First attempt at a kit brew

[john_drummer]

As for the heater. I use a fish tank heater that I just dangle in the beer.

nooooooooooooo!!!

don't do this to your beer, it's cruelty to micro-organisms

Room temperature should be fine unless you live in an igloo. It may take a bit longer but it'll taste better

[Greatcthulhu]

Ha, ha, ha igloo- if only you knew. The ambient temp in our place at the moment is about 10c during the day as we're both out and there's no heating on, and less at night when we've turned the gas fire off and gone to bed. I don't think I'd need a brew fridge for making Lager, if I was that way inclined lol. I've never had any problems with the heater dangling in the beer before though- always seemed to work fine and keeps the wort at a constant 21c.

[BigCal]

Ok so just bottled my first brew (coopers real ale)

after 8 days it had settled down at 1010 for a couple of days so into the bottles it went.
Now sitting in a nice warm spot for its secondary/carbonation.

I understand its best to keep it in the warm for a week then back out to the cold for another week before moving it to the fridge ready for drinking?

All the kit cleaned and sanitised and my second brew is in the FV (coopers heritage lager) made with 1.5kg of LME

[Ditch]

Ok so just bottled my first brew (coopers real ale) ..... before moving it to the fridge ready for drinking.

Fridge cold 'Real Ale'?

[crafty john]

Ok so just bottled my first brew (coopers real ale) ..... before moving it to the fridge ready for drinking.

Fridge cold 'Real Ale'?

[BigCal]

not mega chilled but i like putting a couple of bottles in the fridge for an hour or so to chill it a bit before drinking.

Each to their own eh?

I've even been known to chill a nice bottle of red too..... :SHOCK:

[Ditch]

Now, chilled red wine? That I've never considered before. But, then; Don't posh people keep their best wines in cellars? Dunno. Never really thought of drinking red wine at anything below ambient.

As it is; I'm thinking I'm gonna have to create myself some sort of keg warming thing here. Mate came by, yesterday. I gave him a pint. And, even as I watched him supping it, I was drinking mine and thinking how dreadfully Cold it was! 'Tasted' almost like pub Guinness! I.e. Simply freezing in the mouth!

I keep my BKs in an 'empty' room, see? Get's F Cold in there, during winter. Like a cold fridge. Tried bringing a keg in here. Fine, till it's less than full. Then it's gonna get knocked off the window sill by a Dog Not worth the stress.

OMFG!!! And, with that, I've just turned round and spotted the potentially perfect answer! It's been there all these years! I'm off to fetch that keg in here!

[BigCal]

Chilled red wine is great in the summer, not that we get much of a summer these days.
Wouldnt do it with an expensive bottle but nice wee £5 merlot is tasty chilled.

I always say you should drink your chosen tipple whichever way you prefer. If you like your stout at room temperature..fine, if you like it chilled...fine.

I love my malt whisky and some people frown upon putting water in it, but if you speak to an expert they say you should put a few drops of water in to release the oils within the spirit. Personally I like it with 2 large pieces of ice, not enough to water it down but enough to release the oils and chill it slightly. Ask for ice in some highland pubs and they would go all slaughtered lamb on you.

[Ditch]

Ah, now ye see? A expert on Scotch will say to add water? Cool. Releases the taste, eh?

And I feel that serving 'chilled' stout smothers the taste. I've got my keg in here with me, now. 73 F ambient as I type. Who knows what the night may yet bring? But, right now? The back of my throat and pit of my guts feel like I've been eating ice This just isn't right.

Interestingly enough though, now that ye've raised it? I found my own Jameson Irish, sat on the mantelpiece, directly over the stove, was getting horrible! It was so Warm, it was ..... just Awful!

I moved my bottle to a position where it could only reach ambient. Lot better.

I still wonder though, how that would compare to when I brought my next bottle in, from the cold kitchen? For one night in seven I'd drink Cold Jameson.

Maybe I should take my stock bottle out to the kitchen each day? Pour my ration cold? I have a sneaking feeling I preferred it that way

Water though? I just can't bring myself to .....

[BigCal]

I hate to see people putting water in good whisky, but with ice you only get a tiny bit dilluting the drink, if you drink it fast enough

I was never a big fan of stout until I spent a week in Ireland, I hired a boat and went down the Shannon stopping off at all these great wee villages sampling the local drinks which consisted mainly of Guinness and Jamesons, lovely.

Bought a couple of bottles of Youngs double chocolate stout last week, very tasty in small doses.

[Ditch]

Bought a couple of bottles of Youngs double chocolate stout last week, very tasty in small doses.

Yeppers! Beautifully put! Ye notice, we had the usual " Chocolate Stout With Extract? " turn up here, again, the other day?

Someone said I was the one to ask. Someone else said, no. That He'd invented it. Me? I stay out of it now.

Because, yes; Most people want to know how to transform a whole keg into chocco. As I did, initially. So, I sat here with my three bottles of essence, or extract. What ever it was the first guy said to use.

And I added more and more single drops to each pint. Working up each pint at a time. Searching for that 'perfect' Chocolate. Coffee or Vanilla Stout. Figured we might extrapolate, from that, how to dose an entire keg.

Know what? I damn soon came to the exact same conclusion you have there: That no way would I want a full damn keg of the stuff! I couldn't take more than a few pints of it at a time.

Oh well. Some people will only find out by experiencing for themselves, eh?

[crafty john]

[quote=

I've even been known to chill a nice bottle of red too..... :SHOCK: [/quote]

Now that is a strange practice

[BigCal]

Give it a go, summer BBQ, nice bottle of red straight out of the fridge mmmm

[crafty john]

Give it a go, summer BBQ, nice bottle of red straight out of the fridge mmmm