First Attempt Woodfordes Admirals reserve (a few questions)

[espressomanfishing]

Me & my pal are new to this home brewing lark but have been meaning to have a go for years (bought the hardware five years ago & never used it)

Our first brew was barelled last weekend so will be a week in barrel on saturday. I have a couple of questions in case anyone can help. The FG was 1014 (seems to be in the right range) it certainly had a great smell and fermented strongly but was wondering if anyone can give a steer on potential alcohol. Fermentation took around five days and yeast was rehydrated beforehand. The beer was really nice & clear before going into the barrel. Also we put the priming sugar into the barrel but did not dissolve it first I am a bit worried that it wont condition properly as a result and might be a bit flat... Should I be worried or am i getting worked up about nothing?? lastly we are going to try (he says optimistically)and leave it to condition for a full two weeks, if we take a sample after one week to check do we risk the beer not conditioning properly?

We are starting a new woodfordes kit this weekend (Nelsons revenge) I have read good things about them any one got any experience of these kits. I must say that when we siphoned the beer off I got to taste a thimble full & it wasnt half bad!!!!

Thank in advance for your help..... Cant wait to sup my first pint.

Cheers.... or should that be .. beers!!

[fivetide]

Your beer will improve hugely with proper conditioning. Ideally leave the keg for the first week of conditioning with the priming sugars in the warm, at the same temperature you fermented at, then move to a cooler location (a basement, garage, shed, spare room, conservatory, wintery toilet...) for at least a further three weeks on average. This would give a total conditioning period of a minimum of four weeks, or one week for every 10 points of original gravity at 1.040. I think the Revenge is a bit stronger, so if the original gravity was 1.050 for example, leave for a further week. Honestly the longer you leave it alone the better it will be. If you crack it early, the last pints you drink will be by far the best and you'll wish you'd left it alone!

I managed to leave my beers alone in the end by distracting myself with more brewing. Make up another kit if you have the equipment, or mess about for a couple of weeks making Turbo Cider, either for yourself or for any visitors who aren't beer drinkers when the keg is ready to crack!

As for calculating the brew's strength, a lot of people use this formula: OG (say 1.050) minus FG (say 1.014) divided by 0.00746 (4.8ish), plus 0.5 (5.3% ish). Obviously you could dump the gravity decimals and divide by 7.46 instead. or use one of many online calculators, like this one.

Anyway, all the best! Try and leave it alone for a bit if you can and I'm sure it'll be spot on.

[espressomanfishing]

Thanks for that - good advice.. We are making up the Nelsons revenge tomorrow. I have to confess that last night we took a tiny amount out to check the gravity Just enough to fill the tesing tube (less than 1/2 a pint i guess), i could nbot beleive how much pressure has built up in only five days. It was a beautiful amber colour with a lovely hop aroma. The bitter edge we tasted when siphoning has softened right out and is really nicely balanced, the head was compact and we had to spoon it out of the container to get the reading! The taste tended to the sweet but i guess this is because much of the priming sugar is sitting at the bottom of the barrel at this stage of the process, is that right or am i barking up the wrong tree? In any event it tasted lovely (I am hooked!)
Barrel is now in a cool garage to clear, it was pretty clear anyway with only a very light haze so will check again in a week.

By the way, this beer has been made with Malvern water collected directly from the spring in the Malvern hills, Luckily it is just up the road from us so we are planning do this for all our brews, I guess it must make a difference compared to tap water.

Thanks Again

Cheers ...!

[fivetide]

Sounds good. You don't take gravity readings once it leaves the fermenter though - just forget about it and let it do its thing. Of course taking samples every week is good fun , definitely, and let's you see how the beer changes and conditions.

I am currently waiting on a Belgian Pale kit which has been conditioning a month and I promised I would give a further week or two, but I happened to be in the shed last night and was forced to take a cheeky half. Tasted great, but could probably do with just a bit longer.

[espressomanfishing]

Oh well, we are amateurs, Gravity reading from the barell indeed(must have been drunk!) - I wiil try to do some photos for the nelsons revenge if i remember the camera. Belgian brew sounds good, I quite fancy trying a fruit beer for the summer. I am going to need a bigger garage at this rate.

[fivetide]

Yeah, get those brew on for summer barbecues, definitely! Once it gets hot (ha!) brewing at the right temperatures becomes a lot trickier. As you seem to be on a bit of a Woodforde's kick at the moment, it's worth considering Great Eastern as a summer sup.

[espressomanfishing]

Good Idea, We will give that a whirl. I reckon by the time we have 3 / 4 barells rotating between drinking & conditioning we should have a year round steady supply. Its interesting what you say about ho weather, I was thinking about getting a cheapo fridge for the summer that the fermenter fits into to control the temperature, especially for conditioning. What do you think. We actually brewed the first one in a cold garage but invested in a heated plate from the local brew shop. and covered the fermenter in towels. We got a good result despite sub zero temperatures some nights!!

[marky66]

Be careful of the lousy yeast supplied with Woodefordes kits , might be a good idea to buy seperate safale yeast , but the kits make nice beer , I also made the Admirals and enjoyed the end product

[espressomanfishing]

We started the Nelsons on Saturday, & I must say that the yeast went crazy when we rehydrated it, within a few hours it was fermenting away nicely. The admirals is clearing nicely and the sample we took tasted delicious.... I fancy having a crack at a belgian fruit beer for the summer .. any pointers?

[marky66]

Obviously the Brewferm range is where you are headed, good things written about the Framboos, raspberry flavoured. Kriek is a cherry beer , havent tried it yet but the Brewferm beers seem to be quite good quality, only problem is the are only 9ltr kits

[Talisman]

Ive just (last night in fact) barrelled my Admirals. and am leaving it in a warmer spot for the next week. then ill stick out into my garage for a few weeks as well.

also got a batch of beer on the go that was from my first mash on Sunday. (still waiting for the yeast to kick into action that i put in it on Monday night!!)

Ive just ordered 2 cornies as well after finding this site (credit card bliss huh).. once this one has finished fermenting ill be looking at sticking to more batches on the go...

[espressomanfishing]

Our admirals has been conditioning for 2 weeks, it is clearing well (according to my partner in crime), a few "reserach pints" will have to be taken ovee the weekend!!

I will definitely try the Kriek !! do you suggest barrel or bottle? (thanks for that one Marky)

We will barrel the Nelsons revenge this weekend, it seems to have settled at 1012 so will check tomorrow again. - I have one other question - is any further alcohol produced in the barrel during secondary / conditioning? I am guessing it must be but am not sure. Thanks