Newby may have blown it already

[ebbadger]

Gents, Good evening, the names Steve and Im a complete novice at this lark and am after some advice for my first brew / mistake....


Hope you can help me with this one, decided to start home brewing as a bit of fun that will come in very handy at various off road meetings throughout the year.

Bought a 'beginners kit' of equipment, a pressure barrel and a kit..... Admirals reserve.

I followed the instructions tonight and added the 1kg of glucose that came with the starter kit, however I dont beleive the admirals reserve needed any extra sugar so I think I may have added 1kg too much as the tins contained malt extract etc already.

So if I am right do I

a) ferment for longer until a SG of under 1020 is reached as per the kit states?? what effect would this have??

b) barrell after the suggested 7-10 days but add no more sugar to the pressure barrel and rely on the extra that was already in it??

Being a newby Im at a loss and hoping for some sagelike advice

Many Thanks Steve

[CrownCap]

It should be fine, you'll probably just end up with a much stronger pint. The glucose will ferment out quite readily and hopefully the yeast will be up to the job of all the extra fermentables (several people do something similar to raise the strength).

Stick with the instructions. It should be done when you get a stable gravity reading. When you keg it you can add a little extra sugar just to provide a bit of carbonation and pressure in the barrel.

Good luck

[oxford brewer]

If you have a hydrometer you can check on the progress of fermentation by taking gravity readings and waiting for a stable reading over a couple of days!
I think that by adding 1Kg of glucose you will alter the flavour and body of the brew but it should still be ok
Not sure how much stronger the glucose will make the beer but it may well finish at the 1.020 mark.
If you have a gas canister to inject some c02 then its not worth priming as it will leave more sediment in the bottom of the keg!

Might be worth leaving in the keg for 4 weeks or so to condition(if you can leave it that long ),it will be a better drink for the wait!!

[sparky Paul]

The 1kg of glucose will add about 2.5% to the strength of a 40 pint brew, so it will be quite potent!

As sugar/glucose will ferment almost completely to alcohol, it shouldn't affect the final gravity too much if at all, but you do need to make sure it's finished before kegging by looking for a steady hydrometer reading for a few days, as OB says above. If you haven't got a hydrometer, make sure that all bubbling activity has ceased before kegging, it could take several days extra with all that sugar.

Kegging before fermentation is complete is a bit risky as you could end up with over-gassy beer, or worse still something going bang.

I would definitely still prime as it does add something to the flavour, either by adding sugar on kegging, or by adding CO2 as above.

Anyway, good luck with it, and welcome to the forum!

[ebbadger]

many Thanks for the replies so far, I knew Id get some reassurance off here...

Cheers Steve

[prolix]

if you don't have a hydrometer, leave it about 10 days then barrel, I would still prime with a little sugar, 80g should do, to get co2 above the beer and stop oxidation. Then as said above leave it for 4 weeks or so as it is strong and will need more time to condition, 6 weeks would be better but mine never lasts that long