New member! Just ordered my first kit!

BiddyBob

BeerNut wrote: »

I've never heard of a beer getting oxidised from ambient air. If you leave it in the fermenter for months you're more likely to get autolysis. That'll give you marmite off-flavours.

I was thinking along the lines of: http://www.cider.org.uk/frameset.htm
"To make cider vinegar we need to . . . . . we then need to leave the cider in a vessel with plenty of access to air and to ensure that Acetobacter can get in . . . . bung hole is lightly plugged or covered with gauze so that oxygen can get in but flies cannot! Alcohol converts to vinegar at the rate of roughly 1% per week so that a cider with an alcohol of 6% will give a vinegar of 6% acetic acid in a couple of months or so."

I presume the same would happen to beer if it was exposed to air for long enough?

BeerNut

Acetobacter infection is pretty random. It just happens, though rarely. AFAIK, hops will inhibit it too.

covey09

Brew was bottled on sat, and opened one this evening, im not happy please tell me it will improve. it has like a fake apple taste to it:(

700g coopers brew enhacer
500g light DME

Yawns

Let them sit for a few weeks then taste 1. Waiting makes a massive difference. I did my first batch a few weeks ago. I tasted a bottled 1 week in and thought ok nothing special. They are now about 5 weeks since bottling and are lovely. My father has taking some home with him every time he's down now!

The neighbours love them too. I won't have any left at this rate! Just as well I have another batch bottled and1 fermenting but they are Mexican cerveza. I might get another lager just to have it for Christmas as that was what the first batch was for


EDIT:

Forgot to mention my 1st was also a Canadian Blonde btw so give it another 3 weeks and then put some in the fridge. It will be better than what it is now. I did mine with 1kg Coopers Enhancer #2 and then bottled primed with glucose sugar from supermarket.

covey09

Sound, thanks for that. What to do now, will i start my next brew (coopers European Lager) have to get some more bottles, Has any one dont it and tips for souping it a bit

BiddyBob

covey09 wrote: »

Sound, thanks for that. What to do now, will i start my next brew (coopers European Lager) have to get some more bottles, Has any one dont it and tips for souping it a bit

Its a true European lager, so to get the most from it will require patience . . . 3 to 4 months.

Philburns

Hi, I just put on my first brew in 20 years. Started with the Finlandia 40 Pint Starter Beer Kit from Homebrewwest which came with an additional kilo of DME. I'm not expecting anything special just something drinkable, I bought the kit really so that I have some equipment and it was cheap :-) Quick delivery too I must say!

Now I can start thinking about what I really want to brew. I am not sure if I remember correctly but I seem to remember Tom Caxton bitter kits being quite drinkeable. Like I say, it's nearly 20 years since I amade any homebrew, Anyone have experience with these?

poitinstill

I have the finlandia dark ale made at the moment. while it aint great it is easy going and inoffensive. if you liek a musch tastier brew then hit the coopers or i find st peters ipa good and most of the woodfordes series ( ive done NOG ...superb dark ale really fruity taste / great eastern ..golen ale and nelson revenge ..strong wintery ale)...id go for coopers stout / apa and extra dme and hops.

Philburns

Thanks for the advice poitinstill. Yes I do fancy something tasty - I am most fond of bitters, especially a fine Sussex type (like Harvey's) which are generally a bit hoppy. How much and what type of extra hops would you recommend? Would you just add a hop "tea bag" to the wort or would you boil them in?

poitinstill

you could do a hop tea bag..homebrewwest are doing new hops in a bag for beginners...or a thing called a flava pack whihc is grain and hops that you jsut soak in boiling water for 20 mins and add to kit. the st peters ipa is a real good pint. the coopers also are good eg the coopers austalian pale ale with 30g cascade hop tea( soak hops in boiling water) and dry hopped with 20g. is seriously nice...for a stout the cooper irish with 1kg dry malt and a 300g brown sugar is great too.

rubadub

ILikeBananas wrote: »

I got a fermenter and brew kit recently and it specified the importance of including the O-ring in the fermenter cap and greasing the threads with petroleum jelly. What's that all about?

If it has an o-ring I am guessing it also has an airlock. If so they are wanting to get an airtight seal so all gas goes throught the airlock so you know it is working.

I think a few weeks ago somebody had a snap on fermenter lid and was worried as there was only a bit of bubbling through the airlock (as some gas would be escaping out the lid.)

lee_baby_simms

I'm 8 days into a Muntons IPA. The OG was 1060 - currently its just under 1020.

Is 1060 a little on the high side? I double checked it at the time since I thought it seemed high.

What kind of FG should I expect? I've just dry hopped with some cascade so i'm gonna leave it another week before bottling.

BeerNut

lee_baby_simms wrote: »

Is 1060 a little on the high side?

For what? Ale yeast is happy enough there, and can deal with a good bit higher.

lee_baby_simms wrote: »

What kind of FG should I expect?

I'd have thought somewhere in the 1.014-1.018 area, but it really depends on what's in their LME and how fermentable it is.

lee_baby_simms

Thanks for the reply.

Thing is - I took the hydrometer reading after topping up the wort and before pitching the yeast. The wort was at around 28c so I took an OG reading and then waited for a good 5/6 hours for it to cool down to 21c and then pitched the yeast.

Does the wort temperature have any effect on a hydrometer reading?

rubadub

lee_baby_simms wrote: »

Does the wort temperature have any effect on a hydrometer reading?

Yes it does, you can google for correction tables or calculators to find what it should have been. Your hydrometer should list what temp it is meant to be used at.

BeerNut

I use this one.

lee_baby_simms

rubadub wrote: »

Yes it does, you can google for correction tables or calculators to find what it should have been. Your hydrometer should list what temp it is meant to be used at.

Thanks - I just came across this:

http://www.brewersfriend.com/hydrometer-temp/

According to that my OG is now around 1062. Given my current gravity is at 1018 i'm looking at a fairly high ABV. I can already feel the headache.

BeerNut

lee_baby_simms wrote: »

I can already feel the headache.

Just don't treat a 6% ABV beer as if it were a 4.5% ABV beer.

Edit: also, if you want it to be weaker you can lower the OG retrospectively. If you tell me how much beer there is and what you would have liked the OG to be I'll show you how to do the maths.

lee_baby_simms

BeerNut wrote: »

Just don't treat a 6% ABV beer as if it were a 4.5% ABV beer.

Edit: also, if you want it to be weaker you can lower the OG retrospectively. If you tell me how much beer there is and what you would have liked the OG to be I'll show you how to do the maths.

There's 22 litres in the bucket.

I worry that a higher ABV may result in a less pleasant beer. I've no urge to become a trappist monk.

BeerNut

OK, say you want it to be 1.050, down from 1.062:
50 / 62 = 0.806, or 80.6%

So 22L is 80.6% of the volume you want, meaning 27.3L is 100% of the volume you want.

27.3 - 22 = 5.3.

Add 5.3L of water, boiled and cooled, and your beer will have an OG of 1.050.

scrapsmac

Hey again folks! It's been a while since I last posted. Unfortunately I've been swamped and havn't had much time to brew

quick update. Stout has been in the bottles for roughly 2 and a half weeks now. After two weeks I tried one and was very dissappointed there was no head. It didn't have the same smoothness as the likes of guiness either. Is this normal?

Starting my wheat brew this weekend. Keeping it simple.

Coopers Wheat Beer
1.5kg Liquid Wheat Malt
500grams Wheat Dry Malt
Safbrew-06

Hope it turns out ok!

BeerNut

scrapsmac wrote: »

After two weeks I tried one and was very dissappointed there was no head.

Had you put the glass through a dishwasher? Rinse aid kills head.

BiddyBob

scrapsmac wrote: »

Hey again folks! It's been a while since I last posted. Unfortunately I've been swamped and havn't had much time to brew

quick update. Stout has been in the bottles for roughly 2 and a half weeks now. After two weeks I tried one and was very dissappointed there was no head. It didn't have the same smoothness as the likes of guiness either. Is this normal?

Starting my wheat brew this weekend. Keeping it simple.

Coopers Wheat Beer
1.5kg Liquid Wheat Malt
500grams Wheat Dry Malt
Safbrew-06

Hope it turns out ok!

Thats a lot of malt . . . 3.7 Kg! Its going to be strong. Coopers yeasts are quite tolerent, I hope the Safbrew-06 is too.

I'd be very interested to see how this one turns out. Keep us posted!

Its hard to find a really good wheat beer. The best experience I have had so far is the Brewferm one (a friend made it); the coopers wheat beer I made was OK (made with light malt and sugar).

Martyn1989

scrapsmac wrote: »

Hey again folks! It's been a while since I last posted. Unfortunately I've been swamped and havn't had much time to brew

quick update. Stout has been in the bottles for roughly 2 and a half weeks now. After two weeks I tried one and was very dissappointed there was no head. It didn't have the same smoothness as the likes of guiness either. Is this normal?

Starting my wheat brew this weekend. Keeping it simple.

Coopers Wheat Beer
1.5kg Liquid Wheat Malt
500grams Wheat Dry Malt
Safbrew-06

Hope it turns out ok!

Leave the stout another 2-3 weeks before you try it again, it'll improve, they always do.

Ive heard a few people say dark beers they brew, especially stouts, pour with a small head, I wouldn't worry about it, more time and a faster pour will make it better, I care more about head retention.

Trying to compare the smoothness of your stout to a pint of nitrogenated guinness is unfair, try a bottle of guinness (or better yet an o' haras), a much more realistic comparison.

rubadub

Heres a pic of a dark arts porter, which gets great reviews from many.



No "guinness head" on it.

You might be able to get the head injection devices somewhere, they used to give them out about 25 years ago with guinness bottles. A normal syringe might do the job too.

mayto

I carbonated my latest brown porter to 2.5 vol of c02 ~3g of sugar a bottle. There is a decent head when it is poured but fades away quickly enough. I think the trick for a porter or stout is to carbonate it even higher again. Did you ever notice how highly carbonated a bottle of Guinness is, seems to be carbonated as much as a wheat beer to me. The head on the bottle of Guinness just stays there. I know its not to style blah blah, but to me drinking a dark beer with no head on it just don't seem right. I once bottled a stout to the "recommended" 1.6 vol c02 and it hardly had a head on it at all.

BeerNut

mayto wrote: »

I think the trick for a porter or stout is to carbonate it even higher again.

I'd say the opposite: the head retention has more to do with the glass and the proteins in the beer than the carbonation level. I did the Cooper's Dark Ale kit at 1.5 vols and always get a good and lasting head on the poured bottles, plus the very smooth texture that nitro beer gives you.

I've never had a problem with head retention from brewing extract and I think that's because the optimal proteins are pre-included in the DME.

mayto

My pale ale's carbonated to 2.5 vol co2 always have a decent head that just stays there until the end of the pint. Not sure what it is with stouts or porters for me but I find I need to prime them more.

scrapsmac

BiddyBob wrote: »

Thats a lot of malt . . . 3.7 Kg! Its going to be strong. Coopers yeasts are quite tolerent, I hope the Safbrew-06 is too.

I'd be very interested to see how this one turns out. Keep us posted!

Its hard to find a really good wheat beer. The best experience I have had so far is the Brewferm one (a friend made it); the coopers wheat beer I made was OK (made with light malt and sugar).

yeah, I might leave out the 500grams of dry malt. Don't want to over do it!

My stout tastes grand. It's only the lack of smoothness that's getting to me. I'll leave it a few more weeks sure!

Looking forward to starting the wheat this weekend!

Also, I think i'm going to get a second fermenter. Get a second brew on the go! any ideas for my next one. Perhaps a good ale?

lee_baby_simms

I've read that using bleach and vinegar is a good no rinse method for bottle sanitisation.

Can you use thick bleach instead of thin?