First Timer

[Aterlatus]

Hey all,

I picked up one of the £20 Young's uBrew sets from Wilcos last week figuring it's about time I give this a try

Seems to be going well so far. I'm 4 days in and the hydrometers giving me a reading of 1016 - not far to go and it'll be ready to keg

The one thing I have been wondering about though, is what decides how gassy the resulting ale is? I've never been a fan of gassy ales (f.ex Fursty Ferret) and tend to prefer a smoother pint. Is it the initial ingredients that decide this one, or is there something I can do with a kit brew to keep it smooth?

Cheers for any tips

Steve

[geordieshaun]

Hi,

The carbonation you get will depend on how much sugar you use to prime the barrel with. AFAIK most people use between 60 and 80 grams of sugar to prime with for bitter kits. I'm sure someone with more experience will explain in more detail

Also this is a good read http://www.jimsbeerkit.co.uk/kits.htm it helped me alot with my 1st brew.

Shaun

[Aterlatus]

Thanks for the reply

Had a read through that guide a few times. It's a touch disheartening to see I followed the instructions that came with the kit and it's a fair bit different than the guides on here (f.ex, kit didn't suggest giving life to the yeast beforehand, rather just "sprinkle it over the top and stir in" after topping up the FV with water), but at least if it doesn't work out right I can complain to Youngs after following their instructions to the T. Mwuhahahaaaaaa

Either way, I've got a nice colony going after an OG reading of 1050ish, down to 1016 3-4 days in. Had a cheeky taster earlier on after taking the reading and although it's obviously nowhere NEAR ready (really cloudy, very yeasty) it's got some nice flavour behind it so I've got hope!

The kit suggested 85g of sugar in the keg, but if using a smaller amount is going to result in a smoother brew I'll definitely be giving that a try - I want my first attempt to be drinkable at least! Given that it told me to use regular granulated sugar though, I think I might mix it with a bit of boiling water first to help it dissolve.

Looking forward to the next batch even more than drinking the one that's on it's way now - drinking it's just an "unfortunate side effect" of the hobby I guess

[geordieshaun]

Looks like its going well

Re-hydrating the yeast is down to personal preference really, some do, others don't. I've used both methods and haven't noticed any difference yet.

Its a case of trial and error finding the amount of sugar to use when priming until you get the amount of carbonation you like.

Shaun

[Aterlatus]

I guess the advantage of rehydrating is you see straight away if the yeast is viable or not. If it's died off in transport you know that within an hour, instead of waiting three days and wondering why fermentation hasn't kicked in!

[randomdave]

I followed the instructions on my tin, didnt rehydrate the yeast. After 5 days in the FV it was fine, 1046 down to 1010. so shaping up nicely. Be bottling it on friday (want to leave it 10 days to clear down a bit)

Depending on the taste after a week the one piece of advice from here that I may follow is what sugar to use for brewing, i just used the sugar that came with the starter kit and its a bit sweet and watery when i tasted it yesterday. Will see how it matures first. GL with your brew.

[Aterlatus]

Well, gravity hardly budged since yesterday morning (a point or two) so I gave the slush at the bottom a bit of a stir to try and get things going again. See how it is tomorrow and if I can get a couple of decent <1.006 readings I'll get it kegged

Picked up an extra bucket (with a tap, and some pipe to sit over the tap) to use as a half-way point in kegging - I don't trust myself to not suck up the sludge when syphoning so it'll give me a second chance halfway through to get rid of some more sediment

I'll let you know if it hits the keg tomorrow or if I'll have to leave it 'til Thursday (at uni all day Wednesday :S).

[vinceg]

Must admit, I've never heard of anyone stirring the muck up on the bottom of the FV, but I'm no expert, in fact I'm supping my first ever pint of homebrew this very evening. Am fascinated to see if your stirring gives fresh life to the fermentation process as the brew I'm supping really struggled down to the 1.014 mark in nearly twice the time suggested on the tin. Will observe your future posts with interest to see if it's a technique I might nick!

[Aterlatus]

Had a nice fresh head on it this morning and gravity is down to 1.010. Seems it did the trick. Gonna check it again later today to see if it's creeped down anymore and if not I might keg it tonight (7 days).

If it's still falling then Thursday's the big day

I'm sure it was this site I picked up the 'stir up the sludge' tip, although I've been reading around quite a few places lately. I think the idea is any sugars that're stuck in the bottom or not properly dissolved get spread out again giving the yeast some fresh munchies

[Aterlatus]

Took another gravity reading this evening and it's stuck at 1.010. No sign of any bubbles or fresh head/pancake in there. I'm thinking about getting it kegged up tonight (patience isn't on my side with the first brew - the one I'm saving for Christmas will get better treatment!) but slightly concerned by the warnings all over the hydrometer about "Do not bottle or keg until SG is at 1.006 or lower!" (something about bottles exploding, pfffft). I'm guessing it'd be safe to keg it up given that there's a fancy rubber valve-like-thing on top of the (young's ubrew) keg that seems like it'd blow off any excess pressure that formed?

Had another taster today and it's got some nice flavour behind it with no hint of chip-covering, but obviously needs to mature before it's really drinkable!

[geordieshaun]

Should be ok to keg it, The general rule seems to be if you get two SG readings the same 24 hours apart its finished primary fermentation.

I wasn't too patient with my first brew either, think I drank the lot before it got to its best. My latest brew (EDME Stout) is going to get 10 days in primary, from what i've read the extra few days give the yeast a chance to eat up diacetyl caused by fermentation.

Shaun

[Aterlatus]

Well to be completely honest, the stuff I'm brewing now isn't a particular favourite "style" of mine - looks to be a bit too light and gassy.

The second batch (which I'll kick up as the first lot is being drank) I'm gonna put more time into the research instead of just picking up an all-in-one starter kit from Wilcos! lol

If anyone has any suggestions for kits or links to how to "tweak" them, I'm looking to brew up a thicker less gassy and darker ale. A sizeable, creamy head doesn't go amiss either (ohh errr, that sounds kinky). Can't think of something I can compare it to because (despite taking on the hobby!) I'm not a big drinker - I take whatever they've got on tap and like it or don't :S

[geordieshaun]

You could try a two can kit, Wilko's do a woodfords wherry. Two can kits have more body than the one can kits, and don't need any extra fermentables. Or you could do another one can kit and use beer enhancer / spraymalt for more body.

Shaun

[Aterlatus]

Certainly looks the part from piccies I can find around and about. Is about £18 typical for that setup or are the online places ripping us off? lol

Also, am I right in thinking (god I am new to this) that I can use a spray malt instead of the sugar (or 50/50), producing a smoother brew at the end of it all and using a darker spray malt will give it a more reddy/black colour?

Thanks for the feedback and advice all, it's invaluable for a nub like me

[geordieshaun]

Hi again,

Wilko's sell the wherry kit for £14.99 at the minute, cheapest i've ever seen it. They must have noticed they're price's were a bit low, used to be able to get a geordie beer kit for about £5 from them but they've recently put the prices up to £7 or £8 for that kit, I'm not sure how long the wherry kit will stay cheap.

The beer enhancer kits are normally 50/50 spray malt and sugar. I've noticed some people use 75% spray malt and 25% sugar, only used the beer enhancer kits so far. You won't need any extra sugar / spraymalt for the wherry kit. I've never used dark spray malt before, I think its normally used with stout kits? Some one here will be able to give you more info on that I think.

Shaun