P.D's Brewery.

Racked my brews off today. The 5 gall cider has gone into a wine FV under an air lock and moved into the corner on the concrete floor and will be left for several weeks. Sheesh its dry and tart...still cloudy'
My two x 5 gallons of IPA were racked into clean FV's and away from all the rubbish and dead yeasts etc. The muck really stuck to the Kraussen rings and took some cleaning. The oldest one sure whiffs of eggs ! I hope that goes soon, but it looks clean and tastes fine.
The newest brew does not smell half as bad and again looks and tastes O.K. SG = 1.012 so its more or less finished and will probably be bottled from this FV and will be primed in the bottle.
So I treat myself to a bottle of my original IPA and watched the German Grand Prix This brew was bottled 29 June and has turned out great. Full carbonation throughout the drink, a good pure white clean head that lasts the whole drink. Nice and clear too, to say it wasn't racked off at all until bottling the minute amount of sediment in the bottle is unnoticeable when drinking.
So that's the first 2 gallons of my wifes birthday brews nearly made I', just waiting for enough bottles to become free think I might have a wander down to my lhbs tomorrow and get a couple of dozen. I collected 6 empty clear coke bottles from the bins at work last night which will go towards the cider brew eventually.
Hmmmm now I've typed this should I treat myself to another IPA before a late Sunday lunch....

Bottled 5 gal of IPA birthday booze off today, its the one that smelled terrible the other day. Got to admit by the time I reached the 40th bottle I could again smell it !.. still it looks and tastes ok so fingers crossed I've kept the smell out of the bottle.. :)
To bottle the above I had to call at my lhbs and get another 2 dozen PET bottles as I wanted this brew and the other IPA to look alike for the party and not have a mishmash of bottles.... Soooooo while I was there....... I bought a Coopers Stout and a Coopers English Bitter which I'll be making up tomorrow, helped by my son. Was thinking of making a lethal stout as the recipe somewhere on here i.e 2 cans of stout 1kg spray malt 1kg dextrose plus a dash of ground coffee, but I'd spend enough ! besides I haven't made a Coopers Stout before so I'd better see how it goes with one can first. Treat myself to a St.Peters red ruby at the end of the session... getting more like a pint of " Bitter " each day.
Oh it looks like my wife can have her airing cupboard back for a while. I've put a long shelf up in the garage which is at ceiling height and allows 80+ bottles to stand. I've had a thermometer up there all day ( nice and sunny ) and the temp is showing 27-28 degrees so its suitable for bottle conditioning for a couple of weeks before they are brought down to the concrete floor. No need for damp underpants for a while..... :party:

Well we toiled away in the noon day heat temps well into the 30 degrees by mid afternoon, does salt from your sweat affect the beer... I'm sure a drop or two must have fallen in.
First thing this morning I had to go to my lhbs...again... I forgot some steriliser yesterday...Had a nice glass of Merlot in the shop.
Anyway's we got the Coopers Stout and the English Bitter kits started off. The stout is a nice looking and smelling concentrate. Both had OG readings of 1.044 I contemplated boosting the stout up but in the end left it alone. Pitching temps were a little high ( 24 degrees ) but that was due to the mini heatwave we are having and would have meant a long wait to get the temps down to my usual 21 degrees.
The Cerveza bottles have hardened up and the beer looks clean in the bottle so we had one between us... Mmmmm quite nice, and better with a drop of lime juice cordial in the glass, sat in the sun in the garden. My few apple cider with lime bottles ( 7 in all ) has also decreased by one bottle. This is much improved from its hard lime taste when bottled on the 9th July. I think seeing as I've a couple of demi jon's free I'll start 2 x 1 gallons of this off. My 5 gallon cider seems not to want to clear in the large air locked Fv at the moment. the 1 gallon brew came out very clear at bottling time.

A day without brewing..... is a day wasted. by piddledribble

So seeing as I'd got three spare demi jon's I decided they would be better stood with some cider in them.
Nothing fancy apple juice and a bit of cranberry juice, together with tsp of tannin malic acid and nutrient, to boost the abv I added 250gms of sugar to each brew.
Both OG came out at 1.062...nice.
I only had one packet of cider yeast to hand so a couple of hours before making the cider up I split the yeast into two plastic mugs with a bit of sugar and water, by the time my brews were ready for it both yeasts were bubbling like mad and eager for the off.

I've got one demi jon now left free.... and tomorrow.... er.... have to decide....

Wife has made a steak and ale pie for tea tonight so a couple of bottles of Dark Ale jumped into the fridge to be ready for it... hmmmm

Sounding good!

Hmmm...Steak and ale washed down with dark ale. :

yes both the pie and the ales went down lovely. I'm very easily pleased in the pleasures of life.

Racked off my Stout and Bitter today both very nearly finished working, both went down to Fg of 1.012 so have a % abv of 4.0 will leave them another few days in the 2nd FV The two ciders are bubbling away merrily. and I've still got 1 DJ empty as I've no yeasts in my kit bag, and I dare not go to the lhbs shop again this week ... I like my body parts where they are thank you.....

just had a small glass of the cider and lime I made the beginning of July, the one I over cooked with lime...
Well its still limey... its a lot more mellow though than it was. I also tried it with a dash of cranberry juice added to the glass.... lovely. That'll do me its very refreshing.

Last brew started for a few weeks as I'm running out of storage space. Picked up a Munton's Midas Touch Golden Ale as there seems to be a few good comments on the forum. Its a two can kit so no extra sugars required ( and consequently it carries a high price ! ). I'll let you know how it goes.

Well I was brave this evening...... I bottled a Better brew IPA on the 23 July intending it to be part of my party session drinks at the end of September. I was not happy with it as it was fermenting as it was giving off some awful smells, that penetrated through the garage into the house. By the time bottling came around I was intending to dispose of it as we were getting concerned with its nauseating smell. However it looked all right and tasted fine seeing it had only finished fermenting, so I decided to bottle it and see how it went. Well I was impatient to see if the brew was to be saved or discarded to give me time to get another brew ready....
The result of the taste..................... well it went fzzz on opening, a nice head formed and plenty of carbonation it was good and clear with no cloudiness present, and the smell ? it was still there, fortunately it has reduced a lot in the few days its had in the bottle, but it's still noticeable. Its not a nauseating smell any more, but there is a perceptible pong !
Still it has to be remembered its still very young in bottle, beers do change during conditioning, so its got a reprieve. Buried at the back of the stash it will remain hopefully to improve.
I'm disappointed as it's been my first failure as such since I returned to home brewing at the end of March this year, and its something that I don't understand. It smelt wrong all the way through fermentation unlike the other two brews of the same beer, they were all brewed the same the temps were the same... so I don't know what caused it....... oh well lets wait and see.

The above brew has earned the nickname " Eggy Ale ".....

The Muntons Midas Touch has settled down to a steady ferment after unsuccessfully trying to escape the fermenting vessel, time to clear the Kraussen ring later today after watching the Olympic rowing. A word of warning here to all new beer brewers..... don't be tempted to taste the foam on a vigorous ferment !
I did...... :sick: took a day to get rid of the very bitter burning taste in my mouth. shan't be doing that again.

Not something I've ever fancied doing, so I'll learn from your experience there Piddle!

My Coopers Stout bottled on the 28th July seems to be coming along ok. I do like these pet beer bottles, you can get a feeling for how the brews carbonating and clearing with them. At the time of bottling I filled a clear 500ml coke bottle with the brew as a sampler, the rest going into my normal 500ml amber pet bottles. The sample bottle was looked at the brew looked fine, the bottle was hard showing carbonation and shining a torch light through the clear bottle it seemed to be a clear brew.
So, impatient bugger I am I decided to taste it, telling myself well if its **** I've got to remember its only 9 days old, so can't expect too much.
Wow !!
Great light coffee coloured head, correct amount of fizz and the taste was very very good, like a warm Guinness :thumb: well it hadn't been placed into the fridge for any time at all.
I'm very pleased with it and so 20 bottles have been placed straight into the birthday party stash to be kept untouched till the end of September.
The Muntons Midas Touch which was racked yesterday, has thrown yet another large deposit visible through the walls of the FV and appears to have almost ceased fermenting, will leave it a few more days before deciding whether to rack again or just bottle.
Started a gallon of Blackberry and Nettle tea bag wine off, for a little bit of fun and within three hours is bubbling away merrily., lovely smell from the tea bags as they were being infused.
Looks like my next brew is sorted, son has declared the St Peters Red Ruby Ale as the best tasting of the brews made and seeing as they are nearly depleted he is buying a new one. Well he has drunk most of them !

Here's a quick shot of the Blackberry and Nettle Tea Bag wine fermenting away nearlyl on its own, a rare moment my FV are empty.........apart from the newly set off Muntons

Just finished drinking a Westons Scrumpy Cider 7.5% and very dry bought from Morrisson's at an incredible price of £2.75p.

Incredible because it was 2 litres and came in a glass 2 litre demi jon....... :P

P.S. the cider was ****.

Mr brew number 18 Munton's Midas Touch Golden Ale, was bottled today after being racked on the 050812. The brew was lovely and clear as it went into the bottle and surprisi9ngly a big deposit had been thrown since it was racked.
As is normal all went into 500ml brown pet bottles except one that was put into a clear coke bottle. This is my quality control sample that will enable me to see how it goes on. FG came out at 1.012 giving me a %abv of around 5.6 by my rough calculations.The full 23 litres was made this time and I've ended up with a nice little stash in the airing cupboard to condition for a few weeks.

That munton's sounds nice PD - looking forward to hearing how it tastes once conditioned.

Muntons Old Conkerwood Ale... what a great name.
Started this brew off, no problems very easy to do due to it being a 2 can ( toucan ? ) kit, therefore no sugars to be added. As is my norm when brewing a new kit ( to me ) I made it exactly as per the instruction with no deviations or additions.
Plenty of stirring before the yeast added and there's a good head of foam produced, yeast sprinkled on the top. Smells wonderful.
OG is 1.052 and the yeast pitched at 21 degrees.
This afternoon I intend to start off the St.Peters Red Ruby Ale. This will be my 2nd batch of this kit, the first was a great success and well liked so again I will make no alterations to it, as it suits us just fine as it is. Well that's the intention but having switched over from night shift, lack of sleep and probably a big Sunday lunch today the brew might get put back till later this evening.... :)
Moved my Munton's Midas Touch from the warm airing cupboard into the garage ( temps there are staying above 24 degrees at the moment ) the plastic bottles are rock hard, the beer looks lovely and clear with only a tiny bit of deposit thrown. When the bottles are finally moved to the garage floor in a week or so's time no doubt a little more deposit will be thrown. Looking forward to trying this one.
Have sneaked my control sample of the Coopers English Bitter finished a few days ago and have placed it on the garage floor to cool slightly for a tasting later today, its still very young, but what the heck. I'm trying not to use my fridge for a while as I've noticed quite a few beers go a little cloudy when placed in there for any length of time.


Is there only me kit brewing ?

Is there only me kit brewing ?

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Looking at the kit review section loads of folk are kit brewing but few post their brew days which is a shame.

This afternoon I intend to start off the St.Peters Red Ruby Ale

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Enjoy :party: :drink:

Just had a small glass of my dwindling stock of Red Ruby Ale. Oh I hope this second batch turns out as good.
A beautiful clear sparkly drink, great creamy head, bubbles till the end. Leaving you with the feeling.................... I want MORE.

Is there any better sight first thing in a morning.
Two fermenting vessels complete with brews showing nice thick foamy heads.

Conkerwood and Red Ruby are on their way..........