[Closed] Home Brew

Balls wrong forum, mods can you move it please.

The Coopers kits are good. I am drinking one now. You treat the first couple with kid gloves then you worry a lot less. Sanitisation is the main thing.

Now that's what i'd refer to as constructive down-time 😉

If you really want it moving dude - report your own post.

Just been and stuck my head in the barrel and it smells fantastic. Can't wait for over 40 pints of hopefully decent beer to be ready, I'm going to need another fridge.

Constructive down time indeed, the beer and doing the DH damper mod to my Lyriks took up my afternoon.

Pre-apologies for going off-topic...

What's this new damper you talk of? Pics/links welcome 🙂

Lyrik DH mod.

http://m.pinkbike.com/news/technical-tuesday-lyric-mod-2010.html

Improves small bump compliance apparently. We shall see.

conditioning matters a lot IM limited E - in terms of duration.

cynic-al - Member
conditioning matters a lot IM limited E - in terms of duration.

Now who's following who... 🙄

eh ❓ I posted on a thread you'd posted on, co incidentally.

Your pattern is to quote an aged post of mine and flame me.

Have a word with yourself.

😆

🙄

😛

Calm down girls.

Al, when you talk of conditioning do you mean the couple of weeks I have to leave it in the bottle after brewing?

I just checked on it and its looking good the yeast has clearly been at work as it has a bit of a head.

yes - IME it really is worth leaving it at least 2 weeks - the longer the better.

Bottle it and forget about it...pop out and buy of crate of something to keep you going.

In the meantime stick another one on as soon as the fermenter's empty, obviously you'll need more bottles or a keg.

I've been home brewing for a few years. I went with pressure barrels rather than bottles. They take up less space and are less time consuming to clean. Plus you can't give it away!

I've got 2 pressure barrels, conditioning 1 brew, drinking the other. Estimating when 1 barrel will be empty so ready for the brew in the fermenter requires very careful quantity control. 😆

I've tried a range of kits. IMO the premium kits are worth the extra money. Woodfords, Milestone, St Peters, Muntons Gold. I've just ordered a new kit that's supposed to be a take on Timothy Taylor's Landlord. It might not last long if it anything like its supposed to be.

Make the brew into the fermenting bucket and leave well alone for 2 weeks in normal house temperature. Too hot and the yeast dies. So no conservatories or airing cupboards. Transfer to a pressure barrel, be careful to leave the yeast in the fermenter. I've seen some "advice" about adding the used yeast to the bottle or barrel. All it will add is dead yeast bite and taint the finished beer. Minimum of 2 weeks before drinking.

It does get better the longer you leave it. I've got a Woodfords Sun Dew that's 2 months old that's improved massively. Family get togethers have improved as well.

The 2 months plus in the bottle for the Woodfordes Wherry has been beneficial. Two weeks will be a bit short, it will just about be drinkable but may have a strange aftertaste.
I'm hoping the Hopback Summer Lightning clone is half as good.

Go to www.jimsbeerkit.co.UK for more hints, tips, recipes etc

I made the switch to all-grain BIAB (Brew In A Bag) method in January this year. Not made a kit since, and the number of recipes available to replicate your favourite commercial brew is astounding.
Extra equipment required over & above brewing kit beers is a boiler - mine was £70 - and a voile bag (£8).

next batch, tomorrow probably, is a blonde ale using cascade & citra hops. I already had the hops so basically the price of the batch is 4.5kg of grain (£8.50) plus the yeast (£2.99)

I've seen some "advice" about adding the used yeast to the bottle or barrel. All it will add is dead yeast bite and taint the finished beer.

Cannot see the point in doing that, there'll still be yeast in suspension at that point which you'll need anyway for carbonation.

Thanks for your advice guys, I'm not sure I will be able to leave them more than 2 weeks without trying one of them. It's not like it will make much of an impact on stock when I'm brewing 40 pints. I might be able to hold fire on the rest but the first needs to be tried asap.

Cannot see the point in doing that, there'll still be yeast in suspension at that point which you'll need anyway for carbonation.

I can't either. Like I said just adds yeast bite to the finished beer.

Forgot to say when I transfer to the pressure barrel I add 80grams of brewers sugar, although I've used granulated, brown or Demerara sugar as well, for 40 pints to help the conditioning and to create gas to help pour the beer. The way the pressure barrel works it needs top gas to stop glugging and stirring up the yeast sediment. Plus it gives a nice airated head.

Been thinking about getting into the homebrew lark; any recommendations for how to "get started"? Would a kit [url= http://www.wineworks.co.uk/product/wineworks-superior-beer-starter-kit/ ]like this[/url] be all I need?? Cheers!

aye, that'll do for starters 🙂

Coopers kits are among the better one-can kits, but two-can kits do give better results; although they are more expensive, once you've added in the price of a pack of Coopers BKE (Beer Kit Enhancer, a mix of dextrose & dried malt extract, used instead of sugar), there's not that much in it price wise

in the case of beer (and wine), cleanliness really is next to godliness. Make sure you sterilise everything AND rinse it well before adding the ingredients

Cool cheers. Their next kit up is another £25 and includes a Wherry two can kit (from what I can see). Think you can get that kit for around £20 anyway so could always "upgrade" my starter kit if I'm feeing confident for my first brew 😉

OP, I'll let you have your thread back now 🙂

Munkster this is what I have but Canadian blonde not ginger beer. I'm happy for anybody to ask anything, I havnt got a clue what I'm doing!

http://www.the-home-brew-shop.co.uk/acatalog/Coopers_Home_Brew_Ginger_Beer_Starter_kit.html#a100172_2e_2e_2e_2e

OK I'll ask another 😉

Say I did get that kit with the pressure barrel (??) not bottles how long would I have to drink 40 pints? I am assuming not "indefinitely"...

From what I have read you should have at least 6 months. I can't see me needing more than 1 month if it tastes good.

I've never had good results from a barrel but I think that's down to me so I now always bottle. Upside is, if one goes bad, it doesn't spoil the whole batch; downside is cleaning 30-40 bottles...

I would aim to empty a barrel inside two weeks; if you can't drink it that fast, use bottles.

One 70g packet of powdered ginger from Sainsbury's (quite often on offer)
Two kilos of sugar
Five teaspoonfuls of brewing yeast (bread yeast will not work)
Forty pints of water
Two weeks
Beer for about 10p per pint
Repeat (until tired of ginger beer)

Your barrel will last 2-3 months quite happily,as long as you remember to top up with CO2 regularly.A lot of information here
http://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/viewforum.php?f=30&sid=f7d1318c908873d2cbfa1fd68dc1c19a and like Jim's Beer Kit,they're both full of friendly people,recipes and good advice.
Ian

I got mine into 29 750ml bottles (mostly) yesterday, tasting in a week 🙂

Hope it's good.

Deciding on my next brew thinking of doing a honey porter from scratch

I'll try and post a picture of my Kegerator - split C02 system running 2 Cornelius kegs of 19ltrs each with two taps on the outside of the door. Man P0rn ! I have a large stainless grain system and brew quite a lot.

STW has a nasty habit of this. I've been mulling over giving home brew a try when this thread pops up.

i think the watershed for me was spending 15 quid on alcohol one weekend and realising that commercial beer is just pi$$.

looks like i'm going to have to give this a try now 🙂

NZCol I can't wait to see that!

My brew is currently under the stairs wrapped in one of the kids old duvets to keep it at over 21deg. Really looking forward to trying it.

Already decided I will do the Coopers Wheat Beer concentrate next. I'm not up for mixing the ingredients myself just yet. Problem is I am going to have to wait until I have either finished my current 40 pints or buy some more bottles.

davidrussell give it a go so far it has been pretty easy and it works out at less than 50p per pint after you take away the initial setup cost. After homebrew, DE razors and owning a BFe and a 456 its a good job I don't like SS and don't have a 29er or I would be shouting house on STW bingo!

I_Ache.

Add an Audi, Apple iBitch user and a wood burner to the list for the jackpot prize. 😉 😉

Good point, we nearly just bought an Audi A1 and I am thinking about an iPad mini depending on price. Should I just shoot myself now?

Ok so im late to this thread but i have just started my first ever brew (woodforde Wherry) and tbh i may have rushed in a little and just followed the pack instructions which consist of about 8 lines.

I have the two can set with a ferment tub and a plastic keg. I did sterolise all iof the gubbins but i did NOT rinse as wife started on about it not then being sterile (dont normally listed to her!) so first off will it taint?

secondly i had the pack of yeast which i poured in then decided to stir in....was this right or should i have just left to float on top???

next up the water was tap...hard area...again will this notice

Sugar....is the brewers stuff better? i did hear someone say that normal sugar gave it a cidery taste?

and lastly i have the keg but there was no mention of gas?? it just has a screw in lid and a tap at the bottom. So numpty question but will i need to shipon into the keg then apply gas to the barrel and not just screw the lid on?

TBH im not expecting this to be a success and have resigned the first batch to be drain fodder but was hoping that i can sort things out a bit for the next round.

My instructions said I should rinse after sterilization and to sprinkle the yeast on top.

Mine also came with brew enhancer and bottles so no idea about your sugar or keg.

common or garden granulated sugar doesn't add much to the "body" of the beer but shouldn't turn it into cider - if that happens then you've probably got an infection. Spraymalt (dried malt extract) or Coopers BKE does add to the body as it has some of the flavour from the malt, so is better than white sugar for that reason, but no other.

two-can kits eg donks' Woodforde Wherry don't need any extra sugar.

basic keg doesn't have a gas injector so when the gas naturally produced in secondary fermentation has gone, there's no way of getting more CO2 in - but you can buy a replacement cap with CO2 valve. Whether you then choose the 8g CO2 bulbs or a full size CO2 canister is up to you.

when the beer has finished fermenting - which it will do in its own time no matter what the kit instructions say - the only reliable way to tell is to take hydrometer readings over a few consecutive days. Usually takes 6-10 days, some people leave it a fortnight regardless. some yeasts are quite vigorous and can be done inside a week.

When it's steady for three days running AND below 1010, then it's pretty well done. Now siphon into your sterilised & rinsed barrel, add some finings to speed up the clearing, plus 80-120g of priming sugar. This is converted into CO2 in secondary fermentation, and this is what pressurises the barrel, initially anyway.

Some sterilisers are of the "no-rinse" variety but the commonly used one in the UK, VWP, does need rinsing - it's basically bleach and may kill the yeast before it gets to do its thing.

when using tap water, add 1/2 to 1 crushed campden tablet, this will help get rid of the chlorine already in the water. If you're in a hard water area then more treatment [i]may[/i] be necessary, e.g gypsum, epsom salts - but don't worry about that for your first kit or three.

I never stir my yeast in, but it shouldn't do any harm if you have already done this

Pretty much what John said above.

LINKY THING>>>>>> [url= http://www.hopandgrape.co.uk/public/detailv1.asp?itemcode=LID20156353 ]Barrel cap with injector valve[/url] is a must if you are going to use a pressure barrel. Although I only have to use an 8g bulb of gas once on a 40 pint barrel. And that's very near the end when the natural gas from the 2nd fermentation had been used up.

I use Vaseline on the tap and cap threads when putting them on. And I replace the cap seal every few brews as well.

The 2 can kits can give really good results. Far better than cans or bottles of commercial beer. No need to add anything. Sugar for the 2nd fermentation is normally brewers sugar. Just because I've got a big bag left over from when I tried to make some cider. Granulated is normally fine. I only use 80g for 40 pints. Otherwise it creates too much gas and the tap leaks.

I've tried using spring or mineral water before now to see if it changed the flavour. No real difference but it might in a hard water area. Plus you get PET bottles to put your beer in.

The steriliser needs to be rinsed. OK with tap water. Your about to put 30 odd pints of tap water in anyway. And that's not sterile. You can use Peracetic acid to rinse. It breaks down to water and CO2. But fairly unnecessary for home brew.

I did I stint as a commercial brewer in a brew pub. 180 gallon capacity per brew. Home brew is just the same just smaller. If you go down the full grain method try to keep things simple. I'm not a great fan of complex brews with lots of ingredients and a multitude of dry hoping. Most of the great beers are in fact very simple. Beers with lots of conflicting flavours and characters tend to overwhelm. Do a few things well rather than lots poorly.

Right. That's my 2 penny's worth. I'm no means an expert so ignore at will.

Great thread. I bought Sproot a beer kit as a joke birthday present but he's taken to brewing like a duck to water!
We've made Woodfords Nelsons revenge (quite dark, very drinkable) and Sundown which was much paler. Less keen on Sundown but it improved with time.
Now we've done Theakstons old peculier and the primary fermentation is just going nuts with the airlock bubbling like mad. Can the primary fermentation be too good?
All help gratefully received

My favorites at the moment are the [url= http://www.creativewinemaking.co.uk/beer-kits/st-peters-brewery/cat_130.html ]St Peters Kits[/url] the Golden ale especially at the moment, the seem to condition in the barrel quicker than the Woodfords Kits

There are no-rinse santisers available, but should say on the instructions if you should rinse or not.

No need to stir the yeast in either, but if you do make sure you're using a sanitised spoon.

However...it's always a good idea to stir vigorously before you add the yeast, this has the benefit of aerating the wort (unfermented beer) which the yeast will love. The wort is most vulnerable to infection before fermentation, so anything to give the yeast a head start is a good move.

Also try hydrating the yeast beforehand - boil the kettle, sanitise a glass and cool the water in it (you can sit it in a bowl of cold water to accelerate the process). Add the yeast when the water has cooled to around the 25c mark, cover with cling film and let it sit for half hour or so while you attend to the cans.

When done, aerate the wort (as above) and pour the yeast in.

Now we've done Theakstons old peculier

from a kit? that could be interesting. One of my favourite brews.

Just bottled 19l** of "Sankt Mickael", loosely based on the San Miguel recipe but done with pale malt & american pale ale yeast (Safale US-05 for those in the know) instead of lager malt & lager yeast*
Looking forward to trying this in 3-4 weeks.

I have another batch fermenting away, a blonde ale using Cascade & Citra hops. Should be nice & zesty 🙂

* my 2 previous experiments at lager have both ended in disaster, while all my ale brews have been fine - so I thought I'd eliminate the common factors, the lager malt & lager yeast, then reintroduce them one at a time for the next (if any) attempts at lager. October might be a good time to try again, fermenting outdoors in the greenhouse, shouldn't get too warm or too cold. no brewfridge & no plans to buy one at this stage, I don't really drink lager & mrs_d's opinion on the lagers I have tried isn't repeatable 😉

** well it started as 19l in the fermenting bin. after siphoning off the trub into a clean FV for finings, that lost a litre or so, and another half litre or so when siphoning into bottles. 31x 500ml bottles of blonde lagerish ale...

I'm posting on this just so I can find it again when Iive house in late September and have room to do a few brews!

and tomorrow I'm going blackberry picking, if there are any left...

recipe makes 6 bottles, scale up as required...

2kg blackberries
1kg sugar
1 campden tablet.

Into a clean fermenting bin, mash up the blackberries & add a couple of kettles of boiling water plus the sugar. leave for 2-3 days then strain through some (boiled) muslin cloth into a clean fermenting bin or demijohn. Top up to 4.5 litres with cold water & add a suitable red wine yeast. Leave it to do its stuff.

rack off (siphon) into a clean demijohn & add wine finings & 1 campden tablet & leave for 1 week, shaking 2-3 times a day to release the dissolved CO2. rack again using a filter if required. leave another week.

siphon into clean bottles and enjoy

I'm with bigblackshed on this - simple brews done well are my thing. Nz has taken to really hoppy American type pale ales which, while nice, are a bit much for regular drinking. I have done a fair few bitters with more of a malty bent and used the kegs to condition or force carb as well - both work equally well. I ran a Deuchars from the wheeler book and it was outstanding again, very simple single hop recipe. Next up I will run a landlord from the very same book and refine my black IPA recipe that I have done a few times. For the really complex beers I buy them off tap at the local bottle shop ! Oh and I will post pics of the kegerator later on.

I've been enjoying nice home brewed single hops over 'summer', thoughts are now turning to some darker brews...Hobnoblin (Hobgoblin clone with extra chocolate) went well last time, may get another on soon.

thoughts are now turning to some darker brews...

yep, with you there. Thinking of a porter or stout for next brew - I have the Wheeler book & a bottle of Fullers London Porter to try tonight. If I like, it'll probably be my next batch.

and of course, in the drummer household, thoughts start turning to the C word... winter warmer brews... hmmm

The Kegerator in all its gory glory [url= http://on.fb.me/TwJCky ]KEGERATOR[/url] this set is publically readable. Total cost about $190 as the fridge was free and so were the kegs, most of it was bits and a converted fire extinguisher for the Co2.

Reading/Counting Fail

I ended up with carbonating drops which have the sugar in for the bottle conditioning. Except I only added 1 instead of 2. At least it wont explode. Find out results in 4 days but have I screwed it?

Reading/Counting Fail

I ended up with carbonating drops which have the sugar in for the bottle conditioning. Except I only added 1 instead of 2. At least it wont explode. Find out results in 4 days but have I screwed it?

If you're doing a lager you may find it's not as fizzy as commercial stuff, but should be perfectly drinkable anyway. For most ales one carbonation drop per 750ml bottle will be fine (probably better than two drops IMO, but depends on personal taste and all that).

Hopefully good then it's an IPA

I've experimented in the past by leaving out the carbonating sugars and relying on the residual ones left behind after primary fermentation.

It worked fine so I can't see you having any problem.

I did my second home brew batch a few months ago. First is now very clear but tastes like home brew, you know, that aftertaste. The kit wasn't exactly premium. IPA.

It was made with mineral water and I used proper "sugar" not granulated.

The second batch was an Australian lager from Coopers, made with spray malt ( as suggested in the instructions) . Here I used sugar drops in the bottles instead of sucrose. It's clear, fizzy but still tastes of home brew. It as made with decent mineral water this time

Does all home brew have that home brew aftertaste? Or am I doing something wrong or could I be doing something better?

Try a two can kit, eg Woodfordes, st Peter's, brupak etc.
If that doesn't improve matters then it's all grain for you 😉

I only ever truly got rid of that taste after ditching the kits and brewing from grain.

Even the premium kits were badly affected, Fixby Gold came highly recommended but turned out horrid both times.

If you can justify the extra time and space you'll need then go all-grain, it can be done relatively cheaply and the improvements are vast.

Not to mention the sense of achievement of brewing something that really is all your own work 🙂

Does all home brew have that home brew aftertaste? Or am I doing something wrong or could I be doing something better?

Maybe worth leaving the beer in the fermenting bin longer before bottling. Lets more of the yeast fall out of suspension to the bottom. I usually leave it for 2 weeks before bottling. After bottling I find taste improves after 4 - 6 weeks in the bottle.

Other things worth trying are adapting kits. Use less water - maybe make it up to 18L rather than 23. Add hops etc.

My favourite brew is a Cooper's IPA made up with a bit more sugar than suggested and with added hops 50g or so simmered in a couple of L of water before making up the brew.

As for water - Tesco or Asda still value water is chlorine free. I tend to use about have tap water and half bottled water. Other than that I haven't needed to add anything to remove the chlorine in the tap water,.

If you can justify the extra time and space you'll need then go all-grain, it can be done relatively cheaply and the improvements are vast

Can anyone point me in the right direction for this?

hi, this thread has moved on since i was last on and lots of useful advice from the STW hive as always. A couple of quick questions if i may:

In the absence of a good LBS* what online shops would you recommend? I am looking at brewuk for purchasing my kit (i was going to get the woodfordes wherry [url= http://www.brewuk.co.uk/store/micro/complete-woodfordes-starter-equipment-set.html ]kit[/url]) because it seems to be quite an active site and they get good reviews.

2nd question - forgive the naivety here. The yeast produces c02 when fermenting and in a closed FV there is an airlock to help prevent contamination. The theory should be that the vented c02 has no smell but is that the case? The wife will go crazy if i make our living room smell like a brewery while the kit is churning away in the cupboard under the stairs 🙂

*local brew store 🙂

Hello all, i stopped brewing about 3 years ago (just before li'l Smoggy was born) but this thread has relit my passion! i've still got all the kit, so just need to buy the right ingredients now. Preferably looking at a one can only and a stout/porter type drink (i remember Muntons being quite good) but can anyone else recommend a different porter/stout?

cheers!
🙂

Coopers Irish Stout gets good reviews.

coolhandluke - the simplest way (which is what I do) is "brew in a bag", although strictly speaking it's really "mash in a bag".
For this you'll need a big stainless steel pot or electric boiler, and a voile bag. My pot has a tap at the bottom, holds 32 litres and cost £70; the voile bag cost less than a tenner. And yes, BrewUK seem to be good, in the absence of a decent LHBS. where are you BTW? There are a couple of good brew shops in the Leeds/Bradford area

Method is as here:

basically, fill your pot with the specified amount of water, add the voile bag & bring it up to strike temperature (about 72degC). Add your grain, stirring all the time. put the lid on, turn off the heat & wrap in blankets/towels/duvet/etc. Leave for 60-90mins according to the recipe.

remove the lagging & take the bag out of the pot - drain this into a clean sanitised FV, then discard the grains & return the liquid to the pot. Bring up to the boil, add your bittering hops & boil for 60-90mins according to the recipe. 10-15 mins from the end, add your aroma hops plus some irish moss or protofloc (helps clearing). At the end of the boil time, turn off the heat & add any post-boil hops.

Now cool it - you can leave it overnight, or you can use an immersion chiller, which is basically a coil of copper pipe, one end goes into the sink, the other connected to the cold water supply. If you have one of these, about £60, you need to put it in the pot for the last 15mins of the boil to sterilise it.

when it's cool, drain into your FV & add the yeast - the rest is as per kit beers

I find this takes me about 4-5 hours with a 60min mash & 60min boil, including cleaning, prep, getting the water up to temp, boiling, chilling & cleaning up afterwards, so it's not a quick half hour job - but the results are well worth it.

an invaluable resource for the home brewer: http://www.jimsbeerkit.co.uk/forum/index.php

I switched from kits to all grain in the BIAB method around last christmas & I haven't looked back. If you drink bottled beers from the shop, many of the bottles can be reused - but I find Wychwood & Fullers bottles to have too fat a neck / mouth for my capper. Theakstons/Black Sheep bottles are great as the labels come off really easily.

I find if I brew a few different styles in quick succession, I can go a couple of months (when they're ready) without buying any commercial beer at all - and with a number of books available, it should be easy to replicate your favourite commercial brew.

this year I've brewed the following:
Theakston's Old Peculier & Best Bitter (2x each)
Hobgoblin
Old Speckled Hen (x2)
a couple of cascade pale ales of my own recipe (not entirely successful, but ok)
a citra based blonde ale (and there's another in the FV right now)
a blonde ale loosely based on San Miguel, bottled this week

and a couple of disasters with lager malt & lager yeast (hence the San Miguel based blonde ale)
Next up - Fullers London Porter

2nd question - forgive the naivety here. The yeast produces c02 when fermenting and in a closed FV there is an airlock to help prevent contamination. The theory should be that the vented c02 has no smell but is that the case? The wife will go crazy if i make our living room smell like a brewery while the kit is churning away in the cupboard under the stairs

negligible - you have to stand with your nose over the airlock as it bubbles to get any whiff of it.
Boiling the hops in AG method does stink though

I have 100ltrs fermenting now and it's a bit smelly in a nice way. My wife has noticed my two new 100ltr fermenters - its where she normally parks her car 😯

Can anyone point me in the right direction for this?

Luke, try [url= http://www.jimsbeerkit.co.uk/forum/index.php ]Jims Beer Kit[/url].

Too much to go into here, but since you already know the basics of homebrew you should be able to pick it up the rest from there, lots of very good information in the forums.

Don't get too carried away with your first, it's pretty forgiving. Simple mash and batch sparge in a converted coolbox will serve you well until you decide to delve deeper.

Just got a starter on for my next weeks brewday, stepping up White Labs WLP 500 for a nice Trappist brew.

Bottled mine today. Is it usually still cloudy at this point?

I know its probably dependent on the brew. I have done Coopers Canadian Blonde which to me sounds like it should be cloudy but the reviews say it should be like Stella. It also smells pretty yeasty is that normal?

Yeah it's not normally bright bright, you'll probably have quite a decent sediment in the bottle so chill them and pour v.carefully.

To avoid this I tend to leave it in the fermentor for 10 days, it's normally pretty clear by then, but still plenty of yeast still in suspension for a secondary ferment to condition in the bottle.

yeah, it'll be a little hazy as you bottle it. I've got 31 bottles sat in my dining room, bottled about a week ago. Clear at the neck, not clear anywhere else yet.

leave it somewhere warm for 2-3 weeks for the secondary fermentation, to gas it up in the bottle, then move it somewhere cool - if you can for the same time or longer - to let it settle out.
Then handle it carefully, keep it upright & pour carefully, ensuring you leave a little in the bottle. you'll see the sediment start to move from the bottom of the bottle as you pour, so you'll know when to stop pouring.

From the instructions on the Coopers European Lager kits, Coopers recommend 12 weeks bottle conditioning before drinking... presumably as cool as you can get it , i.e. "lagering", 2-3degC if possible. I'd imagine the Canadian Blonde to be similar.

Usually start drinking mine around 4 weeks after bottling/kegging. 1 week at room temperature then into the garage.

They're mostly clearing by then, always the odd bottle from every batch that never seems to clear.

It's mostly cosmetic so I don't worry about it tbh, though I guess it looks the real deal if you're showing it off or something.

Great thanks guys. Always good to be reassured about something you havnt done before.

Just poured my first pint and its still pretty yeasty tasting, it's not lovely but its drinkable in small volumes. I'm hoping a bit more time will help with the flavor.

What is concerning me is that it isn't fizzy at all. I put the recommended amount of brew enhancer tabs in each bottle so I'm confused.

Any ideas?

Temperature
Available sugar
Time

I have no idea what the chemical make up of 'brew enhancer' is , in a commercial brewery we dont use such things.

Try warming a few bottles / keg to 28 - 30'C for 48 hrs and see if that makes a difference.

Might be too many tri saccharides or dead yeast cells .

Oops Not brew enhancer I meant carbonation drops is basically a sugar tablet. You drop a tab in the bottle when bottling for the secondary fermentation.

Wondering if there wasn't enough sugar in one tab as the brew is a larger. Is it too late to add a little more?

how long has it been in the bottle?

I leave my bottles in the warm for at least 2 weeks, sometimes 3, for carbonation, then I move them somewhere cool for at least 2 weeks for clearing. The longer you can leave it in the bottle, the clearer and brighter it will get.

I also use plain granulated sugar dissolved in a little boiling water, let it cool to room temperature (covered!) before adding to the fermenting bin a day or two before bottling. 80-110g in a couple of hundred ml for a 23l batch depending how much fizz you want. Or 1/2 teaspoon of granulated or brewers sugar per bottle after bottling but before capping (obviously)

I bottled it and put it in a cupboard two weeks ago. It's very clear just not fizzy. Actually the second bottle I had was fizzier and I got a bit of a head when pouring. The second bottle was one of the last to be bottled and had a little more sediment in the bottom of the bottle.

Looking at starting brewing myself now.

How eefective is wrapping the fermenting bucket in a duvet a keeping the brew warm enough to ferment?

My first go is under way in the fermentor. It is Brewkit Linthwaite Pale Ale I think. A 2 can kit. I am considering getting a second fermentor and syphoning into that for a week. I was told this was a good way to avoid sediment.
Good thread

Jimster - unless your room is very cold, that shouldn't be necessary. Ale yeast likes temperatures between 18 and 25 degC, lager yeast prefers it a bit cooler. Room temp should be fine

Cheese - not a bad idea. Don't forget the priming sugar when bottling or kegging the beer. 80-110g in keg for a 23l batch, 1/2 a teaspoon per bottle. More sugar = more fizz