First Brew - Oops - My Mistakes

[James Jennett-Wheeler]

Hi All

I’ve started drinking my first brew (Wilko Stout Extract Can thing) and thought would be interesting to document my mistakes. :)

Firstly it’s probably best to cover what went well:

• sanitisation seems to have worked as I do not have any infections as far as I know.
• I am enjoying drinking it.
• The bottled brew is really nice.
• The mini-kegged is alright.
• The treacle I added for secondary fermentation is nice and subtle (but definitely there).

I would note that I can’t taste the espressos that I added but hey ho :)

As for mistakes:

• I didn’t realise the caps on the top of the easy mini kegs have markers to indicate their status (open / closed) so I probably turned one of them all the way around and back to open whoops.
• I added cacao nibs to every mini keg and while they all taste nice, the bottles taste a lot nicer and didn’t receive the nib treatment... they seems to have absorbed all bitterness??? Should definitely have split the experiment half and half. Ah well
• I didn’t take a OG so don’t know the percentage :)
• Mini kegs don’t seem to hold the gas as well as the bottles as they are definitely flatter. I may have filled them too high as well because the easy keg taps are really frothy until the pressure is released and I can’t release all the pressure from the top because it overflows.

Any way, I’m still enjoying the beer and will have to put up with the flat keg. I look forward to my next attempt where I’m hoping to not make the same mistakes (just new ones lol)

 

[Slid]

Sounds like a good effort. Stout is always difficult to really mess up. A little treacle goes a long way!

Enjoy the rest, new brewer!