OK, so I’ve got a home brew kit for ale. Basically just the cans, the fermenter and some yeast.

The instructions say to add the yeast, once you’ve mixed and dissolved the contents of the can. Are you meant to just sprinkle the yeast on top or do you mix it in? It just says to add it.

Cheers

You can just sprinkle the yeast on top, no need to mix it in. The technical term is ‘pitching yeast’ which might help a google search to read up on the various techniques.

Great, thanks

Give it a good stir and get plenty of air in it, the yeast will thank you for it.

before you start you need to sanitise the brewing vessel & whatever you’re going to be stirring it with. If you don’t have any sanitiser (e.g. VWP, Chempro SDP, Starsan) then a thin bleach solution is fine. Just remember to give it all a very good rinse

but other than that, just follow the instructions – except the bit about how long it takes to ferment, that’s usually VERY optimistic.

loads more help at Jim’s Beer Kit forum

is it a Coopers kit BTW? They’re pretty good for a one-can kit, but the two can kits make a nicer brew IMO. not as good as All Grain, but way better than the really budget end kits

Thanks, I spent quite a lot of time making sure everything was sanitised. I actually used the sanitising stuff used for preparing baby bottles etc, so I hope that will be OK. Seems to be bubbling away nicely anyway.

It wasn’t really a kit at such. I got the fermenter and a can of the syrup stuff which included the yeast (http://www.woodfordes.co.uk/html/our_beers.html). All from Wilkinsons.

This is just a bit of a trial run really. Never done it before.

The lid of the fermenter is pretty tight fitting, and is sort of locked down at the moment. I assume it’s meant to be like that, or does the air need to get it? Will it explode if I don’t let the gas out?

You need to let the CO2 escape, just crack open the lid a little if you’re not using an airlock.

The can of malt extract you used it what’s known as ‘kit beers’; be warned, after a few kits it’s a slippery slope to all garin brewing and the bike shed fighting for room with a brewery!

Cheers,
Jamie

yeah, Milton should be fine.

but Jamie’s not wrong….

http://www.jimsbeerkit.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=24&t=58811

Hi John *waves*, Jabba over on Jim’s!

Cheers,
Jamie

Hi Jamie. I’m same user id over there as here

Ok,as a wee hijack; help me pick through the huge variety, link me to a decent 2 pack blond beer please.

Blonde, light or golden? Brupak do a Linthwaite Light which is ok, while for golden, their Fixby Gold and St Peter’s Golden Ale are also ok. I think to do a true blonde you might need to go extract or all grain

One of the reasons I’m so excited about moving into our new house is because my man shed has plenty of room. Enough for bikes, workshop and brewing area. I’ve already bought a book on brewing but one thing it is very brief on is the fermentation location. All it says is is 18-24 degrees C and out of direct sunlight.

That sounds really warm to me. Is a shed/garage typically warm enough? This is a brick building but it is separate from the house. It has electricity so I could install a heater of some description.

How do you maintain the correct temperature in the fermenter if you’re brewing in a shed? Can you get a thermostatically controlled heating jacket for it or something or do you need to keet the whole shed heated to the correct temperature?

Another JBK member here too, waves 🙂

some people have a “brew fridge” – basically a fridge that is switched off but which contains a thermostatically controlled heater of some sort – the fermenter sits inside that.

I keep my fermenter in the kitchen when it’s got wort/beer in it. Too warm for lagers, which are supposed to be done between 10 & 15 degrees, but as I don’t drink the stuff, & mrs_d won’t drink my brews, that’s not a problem

I never got around to converting a fridge but room temperature always worked out fine anyway, never had a stuck ferment and never had a problem hitting my numbers.

Your shed/garage will probably be fine in anything but extreme temperatures, though may be worth tucking it in with a blanket around it at night 🙂

You can fine tune once you’ve got a few brews under your belt and you know you’re in it for the long haul…

I converted a fridge to a fermenting fridge/keg storage by just replacing the existing ‘stat with one of a more suitable temp range. It can take two cornies so great for storage in summer 🙂 However it can only take one 25L fermenter and as I brew 50L batches then I’m left wanting for fermentation control. Am thinking of using a builders bucket (trug) as a cold water bath to sit a FV in and recirc cold water through the trug using a cornelius chiller I’ve acquired.

the fermenter sits inside that.

inside the fridge, not the heater 🙄

Been tempted by home brewing but always been stumped about how you’d manage to actually get a proper cold break?

Any suggestions?

If that’s the only thing stopping you then dive right in 🙂

I use a counterflow chiller and so the cold break goes into the fermenting beer (just like happens in a commercial brewery).

Why do you see cold break as an issue ?

Just remembered, need to bottle my latest coffee IPA…

On the cold break above I brew all-grain using wine making kit (so micro batch) and tend to use the sink combined with ice packs to get a rapid chill, only works for small batches however.

Worked in a small micro brewery with a heat exchanger so have speent an age trying to work out how to replicate that at home without the water meter going mental, it’s fine if you’re collecting the warmed water in a HLT but at home that’s not going to happen…

there’s also the “no chill” option. Means you can’t pitch the yeast same day but not a problem for many

The amount of water I use for chilling is fairly small and can be use to wash the brewkit, clean the car, flush the toilet, water the garden, yadda yadda.

You’re talking about pence in water costs on a homebrew scale (I’m on a water meter BTW and my annual bill is about £100 for all use)

Surely the cost depend on the length of the run off, I’ve worked with run off’s that have taken three hours on five barrel kit so I could imagine a long run off taking at least 40 minutes at home with cold water just pouring away all that time…

Time and space ar the other problem in a one bedroom flat…

Now it’s warmed up I can maybe have a brew outside!

My counter flow chiller is very efficient and I guess uses 50-60 litres of water to chill a 50 litre batch of beer from 90 degC to 23 degC. That doesn’t cost very much in water costs even if you throw the collected water down the drain. If you use it for other purposes where you’d use water anyway (see above) then the cost decreases.

allthepies, do you have any pics or dimensions on your setup? I’m about to upscale my BIAB to a stainless pot but also have in mind that I will go to three vessel 50l end of brew volume in the future.