Really Bitter Bitter ... with next to no sediment! :^)

My beer brewing continues to be plagued by ending up with lots of sediment in the bottle. The beer itself is very tasty and I'm pleased with it. However, the sediment makes pouring the beer a bit of a pain (I struggle to keep the sediment out of my glass, as I figure it spoils the taste).

I have experimented with the latest batch of bitter. My theories about the cause of sediment are:

• it is related to the amount of sugar in some way
• the sediment needs (more) time to settle out

I've tried to have the second fermentation in a barrel before, but the results were similar to before. This time a few things were different (not very scientific, I know) - though only one was deliberate:

• the original mixture was a little less diluted (higher O.G.)
• the primary brew was left for longer (2 weeks) before syphoning off
• less sugar was used for the second fermentation
• the second fermentation was left for longer (1 week - in a barrel

The result is very pleasing. I had intended to leave the second fermentation for an extra day or two. In the end, it was left for a week. After two days the pressure dropped as usual. Firstly, there was less sediment in the barrel; secondly, there was less sediment in the bottles.

A few weeks in after bottling, the beer is gaining fizz, and there is very little sediment. The beer is, however, _really_ bitter! It's also a bit stronger at 4.4% compared with about 3.8% before. (I put this down to the higher O.G.) It's very tasty, and I'm pleased with it, but it might not be to everyone's liking.

Next time, more sugar ...

Bottled: Wilco Chardonnay

The Wilco Chardonnay has now been bottled. Although it's still immature, the flavours are already showing through. I left it for two weeks - rather than the on week suggested in the instructions. Using the hydrometer (properly) for the first time, I made sure the gravity was down to 1.000 before ending the fermentation.

The OG I recorded of 1.070 is a bit low in retrospect. From what I've read, it should have been closer to 1.090. I'm not not sure I read the gauge correctly. According to the Brewer's Friend ABV calculator, from my readings, the wine is only 9.19%. I'll be more careful with my readings next time...

Woodford's Wherry

My daughter gave me a Woodforde's Wherry kit for Father's day. I'm not sure how/why I forgot to blog this brew: but let's just say that there are only the last few bottles left and it was a real success.

As with other brews, I've found that leaving it to mature for a few weeks does make allow the flavours to improve greatly. With this brew, I couldn't decide whether to add the priming sugar for a second fermentation or not. I found the sediment it leaves off-putting with the lager before Christmas, but eventually settled on a half spoonful of brown sugar. There's still a sediment in the bottle, but it's less fizzy and so not so much of a problem.

Wilco Chardonnay

My next brew is overdue: the last bottle of Young's Chardonnay May '14 was drunk last weekend. Sad times. It's really noticeable how the wine has improved with age over the months we've been drinking it.

Now for an own brand wine. Still Chardonnay; this time Wilkinson's. On offer today, reduced from £23 to £15. Bargain!

While mixing in the yeast, I came up with another theory of how/why the previous wine bubbled over: perhaps the yeast was not fully mixed into the liquid, and so all the fermentation happened on the surface. Time may tell...

This time, the yeast has been thoroughly mixed, and as a bonus I remembered to take the original gravity reading: 1070. Now I should be able to calculate the alcoholic strength.

Labelling the Bottles

The latest brew - a Youngs BrewBuddy Chardonnay kit - seems to have turned out well. It's still a bit young, and the flavours should mature over the coming months, but it seems to be rather good in an early tasting. (Well, there was a half-bottle left at the end of syphoning off ... it would be silly not to drink it!)

I'd been idly thinking about labelling the bottles. It's really only going to be immediate family and friends drinking it, but as I'm already thinking about another brew there'll be a need to tell which is which.

Having done a little research on the internet, there is a great range of labels available commercially. These range from simple, rectangular labels with either a simple border or just blank - to customisable, bespoke designs which look fairly professional. At the cheaper end, these still end up costing 40p or so each - which significantly adds to the cost of each bottle.

I decided to continue the home brew thinking and see what could be achieved myself. Another search online shows up many document templates which can be downloaded and printed out at home. These vary in quality, but can of course be adapted to your give the desired effect. I didn't want anything fancy - and many of the examples I found looked rather amateurish - so I had a go at creating my own.

Having done an image search for wine labels, I arrived at a basic design on a scrap of paper. I created a logo, using the family crest and a spidery font. The name of the wine is in a scripty font, and a plain font for the details of what went into the brew. Add a couple of horizontal lines and that's good enough for what I want. Recreating this in a wordprocessor took a bit of trial-and-error, but I'm quite happy with the result. Printed 8-up on A4 marbled paper they look pretty much exactly how I wanted.

Fermentation Too Lively?

This morning (day 2), there was froth all over the place. The bubble trap was full of it; there were puddles all over the lid and it had run down the sides of the bucket onto the surface.

Has something gone wrong?

Well, perhaps. Let's check:

• The temperature is OK (thermometer on the fermenter bucket says 22-24°C ... towards the top end but within the 20-25°C range specified).
• All the ingredients were added according to the instructions.
• Everything was cleaned before I started.

... So why is the brew so lively?

I'm currently running on the theory that I over-filled the fermenter. The head which forms on top of the liquid fills the space between the liquid and the lid... and is being forced up the tube into the bubble trap.

Time will tell whether the wine is OK. Meanwhile I'm having to clean up the mess twice a day. I may syphon off some of the liquid to see if that helps...

- - - - - -

UPDATE: Sunday 11 May 2014

I'm pleased to report that - despite the bubble trap being encrusted in goo this morning - it seems to have calmed down a little. Having cleaned everything up, it is now bubbling away happily without constantly spurting froth.

Chardonnay

I'm kicking off the most ambitious brew yet ... well, the biggest brew anyway. I've bought a 30 bottle kit of Chardonnay (white wine). Having looked at the costs, it seems that wine offers bigger savings over the prices in the shops. The cost breakdown is at the end.

This is the same volume as the 40 bottles of lager before Christmas, but it feels bigger because I've had to get some proper grown-up kit. I am the proud owner of a hydrometer and a bubble trap. I've got a second bucket, too (one with a hole in the lid for the bubble trap).

The instructions said to rinse out the bucket then add 5 litres of boiling water. This was 4 kettles full. There must be a neat way to boil 5 litres in one go...

Next, the 4Kg of sugar is dissolved into the water. I found it helped to use a torch to see that the sugar was all gone.

Then the bucket is topped up with the concentrate, the yeast, additional flavouring and water to fill the bucket. Again, lots of kettles full.

Now we just have to wait and see...

Additional kit bought:
Youngs Chardonnay kit ... £25
Brew bucket ... £11?
4Kg brewing sugar ... ~£8
2 bubble traps ... £2.25

This works out at around £1.55 per bottle. That's at least £3.45 less than I would normally spend, whereas the beers only saved about 60p each.

Next week we'll see how it turns out.