First brew in over 4 years.

Discuss making up beer kits - the simplest way to brew.
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Loafman
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First brew in over 4 years.

Post by Loafman » Sun Jan 23, 2022 3:06 pm

Hey fellow brewers, I hope everyone is well. Looking a bit quiet on here nowadays, I hope people are still lurking!

I have just set up my first brew for over four years, and it feels great to be back. I moved house a few years back and all my equipment got thrown up in the loft and forgotten about until now.

It has been my intention to get going again for quite a while now, and as I knew I had a Wherry kit gathering dust in the loft, I figured I would pick up some fresh yeast from Wilco and get going.

The wherry kit in the loft has a BBE date of August 2020, which isn't a big issue to me. But it did seem to taste a bit odd when I opened the cans. My loft gets scorchingly hot in summer and bitterly cold in winter, so hopefully that hasn't messed up the malt!

Anyhow, I'm not the sort to throw it away, I'm a tight bugger. So I've short brewed it to 19 litres and added 670g of left over light spray malt that was also out of date.

Not sure if my hydrometer is playing up, but it gave a starting gravity of 1062! Seems a bit high, and if it gets down to 1016 or so, it will be rocket fuel!

Anyhow, good to be back in the game, and I look forward to the results! :D
In the past:
21.5L Coopers Stout + Treacle OG 1054 (Start 6/11/2015)
21L Coopers English Bitter + Hops OG 1047 (Start 6/11/2015)
20L Coopers APA OG 1050 FG 1014 (Start 26/10/2014, PB'd 30/11/2014 Dry hopped 100g Cascade on 18/11/2014)
20L Coopers Stout OG 1048 FG 1016 (Start 30/11/2014, PB'd 17/12/2014)
20L Coopers Stout OG 1048 (PB'd 17/12/2013)
20L Coopers Lager OG 1047 (Start 03/12/2013, PB'd 04/08/2014!)
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Jim
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Re: First brew in over 4 years.

Post by Jim » Sun Jan 23, 2022 3:18 pm

Hope it turns out OK.

If nothing else, it's got you back into the way of brewing, which is a good thing.
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Loafman
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Re: First brew in over 4 years.

Post by Loafman » Sun Jan 23, 2022 3:25 pm

Cheers Jim, it's good to be back.

Next up will be a stout which I'll start in a couple of weeks, once I've bottled the wherry up.
In the past:
21.5L Coopers Stout + Treacle OG 1054 (Start 6/11/2015)
21L Coopers English Bitter + Hops OG 1047 (Start 6/11/2015)
20L Coopers APA OG 1050 FG 1014 (Start 26/10/2014, PB'd 30/11/2014 Dry hopped 100g Cascade on 18/11/2014)
20L Coopers Stout OG 1048 FG 1016 (Start 30/11/2014, PB'd 17/12/2014)
20L Coopers Stout OG 1048 (PB'd 17/12/2013)
20L Coopers Lager OG 1047 (Start 03/12/2013, PB'd 04/08/2014!)
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barneey
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Re: First brew in over 4 years.

Post by barneey » Sun Jan 23, 2022 4:19 pm

I wouldn't worry too much about the BBE dates, like most food stuff its only a before before date, good choice on getting some new yeast though.

Fingers crossed everything goes according to plan for you :)
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Loafman
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Re: First brew in over 4 years.

Post by Loafman » Sun Jan 23, 2022 11:43 pm

barneey wrote: ↑
Sun Jan 23, 2022 4:19 pm
 I wouldn't worry too much about the BBE dates, like most food stuff its only a before before date, good choice on getting some new yeast though.

Fingers crossed everything goes according to plan for you :)
Well it's bubbling away happily to itself. I can't wait to be drinking some in a few months time.. although I have a feeling it will end up somewhere around 6%+ if the SG of 1062 was a reliable reading.and it finishes around 1016. And then taking priming sugars into account!

It could take quite some time to condition, so I'll probably be drinking the stout that I haven't even made yet before the wherry. :shock:
In the past:
21.5L Coopers Stout + Treacle OG 1054 (Start 6/11/2015)
21L Coopers English Bitter + Hops OG 1047 (Start 6/11/2015)
20L Coopers APA OG 1050 FG 1014 (Start 26/10/2014, PB'd 30/11/2014 Dry hopped 100g Cascade on 18/11/2014)
20L Coopers Stout OG 1048 FG 1016 (Start 30/11/2014, PB'd 17/12/2014)
20L Coopers Stout OG 1048 (PB'd 17/12/2013)
20L Coopers Lager OG 1047 (Start 03/12/2013, PB'd 04/08/2014!)
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MashBag
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Re: First brew in over 4 years.

Post by MashBag » Mon Jan 24, 2022 11:21 am

Loafman wrote: ↑
Sun Jan 23, 2022 11:43 pm
barneey wrote: ↑
Sun Jan 23, 2022 4:19 pm
 I wouldn't worry too much about the BBE dates, like most food stuff its only a before before date, good choice on getting some new yeast though.

Fingers crossed everything goes according to plan for you :)

Well it's bubbling away happily to itself. I can't wait to be drinking some in a few months time.. although I have a feeling it will end up somewhere around 6%+ if the SG of 1062 was a reliable reading.and it finishes around 1016. And then taking priming sugars into account!

It could take quite some time to condition, so I'll probably be drinking the stout that I haven't even made yet before the wherry. :shock:
Agree about dates. No need to worry about that.
Wherry (from distant memory) is ready reasonably quickly
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Loafman
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Re: First brew in over 4 years.

Post by Loafman » Thu Feb 03, 2022 12:16 pm

Hmmm, 11 days now and there is still activity in the airlock. It is down around 1018 now though, so I imagine it will reach the end soon. Not much aroma to it, which I will take as a positive, as in no infection or similar.

If it goes down to 1010 or so, it will be pushing close to 7% once I factor in secondary fermentation!

It will be one of those beers that you keep for when you tell your missus you're only having 2 or 3 cos she doesn't want you to get drunk! (or to enjoy yourself..) :lol:
In the past:
21.5L Coopers Stout + Treacle OG 1054 (Start 6/11/2015)
21L Coopers English Bitter + Hops OG 1047 (Start 6/11/2015)
20L Coopers APA OG 1050 FG 1014 (Start 26/10/2014, PB'd 30/11/2014 Dry hopped 100g Cascade on 18/11/2014)
20L Coopers Stout OG 1048 FG 1016 (Start 30/11/2014, PB'd 17/12/2014)
20L Coopers Stout OG 1048 (PB'd 17/12/2013)
20L Coopers Lager OG 1047 (Start 03/12/2013, PB'd 04/08/2014!)
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Loafman
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Location: Milton Keynes

Re: First brew in over 4 years.

Post by Loafman » Sat Feb 12, 2022 2:04 pm

Well, I've been isolating this week after testing positive for Covid on Monday morning just before work. So I've had to be a prisoner in my own home. Luckily, I can do a fair bit of my job from home, so that's kept me a bit occupied. But I also put together an online home brew order and had it delivered on Tuesday, which made sure I wasn't going to get bored!

So, today marks nearly 3 weeks in the FV for the Wherry, and there had still been some slight activity, it's been very slow, but it was there. It is down to around 1012 now and I think it may have just about finished.
I had a little try of some in a small glass and it's tasting fine, albeit quite noticeably strong in alcohol (that'll be the extra sugar and the 19L brew length). But tastes like a good young beer, which is a bonus.

I also started 20 litres of wine about 10 days ago, and that seems to have finished it's ferment.

Then I started 21 litres of Coopers 'International Series' Irish stout on Wednesday evening (about 65 hours prior to typing this), just the kit and a 1.2kg pouch of LME. That too appears to have finished (already). It went absolutely crazy all day Thursday and part of Friday, the airlock didn't stop once. I'm glad I used a 30 litre barrel as the crud has touched the underside of the lid. I'll test the gravity of the wine and the stout later today to see if they are where I'm hoping they will be. All being well, I will get both beers bottled this weekend.

I've decided I'm going to 'stock up' for the summer while the temperature in my house is a steady 20 deg C by brewing a load of kits over the next month or two and bottling it all. I have bought a number of kits and figure if I brew them all within a short space of time, some of the beer/wine will at least reach a point where it has properly matured. Usually, when I do one or two at a time, I finish drinking them while they are still maturing and then end up waiting for the next brew to be ready to start drinking (also before it's fully mature).

The other bonus of this is that I can save a lot of time, by brewing say 3 batches at a time, then hopefully racking and bottling 3 batches at a time. Then just washing out the 3 FV's and making up the next 3 batches straight after.

So within a few more weeks, I won't be needing to buy any supermarket beer or wine through the bulk of this year. Will save me and the missus a fortune, since we do put a lot of booze away!
In the past:
21.5L Coopers Stout + Treacle OG 1054 (Start 6/11/2015)
21L Coopers English Bitter + Hops OG 1047 (Start 6/11/2015)
20L Coopers APA OG 1050 FG 1014 (Start 26/10/2014, PB'd 30/11/2014 Dry hopped 100g Cascade on 18/11/2014)
20L Coopers Stout OG 1048 FG 1016 (Start 30/11/2014, PB'd 17/12/2014)
20L Coopers Stout OG 1048 (PB'd 17/12/2013)
20L Coopers Lager OG 1047 (Start 03/12/2013, PB'd 04/08/2014!)
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MashBag
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Re: First brew in over 4 years.

Post by MashBag » Sat Feb 12, 2022 3:01 pm

I have to say I agree with you about that. We enjoy a drink and making all of it saves us a couple of quid.
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Loafman
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Re: First brew in over 4 years.

Post by Loafman » Sat Feb 12, 2022 5:42 pm

MashBag wrote: ↑
Sat Feb 12, 2022 3:01 pm
 I have to say I agree with you about that. We enjoy a drink and making all of it saves us a couple of quid.
Fair play, it does make a of of sense, certainly if you can keep it up for the long term.

I guess, on average, I probably have around 4 x 500ml ales a day, so around 28 a week. The missus, probably 2 to 3 ales a day. So between us, maybe 6.5 ales a day. If we say supermarket bought ales average about £1.50 a bottle, so to keep it simple, we'll call it around £10 a day in beer between us (or around £70 a week). That's over £3500 a year (or £300 a month).

That doesn't include a weekly visit to the pub, where between us we'll spend upward of £60. So that's another £3000 a year! That brings us to around £6500 a year, just on booze! :shock:

So if I brew about 20 litres of beer, it should last us around a week if we are sensible, and will cost less than £20 usually. This saves around £50 a week over the supermarket ales (or £2500 saving a year).

We'll still have our weekly pub night, but it should bring our annual beer bill down from around £6500 to around £4000. 8)
In the past:
21.5L Coopers Stout + Treacle OG 1054 (Start 6/11/2015)
21L Coopers English Bitter + Hops OG 1047 (Start 6/11/2015)
20L Coopers APA OG 1050 FG 1014 (Start 26/10/2014, PB'd 30/11/2014 Dry hopped 100g Cascade on 18/11/2014)
20L Coopers Stout OG 1048 FG 1016 (Start 30/11/2014, PB'd 17/12/2014)
20L Coopers Stout OG 1048 (PB'd 17/12/2013)
20L Coopers Lager OG 1047 (Start 03/12/2013, PB'd 04/08/2014!)
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MashBag
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Re: First brew in over 4 years.

Post by MashBag » Sat Feb 12, 2022 7:13 pm

This is why I never ever moaned about the price of my BM.

I also make wine (from grape) some alarming bits of kit there too. But all worth it. An investment not a purchase.
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MashBag
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Re: First brew in over 4 years.

Post by MashBag » Sat Feb 12, 2022 7:15 pm

Ps. Wherry taking a bit long.... I should have said "buy it a fresh sachet of yeast" thought about it but never typed it.

It will be fine.
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Loafman
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Re: First brew in over 4 years.

Post by Loafman » Sat Feb 12, 2022 9:54 pm

MashBag wrote: ↑
Sat Feb 12, 2022 7:15 pm
 Ps. Wherry taking a bit long.... I should have said "buy it a fresh sachet of yeast" thought about it but never typed it.

It will be fine.
I decided to bottle the Wherry just a few hours ago, but I've put it in those 500ml carbonated water bottles (such a waste to just throw them away!) as the lids on them are quite soft and I think they may 'vent' if the pressure gets too high (I'll also keep an eye on things of course). Managed to fill 34.5 of the 500ml bottles. Will store the 34 full ones and will use the 0.5 as a sample this evening!

I batch primed with 60g of soft brown sugar, so if it had (hopefully) completely finished primary, then it will just be a light carbonation.
In the past:
21.5L Coopers Stout + Treacle OG 1054 (Start 6/11/2015)
21L Coopers English Bitter + Hops OG 1047 (Start 6/11/2015)
20L Coopers APA OG 1050 FG 1014 (Start 26/10/2014, PB'd 30/11/2014 Dry hopped 100g Cascade on 18/11/2014)
20L Coopers Stout OG 1048 FG 1016 (Start 30/11/2014, PB'd 17/12/2014)
20L Coopers Stout OG 1048 (PB'd 17/12/2013)
20L Coopers Lager OG 1047 (Start 03/12/2013, PB'd 04/08/2014!)
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MashBag
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Re: First brew in over 4 years.

Post by MashBag » Sun Feb 13, 2022 7:52 am

I like a light carbonation. Feels more pub like in the glass.

Let me know how you get on with the bottles. I have have been concidering using tonic water bottles.... Mildly put off by the fact they are 1L
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Lederhosn
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Re: First brew in over 4 years.

Post by Lederhosn » Thu Feb 17, 2022 12:15 am

Yes, same here. I carbonate mine at 4.5%.

I ended up collecting a lot of crates and saved the bottles. .some of these are in use over 10 years now. Love bottle conditioned beer.

I make about 4.5 x 20 x 500ml bottles each brew length. Pays off quickly in savings.
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