Homebrewing questions

[brissleboy]

Just about to start my first batch of homebrew as was given a starter kit by my wife for Christmas but I have a couple of question:

When the fermentation process is done (using brewing sugar), I plan on syphoning to another fermenting vat before bottling to minimise contamination, should I further leave it in there for a few days before bottling?

Also, instead of putting sugar in each bottle, can I just add sugar to the second vat and then bottle? If so, how much sugar should I add (22.5 litre kit, makes 40 pints) and moreover, what sugar?

Cheers

[Fishtigua]

brissleboy said:

Also, instead of putting sugar in each bottle, can I just add sugar to the second vat and then bottle? If so, how much sugar should I add (22.5 litre kit, makes 40 pints) and moreover, what sugar?

Cheers

From what I remember of making it at school, raw sugar should not go in the bottle for secondary fermentation. They go BANG.

Adding a sugar syrup in the second vat before bottling is the way to go. As I say, that was over 30 years ago since I've done this.

[Dunclane]

Secondary sugaring is really just to create some CO2. I added 90 grammes to my 40 pint / 5 gal barrel which equates to around 1/2 tsp per bottle.

[brissleboy]

Dunclane said:

Secondary sugaring is really just to create some CO2. I added 90 grammes to my 40 pint / 5 gal barrel which equates to around 1/2 tsp per bottle.

What sugar did you use, brewery or normal? I see some people use spraymalt to add 'flavour' but it is more expensive.

[SwanJack]

What contamination are you worried about?

Brewing sugar is just powdered Glucose. Buy it from the Chemist's if your stuck. You can certainly transfer it to a secondary vessel before bottling it and as long as you can cover it and keep the beer away from bugs, you could add some finings to clear it up a bit over a few days.

When your ready to bottle you can add glucose to the vessel and stir it before bottling. Here's a priming sugar calculator for you to work out how much you'll need http://www.tastybrew.com/calculators/priming.html or you could just use these http://www.the-home-brew-shop.co.uk/acatalog/Coope... they are sold in big Tesco stores.

Just be aware that the more racking you do (essentially transferring your beer from one container to another) the more risk there is of an infection and every piece of kit that touches the beer needs to be sterilised.

Spray malt is mainly used for extract brewing, I wouldn't bother using it as a priming sugar.

Edited by SwanJack on Wednesday 15th May 13:58

[otolith]

You can add granular sugar to the bottles, that in itself won't cause exploding bottles. Adding too much sugar can cause exploding bottles and it's a lot easier to measure out small amounts correctly if you dissolve the sugar for the batch in boiling water and then add a measured quantity of syrup to each bottle. Or just add the syrup to the whole batch immediately before bottling, which will be easier to do if as you plan you have already racked it off the sediment.

For the quantities of sugar involved in priming, I would just use ordinary granulated white sugar, a quarter teaspoon or so of fancy sugar isn't going to make any difference to the flavour.

[brissleboy]

SwanJack said:

Brewing sugar is just powdered Glucose. Buy it from the Chemist's if your stuck. You can certainly transfer it to a secondary vessel before bottling it and as long as you can cover it and keep the beer away from bugs, you could add some finings to clear it up a bit over a few days.

When your ready to bottle you can add glucose to the vessel and stir it before bottling. Here's a priming sugar calculator for you to work out how much you'll need http://www.tastybrew.com/calculators/priming.html or you could just use these http://www.the-home-brew-shop.co.uk/acatalog/Coope... they are sold in big Tesco stores.

Just be aware that the more racking you do (essentially transferring your beer from one container to another) the more risk there is of an infection and every piece of kit that touched the beer needs to be sterilised.

Really appreciate the advice, thanks very much! I'm sure my first attempt won't set the world alight as there seems an awful lot to learn but hopefully I'll get there!

[DocArbathnot]

I prefer a keg to bottles and it makes the whole thing so much easier. Which kit are you brewing?

[brissleboy]

DocArbathnot said:

I prefer a keg to bottles and it makes the whole thing so much easier. Which kit are you brewing?

It's a Youngs one.

How long would the beer last in a keg?

[vixen1700]

brissleboy said:

I'm sure my first attempt won't set the world alight

You'd be surprised, went through a stage of brewing a few years back and never managed to get to the standard of the first brew I made. Proper proud of it and gave bottles away to people at work who were suitably impressed.

Others after that were low on taste or just exploded into a wave of foam when you opened the bottle.

[DocArbathnot]

brissleboy said:

DocArbathnot said:

I prefer a keg to bottles and it makes the whole thing so much easier. Which kit are you brewing?

It's a Youngs one.

How long would the beer last in a keg?

I condition for about 4wks and then drink over another 4wks

[Blown2CV]

don't both with the intermediate container, just bottle straight in with a small amount of brewing sugar in each bottle. You'll get a better result with bottles, but the keg is more convenient, arguably. Personally I can't be arsed messing around with CO2 cannisters and it's another massive container to sterilise before and after, and you can't move it anywhere without letting it settle for days before drinking. The bottles seem to keep their gas far better.

[SwanJack]

You can also place bottles in a fridge and regulate how much your drinking

[Blown2CV]

and they last longer; and you can label them! Here's my most recent:

[otolith]

I like the label - same childishness as our chilli based home made produce we gave away to relatives the other year

[Blown2CV]

yours are next level though! Very nice.