Home Brew Questions

[Otters]

My parents bought that very same kit for my husband for christmas. My Dad's been homebrewing for 40 odd years so he knew what he was buying. The Wherry was lush, we had a party and polished the whole lot off in an evening. By about 10pm actually...

Our second batch was lovely too, the kit was one of the double tin ones, the brand was Yorkshire something or other... Third batch is fermenting as I type.

We were talking to the man in the home brew shop the other day, and he was saying that plastic fizzy water bottles (the two litre ones) are brilliant for bottling, as they have a bit of stretch in them so you get plenty of warning as the pressure builds up. If glass is going to go pop, it will just go without any warning. Probably in the middle of the night and scare the crap out of you

 

[Stig]

My parents bought that very same kit for my husband for christmas. My Dad's been homebrewing for 40 odd years so he knew what he was buying. The Wherry was lush, we had a party and polished the whole lot off in an evening. By about 10pm actually...

Our second batch was lovely too, the kit was one of the double tin ones, the brand was Yorkshire something or other... Third batch is fermenting as I type.

We were talking to the man in the home brew shop the other day, and he was saying that plastic fizzy water bottles (the two litre ones) are brilliant for bottling, as they have a bit of stretch in them so you get plenty of warning as the pressure builds up. If glass is going to go pop, it will just go without any warning. Probably in the middle of the night and scare the crap out of you

I've been told never to use plastic bottles as the beer will be flat.

Carbonation only works if the Co2 is forced into the liquid. So if the bottle expands to accommodate the Co2, or the gas is allowed to sit in the space above the beer instead of being forced into it (like in a half-full barrel or a bottle not full enough) it will not work.

That's why I found it impossible to re-carbonate old flat beer halfway down a barrel and ended up chucking it, last autumn, and decided to use glass bottles instead.

 

[Stig]

Also you're only supposed to store beer in brown, never clear or green, or it will become skunked.

Check 'Light-struck beer' here

 

[berniedicters]

I've been told never to use plastic bottles as the beer will be flat.

Carbonation only works if the Co2 is forced into the liquid. So if the bottle expands to accommodate the Co2, or the gas is allowed to sit in the space above the beer instead of being forced into it (like in a half-full barrel or a bottle not full enough) it will not work.

That's why I found it impossible to re-carbonate old flat beer halfway down a barrel and ended up chucking it, last autumn, and decided to use glass bottles instead.

Nah, I bottle to 2l PET bottles all the time, no question of the beer being flat.

The only real snag with them is that you need to pour the beer pretty much in one hit, as each time you up-end the bottle again, you disturb more of the yeast on the bottom. Best to decant to a jug at the beginning of the sesh...

Just make sure you're using bottles that were for carbonated drinks. And don't be tempted to go mad with the priming sugar, or you'll end up with a ton of foam in your lap and no beer!

The reason you found it impossible to recarbonate the beer was more to do with having so much headspace above it that it needed vast amounts of CO2 just to get the headspace pressurised to the point where enough gas would be forced into the beer, what with there being so much room for (compressible) gas above the (incompressible) liquid.

 

[Otters]

Nah, I bottle to 2l PET bottles all the time, no question of the beer being flat.
.

Yeah I've definitely had homebrew from a plastic bottle and it was fine. I didn't know about having to use brown plastic though, presumably if you keep it in the dark this isn't strictly necessary though?

 

[berniedicters]

Yeah I've definitely had homebrew from a plastic bottle and it was fine. I didn't know about having to use brown plastic though, presumably if you keep it in the dark this isn't strictly necessary though?

That's right. I tend to just stick a binliner over mine.

 

[Stig]

Yeah I've definitely had homebrew from a plastic bottle and it was fine. I didn't know about having to use brown plastic though, presumably if you keep it in the dark this isn't strictly necessary though?

That's true, I've always done at least one bottle of each brew in a clear bottle, just so I can see if it's cleared or not. Seems fine, but I wouldn't want to leave it on a window ledge for the afternoon just in case.

 

[aqua]

Heh, and there was me thinking I was the only one who did this!

I'm boycotting Badger now, because they changed their bottle neck from the standard profile to one which my winged capper thing won't clamp around. Bastards. So now I select beer on the basis of that...

or you make friends with a local landlord (my case a wetherspoons) and they save their bottles for you

 

[berniedicters]

or you make friends with a local landlord (my case a wetherspoons) and they save their bottles for you

I keep meaning to talk to the girlie at the golf club we have our after-lodge-meeting dinners at and ask her to start stashing the Magners bottles. And then keep forgetting to...

This year will be the year I put the brewery in up in the shed at the bottom of the garden. It's gone on too long...

 

[Voley]

Very reassuring to hear all these good things about the kit I've bought, thanks.

 

[rich!]

Most of the people on my home brew forum swear by the Wherry kit as being the best of the lot. (they like coopers too, bizarrely...)

*reports post for starting board war*

 

[berniedicters]

Very reassuring to hear all these good things about the kit I've bought, thanks.

I've got a brew of that on the go at the moment - I'm kegging it for draught this time, as we have a bunch of French people coming over in early April as part of a twinning visit. I've dry-hopped the brew with a big handful of Fuggles (tends to make it slightly grassy, but gives it a lovely extra-refreshing bite), and will be rebranding it for their benefit as "Entente CordiAle" *cheesy grin*...it's that good that if I'm going to put my homebrewing reputation on the line, I'd rather do it with Wherry than pretty much anything else.

And if you have a taste for the stronger brews, give serious consideration to having a crack at Woodforde's Headcracker, a 7.5% barley wine. It's the basis for my annual seasonal Christmas brew, once I've added a fistful of various spices, ginger, herbs and orange essential oil...

 

[berniedicters]

*reports post for starting board war*

*wonders who stig is on that board, because I'm on there too!*

 

[Voley]

I do like the idea of chucking some ginger in. When do you do this? Before fermentation?

Alcoholic ginger beer is awesome - I had a pint at a beer festival this Summer.

 

[berniedicters]

I do like the idea of chucking some ginger in. When do you do this? Before fermentation?

Alcoholic ginger beer is awesome - I had a pint at a beer festival this Summer.

All the herbs, spices and ginger go in at the same time as I pitch the yeast. Because it's a high-gravity beer it tends to ferment pretty slowly - I usually give it 2-3 weeks in primary, then rack it off the trub and let it go for another week or so until it's gone as dry as it's ever going to, then rack to bottles. The hop bag with all the adjuncts in stays in the brew right up to bottling time.

It's a bit "in yer face" for about 3 months afterwards, but after that the flavours are starting to blend nicely. After the Spring Lager I'm about to put on next (when I can be arsed), I'll probably put the Xmas brew on...just waiting for it to be warm enough that it'll ferment happily at ambient temperatures: I don't tend to bother with heating bands and so on. That'll give it 9 months' maturing (well, 8 after brewing), which should be just lovely. Trouble is, it's a 24 pint brew, and it's getting famous enough now that I usually only get about 8 left for..."personal consumption"

 

[Voley]

Sounds ace.

 

[Voley]

Also 'Fuggles' is an ace word.

Was it worth bumping the thread for that?

Yes. Yes it was.

 

[berniedicters]

Also 'Fuggles' is an ace word.

Was it worth bumping the thread for that?

Yes. Yes it was.

Definitely. If there were a prize for best-named hop, Fuggles would definitely win. Although I quite like the trying-to-be-exotic-but-actually-very-mundane East Kent Goldings, too...

 

[Voley]

Well it's all arrived, and it includes sterilisation stuff. Gonna have a crack at getting it all going this evening.

 

[Stig]

Well it's all arrived, and it includes sterilisation stuff. Gonna have a crack at getting it all going this evening.

Brilliant. That was quick. I can't wait to hear how you get on

I thought of something else this morning.

Calibrate your Hydrometer before you start, very important if you want an accurate percentage measurement*.

Basically it's just a glass tube with a bit of paper inside, so the chances are the paper won't be exactly where it should be. So float it in tap water at room temperature. It should read 1.000. If not the paper will have shucked up or down a bit, so note the difference between where it is and 1.000 and adjust each measurement of beer accordingly.

*NB I did say IF. I haven't bothered doing this, I keep meaning to, but I'm more from the 'no I don't know the exact percentage it's just beer you measurement obsessed freak do you want it or not then' school tbh

 

[berniedicters]

*NB I did say IF. I haven't bothered doing this, I keep meaning to, but I'm more from the 'no I don't know the exact percentage it's just beer you measurement obsessed freak do you want it or not then' school tbh

Heh, yes, I think this is somethign our colonial cousins get much more het up about than we do. As far as I'm concerned, I use the hydrometer to measure "points difference" for when I'm sugaring up a brew (ie aiming for some kind of rough ABV, and - if I'm not using an airlock - to determine if a brew is about ready.

When you consider that it wasn't until about 150 years ago that we actually knew that yeast was involved in brewing, we haven't got too much of an excuse for making a lot of fuss...

 

[Voley]

OK. It's all in the fermentation bin and went reasonably smoothly. The kit seems like a good 'un but it's a bit lacking in instructions, tbh. It assumes you know a lot already - a bit daft for a beginners kit, imo.

Anyhow, I've muddled through and I've got a couple of questions - the fermentation bin's got a hole in the lid and after fannying about with all the bits and bobs I figured this is for the airlock. Is this right? It's got a rubber seal and two plastic thingies that plug into it. You take the top placcy bit off and you can peek inside without having to get the whole lid off. Is that what that's for?

Second question that leads on from this. I'm presuming taking the lid off the fermentation bin's bad news generally. Is this right? Does the whole thing have to be strictly airtight? Sorry if these are dumb questions but the 'instructions' that come with it are a bit lacking.

That's about it for now I think. I'll no doubt have more questions when I get to the secondary phase in 4-6 days time.

Thanks for all your help so far.

 

[tommers]

I've got a load in a fermentation barrel at the moment actually. It's due to be siphoned over but the hydrometer is saying 1,030. It might be a bit cold in my kitchen to be going well enough... does it matter if I leave it in there for a few days till it's finished?

Where do people put the barrel / container when it is supposed to be warm enough to brew? And where does it move to once it needs to be cooler? My house doesn't really have different temperatures in it...

 

[Spion]

Second question that leads on from this. I'm presuming taking the lid off the fermentation bin's bad news generally. Is this right? Does the whole thing have to be strictly airtight?

It won't be airtight and doesn't need to be. Fermentation will generate gas and that will escape slowly from the bin. In answer to the first part of your question, it's best to avoid taking the lid off for as long as possible to avoid contamination (cleanliness is next to <insert highest virtue of your choice> in brewing). It's been a while since I brewed but IIRC up to 2 or 3 weeks (you can't let it ferment for too long, but too short a time is potentially ruinous) and by that time you can take an SG reading and it'll probably be down to what it should be.

 

[mattie]

I've got a load in a fermentation barrel at the moment actually. It's due to be siphoned over but the hydrometer is saying 1,030. It might be a bit cold in my kitchen to be going well enough... does it matter if I leave it in there for a few days till it's finished?

Where do people put the barrel / container when it is supposed to be warm enough to brew? And where does it move to once it needs to be cooler? My house doesn't really have different temperatures in it...

I put ours in the airing cupboard, hence our sheets smell a bit manky now.

 

[Voley]

Where do people put the barrel / container when it is supposed to be warm enough to brew? And where does it move to once it needs to be cooler? My house doesn't really have different temperatures in it...

Yeah, I've got a question about temperature, too. Mine's showing as 24 atm which I gather is a bit warm. The kit reckons 18-20. Is this a problem? Should I move it somewhere else?

It won't be airtight and doesn't need to be. Fermentation will generate gas and that will escape slowly from the bin. In answer to the first part of your question, it's best to avoid taking the lid off for as long as possible to avoid contamination (cleanliness is next to <insert highest virtue of your choice> in brewing).

Excellent. Thanks for that. My kit's meant to be ready to be siphoned off in 4 to 6 days.

 

[berniedicters]

OK. It's all in the fermentation bin and went reasonably smoothly. The kit seems like a good 'un but it's a bit lacking in instructions, tbh. It assumes you know a lot already - a bit daft for a beginners kit, imo.

There's not much to say - though I agree they could be a bit more informative. I usually open the cans of gunk and warm them in a pan of boiling water (and use pliers to carry/tip them), as it makes it runnier. You'll develop a technique of making sure it doesn't all end up stuck to the bottom of the bin! (I usually put a few pints of warmish water in first, and stir well as the stuff is going in).

Anyhow, I've muddled through and I've got a couple of questions - the fermentation bin's got a hole in the lid and after fannying about with all the bits and bobs I figured this is for the airlock. Is this right? It's got a rubber seal and two plastic thingies that plug into it. You take the top placcy bit off and you can peek inside without having to get the whole lid off. Is that what that's for?

Well, it's for shoving the airlock in, but as a general rule I'd avoid doing too much peering in, even though a first batch is bound to be an object of curiosity!

Second question that leads on from this. I'm presuming taking the lid off the fermentation bin's bad news generally. Is this right? Does the whole thing have to be strictly airtight? Sorry if these are dumb questions but the 'instructions' that come with it are a bit lacking.

Not strictly airtight, no. But it wants to be well enough on that there's no risk of stuff floating in on air currents, etc. This is not so much a problem during initial fermentation, when the brew will be chucking out carbon dioxide at a rate of knots, but can be more of an issue at the later stages.

That's about it for now I think. I'll no doubt have more questions when I get to the secondary phase in 4-6 days time.

Thanks for all your help so far.

You're welcome. And welcome to the homebrew gang. Aqua will be along soon with pints of homebrewed scrumpy and a few links to specialist homebrewing websites...

And here's one to be going on with: http://www.jimsbeerkit.co.uk/forum/index.php

 

[Voley]

Ace info, agnes, ta.

Heh, yes, I think this is somethign our colonial cousins get much more het up about than we do. As far as I'm concerned, I use the hydrometer to measure "points difference" for when I'm sugaring up a brew (ie aiming for some kind of rough ABV, and - if I'm not using an airlock - to determine if a brew is about ready.

Am I right in saying you'd know it was ready because it had stopped bubbling?

 

[tommers]

It's been a while since I brewed but IIRC up to 2 or 3 weeks (you can't let it ferment for too long, but too short a time is potentially ruinous) and by that time you can take an SG reading and it'll probably be down to what it should be.

aaahhh, OK. That explains the last batch...

 

[Voley]

Also, is it possible to read this thread without getting a strong craving for a pint?