Novice, first brew, few questions.

[tony4938]

Hi all,

Some great info on here and I read before starting my brew, but I think i've avoided any major cock-ups, but I have a few questions for you knowledgable lot.

So firstly what am I brewing, well its the Cobnar Wood Northern Brown, Bulldog kit i got from my local shop in Royal Wootton Bassett. I made the mistake of not taking an opening reading (first tip I read on here!) but i am now at the 11 day mark and my reading is 1020 and not getting any lower will this be ok?

Onto the next step, I can't seem to decide whether to bottle or 'keg' it? If i bottle it, do i just syphon it from the bucket and add sugar? Or do I syphon into a pressure keg then bottle from there? I keep reading about 'secondry fermentaion', is this something i need to be doing?

Sorry for the newbie questions, there will be more!!

Can anyone recommend any decent books and youtube channels.

[6470zzy]

Give the yeast a gentle rousing ( stir ) to get them back up and into suspension, sounds as though they may have gone to sleep on you or it could be that the kit is heavy on unfermentables. As it is your first beer and you seem to have a pressure barrel already why not just transfer into that and be done with it. Less faffing about with the whole bottling procedure.
As for a Youtube channel with a lot of helpful info on getting started, I am going to recommend Craigtube, he has loads of easy to follow videos and he has come a long way himself in his evolution as a brewer. I have been at it since 1990 and I still enjoy giving his videos a watch now and again.

Cheers

[tony4938]

Cheers 6470zzy, before i posted this i moved it from the floor to the worktop ready for when its ready to bottle and i think this kick-started it again as its been on 1014 for the last couple of days. I dont have a pressure barrel yet, but i went out and got 40 bottles (and a load of other stuff!) yesterday, so will start bottling tomorrow. Once bottled, whats the recommended conditioning procedure then? as i've read quite a few different things?

[Exiled Bradfordian]

The general advice is two weeks in the 'warm' (living room, for example') followed by at least 2, or preferably 4+, weeks in the 'cool' (garage/shed). That said I don't have those facilities so I just shove it in the spare room for 6 weeks

[tony4938]

Sounds good! Will have to make make room in the shed but not difficult, can you still get 'milk crates'?

[timbo41]

Milk crates are like rocking horse crap. If you have a removals firm nearby,approach them for any old " 2 cubes" these are cardboard boxes that are almost perfect for 20 x pint bottles, with the added advantages.
They stack.
They prevent light getting to beer
They are preventative of fiddling with beer whilst conditioning!!

[timbo41]

Oh, and search batch priming...its such less faff

[timbo41]

Secondary fermentation is a mis leading term I feel. Its basically the carbing / conditioning phase of brewing. Some brews ie the infamous Ditch's Stout q.v. don't really have a secondary.....which is how Ditch likes it!!

[tony4938]

[quote="timbo41"]Milk crates are like rocking horse crap. If you have a removals firm nearby,approach them for any old " 2 cubes" these are cardboard boxes that are almost perfect for 20 x pint bottles, with the added advantages.
They stack.
They prevent light getting to beer
They are preventative of fiddling with beer whilst conditioning!![/quote]

My bottles came in 2 boxes of 20 bottles so will just use those. Cheers though, will make it my mission to get hold some milk crates now, love a challenge!

[tony4938]

Oh, and search batch priming...its such less faff

Yeah will batch prime in future but dont have another container for that yet, but its on my next shopping list!

[Wherryman13]

Milk crates are like rocking horse crap. If you have a removals firm nearby,approach them for any old " 2 cubes" these are cardboard boxes that are almost perfect for 20 x pint bottles, with the added advantages.
They stack.
They prevent light getting to beer
They are preventative of fiddling with beer whilst conditioning!!

My bottles came in 2 boxes of 20 bottles so will just use those. Cheers though, will make it my mission to get hold some milk crates now, love a challenge!

Hi if you look under the Brewing Equipment section on the forum and there is a topic called Crates? Which shows you how to build some yourself. Quite satisfying to do even if using old pallets which give a more "natural" finish
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=65347

WM13

[tony4938]

Cheers Wherryman, looks like a decent project that!

Well I bottled my Cobnar wood yesterday, first time bottling and I think it went ok. Got 41 bottles out of it, primed using coopers carbonation drops, now in the spare room for a couple of weeks. Will be popping to Wilko's today so I am going to pick up another couple of kits.

[WalesAles]

Will be popping to Wilko's today so I am going to pick up another couple of kits.

Tony,
How many Kits did you buy? A couple? Or maybe more? You know you want to!
WA

[tony4938]

Didn't get chance to go in the end, although we popped into the range and they have their own beer kit, anyone tried it?

So, seeing as how as how i kept quiet while evryone else went to the shops they wanted to go to, i'm now online looking to spend! any recommendations?

[tony4938]

Used to love 'Weissbeir' when serving in Germany, are there any kits that produce anything similar?