Brewday

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Asherweef

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Brewday
« on: September 28, 2015, 19:50 »
Thought that I would post some pictures of my most recent brew(s).

Yesterday I began brewing a Wilkos 'Real Ale' kit that I got from the bargain section (£15 = c.37p per pint) and a - what I think - is a chardonnay kit that came with my demijohn a few months ago. I'm not a fan of white wine but either my partner or my mum will drink it and it gets it out of my under the stairs cupboard!

'Real ale' kit


Started off by sterilising everything. Things can often get messy here so I also laid down some towels in the kitchen. In the end I opted to leave the fermentation bucket and demijohn outside so that I could make the job of getting rid of the sterilising solution easier.





I used 4tsp of steriliser to about 1 gallon of warm water. Inside the FV there is all of the kit that will be touching my brew:
2x spoons
1x water jug
1x brew spoon
1x tin opener
1x scissors
1x funnel (for wine)
1x trial jar
airlocks and bungs

I then swished the water around with the lid on and then washed everything down with a clean cloth before rinsing. This was all then placed on top of my - now sterilised - FV lid.



Meanwhile I placed my tins (this was a 2 can kit) into a pan of hot water with the heat turned on lightly. These tins were pierced so as not to build up too much pressure - though I imagine the risk here is quite low as I only heated them for 5 minutes.



This allowed the malt extract in the cans to become a little runnier (think heating treacle) and allowed me to pour the malt out a little easier. However, not all of the malt came out so I used a little bit of hot water to rinse out the cans and then balanced them on the top of my FV using my brew spoon.



I then added 3.5l boiling water straight from the kettle and furiously mixed in order to dissolve the malt before topping up to 23 litres. This was then all mixed in order to ensure no uneven distribution.





There was no need to add any additional sugar to this, but I will add some more before bottling. Updates to come then.

I did take a SG reading and this turned out at 1.40 which is about right.



This is a bit of a rushed guide so let me know all of your issues (be very critical) and I will try to do better next time :).

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grinling

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Re: Brewday
« Reply #1 on: October 01, 2015, 21:28 »
towels very good idea.
Wearing an oven glove when swishing boiling water in a metal can is useful
Moving beer bucket into final position before fully filled can save an aching back...or worse still handle breaking.
Heat belts can be useful especially in my unheated house.

Woodforde Wherry tastes lovely.

Tesco/Morrisons/The Range does beer kits not sure on the rest

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Asherweef

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Re: Brewday
« Reply #2 on: October 03, 2015, 08:35 »
Hi Grinling

Good tips but I've been advised to use a bucket full of water with an aquarium heater so as to avoid hot spots rather than s brew belt :)



xx
First Ever Brewday

Started by Asherweef on Homebrew

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