Wednesday, January 30, 2008

It's not over yet...

Beer still going

Great news. The beer is still fermenting. I popped the top off and gently dropped the hydrometer in. The reading was 1016, unmistakeably less that the previous reading. There were also some bubbles (though not that many) on the surface. I chose to give it another very gentle stir, being very careful not to splash at all. I think this will be the last stir as I really don't want to risk introducing oxygen to the beer now.

I also measured the temperature of the beer, as it was pointed out to me that the temperature of the beer can often be a lot lower than the room temperature, and of course brewing guides refer to beer temperature. The beer was at 16.5 degrees, about a degree lower than the room temperature. I suspect this really is on the limit of what I can expect to produce beer consistently well, so depending on the success of the wine and the next beer (which hopefully won't suffer the same boiler problems) I might have to seriously consider some form of heating for the brewery.

This temperature also means, according to my research, that I can actually lower the hydrometer reading by a point, meaning it is actually at about 1015, very close to 1014 - the highest target gravity for bottling according to the instructions.

Overall I am very relieved to see proof that the beer is still alive and kicking, even if it is a little sluggish. I will take another reading on Saturday, but will probably not be able to bottle until at least the following weekend anyway, so it will likely get another 10 days to finish fermenting.

Wine keeps on bubbling

Time for my next bubble count on the Beaverdale Merlot:






















DayTime per bubble (secs)bubbles per minute
0infinite0
3228
597

Observations:

  • the bubbles were coming through noticeably slower now, though still very regularly.

  • the bubbles were all the big kind now, which slowly moves the water round before go ing through in one rush. This means the slowing of the fermentation compared to day 3 isn't quite as large as the figures suggest.

  • it is clear there is still constant CO2 coming from the wine.


Despite having nothing to really compare this behaviour to, I'm very happy to see evidence of activity from the wine. I'm sure its fermenting, and have no intention of opening the top to take a measure with the hydrometer until the bubbling has slowed much more.

Tuesday, January 29, 2008

Fermenting or not fermenting, that is the question.

Having given the beer four days since giving it a good stir to try to kick it back in to life, I decided it was time to take another measurement. Rather than taking the lid off I decided I would draw a sample through the tap. I wanted to do this for a number of reasons: I wanted to avoid taking the top off and exposing it to yet more oxygen, I wanted to be able to taste a sample, I wanted to be able to get a more accurate hydrometer reading, and I wanted to test out the tap before the bottling stage as I suspected being so low it would catch too much of the sediment.

Tube Test

Having put the bucket on a thick book to raise the tap off the ground to allow me to attach the tubing, I was fairly easily able to fill the tube the hydrometer came in with beer. As it happened I originally filled it to a level where, with the hydrometer in, the beer came up exactly to the top of the tube. This made taking a hydrometer reading very difficult with the beer making a bell shape at the top. The tube was also very tight, and so the hydrometer didn't move smoothly up and down. However, taking a number of readings I would estimate the gravity at between 1017 and 1018 - in other words it might have gone down a fraction from the previous readings of 1018, but I'm far from certain that it has. I carefully poured out some of the beer (into my mouth of course but I'll come onto the tasting in a minute) and tried to take another reading with the hydrometer, but the tube was definitely too narrow lower down, so I couldn't. I took some reassurance from noticing that before drawing any beer, the lid of the bucket was noticeably pushed up in the centre, presumably the result of the beer producing co2 and the pressure building up. This dropped a little after I drew off some beer - perhaps there is still hope that it is fermenting ok.

So onto the tasting... I was very pleasantly surprised. Having fairly recently drunk a bottle of this exact beer (thanks Phil - see my blogroll for his blog) I could clearly recognise the taste as the same, just currently with a milder and shallower flavour and perhaps a fraction sweeter.

As for for using the tap, my suspicions were correct. With it being so low down the bucket, it picked up far to much sediment. I will use tubing fed into the top of the bucket to bottle the beer rather than the tap.

Overall I'm not very happy with the progress of this beer. Having nothing to compare it against, its hard for me to know whether things are still ok or not. After all, it is to be expected that the beer will be late finishing, given the 17-18 degree average temperature normally, not to mention the several days of 16 degree temperatures while the boiler was broken, which caused it to stop fermenting entirely. The pushed up lid today, and the hiss and bubbles when I opened the lid a few days ago give me hope. I will leave the beer alone for another couple of days before taking the lid off to inspect things and take a more accurate hydrometer reading.

If I'm keeping everything crossed for the wine, I'd better tie myself in knots for the beer...

Wine bubbling away

I have decided to make regular measurements of the number of bubbles coming through the airlock on the wine. Regardless of whether my first attempt at brewing wine ferments perfectly, or stops short, having something to compare future fermentation against should be really useful.

















DayTime per bubble (secs)bubbles per minute
0infinite0
3228<

Observations:

  • There were no bubbles immediately after mixing all the ingredients and attaching the airlock.

  • I was away for the next couple of days, but after 3 days it is bubbling away. :-) The bubbles are sometimes small ones you can see pass through the airlock, and other times you can see the pressure building and pushing the water round the airlock before it all bubbles through in one big bubble. (I counted all these as one bubble)


It looks like so far so good for the wine. I'm keeping everything crossed though.

Friday, January 25, 2008

Bell's Beer finally branches out into wine

I was very kindly given a wine starter kit for my birthday. However, what with getting the beer going, setting up The Brewery, and then all the boiler problems, I haven't had chance to get the kit out and have a good look at it, never mind actually get some wine going. Finally today, I found myself with enough time, and the house to myself, so I got all the wine gear out to inspect it.

This kit included:


  • a 5 litre PET plastic demijohn

  • a gromit

  • an air lock

  • a 1.2 metre syphoning tube

  • a syphon tap

  • a small container of steriliser

  • 6 tapered corks


The birthday present also included a 6 bottle Beaverdale Merlot kit.

Beaverdale Merlot wine kit

The wine kit contained:

  • a large bag of grape juice

  • oak chippings

  • yeast

  • stabiliser

  • kieselsol

  • chitosan


I started by measuring 4.5 litres of water into the demijohn and marking this level. I them moved onto the all important sanitising, soaking the demijohn and top, gromit, airlock, as well as my measuring jug, hydrometer and thermometer. I also boiled the kettle to give a supply of clean, warm water. Ten minutes later I rinsed everything thoroughly with cold tap water. I opened the grape juice bag and poured it into the demijohn, before filling the bag with warm water and pouring that into the demijohn too. (All the warm water I used came by filling the measuring jug half with the cold tap and half from the boiled kettle.) I continued to fill the demijohn with warm water until it was just above the 4.5 litre fill level. I then placed the top on, covered the hole with my finger and shook the wine vigorously. The instructions stated that if the wine was fulled mixed it would have a gravity of 175-180. On inspection, the gravity was around 155. I was concerned given I had shaken the wine considerably already, but I shook it for a further minute, and a second reading showed the gravity at around 178.

Before I could add any further ingredients the temperature of the wine had to be between 20 and 25 degrees C. Using the thermometer, I found it was around 22 degrees C, so I continued with the instructions. I added the optional but recommended oak chippings. As someone who likes a Merlot with a deep oaky flavour, this was a no brainer. I was surprised to find the sachet marked oak chippings basically contained course saw dusk. I'm not sure what I expected, but sprinkling this into my wine seemed strange. After stirring in the oak chippings using the thermometer, I added the final ingredient - the yeast. I placed the top back on the demijohn, covered the hole again with my finger and gave it a good shake. I then filled the airlock with water so that the lower 'ball' on each side was filled with water, and inserted it tightly into the hole in the demijohn top.

Fermenting Wine

Thats it. Job done. I wrapped a warm tea towel around the demijohn to try to keep the heat in for as long as possible and placed it in the corner of The Brewery. The instructions recommend a room temperature of 20 degrees C and not less. As discussed previously The Brewery temperature is more like 18 degrees C, but having already researched this topic, it seems this should be ok - only time will tell.

The wine should take around 3 weeks to ferment (though I wouldn't be surprised if it took longer in the cooler conditions). The aim will be for a gravity of 990 to 994, and less than one bubble per minute going through the airlock. I am looking forward to the feedback I should get from having the airlock - hopefully being able to watch bubbles pass through it fairly regularly, so I will know for certain the yeast is doing its job. This feels like a big advantage over the beer, which is why I am considering fitting an airlock on the beer fermenting bucket too.

Thursday, January 24, 2008

Coming Unstuck

"The Brewery" temperature is now back up to about 18 degrees C and the beer had a stir yesterday. It was time to take the lid off the beer again, and see if it was still dead as a dodo, or if it had been resurrected, like the boiler.

Coming Unstuck

Good news I think. Comparing the picture from today (above) and the picture in yesterdays post, there are a lot more bubbles on the surface of the beer today. This I believe shows that the previously stuck fermentation has started to become active again. I took another hydrometer reading, and not unexpectedly it gave a reading of around 1018 still. However, I gave the beer another stir and I'm fairly hopeful that the beer will now continue to ferment.

The instructions suggest it should get down to at least 1014 and then stabilise, though I think I'd feel more confident that the yeast had properly woken up and finished fermenting if it gets to 1012 or less.

Wednesday, January 23, 2008

Beer Bottle Labels Experiment

I have decided to put labels on my bottles, at least to start with. I know this will mean some extra work, but if the beer is sufficiently good, I hope to give a good proportion of it away to friends, and family (either because they have helped to fund my new hobby, or to prove to them that home brewed beer can be very tasty).

I am already well aware of the hard work involved in removing labels, so after a little research on the web, I have decided to conduct a small experiment to judge the various techniques for sticking the labels. I will judge them on presentation and ease of removal.

Labels Test

As you can see I have put labels on to 6 bottles, each attached in a different way. From left to right in the picture, these labels are:


  • sticker attached to a wet bottle

  • sticker attached to dry bottle (the control sticker)

  • sticker which has been stuck to a jumper several times to remove some of the stickyness

  • sticker with addition of glue from a glue stick

  • plain paper attached using glue stick

  • plain paper attached with milk (tip from Jim's Homebrew forum - see my blogroll)


I will leave these for around a week before judging their appearance. I will then soak them in warm slightly soapy water and judge how easily the various labels come off.
Initial Observations:

  • wet bottle sticker -looks crinkled already

  • control sticker - looks great, easiest to apply

  • jumper sticker - corners peeling off from where I peeled it off my jumper several times

  • sticker and glue - looks great

  • paper with glue stick - looks superb - best so far as paper is slightly thicker than stickers

  • paper with milk - slight crinkle and messy to do - both could be avoided with careful application

A second glance

With the boiler fixed (at least for now) it was time to see what damage had been done to my beer by the cold temperatures in the house. I took the lid off (with a slight hiss) and took a gravity measure with the sterilised hydrometer - it was 1018. This doesn't seem much below the 1022 from 8 days ago (which was measured 5 days after the beer was started.) I gave the beer a stir with the stirrer (which I had also sterilised) for 10 or 15 seconds to get the yeast mixed back in, trying to stir firmly but without splashing and introducing oxygen. I took the following picture and then quickly replaced the lid.

Second Glance

I intend to measure the gravity again tomorrow and if it has not decreased, I will give the beer a longer stir to hopefully encourage the yeast to get back to work over the weekend.
Observations:


  • it is very difficult to sterilise a stirrer which is slightly larger than the size of a sink, and a hydrometer whose whole purpose is to partially stick out of the water

  • the beer had a few clumps what appeared to be dry brown powder floating on the top

  • the beer still had the very mild but pleasant smell of a light ale

  • the scum on the surface that was noticeable on the last inspection after 5 days has gone

Tuesday, January 22, 2008

Oh so cold.

Cold Temperature

I recently made my first visit to my closest home brewing shop, Harvey's in Fareham, which is just 11 miles from my house. (Check out their somewhat limited website 4u2brew on my blogroll.) I somehow managed to spend around 40 quid, but I'll save talking about most of the things I bought for when I actually get chance to use them.

One item I had wanted for a while and finally managed to get on my visit was a thermometer. I was amazed that I couldn't get hold of a simple glass one like I used to use at school from anywhere else. Anyway, I wanted it to measure the temperature of "The Brewery" which I suspected is too cold most of the time for ideal brewing conditions. (I will also use it in the future to check the temperature of the beer mixture before adding the yeast.) I found that the room temperature seems to stay at about 18 degrees C but increased a little when the heating is on in the house. I recalled reading that anything below 20 degrees is not good for brewing, but after asking a few experienced brewers on jimsbeerkit forum (check my blogroll) it seems it should be fine.

However, the recent failure of my boiler has sent temperatures down to 16 degrees C, which is definitely too cold, but there really isn't much I can do about it. The boiler man came today and is due back tomorrow with the required parts. I've got my fingers crossed that all will be well after he has returned. It's bad enough being freezing cold, and not being able to get a shower, but if it ruins my first home brew beer too - it doesn't bare thinking about.

Sunday, January 20, 2008

The Brewery

Brewery1

As you can see, I've been very busy. I have turned the cupboard under the stairs into something that is slightly more deserving of the name "The Brewery". I have fitted 3 big shelves (all held up with 3 brackets and very big screws) carpet tiles, a light, and a suitable poster. I cannot believe it took me all afternoon on Saturday and Sunday, but Im really pleased with the result.

Brewery2

More bottles...

More Bottles

Thanks to some kind colleagues at work, I now have an extra 50 brown 500ml beer bottles. (Unfortunately, I now have 50 500ml brown bottles to clean and de-label). This brings me up to the 3 sets of bottles that I wanted, with the 48 bottles ordered with my equipment and the lager bottles, assuming they stand up to the job. This means I should be able to brew 3 different beers, giving me a choice of tipples, and then brew new ones whenever I have enough empty bottles.

Tuesday, January 15, 2008

First inspection

FirstLook

I had intended to leave the container for at least 2 full weeks without opening it at all in order to stop air getting to the beer, but I was persuaded by Phil to open it up to take a look and a hydrometer reading (clearly its now his fault if there are any problems with the beer at all). As can be seen in the picture, it didn't look very pleasant with a residue on the side and a bit of scum on the top, but it smelt fairly good, and I'm assured it looks as it should.

Hydrometer

Before taking the top off, I put the hydrometer I recently received (pictured) into the sink in an inch of hot water with a quarter tea spoon of sanitising powder for 10 minutes. I rinsed it with cold water, took the top off the bucket and placed the hydrometer gently into the beer. It dropped entirely under the beer, and then resurfaced and settled with the black line marking the ready to bottle level about a centremeter above the beer. The gravity measurement was 1.022, suggesting as expected after just 5 days that it still has some time to go.

Sunday, January 13, 2008

Bottle Bargain?

Cheap Bottles

I already have 48 empty home brew bottles coming soon. However, I will need some more bottles for my second home brew, while the first is still maturing in the bottles. At 80p per bottle for the empty home brew bottles, I decided that I might be able to get bottled beer from the supermarket for close to 80p per bottle. They needed to be large brown bottles (green and clear bottles let too much light through, which can damage the beer). I failed to find any at Sainsburys, but Tesco came up trumps, with a 6 pack of 500ml imported German Eichbaum costing £4.99. This comes in at about 83p per bottle. I was aware that the quality of the bottles would undoubtedly be lower, but I decided to chance it, given that the bottles were already holding gassy lager, so I bought 48.

I have decided that the IPA is likely to be one of the less gassy beers I produce, so I will use the new bottles for this, and save the home brew bottles for the next brew. This means I have to get through 48 large bottles of beer in a little over 2 weeks now. Providing the beer when a few friends came round for my birthday has got 20 emptied, just 28 to go.

Only time will tell whether I am currently enjoying 3p high quality lager (and it is really nice lager), or whether I am a couple of weeks away from having to clear up beer and lots of broken glass from under my stairs. I think its worth finding out just once whether cheaper bottles can be used in the future...

Thursday, January 10, 2008

The First Beer - Munton's Gold IPA

So, it was time to make my first jump into the world of home brewing. Despite some reading on the subject, some instructions that came with the beginners set, and some instructions on the Munton's beer kit box, I still wasn't especially confident, but I started out anyway.

All the equipment needed to be sterilised, so following the beginners instructions I rinsed the bucket, the lid and the stirrer and then filled the bucket with 5 teaspoons of steriliser powder and warm water from the hot tap and left it for 10 minutes. I also sterilized the jugs I intended to use, and even the can opener. I was rather nervous with regard to ensuring that all the equipment was clean given that every set of instructions or tips I had read stated that contamination of the beer was the number one cause of poor quality beer. After 10 minutes I rinsed all the items with lots of mains cold water, and the cleaning was done.

With a choice of sets of instructions to follow, I decided that it made most sense to follow the set that came with the kit itself. I placed the two cans of hopped malt extract in the sink in warm water, to soften the syrup. I filled the kettle and turned it on. After 5 minutes I opened the tins and poured the contents into the bucket, at which point the kettle had boiled. Using a Pyrex jug I measured out pints of boiling water, and poured them into the bucket. I discovered that my kettle perfectly held 3 pints without taking the dregs at the bottom. I stirred the mixture while waiting for the kettle to boil again. When it had, I poured the contents into the bucket, making up the required 6 pints. It turned out to be very easy to tell when the hops was fulled mixed in. The unmixed syrup sat stubbornly at the bottom of the mixture meaning that if an inspection of the stirrer revealed syrup coated on the end, it wasn't all mixed in yet. I would say it took around 5 minutes of hard stirring.

Next it was time to add the cold water. The bucket was pre-marked with a fill level, stating 5 UK gallons or 23 litres. However, the maths in the instructions stated that adding 6 pints (3.5 litres) and then 29 pints (16.5 litres) would make 5 UK gallons, though this only added up to 20 litres not 23. I decided to fill to the marked level of 5 UK gallons or 23 litres as not only would this allow me to fill to the marked level rather than have to measure out 29 further pints of cold water, but also, if I were to add the wrong amount of water, I felt that a slightly weaker than intended beer ought to be pleasingly mild, where a too strong beer might not be so palatable. So, without any way to feed the sink tap straight into the bucket, I used two jugs to fill up the bucket. I did this as quickly as possible, which meant causing a great deal of splashing in the mixture. This was mostly out of practicality, wanting to get the job done as quickly as possible, though one guide I read had suggested that getting lots of air into the mixture at this point was a good thing. (we shall see...)

The next step required leaving the the mixture to stand until it had cooled to between 18 and 21 degrees C, but without a thermometer, I chose to leave it for around 5 minutes. Continuing to follow the instructions as closely as possible I "sprinkled" in the yeast. This seemed to be a mistake however, as the yeast sat on top of the foam that had formed, and it was then hard to get it to actually go into the mixture. It also formed into little globules of yeast, meaning I had to spend 5 minutes spotting these floating in the foam and breaking them down. Finally however, the yeast was all dissolved and looked something like this:

Mixed Beer

I then put the lid on the bucket, and carefully carried it to "brewery" (see previous blog post) where it will remain for 2 to 3 weeks. By then the hydrometer I have ordered should have arrived, which will allow me to test whether it is ready for bottling. This is the only time I am deliberately deferring from the instructions that came with the beer kit. The kit suggest leaving the mixture for 7 or 8 days, but Phil has suggested it has always taken closer to 3 weeks for his beers to be ready for bottling.

Brewery

Final Observations:


  • Despite my best efforts, it was clear that it is all but impossible to guarantee that there is no contamination of the beer. My hands constantly had to touch work surfaces, taps, the kettle, the stirrer etc. Small amounts of water from the outside of the tins and jugs would have made it into mixture. Hopefully these were all clean and all will be well.

  • The process was all over very quickly, even with my first timers mincing tendencies. Amazingly it might take longer to drink the beer than to make it (though there is still the bottling stage to come)>

  • Having multiple sets of instructions was not helpful. I deliberately chose to follow just one set of instructions, but this did mean I didn't use the water treatment tablet just before adding the yeast which I had otherwise intended to use. I also still have to decide whether to use the finings that came with the beginners kit, but which are not mentioned in the beer kit instructions.

  • My current expectations are not high for the beer. It feels like I am bound to have done something wrong first time round, but I look forward to being able to bottle the mixture in a few weeks, and giving it a quick taste then.

The Cupboard under the Stairs

One of the things making me question whether to try making my own beer was where I would be able to store it, but as it was fermenting, and also later in the bottles. I decided that I could convert the cupboard under the stairs into a mini brewery. I've emptied it out, and will shortly put down a hard floor of some kind and install some kind light (don't worry mum, it will most probably just be something battery powered rather than electrocuting myself). I had grand plans to build a smart wrack to hold all the bottles as well as looking impressive when showing the 'brewery' off, but after doing some research it seems that beer should be kept stood up, so I will be putting up some shelves in the cupboard soon.

The Equipment

Equipment

So having decided to give brewing beer a go, I had to get some equipment. Phil kindly agreed to order everything I would need, while I started to read up on the processes and the kit. The picture shows everything that he ordered for me, minus the 48 bottles which would need collecting at some point.

The equipment included:


  • Beginners Kit including

    • 5 gallon fermentation bucket with tap,



    • beer paddle

    • 1 meter of tubing

    • steriliser powder

    • water treatment tablet

    • finings

    • 1kg glucose powder

    • set of instructions





  • Beer Kit: Munton's Gold Indian Pale Ale

  • 40 blue tops

  • 40 gold tops

  • capper


All the equipment was ordered from Art of Brewing (see the Blogroll) as recommended by Phil. I have been perfectly happy with the quality of everything so far.

The beginning

My name is David Bell. For my 29th birthday I asked for money to purchase equipment to try brewing my own beer. The idea appealed having recently sampled a number of successful home brews a friend had produced. (Check out Phil's blog for details of his beers.) Trying his beers has also started to get me into drinking real ales, rather than supping the mass produced cheap lagers I had grown up old with, so the idea of producing my own real ales was now even more attractive.

So read on to find out how I get on...

About

My name is David Bell. For my 29th birthday I asked for money to purchase equipment to try brewing my own beer. The idea appealed having recently sampled a number of successful home brews a friend had produced. (Check out Phil's blog for details of his beers.) His beers have also started to get me into drinking real ales, rather than supping the mass produced cheap lagers I had grow up old with, so the idea of producing my own real ales was now even more attractive.

I have since done a bit of DIY in the cupboard under the stairs, turning it from a dark, cold, concrete floored mess, into something more useful and attractive:

Brewery1

So the DIY was a success. Check out the blog to find out how I get on with the beer...