Home Brew Forum

I've been away for the weekend but once home, I've bottled the Continental Pilsner and started a York Brewery Stonewall Bitter.....
This was a bit different for me as it had a sachet of hops to be added.
I've only ever done straight kits before...
I followed the intructions and it's now in the living room beginning it's journey to beerhood.

...one thing..... the instructions say to 'aerate' the wort daily.......
Just how much should I aerate..... they're presumably not talking about a full stir. Or are they? What is the definition of aerate?

stirring vigourously is aerating, it should be done before yeast addition and I believe but have never done so, some do it the next day aswell but evreyday sounds very strange to me.

Once the yeast has been put in the wort its not a good idea to aerate. Just do it before you add the yeast and it should be fine. Once the beer has started fermenting you wont want to aerate at all, any splashing or bubble making could oxygenate the beer and spoil it.

I'm half way through drinking a York Brewery 'Yorkshire Terrier' bitter.

And I have to say that its boomin' fantastic!

Cheers. I did give it a good stirring before and after the yeast went in.
I thought it was an odd thing to stir everyday.
Just had a quick look, the hops seem to risen to the top, not much in the way of froth.

Terrier is the one with more 'bite'....... I'll see how this one turns out, then maybe give that a go.... did it have a hop sachet too? Any aeration?

The chap reckoned that the wort would be done in just a few days, like 3-4 days.....

Prozac wrote: Terrier is the one with more 'bite'....... I'll see how this one turns out, then maybe give that a go.... did it have a hop sachet too? Any aeration?

The chap reckoned that the wort would be done in just a few days, like 3-4 days.....

Yes it had a hop pellets. It fermented out in around 4 to 5 days, then I transferred it to a secondary and left it for a week. Then into a cornie for a further two weeks.

I very gently stirred the yeast once during fermentation, but was carefull not to agitate the surface to avoid any problems.

It has a lovely 'caramel' taste and is very drinkable. It was well received by others.

If I had stopped with kits, this is the one I would have stayed with.

Had a quick taster yesterday ..... the Stonewall has been in the KKTT since Sunday, which I appreciate is nowhere near long enough, but I wasn't overly impressed with the taste...... got a superb head though!!!!

There's sort of an 'earthy' taste to it at the moment. It's the first time the KKTT has been used. It's also the first kit I've done with a hop sachet included. I'm hoping it improves with age.

I'm a young brewer myself but I have found that with Kits that come with a hop 'bag' the taste of the S..Weet wort is never as good as the finished product.

the only way to satisfy my hoppy craving was to boil my own in 4l of pre mixed wort for x time (15,30,60,90 minuets) this gave a much better taste than the 'tea bag' as I call them now.

Do not aerate, but do rouse the yeast gently . . . . I like the York kits, a bit more 3 dimensional than the run of the mill ones.