First ever brew day!

Barticus · Post by **Barticus** » Sun May 27, 2012 9:42 pm

timbo41 wrote:Are you using a test tube sample . Bit crap in my opinion. Assuming you are, put a bigger sample into something like a tumbler then measure it. Make sure you read hydrometer at eye level or you get a phenomenon called parallax which gives a slightly false reading. Then take it out rinse and do again as a check. Then drink the sample and stop worrying!! I have found that for some reason hydrometers tend to stick to sample tubes . In al honesty if in doubt just let it go another couple of days remember times stated by kit makers tend to be very optimistic. It wont matter to beer if you primary for 10 days or 14 days in fact its generally better overall. A lot of brewers now just leave hydro in fermenter and have a quick sneaky peek towards end of primary. Risk of contamination is generally lower then and a bit over stated IMHO.. Chill mate!!

Still chilled

Just a bit thrown by all the different readings.

It was a test tube so I'll give it a go in a tumbler tomorrow. Off to the lakes on Friday so the plan was to bottle it on Thursday when the 14 days is up.

Barticus · Post by **Barticus** » Mon May 28, 2012 12:26 am

So just got in from work and carried out another test and had to do it again in the test tube as tumblers etc were not tall enough.

Initially and for a few seconds, the reading was 1012, the same as it was 3 days ago on Day 7. After about 10 seconds the Hydrometer began to rise but I think this was just trapped gas pushing it up.

As this is now two consecutive readings three days apart, am I right in thinking that its now time to bottle?

Must add its still nowhere near clear either. Couldnt make out my fingers on the other side of the glass. I guess that sorts itself out during conditioning?

Pinto · Post by **Pinto** » Mon May 28, 2012 6:53 am

Yep, a steady reading for 3 days indicates its time for the bottle....now it gets fun

If its your first time bottling, then I'd allow yourself 3-4 hours to get the process down and completed, especially if your going to bottle straight from the syphon.

Read the guide, and good luck with it

Barticus · Post by **Barticus** » Mon May 28, 2012 8:57 am

Pinto wrote:Yep, a steady reading for 3 days indicates its time for the bottle....now it gets fun

If its your first time bottling, then I'd allow yourself 3-4 hours to get the process down and completed, especially if your going to bottle straight from the syphon.

Read the guide, and good luck with it

3 - 4 hours

Not doing that while looking after the toddler!

The coopers kit came with a mini bottler thing ma jiggy so I will be using that. Will report back when task is done.

Pinto · Post by **Pinto** » Mon May 28, 2012 1:28 pm

God bless the lil' bottler

In that case, 2 hours tops including sanitising the bottles. I know how you feel - I have a "helpful" 6 year old trying to assist my bottling sessions

Post by **Monkeybrew** » Mon May 28, 2012 3:42 pm

Pinto wrote:God bless the lil' bottler

In that case, 2 hours tops including sanitising the bottles. I know how you feel - I have a "helpful" 6 year old trying to assist my bottling sessions

I wait until my 5yr old daughter is tucked up in bed whether I'm bottling or brewing!

timbo41 · Post by **timbo41** » Mon May 28, 2012 8:08 pm

Just remember to be very conscientious in your priming quantities! Oh yeah youre using drops,, no real problem then.

Barticus · Post by **Barticus** » Mon May 28, 2012 10:50 pm

timbo41 wrote:Just remember to be very conscientious in your priming quantities! Oh yeah youre using drops,, no real problem then.

Well there is actually

The coopers drops say 1 for 330ml bottles or 2 for 750ml bottles. My pack contains 500ml bottles so I guess that would be one and a half per bottle but I also guess the tablets wont cut in half!!!!

Bit of a dilemma really.

Wondering whether to use one tablet and a bit of household sugar or whether to go out and source something else????

Pinto · Post by **Pinto** » Mon May 28, 2012 11:13 pm

Its a lager - will happily take 2 tabs in a 500ml bottle

First brew I ever made (brewbuddy bitter) I used carbonation tabs in, and chose 1 for 500mls - found out weeks later that 1 tab didnt even carb a bitter enough for my tastes really.

I can see the attraction of the tabs, but price difference of carbonating with granulated sugar will soon more than make up for having to buy a set of cheap micro funnels from your local 99p shop

timbo41 · Post by **timbo41** » Tue May 29, 2012 7:04 am

+1 to that. even easier to bulk prime with sugar solution. And you can prime with pretty much any sugar type. I tend to use whatever is about in store cupboard ie caster sugar , white sugar leftover brewing sugar. Some of the old boys on this even bottle a point or two below final gravity but I woulnt suggest that at this stage.. it sounds a bit risky to me. Or as previously suggested use a small 5ml syringe to prime sugar solution

timbo41 · Post by **timbo41** » Tue May 29, 2012 7:10 am

have a look at this thread

viewtopic.php?f=4&t=6647

Although everyone does things a bit differently this is really helpful first time around

Matt12398 · Post by **Matt12398** » Tue May 29, 2012 12:37 pm

I've never used carbonation drops but couldn't you dissolve 3 for every two bottles in some water and bulk prime to give you 1.5 per bottle. Not sure if it's worth it though because it kind of defeats the object of using them but if you wanted to use them rather than sugar it might be one option.

Barticus · Post by **Barticus** » Tue May 29, 2012 12:44 pm

Thanks for the comments boys. Cant bulk prime this time around as only one FV so far so I guess its a double dose of carbonation drops and see what happens.

Managed to bottle 20 bottles of TC this morning as well with various combinations of sweetner, sugar or squash flavouring.

Good fun.

Also had another taste of the lager this morning and it was quite nice so expecting good things in time.

timbo41 · Post by **timbo41** » Tue May 29, 2012 5:37 pm

Barticus wrote: had another taste of the lager this morning and it was quite nice so expecting good things in time.

Congrats first brew bottled dont want to say told you so but... TOLD YOU SO

So now you got the bug whats next? Full grain Imperial Russian Stout OG about 1080

Glad it went well crack out the ceegars!!

Barticus · Post by **Barticus** » Tue May 29, 2012 6:19 pm

timbo41 wrote:
Barticus wrote: had another taste of the lager this morning and it was quite nice so expecting good things in time.

Congrats first brew bottled dont want to say told you so but... TOLD YOU SO
So now you got the bug whats next? Full grain Imperial Russian Stout OG about 1080
Glad it went well crack out the ceegars!!

Ha Ha you did.

What a great day today! Loved it all, whether that was siphoning the ciders, sterilising the bottles (really!) or filling the bottles.

There's only one feeling better than having a bench full of bottled alcohol and that's an empty Fermenter and 3 demijohns ready to start again!!!!

The only downer is knowing you have to wait so long to drink it.

As for what's next I would like to do a really nice Real Ale. I've tried Ruby Red in a pub and I assume the kit is similar and also the ST Peters stuff sounds canny.

Really open to any suggestions but possibly a really decent two tin job.

While I'm building a stash I would rather get a few safe "good uns" under my belt before I try anything that might not be my taste.

All in all BUZZIN

and very appreciative of all the help from everyone. I'm sure it gets very repetitive with a constant stream of newbies asking the same questions.

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