Update: Fixby Gold

Just got a chance to test this today, after roughly 2 weeks in the fermenter.  It's dropped down to 1.012, which I reckon means it has stopped.  Unfortunately, my second pressure barrel sprung a leak with the last brew I had in it so I need to buy a new one before I can barrel this.  Hopefully that should arrive by next weekend and I'll sling it in there then.  An extra week to let the yeast settle out a bit more shouldn't hurt it.

On another note, a friend and I got pretty seriously stuck into the Terrier last night and it was good.  Didn't even feel too bad this morning either...

Brewing: Fixby Gold

So I put this brew on a few days back (Tuesday 7th) but haven't got round to blogging about it till today.  As it is a two can kit it was really easy to sling into the fermenter and get going.  I'm a bit worried as it didn't get a massive foamy head going up in the first day, but it seems to still be going quite strong.

The Terrier is building up lots of gas but is not clear enough for drinking yet.

First Taste: Linthwaite Light

 The Linthwaite should be ready on Monday but I'm an impatient man so I've (tried at least) to pour myself a pint tonight.  It seems that I may have over primed it slightly as the pint I just drew off was actually only a half of beer with a half of head on top.  Hopefully this will settle down a little because it is a cracking beer.  Will definitely be trying another of these Brupaks Pride of Yorkshire kits...

Barrelling Linthwaite Light

So, true to my word, I came home and checked the Gravity of this and found it was at 1.012 like yesterday.  Because I didn't think I'd be able to do anything with it later in the week and am heading to Paris for a week after that I figured I should go for it and whack it in the barrel.  I may regret this choice as when I got down to the bottom of the FV, I noticed a few bubbles still going, which suggests that the yeast was still a little active...Oh well...

So here's how it all went down:

I santised the barrel in question (the syphon tube, thermometre and other gubbins are in there too)

While that was going on, I set up the 'area' and boiled ~80g of Brewer's sugar in 200ml of water and left it to cool.

Moved the FV to the table.

Opened it up and had a look.  The bubbles up top should've told me not to do it really, but I'm tired and impatient...

Temperature probe and the aquariam heater.

Barrel done with sanitising and all rinsed out, we're ready to go.

Little suck on the end of the hose and we're in business.

Arty shot of the barrel filling up.

When it's all full up, it goes back to the trusty boiler room to do some secondary fermenting.







And I get a treat for a job well done:

This is the Coopers Stout I wrote about the other day, and it is lovely (this picture does not do it justice...)

Cheers!

Linthwaite Light progress

That's progress as in how well it's going, not as in the hops...

Just took a sample of this and SG was at 1.012, which is normally what a 2 can kit will go down to with S04. Will check it again tomorrow and if it's constant I'll probably wack it in the barrel (will try and take pictures to put up). Was thinking about bottling a few of these in the glass bottles I've been collecting but will see if I can be arsed to go buy a crown capper and caps after school.

I obviously took a swig from the sample I took and it's tasting luverly...

Temperature Issues

So I've got a Brupaks Linthwaite Light fermenting at the moment but thanks to my latest gadget I have noticed that the temperature has been getting a bit high during the days. The max temp has been up near 30 for the past couple of days...

I'm putting it down to the aquarium heater I hang in the brew being on the fritz possibly. Guess I'll have to check it out in some water after this brew is bottled. This will no longer be a problem after I've sorted my temperature control cupboard (a fridge with a heater in it and one of these). There will be more on this in the future...