New To The Forum With A Question

[nofishing]

Hi, I'm just starting off with homebrewing so I thought I'd start with something cheap and easy.
I bought an 'alcoshots' kit, and set that up today.
For those of you who've never used one before, basically you firstly add a litre and a half of bioling water, and add a big pack of sugar which comes with it. Then stir that in. Then you fill it up to the 3.8 litre mark with cold water and add the yeast and protein sachet.
However, I managed to add the yeast to the hot water that I had just stirred the sugar into! I instantly realised my mistake and added cold water to the 3.8 litre line, and I just want to know If I've buggered up and should start again.
The mixture is DEFINATELY making gas, as you can feel the build up of pressure under the slightly flexible lid, and I took the lid off so all the gas escaped, and I could hear it fizzing slightly, and then put the lid back on and the pressure has built back up.
When you take the lid off it also smells of yeast
So have I ruined it or should it be ok?
Cheers Guys
Dan

[nofishing]

Good Good
Thanks for the quick reply
Well in my haste I ordered another kit
So looks like I'll be doing it properly next time:D
One thing - I also ordered a hydrometer - is there a sticky somewhere which tells me how I work out the alcohol content of my shots?
Sure this question has been asked before

[Garth]

To work out alcohol you need to take a reading with the hydormeter before you add the yeast, then another when it's finished fermenting.

Unless you guess, the only real way you can do it if it's already started fermenting is with a refractometer and inputting the reading into some brewing software like Promash

[Adam]

If you ordered a kit that is exactly the same and get a hydrometer before you start that one, use the same quantities and you will have the original gravity (for both brews), you then take another reading at the end for final gravity (after the bubbles), do some maths wizardry (lots of different calculations scattered about this site and others, they are mostly simple.

I'll be interested if the final gravities are different or take a different length of time to reach with the super hot yeast and the one that is on its way to you.

smiles
adam

[nofishing]

Ok, cheers guys I will keep you updated!