Hey guys,
Got a Copper Tun brew kit for my birthday and now, two weeks later, im about to put down my third kit brew
Found an extra fermenter at work, as well as a couple of big 23L plastic opaque carboys. Polyethylene I think. Looking at using them as secondaries or primaries for 20L brews. Also a 20L Pyrex carboy that I’m not sure what to use for yet.
So first brew was the Munich Lager that came with the kit - after getting myself all confused reading I boiled the kit for an hour (with brew enhancer), which resulted in what is probably a darker brew than what it was meant to be.... Hot wort poured into cold water in fermenter (read this is not the way to go as it aerates the hot wort..) followed by aeration of the whole thing with an oxygen concentrator. Also followed the directions on the kit in regards to brewing temperatures so unfortunately she went to 28C in the first couple of days of vigorous primary fermentation, then 22C for the rest of the time. Hydrolysed gelatine finings included in the kit went in after 2 weeks (F.G. stable for two days at 1.0105), temp dropped to 12C for two days and bottled in 750mL PET's with 2 x carbonation drops per bottle.
Tastes good - a lot better than I expected - (to me & the missus anyway) when it went into bottles.
Second brew was a Morgan’s Cerveza kit with 1.7kg of Black Rock ultra-light unhopped LME. Boiled 1/3rd kit & 1/4 LME for 15min the off the heat and stirred in the rest of the kit and LME. Added to fermenter which had cold water chilled with ice (again aerating the hot wort...). Little more ice to bring it to 24C. Oxygenated for 7min with oxycon. Pitched yeast (hydrated in a cup of warm water for 15 min). S.G 1.0458. 1 bubble / 3 mins at 2 hours. Been fermenting at 20C for 6 days now.
Bottled first kit yesterday and looking to do a toucan tomorrow - 2 x Coopers larger perhaps with a cup or two of table sugar. Just reading tonight to figure if the table sugar is worth it. Just looking for a raise in ABV.
Also just scored a fridge (potentially broken) that might be looking good for doing a lager / cold conditioning / cold crash or something along those lines.
Anyway, seems to me I have found a new hobby
Cheers
-Ben
Got a Copper Tun brew kit for my birthday and now, two weeks later, im about to put down my third kit brew
Found an extra fermenter at work, as well as a couple of big 23L plastic opaque carboys. Polyethylene I think. Looking at using them as secondaries or primaries for 20L brews. Also a 20L Pyrex carboy that I’m not sure what to use for yet.
So first brew was the Munich Lager that came with the kit - after getting myself all confused reading I boiled the kit for an hour (with brew enhancer), which resulted in what is probably a darker brew than what it was meant to be.... Hot wort poured into cold water in fermenter (read this is not the way to go as it aerates the hot wort..) followed by aeration of the whole thing with an oxygen concentrator. Also followed the directions on the kit in regards to brewing temperatures so unfortunately she went to 28C in the first couple of days of vigorous primary fermentation, then 22C for the rest of the time. Hydrolysed gelatine finings included in the kit went in after 2 weeks (F.G. stable for two days at 1.0105), temp dropped to 12C for two days and bottled in 750mL PET's with 2 x carbonation drops per bottle.
Tastes good - a lot better than I expected - (to me & the missus anyway) when it went into bottles.
Second brew was a Morgan’s Cerveza kit with 1.7kg of Black Rock ultra-light unhopped LME. Boiled 1/3rd kit & 1/4 LME for 15min the off the heat and stirred in the rest of the kit and LME. Added to fermenter which had cold water chilled with ice (again aerating the hot wort...). Little more ice to bring it to 24C. Oxygenated for 7min with oxycon. Pitched yeast (hydrated in a cup of warm water for 15 min). S.G 1.0458. 1 bubble / 3 mins at 2 hours. Been fermenting at 20C for 6 days now.
Bottled first kit yesterday and looking to do a toucan tomorrow - 2 x Coopers larger perhaps with a cup or two of table sugar. Just reading tonight to figure if the table sugar is worth it. Just looking for a raise in ABV.
Also just scored a fridge (potentially broken) that might be looking good for doing a lager / cold conditioning / cold crash or something along those lines.
Anyway, seems to me I have found a new hobby
Cheers
-Ben
