Home brewing kits ....

Mrs Seabiscuit said:
ah thats ok then so my address to post me a bottle is
2 The Old Brewery Works
Mordor
Middle Earth

:D:D
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That would cost a pretty penny to send to i think :D

This Friday is bottling/kegging day wooooo, Had another peak and its gone fairly clear and dark as it should i believe :) so getting close.

Then its a decision to buy another barrel to maybe do another batch, Just ordered the brewing bible so going to have a look though that :)
 
i have recently moved home and back to brewing once again.

1st brew was a woodfordes wherry which is all bottled up and tastes ok, used 2 carb drops per 1 ltr pet which has always been great in the future, but not much life in the brew. bottles seem firm. beer tastes ok but i have now decided i don't really like wherry so it will be the last one.

2nd is black rock golden ale - http://www.colchesterhomebrew.co.uk/colchesterhomebrewshop/prod_3147802-Black-Rock-Golden-Ale.html

i have fermented this but during the later stages i notices some crytals on the side of fermmy bin and i suspect it may be some left over sterilizer - i use the oxygen stuff. it could have been sugar but i doubt it. however, the beer is hardly golden coloured and i tried it at weekend after 2 wks in the keg, nicely carbed up and produces a great head, but it tastes horrid. its more an amber ale than a golden. i wonder if the label got mixed up and its a bitter!! could it be off caused by the sterilizer?

3rd is a double chocolate stout which is now ready for the bottling stage. i have the essence to add yet but not sure i have a pipelet, should i just add it into the fermy bin?

receipe is:

coopers stout kit
1 kilo of brewers sugar
500 gms of extra dark spray malt
100 gms of dark cocoa powder
19 ltrs of water
OG 1043/1045 - couldn't see for sure as too much head!
FG 1010
 
I think I might try an IPA or something next. My last 2 English ales were very bitter. I don't know if they are supposed to be, but it seemed to have a very bitter aftertaste, which got worse half way through the pint. Age didnt make them any better either, seemed to taste exactly the same after 6 months or so.

If this one goes wrong I think i'll leave the brewing to the experts and spend the money on some nice craft beers :o.
 
So today is potentially bottling day :o, looked in there seems to be a lot of foam bubbles still, 3 days ago there was hardly any so not sure if it is ready, or still doing its thing lol.

Will try get a mavity reading later and see if its close to what it should be.
 
Don't go off a recommended final mavity. Take two mavity readings three days apart. If they're the same then it's done. If it's changed, take another one three days later, etc, etc... It's done when it's done :)

Better waiting a few extra days (instructions are a guideline) than bottling too early.

Patience is key!
 
Checked my mavity, it seems to be around 1.22 it kept changing but that seemed to be the average i could see.

I thought id give it a wee taste just a swig it tasted wheaty not sure if this is good or bad haha.

I also did a test to check what the mavity reader is out by and with just water it was 1.01 so not to bad.
 
Etheco said:
Checked my mavity, it seems to be around 1.22 it kept changing but that seemed to be the average i could see.

I thought id give it a wee taste just a swig it tasted wheaty not sure if this is good or bad haha.

I also did a test to check what the mavity reader is out by and with just water it was 1.01 so not to bad.
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at 1.022 that looks like a stuck fermentation, if you can gently rouse the yeast and try keep temps 20-22c for a few days see if it kicks off again.

Yeast may fallen out gone to sleep if temp dropped to low overnight in cold weather we've had, so try your best to keep it in the constant range of 20-22 for 3 days then measure again.

Kits from LME normally finish between 1.006 and 1.0014 .
 
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Etheco said:
Checked my mavity, it seems to be around 1.22 it kept changing but that seemed to be the average i could see.

I thought id give it a wee taste just a swig it tasted wheaty not sure if this is good or bad haha.

I also did a test to check what the mavity reader is out by and with just water it was 1.01 so not to bad.
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Hmm for bottling you want 1.007 or less otherwise the bottle tend to detonate (i.e. the yeast in suspension that doesn't fall out, wakes up in the warm summer, continues to ferment and produces more CO2 than you're expecting).. boom!

The idea is that when you bottle, you add a known controlled dose of sugar to provide a final CO2 pressurisation in the bottle.
 
I am going to recheck the mavity tonight, Its been kept at a pretty constant 22c for 16ish days now, When i tried to check mavity it changed overtime (well within 5-10mins) is this the case? should i just read the first reading i get.
 
I just had to de-cap and pour 44 bottles down the sink. Finally got round to trying my Woodfordes Sundew. Smells and looks absolutely fantastic. Mouthwash tastes better. Literally felt like my mouth was being paint stripped. The first brew from the 20 or so I have done that's gone down the plug hole.

I'm having a year off brewing, I'm still trying to get through the stock I made last year and I want to cut down on my home drinking :)
 
So i am going to check mavity tonight been busy, but just checking how much sugar i need i have the brewing sugar from wilko (dextrose) so i went on Priming Sugar Calculator and it states i need 83.04g of it.

I am going to fully keg the entire brew, so i assume i mix the sugar in some hot water let it cool put it in the fermenter stir carefully and then syphon it in to the keg.
 
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