First brew

[koshari]

As above. The sg is all you are concerned with and its pretty well fermenred. The alcohol value on the hydrometer is what final alcohol level you could expect if that was your starting gravity. But in your case its final gravity so its irrelevent.

So relax and prime/bottle/keg at your leasure.

Btw theres no problem sampling the beer at this point to get an idea of taste. Obviously it will be warm and telatively flast however you will get an idea of bitterness and flavour.

 

[Schikitar]

Here you go, just whack your OG and SG into this calculator and it'll give you a better idea of your ABV - https://www.brewersfriend.com/abv-calculator/ (they also have a bunch of other handy calculators)!

Once your beer is bottled, conditioned (1-2 weeks) and then chilled, the haze should mostly clear up - don't fear the haze, clarity is mostly about appearance and little to do with flavour..

EDIT: By the way, I can vouch for the Inkbird temp controllers, they are a very worthwhile investment (very affordable too)!

 

[Coodgee]

you are about to experience one of life's great joys - getting drunk on something you have brewed yourself. Tis truly a joyous time in a new brewers life.

 

[phildo]

+1 brewers friend calculators. I don't use their app but I do have a short cut to a few of their calculators that I frequently use on my phone

 

[BadBeatSab]

I never use finnings in the fermentor. Just my preference, there's nothing wrong with using them i just think that it's unnecessary because I don't really care if my beer is clear or hazy and generally my beer clears up well with cold and time.

Thanks for your replies guys.

I didn’t take a reading at the start of fermentation. So I don’t have an OG reading. Oops. Does this matter really?
But after 10 days it’s now stable at 1.005 so I assume that’s all correct.

The alcohol volume I was stressing about last night has been resolved by reading the instructions and understanding I wasn’t reading the metre correctly. So that’s resolved also.

And the colour and clarity aren’t a concern now either after a bit of clear thinking and some research. I decided to not use finings and will follow the method you have described.

The kit is a mangrove jack pale ale. I am going to use some plastic bottles and some glass bottles.

Thanks for setting my mind at ease. I have stressed about each step of the process so far. It’s like my first child, and everything needs to be perfect.

Much appreciated. Cheers

 

[wide eyed and legless]

Thanks for your replies guys.

I didn’t take a reading at the start of fermentation. So I don’t have an OG reading. Oops. Does this matter really?
But after 10 days it’s now stable at 1.005 so I assume that’s all correct.

The alcohol volume I was stressing about last night has been resolved by reading the instructions and understanding I wasn’t reading the metre correctly. So that’s resolved also.

And the colour and clarity aren’t a concern now either after a bit of clear thinking and some research. I decided to not use finings and will follow the method you have described.

The kit is a mangrove jack pale ale. I am going to use some plastic bottles and some glass bottles.

Thanks for setting my mind at ease. I have stressed about each step of the process so far. It’s like my first child, and everything needs to be perfect.

Much appreciated. Cheers

Its the same as any learning curve, by the time you have completed a few brews it becomes easier but you never stop learning, some good books are out there so get reading also.

 

[phildo]

Thanks for your replies guys.

I didn’t take a reading at the start of fermentation. So I don’t have an OG reading. Oops. Does this matter really?
But after 10 days it’s now stable at 1.005 so I assume that’s all correct.

The alcohol volume I was stressing about last night has been resolved by reading the instructions and understanding I wasn’t reading the metre correctly. So that’s resolved also.

And the colour and clarity aren’t a concern now either after a bit of clear thinking and some research. I decided to not use finings and will follow the method you have described.

The kit is a mangrove jack pale ale. I am going to use some plastic bottles and some glass bottles.

Thanks for setting my mind at ease. I have stressed about each step of the process so far. It’s like my first child, and everything needs to be perfect.

Much appreciated. Cheers

The og isn't really important unless you want to calculate the alcohol. I wouldn't worry for your first brew. I would guess that the abv would be between 4.5% and 5.5%. Mangrove jacks make a good kit, I haven't done the pale ale but I did recently did their belgian ale using one of their belgian ale yeast packs. I have gone back to doing cans for a bit to save up for a single vessel brewery.

Keep us updated on bottling day, are you priming the bottles or doing a bulk prime?

Looking forward to reading your post on tasting day

 

[BadBeatSab]

As above. The sg is all you are concerned with and its pretty well fermenred. The alcohol value on the hydrometer is what final alcohol level you could expect if that was your starting gravity. But in your case its final gravity so its irrelevent.

So relax and prime/bottle/keg at your leasure.

Btw theres no problem sampling the beer at this point to get an idea of taste. Obviously it will be warm and telatively flast however you will get an idea of bitterness and flavour.

Lol, you shouldn’t have told me that. They may not even last a week after bottling. Lol.

I have finished bottling now. And obviously being my first time I’m sure I’ve made a few mistakes but I’ll be ready to refill the fermenter on Wednesday.
Any suggestions about what to choose next for the current season?

 

[BadBeatSab]

you are about to experience one of life's great joys - getting drunk on something you have brewed yourself. Tis truly a joyous time in a new brewers life.

 

[BadBeatSab]

The og isn't really important unless you want to calculate the alcohol. I wouldn't worry for your first brew. I would guess that the abv would be between 4.5% and 5.5%. Mangrove jacks make a good kit, I haven't done the pale ale but I did recently did their belgian ale using one of their belgian ale yeast packs. I have gone back to doing cans for a bit to save up for a single vessel brewery.

Keep us updated on bottling day, are you priming the bottles or doing a bulk prime?

Looking forward to reading your post on tasting day

The kit had carbonation drops so I just used those. I did som plastic and some glass . Bit just for the time factor I might start looking into keg options for next brew

 

[BadBeatSab]

My 6 year old brew maid.

 

[Yuz]

Not sure if anyone else mentioned but this is very resourceful: http://www.howtobrew.com/
Also, once you start playing around with recipes this is handy: https://aussiehomebrewer.com/attachments/2016-kit-amp-extract-beer-designer-v4-2-xls.87958/

 

[koshari]

Not sure if anyone else mentioned but this is very resourceful: http://www.howtobrew.com/
Also, once you start playing around with recipes this is handy: https://aussiehomebrewer.com/attachments/2016-kit-amp-extract-beer-designer-v4-2-xls.87958/

Yes. That spreadsheet is great.

 

[phildo]

Lol, you shouldn’t have told me that. They may not even last a week after bottling. Lol.

I have finished bottling now. And obviously being my first time I’m sure I’ve made a few mistakes but I’ll be ready to refill the fermenter on Wednesday.
Any suggestions about what to choose next for the current season?

Depends on your tastes, once I push another pale ale and this can of cheap and nasty "larger" though the brewery I'm going to put down a porter

 

[Muzzanthrope]

Given that your bottling into a number of clear bottles it would probably be worthwhile keeping them somewhere dark if possible to avoid "skunking" your hard work:
http://beersmith.com/blog/2017/03/21/skunky-beer-light-struck-off-flavors-in-home-brewing/

 

[BadBeatSab]

Given that your bottling into a number of clear bottles it would probably be worthwhile keeping them somewhere dark if possible to avoid "skunking" your hard work:
http://beersmith.com/blog/2017/03/21/skunky-beer-light-struck-off-flavors-in-home-brewing/

Yeah. Have done that. Thanks.

 

[BadBeatSab]

Not sure if anyone else mentioned but this is very resourceful: http://www.howtobrew.com/
Also, once you start playing around with recipes this is handy: https://aussiehomebrewer.com/attachments/2016-kit-amp-extract-beer-designer-v4-2-xls.87958/

Thanks. I’ll have a look at this