EvilDrFoetus
Member
I realise these are probably heresy on HBT, but I really want to dial everything in before I blow a ton of money on extract gear.
I started with homebrew last year, messed about with beer and wine kits before ditching the latter as it's a lot of effort for little yield (don't really have the space to stash demijohns everywhere for months on end). Had mixed success with canned kits.
Recently saw a few comments on other threads about 2-3 week primaries or longer, combining this with other snippets across the forum I'm wondering if there's a better way to use these kits rather than the manufacturer's instructions, which the cynic in me are more about quick turnaround and higher volume of sales.
I switched to 2-can versions like Woodforde's as even going by the book they taste a lot better than using a couple of pounds of sugar and hit target OG more consistently, but still they're a bit acidic.
I've tried to read around and make notes, so now I've got a fermenter free I was wondering if what I've got planned makes sense?
STEP 1: Start
Book: Stand cans in hot water (5 minutes) and add to fermenter, add 0.9 US Gal boiling water, make up to 6 US Gal with cold, mix, add dried yeast on top, seal.
I've got a 6.5 US Gal (or thereabouts) bucket, I tend to add one can, fill with boiling water and rinse out, then repeat so the amounts are the same. Tap water in Leicester is probably the hardest known to man, but works fine for local-type (medium) ales (my favourite anyway). The yeast in these kits is usually rebranded Nottingham, so works fine as-is and kicks off in about a day and a half. Don't think I need to change anything here.
STEP 2: Primary
Book: 4-6 days in warm place, move when FG stable over two days.
Temperature control's hard in the flat, but the airing cupboard (on some trash bags...) is as good as it gets. Seeing as I'll have my current batch on secondary in the pressure barrel for a few weeks if I start a new brew soon it's got no choice but to sit a while, hence this thread.
The buckets I use have a nice soft lid but snap tight, so they handle the gas really well, I've not worries about blowoffs or leaks in there, so I figure give it two weeks for the hell of it (it's a canned kit, not an AG masterpiece, so that seems a decent tradeoff?)
STEP 3: Secondary(?)
Book: This is where these kits get a bit weird; after the 4-6 days they say bottle or stick in a pressure barrel for 2 days warm, 14 cool. With priming sugar of course.
Pressure barrels are common here in the UK as Cornies are hella expensive, problem is the taps start leaking from day one, they don't stack and they're ugly as hell. So I'd like to switch to bottles at some point (last attempt was an absolute disaster)
I've not noticed any cidery flavours from using normal (beet) sugar at about 2.8 oz / 6 US Gal, so I just boil enough water to dissolve it all in (about 17 US fl. oz.) stick that in the barrel then auto siphon over it (tube curled around the inner base to avoid aeration). No issues there.
I stick the barrel (bottles) in the airing cupboard for the two days then move to the pantry for the rest. I've seen beer does get much, much better after the third week so that makes sense, not sure how long it should be warm (~70 F) for?
Really want to try bottling again (as I had that bloody barrel), I drilled out an old food grade bucket and fitted a tap/wand, got a bunch of PET ~ 1 US pint bottles and away I went. Messy as Hell, beer came out crap. later found out Star San doesn't work with our water (ran some experiments, it's good for about 30 seconds after mixing). Sourced some RO and that's working wonders, I don't use anything else now (I'm an organic chemist by training, brings up fond memories of dousing everything in Picric ).
I suspect all that went wrong the last time was lack of sanitising as the Star San was inactive, I'd rather go with PET again as it's cheaper for a trial and easier to obtain/store, unless anyone has compelling arguments against?
Phew, sorry for the wall of text, and posting a load of questions, but I'm really enjoying brewing (have severe depression, it's really therapeutic) and I'm determined to up my game. Figured this is the best place to ask.
[Edit: Done my best to use US measurements where possible seeing as most of the forum are across The Pond, might have made a few errors though]
I started with homebrew last year, messed about with beer and wine kits before ditching the latter as it's a lot of effort for little yield (don't really have the space to stash demijohns everywhere for months on end). Had mixed success with canned kits.
Recently saw a few comments on other threads about 2-3 week primaries or longer, combining this with other snippets across the forum I'm wondering if there's a better way to use these kits rather than the manufacturer's instructions, which the cynic in me are more about quick turnaround and higher volume of sales.
I switched to 2-can versions like Woodforde's as even going by the book they taste a lot better than using a couple of pounds of sugar and hit target OG more consistently, but still they're a bit acidic.
I've tried to read around and make notes, so now I've got a fermenter free I was wondering if what I've got planned makes sense?
STEP 1: Start
Book: Stand cans in hot water (5 minutes) and add to fermenter, add 0.9 US Gal boiling water, make up to 6 US Gal with cold, mix, add dried yeast on top, seal.
I've got a 6.5 US Gal (or thereabouts) bucket, I tend to add one can, fill with boiling water and rinse out, then repeat so the amounts are the same. Tap water in Leicester is probably the hardest known to man, but works fine for local-type (medium) ales (my favourite anyway). The yeast in these kits is usually rebranded Nottingham, so works fine as-is and kicks off in about a day and a half. Don't think I need to change anything here.
STEP 2: Primary
Book: 4-6 days in warm place, move when FG stable over two days.
Temperature control's hard in the flat, but the airing cupboard (on some trash bags...) is as good as it gets. Seeing as I'll have my current batch on secondary in the pressure barrel for a few weeks if I start a new brew soon it's got no choice but to sit a while, hence this thread.
The buckets I use have a nice soft lid but snap tight, so they handle the gas really well, I've not worries about blowoffs or leaks in there, so I figure give it two weeks for the hell of it (it's a canned kit, not an AG masterpiece, so that seems a decent tradeoff?)
STEP 3: Secondary(?)
Book: This is where these kits get a bit weird; after the 4-6 days they say bottle or stick in a pressure barrel for 2 days warm, 14 cool. With priming sugar of course.
Pressure barrels are common here in the UK as Cornies are hella expensive, problem is the taps start leaking from day one, they don't stack and they're ugly as hell. So I'd like to switch to bottles at some point (last attempt was an absolute disaster)
I've not noticed any cidery flavours from using normal (beet) sugar at about 2.8 oz / 6 US Gal, so I just boil enough water to dissolve it all in (about 17 US fl. oz.) stick that in the barrel then auto siphon over it (tube curled around the inner base to avoid aeration). No issues there.
I stick the barrel (bottles) in the airing cupboard for the two days then move to the pantry for the rest. I've seen beer does get much, much better after the third week so that makes sense, not sure how long it should be warm (~70 F) for?
Really want to try bottling again (as I had that bloody barrel), I drilled out an old food grade bucket and fitted a tap/wand, got a bunch of PET ~ 1 US pint bottles and away I went. Messy as Hell, beer came out crap. later found out Star San doesn't work with our water (ran some experiments, it's good for about 30 seconds after mixing). Sourced some RO and that's working wonders, I don't use anything else now (I'm an organic chemist by training, brings up fond memories of dousing everything in Picric ).
I suspect all that went wrong the last time was lack of sanitising as the Star San was inactive, I'd rather go with PET again as it's cheaper for a trial and easier to obtain/store, unless anyone has compelling arguments against?
Phew, sorry for the wall of text, and posting a load of questions, but I'm really enjoying brewing (have severe depression, it's really therapeutic) and I'm determined to up my game. Figured this is the best place to ask.
[Edit: Done my best to use US measurements where possible seeing as most of the forum are across The Pond, might have made a few errors though]