Hi All !
Justin from South Africa ! Please excuse me if I ramble, but I haven't been as excited about anything as I am for home brewing in many moons !
Jumped into the deep end on the weekend with a kit of Coopers Real Ale. Spent the last 2 days on this here forum going through almost every sticky as I've had all the usual noob questions. In fact I've read so much I could probably answer many questions, just don't have the experience to back it up
.
One piece of advice to newer than me noobs - airlocks look cool and groovy, but prep a blow off tube just in case - running around cleaning up foam and trying to make one in the usual first timer panic over potential infection is not fun.
So, to the brew ! The local supplier provided dry malt and suggested ditching the sugar. Dissolved the dry malt in pre boiled water then added the Coopers can. Just because I can't leave stuff alone and thought I should boost the ABV level I added about 200g of Treacle sugar. Yes, yes I know now, but my reading hadn't got me to the sugars section then
Put that mix in the plastic fermented and topped up to 23L with cold tap water. Temp was hovering around 30 deg C so I shook it up for a few mins and left it outside to cool (all sealed and covered)
Had some boiled water that I had been cooling and was just above ambient (guessing 25 deg, but I'll measure more accurately next time.) Dumped the yeast in to re hydrate while the wort was cooling.
30 mins later the wort was down to 25 deg which is in the published range for pitching and I was worried about leaving the yeast rehydrating with no sugars so pitched !
Carried into my pub area which is it's final resting place. Put the airlock on and waited. Not realizing I should take the OG reading before yeast I did it after and it was 1.036 at 25 deg if I did it correctly.
Woke up the next morning and the temp had dropped down to 19 deg, but I could see pressure in the vessel though no bubbles so tried not to panic and left it.
During the day temp increased to 21 deg (on the stick on thermo) and that's where it's stayed. Cant recall exactly when the bubbles started but by early evening it was pushing a bubble a second (which means nothing I know now, but that sounds like a it should be a major milestone when you a green horn like me )
Would have liked the temp a little lower, but over the last two days it's blown Krausen out the airlock and I have constant stream of bubbles so I'm slowly letting the temp drop back down to 19. I suspect the stick on thermo is not accurate enough and the temp was on the high side. From what I've read I'll probably try my best to resist the first brew noob urge of bottling too soon so it spends some time on the yeast cake to mitigate the higher temp fermentation.
I've got three more kits enroute so that will keep me busy and stop me fiddling with this one too much. I've stocked up on as many microbrewery beers as I can find so I can hone my tasting skills and that will also take the pressure off of wanting to try my own (I hope)
Looking forward to learning more here as I venture down the brewing path of discovery !
On a less exciting note me : I have a personal preference for darker ales and stouts, the roasted flavours. Once Ive gotten a few decent brews under my belt Ill look to malting and roasting, but I realize these things cant be rushed. My missus has just recently started appreciating beers and prefers the lighter and sweeter flavours so I guess that gives an excuse to run another brew!
And , even less exciting other hobbies include hunting, fishing , golf and I really do plan to dust the mountain bike soon I promise.
6x9 out !
Justin from South Africa ! Please excuse me if I ramble, but I haven't been as excited about anything as I am for home brewing in many moons !
Jumped into the deep end on the weekend with a kit of Coopers Real Ale. Spent the last 2 days on this here forum going through almost every sticky as I've had all the usual noob questions. In fact I've read so much I could probably answer many questions, just don't have the experience to back it up
.One piece of advice to newer than me noobs - airlocks look cool and groovy, but prep a blow off tube just in case - running around cleaning up foam and trying to make one in the usual first timer panic over potential infection is not fun.
So, to the brew ! The local supplier provided dry malt and suggested ditching the sugar. Dissolved the dry malt in pre boiled water then added the Coopers can. Just because I can't leave stuff alone and thought I should boost the ABV level I added about 200g of Treacle sugar. Yes, yes I know now, but my reading hadn't got me to the sugars section then
Put that mix in the plastic fermented and topped up to 23L with cold tap water. Temp was hovering around 30 deg C so I shook it up for a few mins and left it outside to cool (all sealed and covered)
Had some boiled water that I had been cooling and was just above ambient (guessing 25 deg, but I'll measure more accurately next time.) Dumped the yeast in to re hydrate while the wort was cooling.
30 mins later the wort was down to 25 deg which is in the published range for pitching and I was worried about leaving the yeast rehydrating with no sugars so pitched !
Carried into my pub area which is it's final resting place. Put the airlock on and waited. Not realizing I should take the OG reading before yeast I did it after and it was 1.036 at 25 deg if I did it correctly.
Woke up the next morning and the temp had dropped down to 19 deg, but I could see pressure in the vessel though no bubbles so tried not to panic and left it.
During the day temp increased to 21 deg (on the stick on thermo) and that's where it's stayed. Cant recall exactly when the bubbles started but by early evening it was pushing a bubble a second (which means nothing I know now, but that sounds like a it should be a major milestone when you a green horn like me )
Would have liked the temp a little lower, but over the last two days it's blown Krausen out the airlock and I have constant stream of bubbles so I'm slowly letting the temp drop back down to 19. I suspect the stick on thermo is not accurate enough and the temp was on the high side. From what I've read I'll probably try my best to resist the first brew noob urge of bottling too soon so it spends some time on the yeast cake to mitigate the higher temp fermentation.
I've got three more kits enroute so that will keep me busy and stop me fiddling with this one too much. I've stocked up on as many microbrewery beers as I can find so I can hone my tasting skills and that will also take the pressure off of wanting to try my own (I hope
)Looking forward to learning more here as I venture down the brewing path of discovery !
On a less exciting note me : I have a personal preference for darker ales and stouts, the roasted flavours. Once Ive gotten a few decent brews under my belt Ill look to malting and roasting, but I realize these things cant be rushed. My missus has just recently started appreciating beers and prefers the lighter and sweeter flavours so I guess that gives an excuse to run another brew!
And , even less exciting other hobbies include hunting, fishing , golf and I really do plan to dust the mountain bike soon I promise.
6x9 out !
