First beer kit - Geordie Scottish Export (with pics)

[5thElement]

I posted this over on jims beer kit forum and thought it might interest some people here aswell.

Armed with a new bucket, a geordie scottish export kit and 1kg of geordie beer kit enhancer i set about brewing my first ever beer.

Here's all the stuff ready to get brewing



After sterilising everything and leaving the can to sit in some hot water for 5 minutes the can was then opened and poured into the fermenting bucket



Then in went the beer kit enhancer



Boiling water was added next (4 pints) using some of it to rinse out the can, it was then given a good stirring to dissolve all the sugar.



The fermenting bucket was now topped up to 5 gallons with cold water



The next step was to take a gravity reading which was 1.034, slightly low for my liking but i can live with it! instructions seem to reckon it'll ferment to 1.005 or below which would give me around a 4% strength beer.



Finally the yeast was sprinkled on top, stirred in well and the lid put on the fermenting vessel.

Now the waiting game begins!

[bugle]

Looking good, like the pics!

Just regarding the SG being low, I notice that you didn't take the temperature of this brew, although the kit quantities are pretty good at getting the wort to a suitable temperature to safely pitch the yeast, they do not get it right on for what ever temperature your hydrometer is calibrated for.

So if it was above your calibration temp then the wort would be less dense hence your hydrometer would be displacing more of it (floating lower, giving a lower reading).

I think there is a post in the tutorials section regarding correcting for temperature.

[rjb222]

Bugle is correct also the temperature of the yeast pitch can vary a bit but you do not want to pitch yeast above 90F This will kill your yeast so a temp reading is important with only 4 pints of boiling water you are going to be ok I believe. Doing a yeast starter will give you a quicker start and a better ferment. With ales the quicker the ferment the better the flavor a slow start can contribute esters that are quite upfront and make your beer taste funny.The temperature of the ferment is also very important if a ale yeast is too cool you again stress the yeast and get off flavors. Most yeasts for ale should be happy at 70-75 F. ambient temp. this will get your krausen up and down quickly. This will give a fresher taste to your beer.

[5thElement]

Bugle - thanks for the advice regarding the temperature, you're absolutely correct, a thermometer will be next on my list of things to buy!

Rjb222 - Despite not taking the temperature, i'm sure it would have been safe enough to pitch the yeast, after i spent some time stirring it up to dissolve the sugar then adding the other 30 odd pints of cold water and stirring more it definately wouldn't have been anywhere near 90. Regarding the yeast starter i'll do that in future, i can only blame my lazyness for that.

I'll update this thread as the brew progresses.

[rjb222]

I look forward to the updates Congrats on picking a great hobby.Welcome to the fun.

[fatbloke]

Shopping List

New bucket.

Stout kit.

Bag of lactose.

More steriliser.

Citric acid for making 1/2 gallon DJ cleaning liquid.

Larger fridge.



regards

JtFB

p.s. erm, the above would be to make a "milk stout" type recipe as there doesn't seem to be anything definitive that I've found so far

[5thElement]

24 hours in and it looks like this



I didn't bother taking a gravity reading right now, i'll wait until around day 3, i guess the foam will start to subside a little by then aswell?

[rjb222]

Keep the lid on you don't want an infection. When the foam falls then rack over to a demi john or a clean sanitized fermenter and get it off the first trub this will allow the true flavors of the grain come through and reduce the amount of dregs in the bottle when finished. This shoud happen about day three to six depending on the yeast quality and from the look of yours it is healthy and working well should be day three.

[5thElement]

Unless i get another bucket/more demi's (not enough empty ones right now) i'll need to leave it in here until bottling unfortunately and prime the bottles individually.

The next beer i do my intentions will be to rack to a second bucket and mix all the priming sugar in then bottle, seems like an easier way to go about it.

I'll try and get hold of another bucket inbetween times though.

Thanks for the reply and the lid will stay on now until i take an SG reading in a couple days!

[rjb222]

Actually the best way to prime is 3/4 cup priming sugar to 1 cup water boil for ten min let cool sanitize a syringe and put 10ml per bottle this will give you the right prime and each bottle will be even.

[5thElement]

Thanks.

Couldn't resist a little peak this morning and the foam has more or less gone for the best part and it's fizzing away. I'll leave it alone now and take a gravity reading in the next day or two.

It's also started to take on a more typical ale smell, opposed to the smell of the malt extract when it began.

[5thElement]

Time for another update.

We're now at day 4 since pitching the yeast, the foam has dropped now leaving some stuff on the surface and the colour looks alot lighter/golden, it also smells lovely!



In went the hydrometer and the reading is now down to 1.010. Im not sure if it will drop further as there seems to be little activity in the liquid, but it's early days yet so i'll test again in a couple days time.

[5thElement]

I must say im slightly alarmed after reading this thread

http://jimsbeerkit.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?t=9532

Seems he had the same kit and it looks like it was wrongly labelled and he ended up with a lager lol i just wondered as mine seems to be going lighter in colour. The description says it'll be a "deep golden colour", so maybe i'll be okay, i suppose that does match the current colour, time will tell!

[rjb222]

I wold be checking with your dealer for the colour this kit should be or if there is a 1-800 number direct to the manufacturer. Get your facts correct and see where it goes this could be a win and win again scenario for you.The dealer should be able to give you a contact Number for the manufacturer or do it for you You may have just gotten a freebie got any lottery tickets?

[5thElement]

The kit was bought from "Wilkinsons" which isn't a proper homebrew store, so i reckon they wouldn't be any help, however i seem to have found the contact info for who produces these kits (looks like its Muntons) so if it does go wrong i'll definately get in touch with them as i did take a note of the numbers etc on the bottom of the can.

In the meantime i've sent them an email with the can numbers etc to see if they can confirm it eitherway! im probably worrying over nothing as usual, but it wont harm to ask!