Beer is Good: Brewferm Abbey 1

Friday, 15 December 2006

Brewferm Abbey 1

I started my latest kit last night - Brewferm Abbey. Step 1 and probably the most important step is sterilising your equipment. I use VWP (or is it WVP?) at a rate of one teaspoon per gallon of warm water. The problem with this is that it has to be rinsed thoroughly. I rinse it four times with clean, cold water. The photo is my newly cleaned and sterilised bin ready for action!

I think I'll try DaaB's method with thin bleach the next time as it is a "no rinse" method.

I find that I spend almost as much time rinsing as I do brewing.

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Glossary

As I learn the terminology of homebrewing I'll add the terms and their meanings here.
ABV - alcohol by volume - how steaming your brew gets you
Wort - the mixture of water, malt and hops to which the yeast is pitched
Brewing Liquor - the water used to make up the wort
Hydrometer - tool for measuring specific gravity (sg) of wort/beer/wine - this is the amount of sugar present in wort from which ABV can be calculated
OG - original gravity, the density of the wort which concretely means the amount of sugar present. The OG is measured with a hydrometer prior to pitching the yeast.
FG - final gravity, the amount of sugars left in the wort after fermentation, allows us to know how much sugar the yeast has eaten and to calculate ABV
Malt - Grain (usually Barley) which has been allowed to germinate then stopped turning starches into sugars which the yeast "eats" turning into alcohol and co2. The malt provides the sweeter flavours in the beer. Oh it's also the main ingredient in WHISKY!
Hops - flower of this vine like plant is used in the making of beer - gives beer it's bitterness
Lees - the gunky stuff left at the bottom of the fermentor after fermentation, comprises dead yeast cells
Pitch - simply adding the yeast to the wort to begin fermentation