Home brewing kits ....

Pesky beer.

Poured off a little of the Wherry a couple of days ago to see how it was getting on. Still really cloudy; next to zero carbonation and quite sweet after a week in the keg. It seems to have absorbed the priming sugar but done nothing with it. I've bunged the heating pad under it and given it a bit of a shake to see if it'll do something.

As for the APA. I opened the window yesterday to help cool it down quicker. I went out to my local CAMRA monthly branch meeting last night and forgot to close it. Also forgot when I came home (possibly due to beer consumed before, during and after the meeting :p). Went through this morning to a distinctly chilly brew room and the APA was at 17.1C :o Closed the window and switched the fan heater on for a few hours and it's now up to about 20C.
 
Stan_Lite said:
Pesky beer.

Poured off a little of the Wherry a couple of days ago to see how it was getting on. Still really cloudy; next to zero carbonation and quite sweet after a week in the keg. It seems to have absorbed the priming sugar but done nothing with it. I've bunged the heating pad under it and given it a bit of a shake to see if it'll do something.

As for the APA. I opened the window yesterday to help cool it down quicker. I went out to my local CAMRA monthly branch meeting last night and forgot to close it. Also forgot when I came home (possibly due to beer consumed before, during and after the meeting :p). Went through this morning to a distinctly chilly brew room and the APA was at 17.1C :o Closed the window and switched the fan heater on for a few hours and it's now up to about 20C.
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My Wherry is still cloudy with zero carbonation, was expecting better even at this early stage.
 
mine was fine, i bottled it though with a teaspoon of sugar in each bottle. carbed up lovely. has your pressure barrel got a leak in it? my king keg did as the screw on the valve was not tight enough. i also forgot to put vaseline around it and the screw threads. i took it off, tightened it up and vased then put back and re gassed. beer was fine after that.
 
silent said:
mine was fine, i bottled it though with a teaspoon of sugar in each bottle. carbed up lovely. has your pressure barrel got a leak in it? my king keg did as the screw on the valve was not tight enough. i also forgot to put vaseline around it and the screw threads. i took it off, tightened it up and vased then put back and re gassed. beer was fine after that.
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Yep, did all I should, its a fault in the barrel where the seem is, not leak but a definite beer smell from that area.
Bottling it tomorrow to try and save it.
They are however sending me a new barrel.

No very happy tbh.
 
Barrel has arrived this morning, I'm pretty impressed.
Think I will still bottle this and use the new barrel for the currently brewing beer.
 
Got my kit from Home Brew Online, Phoned them Thursday mid morning, they were very apologetic and said one would be shipped straight away.

I was surprised by the speed of the replacement.
They have guaranteed my continued custom :)
 
Latest update. The Wherry is finally starting to clear. Still not much carbonation but it's clearing nicely and is starting to taste like beer. Another couple of weeks and it should be just fine.

The APA is nearly ready to keg. I thought it had stalled a few days back but it had just slowed right down. I dry hopped a couple of days ago and the plan is to keg it on Friday (dependent on steady SG) when I get back from an overnight trip to Edinburgh with some mates tomorrow. I have a keg waiting for it.

The porter is nearly finished (just when it's starting to get good :o). I've started another kit - Festival "Landlords Finest Bitter". Got it on today with a starting SG of 1.041; should get me a beer of about 4.3% ABV - a good session ale.

I'm off to work in about 3 weeks so the Landlords will be ready to keg in plenty of time. I'll be away for a month so, by the time I get back, the Wherry and the APA should be spot on and the Landlords should be drinkable. I might have to throw a homebrew party :D

Here's a photo of the nearly done APA on the right and the rather vigorous Landlords on the left.

LyDhVg4.jpg

It's amazing how effective making a yeast starter is compared to sprinkling on the dry yeast. The landlords was bubbling away within a few hours where the others I've done took a day or more to get going properly.
 
Was preparing to keg the APA yesterday. It had been on 1.008 SG for a couple of days before my last post so I thought fermentation had stopped. Checked it yesterday before kegging and it had dropped to 1.006 in the couple of days since I checked it last. Better wait for a bit yet then.
 
Hi, did a Woodfordes Wherry kit yesterday and put my FV in a room I thought would be a good temp (eg between 18' and 24'), but the digital thermometer I placed on top is telling me the min temperature has been 16.8'. Will it still be ok or could this have killed the process? :(
 
It shouldn't kill it, it may increase the risk of a stuck fermentation if the yeast goes to sleep. You may want to rouse the yeast if the cold period was prolonged or it appears the fementation has stalled before reaching FG. But you're robably going to be ok.
 
Thanks, I think it would only have been for a couple of hours and thinking about it, it was the temperature of the room and not of the wort in the fv. I was waiting for it to cool yesterday after making the kit and I found that the temperature took ages to drop, I presume to having the lid on. Now moved to a different room, fingers crossed :)
 
My FV from Wilkinsons doesn't haven't an airlock on top or a grommet for one. I've been looking online and most I see do have airlocks and what I have read has left me more puzzled...

Some people say they are needed, others say not but to leave the lid of the FV just sitting on top for the 'primary' and then clicked on the for the 'secondary'.

For my previous, and not always successful, brews I have just clicked it down for the whole process? Is this 'wrong'. Should I try and find a new FV with airlock?

Any advice appreciated :)
 
So after last year's variable results in brewing I thought I'd try another lot of extract brewing.

I quite fancy trying to make a lower ABV hoppy IPA beer - thinking Beavertown neck oil, brew dog dead pony club, or possibly just going for something like gamma ray. I've read a few recipes, but last time I brewed I used my current stockpot which made it very awkward as it's only around 8l, so I'm looking at moving up to a bigger stockpot to make life a bit easier.

One problem is, I've only got a naff electric hob - Is a 20l pot going to be a bit much for it?
 
Maybe you've already considered this but to be honest moving to AG instead wouldn't be that much hassle or expense compared to getting a giant 20L stock pot. Building your own boiler is very easy/cheap (£30ish). You'll almost certainly have a better time boiling the water and wort with that than a dodgy electric hob. That's certainly my experience anyhow :)
 
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