Aphid, I posted about yeast problems a couple of weeks ago entitled "Should I Ditch it....?"
Have a read through that if you want to learn from my mistake and also to see how it has gone. Some great comments, too, from other forum members. Mine only got going properly after nearly 2 weeks!! Time will tell what it'll turn out like, but I'm very glad I persevered.
As to my first brew, it was also a Woodfordes Wherry. Came out really nice, and I bottled it in 2l sparkling mineral water bottles.
I progressed on to kits with hop additions, then to some where you steep grains to make a tea to add to the brew, then on to kits with some boiling on the stove with hops, before topping up with dried malt extract (sticky mess ensued), and finally to all-grain, which I am now doing. I mostly bottle, but do the odd keg when it is empty, about every six months. I try to brew monthly and use a bench capper - fantastic.
Useful bits of kit - a turkey baster for taking samples for testing gravity reading. Heavy duty cardboard boxes for bottle storage (full and empty) - I use jacket potato boxes from my local farm shop. Free and fit 20 bottles perfectly. Two boxes per brew. Finally I have made fermenting fridge which I got on Gumtree for ���ã40, plus an inkbird temperature controller, and a greenhouse tube heater (Birthday presents) and then some plywood to build a support for the FV, and I can control the fermentation temp to within a degree.
Good luck. It seems to me like you're doing everything right.
Oh, and a large supply of old towels to go on the floor near the sink while I'm cleaning and sanitising. What a mess.
Right. Got some gardening to do.
Dog.
