Your current / planned brews

Lovely Bloke

oscarBravo wrote: »

I sampled the second bottle of my turbo cider last night, it has improved dramatically. I'll leave it a while before trying again.

Last August I sampled 2 year old Turbo Cider and it had improved significantly in that time.

Khannie

Ronan|Raven wrote: »

It can and most likely will go lower than 1.008!

I remember you saying that the yeast is super. I think I'm going to harvest it. The sachet was enormous.

Ronan|Raven wrote: »

I have a bottle of it in the fridge cooling at the moment, it is getting better every week, I have had to "hide" a batch of 20 bottles out of my reach.

I do that all the time. The attic is my place. It's too easy on school nights. Really the only down side to home brewing.

gosplan

gosplan wrote: »

I know people kind of look down their noses a bit at kits but I just checked a Bulldog evil dog DIPA kit I put on 10 days ago.

OG -1068
Current - 1006

And it's not finished.

Kit came with a monster yeast pack.

Was 4.7kg and includes hops for secondary.

Hope it's nice, there's a lot of it.

Edit: Still going a couple of days later guessing 1.004 now. With temp adjustment OG would have been 1.070 so it should come in at 8.8%

24 days in and this is still going.

Now down to 1002. Saw these readings on another forum and didn't quite believe it could go so low.

It will stop within next day or two as there's just the occasional single bubble coming from a 23l carboy at this stage.

It's also clarified really well and a frankly ridiculously amount of stuff has dropped out of suspension.

9.1% now. Taste is a bit winey as you'd expect but I'm hoping a couple of months in the bottle will ease that a bit. The hops still manage to come through very well.

I'm looking forward to getting into extract next year and this will probably e my last kit. But for a kit, it seems great.

My last kits this year were a brewferm triple, this beast and coopers pilsner.

If this turns out well, and the reviews seem excellent, I might do one last one of the same brand APA to get me through the winter

gosplan

Khannie wrote: »

Fired up that double IPA yesterday. Looking forward to sampling it. OG was 1.074 which gives an estimated ABV of over 8% assuming a FG of 1.008 ish.

Just saw this now.

Seriously 1002!!!! 9%

I even checked the hydrometer

Careful adding the hops by the way. I put them in a carboy in 2ndry but they swelled up a lot and blocked the neck. It wasn't a big issue but just make sure you have room for them.

Khannie

gosplan wrote: »

Seriously 1002!!!!

This has me thinking either:

1) The yeast is monster (this is why I'm considering harvesting it afterwards)
or
2) There are a lot of simple sugars in the malt extract bag

gosplan

Khannie wrote: »

This has me thinking either:

1) The yeast is monster (this is why I'm considering harvesting it afterwards)
or
2) There are a lot of simple sugars in the malt extract bag

Yeah. Lots of people seem to be commenting on the yeast.

I think the fact that it's cleared up so much might suggest this is the case. The yeast really has done a lot of work but there was like 25g of it or something.

I am slightly skeptical about it still. Wouldn't be all that surprised if I ended up with a VAT of fairly plain rocketfuel. Problem is it won't be good till end July perhaps.

Elbow

I've also got a slightly "tweaked" Evil dog sitting in primary at the moment and it's smelling very very promising.
Going by the airlock activity I reckon it'll be at least another 7 - 10 days before I need to worry about dry hopping and bottling

Khannie

How did you tweak it?

cletus van damme

made my first ever homebrew. Bulldog 4 finger jack.

been in bottles 10 days - had a sample yesterday.
seem alright , not super but did taste like beer and had a glorious hop aroma.

guessing it a little immature yet.
prob wait another week for more.

Keedowah

I have a Woodfordes Wherry in the fermenter at the moment - been bubbling for a week now - never had that with a brew before. Anyone else with that kit?

Elbow

Khannie wrote: »

How did you tweak it?

Lots of extra hops

3L of wort boiled for 30 minutes with the following hop additions

30g Columbus @ 30min

15g Simcoe @ 30min

30g Centennial @ 20min

15g Columbus @ 20min

15g Simcoe @ 10min

15g Centennial @ 5min

Tefral

I started up a "The Craft Range Blonde Lager" on Friday, went over to the fermenter last night and there is the most beautiful smell coming from the airlock.

Honest to god I can wait until its ready to taste it. It also took off like a rocket compared to others that ive made. The yeast sachet was massive I wonder was it because of that.

Anyone else try that range? They appear to be made in Galway.

gosplan

cletus van damme wrote: »

made my first ever homebrew. Bulldog 4 finger jack.

been in bottles 10 days - had a sample yesterday.
seem alright , not super but did taste like beer and had a glorious hop aroma.

guessing it a little immature yet.
prob wait another week for more.

Well done.

I think Ales really benefit from a while bottle conditioning. The problem is not drinking it in the meantime. I mean, if it tastes OK, and then there's the fact you made it ... which makes it taste a bit better, it's really hard not to just have a couple every night till they're all gone.

I find that the couple I keep for ages (just so it's not all gone) end up tasting lovely - but then you've like 2 left.

The trick is to make 2-3 brews at a time.

Not sure on your setup but I find a carboy for secondary fermentation helps. It allows the beer to condition a bit and frees up the primary to go again.

Please repost your opinions on the four fingered jack after another while. Am considering giving it a go.

The One Doctor

Sampled my partial mash Hefeweizen today (still in primary after 10 days) and it's surprisingly good. Very pleased. It's been official named 'Five Rounds Rapid'.

HMD

I'm boiling a Sierra Nevada PA clone (modified). This is the second time i've tried this only this time I've added Carapilis EBC 3 to improve the head retention. The last batch was very tasty, i did a taste comparison with a bottle of SN PA and i prefered my batch. But i would say that.
Here's the recipe
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1CxNFBMxOTHXQjTUxveD0rOv7UvhDr5oaT_XPcyG70DQ/edit?usp=sharing

cletus van damme

gosplan wrote: »

Well done.

I think Ales really benefit from a while bottle conditioning. The problem is not drinking it in the meantime. I mean, if it tastes OK, and then there's the fact you made it ... which makes it taste a bit better, it's really hard not to just have a couple every night till they're all gone.

I find that the couple I keep for ages (just so it's not all gone) end up tasting lovely - but then you've like 2 left.

The trick is to make 2-3 brews at a time.

Not sure on your setup but I find a carboy for secondary fermentation helps. It allows the beer to condition a bit and frees up the primary to go again.

Please repost your opinions on the four fingered jack after another while. Am considering giving it a go.

thanks.

I just have a basic setup , one bucket with tap and then 48 bottles (PET 500ml)
So I moved it after 10 days fermenting into the bottles. It's in the bottles about 12 days now I'll sample another at the weekend.

I might think of the carboy now you mention it. I can see the benefits.

I didn't buy much equipement as I wanted to see if I liked the homebrew process - I did, was good craic and my eldest (11) enjoyed helping me.

I'm tight for space cos I've kids so it must all be up on high - I brewed on top of the fridge with a thick wooden chopping board between fridge and fermenter to prevent heat from the fridge. But it kinda limits me to 1 brew at a time.

I've 2 worries about the end product.

1. I used tap water. water in my area can be a bit "chemically" but hasn't been in recent months but always a risk.

2. the ring pull on bag in the kit broke and I had to pierce the bag. all sterilised equipement but still on my mind.

I'll post more updates as I proceed.

rameire

I have a Pennine Peak Yorkshire Bitter 3.3 Kg Beer Kit
in the fermenter at the moment, has been going strong 19 days now, and only this morning was the first time I didnt hear it bubble.
added the hop tea bag 10 days ago, so I might move it to a new fermenter tonight, really looking forward to this brew, hope to bottle it this weekend.

also have a Coopers Irish Stout 3.2 Kg Ingredient Pack
on the go since saturday and it is also going strong,
hope to add a hop tea bag of challenger to this at the weekend if it turns up.

think I will get Coopers Premium Selection Traditional Draft 1.7 Kg Beer Kit
on the go at the weekend
and then put Muntons Connoisseur's Wheat Beer 3.3 Kg Ingredient Pack
on in a week, hope to add BB Hallertauer Hersbrucker hop tea bag to this.

just wondering on total stock of bottles people have.
are most people working off less than 100 bottles?,
I currently have around 300 x 500ml bottles and am still looking to increase this.

Khannie

rameire wrote: »

just wondering on total stock of bottles people have.
are most people working off less than 100 bottles?,
I currently have around 300 x 500ml bottles and am still looking to increase this.

I use some 2L PET bottles for my cider (and some 500ml ones). My wife drinks the cider, so we'd go through 2L between us of a Friday evening.

I'd say I have around 100 odd 500ml bottles. They're currently mostly full of ale, some empty in the attic.

The One Doctor

I don't bother with glass bottles, too much of a pain in the arse. I buy 500ml green carbonated water bottles, 6 for €1.50 from Aldi and used them once or twice. No risk of bottle bombs and very cheap.

drumswan

Have recently moved to kegging, so much easier and less hassle than bottling

RasTa

What about the dishwasher for an easy clean?

Ronan|Raven

cletus van damme wrote: »

thanks.


1. I used tap water. water in my area can be a bit "chemically" but hasn't been in recent months but always a risk.

Campden tablets can be used to treat water with a chlorine smell.

Ronan|Raven

rameire wrote: »

just wondering on total stock of bottles people have.
are most people working off less than 100 bottles?,
I currently have around 300 x 500ml bottles and am still looking to increase this.

I am currently making back to back brews to build up a stock. I aim to have around 100 x 500ml and 1 keg. It is the maximum I can fit in a small 1 bed apartment and a not annoy SWMBO too much ...

drumswan

RasTa wrote: »

What about the dishwasher for an easy clean?

Using detergents on the bottles messes with head retention, and you still have to sterilise the whole batch when bottling

cunnifferous

Quick question. Thinking about giving some home-brewing a try, gonna try with a with a basic pale ale starter kit but then dry hop the **** out of it to get some decent flavour into it. Is this likely to work, or am i just wasting my time (and hops). Are starter kits really much easier, or am I just better off buying all the stuff separately and jumping in at the deep end?

BeerNut

No easy answer to that. You can get good results by taking a neutral kit (I'd probably go with a "lager" rather than a pale ale), making it carefully and dry-hopping it with good hops. But you won't get as good results as you would from extract or all-grain. But it's all scaleable: no matter where you start you can always scale up without having wasted money on equipment.

If your requirement is top-quality beer the way you want it, I'd say jump in at the deep end, but don't be disheartened if your first few batches aren't what you wanted.

Elbow

Busy day planned for Saturday

I've 18l of Turbo cider to be bottled and my modified Evil dog IPA needs dry hopping.

Next on the list is a hacked kit,

Coopers Australian pale ale Kit
1.5kg LME
Safale-04

250g Crystal & 200g Caramalt in 2L water held @ 68° for 30 minutes

40g - 50g Pride of Ringwood hops will be added (At what stages is still TBC)


Finally I need to figure out where to keep the 3 corny kegs that I should be taking delivery of this day week

KeRbDoG

Elbow wrote: »

Finally I need to figure out where to keep the 3 corny kegs that I should be taking delivery of this day week

Ooooh, what supplier did you use for those?

oblivious

Elbow wrote: »

Finally I need to figure out where to keep the 3 corny kegs that I should be taking delivery of this day week

I find a second hand under counter fridge, is a great place to hide at least two of them

Elbow

KeRbDoG wrote: »

Ooooh, what supplier did you use for those?

The brother is after finding them, I didn't ask too many questions to be honest, conversation basically went.....

"Hi, X knows someone with them small kegs your on about, do ya want one"
"If they're in good nick i suppose so, I was after 2"
"Grand job i'll throw them in the car when i'm coming down next week, gotta go"

oblivious wrote: »

I find a second hand under counter fridge, is a great place to hide at least two of them

Its where to put the fridge is troubling me, although i am thinking the space under the stairs is prime location for my brewing empire