Home brewing kits ....

Hi guys, I started a St Peters Golden Ale 2 can set yesterday and wanted to check about adding the yeast...

Last time I did a brew my mate helped and we just sprinkled the yeast on top and then left it. But I checked a few videos online yesterday and they stirred the yeast in, which is what I did in the end. Is there a right/wrong way? Worried I may have balls me brew up!

Cheers
 
It makes a huge difference, the yeast should be hydrated in 10ml per 1g of dried yeast.

Use pre-boiled water @ 25-30°C and a sanitised container and sprinkle the yeast in to it without stirring and let it rest for 15mins then stir in to a milky solution it may take 5 mins or so for it all to dislodge from the spoon. Leave for 5 mins stir again and then bring the solution within 6° of the wort temp and pitch ASAP (without stirring).

The reason being is that the yeast need a lot of oxygen to keep them healthy during initial stages far more that what is available in the wort.

Using this method should result in close to 100% living cells from the dried yeast where as pitching the dry yeast direct to the wort will kill about 50%.

The only downside is that you risk infection by adding another step to the process and that prob why it's recommended to pitch dry.
 
^^ Ok, so it appears there are much more advanced methods of pitching the yeast! Howeve as the kit instructions simply state 'add the hop extract and the yeast' I presume it is not critical to do it the advanced way - just more reliable?

I was more concerned that I may have written off my brew before it had even started. Hopefully not!
 
No it's not critical but I would be pitching 11g yeast packet if the kit comes with about 5g then use 2 identical packets of the 5g yeast or ditch it and buy an 11g pack. I would not recommend stirring as the floating yeast will get some time to breath oxygen from the air.
 
I pitch mine on top of the usual cold break foam and leave for 10 minutes, then I stir it in. I've been tempted to rehydrate it but so far haven't tried that method. I will this coming winter when I make two identical batches to see if there is any difference in the brew :)
 
Gave in and ordered one of the best of British English ale kits and a screwtop fv from Wilko. Might have a go at batch priming now i have 2 containers.

I'm a bit concerned how these kits are the only ones that haven't been snapped up like the Wherry and Wilko own brand...
 
There are still kits in store @ Wilko.

Bought the Cooper's Stout and Cooper's English Bitter and loads of other stuff for only £19... bargain. Although I should have bought the Wherry for £9, very reliable kit that.
 
Can anyone help with the sugar I'm using in the fermentation?

In previous 1 can brews that require extra sugar, I've been using dextrose monoydrate - is this any good?

I was wondering whether I can get a better flavour by using either regular granulated sugar, a brown muscovado sugar, or honey? Perhaps I could do 50% dextrose monohydrate and the rest a mix of other sugars?
 
Yea i added DME to my Coopers Stout, it really is a great alternative to dextrose.

Btw. if anyones looking for a idea for their next brew, if you haven't tried it, may i steer you down the road of the Coopers Stout. I cant rate it highly enough, mines gone bloody strong too.
 
Kimi said:
Yea i added DME to my Coopers Stout, it really is a great alternative to dextrose.

Btw. if anyones looking for a idea for their next brew, if you haven't tried it, may i steer you down the road of the Coopers Stout. I cant rate it highly enough, mines gone bloody strong too.
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i'm going to try ditch's recipe from jims homebrew as i picked up 2 half pricers on monday. really getting into my stout now since the double stout from hook nortons brewery tour the other week.
 
Seems like the Wilko sale is over, went in there tonight and nothing on special offer any more.

And they were sold out of spraymalt / DME... so might order online. Any recommendations on cheap & reliable suppliers?
 
Brew #2 - Woodforde's Wherry

This has been in the bottle a little over a week but needed to see how it was coming along.

Head retention was pretty poor and the clarity isn't very good either, both of which should improve over time.

The flavour though, wow, it tastes amazing, a very toffee/treacle twang to it. Looking forward to trying it in a month or two (if it lasts that long!).

I found the sediment to be very loose comapred to my first brew, the Coopers Canadian Blonde, at the same age. If I were to do this kit again (which is very likely) would it be worth trying a different yeast? I appreciate the sediment will also improve over time, I just like to tinker :)


Woodfordeswherry800.jpg
 
Punt said:
Head retention was pretty poor and the clarity isn't very good either, both of which should improve over time.

The flavour though, wow, it tastes amazing, a very toffee/treacle twang to it. Looking forward to trying it in a month or two (if it lasts that long!).

I found the sediment to be very loose comapred to my first brew, the Coopers Canadian Blonde, at the same age.
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I'm finding this with the sediment as well. Some of the bottles it has settled to the bottom and the beer is clear, but some there is still sediment floating about in it.

tried another after 4 weeks in the bottle and it is tasting very good. Also smells really nice. I think 1 carb drop wasn't enough though as it was a little flat. I might try 1 1/2 next time.
 
I used 2 in my 500ml bottles for my Coopers lager and that was perfect for a lager style beer. It started off a bit like a soft drink, but then after a few months the bubbles reduced in size and made a nice creamy head.

So I thought that using 1 per 500ml would be fine for an ale, but it seems to be lacking a bit of fizz. I don't really get any head, but then again a lot of the ales I have tried recently don't have much of a head, so maybe its right.

seabiscuit said:
Put the Bulldog Brews Pennine Peak in the fermenter last night. Was a lovely rich malt smell and a brilliant colour. Really looking forward to it.
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Have you tried any of this yet?
 
Yes, and it's not bad. It's certainly nice enough, but I was hoping for something better. It has a nice rich malt taste, almost like treacle, but it's somehow slightly bland.
I'm not sure if we didn't use the supplied hop pellet teabag properly, but it doesn't have much hop aroma as I was hoping.
I'm not sure though if it's the kit, or because we've been doing more hopped beers as all grain.
We've got the Bulldog Brew IPA fermented, and now in a barrel conditioning and clearing. Both of these brews took/taking a long time to clear. The yeast doesn't seem hugely floculant.
One good thing is that they seem to include a proper 11g sachet of yeast rather than a 7g little thing.
We've got a Brewpacks Pride of Yorkshire Birkby Bitter in the fermenter at the moment, which is a kit we used to think was one of the best available (at least that we've tried), so it will be interesting to see what we make of it now, as I'm not sure if it is just the Bulldog kits are only nice enough, or if it's that I've got used to all grain over kits anyway.
Hopefully MrsS can add her $0.02 here soon too.
 
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