Sampling the Home Brew

Well, I was beginning to get worried by the lack of bubbles in the fermenter air-lock.

I've been monitoring the temperature and found it was dropping to around 18°C overnight so I'm now using the brew-belt, keeping it high up the barrell to avoid over-heating during the day. The Cooper's lager kit recommends a fermenting temperature between 21°C and 27°C.

It's been three days now and not a single bubble in my homebrew.

Since the fermenter has a bottom-tap I was able to take a sample without risking infection.

The liquid is now a lot cloudier than it was when I first sampled it, it also smells and tastes like beer. The hydrometer indicated a gravity of around 1037-1039. Although it was hard to get an accurate reading due to the amount of head in the sampling tube.

I'm now happy to call it beer! Looks like it's started well, now I just have to sit back and wait another 2 weeks or so for my first batch of home brew..

As for the question of "how to keep the homebrew at the correct temperature?" Unfortunately I'll only be able to check on the brew at weekends so will have to rely on my family to monitor the temperature during the week, I'm thinking the simplest thing to do would be to keep the brew-belt on and wrap the fermenter in a blanket at night.

Using a Hydrometer is the best way to measure fermentation activity