first time brewing questions

[breadgun]

alright fellas, my first kit arrived today from easybrew.co.uk and I need a bit of advice if you can help.

I noticed a few people on here saying the fermenting bin needs airating. Is it just a case of leaving the sealed lid open a crack? I thought that might risk contamination.

Also in the insrusctions I recieved with my muntons kit it says to sprinkle the yeast on top, does it need to be stired straight away or should I wait for the 24 hours or so?

about bottling. I do have a keg but it isn't too easy to store and keep the beer cold. Is it possible to transfer and cap into bottles after the beer is fully brewed? also how do you add the sugar when tranfering to bottles after first week? is it likely to stick to the bottom of the bottle?

and finally, it doesn't mention anywhere in the intruction list when to use the body-bru?


Any advice for my first brew would be much appreciated.

Cheers fellas

[Frothy]

You can bottle it straight from the primary when it's fermented right out but it's best to mature it in bulk so if you can rack it from the primary a bit earlier (when the gravity has dropped to ~ 1.010 -> 1.020) into a pressure barrel or secondary fermentor for 2-4 weeks to mature you may notice a difference. It's all booze at the end of the day

Frothy

[breadgun]

nice one, daab, frothy

have to cofess I'm still a little confused by the hydrometre.

What should I be looking for when I use it?

[BarryNL]

nice one, daab, frothy

have to cofess I'm still a little confused by the hydrometre.

What should I be looking for when I use it?

Most important thing is that it reads the same for samples taken 48 hours apart and its about the expected ending figure.

For more explanations that you can possibly handle try Google

[Andy]

nice one, daab, frothy

have to cofess I'm still a little confused by the hydrometre.

What should I be looking for when I use it?

The hydrometer shows you how much sugar there is left in the beer, as fermentation progresses then sugars get eaten by the yeast and turned into CO2 and alcohol so the hydrometer level drops. As a rough guide if the hydrometer reading remains the same over two days then you can assume that fermentation is finished.

(the above is a bit of s simplification )

[bettyswallocks]

When doing your first brew, dont go too deep into it checking SG's whether it 1020 or 1010 etc. Basically your brew rises then calms down and you bottle or keg when its stops fermenting (bubbling)
As long as you don't forget to prime the bottles or keg its basic. Do a few brews then worry about the tecnical side later.
good luck.

[breadgun]

so should I just leave the Hydrometer in the fermentor bin and check when needed.

or transfer some to the sample jar?

[breadgun]

Thanks DaaB, I think understand now.

just to re-cap:

after 4-6 days put the hydro in and wait till it remains at a stbale reading for a couple of days. does this mean i would need to check it every day?

[Hoppkins]

I would only start checking every day once your encroaching on the 1.020ish level. It's around between 1.012-1.020 that fermentation might stop.

Once you have a steady reading in this range for 2-3 days you know it's done.

[breadgun]

thats great that lads . gettin in started on monday, gonna do it in the keg.


thanks again fellas

[breadgun]

cheers daab.

I was wondering about water too, tap or bottled? does it make a difference?

[james_m_r]

Following advice from this site I now put the required amount of tap water into an empty keg (cleaned & steralised) and treat with 1/2 a crushed camden tablet before adding to the fermenter.

[breadgun]

where can I egt those tablets james? boots?

[Andy]

Homebrew shop or possibly Wilkinsons (but not sure).

There must be a homebrew shop in Liverpool ?

[james_m_r]

I bought a pack of 100 from Wilkos for about £1.20
100 is enough to treat 8,000 pints though and they go out of date Aug 08 but whos bothered about £1