Recent content by cheapbrew

I can recommend Neil's rhizomes, I enjoyed a beer last night brewed from hops I grew from one of his prima donna's :thumbsup:

Berry is known for high sugar levels and thus strong wine, so if you don't want it too strong go by your hydrometer and not his sugar quantities.

If it looks, smells and tastes ok then I would use it for a starter myself.

If it came straight from the fv then it will have wort/beer with it so I would just leave it as is don't add water, its better stored under beer, in a plastic bottle in the fridge, you can use glass but make sure lid is loose if you don't want glass everywhere.

If you have already built up a supply of yeast then experiment, with my 'house yeast' I use a few tablespoons in 100ml/10g dme to start with if it is reasonably fresh and white looking, if its older and starting to grey after sitting in the fridge awhile then I will use double or triple that...

You are screwing it on the right way anticlockwise?

Have you seen this one? http://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=59917

It sounds like you got the tap screwed the wrong way. Robs guide minus pics here http://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=59404

If you keep it 64 - 68C you wont go far wrong and then you can play with mash temps, times etc on later brews

Assuming you used a lager yeast, I would warm it up for a couple of days to 16-17c just to make sure you have no residual diacetyl, probably be ok as it was fermented at 14 anyway, then prime and bottle, and keep at 16/17 for a couple of weeks, then get as cold as you can but not freezing, it...

There are many ways to brew, just as there are many ways to cook chips, or eggs, everyone has their favourite way, and you can read as many recipes and methods you like but until you do it with your equipment and your way and taste it you will never know So to start with keep it simple follow...

I always have at least one pet bottle from every cider or beer I make, its easy to tell when they have carbed up by the feel, some take only a few days to a week, but others have needed several weeks.

Still early into fermentation, patience, cloudiness is nothing to worry about, and its doing something if its got froth :thumb:

I would add the water now, may help fermentation to finish. And yes adding water will change hydrometer reading, less sugar per litre, but if you followed the standard wow recipe then this is taken into account. What was your recipe and original gravity reading?

I know the feeling, at the start of the year I did two brews, a lager and a bitter and parti-gyled them both, so I ended up with 4 different brews, a long but enjoyable day and a nice selection of beers to boot.