To Aerate ~ Or Not ~ And How?

Discuss making up beer kits - the simplest way to brew.
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Ditch
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To Aerate ~ Or Not ~ And How?

Post by Ditch » Fri Aug 15, 2008 9:37 pm

Ok. My Yeast Vit and Dry Beer Enzyme are sitting in my kitchen, close to my cold and stuck Wherry. Tonight's to be the night I try to go in and rescue my brew.

Question is; Should I aerate that wort - thus exposing it to risk of god knows what? Or should I just pop the lid a crack and sling everything in a bit sharpish?

If I should aerate - power drill standing by! - is it better to get the paddle down amongst it, or let it slap the surface about? I used to know, but I've forgotten down the years :oops:

Cheers, lads. Wish me luck ~ I have the feeling I'll bloody need it!

Damfoose

Post by Damfoose » Fri Aug 15, 2008 10:12 pm

No dont aireate it its half brewed, gentely stir it to rouse the yeast after carefully bunging some yeast vit in .

kenny850

Post by kenny850 » Fri Aug 15, 2008 10:15 pm

Good luck Ditch,well beyond me to offer you any advice as how to best proceed but good luck anyhow in sorting that wherry out, nice pint when it works i believe!

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Post by Ditch » Fri Aug 15, 2008 10:24 pm

Cheers for that, guys. Paddle's standing in a jug of strongly bleachy water as I type. Finish my dinner and go for it.

Kenny; I too read so many great reports that I felt I had to try it. Sadly, that was before I started noticing all the other Posts saying what a bitch Muntons stuff, in general, and Wherry in particular can be to get made.

Bongo

Post by Bongo » Fri Aug 15, 2008 10:34 pm

Forgive me if you already do but please tell me you rinse that bleach off with boiled water first before it hits the wort.

SiHoltye

Post by SiHoltye » Fri Aug 15, 2008 10:34 pm

I'dd add the yeast vit (half a teaspoon) and then rouse (stir gently without splashing) maintain temp around 20degC. If that doesn't work and get it down to 1.015, then it's not your fault.

FWIW, I made 4 kits and 2 stuck, then I started AG and 34 brews on no sticks. What's more when things don't go to plan you (with the help of forum members) can usually pick through to see what might be at fault.

Chin up, soldier on

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Post by Ditch » Fri Aug 15, 2008 10:52 pm

Bongo; I give anything bleach has touched a good rinsing / soaking with Sod. Met. That's how I got this one on the go, sans infection or that heady mix of chlorine and wort.

SiHoltye; I'm good at soldiering on ;) Like ye say, there's usually something to be salvaged from a balls up. And slinging 5 gallons tends to ensure one doesn't make that particular mistake again.

Even trying to get this cursed Wherry going is exposing me to things I never experienced in my past life. Ironically, because I never once made a balls back then!

In fact, to be perfectly honest about it? It's not slinging liquid euro's down the sink that's bothering me half so much as the simple fact that I've been bang at it for about a month now, and I'm yet no closer to having a keg of beer in my cold room! That and the fact that this Wherry, pissing me around, is holding me up. Faster I can get it out of my Electrim ~ one way or another ~ the faster I can crack on and get that thermostat set to 20c and make something else.

Desperately need more kegs. Heard today they sell them in supermarkets, up around Enniskillen. I'll have to look into that situation :wink:

Damfoose

Post by Damfoose » Fri Aug 15, 2008 10:59 pm

Good luck ditch hope you get it sorted buddy. :)

Bongo

Post by Bongo » Fri Aug 15, 2008 11:10 pm

Ah phew i didn't think you would Ditch but i had to ask,as for past life i'm sure you made many a mistake Ditch as i did and do,how else would we learn eh,it's all about new experiences and mistakes if you can call them that :)

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Post by Ditch » Sat Aug 16, 2008 12:16 am

Right then. Here we go, lads. I've just slung in a half teaspoon of Yeast Vite and a sachet of Dry Beer Enzyme. Mixed in gently and retired.

By this time tomorrow, it's either bubbling up the air lock again, or else it's gurgling down the sink. Push me to forecast it? I'd say sink. But no hard feelings, because the temperature beneath that quilt is bang on 15c. I simply have no other way of getting it warmer, short of carting it off to a neighbour who has heating in their place. Faced with the logistics of that option? Sink it is.

Never mind though. Because then I can get that 'stat sorted out and, sunday. I can start all over again. Only this time I'll know the water. I'll get the water temp's spot on, start to finish. I've now amassed most of the little pots and plastic boxes of white stuffs that you'll all see as mundane and simply accept having in the cupboard.

If need be, it Will be 'Third Time Lucky' for Ditch Shitter. I'll crack out some Coopers Stout which my mates will find agreeable. Then there'll be no stopping me! :D

Bongo; Hand on heart, mate: I never threw a brew in the old days. Honestly. But, ye see; I had an Excellent LHBS just a five minute stroll from my door to his. John, the prop', was heroically generous with his time and patient discussion. I also virtually lived in there, becoming a sort of full time, voluntary shop hand. So, ye see? This Wherry would've stuck and, first thing next morning, I'd have wandered up there and grabbed an immersion heater and the chemicals it's taken me a week to aquire over here.

Never used a kit in my life either. I went in there asking for a kit and John sent me home with a bottle of malt extract and a bag of Goldings.

Now I have you brilliant bunch and, if it takes longer to get my gear in? Just look at the improvements in what I Can get in, twenty five years later! SafAle?! Don't think I'd ever heard of that in those days! Couple of packets in my fridge now :wink:

Damfoose

Post by Damfoose » Sat Aug 16, 2008 12:51 am

Ditch dont ditch it so soon mate , wrap it up and put it on some books so its off the cold floor and leave it for a few days then check its gravity, I cant see it bubbling like a train as it would have got through most of the sugar already but the yeast should get going again for you...

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Post by Ditch » Sat Aug 16, 2008 1:03 am

Oh :? Well, that's a bit of a bugger, mate. Only, it's already off the floor. It's sitting there on top of my old Range. And I took a hydi reading off it too; Can't honestly remember what it was. But it hasn't really done anything since I last checked. Doesn't smell that clever either now. Tastes much the same though, so it wasn't spoiled, an hour ago when the stuff went in.

Could it really take a few days to show a better reading then? God. It's going to try my patience to sit on my fingers that long, waiting for a 'maybe / hopefully' outcome.

Hey ho. I'll see what happens next. That is; If I don't draw it all off first, with so many hydi testings! :shock:

Damfoose

Post by Damfoose » Sat Aug 16, 2008 1:10 am

one hydro a day is all I do mate toward the seven day mark until then I just leave it, Granted it is only my third brew now but so far my first is still cloudy but I put that down to the heat it was brewed in , my second is sweet but that's only just been kegged so im going to put that down to being new my third is in the FV and I wont go near it for another 3 days. The 4th one i now have the bits for but wont start that for 3 more weeks.

So yeh leave it for a day or three see what happens mate. Oh and stop taking the top off it to see what it is doing :P ( joke )

fivetide

Post by fivetide » Mon Aug 18, 2008 10:21 am

I know temperature fluctuations are a no-no, but couldn't you just put a fan heater or something somewhere in the room to gently raise the temperature to 18-20 degrees for a day in order to let the roused wort and yeast-vit play without their duffel coats on?

If you get the Wherry down to anywhere remotely near 1014 and let it condition for around four weeks you'll still have a decent pint, even better if you can hang a bag of hops in the keg for a week.

Seriously, unless it's floating in bacteria and smells of vinegar, would be a massive shame to ditch 40 pints just because it's a bit too cold to get into gear.

I have the other problem right now - no room in the house stays consistently below 22 degrees, despite the slightly crappy weather.

verno

Post by verno » Mon Aug 18, 2008 12:51 pm

SiHoltye wrote:I'dd add the yeast vit (half a teaspoon) and then rouse (stir gently without splashing) maintain temp around 20degC. If that doesn't work and get it down to 1.015, then it's not your fault.

FWIW, I made 4 kits and 2 stuck, then I started AG and 34 brews on no sticks. What's more when things don't go to plan you (with the help of forum members) can usually pick through to see what might be at fault.

Chin up, soldier on
SiHoltye - you say you started AG, what do you mean by that?

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