymalt), or reducing the amount of water you add to the kit.

With the yeast - add it at the start.

If your bucket doesn't have an airlock, leave it unsealed, but covered. This will allow the CO2 to escape, and stop airborne nasties like dust and flies getting in.

Finally, when it comes to bottling, don't forget to prime the bottles - between 4-8g of sugar per litre (so 2-4g sugar per 500ml bottle) is about right, depending on how fizzy you like it.

You would then keep the bottles in a warmish (18-20°) place for a week for the yeast to turn that sugar into CO2, and then put the bottles somewhere cool (a garage/shed) for at least two weeks to allow the beer to absorb the CO2 - otherwise it'll all just escape when you pop the bottle top.

 

[LanceDeepwood]

Should I add all my yeast from the start? The kit that I'm using only makes 10 litres (but I'm using two of them), and the sachet that comes with each says its for 20 litres. So according to the doses listed on the sache I've actually got enough yeast for 80 litres when I'm only making 20 litres!

What I'm worried about is my fermentation getting stuck. If this were to happen, would adding extra yeast help to ferment the remaining sugars and get the desired alcohol %? Thanks for the info about dry malt extract. I'll look into that, cos I'm not keen on the idea of adding less water . . . less water = less beer

 

[fbsf]

The yeast is measured for a rough 22L of 4.5% wort - or similar amounts of sugar (10L of 9% for instance). So for doing 20 odd litres of 7-8% you'll probably need both packets.

If you put them in at the start they will have the best chance of multiplying whilst there is still oxygen in the wort. If you waited until it stalled there would be no O2 to multiply and the alcohol could stun the yeast.

 

[LanceDeepwood]

Okay I will do that. Thanks for the help fbsf!

 

[rpt]

Don't use the potential alcohol scale on your hydrometer as it's only useful when making wine.

 

[LanceDeepwood]

Hello again.

Started the above mentioned brew. Added some dry malt and some brewing sugar until the gravity reached 1053. Left for 7 days before my first reading (didn't check on it at all in the meantime to reduce the risk of contamination) and it was at 1013, which I was pretty pleased with.

Anyway, my hydrometer has a little black bar between 1006-1010 telling me that this is the point at which I should bottle my beer. So I figured after the reading on the 7th day, it needed a little longer. So I've just taken another reading today, which is 10 days after I started the fermentation, and it seems to be stuck at 1012. So in three full days it's only gone down by 0001.

My question is, how safe would it be to bottle my beer now, very slightly below the gravity that my hydrometer recommends for bottling? By "safe", I mean that I'll be leaving the bottles in my dining room where it is warm (usually around 20 degrees celsius) and if they were to explode, well that could bode ill for my future as a home brewer :-P (although I'm going to put the bottles in a plastic crate with a lid as a safety net).

If bottling now would be a bad idea, then what suggestions do people have to restart this fermentation? I'm just abit worried that if I leave the beer in the fermenter for too long it might start to go bad. The smell has somewhat changed in the 3 days since I last checked from positively beery to a slight (but not too strong) banana smell (if that makes any sense), although I have been very careful with sterilizing the hydrometer sample tube and my plastic gloves, so I'm hoping that this isn't a contamination issue. The colour is still amber.

Any advice would be great thanks!

 

[joe1002]

Check the gravity tomorrow and if its not moved, get it bottled :thumb:

 

[wigwamheed]

Pretty sure the banana smell is pretty normal with belgian yeasts, and whitbier so i wouldn't worry to much about that just yet. You'll know if it sbad when you sup it

 

[rpt]

Check the gravity tomorrow and if its not moved, get it bottled :thumb:

+1

I suggest you ignore all markings on your hydrometer except the gravity. They aren't very helpful.

 

[LanceDeepwood]

Will check tomorrow then bottle. Thanks for the advice!

 

[taxidiver]

Good luck with it, I'm sure it will be fine.

:thumb:
Geoff

 

[Ian...]

I have completed about 15 kit brews now (all two can ales) and I found that 2 weeks in the primary fv really improves things, it allows the yeast time to clean things up after the ferment and the beer clears quicker. ALso, I have added varying amounts of demorara or muscavado sugar (or a combination of both) to increase the ABV and this has really worked well still retaining a full-bodied flavour.