Steve62
Active Member
Started my 1st brew today, a Coopers A IPA kit, got an OG of 1044, now the wait begins lol
My 1st brew
- Thread starter Steve62
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Steve62
Active Member
36 hours on and no activity through the airlock, there's some water droplets on the underside of the lid and the brew is at a steady 20 degrees...should I add more yeast?
Linalmeemow
Landlord.
No, leave it alone.
chub1
Junior Member
Wouldn't worry too much,quite often the airlocks do not show anything. Mine very rarely do.
Steve62
Active Member
ok, will do, thanks
LarryF
Brew Numpty
If the FV is in any way clear look for the Krausen/foam head forming. If there's nothing in a week then look at remedying the situation, put something up on here and you won't be short of advice but in the meantime don't lift the lid. As tempting as it is to have a look, give it a stir etc just leave it alone if you can. For your next brew you could look at ditching the kit yeast and either buying a yeast online or go for the trusty Wilko Gervin yeast. All of these will be 11g packs not the 5-6g packs that come with the kits and kick the brew off better because of it. Saying that yours will be fine with the kit yeast, just give it a day or two.
Steve62
Active Member
Thanks for the advice guys, Larry I bought some wilco yeast yesterday just in case, there's a bit of foam head on the top, my kit is an older coopers one with the screw on lid that's partially see through, I just took an SG reading and its now 1040 from 1044
Saltrock
Middle aged member
Just leave it in the warm and ignore it for a couple of weeks, it will be fine!
Interest to see how yours turns out, I've just binned all my youngs aipa. I can't work out whether it was the dry hop duration or an infection - what ever it was it was very pungent and had a severe home brew twang, even after 3 months in the bottle.
Best of luck with the brewing
Best of luck with the brewing
Steve62
Active Member
Mines Coopers not youngs, I took an SG reading today, it's at 1014 from 1044, I also tasted the sample and it's coming on very well, even swmbo thought it tasted good
Steve stop fukin twiddling leave it alone for two weeks every time you open the lid you take away the co2 blanket, just forget about it until last week in may , then test it.
Steve62
Active Member
I haven't opened the lid, my FV has a tap at the bottom!!!
Steve thats a bottling bucket, you rack from your fermenting bucket into the bottling bucket when its finished fermenting and leave for a week or two for the yeast to clean up and clear your brew then you attach a bottling wand and bottle and carbonate. then condition for a min of 6 weeks before drinking:thumb:
+ 1 on that.
You could greatly improve this kit if you carry out a 'dry hop'.
More on that here...
A Newbies Guide to Dry Hopping Your Beer - The HomeBrew Forum
If you don't have a local home brew shop near to buy your hops, you can get them from Crossmyloofbrewery here (used by many HBF members)
https://www.facebook.com/TheCrossmyloof/
I suggest using 50g Cascade hops.
Steve62
Active Member
I bought the kit as a used item on eBay, in the coopers instruction booklet the bottling bucket is referred to as the fermentation vessel and the picture shows the same item I have, so I need to buy another bucket? I think I'll need an extension building to keep all this in ðŸËâ
yes mate you could get away with what you have, but get another one with a air lock and gromit, then when one brew has finished fermenting you can syphon it off the yeast to clear in your bottling bucket , then have another brew fermenting in your FV. this way you can build up a nice little stock of beer.:thumb:
Steve62
Active Member
Looks like a visit to wilco coming up, I'm all in favour of having a stock of beers, I guess I'll need some sort of syphon too or can I connect a pipe to the tap and run the beer slowly to the bottling bucket?
I've been brewing for a couple of years and have been doing kits with a set up like that. 2 weeks in the FV, bottle with the wand, 2 weeks carbonating and then 2 weeks a bit cooler for conditioning. I always thought the second FV wasnt necessary, but could be used if you are worried about how clear your beer is. I'm not and as Im impatient adding a couple of weeks to the process doesnt really fill me with desire to try it.
