Bottling up

The Woodfords Wherry had been fermenting for 7 days and had stopped bubbling for over 24 hours so it was time to bottle.I prefer bottling as i can share my beer with friends easily. I have a pressure barrel which i do intend to use use i have a house of my own and have friends round for BBQ's and parties.

The day started with sorting my bottles out, washing any old bottles and de-labelling any that i had not used before.

Once i had done this it is on to sterilising all the kit that it to be used. While things were sat in the solution, i took the time to take a second reading with my hydrometer.

The original gravity reading was 1042 and it ended up 1012 which works out to 4.08 %ABV i believe. The target was 4.2%ABV so a little

off but in the 4% so i am happy with that. As this

si the first time i have used the tap in this fermenting vessel(FV), i took a little out first, sampling a little on the

way, and although it was very cloudy, the basic

taste was very nice.

With all my bottles washed and all kit sterilized ( the bottle wash was a massive help) i added half a teaspoon to each bottle, fitted my bottle filler to the tap and off i went.

I have seen a lot of videos on the web where they use a flexi house so that they can quickly go from one bottle to the next. I held each bottle and pushed up which worked well, but next time i will attached the house and ensure the FV is higher.

The whole process went very smoothly and i ended up with 35pint bottles, which i am very pleased with. One word of warning. I found that the crown corks that i am using (Youngs) will not fit a Hob Goblin bottle. The lip on the top is a little wider.

Once all crowned i stuck some simple labels to the bottles using water and flour

My Woodfords Wherry is up and running

I finally got to get my Woodford's Wherry up and running. This was the first time brewing up in the in-laws house and i must say it went very well. If the hardest part of it was opening up the cans then i am happy. The cans have a thick lip on the lid so the usual "fancy" can opener did not work. I resulted in using the trusted leatherman.

Off i go and start with sterilising and while that is sitting there I put the two cans which come in the wherry kit, into

hot water.

Many a boiled kettle later and after 30 mins i swilled out the fermenter and start to mix the contents of the cans with the required hot water. I

then topped up with cold water and checked the temperature. To my shock it was at about 26c. I was aiming for 18c due to the hot weather. I can only think that the cold water was not as cold as usual due to the hot weather.

I decided to leave the fermenter for the day while it naturally cooled down.

After an BBQ afternoon at my mom and dads i

came back and the temperature was about 21c. perfect!! I added the yeast mixed it up and placed my airlock in the top.

No after 12 hours i a

m getting no bubbles and i am ondering if the seal for my heater in the fermenter is not sealled correctly and air is escaping. I know that there are people that brew in the open so i am not too

worried but ideally once i have bottled this brew, i want to seal it completely off.

I need to find my nearest home brew shop so that i can pick more bits up quickly.

I took a measurement with my hydrometer and i am pritty happy with a 4.7% reading but i do need to find out how to use it properly.

Finally, i had a little "play" last night, sealed the hearter cable further and heh presto, we are in business.

The beginning of a new challenge

So i have been reading and exploring Home Brew now for about 4 months and 3 months ago i started a http://preview.tinyurl.com/23wmm65. Somehow i have managed to keep most of the bottles unopened

But now these beers are maturing and i am looking for my next brew. Woodfords Wherry has been chosen http://tinyurl.com/27u4nec but before i jump in and get this brewing i have

decided to make some modifications to my fermenter.

First off i wanted to ensure that i maintain an 18-24c temperature and second i

wanted to make syphoning and bottling much easier. I have a pressure barrel that i could use for the whole brew but i end up drinking that far too quickly

:-).

Therefore i decided to take the plunge and i have installed an aquarium heater and sealed this so that air doe not get

into the brew as it ferments

and also added a tap which i can attached a bottling tube and valve, to make bottling easier.

I now have the fermenter setup. I

now need to sterilize and let the brewing

commence.

Once i am in my new house the shed is to be turned into my first all grain setup so watch this space as the Summersworth partnership

is soon to take off.

UI am also looking at the best way to share all of the fantastic URL's i am collecting. Maybe i put them under a

CAMRA section or something?

and the St Peters looks like this

Brighton

I have just come back from Brighton where i went as part of a stag party. There we 12 of us in total, not the usual noisy group of neanderthals you would expect, but we do know how to through a shape or two. Well, i wanted to say how plesently suprised as i thought it was going to be like blackpool. How wrong i was.

We stayed at the Thistle hotel which was a fine hotel to crash at 4am. Rising with the mother of all hangovers on Saturday we spent the morning on the beach after forcing a fry-up down our necks. The football started at 13:30 and so did the drinking on the wonderful Pier. We sat with the football on, drinking beer and enjoying the speed boats and jets skis on the water. I will not say much about the night time activities. That is for the stag members to cheris.

Thank you Brighton.

motivation

Motivation can be as complicated as you want to make it. Football fans hear pundits every saturday night talking about football players either "needing an arm around them" or "a kick up th back side". The most successful managers in football are said to be excellent man managers and motivators.

Does this apply to the bussiness world?

Well a good example is looking at the motivation of the country, achieved by Tony Blair, compared to that of Mr Brown. Now different circumstances means that this is an arguable example, but you can get my point. Another successful business man who i see as an excellent motivator is Mr Branston.

However in day to day management does motivation get the true recognition it deserves? To be a successful motivator in the day to day running of the team, means that you are empowering each individual in your team to work to the best of thier ability. It is then motivating those individuals to achieveas a team. On the whole a well motivated team works together and it is not therefore easy to single out individuals achievements or specific team achievements. Measuring the success of good motivation is ongoing and long term.

But does this mean that the highs are any less. Does this mean that you are not contributing to the cause of the business? Compare the value of motivation in todays work place to that of Project management. Clear SMART objectives, which can be easily monitored by higher level managers. Is it too easy to get sucked into the plethora of reports which acompany managed projects and become overwhelmed seeing only ticked boxes rather than the quality which was delivered.

I have rambled on now and i will stop before i go too far.

I will leave you to conclude on the value of motivation in today's working environment. Here's to say i can see the positive effect it has. But be warned. Motivation can be a dangerous beast and can turn and bite you if misjudged.

and on the 3rd day Mark made beer.....

Home Brew

So the partnership has begun.

Dick and i have finally started on the path to millions and have invested in our first Business.

Production will begin tonight. Pictures will soon be posted.

Interested??????

then watch this space

Hello and welcome

So this is my first post on my own personal blogg.


Well if you have not come across me before then you can see my comments at
http://www.aston-villa.blogspot.com/

I have so many ideas on what to add to this blogg so watch this space.


Mark