Too Little Head - Update: Kegged

[BrewStew]

forgive my stupid as stupid comes question... but did you add anything to the kit apart from water?

my first ever kit was a wherry kit that came with my young's starter set. in my starter set was 1KG of brewing sugar, the wherry kit, spoons hydrometer etc.

i (mistakenly) followed the instructions that the resellers printed out (instead of the instructions on the wherry box) and they told me to add the 1kg of brewers sugar. this of course added to the OG, but also made it finish at a higher gravity.... hence why i'm asking if you added anything when you made it up in the fermenter.

i later brewed it again without the added sugar as per the box, and it still finished 2 points higher but still tasted nice... but i prefered it with the extra sugar though lol hence why i'm trying one with beer kit enhancer right now to see how it differs

[MightyMouth]

No, didn't add anything that wasn't in the kit other than more yeast when it failed to start.

I gave it another gentle stir and i'll give it another day , if nothing happens by then then I am going to keg it and drink it as is even if it gags me.

[BrewStew]

out of curiosity (as i've lost my notes for my first ever Wherry and want to compare with my modified version) what was your SG?

also i used the kit yeast in my modified Wherry and the bugger wouldn't start as my central heating was broke at the time. the thermometer in my brew cupboard read 18c but neither my AG brew nor my wherry liked it. since my heating has been fixed and my brew cupboard hit 20c they've launched off to a good start.

if your sure the temperature (or lack of) isn't an issue then yeah you may aswell rack it... my Woodforde's Great Eastern stuck 4 points above, tasted a bit sweet, but still got me pleasantly pished and was a good drink

[MightyMouth]

The SG was right at 1040 and I have a fishtank heater in the FV which has been keeping it at exactly 20c the whole time. I guess 2.9%ABV is ok but I would have prefered getting down to 1010 though I think the FG is supposed to be around 1014 with this kit anyway so will only be .5%off what it should have been. Anyway I have bought a brupaks porter which I am going to start on Saturday.

[BrewStew]

I think the FG is supposed to be around 1014 with this kit anyway so will only be .5%off what it should have been.

that's the very reason why i prefered my (cocked up) version with a kilo of brewers sugar. it pepped it up strength wise and dulled down the bitterness to almost exactly my taste. it also had the added advantage of blowing my head off.. hehe i think it managed about 6% and was hiding it very well

i know this is sacrilage, but a weee schnufter of vodka or whiskey in every pint you pour might make it a worthy strength

good luck with the next one though. i think we've all had issues with munton's/woodforde's but somehow they seem to work out ok in the end... check out my post about my disasters with Admiral's Reserve... in the end after lots of worrying and panicking, it turned out to be superb!

[MightyMouth]

i know this is sacrilage, but a weee schnufter of vodka or whiskey in every pint you pour might make it a worthy strength

It's not exactly sacrilege, its called a Boilermaker though I have never tried one with an ale.

[scarer]

Well the home brew store I went to doesn't carry beer enzyme and they were out of yeast vit so now I have to make a decision. Should I keg it and see or put it into a secondary for a while. Its been at 1018 for more than 24 hours now and doesn't look to have changed at all since this morning.

If its not too late to suggest you could order both the yeast vit and enzyme from The home Brew Shop http://www.the-home-brew-shop.co.uk/

I ordered from them online and got the stuff the next morning £2.50 postage. After I added the yeast-vit and gave it a stir I got it down to 1015 from 1020.

[MightyMouth]

If its not too late to suggest you could order both the yeast vit and enzyme from The home Brew Shop http://www.the-home-brew-shop.co.uk/

I ordered from them online and got the stuff the next morning £2.50 postage. After I added the yeast-vit and gave it a stir I got it down to 1015 from 1020.

I have ordered these and will give them a go, yeast vit first then if that doesn't work then beer enzyme.

[MightyMouth]

Well I received my Yeast-vit and Dry Beer Enzyme yesterday and added them to a brew, gave them a gentile stir and this morning I have a big foamy head again. Now my concern is that the DBE will convert too to fermentables so what I am thinking of doing is stopping fermentation at around 1010. I think I have read that I can do this with a campden tablet. Other than not being able to carbonate naturally is there any other downside to doing this?

[MightyMouth]

I was more worried about it being too thin than too dry.

[MightyMouth]

I'll bow to your superior knowledge and leave it alone. I have never complained about too much alcohol in a beer and I have drank Papst Blue Ribbon before in the States so I am sure I'll be able to drink this no matter how it turns out

[MightyMouth]

Just thought I would update to say that my Wherry is now down to 1.002 and still going. I thought it had finished but when I stired in the finings I must have woken the little bugger up again and when I woke this morning the lid on the FV was bulging a bit.

[MightyMouth]

Well I have kegged and bottled my Wherry.

I had a small taste from the sample jar and its definitely drinkable, it has a tiny bit of a cider taste to it and is quite bitter at the back of the tongue but without being carbonated its hard to tell the real flavour though its not sweet at all. The OG was 1.040 and the FG was 0.999 so ABV is 5.3% which is much higher than the expected 3.4% with a FG of 1.014

I primed with table sugar as its all I had and I put a small squirt of CO2 in the keg to seal it. I wound up with a Cornie and 5 Bottles worth.

So I guess I should leave it for 4 weeks before drinking huh?

[BrewStew]

So I guess I should leave it for 4 weeks before drinking huh?

hehe if you can keep your mits off it for that long

nice to hear it turned out for you.

like i've said before, i've found the standard wherry to be a little more hoppy than my tastebuds prefer, but never cidery. i would guess that might be the effects of the nutrients that were used.

it may mellow out with time, so try your best to keep yer hands of it and restrict yourself to only mere tasters to see how it's doing both of my previous wherry's (both the standard and altered) tasted their best after 4-6 weeks.

[MightyMouth]

I would think the cidery taste would be more because I wound up using Wine yeast then added the Dry Beer enzyme than from the nutrients but either way it was only a hint of cider and may mellow out with time.

I am going to have a harder time keeping my hands of the Brupaks Scammonden Dark that's fermenting right now. Last I checked it was at 1.022 down from 1.053 and it tasted loverly then though a bit sweet. If it goes down to 1.010 that should be about 5.3% which is just about right for my tastes.