woodforde wherry moment

[mckibbin]

Hi

I am new to all this, just done the deed but stirred the yeast in, is all lost ?

David

[Gricey]

Was your spoon sanitised?

[mckibbin]

Yes all gear was sterilised

[Normski]

Then it will be fine. Just leave it alone to do its work and then bottle it, and in a few months time you'll have a nice drink.

[justmark1976]

Hi

I'm new to home brewing as well, I started my Woodforde Wherry kit last Sunday and to be honest crashed my way through it.

I read a few forums and Dummies home brewing but nothing went to plan on the big day, I got some very good advise from expertall website.

Firstly I pitched my yeast far too hot at 38c or 100f is you prefer and thought that I killed my yeast off straight away but expertall ensured me that although it wasn't ideal ale yeast should survive. (I also gave it a stir)

Reading the forums I found Wherry was unreliable in fermentation and as I just tried to boil my yeast I was worried about the little fellas so put in 1/2 tsp of yeast nutrient.

Within 4 hours my airlock was bubbling away like a train every 3-5 seconds, this went on for 3 days and then slowed to around a minute or so. the temperature was constant between 19-21c all week.

I have taken a sample today to see how its getting on, my first reading was 1.040 (due to high wort temperature it adjusts to 1.046) and is now sitting at 1.014 which works out at a healthy 4.7% ABV its still a little cloudy but intend to ferment a further week before bottling, it smells great and being a trainee alcoholic the sample got necked and I have to say tasted pretty good too.

I suppose what I'm trying to say is that as a newbie it probably isn't going to be a textbook process and we have to learn somewhere, from my small amount of knowledge I would say be brave, leave it alone and keep the room temperature steady.

The last thing you want to do is keep opening and poking it, if your brew catches a cool it will be going down the toilet.

Good luck.