First brew underway

[MartinD]

I started my first brew on Saturday, bought a starter kit of bucket, barrel etc and a thermostatic heater since its in the unseated garage and it's about 5-10 C outside. The kit is a simple extract one from youngs in Wolverhamton,U.K.
I've just found this site and have been reading about boiling the wort but the kit instructions just said to pour 3 litres of boiling water over the extract, stir it up and then add the sugars do top up to 40pints with cold water - is this likely to affect things?
Fermentation doesn't seem very vigorous no bubbling in the airlock but the bucket lid is domed up. Not sure about the krausen tho because I'm not sure how you are supposed to see thru a white bucket.

Lots of unknowns at the moment, I'll take a gravity reading after 7 days and see what it's done.

 

[AZCoolerBrewer]

I started my first brew on Saturday, bought a starter kit of bucket, barrel etc and a thermostatic heater since its in the unseated garage and it's about 5-10 C outside. The kit is a simple extract one from youngs in Wolverhamton,U.K.
I've just found this site and have been reading about boiling the wort but the kit instructions just said to pour 3 litres of boiling water over the extract, stir it up and then add the sugars do top up to 40pints with cold water - is this likely to affect things?
Fermentation doesn't seem very vigorous no bubbling in the airlock but the bucket lid is domed up. Not sure about the krausen tho because I'm not sure how you are supposed to see thru a white bucket.

Lots of unknowns at the moment, I'll take a gravity reading after 7 days and see what it's done.

I'm no expert, but you need to figure out why the CO2 is not escaping through your airlock before your bucket blows its lid and beer all over your garage.

 

[flars]

The extract you are brewing with is pre-hopped. If you were to boil this extract the beer would have a very harsh bitterness.

Your bucket lid is domed? This may mean the airlock is plugged. I would suggest gently lifting one side of the lid to see if it under pressure since there is a risk of the lid blowing off spewing beer all over.

You can check the height of the krausen by shining a bright light through the bucket from the opposite side you are looking at. If you can see the dark level of the beer and krausen up to the lid some pressure needs to be released by lifting part of the lid a little.

I would keep the temperature of the fermenting beer at 18° to 19°C to prevent an over vigorous fermentation. Yeast produces heat as it ferments the wort so the beer temp will always be higher than the ambient temp during active fermentation.

 

[relicdog]

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[MartinD]

I don't think it's going to blow, if I press gently on the lid the airlock pops a bit. I'm assuming I've filled the airlock correctly, it's one of those Handy types so there isn't anywhere else for the liquid to go.