Newboy plays with beer kit

[Ochre]

Hello folks. I'm new to all this beer making nonsense but I have to admit I do love a good pint. A friend of mine once offered me a pint of some gorgeous porter style beverage and it was lovely. That flavour has stuck with me ever since.

About two weeks ago I decided to take the plunge, not into the barrel, first batch isn't anywhere near ready yet. I bought myself two king kegs and a fermenting bin witn some other bits and bobs and last weekend I bought a kit (extract in tins + yeast sachet): Woodforde's Wherry, I think it was called. It's now been sitting on top of my fridge bubbling away for about 4 days and its got scabby bits arounf the top rim where its been frothing and that. I'm thinking of syphoning it off at the weekend into one of the kegs and chucking in some Muntons Kreamyx to prime it and add body/head. I like a bit of head. I'm guessing 4 weeks in that big boy and it'll be ready to try.

Next one's going to be Munton's Black Conker Ale. Can't wait.

The only problem I can foresee is that I think you folks are making better beer and thus drinking better beer because you are mashing wizards. I don't like the idea of that much. Is it very time consuming? I've looked at the step-by-step web guide posted previously and was just wondering how much of a weekend it would take.

Maybe you could enlighten me on a.) The time involved to get all the stuff ready from scratch with a full mash, etc. and b.) Am I really missing out by using these acme beer kits and not doing a proper job?

Thanks in advance for your time and consideration!

 

[loopmd]

Welcome to the club, Ochre. As with just about anything...you get out what you put in to something. I haven't done all grain because I am quite satisfied with extract brewing, so I won't be able to answer part A. Part B, well, you talk to us that have never done all grain and you will find that most are quite satisfied with their brews. The all grain bunch will probably tell you different. I am quite sure that you will be very satisfied with what comes out of your King Kegs. To each his own, I am not sure if it matters whose is "better" after 3 or 4 pints anyway.



cheers, loop

 

[Darth Konvel]

Welcome to the boards and brewing, Ochre.

a) My first all-grain attempt (last night) took me 5+ hours (thats including cleanup). With some prep work and more experience, I'm aiming to get that down to 3.5 hours from start to finish.

b) You can make good beer with just extract. Extract + steeping grains will get you great beer. All grain gives you just that bit more, plus (once you get into it) more control over the brew process.

 

[Ochre]

Thanks for the encouraging comments boys. I am looking forward to second fermentation this weekend and perhaps even starting on my second porter-style fermentation. I've found a guy at work that's done full mashing - I might ask him to give me a lesson when I'm a bit more experienced with the kits. Happy drinking... oops.... I mean research, experimentation, analysis and the like

 

[kenmc]

I'm thinking of syphoning it off at the weekend into one of the kegs and chucking in some Muntons Kreamyx to prime it and add body/head. I like a bit of head. I'm guessing 4 weeks in that big boy and it'll be ready to try.

Hi Ochre,
you should also put some sugar i with that creamyx to help the priming. AFAIK the creamyx just adds head, but no real sparkle if I'm not mistaken.
(at least when I used that stuff, I also primed with sugar is what I'm trying to say).
Make sure you have a Hambilton Bard CO2 cannister to top up your keg once you start drinking it, cos the pressure will drop and eventually you'll be left with a half full keg of flat beer! Oh and before you screw the top on the keg, make sure that your rubber seals on the valves are properly seated - I found this out the hard way, when the CO2 all evaporated.
To be honest I think you'll find yourself getting into bottling fairly soon too. The king kegs are great for partys and so on, but if you just wanna have a beer or 2, bottles are the way to go cos you can stick them in the fridge, or give them to friends etc. I started out with a KK, and quickly went bottling as well.
Some brews go into the KK, others to bottles, depending if I have a party/BBQ etc coming up.
Another thing I have done in the past which turned out well was to start the ferment in the KK, then secondary it in the fermenter and then back to the keg for conditioning. seemed to improve the flavour a fair bit. You can just not screw the KK lid down fully tightly for the initial ferment.
Hope this helps and have fun.
oh the woodford wherry came with my KK kit, and was delicious. enjoy!
Ken

 

[Ochre]

I primed my Wherry last night in the KK and this afternoon when I returned from work, there was a leak from the top tap. Will this spoil brew? Have now tightened it and it seems to be holding.