First brew imminent - looking for some guidance...

[moco]

Hi All,

Thanks for the welcome in the guestbook!

I am about to embark on my first brew for a long time - about 15 years or so. I am amazed to see the level of enthusiasm and knowledge out there about homebrewing - I thought it had dwindled off but it looks like there is a remarkable resurgance of activity... Bravo to that!

I used to successfully make 3kg kits (in a single large, fat tin - I can't remember the brand) with a bit of dry-hoppping thrown in for fun. 2 fermenters and 2 "beer-sphere" barrels on rotation. Those were the days!

Beer-wise I generally like light-coloured, hoppy session beers. Doombar, Landlord, Harvey's Olympia, Hopback Crop Circle, that kind of thing.

I'm starting anew (no old kit lying about any more) would like to check a couple of things with you guys first.

I have a Woodforde's 3Kg Admiral's Reserve Kit and bucket, hydro, syphon tube etc.

I have some questions for the panel:

- I am planning to use a bleach solution followed by a rinse for cleaning. I have been given some Young's steriliser and cleaner, contents contain "Sodium Metasilicote" rather than the Metabisulphite I expected. Would this be ok to post-rinse a bleach solution to neutralise the chlorine, or should I look for Metabisulphite?

- Do I need an airlock, or will a partially unclipped bucket lid be OK, say a quarter unclipped when busy fermentation and clipped (but not airtight) after that?

- Given what I've read about Woodforde's getting stuck, should I use a different yeast, or a yeast nutrient?

- Should I dry-hop or go with the kit ingredients only this time?

- The instructions don't mention a boil, neither does http://www.18000feet.com/how/H2HB2.htm - so can i assume it is not necessary?

Thanks a lot guys, I'll keep you posted on progress, as I have found other newbie's photos to be of great interest...

[moco]

Thanks for that, Daab.

Well, it's made,following (mostly) http://www.18000feet.com/how/H2HB2.htm.

Sterilising, I went for a bleach solution. I was confused by H2BB2 saying "The bleach is diluted in cold water at a rate of 3ml per Litre and the equipment soaked for 20 mins" and his cleaning and sanitising page saying "For cleaning, a 20% solution should be made up, 1L bleach to 5L of water". 0.3% or 20%? i guess it comes down to cleaning vs. sanitising. As my gear was new I went for about a 1% solution and a good scrub of everything. I never realised how dirty our can-opener was: I boiled it with the malt tins for good measure!



Rinsed all with Sodium Metabisulphate solution, as I hate TCP, and rinsed again.

Following H2HB2 I heated the malt tins and rinsed out with boiling water. Following DaaB, I boiled all this liquid for about 6 mins also - I always used to and it seemed right... How else do you get the house infused with that malty smell?



I treated about 15 litres of tapwater with half a camden tablet, stirred and left for 10 mins, then added the malt and powdered hop extract provided, and gave it a good long aerating whisking. I waited about an hour for it to approach 30c.



I had earlier chucked the packet yeast in with some pre-boiled water at 30c, and after (by now) about 90 mins it looked like this:



Not as exciting as I had hoped, but some activity visible. In my haste I pitched it in and then took a temperature reading from the fermenter - 31c - hopefully not too hot to kill it. Why did I wait an hour and then do it too soon??!! Anyway, all the froth is now gone, the surface completely clear, except for, what's that!- A little bikini atoll of bubble in the middle!!

Here's hoping...

[moco]

Now why didn't those pictures work??

[oxford brewer]

Pitching at 31c wont hurt IMO and i dont know why the pics dont work but am keen to see them.
Hope the brew turns out ok for you

[moco]

Cheers, Daab, I'll make sure I resize my pics appropriately next time. Thanks for the H2HB2 also - you are a star.

My little atoll has gone, at 5 hours the wort surface was entirely clear of bubbles , but now, at 6 hours, is 4/8 tiny bubbles

It's a bl**dy roller-coaster ride, this game!

[J_P]

Glad to see you're back in the saddle moco. You won't go far wrong following Daabs advice - we all do!

[moco]

16 hours in, it is looking good. The foam must have hit the FV lid initially judging by the brown deposits:



Inside looking healthy too:



It ended up bit more than the 23 litres recommended, over 25l if you can trust the FV markings, and at 30c the hydro was reading about 1036, so I am guessing 1038 as the SG. The kit suggests a 4.5 abv but this sounds like it is going to come in weaker, which is fine by me, as long as it is not too thin.

I can't do anything with it now until Sunday at the earliest, so it will be left in peace for now. In the meantime I'm going to read up on hopping for the secondary fermentation.

Thanks again for all the advice and encouragement.

Edit: Fixed pictures

[moco]

The Primary is ticking along nicely, at about 1018 after 3 days and lots of fizzy activity.

I have some East Kent Goldings, and planned to dry-hop in the barrel, but after reading some posts wonder if I should dry-hop in the Primary?