Newbie to site and brewing

[sparkly]

Hi All. I am a newbie to brewing and to the site. In previous years we have made some cider from apples grown on our allotment, but never made any beer. I have bought a kit "woodforde's norfolk ale- nelsons revenge" and we have also bought a cider and lager kit. So far we have set off the lager and cider kit in fermentating containers. I was planning to start the ale off today. I have bought some stuff for sterilising and we have a load of bottles donated from a friend. The guy at the brewing shop was very helpful and gave me some written instructions for the brewing. I am really looking for general help on where to go next. Once I have made up the kit I leave it for 1 week in the warm, bottle and leave another week in the warm and then leave in the cold for a couple of weeks? After reading a few posts on here about 'spraymalt' I am tempted to incorporate this. If this can be used in place of sugar what exactly should I do?

[StevieB]

Hi Sparkly,

One thing I'd immediately flag-up is those bottles that have been so kindly donated: They need to be hefty buggers. Most beer bottles these days are designed for single use and low pressure so if you use them for your Nelson's Revenge they're likely to detonate unless they are designed for bottle conditioned beer.

I've never used spray malt myself but you can use it as a direct replacement for sugar for priming your secondary fermentation (1/2tsp per pint).

Steve

[sparkly]

Hi Sparkly,

One thing I'd immediately flag-up is those bottles that have been so kindly donated: They need to be hefty buggers. Most beer bottles these days are designed for single use and low pressure so if you use them for your Nelson's Revenge they're likely to detonate unless they are designed for bottle conditioned beer.


Steve

Thanks for the reply Steve. The bottle are actually the same as these viewtopic.php?f=6&t=25033&start=0&st=0& ... op+bottles which is how we found this site through a google search. They need a good clean-up and replacement stoppers, but they look very sturdy

[mshergold]

Don't forget, you won't need to add spraymalt or sugar to the Woodforde's kit while making it. You will, however, need to prime your bottles with (check the instructions) half a teaspoon of either per pint. I'm pretty sure there's been some debate on a thread as to whether spraymalt is better for priming than sugar. If all your bottles are pint or 2 pint bottles, then all you'll need is a funnel, but if you find yourself with a misture of imperial and metric bottles, put the totale amount of sugar or spraymalt into a spare fermenter, rack the beer onto it, giving it a gentle stir and then syphon it into bottles.

[mickhew]

Replace sugar with spraymalt pound for pound, or add half and half, 500gm of each (or a pack or beer kit enhancer, which is 50-50).
More sugar= slightly higher abv but thinner taste, more spraymalt = slightly lower alcohol content. Use sugar only for priming, using spraymalt won't make a taste difference at the priming stage. I've done kits (Coopers 1 can ones) with 1/2 spraymalt and half sugar, works for me. I would concentrate on getting the technique down on your first few kits.