HI all - first brew in the bucket - Copers Canadian blonde - i added 1kg of Muntons Light Dry Malt Extract. Paid particular attention to the sanitization of all the bits and pieces - the spraymalt had some rock like clumps after it was added so a fair amount of stirring was needed, but got them all. I had no ice to cool it to nearer 20 as i have seen recommended, but it was about 24-25 when i added the yeast. Just sprinkled it onto the foam on top and its about 18-19 in the room its sitting in, this remains fairly constant in here so i hope i have not made a mess of stuff and that it will kick off. Will check it later to see if it kicks off but the plan is to add some Cascade Hops at about day 5 - hope im not being too ambitious on the first effort. ::)
oh and the OG was 1045
Congrats man, I had mine @ about 26c when adding the yeast & so far it looks ok. As for the Spray Malt, one of the lads advised me stir it into a pan of hot water before adding to the mix & it does help to break it down & it works very well
thanks, knew there must have been a trick to it, they were like rocks! melted eventually though.
Nice one!
Pitching at 26 shouldn't be a problem, especially if you got the temperatures down afterwards.
Getting clumps of DME to disolve is a balls, but even if you miseed some it's no big deal. The yeast will still munch it up.
Clumping can be avoided by adding the DME to a pot of hot water like Phil says, or by pouring boiling water over the DME in th FV and swirling for a while.
Dryhopping isn't over-ambitious, but be sure to keep everything sanitized and only have the FV open for as long as needed.
Wait 'til the airlock calms down a bit and the krausen starts to subside, then fire your hops in.
Pellets will break up and sink, leaf will float. A boiled muslin bag will keep them from making a mess.
The Canadian Blonde kit ends up with an FG of about 1.006-1.008 as far as I remember.
Now for the hard part. Patience! ;D
Fair play on your first brew, the Canadian was my first ever kit also. Turned out nice in the end, almost like a pils. I always used to add boiling water in the fv with my sugars and stir away till the dem dissolves, worked every time
Congrats, it is a great kit to dry hop as the flavour profile of the kit is so light the hops can make all the difference.
Thanks, no activity as of this morning, although its only been in since lunch time yesterday so i will remain patient - room still 18-19 degrees - its a fairly constant temp in there normally.
still no activity as of tonight - i dont mind the wait, just curious how long it usually takes to see some bubbles?
Where did the kit originate?
...and where are you located?
In case there's no activity, you might need to pitch again.
Don't worry about there being no bubbles. If the fermenter hasn't got a good seal there can often be no bubbles. Keep an eye on the surface you should see a kind of scum forming this is the krausen and is a better indication that fermentation has started.
Thanks - I peaked under the lid this morning and there is i guess what is krausen - i just sprinkled the yeast on the foam so wasnt sure if it was still that or if there was action
Heres something like how it looks.
http://www.seriouseats.com/images/20110115-krausen.jpg
Seal on the bucket would be good, its a new kit. Will just keep monitoring i guess.
got the kit from homebrew.ie and im brewing in south tipp -
Thats what you want, congrats!
Quote from: 00833827 on June 23, 2013, 02:45:59 PMthe plan is to add some Cascade Hops at about day 5 - hope im not being too ambitious on the first effort. ::)
Definitely not! I'd really recommend dry-hopping as one of the downsides of kit beers is the lack of hop flavour and aroma. I dry-hopped my second kit (actually a Coopers English bitter) with Cascade and it turned out great.
grand so i will leave it alone for a few days - thought i would see bubbles, i will take a quick photo later of the krausen.
temp is still holding 18-19, nice and steady.
If your fermenter is translucent you should also be able to see a buildup of yeast at the bottom, about an inch thick. This is another indication that the yeast is doing it's job.
(http://i58.photobucket.com/albums/g254/Laurelthequeen/Beer/American%20Red/DSCF5063.jpg)
If you keep peeking you are going to depressurise the lid.
Quote from: johnrm on June 25, 2013, 11:24:15 AM
If you keep peeking you are going to depressurise the lid.
Ah leave him alone :P Don't you remember the excitement of your first kit? Is it working? Is it working now? Oh look a bubble! Turn up the heating, it's only 22.5°C :)
twas only a sneak peak, i was gentle :-\
i guess i was expecting bubbles popping out the top but if ye think it good, then i trust ye.
as regards the yeast in the bottom, the bucket is not fully clear plastic but i can see "stuff" in the bottom. perhaps its yeast?
I will check again in the morning, just for the odd bubble, wont lift the lid.
That was my first kit and was very drinkable.
I used to be terrible taking a quick peek/sniff. Once there is no draft and you hold your breath your mostly ok. But it could be like Russian roulette only the lucky ones talk about it.
Indeedy, best to restrain yoursel, be patint, and keep the FV sealed as much as possible.
Your first brew will taste amazing and you'll drink it all way too soon, provided you don't get an infection. ;)
well it seems this morning there is a party in my bucket and everyone is invited - bubbles, krausen - its all happening! see pic--
Yep, that's what you want! :)
Looks good and healthy
perfect :)
So whens a good time to add my hops? Only put this together on Sunday at lunch time, so its probably still fermenting
any time after the krausen starts to disappear should be fine. probably better off figuring out when you plan to bottle it then add them about a week before then.
Have you got a bag for your hops. If not it might be worth investing. Otherwise when you go to rack the beer the hops will clog everything up. Remember once the beer has fermented you must be gentle with it to ensure it doesn't get oxidised. That means gentle racking and abottling wand. You won't be able to pour the beer through a strainer.
if you've not used hops before and have no bag etc, maybe try a hop teabag.
You just brew it up like a mug of tea, let it cool and dump the liquid and the bag directly into the FV.
ok so i think fermentation is stopped (krausen has died off, no bubbles and not as much pressure on bucket lid.) so think i till stick some hops in there tonight.
Should i just add the hop pellets to the current vessel? Or should i move to a secondary vessel? I have no bag but will use tights. And i was thinking about a week with the hops before I bottle maybe next weekend - how does that sound?
Make sure you boil the tights first to sanitise. If you have a few marbles boil those also and pop into tights to help weigh it down. It is not necessary to rack into secondary but it could help with clarity and gett your beer off the yeast cake will prevent any off flavours. Just remember when racking into secondary, gently, gently don't allow beer to pour into bucket fill from the bottom up.
Or you could get the Canadian Blonde to wear the tights and then stick your marbles down the front :o
Quote from: Dunkel on July 02, 2013, 09:47:28 PM
Or you could get the Canadian Blonde to wear the tights and then stick your marbles down the front :o
You'd likely get a wild yeast infection that way..
you could end up with worts - :'(
ok so today i added some hops - 25g of cascade - i also moved to a secondary because tomoro i will start another brew. I know it is not deemed necessary - had read plenty of for and against arguments but i figured I will do it at least to free up the FV for another brew. i tried not to splash it and introduce oxygen - to start with there was slight splashing but im hoping that this will not affect things. i added a marble to the bag, it still floated to the top :-( plan to leave it a week and will bottle next saturday or sunday.
So its still a little cloudy, i kind of expected that - but it sure smells like beer and although i didnt properly taste it, its beer alright. :-)
im planing 3 or 4 weeks in the bottles. first week at the current room temp of 19-20 degrees, then i will move them to a cave i have thats a lot less than that, prob 12 or so.
If it smells like beer and tastes like beer, you're doing it right.
Don't worry about the hops still floating, just leave them now and put more weight the next time.
I once used every teaspoon in the house as weight, and the bollox was still floating ::)
ok so im planning to bottle this weekend. So recap, its been 2 weeks in primary, then 1 in a secondary dry hoping - so now to bottles for a while, till the August Bank Holiday weekend I hope when I would like to try it, if its likely to be ready that is - was gonna leave where it is for a week (in this weather the lower temp that had been in the room is now up around 25 unfortunately) - then a dark cool basement for another 2 weeks
The secondary is a water cooler bottle, so its about 19 litres - so i figured I would use - 120-130g of brown sugar (going by one of the online calculators ) in a half litre of water - how does all this sound?
Sounds good but I would just use regular sugar of dextrose, brown sugar can give strong flavours and is usually used in darker beers. When I last made the Canadian blonde kit I was able to try it after a week, it was perfect after 2 weeks and it was gone after 4 weeks.
Thanks Chris, regular Sucra it is so. Looking forward to completing the brew process for the first time.
And we are in the bottles!! Very satisfying to clamp the caps on and see the results of the work. Had a mini disaster when I knocked over the last 6 bottles before I got them capped - in a effort to get the last of the beer out of the vessel - I was rushing and didn't have take care on what I was doing:-( but it smells and tastes good to roll on August bank hol weekend when I hope to try them!!
From experience (my son's brew) of the Canadian Blonde it is drinkable after two weeks in bottle. But have a further bottle per day for the following two weeks - the difference between two weeks and four weeks in bottle is amazing :) Trouble is, it disappears very quickly ...
just cracked my first bottle of this - I'm very happy with it - great start to my brewing.
the cascade aroma suits it well, very nice brew.