New member! Just ordered my first kit!

BeerNut

No. Thick bleach is designed to stick to surfaces and you don't want that.

Remember to add your bleach and vinegar separately to water. Don't mix them neat or you'll get poisonous chlorine gas.

lee_baby_simms

Thanks. Milton is thin bleach right?

BeerNut

Milton is different again. It can be used as a sanitiser but you need to rinse and I've heard even then it can produce off flavours.

I use Tesco own-brand thin bleach:

Yawns

Aye I use the same stuff. Very handy. If you have a trial jar use that as a measuring unit for the bleach and vinegar. Just rinse it well between each dose and afterwards.

lee_baby_simms

BeerNut wrote: »

I'd have thought somewhere in the 1.014-1.018 area, but it really depends on what's in their LME and how fermentable it is.

Its been at 1.016 for a good few days. Its two weeks since I pitched the yeast so I'm gonna bottle tonight.

I've noticed during the last few readings that there's a bit of hops floating around in the trial jar.

I've only got the one bucket - is there any way to prevent hops ending up the bottles? Could the spigot/bottling wand get blocked?

I was thinking of fishing out the hops with a sterilised sieve before I bottle.

BeerNut

I wouldn't worry about hops getting into the bottles. They won't do any harm there. No idea about the tap getting blocked, my fermenter doesn't have one.

You can scoop the hops out with a sanitised sieve, though you won't get all of them.

This is one of those learn-by-experience things, unfortunately.

scrapsmac

lads, Wheat Beer is coming along nicely. Had a slightly high OG of 1.061. Checked it tonight after 4 days in the fermenter. It's down to 1.04. Sound about right?

Temperature is between 16/18 degrees. Tried wrapping with a towel to get it up but I read that 18 should be okay!

covey09

What amount of fermentalbles did you use

scrapsmac

used the coopers stout kit with 1.5kg liquid malt and 100grams of wheat spraymalt

covey09

Yesterday, i added 1.5 kg of light DME and 300g of Dex and just about got an og if 1.050. i thought the liquid was'nt ment to be as fermentable as the dried powdered. what do you think your fg will be im hoping for 1.010

scrapsmac

covey09 wrote: »

Yesterday, i added 1.5 kg of light DME and 300g of Dex and just about got an og if 1.050. i thought the liquid was'nt ment to be as fermentable as the dried powdered. what do you think your fg will be im hoping for 1.010

sorry, I used the coopers WHEAT kit, not stout.

em hoping to get it down to 1.010 however with the temperatures the way they are that looks unlikely. ill just wait and let it do its thing!

Westwood

[FONT=verdana, arial]BrewSmarter Starter Beer Kit - 33 litre free upgrade, Coopers International Canadian Blonde Free Upgrade[/FONT][FONT=verdana, arial]Qty
1[/FONT][FONT=verdana, arial]Cost
[/FONT][FONT=verdana, arial]€39.95[/FONT][FONT=verdana, arial]
[/FONT][FONT=verdana, arial]Brewing And Winemaking Sugar (Glucose/Dextrose Monohydrate) 1 Kg[/FONT][FONT=verdana, arial]Qty
1[/FONT][FONT=verdana, arial]Cost
[/FONT][FONT=verdana, arial]€1.95[/FONT][FONT=verdana, arial]
[/FONT][FONT=verdana, arial]Coopers Brew Enhancer 1 (1 Kg)[/FONT][FONT=verdana, arial]Qty
1[/FONT][FONT=verdana, arial]Cost
[/FONT][FONT=verdana, arial]€5.40[/FONT][FONT=verdana, arial]
[/FONT]

Lads this is my first brew whats the thoughts on these purchases ive no equipment and looking to get a lot of it together, without spending a fortune. seems like the best deal I can find. I have glucose here for the carbonation and plan on buying grolsch bootles weekly till xmas. will I survive? thanks

covey09

Up to you, but every one will tell ya that Sparyed malt extract will be better that the Glucose. I currently conditioning drink the canadian at the moment , not that impressed. And i'd drink anything. see if you can wrangle somthing other than that kit off the guy.

lee_baby_simms

I've recently tasted Canadian Blonde made with a kilo of dextrose and it had a thin, slight vinegary taste to it. Not that pleasant at all. Its probably worth swapping the dextrose for DME.

http://www.homebrewwest.ie/spraymalt-light-1-kg-1120-p.asp

lee_baby_simms

BeerNut wrote: »

I wouldn't worry about hops getting into the bottles. They won't do any harm there. No idea about the tap getting blocked, my fermenter doesn't have one.

You can scoop the hops out with a sanitised sieve, though you won't get all of them.

This is one of those learn-by-experience things, unfortunately.

Cheers, I bottled it and very few hop leaves ended up in the bottles because they all gathered in the bottling wand. Took 2 hours! Every 3 or 4 bottles the flow would slow to a crawl and i'd have to remove and clean out the wand. I'd get another bucket for bottling but i'm kinda limited space wise.

On the plus side it tastes very promising. Definitely going with a hop bag next time however.

Westwood

Thanks, so ditch glucose and get the malt. the starter kit comes with either the blonde or standard larger, is their a best of a bad bunch? seems most people think blonde is piss. should I get equipment individually and kit.
usually drink lager and stout, any recommendations for a first brew as I don't want to shell out to be let down with dishwater. thanks

Yawns

My first brew was Canadian Blonde with just the enhancer #2. For priming I went and bought a small bag of glucose in Tesco with the weekly shopping. If you want it handy just order a bag of Cooper's drops from the website. Just pop 1 for each stubby bottle ( 330 ml ) or 1.5 for each 500 ml bottle.

A lot of people didn't seem to like it but tbh when it hit 5 weeks after bottling it was really nice. I have another batch on with just enhancer again I liked it that much. Anyone who tasted it loved it tbh.

I saw some people didn't like it first but I got it as it was part of the bundle too. I also ended up getting more equipment and doing more brews whilst bottle conditioning. My aim was that even if the blonde didn't turn out nice I would prob enjoy the other brew and it wouldn't put me off future home brewing. It's all about experimenting a bit. I'm pretty sure I'm gonna have a brew that is not gonna be nice at all but hey live n learn. Just go for it and leave it in bottles for 5 weeks if you can. It's the hardest part tbh. I tasted at least a bottle a week and they weren't nice at all up until the 5 week mark.

lee_baby_simms

Westwood wrote: »

Thanks, so ditch glucose and get the malt. the starter kit comes with either the blonde or standard larger, is their a best of a bad bunch? seems most people think blonde is piss. should I get equipment individually and kit.
usually drink lager and stout, any recommendations for a first brew as I don't want to shell out to be let down with dishwater. thanks

From what i've read on here lager is probably best avoided. It can't ferment at room temperature - requires a cooler environment. Not something you want to try as a first brew.

I would say stick with the canadian blonde if its part of the deal. It's relatively straightforward and low maintenance. If you keep everything clean, use DME and give it time to condition in the bottles it should be fine.