Newbie first brew questions - Can I bottle from Keg

[Chocki]

Hi all, just going to try my first brew, i have bought a Youngs microbrewery kit, basically a fermentation bin and a pressure barrel, and the Woodfords wherry kit included.

Couple of questions. If I ferment as normal then transfer to the keg, part condition it in the keg, can I then bottle from the keg and complete the conditioning in the bottles?.

And I'm already thinking of modifying the Woodfords wherry by adding 1Kg of honey. To help, I planned on whisking the wort a little to oxygenate it, and activating the yeast before pitching it to give it a fighting chance due to the extra honey.
Do you thing the yeast supplied with the kit would do or should I get an alternative yeast, and if so, which one.

Or am I being too ambitious for my first foray into home brew and should just stick with the basic kit and forget bottling for now.

Thanks for any replies.

Kind regards

Chocki.

BTW, is it possible to get a kit which produces a wheat beer similar to Hoegaarden.

[Troutman47]

Hi Chocki,
If you want to bottle some of the Wherry then it needs to be done at the same time as you keg.

What I would do is dissolve the priming sugar in some cooling boiled water and put this in the keg, syphon off into the keg, then fill the amount of bottles you want to. Seal up the keg and bottles and leave to condition.
BTW, wherry can take a long time to condition so you'll want to get another brew on straight away!

As for the honey, don't do it!!
Wherry is a lovely pint and doesn't need doctoring.

Yeast supplied is ok.

[cellone]

I have a little bottler attached to a youngs pressure barrel and use it as a bottling bucket. I imagen as long as you don't prime the keg prior to storage then you could bottle from it. Only reason I use it is because it's there.

[Chocki]

Thanks for the replies.

I'm going to drop the honey as possibly a bad idea at the moment as it may leave my result a bit dry, need to sort out a suitable yeast first then appropriate mixes of hops / grains etc (It's going to happen isn't it, going to go grain brewing). Deffo going to bottle a handfull of bottles to see if I prefer the bottle conditioned results or keg.

Just got to wait for my heater to arrive and continue with my undercounter fridge conversion before I start my first brew.

Thanks

kind regards

Chocki.

[jdoyley]

I think dropping the honey is a good idea. Fairly new to brewing myself and I think getting used to the process by following the instructions exactly so you know what you're doing before modding is best. Modding can wait.

[Dominic]

It's difficult though isn't it? This forum is full of good ideas, even my local hbs says on their website about beer kit enhancer and spraymalt improving a kit, but when I went there to get my starter stuff and explained I'd got the kit already, and it was my first, and asked about spraymalt, she got me the 1kg of dextrose and said for my first one just follow the instructions . You then start off into the hobby knowing you aren't making the best you can... As a perfectionist that's a toughie to deal with.

As it is, my The Range Stout kit, which girlfriend bought for my birthday and which was made up into FV a week ago actually tastes like stout! Yes I drew a tiny capful off the tap to try. A bit fizzy yet obviously but happy to leave it another week in there in the knowledge I've done a good job. Then into the PB for a period of extended sampling but I take on board comments on this forum that it will need a month or more to be at its best after that.

Can see how it can get addictive this modding thing though. I've already ordered some muslin bags and considering some chocolate malt and (where can I get it?) cocoa essence for next time. Meanwhile I think I'll leave the wherry or St Peter's Ruby I was cogitating over for brew 2 and try a cheap kit modded with bke and some H&B malt extract next...