Milestone IPA - First Brew Without The Help Of A Beer Buddy

[Beerwulf]

Having made a first stab at kit brewing of any sort just a couple of weeks ago with a Fixby Gold now enjoying its first warm week in a barrel in the study, I decided to press on, buying a second barrel from H&G, and get cracking on another kit.

(Oh - we have a premier cru Turbo Cider on the go too, probably going into bottles in a day or so).

Under the admirable tutelage of the reinvigorated Fivetide (a regular on these pages and pubs everywhere in these parts) I plumped for the Milestone IPA, available at least through Hop & Grape and direct from the Milestone Brewery website.

Everything looked smartly presented and the instructions were clear (and bore a striking resemblence to those under the Kits tab here, as has been noted elsewhere).

My major concern was with the cleaning and sanitising as Fivetide left me with the chill reminder that he'd never had a brew fail and it was all about cleanliness and organisation.

I probably went over the top - my wife hasn't mentioned the yellow stain in the bath but it can't be too long now....

Anyway, plunging in with the proverbial hot water and towels saw the wort sitting looking attractively toffee coloured and reading 1040 - surely some mistake - that is exactly what it says on the instructions?. I don't have any startling insights to relay - but I did rehydrate the yeast for a good hour during all the cleaning and bath scrubbing, and as it seemed a little cool in the kitchen I made a couple of the litres of water in the FB hot ones from the kettle.

I whisked that damn paddle so hard it started to bend, then "snapped on the lid" and popped the whole lot into the study.

I did take some pictures, and when I have worked out how, I might add them here if any other absolute beginners would like to see how easy it is to get underway.

Best wishes to all.

[stevezx7r]

Nice one Beerwulf, a few more brews and then you'll begin to take an unhealthy interest in Shiney items

[fivetide]

Good stuff bruv. Before long we'll be able to have a shed-crawl.

[Beerwulf]

Just about 24 hours into this brew now. Regular hearty belching through the airlock and "good scum" on top says Nicola.

[fivetide]

Aha! Excellent. Upload a pic to Flickr at some point and link it.

(My only beer related stuff this week will involve cleaning out a couple of kegs, and noone wants to be reminded of that with photos)

[Beerwulf]

OK - please humour me here. You never know, I may have some interesting images to show in the future.

For now though these are a couple of pics of the Milestone IPA brew that I kicked off last night.

First the cans warming through, and the rather tasteful box with image destined for the front of my PB:



Then the yeast rehydrating away while I panicked upstairs with the cleaning and recleaning:



Finally it's underway:

[fivetide]

Good stuff. Yeah those pictures on the front of the Milestone boxes would make good pumpclips - shame they aren't a bit bigger. Night!

[iowalad]

Very nice and tidy job.

One can never be to careful when it comes to cleaning and sanitizing!

[Beerwulf]

OK - checked the progress of the fermentation on the IPA tonight. Down to 1013.5 from the 1040 I started with. I'm not too surprised it hasn't gone as far as the target 1009 - obviously we had a bit of a cold snap and we were away for the w/end so it had to cope with a pretty severe temp fall even in the study.

Anyway - I have given the yeast cake a bit of a rouse with my super-sterilised paddle, pitched in 1/2 tea-spoon of yeast-vit, and off we go again. For the record, I didn't use any yeast-vit initially.

[Bigster]

I like it - good attention to detail. Keep up the good work and the reward will not be far away

[fivetide]

Excellent! That's not bad at all! I reckon another check on Sunday would be a good plan. Don't expect much airlock action for these last few points though, it'll do it's thing quietly but surely.

(Meanwhile I've spent the evening bending expensive microbore copper into the crappiest slinky you've ever seen... )

[Beerwulf]

So, just about a week since the rousing addition of the yeast-vit to my paused IPA. Tonight the hydrometer reads 1011, or 1010 at a pinch, so I think it was a good move. This will do - assuming nothing has happened by this time tomorrow I'll move it into my second King Keg.

One thing though - when I poked my nose in tonight and gave the "beer" a good sniff I was physically repelled by the pungent waft I got . The drips from the hydrometer tasted reassuringly "beery" but crickey that is a strong smell!

Is that normal? Was I snorting the carbon dioxide layer? Any knowing insight appreciated.

[Beerwulf]

Thanks DaaB. Yes - sharp and acidic rather than eggy. It did take my breath away. My first thought was that I had a tub of vinegar but I'm pretty sure that isn't the case. Thanks for the rapid reassurance

[fivetide]

Don't inhale too much as potentially it could lead to asphyxiation (unlikely on a homebrew level)

Having arrived back from the pub after a good 'layer' of Dark Star Spring Solstice, this unexpected vision of my brother asphyxiating himself on beer smell should have concerned me, but actually made me laugh out loud for quite a long time before I could compose myself! Sorry. I'll read the rest of the thread sensibly now...

I bet it's just CO2. Drink a tiny sample from the tap tomorrow and if it's not vinegar, knock up some priming sugars and keg it.

[Beerwulf]

Okey dokey. Spurning the delights of the Champions League I have tonight barrelled what will hence forward be known as Beerwulf's Milestone First Gold IPA, dry hopping with (you've guessed haven't you?) 100g of Brupaks 2006 harvest (AA 7.3%) First Gold Hops. Based on the tasty sips I just had through the siphon I think I will only leave the hop bag in for the warm week and then perhaps just one more week of conditioning in the shed. Should be about 3.9% ABV.
I would have taken some more pics but my wife took the camera when she went off for a week skiing without me. I'm not bitter. (See what I did there?)