Best Beer Kit?

[fxrs]

My Coopers Real Ale has been in the FV for 7 days at about 24 degrees. Took a hydro reading tonight and its very slightly more than 1000. Is this a low or unusual reading? Before taking the reading the FV lid was bulging slightly. Does this mean its still brewing and producing "gas"?

I will take another reading tomorrow and compare with todays.

Grateful for some guidance

[fxrs]

Took another hydro reading tonight and its the same so its bottling time tomorrow

This is getting exciting now as its my first real ale!

How much sugar or carbination drops or spray malt should I put in each bottle? The bottles sizes are 500ml, 1 ltr and 1.5 ltr.

Grateful for the guidance

[john_drummer]

1/2 tsp plain old granulated sugar per 500ml bottle, scale up for bigger bottles

[fxrs]

1/2 tsp plain old granulated sugar per 500ml bottle, scale up for bigger bottles

Now thats a surprise. Have been told by most people only to use brewing sugar.

Is using ordinary granulated sugar ok due to the brew being real ale?

Thanks for that, it makes life so much easier

[BazC]

Priming with ordinary sugar is fine in any beer because you use such a small amount it won't affect the flavour of the beer, it's best avoided in the primary fermentation because it can create thin beer and off flavours. That's the theory anyway.

[fxrs]

I thought I would carry out a wee experiment and used granulated sugar and brewing sugar in different bottles.

Thanks for all the help on this it really is much appreciated.

In a few weeks time I'll report back on how the brew went.

Thanks again.

.........now whats next?.............

[fxrs]

The real ale has been in the bottle for just short of 7 days at a temp of 20 degrees as directed in the instructions. The instructions go on to say that the conditioning of the beer means it should be left for more than 7 days. I dont intend drinking it any time soon.

The question is, should the beer be left for more than 7 days at the temp of 20 degrees or do I put the bottles somewhere cool and leave them there for a while before drinking?

Grateful for some guidance.

[BeerEagle]

I think someone on here recommended 7 days for each 10 points of OG (IIRC).

[fxrs]

I think someone on here recommended 7 days for each 10 points of OG (IIRC).

Thanks.

What if the original gravity wasnt recorded?

[john_drummer]

for conditioning, I'd leave them 2-3 weeks in the warm so the secondary fermentation has chance to build up some CO2, then move to somewhere cool (but not cold) for another couple of weeks. The longer you can leave it in the cool, the better it should get

[BeerEagle]

What if the original gravity wasnt recorded?

Go for a guess, you won't be far out.

[Pinto]

Best Kit ? Hard to say without knowing your own personal tastes - you could be an ale/stout/lager man

Myself, I love belgian ales and whits, so my kit of choice usually has "brewferm" written on the can - i've yet to have a bad'un, but as i've said before, they definately reward the patient man (or woman) who can keep paws off for 3+ months after bottling regardless of what type you make.

If you need grog like yesterday, then you cant go wrong with a Aldi nectar turbo cider - tastes like commercial strongbow straight from the fermenter (IMO) and only improves with age I've also had some success with the Geordie lager kit - good flavour at 4 weeks but a tad cloudy (needs ageing again lol)

[fxrs]

My Real Ale has been bottled and stored in a cool place for about 5 weeks now.

When will it be worth sampling?

[Pinto]

Try a sample now It should be good already and it'll only get better

[fxrs]

Try a sample now It should be good already and it'll only get better

Now that is good advice