Newbie brewing questions...

[Roy]

I did post a month or two back now but thought i'd make a new post as i've got hold of some more equipment to help my brew!

I have an EDME IPA kit, 1kg of youngs light spray malt, 5 gallon fermentation vessle, hydrometer and test tube style tube, and sterilisation equipment. I'll be buying a bottling stick too.

i'm borrowing a pressure barrel from my brother and also some Co2. My aim is to bottle my beer using used beer bottles and capping them as I want something I can stash away as space is limited really.

I'm looking for a step by step , how long do I leave it in the pressure barrel for before bottling? Is 10 days in the FV a good amount of time? I've never used a hydrometer before either so a bit of help would be good with that. Also priming when i've finished fermentation: prime into the pressure barrel or into the bottles?

As you can tell, i'm keen and need a push in the right direction!

[scottmoss]

Hi,

Why do you want to put it in to a pressure barrell if you want to bottle it?

[Roy]

haha! that's why i'm a newbie... I guess it's either bottles or pressure barrel? Not both?

[mestruga]

Hi Roy,

I am as newbie as you, but I'll try ...
As far as I am concerned you do not need the pressure barrel if you are planning to bottle.
Just add priming sugar/spraymalt to the bottling bucket, rack the fermented beer into it and fill the bottles. This method helps to homogenize sugar concentration and is better than adding sugar to each bottle. I used 6.5 g/L, but it depends on the CO2 volumes you want into your beer (and this depends on the style, basically).

Regarding the fermenting time, it depends on your experimental conditions (basically temperature), that's why hydrometer reading is so helpful.
I made a Linthwaite gold kit from Brupaks and it started at 1.042. After 5 days it dropped to 1.018, and two weeks later (I moved it to a secondary fermenter) I got the final gravity around 1.012.

You just need to put some wort in a measuring cilinder and put the hydrometer in. Just let it rest for a minute and the level of the wort is giving you the gravity reading.

Hope this helps

[bevvy_merchant]

one newbie to another, i thought about the same question.

you can do it but apparently its complicated. something to do with the secondary fermentation.

[kay-jay]

hi

when you have made the kit up and added all your water, give it a good mix then take some of this mix (wort) out with a sterilised jug and place into your trial jar. put your hydrometer in and take the reading.(spin the hydro when placing it in)
this reading is your starting gravity. when the ferment has finished repeat the process this reading is your final gravity.
minus one from t'other to find the difference...ie from 1.047 down to 1.006 + .041 read this as 41.
next divide 41 (or whatever difference you have) by 7.36 to get your abv (alcohol by volume)

so 41/7.36=5.36%

some people will say use slightly different numbers to calculate but this only makes a negligible difference. the above method will be pretty accurate.

hope this helps

KJ

[Middo]

I do both - after 7-10 days in the FV (depending on hydrometer readings) I rack the beer into a pressure barrel which will already contain my priming solution (50-100g of brewing sugar in around 150ml of boiled & cooled water), which ensures the solution is mixed well into the beer. I then syphon off the beer into about 8-12 500ml bottles, some of which I give away to family/friends and some I keep to mature.

As far as the hydrometer goes, I use a sanitised turkey baster (50p from Wilkinsons) and extract about 90ml into the test tube. Place the hydro in the beer and give it a gentle spin to dislodge any bubbles that may cling to it. Once it stabilises, make a note of where the level of the beer comes up to on the specific gravity scale. Make sure the sample is about 20 degrees C as temperature fluctuations will give skewed readings (i.e. the hotter the sample, the less dense it will be and therefore the lower the reading). Once the reading has been noted, I generally drink the sample instead of pouring it back into the fermenter, so I only need to sanitise the baster and I can tell how well it's doing.

Hope this helps, but your best bet is to buy a homebrew book from Amazon or the like which gives a lot more detail.

[scottmoss]

Hi,

When I bottle I put around 1/2 - 3/4 of a teaspoon of sugar in each empty bottle then top it up with beer, cap then leave in a warm place for 1 week then transfer it to somewhere cool - simples.