Youngs Bitter

[biertje]

Hi Guys,

After reading this forum I have decided to start my first Homebrew ever.
I purchased a Youngs Bitter kit from wilkos last saturday and made the brew acoording to the instructions except 1 bit, instead of adding 1kg sugar making up the brew I replaced this with Geordie Beerkit Enhancer 1kg hope this was a wise move?
Next morning there was a massive layer of foam on top however 1 day later this disapeared again, is this ok?
The fermenting bucket is in a constant temprature of 24 Degrees C.
The instructions state that I should Syphon the brew into a presurised barrel or bottles after 7 to 10 days fermenting.
I was planning to Syphon the brew into a cheap Youngs barrel from wilkos, do I have to get the Co2 stuff as well or would it be alright just in the barrel with 85 grams of sugar?
Also forgot to measure the brew with hydrometer when i started, on the kit it states OG 1040-1043 but as i said forgot to check this bit, would it be ok to start conditioning in barrel coming saturday? current hydro meter reading is 1012 for the last 2 days.

cheers

[5thelement]

Looks like it's stopped fermenting (same gravity reading for 2 days running, maybe give it another day to make sure) so yeah, you're ready to barrel/bottle it

Im not sure about the co2, im sure someone else will let you know shortly

[biertje]

Looks like it's stopped fermenting (same gravity reading for 2 days running, maybe give it another day to make sure) so yeah, you're ready to barrel/bottle it

Im not sure about the co2, im sure someone else will let you know shortly

Hi 5thelement,

thanks for your reply, ok sounds cool, thats what I thought aswell but just wanted to make sure as i am a beginner, hope somebody can answer the Co2 question

cheers

[bugle]

Hello, new to the forum, was recommended by 5thelement as it happens! Hiya mate! lol

Anyway, you dont strictly NEED the co2 gear, as you will be priming with the sugar, however it is my experience that as the barrel gets used the the available pressure reduces, until a time when the only way to get beer out is to let air glug in... recipe for spoiled brew...

This problem is on hambleton bard barrels, which are one of the better plastic barrels so a cheep would probably be worse, I have seen many posts about them leaking...

I have recently bottled a bitter kit into tesco value sparkling water bottles (cost £1.70 for sufficient, just tipped the water down the sink - cant stand it! but if you like it... or maybe brew from it, clean and I imagine chlorine free), they are pressurised PET bottles so *should* be fine... or I've built 11 bombs...

I'll let you know how they go, has anyone here tried these?

So I'm not sure how much the co2 stuff is for these, but I think you have to change the lid to use them (on the hambleton bard there is a valve you connect the bottle to) so you couldn't start off with just the conditioning pressure, then go and buy the co2 stuff without opening the barrel like I did, if it's not too pricey and you want to use a barrel I'd buy it as bottling can be a pain...

Hope this helps

Kev

[biertje]

Hello, new to the forum, was recommended by 5thelement as it happens! Hiya mate! lol

Anyway, you dont strictly NEED the co2 gear, as you will be priming with the sugar, however it is my experience that as the barrel gets used the the available pressure reduces, until a time when the only way to get beer out is to let air glug in... recipe for spoiled brew...

This problem is on hambleton bard barrels, which are one of the better plastic barrels so a cheep would probably be worse, I have seen many posts about them leaking...

I have recently bottled a bitter kit into tesco value sparkling water bottles (cost £1.70 for sufficient, just tipped the water down the sink - cant stand it! but if you like it... or maybe brew from it, clean and I imagine chlorine free), they are pressurised PET bottles so *should* be fine... or I've built 11 bombs...

I'll let you know how they go, has anyone here tried these?

So I'm not sure how much the co2 stuff is for these, but I think you have to change the lid to use them (on the hambleton bard there is a valve you connect the bottle to) so you couldn't start off with just the conditioning pressure, then go and buy the co2 stuff without opening the barrel like I did, if it's not too pricey and you want to use a barrel I'd buy it as bottling can be a pain...

Hope this helps

Kev

Hi Kev,

Thanks for your reply, I have decided to transfer it al into a youngs barrel from wilkinsons today, added the 85 grams of sugar and closed the barrel.
I am keeping a close eye on the barrel as I am a bit worried that the tap at the bottom might pop out due to too much pressure, the barrel is standing in a big plastic storage box just in case something does go wrong and I end up with 5 gallons of beer over the carpet in the living room , anyway planning to transfer the whole lot into a cooler space on monday and than leave it there to mature etc, had a little taste and was impressed with the result till nowobiously was not clear but certainly drinkable.

cheers

Mark

[5thelement]

I wonder how this kit turned out if you've tried it since? was thinking about picking one up.

[stevezx7r]

Hi guys, just seen this post so thought i'd pass on my know how (for what it's worth )

Re. the Hambleton Bard barells, I assume they have a standard pressure release valve (rubber ring in the middle of the cap), if so, no matter how much sugar you put in all that will happen is the remaining yeast will turn it into alcohol and c02. The c02 will be released via the valve and not by the tap (unless it's got a bad seal already). Also, the remaining yeast will only be able to turn a certain amount of sugar into alcohol/c02 before it dies off where the remaining sugar makes the beer sweet.

Re. the geordie beerkit enhancer, iirc it's a mix of glucose and light spray malt. The spray malt isn't entirely fermentable but will add body to the beer. So, instead of getting 5 gallons to say 4.5% it will only get it to about 4%. I wouldn't worry about this though, as I said it adds body to the beer which a lot of the cheaper kits tend to lack.

Re. your temps. I wouldn't go any higher than 24C for too long as that tends to kill the yeast and potentially could wreck a good beer.

Re. C02 bottles. Your local HB shop will sell them at about £5 for a return bottle. Get yourself on Freecycle and look out for free soda stream bottles and use these along with a "widget world" gadget which connects the bottle to an "s30" lid which fits onto your barrel. You press a trigger and fill up the keg with c02 - no more waiting for weeks for the beer to pressurise BTW, don't bother with those little gas bulbs which Wilkos sell, they work out more expensive in the long run. Oh, you wont need to add sugar to your keg'd beer either.

Re. letting air into the beer or "oxidation" / "oxidisation". Basically, every time you take a pint you creat a vacuum inside the keg until the pressure outside the barrel is higher (or lower ) so the beer can't come out without letting air in. This wrecks your beer as Bugle said. One barell is about the same as the next regarding this so I wouldn't worry about it - Just watch as the beer comes out and once it starts to slow you know you need to either add more pressure (via a gas can) or release the cap to equalise the pressure.

As far as bottling goes, yup, any plastic PET bottle will do. Just empty and refil (carefully as you don't want to oxidise your beer, use a bottling stick for good results).

Hope that little lot helped.

[CyberPaddy66]

I did that exact kit with the Enhancer and it turned out fine, when transferring to barrels I try to get about a table spoon of the white yeast from the bottom of the bucket into the barrel, helps with secondary fermentation and pressurisation.