woodford wherry microbrewery gone wrong?

[redskinweasel]

Hi,
I am new to home brewing and this is my very first go. Unfortunately I didn’t look on this site until after I’d made the brew, because in retrospect I would have done things very differently.

Basically I was given a Woodfords wherry microbrewery kit as a present (the one that only contains the keg, beer kit, yeast, sanitizer and CO2 bulb).
I followed the instructions to the letter, but when I took a sample today, my beer is full of white particles and what looks like yeast floating around. Not to mention that it is very cloudy and I had to use a CO2 bulb to draw the beer from the keg (king keg top tap).

The kit says ready to drink in 2 weeks and the beer has been in the keg now for 19 days (10 days for fermentation and 9 days in the cool of the garage to condition).
The beer doesn’t look good and I am wondering if it can be saved or if I should throw it away and start again.

Any help anyone could give would be gratefully received!


Thanks

[PureGuiness]

I don't really know what the instructions are for this type of brewing but even when using a seperate FV for primary fermentation then the suggested times tend to be optomistic. The beer should be conditioned for alot longer than 2 weeks. In fact mine had about 10 days in FV, 7 days in warm in keg for secondary fermentation and then moved to cool for further 3-4 wks of conditioning and to allow the beer to clear.

Have you tasted your brew? Does it taste ok? If it does then I'd be less worried about the look. Don't throw it unless it tastes completely undrinkable. If you have to think about it after taking a sip then it's still probably ok! Give it time and it should improve.

For your next brew invest in an FV and get another on so you don't have to wait so long to start drinking after the first has run dry

[redskinweasel]

Cheers for your quick response PureGuiness,

What you say makes much more sense to me. Have had a taste as you suggested and it tastes like beer but very flat....so I guess that's a positive right.

Re the FV, this is probably a stupid question, but is that a fermentation bin?
If so, do you recommend using an air lock with that?

Re the 3-4 weeks conditioning, will that be OK with the yeast at the bottom of the keg or will it contaminate the beer?


Thanks for you help so far, much appreciated!


Cheers

[Benson_JV]

Cheers for your quick response PureGuiness,
Re the FV, this is probably a stupid question, but is that a fermentation bin?
If so, do you recommend using an air lock with that?

Re the 3-4 weeks conditioning, will that be OK with the yeast at the bottom of the keg or will it contaminate the beer?
Cheers

As for the FV, yep, stands for Fermentation Vessel, alot of guys here (me included) don't use airlocks, personally i seal the bin, then just put a clean teatowel over the hole where the airlock should go.

The yeast will be fine, you transfer from the FV with syphon tubing, lob into the keg (sterile of course) and there will be yeast, but it'll be fine.

[mickhew]

I'm sitting here wondering if you missed a step in the process somewhere. Have a read through this.
http://www.jimsbeerkit.co.uk/kits.htm
My advice is definately don't give up! . I have done a few of these kits, and, yes, they can have a few niggles, but, within 3-4 weeks have produced lovely beer. Did you leave it in the warn for a few days before putting into the garage? You might have made the yeast go dormant, putting it straight into a garage, after adding conditioning sugar. I leave mine in at around 20 degrees for a week, then put it in the garage. So, 10 (ish) days in the fermenting bucket, get the gravity to around 1014, then put it in the barrell (adding priming sugar/spraymalt), 7 ish days in the warm, then at least 2 weeks in the garage. Should be fine.

[PureGuiness]

I'm sitting here wondering if you missed a step in the process somewhere. Have a read through this.
http://www.jimsbeerkit.co.uk/kits.htm

I think the microbrewery kit being used is a kit where the whole brewing process takes place in the keg without a transfer from an FV.

Having said that the brew should still clear given time in a cool environment but as pointed out as there is more dead yeast and bits left in the final product it may taint the flavour and reduce the life time of the brew.

At the end of the day if it smells and tastes of beer then get it drunk, buy an fermentation bin and start your next brew using the technique demonstrated in the above link. The results should be much better than doing the whole process in situ in the keg.

[adm]

I did this exact same kit as my first brew - same keg, etc.....

In the end it produced a good pint of Wherry - but it took 6 weeks to get there. The yeast was still suspended for a good 2-3 weeks, and it tasted very yeasty up until week 4 or 5.

After 6 weeks though, it came out great.

Don't believe the 2 weeks claim on the box - just stick it somewhere cool and forget about it for a few more weeks.

[redskinweasel]

Hey, cheers to everyone who has responded to the post.

Some really interesting stuff to take on board. Think I'm gonna just leave the keg and see what it does coz it's one of those ferment, condition and drink from the keg kits.

Defo gonna buy a fermenting bin for the next one, although I'm not sure whether it's best to go for one with a tap or not?

Can anyone recommend a good reliable and very drinkable bitter / ale kit for my next brew?


Cheers for the replies and I'll keep you updated re the Wherry progress!

[Benson_JV]

I very much like the Edme Bitter.

[KevP]

I did this Microbrewery kit as my first too, it did indeed produce a blooming nice beer, and to be honest mine was pretty good after 3 weeks, clear too, and got really good by week 5. Hang in there, and never chuck a beer until it makes you reach and screw your face up (hang on, that sounds like Fosters)

[mickhew]

DEFINATELY get an F.V with a tap ! My one doesn't, and I syphon currently. Even with a Young's autosyphon which is great, I have to sterilise it each time, and it's big.
Using a tap is so much easier, you just run a tube from the tap to the bottom of the barrell, and open it. F.V's with taps only cost a few quid more than those without.

[redskinweasel]

Cheers for responses,

Gonna get an FV with a tap ASAP as it seems to make life easier!

Also now considering next brew as EDME bitter, but have also seem mickhew's Coopers bitter which also looks good - How does it taste?


Decisions decisions........

[mickhew]

Coopers Bitter tastes GOOD, very drinkable for 40p a pint!

[redskinweasel]

Yeah 40p a pint is a bargain!

Checked the brew again today and there seems to be a lot less yeast floating around, although it's still not cleared yet. I'm still having major probs drawing anything from the keg, just a small trickle and then it stops. Also the beer is very flat with little head.
This Thursday it'll be 4 weeks exactly since I made the brew so I'm hoping it will have improved by Sunday when I'll check it next.

Think this brew has taught me a lot of lessons so far and I've already bought an FV and some Coopers for the next one. The only thing I wanted to check first was what kind of temp control device is best?

brew belt?
heat mat?
immersion heater?

or is there anything else? FV with thermostat etc?

Just I did some temp testing the other day in the room where the beer was fermenting and the temp is not constant. At certain stages of the day it drops to 18deg, which may be why I've had probs.


If anyone could offer advice re temp control that'd be cool.


Cheers

[brysie]

hey waesel,

search fishtank heaters on here. soon be too warm and you`ll be searching how to keep temps down.