Conditioning?

[Greatcthulhu]

The thing to do is to transfer the beer into a secondary FV and then batch prime with 80g of sugar for a 40pt brew. Once you have done this, the primed beer can then be bottled or transferred to a pressure barrel for conditioning. Personally, I like to stick 30pts in a keg, for drinking as soon as it's ready and bottle 10pts to add to my collection for longer storage. It also depends on what you're brewing. Lager is probably best bottled, because more CO2 will dissolve into the beer, making it more "fizzy" than if you put it in a keg. As to your query about bottled water, I found that my beer improved when I stopped using tap water and started using Sainsburys bottled water at £1.05 for 5lts.

BTW, you mention that your first brew was a disaster and got poured away. What went wrong with it?

[cellone]

That is perfect for either bottling bucket or fermentation vat.

You could spend £8ish on a new basic FV and attach a little bottler to what you have. What you have has a wide neck to allow access for general cleaning and removing/replacing the tap and when batch priming once you've syphoned your brew on top of the priming solution you can put the cap on and let it do it's thing for 10 to 20 min.

You could spend £20ish for a new basic PB and use what you have for fermenting, but barrels are more suitable for ales.

[rootsbrew]

Seeing as this thread is about conditioning, it seems a good time to ask:
What is conditioning? I don't just mean the closed vessel fermentation to carbonate the beer, I mean what chemical changes happen once the beer has become carbonated and equalised?
In terms of age and chemistry, where is the line between conditioning and autolysis?

[RussBLS]

The thing to do is to transfer the beer into a secondary FV and then batch prime with 80g of sugar for a 40pt brew. Once you have done this, the primed beer can then be bottled or transferred to a pressure barrel for conditioning. Personally, I like to stick 30pts in a keg, for drinking as soon as it's ready and bottle 10pts to add to my collection for longer storage. It also depends on what you're brewing. Lager is probably best bottled, because more CO2 will dissolve into the beer, making it more "fizzy" than if you put it in a keg. As to your query about bottled water, I found that my beer improved when I stopped using tap water and started using Sainsburys bottled water at £1.05 for 5lts.

BTW, you mention that your first brew was a disaster and got poured away. What went wrong with it?

I used normal sugar with the kit. And it just tasted disgusting. I don't think I primed it either. I'm going to give it a proper go this time though! 40 pints of cheap ale? I wouldn't need to leave the house for weeks at a time!

I'll definitely be sticking to ale. Not too keen on lagers. Am I getting old? I'm only 25!

[RussBLS]

Oops. Double post.

[RussBLS]

That is perfect for either bottling bucket or fermentation vat.

You could spend £8ish on a new basic FV and attach a little bottler to what you have. What you have has a wide neck to allow access for general cleaning and removing/replacing the tap and when batch priming once you've syphoned your brew on top of the priming solution you can put the cap on and let it do it's thing for 10 to 20 min.

You could spend £20ish for a new basic PB and use what you have for fermenting, but barrels are more suitable for ales.

Do the little bottlers fit on the King Keg taps? I'd rather put the money towards a barrel that I could leave ale in or use for priming. Dual purpose.

[Greatcthulhu]

Using Dry Malt Extract (DME) or Beer Kit Enhancer will definitely improve the taste of your beer. If you like Ale/ Stout, it would be well worth looking at the 'Ditch's Stout Masterclass' post, which is a great example of an easy kit adaptation that gives a great result. It would also be worth you looking at 3kg kits ( two can kits that contain 3kg of malt extract). These rely on the sugar in the malt extract to produce the alcohol and no extra sugar is added. Good examples of these are the 'Woodfords' range and the new 'Festival' range of beers.Although these a more expensive, around £24 for a 40pt kit, the cost isn't as great as it seems once you've added the cost of buying DME to the cost of an £11, 1.7kg kit.

It's also worth noting that beer improves with age and your 'disgusting' beer may have improved if left in the bottle for a while. I just made a Woodfords Norfolk Nog for the first time. I tasted it after it had been in the keg for about 5 weeks and it was really very bitter. After leaving it for another couple of weeks it's improved no end and now tastes amazing.

[RussBLS]

Using Dry Malt Extract (DME) or Beer Kit Enhancer will definitely improve the taste of your beer. If you like Ale/ Stout, it would be well worth looking at the 'Ditch's Stout Masterclass' post, which is a great example of an easy kit adaptation that gives a great result. It would also be worth you looking at 3kg kits ( two can kits that contain 3kg of malt extract). These rely on the sugar in the malt extract to produce the alcohol and no extra sugar is added. Good examples of these are the 'Woodfords' range and the new 'Festival' range of beers.Although these a more expensive, around £24 for a 40pt kit, the cost isn't as great as it seems once you've added the cost of buying DME to the cost of an £11, 1.7kg kit.

It's also worth noting that beer improves with age and your 'disgusting' beer may have improved if left in the bottle for a while. I just made a Woodfords Norfolk Nog for the first time. I tasted it after it had been in the keg for about 5 weeks and it was really very bitter. After leaving it for another couple of weeks it's improved no end and now tastes amazing.

My first brew might have ended up ok had I left it. I just didn't have any experience or any knowledge about home brewing. Kept having a peek at my brew fermenting quite often out of curiosity!

The St Peters kit I have is a two tin kit. And I shall leave it be this time!

[Barloch]

To be fair i enjoy just bottling straight to the bottle with a half teaspoon of brewing sugar, there is some sediment in the bottle but i tend to let mature for at least 8 weeks so the sediment is like clay on the bottom and doesnt reallly come into the glass with some steady pouring

I have read so many times that batch priming is better and the only time i have over carbonate is when i used a jar of honey in the primary brew (something to do with the honey yeasts needing a lot longer to ferment out)

IMO it's really a question of what is easier for you, i have never had a problem with bottling straight from the orig FV so what isn't broke etc

[RussBLS]

To be fair i enjoy just bottling straight to the bottle with a half teaspoon of brewing sugar, there is some sediment in the bottle but i tend to let mature for at least 8 weeks so the sediment is like clay on the bottom and doesnt reallly come into the glass with some steady pouring

I have read so many times that batch priming is better and the only time i have over carbonate is when i used a jar of honey in the primary brew (something to do with the honey yeasts needing a lot longer to ferment out)

IMO it's really a question of what is easier for you, i have never had a problem with bottling straight from the orig FV so what isn't broke etc

Maybe I should run two kits side by side and try both methods. There's bound to be at least a few decent tasting brews between 80 bottles!

[RussBLS]

Well I warmed up my cans and added some water. Currently sitting in a cupboard in a bedroom cooling down before I add the yeast. Avg temp in the room is around 19°C. This is perfect for brewing right?

Anything else I should be doing?

Would I be ok just adding the yeast without stirring/agitating the FV?

Also managed to collect around 20 bottles out of people's recycling bins yesterday. Don't judge me! I did enquire at a local Bath Ale pub but the bar maid seemed a little miffed when I enquired about used bottles.