[Closed] A homebrew question. Well, some homebrew questions.

Fresh ingredients are part and parcel of good brewing, but at this stage it is all about getting your eye in so I would go full speed ahead with what you have.

Are you planning a boil? Or were you going to add those hops dry to the fermenter [some kits do this].

Ta. Just to be clear though, the ingredients I have are all four years old, are they all still okay? Surely the yeast will be dead by now?

According to the instructions, I add the hops on day 5, after soaking/pulverising them for a couple of minutes in 500ml of boiling water.

The yeast could well be deceased after 4 years, yes. As it's the critical component probably best to pick up a new packet at the brew shop tomorrow morning.

STW, yesterday.  May be of interest?

https://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/suggested-homebrew-kits/

If you do nothing else, buy a new packet of yeast. Wilko's will do.

It's not clear from your description whether your kit is an extract kit (you will need to boil the malt and add the hops at specified times), or a standard kit where you put the malt in your fermenter, and add water, with the hops intended for dry hopping. If it's the former, you will need a pan big enough to boil the malt extract and the required quantity of water.

I'll grab some yeast tomorrow, and a big plastic jug.

From your description it's a standard kit. The instructions are essentially warm/soften malt, put in into fermentation bucket, add water to 23l, 22degC, leave for five days, add hops, leave for another five days, bottle (with appropriate hygro checks along the way).

Can I syphon/bottle straight from the fermentation bucket, or am I best syphoning into another bucket first?

You have to transfer to a second bucket for bottling - there will be detritus / yeast trub accumulating in the fermenter, plus hops if they are loose, so the beer must be racked off all of this.

Plus you need to add a small amount of priming sugar for bottling in most beers - easy to just add this a sterile solution to the bottling bucket.

From your description it’s a standard kit. The instructions are essentially warm/soften malt, put in into fermentation bucket, add water to 23l, 22degC, leave for five days, add hops, leave for another five days, bottle (with appropriate hygro checks along the way).

Great. That's easier. I would leave it at least two weeks though, whatever the instructions say. I usually ferment around 18-19 degrees.

Can I syphon/bottle straight from the fermentation bucket, or am I best syphoning into another bucket first?

It's much better to rack to a second bucket, but it's not essential. I usually rack into an old pressure barrel, with the priming sugar solution going in first. I attach a bottling wand to the tap and fill from there. Much easier and cleaner than trying to pinch a syphon tube closed. You can go straight from the fermenter if it's properly settled - stir the priming sugar solution in very gently though. A sediment trap on your syphon will help to reduce the crap being sucked into the bottles: https://www.brew2bottle.co.uk/syphon-sediment-trap-350mm.html

A bottling wand on the other end of your syphon allows you to stop the flow between fills: https://www.wilko.com/en-uk/wilko-bottling-wand-with-tap/p/0441127

I usually put the dry hops into a bag: https://www.the-home-brew-shop.co.uk/acatalog/Nylon_Hop_Bag_with_Drawstring.html

Cheers chaps.

The syphon I have comes with a sediment trap like that one, and has a tap on the end (well, nearly the end, there's about another six inches of tube after the tap. That bag looks handy to help trap any hoppy bits though, I'll see if they have one at the hardware shop in town, they stock homebrew stuff, and I might splash out on another bucket and a bottling wand.

Actually, when you say you ferment for two weeks, do you mean five days, then add hops, then nine days. or seven days, hops, then seven days? And 18-19deg is perfect, that's the temperature of the pantry 🙂

Actually, when you say you ferment for two weeks, do you mean five days, then add hops, then nine days. or seven days, hops, then seven days? And 18-19deg is perfect, that’s the temperature of the pantry

I would ferment for 10 days, add the hops for 4 days, then bottle. But do make sure that fermentation has finished - you should get the same value on your hydrometer two days in a row. Wait until airlock activity has finished. If it's finished a bit high (say 1018) then give it a stir with a sanitised spoon, that's usually enough to finish it up. Nothing wrong with waiting a few more days.

The main thing to focus on is hygiene - everything the beer contacts must be sanitised. As your bottles are plastic, you can't use hot water on them - lukewarm should be fine with your sterilising powder. A builder's trug or two is handy for cleaning and storage.

Well, the initial bit on Saturday went pretty well (I think), and the fermentation bucket went into the pantry with a blanket round it. However, nearly two days later. I ain't not got no bubbles through the airlock. Should I be worried?

FWIW, the liquid temp when the bucket was sealed was about 24C, the ambient temp in the pantry is about 19C, and I stuck the thermometer down between the blanket and the bucket and it's measuring a gnat's over 20C.

I normally leave my brew fridge at 22C. 20C should be OK but will be a bit slow. I wouldn't expect massive bubbling 2 days in.

For bottling, best thing I did was to add a tap to the bucket - makes bottling a doddle.

Those small plastic airlocks can be a bit rubbish with plastic brew buckets IME (I don't bother with them).You rarely see a text book flow of bubbles, so it tells you nothing. The hydrometer tells the tale of the ale.

For bottling, best thing I did was to add a tap to the bucket – makes bottling a doddle.

You bottle straight from the fermentation bucket then? It's a bit late for me to fit a tap now, obvs, but interested for next time.

Assuming all goes well, and I eventually get beer into bottles, how long should I condition them for before drinking? And how long will they keep?

I wouldn't worry about the airlock

1) Sometimes the yeast takes a couple of days to get going, the initial phase it's mostly consuming nutrients and multiplying, it'll do this until the dissolved oxygen runs out just like any other organism. Once it turns anaerobic it starts turning sugar into alcohol.

2) Buckets dont always seal airtight, the bubbles may be escaping elsewhere.

I would give it 10-14 days to ferment, then think about checking the gravity. Opening it up every day for that time to pointlessly check it is just more chance for infections to get in and removes it's protective blanket of CO2. Beer generally gets better the longer it's left to ferment. Commercial brewers can do it in a few days with accurate controls, stirring, oxygen bubbling etc.  A home brew bucket always takes longer, and produces not so ideal off flavours due to the uncontrolled temperatures, giving it a few more days/weeks lets the yeast re-absorb/metabolise those off-flavours to make better beer.

Once the hops go in it's a balance between leaving it long enough to absorb their aroma, and leaving it too long and the aroma evaporates again. So you don't want to be waiting weeks/months for the beer to condition after the hops have been added. Ideally you would be drinking it from a cask with the hops still in it on day 5 so it's best if the beer is almost perfect when the hops go in.

Assuming all goes well, and I eventually get beer into bottles, how long should I condition them for before drinking? And how long will they keep?

Minimum of 2 weeks to bottle condition, some say 4 weeks but 2 has always been enough for me. I've never had to keep any bottles more than 6 months but for optimum freshness I think that's enough of a shelf life.

The other thing that slows fermentation starting is not having enough oxygen in the brew. I fill using a clear hose from the tap and ensure there's a sufficient drop to aerate.

I bottle straight from the bucket after cold crashing to 5C. Much more CO2 stays in solution at low temperatures so there's no foaming. I mix 50-100g of sugar with a little boiling water and stir in. I then sterilise the bottles - after that the yeast has settled to the bottom again.

I do end up with a little yeast in the bottle - but that's what does the carbonation. It's easy to pour without disturbing the yeast or you can pour it in like Cooper SA Beer = Cloudy But Fine.

Okay, so, an update.

- The fermentation bin has been at about 20/21degC, tenth day was yesterday.

- I have two hydrometers it seems, not sure how/why. Anyhoo, I tested the reading on Sunday (day 8) and it was 1020 on one, 1018 on the other, tested it again yesterday and it was 1019/1017. So, a consistent drop on both.

- As suggested above, I gave it a bit of a stir yesterday.

- I put the hops in yesterday too.

Plan is to test again on Saturday and Sunday and, assuming the readings are stable, bottle Sunday.

Can I sanitize plastic bottles in the dishwasher?

I believe so, but i’ve Never tried it, not sure how consistent the cleaning would be.

a bottle Tree is a useful addition to your kit

Can I sanitize plastic bottles in the dishwasher?

No. Wash them then use starsan or similar.

Do you know what your original gravity was? Is it a particularity strong brew?

That seems a very slow fermentation. Although I don't brew kits, I brew all grain and I believe that it ferments quicker.

Can I sanitize plastic bottles in the dishwasher?

I have never bothered myself. Some people say yes, some say not. Personally if you ever intend to brew a few times I would buy some non-rinse santiser, Star San or similar. Lasts for ages and is a godsend.

https://www.jimsbeerkit.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=81033

Do you know what your original gravity was? Is it a particularity strong brew?

No, I don't know the original gravity, I forgot to take a reading...

That seems a very slow fermentation.

Yeah, that's my worry. It's not been bubbling through the airlock, but as above people seem to think that's not an issue. What would a healthy fermentation look like? There were no bubbles/foam on the top of the liquid when I opened the bucket, just some brown clumps of stuff, which I assume is the dead/expired yeast?

It's this kit, BTW:

https://www.lovebrewing.co.uk/sheepdogs-pride-suffolk-bitter-beerworks-craft-brewery-series/

What would a healthy fermentation look like?

It's a while since I did any brewing, but I would have expected to see a healthy layer of foam on the surface after a day, or so, lasting the best part of a week.

Did you get fresh yeast?

With a 4% beer, you would probably expect an OG of 1040 and a FG of around 1010.

At temperature you wouldn't expect a stuck fermentation. Although as long as it's dropping then it is fermenting.

I would hope to get to at least 1012.

If it doesn't keep dropping and you have a Wilkos near you, you could try buying another pack of ale yeast and pitching again with a good stir?

You could ask on Jims forum, there are a lot of kit brewers on there.

If it's stuck just buy some more ale yeast from wilkos*. Pour the yeast into a sanitised glass of room temp water and leave it with cling film over it for 30min or so, That allows the yeast cells to re-hydrate with water first (they're already full of the correct sugars and nutrients from the factory). Pitching directly into wort/beer means they absorb wort/beer which isn't the best for them. You get almost double the number of healthy yeast cells doing it this way.

*if you want to sound geeky, refer to it as nottingham yeast because that's where it came from as opposed to the London and Windsor varieties that are the other common dry yeats.

It’s a while since I did any brewing, but I would have expected to see a healthy layer of foam on the surface after a day, or so, lasting the best part of a week.

Depends a bit on the beer and the yeast and the temperature. Sometimes the krausen rises quickly and then disappears again leaving nothing but a few lumps, other times it sticks around overflowing the airlock and wreaking havoc. I generally found kit's to be quite quick and clean owing to the simple sugars involved and lack of protein in the wort.

I did get fresh yeast, yes.

If it doesn’t keep dropping and you have a Wilkos near you, you could try buying another pack of ale yeast and pitching again with a good stir?

There is a Wilkos near me. What do you mean by pitching?

FWIW, I tried a bit of it yesterday, and it does taste alright, certainly not off, and there's an alcohol warmth to it.

Pitching - adding the yeast.

spoon is right, about making a yeast starter but I never bother and never have had any problems.

Pitching – adding the yeast.

Smashing, ta. Thing is, the hops are in there now...

Better to ferment for too long than too short. If you're not sure if it's finished, leave it another week.

Assuming all goes well, and I eventually get beer into bottles, how long should I condition them for before drinking? And how long will they keep?

I recently made some more home brew, on getting my kit out of the garage I found a couple of bottles from the last brew I did in 2001. So I tried it. Beautifully clear, crisp and full flavour, light fizz with a smooth head. Didn't get the shits either. Not bad for a 17 year old beer.

Cheers all. The plan was to bottle at the weekend , but I'll test the hydro again and if it still seems a bit high I'll leave it. Do I take the hops out though? They'll have been in 4/5 days by the weekend.

spoon is right, about making a yeast starter but I never bother and never have had any problems.

Technically it's rehydration, a starter is taking a small amount of yeast and a small batch of wort and using it to grow the number of cells. That's only necessary with fresh-ish liquid yeasts where the cell count deteriorates fairly rapidly (they have to be shipped from the USA where the suppliers are to a shop in th UK where they sit on the shelves for weeks/months) and too expensive to just buy several packets for big beers.  Dry yeast it's cheaper buying more packets than it is to do a starter!

People recommend liquid yeasts and starters because it's what people on youtube and forums do. The people on youtube and forums are mostly American where they can get liquid yeast fresh from the laboratories in a matter of days/weeks. The only advantage is they have a greater variety, but there are already enough dry yeasts to last most people a lifetime of experimentation.

Rehydration with water just stops you killing half the yeast in the packet.

Cheers all. The plan was to bottle at the weekend , but I’ll test the hydro again and if it still seems a bit high I’ll leave it. Do I take the hops out though? They’ll have been in 4/5 days by the weekend.

Are they in a bag or something you could easily remove? Or do you have a second bucket/barrel to rack it into?

Lesson learnt, don't dry hop until after fermentation has completely finished, all the CO2 produced will be stripping out all the hop aromas and leaving it in too long makes the beer taste a bit like freshly cut grass smells.  The best way to dry hop beer is to wait for it to be completely finished, then dry hop it for 4-5 days before drinking/bottling.

Lesson learnt, don’t dry hop until after fermentation has completely finished

Aaaaaaaah, gotcha. From you're post last week, up there somewhere, I thought you meant don't bottle until fermentation had finished, not don't put the hops in.

Anyway, they're in a couple of bags so I can whip them out pretty easily. Shall I do that, and add more yeast, and get some more hops to add again when the fermentation has finished?

Don't bottle until fermentation is complete or it'll go with a bang!

Yeah, I know that much 🙂

Right, what I'm going to do is take the hops out tonight and then just leave it until the weekend. I'll do a hydro test then and see if it's dropped. If it has, I'll just leave it another week, and retest. If it hasn't I'll add more yeast.

And I'll get some more hops to add in when the fermentation has (eventually...) stopped.

Me again. I have a sneaky feeling that I will need to add more yeast over the weekend. I'll do TINAS's rehydration wotsit first, but when I add it into the bucket do I need to give it all a big old stir to get some oxygen in, or pour it in as gently as possible, or somewhere in the middle?

I pulled the hops out, FWIW, more on order.

I wouldn't bother with more yeast if it's shown any sign of fermentation - as long as it's warm enough and you give it more time it'll catch up. The more you muck about with it the more chance of introducing contamination.

Some good advice here

https://www.beer-simple.com/brewing/2017/6/5/stuck-managing-a-troubled-fermentation

hijack

do you homebrewers use fining agents to clarify beers before bottling?  What sort? If not, why not?

https://www.howtohomebrewbeers.com/2017/01/finings-how-to-use.html

My company makes one of these at industrial scale and we're looking at whether there is a homebrew play, either direct (we'd need a small volume packager and a credit card driven website), or via one of the Homebrew shops*

Times are tough, the larger brewers are almost all now owned by the majors and hence on big contracts with major chem cos (we're a UK SME in comparison); the smaller brewers are finding costs increasing and margins shrinking (and hence being taken over by bigger breweries / the majors becomes an attractive option) so i'm looking at 'creative' options to grow high margin while still small ticket to the users sales. Just not sure if there's enough volume overall to make it viable.

* cheeky but i don't suppose anyone has a directory of Homebrew suppliers (eg: I could in the cycling arena quickly reel off CRC, Merlin, Tredz, hargroves, Ribble, etc.)

do you homebrewers use fining agents to clarify beers before bottling?  What sort? If not, why not?

No, for two reasons:

1. My beers usually clear naturally, given sufficient time to condition

2. There's nothing inherently wrong with cloudy beer

I sometimes use finings, not always though., When I do I only use gelatine, which is pretty cheap and I can buy it at the supermarket. Although I always use protofloc during the boil.

Which of the finings does your company produce?

Some of the bigger/busier websites I know of.

http://www.themaltmiller.co.uk

http://www.thehomebrewcompany.co.uk/

https://www.geterbrewed.ie/

http://www.worcesterhopshop.co.uk/

As i always say on these threads, get over to  https://www.jimsbeerkit.co.uk/forum/index.php

and ask on there. Very friendly and helpful bunch.

do you homebrewers use fining agents to clarify beers before bottling?  What sort? If not, why not?

I just cold crash now, less faff just to press a button and come back 48h later to clear beer.

The big advantage homebrewers have over comercial brewers is time, the brewery next door gets through gallons of finings as every keg has to go out the door a few days after it comes out of the fermenter, otherwise it's taking up space and not making money. Whereas I can leave stuff 2-3 weeks to condition and not have to worry about it.

So selling finings in 5gallon drums to them every week is a bit different to me buying a pint of them every few years!

The home brew shop in Farnborough is probably the CRC of homebrewing.

PVPP (aka Divergan / polyclar / Vipyclar)

and although we don't actually produce we also buy in silica and blend with PVPP, as the two work together well and saves the breweries buying and dosing two materials.

Cheers for the inputs.

Even more yesteryear... Mega thread

https://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/brewers-of-stw/

pvpp is an open structure powder that adsorbs protein particultes that could make beer go cloudy over time.

mostly used to speed up lagering , reduce filtration losses an speed up filter throughput

not so much used for homebrewing , if at all . mixing and dosing would be a problem .

I would look at Niche solutions as a route to market for micro breweries , as for home brewers , speak with home brew shop North Camp to see if there is any demand

What are other people's experiences with the kits like the OP has? I've done 3 now, an IPA - just about drinkable but disappointing. Lager - crap. St Peter's Golden Ale - crap. Instructions always followed to letter, I've given up now.

The Ginger Ale I made from scratch in a demijohn was awesome though, but needed diluting with lemonade to make it drinkable (it was 12-13% in the bottle!)

Depends on the kit. The Coopers £10 tins are rubbish. The Festival ones for £25 are really good. A brew fridge makes a big difference as you can hold a constant temperature. Yeast does funny things if the temperature is swinging wildly.

I found the kits were mainly rubbish if you just added water.to the extract and left it. Had half decent results from doing a short boil and hopping etc.

It's the journey to homebrewing properly, though - makes sense to start with a simple kit to understand the processes and get the equipment together. Although if you can get an ale out of it that you'd be happy serving to guests then you've done well.

I tried a few kits a few years ago and had mixed results. Ended up buying s/h all grain equipment and brewed loads of good beer.

As mentioned above, a "brew fridge" makes a big difference.

I would recommend going all grain from the beginning. I recently changed over to a Grainfather, which is excellent. I wished I had done it ages ago. Starting out, I would probably go for one of the Grainfather clones, loads on Ebay and AliExpress. Buy some all grain recipe packs, watch a few youtube videos or read a book or 2, then crack one.

Kits are also a lot more expensive than using grain.

A brew fridge makes a big difference as you can hold a constant temperature.

I have a more basic solution: an aquarium heater in a large trug of water, put the FV in there and you can keep the temperature stable

aaaaaaand it's me again.

I didn't repitch in the end, I just pulled the hops out (they were in muslin bags) and left it. It's definitely stopped now though at 1015, it's been that way for a week. Tastes okay, quite malty, but a fair amount of bitterness even from the short hopping that it got.

So, I'm going to bottle it tomorrow. I picked up a cheap s/h bottle tree from eBay, and I got a second bucket with a tap and bottling wand attachment.

For next time (cos there'll be one), the pantry where I've had the FV is absolutely bang on 20degC, but do I need to put the FV somewhere warmer at first to get the yeast going?

No need to get too hung upon temperatures; unless you start brewing lager kits then its a bit more important.  I used to use a fish tank heater in the fermenting bucket to ensure a constant temperature.  These days I dump the kit contents in my FV add any additions and stick it in the garage, currently have three fv's on the go with temperatures in the garage fluctuating daily from between 8-12 degrees.  It will ferment given time.

PS welcome to the world of home brew; if you like cider check out turbo cider production on you tube; its super quick, not necessarily super strong though as the name suggests.

No need to get too hung upon temperatures

Don't tell me that, I've just about persuaded MrsIHN that's it's a good idea if I buy an old fridge and some other bits to put together a homemade brewfridge 🙂

Bottling will be easier  with a cold product . Might be very fobby  if its up in double figures  due to CO2 breakout. You might be fine , but if you can leave your beer out overnight then it should bottle  easier, having said that some C02 breakout is desirble as it will purge the headspace with fob and get you   lower DO content , and greatr shelf life /colloidial stabilty

I didn’t repitch in the end, I just pulled the hops out (they were in muslin bags) and left it. It’s definitely stopped now though at 1015, it’s been that way for a week. Tastes okay, quite malty, but a fair amount of bitterness even from the short hopping that it got.

Generally malty and sweetness (1015 is quite sweet for a normal strength beer) go together so tht's to be expected.

Dry hopping in the fermenter doesn't add bitterness, or at least it doesn't theoretically, you have to boil the hops to convert the alpha acid into bitterness. It does however make beer taste more hopy (obviously) which some people perceive as bitter.

For next time (cos there’ll be one), the pantry where I’ve had the FV is absolutely bang on 20degC, but do I need to put the FV somewhere warmer at first to get the yeast going?

Generally the ideal process is something like:

Yeast at 25C in for rehydration

Wort at 15-18C before pitching, you want the yeast to have an easy time to begin with whilst they absorb nutrients an multiply, then tart fermenting sugars.

Then let the fermentation stabilise at whatever temp you chose for the beer (18-22C for british ales), higher temps produce faster fermentations which give more byproducts which generally for british beers are fruity esters.

Then ramp it up at the end a few degrees to help the yeast get through the last of the sugars.

Lagers, Belgian beer, steam/california beer are all different. The thing with homebrew is you can start with a recipe or kit and almost everything you do with it will change it in some way, the interesting bit is trying to recognise what's happening and figure out ways of controlling it to do what you want. One person might like a certain kit fermented at 18C, someone else at 25C, one with "underpitched" yeast (i.e. not enough by design or accident stressign the yeast into producing more flavours) others with overpitched yeast to give a nice clean beer. Some like it sweet, others dried right out.

Might be very fobby  if its up in double figures  due to CO2 breakout. You might be fine , but if you can leave your beer out overnight then it should bottle  easier, having said that some C02 breakout is desirble as it will purge the headspace with fob and get you   lower DO content , and greatr shelf life /colloidial stabilty

I, of course, understood that perfectly, but could you explains in laymen's term for, ahem, any of our other readers... 😉

I, of course, understood that perfectly, but could you explains in laymen’s term for, ahem, any of our other readers…

Lots of unfermented sugar and CO2 can produce foam, foam stops stuff syphoning as the high point of the syphon ends up full of CO2. So it might be harder than anticipated to transfer it to a second bucket. Ditto when bottling it will foam up through the wand.

To avoid this, crack the lid off the bottling bucket and leave it overnight so it goes flat (leave the lid 'on' so air doesn't get in but any excess pressure can escape).

This has the added benefit of purging out any air from the bucket so you end up with less dissolved oxygen (DO) which would spoil the beer in the long term.

CAVEAT TO THE ABOVE TRANSLATION:

I personally don't think DO is an issue in homebrewed bottle conditioned beer. When presented with oxygen and sugar yeast will multiply and metabolise it so as long as there's some yeast present then worrying about tiny amounts of DO isn't really necessary.

To prove this I've just drunk some 3 year old IPA, which when I bottled it he syphon blocked so I was literally pouring it into bottles from the tap without a wand. It tasted fine. Not something you'd always get away with but it did that beer no harm in the long term.

Thanks. So, just to be clear, do I:

A) Syphon from FV into bottling bucket, leave BB overnight with the lid open a gnat's (ideally somewhere coldish), then bottle?

Or

B) Leave overnight in FV with the lid open a gnat's (ideally somewhere coldish), then syphon into BB and bottle?

I appreciate everyone's help BTW, you're all welcome to come round for a beer. Assuming it's drinkable 🙂

Thanks. So, just to be clear, do I:

A) Syphon from FV into bottling bucket, leave BB overnight with the lid open a gnat’s (ideally somewhere coldish), then bottle?

Or

B) Leave overnight in FV with the lid open a gnat’s (ideally somewhere coldish), then syphon into BB and bottle?

I appreciate everyone’s help BTW, you’re all welcome to come round for a beer. Assuming it’s drinkable

Just rack from your FV into a sanitised bottling bucket, which already contains your priming sugar in the form of a heavy syrup (boil up your sugar and water beforehand and let it cool). The you can syphon into sanitised bottles and cap.

I've never had a problem doing it this way.

BTW I have a special bitter bubbling away, loosely based on Fuller's ESB but with more late addition hops. Magnum for bittering; northdown, challenger and EKG for aroma.

You can also use honey as a priming sugar, different types can really change the taste of the finished beer.

At 1015 I would not be adding any primings at all.

There  should be enough residual fermentables left to get you 2.2 - 2.6 volumes of CO2

Unfortunatly you need to do an attenuation limit test to determine just how far it will ferment , which takes about 48hrs and still is not 100% accurate . ( whizz in a load of freshly hydrated yeast , warm to around 25'c , leave in warm place, then re chec your SG )

Final update. Well, for now.

Saturday was bottling day; I put the FV outside to cool right down overnight, made up the priming solution, put that in the bottling bucket and then syphoned from the FV into the BB. Bottled from there, then all the bottles into the cleaned FV and BB and back into the pantry to start secondary fermentation. I put them back in the buckets just in case any went pop... (which they haven't).

Things I learned:

1) Thank flip I put a tap and bottling wand on the BB, I can only imagine what a massive faff using a syphon would be.

2) When you tip the bucket up towards the end to get the last bits out, make sure you've put something under it to stop it sliding forward and off the worktop (a very close call)

3) Screwing on 40+ bottle tops gives you a blister on your thumb 🙁

I'll put all the bottles out into the garage tonight to start conditioning. I'll see you in six weeks 🙂

Leave the bottles at room temperature for a few days otherwise they won't carbonate.

Good work! Plastic bottles are the devil's invention designed to cause you pain. Budvar bottles and a capper are so much less hassle.

Okay, so, I'm back.

The brew, beautifully named, Massey's Old Felcher by a friend, has now been in bottles for four weeks. I've tried a couple and, I suppose unsurprisingly given the relatively high FG, they're pretty malty. Not unpleasantly so, but really pretty malty.

Will this maltiness mellow/change over time if left, or is that pretty much how it'll remain? I'm quite happy to essentially forget about them and let them do their own thing for however long, but if it's pretty much now the finished article then it'd be good to know.

I have a Malt Miller mini-mash kit to do next 🙂 (if I ever get a spare weekend...)