Great Eastern Ale

[Wez]

I'm thinking ahead to warm summer evenings...does anyone rate the above? I am looking to do something 'light' tasting but am worried that this is going to be a bit too much like lager? Would i need to serve this cooler than kits like Wherry and Smugglers - i barrel my beer and don't really have a method of cooling other than storage is a cool-ish garage. Even the garage does gets warm in the summer though - any suggestions for keeping the heat at bay in the summer? At a Beer Festival last year i noticed that they had draped the barrels in cloth that they kept spraying with water - anyone tried that?

[Wez]

I cant wait until the summer, picked one up today and some safale 04 I can always drink it in the house with the heating and lights up high and my sunglasses on! going to start it off tonight.

[Wez]

Started it off last night using a couple of tips from this forum that i wouldn't have done normally, gave the bugger a good 6 or 7 minute aeration and used Safale 04, woke up this morning to find the lid had popped off a bit good yeast head all looks good so far. Looking forward to trying this one. One thing that puzzled me though, the kit says 4.5abv however SG was 1040 and anticipated FG is 1014 so using the formula i've seen on other posts to calculate abv it will only be 3.5abv, should i try to get it down lower than the kit suggests to say 1010? Will it go that low? (or have i been dumb and missed something)??

[oxford brewer]

Did this kit last may and i dry hopped in the keg(after 2 weeks in the FV) with 20g of Bramling Cross in a sterilised mesh bag,left in the keg for 5 days and removed regassed and drunk it a few weeks later...you got a real smack of hops on the nose when pouring and a pleasurable floral/fruity hit to the taste buds when supping

[Wez]

now we're talking...so far i have just done the kits as per instructions but this is the sort of thing i want to try and may well give this a go as the finish you're talking about sounds right up my street! Could you go through it in simpleton-mode for me highlighting any pitfalls. I'm still a relative newbie

[oxford brewer]

Check out the "Bible" for home brewers http://www.18000feet.com/ and read the section on kit beers,and then read the rest of the information as well .
As for the dry hopping, i got a new mesh bag that holds socks or something that goes in the washing machine, cleaned it real good and then sterilised it, filled with hops and a few sterilised marbles to help it sit lower in the beer, placed the lid on and injected some c02 into the keg,left for a few minutes ,vented the gas and injected some more into the keg.
After 5 days i vented the keg,unscrewed the lid and removed the bag of hops(could of left the hops in there for the duration of the beer lasting but it may get a bit grassy tasting!),replaced lid and regassed,vented and regassed again,placed in garage(on my workbench knew it would have a use one day) and served after a few weeks!

Very long winded but worth it!!

[Wez]

Wish me luck! - Any ideas on my question about abv above?

[oxford brewer]

To sanitise a muslin or nylon bag (and any weights you plan to put in), as its going straight in the beer you could gently boil them before use (i'd boil for 5-10 mins and allow to cool naturaly)

Seems a good idea, better than i suggested!!

[bitter_dave]

Wish me luck! - Any ideas on my question about abv above?

If the OG was 1040 at around 20 C then, no, I'm afraid you're not going to get 4.5% alcohol unless it goes way below 1014. (You'd get about 4% if it went to 1010, which I'd say is a rather respectable abv for a beer like this).

Are you sure you didn't add too much water?I've heard it said that the markings on the side of fermenters can be unreliable, so this might be the cause (although I always rely on those markings ). If you did add too much water the final gravity may well be a bit lower anyway. In any case, I'd leave the beer alone for now.

Alternatively your hydrometer might be a bit off. Put it in water at 20 C - it should sit at zero.

In any case, there is no reason why a 1040 beer in this style shouldn't be nice, so don't worry

[Wez]

Ah, I like the idea of that, how come when people suggest stuff like that you always have a Doh! moment, it's obvious when someone has pointed it out Going to try dry hopping for the first time with this one. If i can't get Brambling Cross from my LHBS should i consider using another? This forum has really sparked my interest in HB again! Bet i'll be asking question in the AG section next!!!

[Wez]

Hmmm, The Easterns has been stuck at 1020 for 3 days now. It’s measuring a constant 20 degrees, I used Safale 04 this time around initially and this morning I sprinkled another packet of the same yeast on top to try to get it going again (giving it a gentle stir yesterday hasn’t worked) – have I done the right thing?

[Wez]

Some good news! Added the Safale 04 this morning and put a brew belt around the fermentor and tonight there is a good head of foam on top again, about half as much as the initial vigorous ferment. Happy chappie again

[oxford brewer]

Good news then

[Wez]

Hi OB, the guy at my LHBS is getting me some Brambling Cross hops to pick up at the weekend (he's got to get it from one of his other shops apparently as they don't have a great call for it near here??) so i'll be looking forward to dry hopping with this one when it's ready. One thing i was wondering tho, would i be able to transfer to a keg, dry hop for 5 days remove and then add the spray malt to prime to save loosing the priming pressure that i would if i primed and dry hopped at the same time?

[oxford brewer]

Hi OB, the guy at my LHBS is getting me some Brambling Cross hops to pick up at the weekend (he's got to get it from one of his other shops apparently as they don't have a great call for it near here??) so i'll be looking forward to dry hopping with this one when it's ready. One thing i was wondering tho, would i be able to transfer to a keg, dry hop for 5 days remove and then add the spray malt to prime to save loosing the priming pressure that i would if i primed and dry hopped at the same time?

I placed the hops in a sterilized mesh bag with 3 small marbles(also sterilized)placed them gently into the beer in the keg and then put the lid on and left for 5 days,drained any pressure that had built up through the relief valve on the lid,gently removed the hops,relaced the lid (and here is the bit i cant help you with as i dont prime but use the Hambleton Bard s30 canister to inject the gas and the allow the beer to absorb the c02).
Somebody else im sure will be able to help you with your priming mix question!