2 More Brews

Finally i have got round to starting the 30 bottle wine kit. Last night was a busy one as i’ve wanted to get this running for a while now. The kit is a California Connoisseur Merlot and comes highly recomended. As usual i set to cleaning and sterilising all the kit. I also set about sterilising my beer equiptment for another brew but more about that later Once everything was rinsed properly i set to mixing the wine kit following the destructions carefully. These 30 bottle kits are a tad messier to prepare than the beer kits. Just before i pitched the yeast i checked the OG which came in at 1.084 which is about right for this wine kit. I left the yeast to re-hydrate for a while while i topped up the turbo cider with 1 1/2 litres of apple concentrate.

Once i had mixed the yeast in i sealed the bin and fitted the airlock before rinsing off all my beer kit. Once that was done i set to mixing up the Bavarian Beer kit ‘ve been promising to put on. I quickly got the kit ready and took the gravity which came in at 1.042 before pitching the yeast . While this was re-hydrating i had a quick shower then stired the yeast into the wort before sealing the fermentor. Al in it was a good night of brewing. Appologies about the lack of pictures. I was just too busy

In hindsight, 1Kg of dextrose may have been a bad idea…

Ahem…. I may not be using so much of that stuff for brewing again. I have checked the taste and temperature’s and no thing seems amiss apart from the yeast head pouring out of the airlock. As long as bubbles are coming out there’s nothing getting in. I’ll keep a close eye on it. Well funny though. It floored me laughing we i saw it Hopefully the beer gods are looking down on me.

On a lighter note the Bavarian lager/bier has turned out stunning… It tastes like a cross between Warsteiner and Ayergerbrau Pills. Me and the missis love the results. This will be deffinately brewed again. It came from a Coopers Bavarian beer kit if you fance having a pop at it

Secondary fermentation is complete

Yeyy. The Bavarian beer has got through secondary frementation without any exploding bottles. I was a little concerned about this as i accidently over primed one of the bottled and half expected it to go pop in the airing cupboard, but there has been no problems what so ever I just need to leave it a week on the cool windowsill to condition before it’s ready to drink.

This was my second brew and i decided to use bottled water instead of tap water as this apparently makes it taste better, I ilso used muntons beer enhancer instead of regular cane sugar and i primed the bottles with light spray malt so it will be interesting how it turns out. Only a week to go

The Wheat beer is bubblig away nicely in the fermentation bin. As it’s so cold in the spare room (radiator turned off as beers are conditioning on the windowsill) i have attached my brew belt to the fermentation bin to keep the brew at a stable temperature. I tapped off some of the brew last night into the sample jar to check the temperature and it’s sitting pretty at 23 degrees. I also took a sneeky sip to check the brew hadnt been spoiled by any impuritys when i cleaned the kit out. I am pleased to say it was nice. A tad sweet with a malty after taste from the brew enhancer i used. Hopefully this will mellow a touch with time but if not it still tastes nice. I need to get some dextrose to prime this with as i dont want the malty taste from spray malt to get any stronger.

A weekend of home brew

Well i’ve finally got round to creating one of the new fangled bloggy things to document my home brewing antics and also share any usefull bits of information i stumble accross.

On Friday night I cracked open the Yorkshire Bitter i brewed 3 weeks ago to see if it was ready and was plesently supprised by the results. This was the first brew i have ever made so i wasnt holding out for anything spectacular. It turned out at a respectable 4.8% ABV (og: 1.044 fg: 1.008) with a taste similar to Hob Goblin which is one of my all time favourite beers. Needless to say i dont have many of these left now

I also tried out one of the Bavarian beers i have in the airing cupboard going through secondary fermentation. I wanted to see how they were going on so i popped one in the fridge on Saturday night to sample on Sunday, post DIY Shenanigans. The Lager Beer was still a bit cloudy so i’m going to leave the others untill mid week before moving them somewhere cool to condition. It was a superb tasting lager with a slight malty / bitter bite after taste due to the light spray malt i used to prime the bottles with. I also used bottled water for this brew so there is no unwanted tastes imparted on the beer from tap water. As far as carbonation is concerned, this will not be a problem as it is lively as hell and stayed fizzy all the way to the bottom of the pint. This beer will come out a about 4% ABV (og: 1.040 fg: 1.010)

To finish things off for the weekend i sterilised all my kit and kicked off another brew. This time i’m trying a Wheat Beer. I’m a massive fan of Hoegaarden so i thought i’d try it my self. I used a coopers Wheat beer kit. I checked the fermenting bin this morning and the fermentation process has begun, The air lock i fitted a few weeks ago was bubbling away merily. Hope this one turns out well