Starting my first brew today!

[pittsy]

yeah try not to go over 3 weeks but 4 is ok too just pushing your luck (infections and no layer of co2 to protect brew , but this is rare) great pics of exploding yeast head .

 

[mrs moosey]

Cheers Kyle - can't wait to get it finished and start drinking!

Thanks Pittsy - it was out of curiosity, really - I don't think I'm ever likely to leave it that long!

Already planning on going to the homebrew shop at the weekend to pick my next brew :)

 

[Kyle_T]

Let us know how she turns out, I did a Coopers Dark Ale about 6 weeks ago, came out at 5.5% and as a Porter instead of a Dark Ale.

 

[mrs moosey]

Well - I'm part way through bottling the stuff, and was wondering how much residue should there be at the bottom?! I remember in wine-making days there was always some cloudy stuff that got left at the bottom of the demi-john, but I'm struggling a bit here! The homebrew kit I got includes a syphon for bottling, but it doesn't seem to reach the bottom of the FV. There's still about 4 inches of liquid left and it's come to a stop... is this normal?? Is it OK to tilt the FV gently to get a bit more out?? Or have I been sold a duff syphon..??

Any advice appreciated!

 

[31bb3]

You can syphon till your only left with around 1-2 inches from the bottom you will see the heat cake try not to suck that up

 

[mrs moosey]

Thanks for that. I'll try tilting it slightly then and see how I get on ... :| :pray:

 

[mrs moosey]

Blimey - that was traumatic!!!!! I never realised brewing beer was going to be so stressful!! Hopefully I'll be a bit less panicky next time round!

I managed to get another 3 1-litre bottles out of it through tilting the FV, though hopefully I haven't stirred up the bottom too much. Think next time it needs to be a 2-person job!

 

[Wendy1971]

your right there it is a 2 person job :lol: :thumb:

 

[Kyle_T]

One thing that might be worth investing in is a bottling bucket, I bought a small 10 Litre Fermenting Bucket with tap and little bottler, hole comes per drilled for £12. This size suits me as I only bottle 6 bottles of each brew and the rest is kegged but you can just split the batch and do 2 lots for a 20 litre brew.

It also allows you to syphon the beer off the trub at the bottom and reduce the sediment getting into the bottles and it's far easier for a one person job. If you have a syphon with a tap and bucket clip it's even easier.

 

[mattrickl06]

Blimey - that was traumatic!!!!! I never realised brewing beer was going to be so stressful!! Hopefully I'll be a bit less panicky next time round!

I managed to get another 3 1-litre bottles out of it through tilting the FV, though hopefully I haven't stirred up the bottom too much. Think next time it needs to be a 2-person job!

Don't worry - it amazing how quickly it all comes together, you will be more relaxed each time and just do this naturally instead of trying to follow a prescriptive itinery :clap:

 

[mrs moosey]

Thanks for the reassurance mattrickl06. I'm quietly confident it will get easier! :grin:

Thanks for the tip Kyle - I'll have a think about this - that certainly seems like a good solution :thumb: