Nooooobie questions

Hi peeps. I am quite new to brewing and I have some questions here..

I am about to start my 3rd batch, which will be the 'Admiral Reserve' by Woodfordes.

Firstly, is it better to use mineral water? as the water here in the south of England is very hard...

Secondly, i assume the 'hop enhancer' they supply is more for flavor rather than the initial bitterness and this should be added at the end of the boil?

Thirdly, during the primary fermentation, is it better to use a heater belt or tray? or would an aquarium thermostatic heater be better? My house is cold all of the time!

Fourthly, when transferring to bottles, it states to use 1/2 a teaspoon of sugar per bottle but can I put more in to gain a higher abv?

...and finally, what are the benefits of siphoning from the primary vessel into another vessel prior to bottling?

Sorry if these questions have been asked a million times before, but I don't have time to go through every post on here!!! haha

Thank-you guys,

Noodle.

You will undoubtedly get responses from more experienced brewers, but I can help with some of the small stuff...
DO NOT add 'extra' sugar to the bottles beyond the priming amount! This will create bottle bombs...
Also make sure you do not use table sugar for priming. Additional sugars added in primary will increase ABV... but again, not table sugar. Your LHBS should be able to direct you to suitable products for your beer style.
Bottled still water may be a good idea if your water is very bad, I'm sure one of our resident chemists can chime in...
Many on here do not use a secondary at all... depends on style and desired clarity...

Hi Noodle,

I'm also new to the hobby and you're 3 batches ahead of me (first brew day this saturday), so you already have more experience than I do.

On your forth question, everything I've read suggests that it's better to add the priming sugar to the entire batch before bottling instead of directly to the bottles, as this isn't very accurate and can cause uneven carbonation.

Boil 4oz of priming sugar with two cups of water and allow it to cool before adding to the bottling bucket. Stir gently to mix thoroughly and avoid oxygenation. I don't think the quantity of sugar has any effect on the final ABV as the fermentation has finished at this point.

I'm also interested to read responses to your third question, as it's still pretty cold where I live, and I never keep the heating over night.

Hi there....

Haven't heard of the beer you are referring to. I'm assuming it is extract and is probably ths?:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B002KBFM5U/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

If it is extract you can use your hard water. I would run it through a filter to remove chlorine or use camden tablet. When I was doing extract I always bought water from the store as I liked the flavor of the store water over my own filtered tap water. You won't need to worry too much about water hardness until you move into All-Grain. As this is your 3rd batch keep it simple and as long as the water itself doesn't have any weird off flavors i.e chlorine, you should be ok.

I'm assuming the instructions will tell you when to add the hop enahncer (probably buried in there somewhere)?

I would go with the heater belt only in that I have never used a tray. Will you have the heater hooked up to temp control or are you going to eye ball it?

Do you have a bottling bucket that you can transfer your beer too after fermentation? Thats the best way to go rather than trying to fill each bottle with sugar. What you do is transfer your fermented beer into a bucket than dissolve an amount of corn sugar or similar (amount depends on total amount of beer you are making) into some boiling water and then add this amount to your bucket. Then, bottle from the bucket. I've never carbonated individual bottles so perhaps someone else can chime in on how to do it to minimize infection and/or over carbonating into bottle bombs.

There is a good amount of argument against bottling to secondary unless you will be making something like a Russian Imperial Stout or maybe dry hopping. For most beers a secondary is not necessary. For your 3rd batch Id say not to transfer to secondary IMO.

My 2 cents....

First I assume this is an extract or ready made wort batch based on what I know of Wooefordes. Assuming that here are my answers...

Mineral water or distilled would be fine. given that you are not doing all grain, the most important factor is whether the water is generally good to drink. If you don't like drinking your tap water, you might want to go with purchased water you do like.

Never heard of hop enhancer but I assume it is a sulfite of some sort. This would be added late in the boil as it is just a flavor additive.

Fermentation temp is very important. For an ale usually mid 60 degrees farenheit would be good. If your house stays around that temp, I would not use a heater. If you are in the 50's then a heater may be necessaey as yeast could go dormant. I don't think it matters what kind you use as long as it keep the fermentation in the right temp zone.

If you want higher abv, put more sugar in the fermenter. Do not put extra in the bottles. As far as how much sugar to use when you bottle, the easiest most uniform method is to put the sugar into your bottling bucket to ensure it is thoroughly distributed when you bottle. Putting it in bottle by bottle would work but you have a lot more opportunity for over/under carbing your bottles.

Siphoning to a secondary vessel before bottling is primarily to encourage additional clearing of the beer. This willhappen in primary if you give it enough time so most of us skip that step.

Good luck!

As keith stated, do not add extra sugar to try and gain ABV, that could end up ruining the whole batch.

I know that you can add the priming sugar to individual bottles OR the bottling bucket. I always add to the bottling bucket just for uniformity sake and it is way easier to measure out the amount (say 2 cups) vs 1/2 tsp per bottle.

I myself have never added any heat to a beer, though i probably should, and am starting to think about doing it.

But for everything i have done, i just let sit at my basement room temp (58-60 F pretty consistently) and have never had a problem. Thats not to say my beer could possibly turn out better if i let it stay at a more consistent temp (or warmer?) but i have had real good luck fermenting at that cooler temperature without much control. not saying its the best way, but it sure works! I mainly do light ales and belgians and the occasional oatmeal stout and they have all turned out tasty!

1) If your water is hard you will probably want to use store bought water.

2) Never herd of "Hop Enhancer" so can't really answer this.

3) Depends on how cold your house is; remember you want to keep your fermentation down in the lower 60F (around 15-18C) for an ale, so if you are the cool already then no need to bother with heating your fermentor.

4 and 5) Can answer these at the same time since one of the biggest advantages to racking to a bottling bucket is to mix the priming sugar into the beer prior to bottling. You don't want to add too much sugar at bottling time because you can then end up with bottle bombs. To find out how much priming sugar to use you should use a carbonation calculator such as http://www.northernbrewer.com/priming-sugar-calculator/ there are others also, and if you use a brewing software like Beersmith it will also tell you.

Two reasons why it is better to add your priming sugar to the bottling bucket and not to each bottle is 1) a lot easier to pour your sugar mixture (boiled water with the sugar dissolved in cooled down to pitching temps) into a bucket than a bottle, and 2) you will have a much more consistent carb level through out the whole batch.


Welcome to the addiction/hobby.

Keith_O said:

Also make sure you do not use table sugar for priming.

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I disagree with this point. I've used table sugar for priming and it works just fine. If you search the forum here on the topic you'll see that this issue comes up quite often and that I'm not the only one who does this. Added in the correct amount it ferments out adding carbonation but not any additional flavors.

dkevinb said:

I disagree with this point. I've used table sugar for priming and it works just fine. If you search the forum here on the topic you'll see that this issue comes up quite often and that I'm not the only one who does this. Added in the correct amount it ferments out adding carbonation but not any additional flavors.

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+1

Ive done this a few times before when i do not have corn sugar on hand

works just fine

noodleface84 said:

Hi peeps. I am quite new to brewing and I have some questions here..

I am about to start my 3rd batch, which will be the 'Admiral Reserve' by Woodfordes.

Firstly, is it better to use mineral water? as the water here in the south of England is very hard...

Some styles of beer are better brewed with hard water. I'm not really familiar with which styles. That would take some research. You would be safe using bottled water. This is an extract kit? If it is extract distilled water would be safe to use. The extract contains the essential minerals for the beer.

Secondly, i assume the 'hop enhancer' they supply is more for flavor rather than the initial bitterness and this should be added at the end of the boil?

The enhancer could be for bitterness, flavor, or aroma,. Where you would use it would be guided by the bitterness of the recipe without adding it. Depending upon what outcome you want it could be added at 60 minutes, 15 minutes or 1 minute before the end of the boil.

Thirdly, during the primary fermentation, is it better to use a heater belt or tray? or would an aquarium thermostatic heater be better? My house is cold all of the time!

Fermentation temperature really depends upon the yeast being used. Most ale yeasts benefit from a fermentation temperature of 17°C to 20°C. I would recommend looking up the specs for the yeast on the manufacturers site. Remember, yeast produces heat as I works. Depending upon the OG of the beer. Low OG perhaps a 2° rise over the ambient temperature. High OG beers a 8° rise. The manufacturers site will also give you guides on rehydrating the yeast and wort temperature to pitch into.
Fourthly, when transferring to bottles, it states to use 1/2 a teaspoon of sugar per bottle but can I put more in to gain a higher abv?

It is much better to bulk prime while transferring to you bottling bucket. Her is a link to a good priming sugar calculator which list the sugars you can prime with. Weighing the priming sugar is much more accurate than volume measurements.
http://www.northernbrewer.com/priming-sugar-calculator/

...and finally, what are the benefits of siphoning from the primary vessel into another vessel prior to bottling?

Using a secondary vessel has no benefits unless you have additions like oak cubes or are aging for months. There is no fermentation in a secondary vessel. Fermentation should be completed in the primary. Completed fermentation would be determined with a hydrometer.

Sorry if these questions have been asked a million times before, but I don't have time to go through every post on here!!! haha

Thank-you guys,

Noodle.

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Happy brewing.

Hi. I've brewed for a little over a year and have about 18-20 batches under my belt.

1) I'm not an expert on water. Some brewers recommend you shy away from mineral water, as often you can't get a read-out of its content. Your local tap water, on the other hand, you can likely get a water report. I think at the 'entry level' of brewing, in so far as you want to tamper with your water supply, you'll likely want to achieve two objectives, a) get your mash pH as close to the desired range as realistically possible (I think it's around 5.2--5.3ish), and b) remove chlorine/chloramines from the water. For the first (pH) it is most convenient to use lactic acid (I've found) to add to your water supply, and then test the pH of your mashes and for subsequent batches adjust accordingly. For the second, campden tablets will remove the chlorine/chloramines. Both the tablets and lactic acid will likely be available from you LHBS. If you are extract brewing then you can use R/O water and then the extract contains the minerals the yeast need to be healthy and multiply. (Someone else can please correct me if I'm mistaken).

2) I've heard of hop enhancers, and if I'm not mistaken it/they are used in bittering. I've never used them before, but I would guess that you don't boil them at all, but add them during fermentation. If they were supplied with a kit then check the instructions, and if it's unclear or absent, then contact the manufacturer.

3) I don't know, sorry.

4) DO NOT add extra priming sugar. If you want a higher ABV, then you can add sugar while it's in the fermenter (boil it in some water first), and then let it ferment out. Contrary to what someone said above, it is perfectly fine to use table sugar (sucrose) both to increase your ABV during fermentation, or as priming sugar (for bottling). All the standard sugars, like corn sugar and table-sugar are highly fermentable, so they won't add much or anything in the way of flavor, but will almost entirely ferment into alcohol and Co2. I use table sugar all the time. I also have used corn sugar (dextrose) and found there to be no noticeable difference.

5) Some brewers claim it make the beer clearer to use a secondary. Others say they get perfectly clear beer without using a secondary. I typically secondary if I've got lots of hop debris in the primary. Inevitably I suck some up when transferring to the bottling bucket, and then it jams my bottling wand while I'm trying to bottle -- it's not fun to try and unjam it. If I transfer to secondary as an extra stage then I get a lot less hop debris in the bottling bucket. So I only typically do this with very hoppy IPAs. I recommend you try some brews with only using a primary fermenter, and others using a secondary as well. See what works best for you...

noodleface84 said:

Hi peeps. I am quite new to brewing and I have some questions here..


Fourthly, when transferring to bottles, it states to use 1/2 a teaspoon of sugar per bottle but can I put more in to gain a higher abv?

Forgot to answer this one. No, you don't want to do this. The yeast will use this sugar and produce CO2. Your bottles will most likely start exploding.
ABV can be enhanced by adding sugar or spray malt to the boil. Sugar will thin the body of the beer. Muntons and Coopers recommends spray malt for extra body. They also recommend, if this is done, using 11 grams of premium yeast to make sure fermentation completes and does not get stuck at the 1.030 SG point.

Sorry if these questions have been asked a million times before, but I don't have time to go through every post on here!!! haha

Thank-you guys,

Noodle.

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Come back with any questions any time.

dkevinb said:

I disagree with this point. I've used table sugar for priming and it works just fine. If you search the forum here on the topic you'll see that this issue comes up quite often and that I'm not the only one who does this. Added in the correct amount it ferments out adding carbonation but not any additional flavors.

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Good to know I can do this in a pinch. I have been told (and have read) that this will cause off flavors (except in Ciders). Lot of variables involved, I'm sure.