Using the WeekEnd Brewer Five Gallon Equipment Kits

Primary Fermenter: for Kits number 10075(PET) and 10005 use the 6-1/2 gallon Food Alcohol Grade Bucket.  For kit 10065 (All Glass) use the 6-1/2 gallon Glass.                                                                    Secondary Fermentation: for Kits number 10075(PET) and 10005 use the Glass or PET Carboy. For kit 10065 (All Glass) use the 5 gallon Glass.     

    Water

Pre Chill (refrigerate) 2-3 gallons of clean, chorine free water. Spring water, bottled water, filtered water but NEVER de-mineralized water

    Sanitizing the Fermenter

Insert the spigot with the gasket on the inside and hand tighten the plastic nut. After washing the 6-1/2 gallon fermenter with very mild soapy water, rinse it well. In the 6-1/2 gallon fermenter add 1 gallon warm to hot water and One level tablespoon of the One Step Cleaner- Sanitizer. Mix well, cover the insides of the bucket and lid of the bucket. Place into the Sanitizer  the air lock, (Stopper for Kit #10065) and paddle. Into the Hydrometer Test jar with the hydrometer. Careful the hydrometer is very thin glass. Dump out the Sanitizer in the bucket and let the fermenter set upside down on clean paper towels. Carefully pour out the sanitizer ONLY in the test jar, leaving the hydrometer in the test jar for later use. Let all equipment air dry. Do not rinse. Let Sanitizer air dry only.

    Rehydration of Yeast:

In clean small pan, that can hold 2 cup of water. Boil 1 cup of chorine free water with 1 tablespoon of the Malt for 4-5 minutes. Place boiled Malt water into a freezer covered to cool. Malt water should cool to approximately 75 deg. (Baby bottle temp.) Sprinkle on top the Yeast, do not stir and let stand until ready covered. (NOTE: Mixture temperature over 90 degrees can kill your yeast.)

    Hopped Malts Can Kits

If using canned Blended Malt. (John-Bull, Munton's, Coopers etc.) Open the can, place open can upright into a small pan with 2-3 inches of water around the out side of the can. Let the water come to a boil for 4-5 min. This will soften the malt and allow it to pour easier.

 

In a large pot, (stainless steel preferred) that can hold 3 gallons (12 quart) of water. Add 2 gallon of clean chorine free water. Heat water  and remove pot from the heat just before steam starts. Add all Unhopped base malts ONLY (Dry Malt, Canned Unhopped Malt or Bulk Malt in the Plastic white container)  blend VERY well. Return pot to heat and bring to a boil for NOT more than 3-5 minutes. Remove from heat. Now add the Blended can malt. Add a cup of the warm mix into containers to remove all malt.  This mix is the Wort.

Place the covered pot with the Hot Wort into a sink.  Fill the sink with 3-4 inches of cold ice water around the outside of the pot. (Adding ice to the water will speed the cooling faster). LET THE POT COOL TO TOUCH. (approx. 100 degrees)

    Recipe Kits

Follow Recipe completely and use all ingredients

    Placing the Wort into the fermenter

    Food Alcohol Grade Bucket: Pour one gallon of the pre-chilled water into your sanitized fermenter. Add into the fermenter the cooled Wort. With your paddle, aerate the wort very well by beating for 1-2 minutes. Top up to the five-gallon mark on your fermenter with the remaining pre-chilled water. Stir VERY-VERY well to blend. Wort should be 68 - 72 degrees for most kits. From the spigot  pour enough Wort into the test jar to make the hydrometer start to float. Looking across the liquid line in the test jar the number on the gravity scale is your  Original Gravity (O.G.) reading, log this number down for later use.

    Glass 6-1/2 Gallon Primary fermenter: Place the sanitized funnel onto the fermenter, Pour one gallon of the pre-chilled water into your sanitized fermenter. Add into the fermenter the cooled Wort. With your paddle (small end), aerate the wort very well by beating for 1-2 minutes. Top up to the five-gallon mark on your fermenter with the remaining pre-chilled water. Stir VERY-VERY well to blend. Wort should be 68 - 72 degrees for most kits. Remove a sample with the baster and pour enough Wort into the test jar to make the hydrometer start to float. Looking across the liquid line in the test jar the number on the gravity scale is your  Original Gravity (O.G.) reading, log this number down for later use.

    Adding the Yeast

Swirl well to blend completely,  add all the rehydrated yeast mix when the Wort is at 69-70 degrees.

    Fermenting

Food Alcohol Grade Bucket: Seal fermenter with the lid on tight. Snap on one corner and then press down around the complete rim. Moisten the air lock with a little water and push it gently into rubber grommet. Air lock should be filled 1/2  way with clean chorine free water. Place an object ( two or three pieces of rolled up news paper works well) under the bottom of the bucket edge, below the spigot. Raising the spigot about an inch. Glass 6-1/2 Gallon Primary fermenter: After filling, insert the stopper. Moisten the air lock with a little water and push it gently into rubber grommet. Air lock should be filled 1/2  way with clean chorine free water.

 

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Primary: The Wort should start to ferment in about 12-24 hours. Raising the bonnet in the AIR LOCK upwards and making a clicking noise as the Co2 bubbles escape out the vent holes. See Trouble Shooting. The Wort will ferment for approximately 1 to 2 days at 69 to 72 degrees in the primary fermenter. If the temperature falls below 69 degrees the Wort will slow or stop. If the Wort temperature raises above 75 degrees, it will finish more rapidly. AS SOON AS YOU SEE THE FERMENTATION SLOW. Transfer the wort to the Secondary fermenter.                                                                                                      Secondary: Depending on your kit this will be a Glass or PET 5 gallon carboy. Follow above steps for sanitizing.                                                                                                                For the Bucket Primary fermenter: First remove the Air lock. Place the one end of the sanitized tubing onto the bucket spigot. Insert the other end into the sanitized carboy. The tubing should rest on the bottom of the carboy or against the side so the wort does not splash when flowing.  Open the spigot and allow the wort to fill the carboy. Place the sanitized stopper into the carboy. Moisten the air lock with a little water and push it gently into rubber stopper. Air lock should be filled 1/2  way with clean chorine free water.                                                                                                                                                                                       For 6-1/2 gallon Glass Fermenter: Follow above steps for sanitizing. Sanitize also the Auto Siphon. Siphon the Wort into the secondary. The tubing should rest on the bottom of the carboy or against the side so the wort does not splash when flowing. Place the sanitized stopper into the carboy. Moisten the air lock with a little water and push it gently into rubber stopper. Air lock should be filled 1/2  way with clean chorine free water.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         

 After the Wort has completely stopped fermenting and the air lock is no longer bubbling. Sanitizes the Bulb sampler, hydrometer and test jar. (Careful the hydrometer is thin glass) Remove a sample of the beer into the test tube for the hydrometer. Remove enough beer so the hydrometer will start to float. Reading across the liquid line of the beer in the test jar. Read from the Specific Gravity scale. Normally your Finish Gravity (F.G.) reading it is about 1.018-1.010. for most ales. If your reading is at this range you are now ready to go on. See Trouble Shooting

If you need to move the carboy fermenter to a place high enough, where you will be able to siphon down to the bottling bucket. (Example the kitchen counter to a chair). Then move the fermenter now and let it settle for 24 hours. Reseal with stopper and air lock

After 24 hours sanitize the bottling bucket, bottles, caps, transfer hose, bottle filler and the hydrometer. Do Not Open the fermenter.      ARE YOU  READY?

Take a final hydrometer reading. Remember the hydrometer is thin glass. If this reading is in bottling range. You are ready to bottle.

Primer:  Blend well the priming sugar or malt into the 1 cup of water and one cup of the finished beer.  ( use the beer from the hydrometer test) . Boil the sugar beer/water mix for 3-4 minutes. Let the steam fall and cover with plastic wrap. Place into your freezer and Cool the mix to the same temperature as the beer.

 

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An easy way to sanitize your bottles:

            First: After washing the bucket with very mild soapy water, rinse it well. Make sure the spigot is closed and the seals are tight. Add two gallons of Warm-HOT water and two level tablespoons of One Step Sanitizer into your bottling bucket. Sanitize the Bottling bucket, Siphon, Tubing, Paddle, Bottle Filler Bottles and caps. ANYTHING that will touch your beer.

From the bucket spigot  fill your bottle with 2-3 inches of Sanitizer solution. Swish around the solution in the bottle and dump out. DO NOT  pour the Sanitizer from the bottle back into the bottling bucket. Turn the bottle upside down and let it air dry. Ask us why the "Bottle Drying Tree'  makes a great addition.

Pour some Sanitizer over your caps. Pour the caps into a strainer to air dry. After finishing the bottles and caps. Attach the spring loaded bottle filler tube onto the bottling bucket spigot. (Using approximately 1-1/2 inches of the tubing.) Open the spigot and let the filler tube start to  fill with sanitizer. Place a fill tube into a beer bottle, press up on the filler spring and let the bottle fill with sanitizer. Now the filler is sanitized outside an in. Remove the filler from the out side of the tubing being careful not to touch the filler tube. Place the tube into an empty beer bottle to drain and then dry. Dump out any remaining sanitizer in the bottling bucket. Pour into the bucket a cup or two of clean water to rinse the bottling bucket out.

Always make up the Sanitizer solution just before use.

Attach the sanitized transfer hose to the sanitized auto siphon. Insert the siphon into the carboy and start siphon.  Let the beer flow into the 5 gallon bottling bucket, DOWN THE SIDES or onto the bottom. It is important not to splash the beer as it enters the bottling bucket.

Pouring slowly, the priming mix into the beer as it is transferring from the fermenter to the bottling bucket. Be careful not to splash or aerate the beer. With the (sanitized) paddle slowly blend or fold the priming mix in. Cover the bottling bucket. ( we don't want doggy hairs, baby rattles or other stuff to get into your beer.

Reattach the sanitized bottle filler to the bottling bucket spigot. (Using approximately 1-1/2 inches of the tubing.) Open the spigot and let beer flow into the filler tube. With a Sanitized bottle. Insert the filler into the bottle and release the beer. (Note: the first run may have some sanitize in it, so pour out the first ounce or two and then continue) Fill the bottles to the brim and stop by lowering the bottle and letting the spring filler close. After the filler is removed from the beer the level will drop about an inch. Fill 2-3 bottles at a time and place caps on top. Next start capping and filling, continue till done. If the cap sticks in the capper, place a small amount of cooking oil on the brass bell.

Place all bottles out of light for 7 to 10 days to carbonate. Bottles should always be stored at the same temperature that the beer fermented at. After 7 to 10 days put one bottle in your refrigerator and chill. Test the Beer for carbonation. It will taste a bit on the green side. Age for two more weeks. After two weeks place as many bottles as you like into your refrigerator and chill.

Light beer, Pale ales need only a few weeks to age. Amber ales and Brown ales will take a couple of weeks longer, Darker beer will take longer to age.

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Remember, never serve your beer into a frosted glass. Always serve into a chilled or room temperature GLASS. Pour the beer slowly so that the sediment that has formed at the bottom of the bottle will stay in place and give you a clean  and low sediment beer.

But if you are making a German Hefeweizen. Stir up that yeast and let it pour right in.

 Good Brewing and Please always be a responsible home brewer. Never Drink & Drive.

 ENJOY.

                Questions: Ask the Brewer or call 1-800-320-1456

Trouble Shooting:

           After 24 hours their is no movement in the air lock.

•  Make sure the lid is snapped completely down tight on the bucket. Also check to make sure the Air Lock has water in it half full.

• Make sure the temperature is NOT BELOW 68 degrees. If it is, Raise the temperature to 73-74 degrees. Next- With the lid on, slightly tip the fermenter on it's corner and give the Wort a good swirl. This will normally restart the fermentation in a few hours.

• Take a hydrometer reading. If the reading very high (10040-1.050) and has not dropped, check your temperature. If the fermenter is below 68 degrees. Raise the temperature to 73-74 degrees. With the lid on, slightly tip the fermenter on it's corner and give the Wort a good swirl. This will normally restart the fermentation in a few hours. If all else fails you can add a another yeast.         Always address the problem of slow starting with in 24 hours of starting the batch.

The Finish reading it is about 1.018-1.012.

• Take a hydrometer reading. If the reading very high (1.022 or higher) and has not dropped, check your temperature. If the fermenter is below 68 degrees. Raise the temperature to 73-74 degrees. Slightly tip the fermenter on it's corner and give the Wort a good swirl. This will normally restart the fermentation in a few hours. If all else fails you can add a another yeast.