Good afternoon all,
This is my first post on the forum and my first foray into the world of Home Brewing.
I recently purchased a beginners kit from my local HB Shop, along with a kit for London Porter (Me being a fan of the darker, fuller bodied ales). I also purchased a number of books on Home Brewing to swot up on how to do it, as I like to be fully prepared before I just dive in. I have about 4 books now, including some by Dave Line, which I found most useful,
I have a couple of questions relating to the method in the kit, which goes against everything I've read in the books I have and against the posts on this forum.
My kits instructions on initial prep and fermentation are as follows (missing out the first few points, which are sterilise etc)
1. Pour malt pouches into fermenter.
2. Boil 3Ltr of water, add to fermentation bin.
3. Add dextrose brewing sugar and stir to disolve.
4. Top up to 23Ltr with cold water and stir.
5. Take Hydrometer reading.
6. Ensure temp under 25C and add contents of yeast sachet and stir gently.
7. Fit airlock and secure lid making sure seal is airtight
8. After 5 days add hop sachet and leave for a further 5 days before bottling/kegging.
Now, despite my initial reseacrh into Home Brewing with all the books I had. I followed the instructions to the letter, as it was my first kit - I figured, see how the standard tastes, and then experiment by adding additional ingrediants or malts/grain etc.
The day after I had sealed it up and palced it somewhere at a steady 21C to ferment, I could see no 'Yeast Pancake' that everyone talks about. No activity at all in fact. After 3 days, I was getting worried.
This was about the time I started trawling the forums and found the 'Stuck Fermentation' posts. I figured this was me, as the instructions gave no mention to aerating the wort prior to adding the yeast and I had sealed it airtight with nothing to work with. This could be where I made a grave error...
Thinking all it needed was some air, I opened the bin and took a very large whisk to the wort. I whisked until there was a gorgeous foamy head atop my once still, black, lifeless wort.I als felt that my poor yeasties had suffocated, so would need some assistance in munching the sugar, so I sent in reinforcements in the form of sachet of brewers yeast from the local HB Shop.
I then resealed it all and left it to do it's thing, and came back to the forum only to read various posts about not getting too much air into the wort etc...Oops.
I've since kegged my wort and it is now on secondary stage. I hope it will resemble something drinkable and also feel that you learn by your mistakes, but I have a number of questions.
Why would the kit not advise you to aerate the wort efficiently to give the yeast a chance?
Was it wrong to whisk it up and add additional yeast?
Do fermentations ALWAYS have a yeast pancake?
And one of the main queries - Dave Line advised primary fermentation just in a plastic bin, not necessarily requiring a lid. As long as the pancake forms, the wort is protected from bacteria. He advised only airlocking at secondary stage.
Can you really ferment an le without a lid and expoed to the air, or should it alway be under air lock?
Apologies if this is a question (Or numerous questions) which have been asked time and time again and my apologies for the long winded first ever post, but I am keen to improve.
All feedback greatly appreciated!
Cheers,
Llama :grin:
This is my first post on the forum and my first foray into the world of Home Brewing.
I recently purchased a beginners kit from my local HB Shop, along with a kit for London Porter (Me being a fan of the darker, fuller bodied ales). I also purchased a number of books on Home Brewing to swot up on how to do it, as I like to be fully prepared before I just dive in. I have about 4 books now, including some by Dave Line, which I found most useful,
I have a couple of questions relating to the method in the kit, which goes against everything I've read in the books I have and against the posts on this forum.
My kits instructions on initial prep and fermentation are as follows (missing out the first few points, which are sterilise etc)
1. Pour malt pouches into fermenter.
2. Boil 3Ltr of water, add to fermentation bin.
3. Add dextrose brewing sugar and stir to disolve.
4. Top up to 23Ltr with cold water and stir.
5. Take Hydrometer reading.
6. Ensure temp under 25C and add contents of yeast sachet and stir gently.
7. Fit airlock and secure lid making sure seal is airtight
8. After 5 days add hop sachet and leave for a further 5 days before bottling/kegging.
Now, despite my initial reseacrh into Home Brewing with all the books I had. I followed the instructions to the letter, as it was my first kit - I figured, see how the standard tastes, and then experiment by adding additional ingrediants or malts/grain etc.
The day after I had sealed it up and palced it somewhere at a steady 21C to ferment, I could see no 'Yeast Pancake' that everyone talks about. No activity at all in fact. After 3 days, I was getting worried.
This was about the time I started trawling the forums and found the 'Stuck Fermentation' posts. I figured this was me, as the instructions gave no mention to aerating the wort prior to adding the yeast and I had sealed it airtight with nothing to work with. This could be where I made a grave error...
Thinking all it needed was some air, I opened the bin and took a very large whisk to the wort. I whisked until there was a gorgeous foamy head atop my once still, black, lifeless wort.I als felt that my poor yeasties had suffocated, so would need some assistance in munching the sugar, so I sent in reinforcements in the form of sachet of brewers yeast from the local HB Shop.
I then resealed it all and left it to do it's thing, and came back to the forum only to read various posts about not getting too much air into the wort etc...Oops.
I've since kegged my wort and it is now on secondary stage. I hope it will resemble something drinkable and also feel that you learn by your mistakes, but I have a number of questions.
Why would the kit not advise you to aerate the wort efficiently to give the yeast a chance?
Was it wrong to whisk it up and add additional yeast?
Do fermentations ALWAYS have a yeast pancake?
And one of the main queries - Dave Line advised primary fermentation just in a plastic bin, not necessarily requiring a lid. As long as the pancake forms, the wort is protected from bacteria. He advised only airlocking at secondary stage.
Can you really ferment an le without a lid and expoed to the air, or should it alway be under air lock?
Apologies if this is a question (Or numerous questions) which have been asked time and time again and my apologies for the long winded first ever post, but I am keen to improve.
All feedback greatly appreciated!
Cheers,
Llama :grin:
