Totally and utterly confused.com

[Rotation]

Its only taken 1 month for my return to homebrew to render me discombobulated and losing the will to live.

It started simply enough with my kit from lovebrewing and the enjoyment of starting my Spire Derbyshire IPA kit off. All went well and I dry hopped my IPA on day five as instructed. Eagerly awaiting day 10 when the instructions said my brew would be finished I find myself on day 12 with bubbles still appearing in the airlock. Pitched the yeast at 19c and its been at exactly 21c for 9 days. I have ramped up the temp to 24c to let the yeast do their housekeeping routine but the bubbles still appear.

Then with a sudden burst of retail therapy I purchased a Pinter from Tesco at £59. Pinter actually sell the fermenter only for £99 and I got a free IPA kit with it. No brainer I thought, erm scratch the thought bit please........ Anyway all went well and it looks nice until today when I started the IPA kit. It went reasonably well until the instructions told me to add the malt extract to COLD water and pitch the yeast????? My taps at present given our perfect UK climate deliver water at between 10c and 12c? So suddenly all my thoughts regarding fermentation temperature are as much use as a hop bag with a hole in it.

Then The DPD and Amazon drivers started delivering parcels addressed to my other half. Not a problem I hear you say until you realise that most of the parcels have "THE MALT MILLER" stamped all over them. Now I know I`m stupid but my other half doesn`t brew so I started to suspect that they were my christmas presents and for a brief moment I was elated, until I wondered what gifts someone with no knowledge of homebrewing would choose and I suddenly went into panic mode.

I`m starting to believe that it would have been less stressful for me to have signed up for a Masters Degree in Quantum Physics than to return to homebrewing.

Oh and just as a throw in as if I needed any more grief, I decided to visit my new found local homebrew shop............. Well the only way I can describe it is that I would rather walk unarmed and naked down the main street in Beirut than go back to that shop! Dramatic I know but totally true.

On the bright side, all this stress is making me drink more!

 

[RichardM]

Have got a hydrometer? If so check the SG of the first kit. The presence or lack of bubbles isn't a good indication of fermentation progress.

Does the Pinter have a built-in heater? Unless you are brewing lager 10 to 12 is not warm enough. You were right with the first kit.

Try to find out if any of the parcels contain a.g. kits with liquid yeast. If they do it needs to go in the fridge.

What was so terrible about your LHBS?

 

[Rotation]

Have got a hydrometer? If so check the SG of the first kit. The presence or lack of bubbles isn't a good indication of fermentation progress.

Does the Pinter have a built-in heater? Unless you are brewing lager 10 to 12 is not warm enough. You were right with the first kit.

Try to find out if any of the parcels contain a.g. kits with liquid yeast. If they do it needs to go in the fridge.

What was so terrible about your LHBS?

Well in short my LHBS looked like it had been ram raided. Total of four beer kits on offer, three bottles of campden tablets, four 1K bags of brewing sugar and 1 demijon?

Pinter has no internal heater. I also cheated and filled the pinter with 23c water which by the time I had added the malt extract was down to 18.5c when I pitched the yeast.

 

[Clint]

Kit instructions are a bit ambitious. Generally leave it two weeks before checking final gravity. Yes,your tap water may be very cold this time of year..add some water from the kettle.

 

[Rotation]

Strangely enough there was no mention anywhere in the instruction regarding the use of a thermometer or hydrometer?

 

[Deadhead]

Aww. This is supposed to be run, not stressful!
Just reading the Love Brewing instructions for the Spire Derbyshire IPA and it does talk about the hydrometer readings. However ,if you didn't take one at the start, it's okay. Just you will want to take final ones, 2 days in row and you should get the same reading (somewhere around 1.010ish, give or take) and it will be done fermenting.
Not a clue on the Pinter, but the Apartment Brewer just did a review of one, so it may be of interest!

 

[Hazelwood Brewery]

There is nothing here you need to get stressed over and this forum is likely to have all the answers you need.

You should expect fermentation to take about 14 days but if it takes 7 or takes 20 then that’s fine too.

Adding a little warm water to your cold water in your Pinter will lift the temperature, even if the temperature is still a bit low fermentation will just be slow to start and will pick up over a few hours as the water warms to room temperature.

Given your wife knows nothing of brewing I suspect she will have bought kits or would have spoken to someone at TMM who would give sensible advice. Stay excited and look forward to whatever treasures she’s bought for you.

You don’t need to go back to that homebrew shop but if you do, check the expiry dates and buy up any kit bargains, it sounds like you might need more beer

 

[Rotation]

Aww. This is supposed to be run, not stressful!
Just reading the Love Brewing instructions for the Spire Derbyshire IPA and it does talk about the hydrometer readings. However ,if you didn't take one at the start, it's okay. Just you will want to take final ones, 2 days in row and you should get the same reading (somewhere around 1.010ish, give or take) and it will be done fermenting.
Not a clue on the Pinter, but the Apartment Brewer just did a review of one, so it may be of interest!

Actually I did take an SG reading on the Spire Derbyshire IPA before I pitched the yeast and it was 1060. It has also decided to stop bubbling now and with an SG reading of 1008 I decided it was time for the barrel. I tried to resist the temptation but I had to have a quick slurp (purely for quality control reasons) and OMG............ Its going to be hard to be patient and wait for it to condition and clear as IMHO its fantastic.

The Pinters just doing whatever its doing whatever that is.........

 

[Twostage]

My route into brewing was courtesy of the other half. Surprise Christmas present of a brewing kit with everything needed to get started. Like your Spire it turned out really nice. So I wouldn't worry about the MM boxes, you might be in for a pleasant surprise.