Wilcos Woodfordes Wherry Real Ale Kit

[trikerjim]

Hi all again
I have bottled my first kit, a pilsner, and all looking good so far in the airing cupboard, clearing nicely :thumb:

Anyway, my second kit is a woodfordes wherry real ale kit, no sugar needed £13 from wilcos.
I followed the instructions, but with this one, decided to put the FV in the garage instead of the front room. To compensate for the lower temperature i submersed a aquarium heater set at 20 degrees and left it to it. That was saturday. Come sunday i went in garage to see how it was bubbling away, and to my surprise, it wasnt, i have an airlock on top and nothing. i lifted the lid and was totally flat, no activity at all.!The culprit was the temp, the heater obviously isnt man enough to pull it up to 20 degrees in the cold garage, and it was at 12 degrees in the middle of the day.
I then transferred the FV into the front room and evicted the mrs, giving it a little stir for good measure. I have just got in from work and there is a megga frothy head and it has gone to 20 degrees. So that just confirms the garage is just too cold for my little heater to maintain a constant warm temp.

My concern is this, although there is a big frothy top on it of about 2 inches, there is nothing coming through the airlock, at all. the lid is snapped shut even where the lead for the heater wire enters the FV. I scooped out a little "V" shape for it to sit in. Obviously this isnt an exact tight fit but i cant see all gasses escaping through here only and would expect some to come through the airlock?

Your thoughts and advise are appreciated

Jim

 

[alawlor66430]

The wire of the aquarium heater will be breaking the seal so it won't bubble, and some lids aren't quite air tight but don't worry though it'll be fine

 

[trikerjim]

Adam, as i was typing it i thought to myself i bet thats whats occuring. am gutted coz was hoping to use the airlock as a sign of fermentation finishing. Going to have to try a different way of routing the wire in and sealin the lid. i have limited space so dont really want to go down the route of submersing the FV in a larger bucket of water. Hey Ho.

 

[alawlor66430]

I do it the same way as you and I don't bother anymore about the air lock bubbling, I did see ( on here I think ) a pic of someone drilling an extra hole on the lid and putting a grommet in it for the heater cable to go through so you could always try that

 

[winelight]

That's what I did (the grommet thing) and put a bit of gaffer tape round the wire and it is airtight. Right now my Youngs Harvest Mild is going like the clappers, bubbling away nicely. You don't need the airlock to indicate fermentation, however, I always leave it 2 weeks regardless. I do everything on a 2-week cycle - so each 2 weeks I move one stack of bottles from the warm into the cold to condition, bottle what's in the FV and put it in the lounge, and start another kit in the FV. My hydrometer is feeling ignored and unwanted.

However, going back to the original question, my aquarium heater floats! So only the top bit of the FV is getting heated.

Clearly an aquarium heater is not necessarily the best idea, if that's going to happen.

I'm wondering about a reptile heater (it's a flat mat that I could sit the FV on) together with a thermostat, you can get the whole kit together, heater, electronic thermostat and temperature probe. So just dangle the probe in the FV.

Won't really matter in a few weeks when (hopefully) the spring weather will make it easy to maintain 20C in a room anyway.

 

[Wils]

13 quid!! Is it back on offer then?

I've brewed the Wherry 4 times now and each time I've been suprised how quiet the fermentation seems to be. I've had it stick a couple of times so just gave it a gentle stir as recommended on here and it always turns out great. I just think its a slow burner and needs about 14 days to complete if brewed at 20-22 c. :thumb:

 

[trikerjim]

yeah £13 in wilcos. i want this one to work then will clear it out of wilcos if i like it.

14 days? the kit says 4 - 6, then bottle. i did think that was a bit soon

my heater stiks to the side of the FV with 2 suckers. so just stick it on before filling

was hoping to use the airlock method as i ant got a trialjar for my hydrometer. i do like the idea of a 14day rolling cycle though. does that work on all beer and lager kits for you. it does seem an easier way of going on

jim :

 

[winelight]

my heater stiks to the side of the FV with 2 suckers. so just stick it on before filling

I tried that but it fell off after a couple of days! Maybe I didn't press it on hard enough.

I haven't tried any lager kits yet, only bitters stouts and so on.

 

Hi all again
I have bottled my first kit, a pilsner, and all looking good so far in the airing cupboard, clearing nicely :thumb:

Anyway, my second kit is a woodfordes wherry real ale kit, no sugar needed £13 from wilcos.
I followed the instructions, but with this one, decided to put the FV in the garage instead of the front room. To compensate for the lower temperature i submersed a aquarium heater set at 20 degrees and left it to it. That was saturday. Come sunday i went in garage to see how it was bubbling away, and to my surprise, it wasnt, i have an airlock on top and nothing. i lifted the lid and was totally flat, no activity at all.!The culprit was the temp, the heater obviously isnt man enough to pull it up to 20 degrees in the cold garage, and it was at 12 degrees in the middle of the day.
I then transferred the FV into the front room and evicted the mrs, giving it a little stir for good measure. I have just got in from work and there is a megga frothy head and it has gone to 20 degrees. So that just confirms the garage is just too cold for my little heater to maintain a constant warm temp.

My concern is this, although there is a big frothy top on it of about 2 inches, there is nothing coming through the airlock, at all. the lid is snapped shut even where the lead for the heater wire enters the FV. I scooped out a little "V" shape for it to sit in. Obviously this isnt an exact tight fit but i cant see all gasses escaping through here only and would expect some to come through the airlock?

Your thoughts and advise are appreciated

Jim

hi jim... :thumb: .
you just need to calibrate your heater in a jug of water...

use a thamometer in there to get the true reading ...
fish tank heaters lie there heads off ... :shock: .

to keep a costant 20c with mine ....
it has to be set at 30c ....

but remember...
they tell lies .....

so ignore its setting ...

go with the thamometer reading ....

and i right the heater setting on its box...
so if i move it...by accident...

i can re-set it with out going through the prosses again ...

i hope this helps ... :thumb: .

regards mick... :hat: .

 

[rpt]

You really should use your hydrometer to know when fermentation has finished. It's the only way. They aren't expensive and nor are trial jars.

 

[trikerjim]

Hi Mick

i did try setting it high but to no avail. i did by the "cheapest" heater i could and just think it wasnt man enough for the job in the garage because when i brought it back in and set it at 20 degrees it shows 20 degrees on the stick on thermometer on the side of the FV.so seems to work well with a little help from our house temp.

I am interested though in a previous post suggesting a 2 week rolling cycle, Primary , secondary (bottling), and garage. this goes against all what is printed on the instructions as all kits i have looked at are different, but does seem an easier way of going on. does anyone else use this system and does it work ok? i dont want to spoil my brew by leaving too long in FV

: Jim

 

[Andyhull]

The only problem doing this (2 week cycle) and not checking with hydrometer is that you could have a stuck brew and not even know!

If this is the case you would be bottling it around the usual 1020 sticking point and end up with either way overcarbed bottles or a flat beer dependant on wether it gets going or not once it's in it's secondary fermentation recepticle.

You should always check with a hydrometer before bottling even if it's just the once before you commit it to the bottle/keg

And 2 weeks is usually just the right amount of time to leave it to fully ferment out and clean it's self up, i tend to leave mine this long and sometimes longer in the primary.

Andy

 

[trikerjim]

Andy, i am with you on that. its my second brew. am going to get on e bay and buy a trial jar. wilcos and the range dont have any. ! do you syphon into the trial jar or just dip it in to fill it

: jim

 

[Andyhull]

I usually sterilise the hydrometer and pop it in the FV to give me a rough reading, if it's somewhere near i then syphon some into the trial jar and take a more accurate reading then bottle.

If it's gone below 1020 then it's "usually" not stuck and will have fully fermented out within 2 weeks.
It's advised to take 3 readings over 3 days to check you have the sam reading so you know it's finished but i leave it 2 weeks and have never had a problem if i have a reading below 1020.

Andy

 

[rpt]

A turkey baster is a good way to get a hydrometer sample. They can be bought for a quid.

Wilko do sell trial jars - it's where mine came from. It does depend on the size of the store though. You could order it online for delivery to your local store - no postage.

 

Hi Mick

i did try setting it high but to no avail. i did by the "cheapest" heater i could and just think it wasnt man enough for the job in the garage because when i brought it back in and set it at 20 degrees it shows 20 degrees on the stick on thermometer on the side of the FV.so seems to work well with a little help from our house temp.

I am interested though in a previous post suggesting a 2 week rolling cycle, Primary , secondary (bottling), and garage. this goes against all what is printed on the instructions as all kits i have looked at are different, but does seem an easier way of going on. does anyone else use this system and does it work ok? i dont want to spoil my brew by leaving too long in FV

: Jim

hi jim ... :thumb: .
i dont no the watts of your heater ...

mine was also a cheap one ...

i got mine on ebay...

but its 300 watts ...
some people have said its over kill using a 300watt...

but in my minds eye ...
it dont have to work as hard as say a 150watt heater ...

so should last for many years ....

regards mick... :hat: .

 

[winelight]

The only problem doing this (2 week cycle) and not checking with hydrometer is that you could have a stuck brew and not even know!

I know - I know. But I can generally tell when it's fermenting / fermented OK, I check on it often enough!

To be honest I do actually chuck the hydrometer into the FV (or sometimes I even go as far as using a trial jar) but always without fail the brew ends up at 1010 after 2 weeks. (Actually once I tested after a few days it was already 1010, but I always leave it 2 weeks now anyway.)

Now what I'm wondering is whether it's worth adding another stage into my cycle, that is, a secondary FV. I know many people do this but it's not clear to me what the point is. Am I going to taste the difference? It would be easy enough to do, I'd just get another FV and have an extra 2-week stage.

 

[bigboots]

IMHO no need for the second receptacle. Just give it the extra 2 weeks in the primary. Works for me!

 

[winelight]

Do you move it somewhere cooler for that?