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Tag Archives: Woodforde’s Wherry

On the twelfth day of the secondary fermentation process my brew gave unto me…

Posted by rayui on March 31, 2011 8 comments

According to the instructions you should leave Woodforde’s Wherry in secondary fermentation for two weeks before it is ready but I am going to take the advice of many other people I have spoken to and leave it for five. It’s exciting however I am impatient, so I decided to take a tiny sample from the pressure barrel to “check its progress”. Here’s a picture of the sample:

Sample of Woodforde's Wherry 12 days after pressurisation

Sample of Woodforde's Wherry 12 days after pressurisation


As you can see it’s still quite cloudy. The nose is highly floral and as well as having a lively tang I can definitely say it contained alcohol. Sadly, I forgot to measure the density. Sorry!

Under Pressure

Posted by rayui on March 24, 2011 None comments

Last Sunday I decided to transfer my first batch of Woodeford’s Wherry to its pressure barrel for secondary fermentation. Here’s a picture of the barrel when I opened it up.

Whoodeford's Wherry after primary fermentation

Whoodeford's Wherry after primary fermentation

The beer smelled really floral and exciting. I took a sample of it into a plastic test tube with my siphon. Here’s a photo of the equipment and the sample:

Beer sample and siphon

A sample of Woodforde's Wherry in a test tube with siphon

I noticed that the bubbles in the sample were no longer rising, so I placed the hydrometer in the beer. It read about 1010 degrees, which is acceptable. I’d rather have it stronger but I was worried about leaving it becoming infected after having breached the airtight seal. Of course, at this point I had a taste. I liked it but couldn’t help thinking that it is weird that having something that has literally just died in your drink could be nice.

Hydrometer in beer sample

This hydrometer reads about 1010 degrees

I decided at this point that as the conditions were good to start secondary fermentation and that it was time to transfer the beer to the pressure barrel. Before I could do that, however, I had first to sterilise the barrel with some more of the powder from the kit.

Sterilising a pressure barrel

Sterilising a pressure barrel

After sterilisation, I washed the barrel thoroughly to remove any trace of the sterilising agent. I am making 40 pints so before adding the beer, I added about 100g of sugar to kick start the secondary fermentation process.

Sugar and pressure barrel

Acquired it from the kitchen

I set the beer on a chair in order to enable a proper siphon action and transferred it into the pressure barrel:

Siphoning into a pressure barrel with pressure cap

Siphoning on top of the bathroom.

I capped it. I had spilt loads of sugar around the cap. It was annoying and I had to clean it off, so next time I will be using a funnel. Then I transported it off to a warm room for a couple off days.

Pressure barrel by a radiator

Here it is in the "brewdoire..."

Finally I put it in the workshop where it’s a bit chillier than the rest of the house.

Pressure barrel in a workshop

Chillin' in the workshop

I’m leaving it there for five weeks. What will probably happen, though, is that I’ll forget about it in a bit. It will be a nice surprise when I find it again. Woohoo!

Brewing My First Ale (a new yeast-based process)

Posted by rayui on March 13, 2011 6 comments

I’ve always enjoyed baking bread and I have a good understanding of the process involved in that but to date, baking is the only unicellular food process with which I have had any experience [I do have some experience growing fungi but as it is usually on my feet, I rarely eat it]. I decided to resolve this lamentable situation and for my recent birthday received a microbrewery kit. Today, I began the brewing process and have constructed a photo documentary of the first stages of a 40 pint batch of the popular Woodeford’s Wherry. All the kit I used is included in the Woodeford’s Microbrewery Premium 40 Pint Starter Set and I followed the instructions to the letter. I have been told this kit is “idiot proof” but in my experience that can often be a rash claim.

I hope this post describes the very first and most basic stages of getting a brew going. After completing step 8 of this process, I (and you, should you choose to try it) will have to wait about 6 days before moving on to the next phase of the beer manufacturing process. Here is what I did:

Step 1: I took the supplied bucket

Primary Fermentation Vessel

The primary fermentation vessel, straight out of the box

Step 2: I took the supplied sterilising powder

Sterilising powder

Sterilising powder on my bathroom shelf

Step 3: I put 12 teaspoons of sterilising powder into a bucket and filled it to the top with hot water. After 20 minutes, I emptied the bucket and rinse dit with cold water to remove the sterilising solution.

Sterilising the Primary Fermentation Vessel

Yes, this is my shower

Step 4: I sterilised the supplied Primary Fermentation Vessel lid, the supplied o-ring and the supplied air lock:

Sterilising the primary fermentation vessel lid, o-ring and airlock

A lovely view of my sink

Handy Airlock

Close-up of the airlock

Step 5: I remove the above equipment from the sink, emptied and rinsed it and half-filled it with hot water. I then placed both cans of wort in it the hot water. Wort is a mixture of hops and malt. I had a taste of it at this point and found it to be sweet and flowery with a strong bitter aftertaste. It has the appearance and physical properties of treacle (to be honest, I think that if you weren’t going to turn it into beer, it would be great on porridge or granary toast).

I simultaneously boiled 3.5 litres of water on the stove. When the water had boiled, I turned the stove off and opened both cans of wort with a can opener.

Cans of wort in hot water

Cans of wort in hot water

Step 6: I then poured both cans of wort into the sterilised Primary Fermentation Vessel, rinsed them into the Primary  Fermentation Vessel with some of the boiling water from the stove, poured on the rest of the boiling water and topped the Primary Fermentation Vessel up to the 27 litre mark with cold water (approx 47 pints or 6 gallons).

Wort in 27 litres of warm water

Beer slury

Step 7: I gave the mixture a good stir to make sure the wort had dissolved, then I added the contents of the supplied packet of yeast and stirred it in until that had also dissolved.

Adding yeast to the wort solution

It is basically like athlete's foot for malt.

Step 8: I inserted the o-ring into the Primary Fermentation Vessel’s pre-drilled hole and then insert the airlock into the hole in the o-ring. Finally, I place the whole lid/airlock assembly on top of the Primary Fermentation Vessel and made sure it had an airtight seal. I tried not to touch any inside surface and made sure I had an airtight seal on the Primary Fermentation Vessel. It is important to have sterilised equipment and air-tight seals so that your beer doesn’t get infected with surface and air-borne fungi.

O-ring, airlock and lid on bucket of wort solution

A controlled reproductive cycle

Step 9: Finally, I applied the supplied strip thermometer to nearby wall in order to monitor the local temperature.

Thermometer on wall

Thermometer on wall

For me, the thermometer read 20 degrees centigrade, which is about perfect for the primary fermentation process. Now, I leave the bucket of budding life on top of my bog for a week before going to measure the density of the mix. And that’s it,for the time being. I hope I have done everything correctly and must now be patient whilst life works its freeze-dried magic. It seems that brewing brings an unexpected feeling of creative power.

As an aside, here is a useful page on the basic concepts of brewing, because it is always important to have background knowledge.

Next update in about a week…