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Home Brew Questions

Rosemary Jest said:
Nice of you to offer, used to live over that way, if I still did I'd take you up on it. I'm sure someone will be happy with some free stuff.

Just checked those Wilko kits in my cupboard and they're best before April 2015... :thumbs:

Will need to clean up my pressure barrels and maybe get a second fermenting bin to get two on the go at once. Any tips on how to effectively clean a manky looking pressure barrel? It's one of the Wilko ones with the small opening, so can't get my hand in. :mad:
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You could soak it for a few days in a weak 'thin' bleach solution. I've used my jetwash on mine the last few times ;)
 
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friedaweed said:
You could soak it for a few days in a weak 'thin' bleach solution. I've used my jetwash on mine the last few times ;)
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Cheers, gonna try that oxyclean stuff from Wilko's and see if it works, not keen on tainting anything with bleach if I cock up with too much.

In the meantime, the Cooper's stout and DME has arrived and I'm going to give the fermenter a clean and get on this next week. :thumbs:
 
Rosemary Jest said:
Cheers, gonna try that oxyclean stuff from Wilko's and see if it works, not keen on tainting anything with bleach if I cock up with too much.

In the meantime, the Cooper's stout and DME has arrived and I'm going to give the fermenter a clean and get on this next week. :thumbs:
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Thin bleach is ok for this sort of thing and it doesn't leave an odour behind if you dilute it enough but yeah it's not a flavour you'd want in your beer. I use starsan for cleaning most of my kit.

Here's the Infamous Ditche'sStout thread from jimsbeerkit.com. It's a funny read.

" Ditch's Stout " Master Class ..... - Home Brew Forum
 
friedaweed said:
Thin bleach is ok for this sort of thing and it doesn't leave an odour behind if you dilute it enough but yeah it's not a flavour you'd want in your beer. I use starsan for cleaning most of my kit.

Here's the Infamous Ditche'sStout thread from jimsbeerkit.com. It's a funny read.

" Ditch's Stout " Master Class ..... - Home Brew Forum
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Just put a batch on the go, first one in a few years.

Cooper's Stout
1kg of Dark spraymalt
About 300ish g of muscavado sugar
Kit yeast

Didn't use a power drill though :D

A couple of weeks wait and once I've cleaned my pressure barrel should be good to go! :thumbs:
 
Rosemary Jest said:
Just put a batch on the go, first one in a few years.

Cooper's Stout
1kg of Dark spraymalt
About 300ish g of muscavado sugar
Kit yeast

Didn't use a power drill though :D

A couple of weeks wait and once I've cleaned my pressure barrel should be good to go! :thumbs:
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Fab. You may find it's quite fast fermenting with the muscavado feeding the yeast, it'll give it a lovely coffee feel. I've added roasted oats to a few stout kits as well and that always comes out nice. Pretty sure you'll get a good head on it :D

Make sure the lid don't blow :)
 
friedaweed said:
Fab. You may find it's quite fast fermenting with the muscavado feeding the yeast, it'll give it a lovely coffee feel. I've added roasted oats to a few stout kits as well and that always comes out nice. Pretty sure you'll get a good head on it :D

Make sure the lid don't blow :)
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It better not, it's in the spare room, good job the carpet's a bit of a browny colour already :D
 
friedaweed said:
I've got one of those rubble buckets to put the FV in for stout as I've had a few go over the top. A bin bag's a good back up or a towel underneath. Keep an eye on it, they can go volcanic :D
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Just had a quick check under the towel I've got wrapped round it and the foam is already hitting the top of the fermenting bin. :thumbs: You were right, think the yeasties are eating up all that sugar. Cant wait to get stuck in!
 
Rosemary Jest said:
Just had a quick check under the towel I've got wrapped round it and the foam is already hitting the top of the fermenting bin. :thumbs: You were right, think the yeasties are eating up all that sugar. Cant wait to get stuck in!
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It's one of my fav brewing phenomenons watching the krausen take off. Stout is the foam disco party of home brewing. :D You've got me considering a stout brew again ;)
 
Just had some Oxiclean stuff from Wilko's in both my old pressure barrels and it's worked wonders. One was particularly grimy, only had a couple of scoops in for half and hour or so, half filled the barrels with hot water from the tap and swooshed them about every few minutes.

Put a couple of new taps on too, and a couple of new seals on the lids. Gonna sterilise one tomorrow and siphon my stout in with a bit of priming sugar and should be good to go!
 
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my latest brew smells really eggy, the krausen hit the lid and spewed out a bit but otherwise it looks perfectly normal, still early days yet I'm hoping the eggyness will subside as it completes the brewing.
 
I've had this happen with a festival kit once, the room stunk for a few days but it just means the yeast is doing what it should, and it'll be that particular type of yeast giving the smell. What are you brewing?

Got my Cooper's stout barrelled yesterday so looking forward to getting stuck in. :thumbs:
 
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It's a wherry kit but I decided to go totally off on one so I added half a kg of dme and a kilo of dextrose then pitched it with a belgian abbey yeast, I'm planning on adding a tin of golden syrup when I move it to the secondary fv this weekend.
 
Rosemary Jest said:
Abv 9% or something? :thumbs:

Sounds great indeed!
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Aye defininetly 8.5 + the smell has subsided and I've moved it to the secondary with the syrup, tbh although it's not eggy it doesn't smeell all that exciting right now but no off smells.

I'm just trying the st peters golden ale now, made with the belgian yeast and using the same extras as the wherry execept for the syrup, It well young at one week but seeing as it had cleared I had to give it a go, tastes great but needs a long time in the bottle, 7-8% and tastes like it, dangerous stuff... probably my best brew ever.
 
It's not brewing as such, but having made two lots of perfect sloe gin this year, I am branching out. I never liked gin before, but it makes you proper giddy and chirpy, so I want more!

Gonna make mango gin, and rhubarb and ginger, this weekend :thumbs:
 
TopCat said:
My cider smells really good. I wonder if it's the proper cider yeast?
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Traditionally (!), champagne yeast is good for turbo cider, but I'm not sure it matters that much. Technically, it helps ferment some of the malic acid in the juice to lactic acid (Google "malolactic fermentation"), for that classic cider taste, but I don't think most shop apple juices have that much malic acid to start with.
 
I'm wondering what the alcohol percentage will be? 40 pints of Apple Juice and two kilos of dextrose? Anyone?
 
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