Bottle carbonation, Woodforde Wherry Kit

Discuss making up beer kits - the simplest way to brew.
Joystick
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Joined: Sat Feb 24, 2018 2:35 pm

Re: Bottle carbonation, Woodforde Wherry Kit

Post by Joystick » Tue Apr 03, 2018 10:18 am

Hi Manngold,
Thank you for your tip. However I think I’d prefer the glass beer bottles as if I were to proudly share any of my brew with others it will look just that little bit more “professional”. Mind you I suppose I could rack to a variety of different bottles but that would mean it would be more difficult to consistently prime different size bottles with the carbonation sugar. I could rack to another spare FV bucket (which I don’t have yet) and prime the whole batch at once. Ah, decisions, decisions.....
Cheers

kendizle
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Joined: Sat Feb 03, 2018 1:14 am

Re: Bottle carbonation, Woodforde Wherry Kit

Post by kendizle » Tue Apr 03, 2018 7:52 pm

Joystick wrote:
Mon Apr 02, 2018 11:20 am
May I ask did you use the hops packet that came with the kit? I have read that some people have replaced this packet with either hop pellets or the real hop heads.
Yeah I used what ever came in the kits and followed the instructions.
I think I got the abv at about 5.3%.

As for bottles, I kept buying Aldi & Lidl IPA bottles at £1.19 each. Drank the beer and gained a glass bottle for free.

I left my bottles inside for 2 weeks then put in the garage. I tend to go for the 2-2-2 method (2 week in FV, 2 weeks carbonating, 2 weeks clearing) but I leave an extra two weeks in garage before 1st taste. I read that two weeks inside gives a better chance for carbonation and still gives the beer its clearing time. Patience is the real king here.

Reading some other forum posts, it seems that recently others had had a good and fast fermentation with the Admiral kits, so you may be ok with your current yeast. Id still recommend a temp of about 21c.

Good luck and happy brewing

Joystick
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Posts: 12
Joined: Sat Feb 24, 2018 2:35 pm

Re: Bottle carbonation, Woodforde Wherry Kit

Post by Joystick » Wed Apr 04, 2018 10:17 am

Hi Kendizle,
All good stuff, thank you. Yes I’d picked up on the 2,2 & 2 procedure and it was this that I followed when I did the Wherry kit. I think where I went wrong was just after I popped the carbonation drops into the bottles and screwed on the caps. I should have agitated the bottles and then left them to carbonate for the 2 week’s with perhaps a further agitate at some stage during that 2 week’s to make sure the sugar was distributed evenly for the yeast to do its thing. I draw that conclusion because after I’d been advised to return the bottles to the 20 deg C room (after storing them for 2 week’s in the cool garage for clearing/conditioning) and gently shake the bottles, it only took perhaps 2 or three days for all the PET bottles to become firm when squeezed. I actually left the bottles in the warm for a week to make sure and then returned the bottles to the garage again for a repeat clearing/conditioning. All I can say is that from a beer that was as flat as a pancake the first time round the beer now has a lovely sparkle and if poured at a height produces a bit of a head (though I know this kind of ale isn’t renown for a creamy head).
I think I’ll do my next brew using the kit hops like you did and possibly also the yeast if the brew shop doesn’t have a better alternative. I may “rehydrate” the kit yeast before pitching just to reduce the chance of a stalled fermentation and I’ll certainly keep the temp at your suggested 21 deg C.

Joystick
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Posts: 12
Joined: Sat Feb 24, 2018 2:35 pm

Re: Bottle carbonation, Woodforde Wherry Kit

Post by Joystick » Wed Apr 04, 2018 10:37 am

Oh I forgot to say that I too have been saving commercial beer bottles but I’m not a prolific drinker and my collection of glass beer bottles is only increasing in quantity very slowly. I will still have to buy bottles (when they come back into stock at the brew shop) to make sure I have enough to rack into. I think the Aldi and Lidl stores in Ireland stock a different range of “craft beers” the cheapest costing €1:98 (drinkable but not the best tasting) to €3:40 that generally are much nicer to drink and tend to have higher ABV’s (up to 7%). I rather like the “McCardles Big Bangin IPA” but I do like to try a variety. The craft beer making industry has really taken off in Ireland since I moved here 15 years ago, good job too as the only beer I’d drank here before good ales were available would have been Guiness. The Smithwicks (supposed to be like an English Bitter and also part of the Guiness empire) is pure sh1t in my opinion. In fact if you went into a pub and just asked for “a beer” you’d automatically get served a Smithwicks, there were generally no alternatives on tap at that time. Now however the choice of craft ales has really taken off, there’s even a local micro-brewery in my local town that supplies many pubs in the area - in draft only. It’s a slightly cloudy Belgian style beer at around 4.8% I think. However there’s no beer engines (hand pumps) here that I’ve seen, it’s all gassed with bottled CO2. So far I haven’t come across any cask conditioned beers yet.

kendizle
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Posts: 27
Joined: Sat Feb 03, 2018 1:14 am

Re: Bottle carbonation, Woodforde Wherry Kit

Post by kendizle » Wed Apr 04, 2018 11:39 am

Its all a learning process, as we brew more we fix things we got wrong last time then try new techniques. After my next two kit brews, Im moving on to adding flavours to my kit. I have a Simcoe IPA by Mangrove Jacks. My plan is to add mango to half of it and maybe some cocao nibs to the other half and see how that goes. Then after a few kit mods I will try my first all grain brew.

Im definitely already hooked.

Ken

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