Woodforde Wherry brewing

[Beer Monkey]

Hi Everyone,

still new to this beer making process, this is my second attempt (originally i used the "Buddy" starter Bitter kit and found it was awesome)

i am currently doing a Woodforde Wherry kit but have added 1kg of granulated sugar at the start of the process (i should have looked at the instructions in more depth, i now know that i didn't really need to add sugar hence the two tins in the kit!) anyway, It has now been 1 week fermenting in a sealed capped fermenting container in a room temperature of around 70 and have taken 2 readings of 1.020 on my hydrometer, there appears to be a really strong/powerful smell coming from the beer and "bits" floating around on the top, there are quite a few bubbles also appearing.

within the first few days, the beer looked like it was doing well but i'm not too sure about it now

i have towels and a blanket wrapped around the container to try and keep it warm (i should buy a beer belt really...)

should i give it a few more days and see if the reading goes down to the recommended 1.014?

Beer Monkey

[jonnyhop]

If you still have some bubbles coming to the top, chances are your beer is still fermenting. I would leave it a little longer and see if you can get the final gravity down. A couple of days longer certainly won’t hurt it. If you leave the lid of your fermenting container slightly open it lets the CO2, which the fermenting process creates, escape.

[StrangeBrew]

What was the original gravity after adding the kilo of white sugar?

[Mogwyth]

Normal for a wherry is about 1040 so a kilo of sugar would probably have raised it to 1055 or thereabouts.

Bill

[Beer Monkey]

Not sure what the gravity was before adding the sugar, i've taken another reading and its still 1.020, gonna leave it now and check for the next few days wiv the hydrometer

will transferring the beer to a pressure barrel at 1.020 ruin the beer?

thanks for the replies so far chaps

[jonnyhop]

It won’t ruin it but it will be sweeter than you would like. I have bottled a couple of kits that wouldn’t go below the 1020 mark and they where ok but I felt had to be left longer before tasting nice – they got better around the 3 month stage. On this basis I would always leave beer longer at the fermentation stage as a few extra days at fermentation can save weeks of conditioning.

[brysie]

you could try adding a half teaspoon of yeast nutrient and give it a gentle rose with a sanitised spoon. sometimes rousing the yeast gently
will get it to drop a few degrees.

[D_C]

Have you tried rousing the yeast sediment with a sterilised paddle? Just a gentle stir, don't overdo it or get any air in it. I got about another 2 points of thee SG of my wherry by doing that & bottled at about 1018. took about 7 weeks to clear but didn't last much longer than that tho.
Oh and I had a load of bits in mine too that I didn't get in my 1 can brews I'd done before, but if any did find its way down the syphon to the bottle it settled out so it didn't affect the final beer anyway just chucked it with the rest of the sediment and all was well. It was a very nice pint in the end, but that extra kilo of sugar will have upped it to knockout juice

[D_C]

give it a gentle rose with a sanitised spoon. sometimes rousing the yeast gently.

Just beat me to it brysie!

[brysie]

hah.

[Beer Monkey]

i have stirred the beer again yesterday to try and get the yeast active and it would appear that my hydrometer is now reading around 1.018 so it is gradually coming down now after 8 days fermenting, the smell is still quite over-whelming although quite hoppy, i have a feeling as suggested that its gonna be knockout juice i'll give it another few days and then transfer to the pressure barrel around wednesday/thursday time to stand for a few weeks

thanks for the guidance chaps, i'll keep u updated

BM

[Beer Monkey]

have found that my hydrometer has now moved from 1.018 to 1.014 and have now transferred the beer to the pressure barrel, although there was still little floating bits appearing in the beer, the sediment at the bottom of the FV was quite impressive and looked healthy, i have add a small quantity of sugar again to the pressure barrel and now await a few weeks for my results...fingers crossed

[jonnyhop]

Sorry it’s a bit late, but if you have floating bits again then just get rid of them with a sterilised sieve.

Hope its a good pint

[KevP]

The floating bits are perfectly natural, I allow them to end up in the keg as nature would have it, they help the secondary fermantation.