Newbie steps + sterilising queries...

bibibobo

Have just whipped up my first beer kit batch and having gone through the initial process I am wondering have I done a few of the steps correctly and if there are any tips to help a newbie brewer along...

Initial sterilisation...
2 tsps VWP in 5L tap water in fermenter together with paddle.
Sloshed around for a minute and let bucket sit for 10 mins.
Sloshed around a bit more.
Emptied out into bath.
Rinsed thoroughly with cold tap water from shower head for 5-10mins.
Shook bin dry insofar as is possible.
Poured in kettle of boiled mineral water (was advised not to use tap water) making sure that hot water hit all sides of fermenter and stirring paddle.
Poured in beer kit (coopers wheat beer) and liquid malt stuff making sure to get every last drop out with hot water.
Topped up to 23L with cold mineral water.
Put lid on and airlock with water.
Noticed temperature was 28deg C on LCD stick on thermometer... had put too much hot water in from cleaning out kit cans. Tried for hours to bring temperature down. Even tried putting bucket in cold bath! Had to give up eventually and wait for the morning. Woke early and bucket temp was 22 deg C.
Quick stir and checked OG which was 1.040 or 1.041 approx.
Sprinkled yeast on wort. Guy in shop gave me proper wheat beer yeast and said about 23 deg C should do the trick.
Replaced lid.
Waited 30mins.
Sterilised paddle with scalding water.
Removed lid and stirred vigorously to get air in.
Went to work, returned 12 hrs later and airlock is bubbling away happily.

Tried my best throughout not to touch / contaminate inside of lids, bin and stirrer. Anything that went into the wort e.g. spirit thermometer, hydrometer, stirrer was given a splash of scalding hot water first.

Is the above process ok? Its my first time. Is it ok to pour very hot / boiling tap water from the kettle to sterilise paddles, bin lids, beer kit cans, thermometers and hydrometers.

When you dip the hydrometer straight (sterilised with hot water) in the bucket to get the OG and blow gently to push bubbles away could spittle / breath bacteria not infect the wort? Is it that sensitive?

All going well I should have a batch to transfer into a second fermenting bucket for bottling in about 8 days. I bought an autosyphon - presumably this needs to be immersed / splashed in VWP and rinsed prior to use?

Also, any tips on sterilising PET ox bar bottles? Quick fill with VWP and rinse?? Is one of those bottle trees really necessary?

The sterilising bit seems a pain in the a. Maybe I'm overdoing this bit.

Appreciate any comments or tips.

Donny5

I know sterilising is a pain, but it's really the bulk of the work in kit brewing. Skimping on sterilisation probably won't lead to infection, but after a month of brewing, it'd be heartbreaking to find out the beer was bad.

Anyway, everything sounds good. Leaving it overnight to cool down isn't ideal (at 28C, I would have just pitched - Coopers' yeast should be fine), but I'd say you're fine.

As for hydro readings, I don't drop the hyrdometer in the fermenter. I take a sample in a sample jar, plop the hydro in that and discard it after. Each reading takes about 100ml of beer, but it eliminates the risk of contamination. I also only ever take three readings: one before adding the yeast, and two on consecutive days after two weeks to confirm the brewing is done.

The oxbar bottles are an odd beast. They don't break and they're stronger than glass, but you can't wash them in a dishwasher, as they'll deform at pretty low temperatures. I use 500ml brown glass bottles, and the convenience of washing forty bottles at once in a dishwasher with some VWP outweighs for me the advantages of oxbar bottles, which have to be washed manually. Rinsing them in VWP will do the job nicely, though.

Cork Boy

re bottling: start drinking grolsh for a while, it pays for itself in swingtop bottles, believe me!

qazxsw1

would use tap water unless you have a particular problem with it - if chlorine is the prob you can let the water stand overnight and the chlorine will evaporate

I'm using tap water (softned) for kit brewing - 7/8 brews and have had no probs - located in Tipperary.