Posted in Fermenting, IPA on January 30, 2008 | No Comments »
Great news. The beer is still fermenting. I popped the top off and gently dropped the hydrometer in. The reading was 1016, unmistakeably less that the previous reading. There were also some bubbles (though not that many) on the surface. I chose to give it another very gentle stir, being very careful not to splash [...]
Posted in Fermenting, Merlot on January 30, 2008 | No Comments »
Time for my next bubble count on the Beaverdale Merlot:
Day
Time per bubble (secs)
bubbles per minute
0
infinite
0
3
2
28
5
9
7
Observations:
the bubbles were coming through noticeably slower now, though still very regularly.
the bubbles were all the big kind now, which slowly moves the water round before go ing through in one rush. This means the slowing of the fermentation [...]
Posted in Fermenting, IPA on January 29, 2008 | 2 Comments »
Having given the beer four days since giving it a good stir to try to kick it back in to life, I decided it was time to take another measurement. Rather than taking the lid off I decided I would draw a sample through the tap. I wanted to do this for a number [...]
Posted in Fermenting, Merlot on January 29, 2008 | No Comments »
I have decided to make regular measurements of the number of bubbles coming through the airlock on the wine. Regardless of whether my first attempt at brewing wine ferments perfectly, or stops short, having something to compare future fermentation against should be really useful.
Day
Time per bubble (secs)
bubbles per minute
0
infinite
0
3
2
28
Observations:
There were no bubbles immediately after [...]
Posted in Brewing, Merlot on January 25, 2008 | 2 Comments »
I was very kindly given a wine starter kit for my birthday. However, what with getting the beer going, setting up The Brewery, and then all the boiler problems, I haven’t had chance to get the kit out and have a good look at it, never mind actually get some wine going. Finally today, I [...]
Posted in Fermenting, IPA on January 24, 2008 | No Comments »
“The Brewery” temperature is now back up to about 18 degrees C and the beer had a stir yesterday. It was time to take the lid off the beer again, and see if it was still dead as a dodo, or if it had been resurrected, like the boiler.
Good news I think. Comparing the picture [...]
Posted in Commentary, Labels on January 23, 2008 | 1 Comment »
I have decided to put labels on my bottles, at least to start with. I know this will mean some extra work, but if the beer is sufficiently good, I hope to give a good proportion of it away to friends, and family (either because they have helped to fund my new hobby, or to [...]
Posted in Fermenting, IPA on January 23, 2008 | 6 Comments »
With the boiler fixed (at least for now) it was time to see what damage had been done to my beer by the cold temperatures in the house. I took the lid off (with a slight hiss) and took a gravity measure with the sterilised hydrometer - it was 1018. This doesn’t seem much below [...]
Posted in Commentary on January 22, 2008 | 1 Comment »
I recently made my first visit to my closest home brewing shop, Harvey’s in Fareham, which is just 11 miles from my house. (Check out their somewhat limited website 4u2brew on my blogroll.) I somehow managed to spend around 40 quid, but I’ll save talking about most of the things I bought for when I [...]
Posted in Commentary on January 20, 2008 | No Comments »
As you can see, I’ve been very busy. I have turned the cupboard under the stairs into something that is slightly more deserving of the name “The Brewery”. I have fitted 3 big shelves (all held up with 3 brackets and very big screws) carpet tiles, a light, and a suitable poster. I cannot believe [...]
