My First Batch - Is this Normal ?

[Methos]

Hi All

This is my first time on this site.

I bought my starting off kit on Monday. I bought a plastic Fermentation tank and a airlock\Bubler and a Can of Coopers Lager and a Kilo of Brewing Sugar.

I sanitised the Fermentation tank by putting in Jik, a unscented Bleach that we get here for about half and hour. I then washed it with warm water to clean it and emptied the can of extract in it. I proceeded to chuck in 2 L of boiling water and the brewing sugar and strirred it well then added 21 L of tapwater. I then added the yeast. I closed it up and put it under the stairs with the airlock filled with water. On Tuesday morning it was bubbling away. A bubble about every 10 seconds. Tuesday was a bit hot and when I came home from work it was blowing over. I cleand up the mess and then put in a 6mm pipe in a bottle of sanitised water. The pipe was too small and I had to replace the airlock after I sanitised it. I wiped the top of the fermenter with bleach to keep it clean.

On Wednesday is wasn't blowing over anymore. it buubled again at about every 7 seconds. When I got home last night it was bubbling about every 20 seconds. Yesterday was coolish at about 17 degrees. This morning when I went to check up it wasn't bubbling anymore.

Is this OK ?

Any advice would be sorely appreciated.

Regards

[danno]

sounds like you're right on schedule. a "general rule of thumb" is the 1,2,3 schedule; 1 week in the primary (where you are now), 2 weeks in the secondary to clear, 3 weeks in the bottle to condition...

welcome!

[Dextolen]

I've never heard of brewing that way, dumping all the ingredients into the plastic fermenter and adding boiling water.

[BrewDog]

Methos-

Welcome!

Sounds to me like you are on track, too. Danno mentioned 2 weeks in the 'secondary', which you might or might not have, given this is your 1st kit beer. Basically, a secondary is another tank. Most home brewers use glass carboys for secondary.
This is used to help age the beer and get it off of the yeast and other stuff produced in the primary fermentation stage. Doing so will help your beer clear better and taste better.

If you don't have a secondary, I'd suggest you leave the beer in the primary for 12-14 days (total). The extra week or so will help in clarification, etc. Rushing through it in 1 week and going directly to bottles won't give the beer enough time to age. You'd be amazed at the difference the extra week makes.

There's a GREAT online book by John Palmer that I think you would enjoy. You can find it by clicking HERE (http://www.howtobrew.com).

He devotes chapter 3 (http://www.howtobrew.com/section1/chapter3-1.html) to making beer with malt extract. I hope you will read this chapter as it will help point you to ways that you can make your next batch(es) get better and better.

HTH-

[Kyle_Draven]

I have seen instructions like that at my local shop.
from their site.

Muntons Beer Kits
Each kit makes 6 US gallons of quality beer.
Requires 2.2 lbs of corn sugar.
No boil needed.
Includes yeast.
Choose from 3 different styles.

[Methos]

Hi Guys

Thanks for the replies. I went home at lucnhtime and checked the beer. There is no bubbling anymore from the airlock. I was there for about 1/2 and hour.

Don't know if I'll be able to wait for so long to have a taste.

Can I pour a bit from the tap ? Or will that cause bacteria to grow there and bugger up my beer ?

Brewdog. Thanks for the links.

Cheers

[HogieWan]

patience is hard at first, but it's worth it. As soon as you bottle this, get another batch going. If you have homebrew to drink, waiting for the next one to condition isn't as hard.

[Tweek]

Originally posted by Methos

I sanitised the Fermentation tank by putting in Jik, a unscented Bleach that we get here for about half and hour. I then washed it with warm water to clean it


Hello Methos.

You should get yourself a container of some sort of no rinse sanitizer like iodophor. Rinsing after you sanitize defeats the purpose and you could potentially be re-introducing germs into your equipment. Additionally if not rinsed well bleach will cause some nasty off flavors.

[HogieWan]

I have been using bleach on everything but bottles and have had no problems with infection.

[Dextolen]

Me too.

1/2 cup bleach in the primary full of cold water, soak all the equipment in there too, for 1/2 hour. Rinse with HOT water, no problems.

[bruin_ale]

But the risk is there Hogie, just because you haven't had an infection doesn't mean it's not a possibility. If you rinse until the bleach smell is gone, then there's nothing to kill any bacteria that may be present in the water that your rinsing with.

Obviously, you're not the only one using a bleach solution and getting infection free brews, so I'll agree that it's not absolutely necessary to go no rinse ; but I switched to star-san after my first batch and definitely haven't regretted it.

[Tweek]

that is exactly the point. Just because it hasnt happened yet doesnt mean it wont ever. Plus most of us homebrewers are lazy, and if you get a no rinse sanitizer you can skip a step. So its got that going for it too. :)

[Vienna Lager]

Menthos:

Put about 6-8 liters of water in a pot big enough that can hold about twice that amount easily. Pour your LME and corn sugar into the water and bring the mixture to a boil and stir to make sure nothing sticks to the bottom. Let it boil for at least 1/2 hour and 3/4 hour would be better. Cool the pot in the sink or tub filled with cold water. When it gets down to about 70F or room temperature pour the mixture into your fermenter. Top off to 5 gal mark with bottled of filtered water and throw in your yeast. Put top on and air lock and wait.

You want to boil as much of the mixture as you can to not only sanitize it but also to have the chemical changes that come with the boil.

Would second the suggestion of getting a 2nd batch going as soon as the primary is freed up.

[bruin_ale]

Nice conversion to liters there vienna, but you forgot to translate from F to C on the temp :)

[HogieWan]

Originally posted by Tweek
Plus most of us homebrewers are lazy, and if you get a no rinse sanitizer you can skip a step. So its got that going for it too. :)

I'm more cheap than i am lazy. Bleach works, so I use it. The only reason I use no-rinse for bottles is the time it takes to rinse all those bottles. I used the star san on my carboy for the last batch, but the film it leaves made it a real PITA to use my new wort wizard, so I'm sticking to the bleach

[Vienna Lager]

B_A I knew I would screw up the temp conversion so just said room temp. ;>)

[Methos]

I bottled yesterday. I tasted a cup full of the beer and it was actually quite yummy. Had another cupfull just for good measure and to test the findings of the 1'st cup. Then I tested another.

I boiled a 3/4 cup full of sugar with water for about 10 minutes and let it cool for a bit. I added the primer to the beer when it was about blood warm. Stirred it in and then started bottling.

Bottled into 2 litre plastic bottles. The bottles are standing in a dark cubboard. Also bottled 2 Grolsch Bottles full to start testing on about Thursday night.

When I washed the fermenter I saw a layer of yeast lying at the bottom of the tank. Will there be enough yeast suspended in the beer to carbonate it ?

I poured off a cupfull to keep in the refigirator in case it doen't carbonate.

Cheers

[stronk]

Even if the beer was completely bright and transparent, there will almost certainly be enough suspended yeast to carbonate it. After all, it only really needs a couple of healthy cells to multiply into another population.

It sounds like you know what you're doing, though. Everything you've done so far is sensible and correct. Be sure to keep the bottles in a fairly warm place (room temperature or very slightly warmer) and not on the floor (which is often several degrees below room temperature), if possible. If all goes well, it'll be fully carbonated in about 2 weeks; quicker if you've got very healthy yeast.

The good thing about bottling in plastic bottles (IMO) is that you can see if there's too much pressure building up as the bottle grossly distorts in shape. With glass bottles, you only notice you have an infection when they start exploding! Don't worry, though. As long as you sanitized well, you'd be unlucky to have an infection.

[bruin_ale]

One thing to add.. with a 5 gallon batch, you really don't need to worry about cooling the priming solution. When you add 3/4 of a cup of hot water to 5 gallons of room temp beer, the temp raise is going to be negligable. Adding it right away saves you both time (no waiting for priming solution to cool) and risk of infection. I usually just set the pot in some cold water while I get everything else going and then add it.

[BradyJ]

Can one use the same dilute bleach to sterilize bottles?

[HogieWan]

Originally posted by BradyJ
Can one use the same dilute bleach to sterilize bottles?

For semantics sakes, it may not sterilize, but you only need to sanitze.

I've done the bleach thing since I started (almost a year ago), but just bought some Star San for bottles. It takes a LONG time to rinse that many bottles well enough to get rid of any bleach, but (as I said) I did it for a while. This batch (hopefully bottling Wed.) will be the first time I don't use bleach for bottles.

[bruin_ale]

If you mean use the same bucket of diluted bleach that you used for brewing, that's a big no no. Bleach evaporates in relatively short-order, so your bucket of dilute bleach solution will be basically just water by the time you get to bottling. Bleach is cheap, just mix up a new batch when it comes time to bottle.

[Methos]

I'm Happy to say that my beer was a success. Tastes quite good. I bottled in 2l plastic Coke bottles that are kept in a dark cupboard.

My next batch will be a Coopers original Ale. Starting that tonight.

Does Ale taste very different from Lager? Never had any.

Cheers

[Dextolen]

Originally posted by Methos
Does Ale taste very different from Lager? Never had any.

Cheers [/B]

Think of ale and lager as families. They have to do with types of fermentation (temps, length, etc). They can range in flavor, color and bitterness.

Lagers are fermented at cold temps, which greatly reduces the amounts of esters and phenols in the flavor. These give ales character, but are considered flaws in lagers. Lager flavors focus on the base malts and hops. Macro beer sellers call this 'crisp,clean" etc.