Simply Pale Ale kit with cascade & challenger

[Fastline]

Been buying loads of kit and reading loads since christmas when my girlfriend got me a starter homebrew kit, done a few years ago

Anyway just sitting down now after doing my first kit a simply pale ale

I've changed the kit yeast for Nottingham which I rehydrated in 100ml of water

I boiled up 5 litres of water on the stove and chucked a couple of 20 gram hop tea bags in, Cascade and challenger for about 10mins, chuched that into FV then added the pale ale extract

I've used 1Kg of Youngs beer enhancer too

Wort reading on hydrometer was 1.032 at 35 degrees so I think thats 1.040 ish

Big learning curve trying to get all the right kit together and using starsan

Had a spray bottle set up, forgot to get my little funnel ready, so when I emptied pouch of extract out was a bit of a panic finding and sanitising it, i only cut corner off pouch so filled it with more water using the funnel to clear the last bits out

Need to get another Measuring Jug for next brew and maybe a timer, was using the mobile but can see that getting covered in wort suger or sanitiser

I've got the fermentation vessel in the front room tonight where its a little warmer and i can keep my eye on the airlock, nothing happening yet,well no bubbles but it does look a little uneven the level in the airlock used cheap vodka in it, might already be a little bit of pressure building

I was drinking hogsback during the brew if that makes any difference

Fingers crossed fermentation gets going and I get something drinkable at the end of it

Going to leave it in the vessel for two weeks then bottle it, ill keep you posted

[WalesAles]

Fast,
Sounds good so far.
If the FV is on a wooden floor, put some towels under it to stop the FV losing heat, and wrap a big old duvet around it to retain the heat!

WA

[pcrofts27]

All sounds good.
And you've got to have drink when you're brewing, 2 if you're bottling!
And in case the wife questions it, it DOES affect the taste. It's a vital part of the process, honestly!
paul

[Fastline]

I've taken a look at it this morning and the lid is bulging, looks like theres nice layer of foam on top, looking through the bucket so seems like i got a nice start

I don't know if i've got too much liquid in the air trap, the lids bulging and most liquid is forced round in the airtrap

[Fastline]

Well i reduced the liquid in the air trap and it was bubbling away nicely, ive since moved the FV to under the stairs where it is much cooler, i checked quickly this morning and there was no activity in the airlock

Is it doomed?

[WalesAles]

Fast,
Get it back in the warm. No more than 22deg.
It`s not doomed yet.

WA

[Fastline]

Think i was panicking at first, the fermentation has definitely slowed right down compared to day one and is slowing every day I check, temp seems fairly steady at 16deg. when checked in the morning
Time is slowing down since I started this brew im sure

[timbo41]

Its the pregnant father syndrome...... Take. A jog around the block

Everything will be fine, the first part of fermentation is usually the quickest

[Fastline]

Ok its been in the FV for a week and 2 days, i will be bottling this saturday or sunday, I'm thinking dry hopping for a few days tips advice and qtys welcome, I would also like some advice on how much priming sugar I should use

Got lots of hops will have to check what there is

Should i be checking the gravity soon or ok to leave alone?

[Fastline]

Anyone Help with hop ideas for this and priming sugar quantity

[Clibit]

Check the gravity when you chuck the hops in - minimise the time the FV lid is off. What hops you got? Cascade and Challenger should be a good combo, could stick with those.

85g of priming sugar is typical for 23 litres.

[WalesAles]

Check the gravity when you chuck the hops in - minimise the time the FV lid is off. What hops you got? Cascade and Challenger should be a good combo, could stick with those.

85g of priming sugar is typical for 23 litres.

Fast,
I`d go for 25Gr Cascade and 25gr Challenger for a Dry Hop. Boil your Muslin bag for 10 mins, sterilise and rinse, rinse, rinse your weight,
(bag of marbles), etc, boil your thin string and cable tie for 10 mins. Cable tie is to close the top of your hop muslin bag, leave a little gap,
thread the string under the cable tie, pull cable tie tight, tie string to cable tie, put your bag below the beer surface but not touching the sediment,
tie string to FV handle, close FV lid, get a fresh pint, forget about your beer for a few days!

WA

PS, my last Simply Pale Ale was Hopped with 75Gr of 3 Diff Hops, and dry hopped with 75Gr of the same hops! Bloody Lovely Mun!

[Fastline]

Ive got the following:
100g of each:

USA
Citra (T90) 14.4%
Centennial (T90) 11.9%
Cascade (T90) 7.6%
Columbus (Leaf) 17.3%

Germany
Magnum (Leaf) 17.31%
Nugget (T90) 10.2%
Herkules (Leaf) 17.3%

UK
WGV (Leaf) 6.94%

Is two or three days in there going to be ok

I didn't realise about weighting them down in the FV but makes sense

[Clibit]

Matter of taste. I'd go for Centennial for three days, great hop, will complement the others well.

[Fastline]

The Centennial i've got is pellets, could I just chuck 75 grams of them in the FV as they are, I seem to remember someone saying you can't reuse the yeast in the FV if you dry hop straight in the FV, is that correct?