Markie_one
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- Joined
- Feb 8, 2014
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Right this is my first attempt at any kind of home brewing. I was bought the kit and equipment for my birthday by my wife so I hope I can explain clearly how it has gone so far. The kit comes as a foil type bag containing 2 compartments inside. One with the malt extract and the other containing the instructions, the lager yeast(unspecified variety) and some hop pellets. The dextrose sugar 1kg was bought as an extra as not supplied in the kit.
The water was added to the malt, then the sugar as per instructions. I took an initial SG reading of 1.045.
The yeast was then added and the fv left alone in a room close to 20 degrees C for 7 days. The fermentation carried on quite rigorously from what I could tell without lifting the lid off the fv. On day 7 I added the hops, just sprinkled on top as per instructions.
On day 10 I checked the gravity again, this time read 1.014 I have read that bottling shouldn't be done above 1.012 so I decided to wait a couple more days.
At this point (day 12) the SG read 1.010 so I made the decision to bottle. After siphoning into a second fv to do away with a lot of sediment I added the priming sugar 1tsp per bottle mixed up and then bottled.
The lager was quite cloudy at this point but I was surprised and pleased at how much it tasted like lager (albeit flat lager)
It has now been 12 days since I bottled, 3 days at room temperature and the rest in a cold garage.
Tonight the anticipation has got the better of me though and I opened one to have with dinner. The bottle opened with a small hiss(good sign) and when poured into a chilled glass formed a small head with plenty of small bubbles in the lager.
The taste to my amazement was of a light tasting fresh lager. I wasn't sure what to expect really as it's my first ever brew but having read other advice on here I can expect it to improve over the next few weeks. The cloudy colour has all but gone too, so all in all a very good first experience.
I will repost in a week or so when I have my next one.
The water was added to the malt, then the sugar as per instructions. I took an initial SG reading of 1.045.
The yeast was then added and the fv left alone in a room close to 20 degrees C for 7 days. The fermentation carried on quite rigorously from what I could tell without lifting the lid off the fv. On day 7 I added the hops, just sprinkled on top as per instructions.
On day 10 I checked the gravity again, this time read 1.014 I have read that bottling shouldn't be done above 1.012 so I decided to wait a couple more days.
At this point (day 12) the SG read 1.010 so I made the decision to bottle. After siphoning into a second fv to do away with a lot of sediment I added the priming sugar 1tsp per bottle mixed up and then bottled.
The lager was quite cloudy at this point but I was surprised and pleased at how much it tasted like lager (albeit flat lager)
It has now been 12 days since I bottled, 3 days at room temperature and the rest in a cold garage.
Tonight the anticipation has got the better of me though and I opened one to have with dinner. The bottle opened with a small hiss(good sign) and when poured into a chilled glass formed a small head with plenty of small bubbles in the lager.
The taste to my amazement was of a light tasting fresh lager. I wasn't sure what to expect really as it's my first ever brew but having read other advice on here I can expect it to improve over the next few weeks. The cloudy colour has all but gone too, so all in all a very good first experience.
I will repost in a week or so when I have my next one.
