My First Wherry Brew!

Hey all,
I am currently on my first ever beer brew. I thought i'd start off simple and get hold of a kit (FV, Pressure Barrel etc.) and go with the Woodfordes Wherry.
Being from Norfolk, it's a beer I know well so provides me with a good reference point.

I pitched the yeast last Saturday with the venting of CO2 slowing from Wednesday.

Without opening the FV, it's a little difficult to see progress but I can see a good krausen ring around the inside.

It's been at around 18°C - 19°C all week and I intend to leave it in the FV for another week before checking the FG readings and considering either bottling or barreling.

I am thinking about having a sneaky peek tonight, perhaps a taste. I know I have to be patient but I really want to know how it is all going!


It's like cooking, surely you need to taste it as it progresses?!...

What do you think? I've read the other Wherry threads and am not too concerned about the fermentation stalling at the moment.

Well,
I just had to check it out. I sterilised everything before drawing the beer out via a turkey baster.
I took a reading, that came out at 1.012.
There beer looks a good colour and to taste it's still a little sweet with a distinct floral note that I assume will mellow in the next week along with further time in a barrel or bottle.
I too brewed short of the 23 litres having read about it on here.
Planning on transferring next weekend and then staring another brew at the same time!

Just a note for people who get stuck with this kit:
Mine got stuck for a bit, i was going to pitch more yeast but I found lifting the FV and rotating clockwise and counterclockwise (so not tipping it up, imagine a spinning top) got it going again.

By rotating the FV, I guess the beer stays pretty much still while the yeast at the bottom of the FV, stuck to the bottom, rotates under the beer.
This didn't introduce any air and must have lifted some of the yeast. In theory anyway!

So,
I've bottled 12 bottles worth, teaspoon of sugar in each.
The barrel went okay, however the siphon sucked up some of be creamy yeast from the FV into the barrel. Is this likely to cause issues in the barrel?
I suppose it was about a dessert spoon or so in quantity!

Here are pictures from today's Racking:

So, bottling was on the 28th of last month and we are now about 3 weeks on so I thought i'd update the post with where it's all at.
Well, firstly, and most importantly, there's no sign of contamination or infection.

After bottling and barreling, I kept the brew in the same location that it had been for about 2 weeks at about 19 degrees (since i had no other reliable source to up the temps.).

I then moved them to the garage.

The beer has cleared down very nicely indeed.

I've had a couple of tastes along the way and at a lower temperature, I have come to the conclusion that the secondary fermentation was going to take a bit longer anyway. Ultimately leading to the beer taking longer to be ready for drinking.

About a week on from bottling:
The beer tasted very floral and a bit sickly.
There was a distinct lack of noticeable carbonation in the beer itself but the barrel and bottle had self pressurized nicely. However, the beer coming from the barrel did have a good head where the bottled beer didn't.
I put a lot of the head down to the way in which the beer comes out of the pressure barrel though. One has to be a lot more careful when poring from the bottle in order to not disturb the sediment.

Three weeks on from bottling:
This weekend a total of 3 bottles have been opened. One on Saturday and two yesterday.
I would say there is quite a bit of inconstancy between the three bottles at this stage but I do have a theory for this, i'll talk more about that once I reveal a little more about my findings from the bottles.

Bottle 1
On Saturday, I gave two bottles to my brother in-law, one of which he opened.
This was excellent.
It had a good head, bubbles and you could taste the carbonation.

The flavour was a lot less sickly and it was the first time I felt the beer tasted 'ready' if that makes sense.

The Pressure Barrel
So, on Sunday, when I returned home, I was going to take some off the pressure barrel but as I moved it, I clouted it into something in the garage so that's going to have to now sit while the sediment settles back down... lol... :whistle: HAHAHAHA.
Therefore, I chilled down 2 bottles.

Bottle 2
Opening the second bottle, I was presented with a nice pop from the swing top and a bit of vapour showing that it's been carbonating.
To the nose, it smelt less floral but after poring there was not a head and there was not much in the way of bubbles.
Upon tasting I found that it was still quite floral and quite flat.
I will say however, I managed to drink it all so it couldn't have been that bad...
This bottle was definitely 'behind' the bottle we drank on Saturday.

Bottle 3
I then opened the third bottle. This was a very different animal, much more pop upon opening and a good head when pored.
To the nose, the aroma was right on the money as I would expect it from a Wherry except with a little more body.
There was clear evidence of bubbles forming on the glass and trailing upwards too.
The taste was fizzy and crisp.
This second bottle was much further on than the other and on a par with Saturday's bottle.

My conclusions thus far are as follows
All bottles have sediment in the bottom, from the secondary fermentation, so I was careful not to poor this out into the glass.
I put some of the extra floral aroma and body down to the fact that I brewed the extract short by about 2 litres.
Snap shotting back to racking the brew into the bottles, I can remember having 'a little demon' on my shoulder when i was rinsing of the spoon and funnel for applying the sugar to the bottles.
You know the one, your brain's telling you something will go wrong and that little demon, let's call it the enthusiasm demon' tells your brain to shut up and continue on course.

So, in my eagerness, after i rinsed the sanitation fluid off, i left them wet. My head told me 'that sugar's going to stick' and 'it's going to mess up the quantities' but off I went anyway. In pulp of sticky, sugary, wonder trying to poor a 1/2 teaspoon into each. Seemingly forgetting all that experience of what happens to sugar when water is applied.

So, my sugar amounts were all over, some less than half and some I know went way over to more like a teaspoon full and it's those that got a full teaspoon have come to be ready quicker. That's my theory thus far anyway. Sadly there is no real way to test that at this juncture other then starting again and being more precise. Which I am sure I will do with my next batch.

So for now, that's where I am at. I am confident the other bottles will even out over the next few weeks/months and as for the beer in the pressure barrel, i'll let you know how that's getting on later this week if I can stop being so damn clumsy with it!

Quick update then.
So, all the bottles have been drunk :) all were lovely.
Pressure Barrel is a different story however and I am not sure what to do.

I kept the pressure barrel in the house and then moved it into the garage at the same time as the bottles.
Upon first tasting (when the bottles beer was ready to drink), it definitely wasn't ready at the same time as the bottles. So I moved it back into the house to see if it would continue to ferment a bit better inside.

It's definately carbonated to some degree as pressure has built up in the barrel and continued to do so.

However, we are here on 24th May and and beer in the pressure barrel is still not ready.

When I take some beer into a glass via the tap, it's still quite floral and not as fizzy as it should be.
It is also cloudy still, with small chunks of yeast floating around.

What should I do?

I was maticulous with the santisation, it certainly doesn't taste off.

Any help would be greatly relieved. I have left the beer inside for the time being and that seems to have increased the pressure a bit in the barrel. I certainly don't have a leak.

Regards,
Jonathan.