Call it stupidity/enthusiasm but I had two kits sitting on my shelf a bad cat imperial red and youngs American ipa and decided to get them both on the go this evening. I'm still a total newbie so no hacking etc yet for myself but pleased with gravity, temp etc and I'm hoping to attempt batch priming for the 1st time when they're ready so il just keep the fingers and toes crossed til then.
No good sitting on the shelf anyway sure. :P
The American IPA would suit a bit of dryhopping if you want to give that a go too.
I've read of dryhopping on here. Might sound stupid but if I don't ask I'll never learn. Is dryhopping just like adding additional hops in before bottling?
Exactly. You add hops to the fermenter and let them steep for a few days and then bottle. It's one of the easiest ways to get lots of fresh hop aroma into your beer.
With it being that simple I might give it some thought so. Cheers Irish_goat
The Young's American IPA kit actually comes with a generous 100g dry hop bag. Just make sure fermentation has stopped before you add it - this kit is pretty slow. I did it a few months ago and it took three weeks for it to stop dropping. I dry hopped for three days - I wouldn't let them in more than four days TBH.
The Red Cat was my 2nd ever kit, was good, but I under carbed it and drank it too young. I might revisit it again. Supping the Bulldog Evild Dog IPA at the moment which I bottled in Sept. and its fab.
Heard great things about the youngs kits, have the american amber ale here waiting to put on
Good stuff Inky,
Batch priming is pretty straightforward. Boil up your sugar (or Dex or whatever) in some water, I usually use about 250 to 500 ml. Let it cool a bit then pour it into the bottling bucket. I then attach a tube to the tap on my fermenter and let it drain off into the sugar water in the bottling bucket. Keep the end of the tube under the water all the time. I then leave the bottling bucket sit for at least 20 minutes to let the sugary water disperse out fully. Usually use this time to get the bottles rinsed etc.
Just checked the two kits after 24hrs, American ipa is starting to get a head in the fb and the lid looks like it's bulging, the bad cat, just looks like dark liquid in its fb can't see anything happening at all, I'm not sure if there's something wrong or just takes a while to get going il give it a few more days anyways and see
Just checked both my kits the youngs is bubbling away nicely, nothing at all from the airlock in the bad cat. Opened it up and took the following pic, dunno if it's just slow or if something wrong. Any help/suggestions would be greatly appreciated
smell it, taste it, take a gravity reading & close it.
that film looks worrying but if it smells and tastes ok then you might be fine.
If the gravity reading has not dropped then maybe add another sachet of yeast and keep it warm
Cheers, I didn't do a gravity reading this evening when I got in but it now looks like this and I'm getting a few bubbles here and there in the airlock too, it's still sitting at between 18/20c so I might just leave it and see what happens
that looks a whole load healthier.
Close it & leave it alone foe a couple of weeks. then taste and smell again.
by 'close it' I mean 'stop opening the fecking bucket!' ;D
Quote from: LordEoin on January 29, 2016, 02:31:32 AM
by 'close it' I mean 'stop opening the fecking bucket!' ;D
This
Quote from: LordEoin on January 29, 2016, 02:31:32 AM
by 'close it' I mean 'stop opening the fecking bucket!' ;D
I love the subtle sentiment in this message 😁 it was closed straight after the picture was taken and won't be checked for at least another 2 weeks cheers LordEoin
It's instinct to poke around at it. Probably the same instinct that makes us buy baby monitors and breathing monitors, etc for a newborn and check them in their sleep every 20 minutes when the best thing for them is to just leave them alone to sleep in peace. ;D
Hey everyone, only getting back to this now with work, diy etc the usual. Both kits have been in primary for 3 weeks now. I have added the hops and hoping all going well to bottle on Wed evening. Only problem I have is to batch prime, the ipa kit comes with sugar but doesn't seem to say if I should do the whole lot or not. The bad cat comes with nothing at all, I went and bought some glucose to do it myself but finding it hard to work out the calculator if anyone has any suggestions it'd be greatly appreciated. Cheers
http://www.brewersfriend.com/beer-priming-calculator/
Use that link. Couldn't be simpler. Temp should be your fermentation temp. CO2 volume at 2.2 (personal preference). I find much more than that and the beer is too gassy. I recommend using DME.
HTH.
Cheers Ozbrewer it was the CO2 volume that was kind of throwing me with the calculator
this graph should make it a bit clearer:
(http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-o_S9tOHVf5M/T7rK96heX6I/AAAAAAAAAJI/Womlr09p1GY/s1600/chart.jpg)