First beer brew, winging it now

[KevP]

Hi all, first post.
It's my first beer, but I've done plenty of wine (kits)
I snapped up some of the Make Your Own (Range discontinued line) IPA from Brew2Bottle.
Just throwing this one out there to see what you think:

Followed the instructions, brewed 3 litres short and got the fermentation going in a bucket FV with a bubbler, then on day 2 one of our dogs ate the instructions and also the starting SG note I'd written on them (seriously).... luckily I spotted add hops after 7 days on the hops packet, so far so good.
I was sure I'd seen the instruction on this forum before I signed up, but I can't find them anywhere.
Not that it matters now, the other kits will have them in, and I don't want to open one up with that double-bag arrangement until it's day of reckoning.

In the absence of a sane plan like asking on here if anyone had the instructions I turned to trusty old youtube which brought us to Day 11 when I boiled up some water dissolved 60g of sugar in it and added it to a sterilized King Keg bottom tap model, siphoned in the brew from the FV into the keg, sealed the lid.

(As the keg was an ebay find I pressure tested it already by filling it with water and guffing a co2 bulb in. It held pressure for three days, so I'm happy about the keg.
The brew smelled *very* hoppy and no odd smells that make me think anything untoward has happened so far so it may all turn out OK.

I plan on giving it maybe a day or two in the garage (where the magic happens) on a heat pad then cold and dark for a couple of weeks at least, then see how it turns out.
Does that sound OK?

 

[Rob2010SS]

So I'm a bit confused....

So you brewed the beer and put it in a bucket fermenter with an airlock (bubbler). I'm assuming you let it ferment out? How long was it in the bucket for?

It sounds like you dry hopped it? You say you "spotted add hops after 7 days". Did you add these hops 7 days after you placed the wort in the fermenting bucket?

You say you transferred to the King Keg bottom tap with boiled water and 60g sugar and you're going to let it sit in the garage. Is this the vessel you transferred to?

This last step you did, sounds like the priming step. If that is the case, you don't want to just let this sit in your garage. The point of the priming step is to mix in that sugar water and bottle immediately. The yeast will eat up that sugar, creating CO2 and that's what carbonates the beer in the bottle.


***EDIT*** Unless you're planning on serving out of the vessel. I just read the description that you can hook up CO2 to the top... If that's the case, then I would think you would be fine, as long as the vessel can hold the PSI.

 

[KevP]

Cheers Rob, that is encouraging!
yes that's the keg, and I'll be serving from it.
It was in the bucket 11 days, and you are right again I dry-hopped it on day 7 and yes I primed it for carbonation in the keg.

the kegs are supposed good for the required PSI for serving, I don't know if I could force carbonate it in one, or even what pressure or duration I'd have to use, so I went for priming it and will be just using the co2 to keep the air out and to replace the vacuum when it starts to "glug" air in, it has a pressure relief valve anyway, I'm not too worried about that side of things.

As it's my first one I'm just seeing how it goes. Beer brewing is all very new to me.

I may put a psi gauge in when this brew is done, or maybe just a schrader valve and take pressure readings out of curiosity with a tyre gauge. Looks simple enough to do.

 

[Rob2010SS]

For future, if that vessel can hold serving pressure (10 or 12 PSI), you don't need the sugar water mixture. You can just hook up CO2 at 10 or 12 PSI and let it carbonate that way.

Also, since the method of carbonation your using for this batch is natural carbonation, you're going to want to leave that thing at room temperature (~70*F) for a couple of weeks. It won't be carbonated after only a couple of days.

 

[KevP]

Thanks again, that's good information, very much appreciated.

I have it on a 25w heat pad but it is autumn here and pretty cool, it's just managing 68-70f (20-21C) which seems ideal then!

I'll toast you with a pint in two, three four or more weeks!
Cheers, Kev.

 

[KevP]

Just an update. Everything seems to have gone well. Drew my first sample glass from the keg after 5 weeks. A little cloudy, but it is a bottom tap keg. It's slightly on the bitter side of a pub IPA, a bit hoppier than I expected. But a great learning experience. So thanks for your help, Rob.

 

[dwhite60]

Congratulations! Glad it turned out to your liking.

The King Kegs type kegs don't seem to be real popular here in the states. I guess they are very popular in England where people are used to a lower carbonation level.

What's next?

All the Best,
D. White