New to Brewing

[ddonlon]

Just started home brewing with a kit from Homebrewwest, its the Brewstarter kit with Mangrove Jacks Pale ale . It is in the fermenter since 9:00pm  18th Nov. Should i be checking it soon ?

[DEMPSEY]

Nah your fine if you only just started it.

[Leann ull]

2 weeks to ferment then have a look
Patience Patience
welcome to the forum, introduce yourself we don't bite well those that are taking the pills don't

[ddonlon]

2 weeks to ferment then have a look
Patience Patience
welcome to the forum, introduce yourself we don't bite well those that are taking the pills don't

I thought I did  do an introduction but , I live in north Galway work mostly in Headword so Homebrewwest is handy for me.

On the instructions for the Ale  it said to check the brew after 8 days do I ignore this , the temperature has been hovering around 20-22 degs

[Frequent Sequence]

Welcome ddonlon great to see more Galway brewers . Your temperatures sound perfect so your fermentation should be underway.
The instruction times usually a bit under estimated imho. if you have a hydrometer you could pull a sample at 12 days and again at 15 days.
if the two readings are the same you should be sound to bottle it up.

[hopapotamus]

welcome to the mad house lol , have a look over in kit brewing section, makeing beer is very much like making love to a beautiful woman ......take your time .....relax ......have a beer and wait some more ......remember the kit makers want you to make it faster so you will buy more often but take it slowly maybe swop out the yeast and add in some hops ....before you know it you will be hacking a kit to your own tastes .
lord eoins kit hack guide is a great place to start , nice and simple and very easy to understand.
dont rush out to buy the world of equipment , reading up on here will point you in the right direction , and the membership fee gives you a discount with the main homebrew shops so its well worth it

[ddonlon]

Welcome ddonlon great to see more Galway brewers . Your temperatures sound perfect so your fermentation should be underway.
The instruction times usually a bit under estimated imho. if you have a hydrometer you could pull a sample at 12 days and again at 15 days.
if the two readings are the same you should be sound to bottle it up.

Thanks for the information I will follow that ,I have had the brew belt on and off during the day and mostly on at night

[ddonlon]

welcome to the mad house lol , have a look over in kit brewing section, makeing beer is very much like making love to a beautiful woman ......take your time .....relax ......have a beer and wait some more ......remember the kit makers want you to make it faster so you will buy more often but take it slowly maybe swop out the yeast and add in some hops ....before you know it you will be hacking a kit to your own tastes .
lord eoins kit hack guide is a great place to start , nice and simple and very easy to understand.
dont rush out to buy the world of equipment , reading up on here will point you in the right direction , and the membership fee gives you a discount with the main homebrew shops so its well worth it

I want to make a beer with hops in it just not sure how to do that  yet, I have 50 euro christmas present to spend what would you recommend to use it on

[hopapotamus]

if it was me id spend €10 on membership , you will save more than that in discounts ,
a bottle of starsan sanatizer €13 ,lasts for ages ,€2.50 on lidl oxyclean
and a bulldog triple tykes export ale €30 +discounted bucket €5, i think its a lovely beer( it comes with a hop tea bag) but its a personal thing
then as your drinking your home made beer throw a few euro in a jar for each bottle you have as your beer runs low you will have more than enough to buy another kit , another fermenter , ect ......this can be a very expensive hobby if you let it .just take your time and read as much as you can . check out your local club they are mostly friendly ..........but watch them lol , im in rural cork , but managed to go to a piss up in a brewary, sorry i mean a brew day and bbq , lads on here are very genourse with their time and more than happy to help , so remember there are no stupid questions .......might be a few dodgy answers lol .

[ddonlon]

Welcome ddonlon great to see more Galway brewers . Your temperatures sound perfect so your fermentation should be underway.
The instruction times usually a bit under estimated imho. if you have a hydrometer you could pull a sample at 12 days and again at 15 days.
if the two readings are the same you should be sound to bottle it up.

I have just taken a sample for the beer and it is reading 1.012 its just lining up with the bottom of the black line on the hydrometer its a stevenson one , its been in the FV since 18th Nov (13 days) , bubbling seems to have stopped, is that a normal reading 

[Drum]

1.012 after 13 days sounds like its nearly there alright.  Wait another 48 hours and take another reading, if it's still at 1.012 then it's probably done fermenting. you can bottle at that stage but i like to wait a few more days to a week to let the yeast drop out of suspension, this means you get a much clearer beer.  What yeast came with the kit?  If it's Mangrove jacks british ale yeast then its definitely worth waiting a week as the stuff clears really well.

[Leann ull]

It's normally 3 consistent readings across three days, the fact that it has just stopped bubbling doesn't mean fermentation has stopped tho.
At some point in the future as you become more experienced you won't even bother measuring fg

[ddonlon]

Thanks for the replies ,will leave it as it looked cloudy when I took the reading, had a drink of it as well seemed okish , I'm getting Jacks craft wheat beer for Christmas so it will suit me to wait and have that one ready to start when this ones finished.

[Leann ull]

If you are happy it's finished fermenting and be sure to avoid bottle bombs! Bottle it leave in a warm room and crash cool after you know it's carbed
Easy way to know if it's carbed is use a coopers or lucozade bottle and it will be hard to compress
Outside in the shed for a couple of days to a week and it should drop clear
Your best bottle will be be the one at the back of the cupboard you find after 6 months

[ddonlon]

If you are happy it's finished fermenting and be sure to avoid bottle bombs! Bottle it leave in a warm room and crash cool after you know it's carbed
Easy way to know if it's carbed is use a coopers or lucozade bottle and it will be hard to compress
Outside in the shed for a couple of days to a week and it should drop clear
Your best bottle will be be the one at the back of the cupboard you find after 6 months

I have a set Coopers pet bottles that came with my kit so I will be ok, I'm also getting budwiser bottles off my local pub are they ok to recap.

Should i be asking these questions in the brewing/equipment section