Good afternoon all,
I've just finished my first 'brew' (Young's Brew Buddy) and I wish I had the patience to have left it longer as the final few pints were markedly better than the first.
To get round my impatience I've grabbed another KK - but I think I will need three to keep a steady flow ( I'll be working on a rough 3 month brew cycle).
I have 1 main problem and a couple of questions.
The main issue, is now my first brew is dead, I can't get the cap off the KK (I don't recall over tightening it, and I vaselined the seal and thread)! I haven't got a spanner and have tried a 'belt' around the cap. Any other 'tips' - apart from '...buy a spanner...' (which I aim to do) - but I'd like to clean the barrel asap.
I have a small place, and I'm finding it difficult with a 'brew-belt' to keep a level temperature in the FV. Was I unwise and should I have opted for thermostatic 'immersion' heater?
Then - without going to building things - how do you brew during the summer (heating is simpler to me than cooling)? To then condition the barrel - what is classed as a 'cool place'? Can I condition the beer in a 'normal' room (and what effect is there of high temperature on the secondary) - ie with a temperature fluctuating between day and night and winter and summer? What can I use to cool the secondary vessel in the summer - I read that simply standing the vessel in water with a cloth in the water and over the vessel will use natural evaporation. Is that good enough?
Am I simply trying to 'home' brew beer in the completely wrong environment?
I've just finished my first 'brew' (Young's Brew Buddy) and I wish I had the patience to have left it longer as the final few pints were markedly better than the first.
To get round my impatience I've grabbed another KK - but I think I will need three to keep a steady flow ( I'll be working on a rough 3 month brew cycle).
I have 1 main problem and a couple of questions.
The main issue, is now my first brew is dead, I can't get the cap off the KK (I don't recall over tightening it, and I vaselined the seal and thread)! I haven't got a spanner and have tried a 'belt' around the cap. Any other 'tips' - apart from '...buy a spanner...' (which I aim to do) - but I'd like to clean the barrel asap.
I have a small place, and I'm finding it difficult with a 'brew-belt' to keep a level temperature in the FV. Was I unwise and should I have opted for thermostatic 'immersion' heater?
Then - without going to building things - how do you brew during the summer (heating is simpler to me than cooling)? To then condition the barrel - what is classed as a 'cool place'? Can I condition the beer in a 'normal' room (and what effect is there of high temperature on the secondary) - ie with a temperature fluctuating between day and night and winter and summer? What can I use to cool the secondary vessel in the summer - I read that simply standing the vessel in water with a cloth in the water and over the vessel will use natural evaporation. Is that good enough?
Am I simply trying to 'home' brew beer in the completely wrong environment?