jkeysers
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- 13/2/07
- Messages
- 147
- Reaction score
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Evening lads.
Been out of brewing for a LONG time. Must be 4 or 5 years now. Thought it was high time I got back on board, so yesterday I went down to the LHBS and brought some basic supplies, and kits to do 4 brews. 1x ESB Belgian Golden Ale 5 litre FWK, 1x Draught Can with brew enhancer with Saaz hops (for the visitors), 1x Pilsner Can with 500g Dextrose and 500g malt extract and 1x cider kit with 1kg dextrose for the Mrs.
Today was brew day, so I decided to do the Golden Ale FWK and the cider. I was a little rusty, but it was pretty basic really, how badly could I mess up? Well, quite a bit it seems! lol
I did everything on autopilot. Got to pitching stage, and I took SG readings on both the cider and Golden Ale. The cider seems about right; 1.042. But the Golden Ale seemed VERY high; 1.070! Whoa. I've never done one of these smaller, 5 litre FWKs before. Done lots of the 15L ones, but never a 5 litre one. Maybe it's just strong I thought? I pitched a satchet of Safale S-04 yeast (and the cider kit yeast), and started packing up. I was putting my other kits away when it hit me..... For some stupid reason I put in the dextrose and malt from the Pilsner kit in with the FWK. Don't ask me why, I have no idea! I think because it was only a 5L FWK, it's closer in amount to a normal can than it is to the 15L FWKs I'm used to, so without thinking I just added the extra fermentables. Hence the very high starting gravity.
My question is, have I stuffed it? If yes, can I do anything to improve it? If no, will it taste any good? Will the yeast be able to handle all that?
My initial thought was to open it up and add some more water, but I've used my small fermenter which has around 22-23L capacity. The FWK said it makes 18L, and my fermenter is up to about 20L. I really don't have much room to add more water, and I'm not sure about opening a fermenter once I've pitched the yeast.
The good news is I have a little more water in there than I should, but that's a lot of fermentables in there.
So, I'm looking for some advice or reassurance. Can anyone offer any?
Anyway, despite the f**k up, it was good to be back out there doing some brewing again. Not looking forward to waiting for it!
Cheers guys.
Been out of brewing for a LONG time. Must be 4 or 5 years now. Thought it was high time I got back on board, so yesterday I went down to the LHBS and brought some basic supplies, and kits to do 4 brews. 1x ESB Belgian Golden Ale 5 litre FWK, 1x Draught Can with brew enhancer with Saaz hops (for the visitors), 1x Pilsner Can with 500g Dextrose and 500g malt extract and 1x cider kit with 1kg dextrose for the Mrs.
Today was brew day, so I decided to do the Golden Ale FWK and the cider. I was a little rusty, but it was pretty basic really, how badly could I mess up? Well, quite a bit it seems! lol
I did everything on autopilot. Got to pitching stage, and I took SG readings on both the cider and Golden Ale. The cider seems about right; 1.042. But the Golden Ale seemed VERY high; 1.070! Whoa. I've never done one of these smaller, 5 litre FWKs before. Done lots of the 15L ones, but never a 5 litre one. Maybe it's just strong I thought? I pitched a satchet of Safale S-04 yeast (and the cider kit yeast), and started packing up. I was putting my other kits away when it hit me..... For some stupid reason I put in the dextrose and malt from the Pilsner kit in with the FWK. Don't ask me why, I have no idea! I think because it was only a 5L FWK, it's closer in amount to a normal can than it is to the 15L FWKs I'm used to, so without thinking I just added the extra fermentables. Hence the very high starting gravity.
My question is, have I stuffed it? If yes, can I do anything to improve it? If no, will it taste any good? Will the yeast be able to handle all that?
My initial thought was to open it up and add some more water, but I've used my small fermenter which has around 22-23L capacity. The FWK said it makes 18L, and my fermenter is up to about 20L. I really don't have much room to add more water, and I'm not sure about opening a fermenter once I've pitched the yeast.
The good news is I have a little more water in there than I should, but that's a lot of fermentables in there.
So, I'm looking for some advice or reassurance. Can anyone offer any?
Anyway, despite the f**k up, it was good to be back out there doing some brewing again. Not looking forward to waiting for it!
Cheers guys.