Second HomeBrew - Wherry

[mattfuzzy]

hey everyone
thought id get on with some more home brewing so i just started preparing for my wherry
just brought some nice cheap water down the shop, 12 x 2L bottles.
kid on the till asks me, what do you need all this water for? i just grinned and said HOMEBREW!!!

just put most (16 - 17L) of the water in my fermenter with half a crushed campden tablet, which im supposed to leave for 24 hours then use?
going to see my grandad tonight to see if he has a hydrometer i could skank as my dear mother dropped mine and it shattered
if not then i guess ill be brewing without one as the internet shops charge the earth for delivery and i have not the money to waste, nor a local homebrew shop.

ill let you know if i make vinegar instead
-matt

[dan_olo]

Look forward to hearing how it turns out. Just out of interest, what was your first brew? How was it?

[mattfuzzy]

first one was a coopers real ale kit made with 1kg of brewing sugar.... urg, i drank 1/4 of it, gave half away and dont know where the rest went
-matt

[dan_olo]

first one was a coopers real ale kit made with 1kg of brewing sugar.... urg, i drank 1/4 of it, gave half away and dont know where the rest went
-matt

Obviously didn't put you off too much!

[sparky Paul]

going to see my grandad tonight to see if he has a hydrometer i could skank as my dear mother dropped mine and it shattered
if not then i guess ill be brewing without one as the internet shops charge the earth for delivery and i have not the money to waste, nor a local homebrew shop.

Haven't you got a Wilkinson's nearby?

Good luck... the Wherry is a damn fine pint!

[mattfuzzy]

ofcorse it isnt gonna put me off, its a means of cheap booze and i believe it can only get better with more experience

yes theres one 7 miles from me and parkings crap so just got one from my grandad last night instead, hope it'll be ok, his brew stuff hasnt been used since the late 70s i believe... back then hydromiters were 97p from boots and wine yeast, sodium and so on were 52p for a load!

just going to start brewage within the next hour
-matt

[sparky Paul]

yes theres one 7 miles from me and parkings crap so just got one from my grandad last night instead, hope it'll be ok, his brew stuff hasnt been used since the late 70s i believe... back then hydromiters were 97p from boots and wine yeast, sodium and so on were 52p for a load!

The hydrometer should be fine, I've got a couple of ancient ones which work perfectly. If you want to check if it's accurate, plop it into some water at around 20° C - it should read 1.000

[StevieR]

just put most (16 - 17L) of the water in my fermenter with half a crushed campden tablet, which im supposed to leave for 24 hours then use?
-matt

Hope all is going well with the Wherry Matt, I kegged mine about 6 weeks ago and its superb Perfectly clear too

Just to let you know though, once you add the campden tablet and ensured that its dissolved, it'll be fine to use....no need to wait 24 hours.

Let us know how is goes.

[mattfuzzy]

just finnished it, hope the yeast isnt dead mind you as i dont have any more at the moment
in comparison wherry smells totaly different to the coopers kits, it stinks!
but hopefully should get going in a few hours with a perfect fermentation right down to 1.010
i think the hydrometer was fine it tested at 1.040 once i added the wort to the water and topped it up.
next job is to rack it to secondary (with a tap) in 10 days and start "testing" then if its still there in a month ill rack it to the corni keg once i get some co2.
-matt

edit: the kits bubbling away fine now, i think, the airlocks going once every minute or so, not much foam at the top but we will see as its only been 6 hours.

second edit: 10 hours in and the airlocks going once every 5 seconds or less god i need more of a life, or i just need to brew more

[mattfuzzy]

hey everyone just a quick update on the wherry.
the airlocks back to going once every 10 - 20 seconds now, tested it and the hydromiter reads 1.010, its been going about 5 - 6 days so far, and as i heard the yeast will canabalise itself and produce some crappy flavors when its ran out of sugar should i rack off?
-matt

[anomalous_result]

Yeast doesn't produce off flavours particularly quickly and there's no hurry. 1.010 is a good FG though I'd wait 24 hours and check it again, just to make sure the yeast has finished, I mean the airlock's still going.

[mattfuzzy]

yea its going once every 1 - 3 minutes now so im guessing another 24 hours itll be done? ill prob rack off at the weekend or something though which would make it about 8 - 9 days BEEER!!!!
-matt