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Krlsrrll

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Hi all

Am very new to homebrewing as got a kit at christmas and just started my third attempt (stout) just yesterday. Had varying success, 1st was 'geordie lager' which was barely drinkable but the real ale I did next I still am enjoying.

I am just using a fairly basic kit from Wilco, not experimented past the instructions but was wondering something ... the stout I have says to brew for a week in a bucket then transfer to bottle. I haven't the space or resources so have been doing the next stage in a barrel and just taking a 2 litre bottle at a time ... can you do that with stout?

Can find out the make etc if need be just seemed weird the other 2 mentioned bottle or barrel but stout just says bottle.

Also if I do have to do bottles, will 2 litre ones be fine? Thinking of getting a load of cheap water from tesco, emptying and sterilising them ready.

Thanks in advance, and apologies if this is all a bit basic.

Regards
 
Once I start bottling I bottle the lot as to bottle I have to allow air into the fermentor. This has at times been a problem and when short of bottles I have put some beer into demijohns until bottles are available idea being air above brew is very limited.

When I did a Lager I realised it would take a long time so I did the secondary fermenting in demijohns this could have been 5 litre water bottles with air locks does basic same thing. This means 40 pints split into 6 so now yes you can bottle one demijohn at a time.

If we split it into three sections we have.
1) Kit mixed up and fermentation started in a 30 litre container no real option to do anything else.
2) Transfer before fermentation is complete, but after sure all fully mixed, with a brew expected to take 14 days transfer around day 7 will reduce sediment, and remove krausen deposit, but care required not to aerate too much during transfer which means not too much space above the beer still requires air lock but can split into smaller lumps i.e 4.5 litres in a demijohn which likely means 5 or 6 lots and so also 5 or 6 air locks.
3) Bottle this means adding sugar in some form to each bottle to get CO2 into each bottle not bottled until s.g. has reached set level and air lock stopped bubbling.

Using plastic pop bottles does allow errors to be identified due to bottle becoming turgid before bottle goes bang so good idea. But once you start to bottle a lot then you must do it all. To stop half way down a fermentor or demijohn means you have added air and this must be expelled. So unless you have some method of adding CO2 it's all or nothing.

When transferring to second fermentor it is done before it has stopped fermenting so any air is expelled and once finished sugar is added to bottle so again air is expelled. But to bottle bit at a time will draw air into the fermentor which will likely damage the brew.

I am new myself so wait for another reply and see if they confirm what I am saying.
 
Excellent advice from ericmark, all I can add is this:

1. If you use transparent bottles, it is imperative that you keep it out of sunlight. Sunlight will destroy it and even keeping your brew in a garage will leave it susceptible if your garage is anything like mine. If you can, invest in some opaque/brown bottles. I bought 144 coopers 500 mil bottles for about 50 quid, but you can possibly pick up yours for nothing if you ask nicely at your local pub.
Having opaque bottles really is that important.

2. I used to use 2 litre bottles as well but found that once the bottle was opened you had to drink all 2 litres. The air gap left by drinking just a pint, say, forces the rest of the bottle to go flat. Often drinking all 2 litres was not a problem but on occasion it can be.
 
Oh and one more thing - no question is ever too basic. Some of the guys on here are real aficionados but even the experts are still learning. That's the great thing about home brewing: no-one knows it all because there is still so much to learn! Budweiser have been brewing for 120 years - do you think they have fully mastered the craft or do you think their brew could be improved somehow?
Experiment a little (even do daft things like throw some chocolate in there or whatever!) and find what works for you.

Just have fun doing it.
 
The skunking caused by sunlight with beer containing hops has been stopped by some brewers by using a special process with the hops Miller is one such company hence Miller beer is in clear bottles.

As to how much this really affects a beer I don't know. While in fermentor gases are released through air lock once bottled this is not the case. We are told you should not drink ones beer outside in the sun because of this skunking but personally I have never noticed the smell.

Brews without hops are not affected so drinking cider in the sun is OK. How much bottle colour is to stop skunking and how much is for presentation I don't know. Using old Baileys bottles is a pain can't see when full until it over flows. Also had problems with old Baileys bottles not being clean enough so there is always a trade off.

I use pop bottles kept in shed without noticing a problem. That does not mean some one else would not notice skunking. I don't rip off original label as always leaves a sticky bit behind. And I do stick my own label over original so not total see through.

Lucky did use pop bottles with Ginger Beer as did get that one wrong and pressure got too high and had to return to fermentor for a week. Regular brews not a problem done that many Geordie Bitters with extra sugar I know what s.g. to expect so will not bottle above 1.005 but new brews are a problem. Best is when you think they are ready give it another week and keep a record of s.g. so next time you can look back to see value expected.
 
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First off thanks for the replies and advice. I have been wanting to brew my own beer for years but due to financial issues from long-term illness just could never get the stuff together ... thank goodness for family and thoughtful christmas presents :)

I think I sort of follow it all, by the sounds of it I should be fine bottling the lot in 1 go after the 1st week is done. Clear 2l bottles will be fine but best kept out of direct sunlight but with a little sugar inside.

I am doing all my brewing in a cupboard under the stairs, barrel is currently on top of a fridge (about 2 to 3 feet off the ground) so was going to clear a space and store all the bottles once siphoned on the floor in a corner.

Question though, how do you siphon into bottles effectively without making a complete mess off it? I have just a simple tube but is there something cheap I can get to make it easier?
 
Bottling after a week is the kind of advice they give you in the kit instructions, and is wrong!
Leave it at least 2 weeks to finish fermenting and clear. That way you end up with much less sediment in the bottles. This sometimes gets disturbed when pouring and you don't want that. Hopefully you have a hydrometer to check that the gravity is steady for a couple of days before bottling to make sure the fermentation is all over?
 
I don't have one, tbh was just following the kit instructions. Checked and they seem to only be a few quid so will look into getting one for this brew.
 
I'm new to this to, but from my very limited experience so far it's worth your while to pick up a turkey baster, trial jar, bottle brush as well. Wilko's sell them all and they have free shipping on ATM!
 
for thr price youd pay for all those bottles you may as well invest in a cheap pressue barrell, transfer after two weeks in the primary with a 120g dme solution to prime, leave in a warm room for a week and then somewhere cold for 3 more weeks, good to go, unless youre drinking 4 pints a night (like me) you will have no carb problems, if you are then get a barell with a co2 injector. Stout is fine in a barrell and i regularly make them, corny kegs for me, but the same principle.
 
Ah a pressure barrel I do have, has the remnants of my real ale in at the moment but it's matured nicely so prob won't last a week.

What's is a 120g dme? Previously I just siphoned straight from the bucket into the barrel, left for 3 weeks then poured straight into 2l bottles and put in fridge to drink topping up as I go.

Sorry for the ignorance.
 
DME is Dried Malt Extract - it's a malt based alternative to sugar - well worth using in place of sugar when you're making your kit. Personally I would just use sugar for priming.

So you'd want between 80 and 120g of sugar in a barrel for 40 pints - I'd go nearer to the 80 for a stout. Dissolve it in a little bit of water and boil for 5 mins just to kill any nasties then put this in the bottom of the barrel and siphon the beer on top. This then sits somewhere warm for at least a week - preferably 2, then goes somewhere cool for a month - longer if you can. A secondary fermentation will take place in the warm that will carbonate your beer and protect it with a layer of CO2.

Your beer will really benefit from longer in the fermenter - at least 2 weeks, even 3 is fine, and longer in the barrel before you drink it.
 
Thatrs brilliant thanks. I have been outting a small amount of sugar in each bottle but will definitely put some in the barrel then after a few weeks bottle it all in 1 go.

So have done lager, ale and stout ... any difference in the procedure when doing cider?
 
To chill it, cupboard I store the pressurised barrel in is normal room temperature.
 
What you seem to have been doing is using your pressure barrel as a secondary fermenter. Nothing wrong with that some people choose to it that way
BUT
If you're going to do it that way then you do want to put sugar in each bottle and let the secondary happen in the bottle, or batch prime, in other words put the sugar in water as earlier, into the barrel then into bottles straight away. In effect you're just using the barrel as a bottling bucket.
What I don't think will work is carbonating in the barrel and then bottling. You'll get loads of foam, most of the fizz will be lost, you'd waste lots of beer in froth and the rest would be flat.
In your position I'd put it in the barrel, prime and carbonate (by leaving 2 weeks in the warm) then mature. If I wanted it chilled then a couple of hours before drinking I'd take a bottle full from the barrel and chill that before drinking. If you can find a short length of tubing that will push into your barrel tap and let you fill from the bottom of the bottle upwards you'll get less foam and it'll be much easier to fill a bottle.
 
Hi
I generally brew for the keg, and bottle any excess, storing the bottles at room temperature. For a chilled bottled beer, I put 2 glasses in the freezer. When chilled, I fill the first one from the bottle, then wait (generally not long enough!) for heat transfer to take place to drink chilled beer. The next refill uses the glass in the freezer, whilst the first one is rinsed and replaced there. And so on. It works ok (but I'm glad I've got my beer chiller...).

Cheers,
Chris
 
To siphon I find you need at least a 9 inch head at end of siphon so 9 inches from bottom of fermentor to top of bottle. This however assumes you will not turn it off for more than a few seconds. Beer will contain gas and any siphon will cause a depression so will suck the gas out of the beer and cause siphon to be lost if not enough head.

I transfer fermenter to fermenter half way at that point no tap and I found 5 foot too short just got a 6 foot tube to get that extra head.

When going to bottles I use an in line tap as to starting siphon either fill with water and turn off tap then put in beer and discard first bit with water or suck the latter could cause infection but up to now I have been lucky.

With 6 foot of tube and a 20 inch head it is easy can control with the tap. I did just bend the tube to stop between bottles and with enough tube yes it works but end up with a rapid siphon which will likely transfer a lot of sediment. Used a clamp but only controlled rate would not turn off still had to kink tube and with 5 foot not enough tube to play with. 6 foot likely OK. Again bottles are lined up ready and where different height 5 foot was a problem reaching every bottle.

Can't really blame my wife tube was really for her wine which was in lower units so 5 foot was OK.
 
Ok, so after 2 weeks I transferred it to a pressure barrel tonight after putting 80gm of sugar dissolved into water in first. Will leave for 3 to 4 weeks then pour straight from the barrel.

Question: How do you pour from a pressure barrel without undoing the lid or is that the way you do it? First timeI tried it dribbled out so slow until I undid the lid.

Or should I undo the lid and just bottle it into 2l bottles?
 
No there should be enough pressure inside the barrel from the secondary ferment to dispense at least half of the barrel a pint at a time - this is how your pressure barrel is intended to be used. This keeps your beer under a layer of CO2 which keeps it 'fresh'. As soon as you crack the lid or it glugs air in through the tap you're exposing it to oxygen and it will deteriorate pretty quickly
 
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