Hello! First brew from Newcastle Upon Tyne

[markitect]

Hi all, Mark from Newcastle trying my first brew.

Starting with Young's Pilsner Lager kit, mixed it up to 30 pints to make a stronger pint after reading some suggestions.

http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d135/ ... G_5773.jpg

http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d135/ ... G_5777.jpg


Also mixed up some Rasberryade seen here : viewtopic.php?f=13&t=37444

Found the exact same stuff in a local Polish supermarket and mixed up 10 litres. 500g of sugar in each.

http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d135/ ... G_5778.jpg

Not getting much activity from either brew, strong eggy rhino fart smell every morning but no visible activity in the airlock (definitely a tight seal). The temperate in that room moves between 11C and 15C perhaps accounting for slow fermentation. I tried 3 different techniques for starting, sprinkled the yeast on top, mixed the yeast in gently and created a starter mixture for the third. It's currently the 3rd day of brewing and was hoping for a bit more activity. Hopefully will get going with time.

Cheers!

[Geezah]

You wanna be closer to a steady 20c for a healthy fermentation unless your lager is a true bottom fermenting lager yeast, if so your temps are spot on for that.
Your wine def needs to be a bit warmer though otherwise it will be fermenting forever.

[markitect]

I think the standard Young's yeast is some generic cheap ale yeast. Seems to be going OK though judging by the smells. Still very little action in the Rasberryade so I've brought it into the kitchen for some warmth, I'm going to get a right telling off when it starts stinking.

[Klaus]

I am using Young's wine yeast regularly (for wine) and never had a problem with it. Fermentation starts quite quickly if the must is at approx. the righ temperature.

[markitect]

Cheers guys. Everything's wrapped up in towels to try and preserve some of the heat!

The room sits at about 14-17C at the moment. Looks like it's going quite happily now. The airlocks are buggery useless with the fermenting bin, doesn't seem to be quite airtight. Got plenty of bubbles in all the mixtures now though. Little yeasties working hard. Took a few days to get going. Not sure what happened to the lager, used the recommended sugar amount minus a 1/4 to make it consistant with the volume. Got a hydro reading of about 9% when I started. Assumed it to be a bogus reading. Took one yesterday down to about 2% so it seems to be getting somewhere at least. God knows what the results will be like

The Rasberryade I used Vitners SN9 although stated as working happily down to 11C it took a day of 20C to really get going. Excitedly waiting for clearing now

[userzzz]

Your right about some ferm bins, air does escape from the seal of the lid and hence you can see nothig coming from the airlock this isn't actually a problem as CO2 is heavier than air so no air will actually get in anyway, also for the raspebberry drink your making or any other non beer drink you very often don't seem that much visable activity but it is working, if you had a glass vessel then you would see the bubbles coming to the surface.