So it is a week after I brewed my nettle beer and I have been keeping a close eye on it everyday. The airlock was bubbling away everyday since first clipping on the lid and half filling with water.
I noted at the end of my first post on nettle beer that the day after we brewed the beer there was a sulphur (fart) smell emitting from the airlock which I was not ready for and instantly took to the web to see if this was a problem. Turns out it is perfectly normal and within a day the smell was gone. (it's all a learning curve)
I made sure to take a hydrometer reading every day to monitor progress and each day it was changing which meant it was still fermenting and additionally not ready to bottle.
I took a hydrometer reading of 1.001 or 1.002 (I erred on the cautious side and settled for 1.002). Our starting gravity was 1.032. Through the magic of an online calculator that give us an ABV (Alcohol by Volume) of 3.94%. Not bad for a first attempt but next time I'll aim for higher.
Monday night and it was time to bottle. The picture above shows all the bottles, caps and bottle filler soaking in a warm bath with sterilising solution to make sure there is no bacteria coming into contact with the beer. Seems like overkill for just nettle beer but I am trying out the kit for future lager and ale brews so best to establish good practice from the start. Basically you want to make sure every surface that will be touching your beer is sterilised.
Make sure to rinse well however before bottling to avoid a swimming pool taste to your beer!!!
I added approx a 1/2 teaspoon of sugar to each bottle before adding the beer. The kit I bought came with a handy bottle filling tube (see picture below) which fills the bottles to the right level. Put the caps on and tighten as much as possible before giving each bottle a quick shake to make sure all the sugar is dissolved.
That as they sad is that. There is still about 4 litres to be bottled, I ran out of bottles but will be getting more today so I will finish the process tonight.
So far 21 litres of nettle beer....looks a little like juice!
Note: the Exputex in shot is not part of the formula :)
I noted at the end of my first post on nettle beer that the day after we brewed the beer there was a sulphur (fart) smell emitting from the airlock which I was not ready for and instantly took to the web to see if this was a problem. Turns out it is perfectly normal and within a day the smell was gone. (it's all a learning curve)
I made sure to take a hydrometer reading every day to monitor progress and each day it was changing which meant it was still fermenting and additionally not ready to bottle.
I took a hydrometer reading of 1.001 or 1.002 (I erred on the cautious side and settled for 1.002). Our starting gravity was 1.032. Through the magic of an online calculator that give us an ABV (Alcohol by Volume) of 3.94%. Not bad for a first attempt but next time I'll aim for higher.
Monday night and it was time to bottle. The picture above shows all the bottles, caps and bottle filler soaking in a warm bath with sterilising solution to make sure there is no bacteria coming into contact with the beer. Seems like overkill for just nettle beer but I am trying out the kit for future lager and ale brews so best to establish good practice from the start. Basically you want to make sure every surface that will be touching your beer is sterilised.
Make sure to rinse well however before bottling to avoid a swimming pool taste to your beer!!!
I added approx a 1/2 teaspoon of sugar to each bottle before adding the beer. The kit I bought came with a handy bottle filling tube (see picture below) which fills the bottles to the right level. Put the caps on and tighten as much as possible before giving each bottle a quick shake to make sure all the sugar is dissolved.
That as they sad is that. There is still about 4 litres to be bottled, I ran out of bottles but will be getting more today so I will finish the process tonight.
So far 21 litres of nettle beer....looks a little like juice!
Note: the Exputex in shot is not part of the formula :)
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