Frustrating maybe, but an excellent hobby none the less

[LesTom]

Sorry for the rambling headline, but I thought that I must post my thoughts and my wrong doings with regards to home brewing since I started last year.
I received a Brooklyn Brew Shop kit from my wife as a Christmas present and I followed the instructions to the letter. The chocolate maple porter turned out pretty good and that gave me the confidence to try some more brews. I bought the Brooklyn Brew Shop book and decided to have a go at their Everyday IPA which again turned out pretty good.
Being a smart ar*e I thought that I could dispense with my auto siphon when bottling and just pour the beer into the bottles with a jug - BIG MISTAKE!! the beer was bloody awful, but me being bloody minded decided to do it again and what was the result? you've guessed it- bloody terrible beer due no doubt to the oxygen I introduced with my jug pouring method of bottling
Another issue I've faced has been with the bottling instructions in the Brooklyn book as 2 brews have tasted fine but turned out flat as a witches t*t.

So I guess what I'm trying to say is, you live and learn. I now see the purpose of not introducing extra oxygen into the beer and I've now resorted to priming each individual bottle with sugar or honey depending on what flavour profile I'm looking for.
I must also give my thanks to this site and it's members who have been so helpful to any things I've asked previously and I promise not be a smart ar*e in future. I genuinely love beer and there's nothing better that brewing your own tipple that tastes good.

 

[chthon]

They are nice kits, but probably more difficult for bottling than the kit I started with. The fermentation bucket also served as bottling bottling bucket, using a bottling wand on the faucet.

It was easier to adapt to all-grain brewing, I bought another small bucket which I perforated and which fitted in the other bucket, and voila, instant mash tun.

 

[Chippy_Tea]

I use a little bottler on the end of my syphon tube as i didn't want to drill my FV, it might make your bottling days a little less painful as it did mine.

 

[LesTom]

I won't have to do any drilling of my FV's lads, I've only got 2 glass demijohns for my fermentation vessels

 

[Sandimas]

I won't have to do any drilling of my FV's lads, I've only got 2 glass demijohns for my fermentation vessels

How are you going to get it out of those without disturbing the trub at the bottom?

 

[Nicks90]

The same way is wine makers do it, a kink in the bottom of the Syphon tube - so it rests against the side of the glass so you can see how far down you've pushed it!
As you get near the bottom, you play Russian roulette with how far you dare drop it without sucking up the trub and tilting the DJ.

 

[LesTom]

How are you going to get it out of those without disturbing the trub at the bottom?

Very carefully

 

[GerritT]

I used a HUGE jug for some of my smaller brews and they turned out okayish. When I still only had glas dj's.
But son, you gonna need a bigger bucket.

 

[NIGHTSKY BREWING]

I love learning and also helping everyone who has a passion.

 

[Chippy_Tea]

Get a bucket clip (meant for FV's but they fit on a DJ) and a clothes peg you can then lower the tube as the level drops and it keeps everything steady.

I agree with the above move to a FV and make more.

 

[LesTom]

My wife does an admirable job of lowering the siphon tube and still keeping it clear of sucking up any of the trub. As for a bigger bucket/FV this may seem strange but I'm happy with my gallon/4 litre brews