2nd Brew Assistance for Novice Please -Winter Ale With Chocolate

[Spiz]

Hello Folks,

 

I have recently purchased a 8.5 litre Coppers Kit and brewed up the amber ale as it came, really nice tipple for my first brew :)

 

For my second batch I have ordered the Winter ale with a krausen kollar, and after a little browsing on the web decided I would like to tweak it with a bit of a chocolate/fruit twang, so, will steep organic cocoa nibs in the water while bringing it to the boil (Would 100g be about right??). And I have got an organic fruit syrup with no fat (made with fruit sugars only) 3 grams of sugars per 4.6g teaspoon.

 

Have also ordered some different yeast to try, got Mangrove Jacks New World Strong, and Belgian Wit both 10g sachets

 

Can I ask, how much syrup should I add to each 750ml bottle in place of the 2 drops. And can I add the full sachet of yeast to the brew?

 

Alternatively , could I add syrup to the fermenter?, and then coopers drops to the bottles as normal? What would be the result of this with either of the MJ Yeasts?

 

Your advice wouod be very much appreciated

 

Best Regards

 

Clark

 

 

[ChristinaS1]

Hi Spiz,

 

Welcome to a wonderful hobby.

 

I don't have the 8.5L Coopers Craft kit, nor have I used cocoa nibs, so can't advise you on the amount of cocoa nibs you are planning to use.

 

A regular poster on the forum, Ben10, is a big fan of the MJ's New World Strong Ale yeast. A whole package might be a bit much though. I'd punch your calculated OG into a pitching rate calculator, such as MrMalty, to see what it recommends. Good idea to rehydrate it.

 

Regarding the organic fruit syrup, I don't think there is anything to be gained by using it for priming; for simplicity I'd put it in the primary and prime with the carb drops, as per usual. Be aware that the sugar in the syrup will ferment away completely, thinning the body of your beer and resulting in a lower FG, same as any other sugar does. It might leave you with a bit of tartness (acid) and fruit flavour.

 

What are your other fermentables? You might want to avoid any of the brew enchancers and stick to malt as there is sugar in your syrup.

 

Good luck with the brew.

 

Cheers,

 

Christina.

[Spiz]

Hi Thanks for the Advice Christina.

 

I used the Mangrove Jack Belgian Wit Yeast but only around 6 grams of, this seemed about right. I did have anlook an a calculator and this was around the right amount.

 

And only put in 50g of Cocoa Nibs i thought 100g may have been too much, which I roasted for 10 mins in the oven till they smelled like brownies and soaked overnight in vodka to remove any bacteria as they were organic and not sure if they were roasted.

 

I then added the nibs and vodka straight into the fermenter on the first day just before the yeast was sprinkled on top.

 

Have been a little worried as it smelled terrible, but after reading a bit on the web about belgian wit yeast, apparently it can smell awful at first, the smell has settled now thankfully.

 

Day 6 and have just measured gravity again (Initial was 1.040) and it is 1.010 after day 6.

 

On a taste it is rather bitter, I am hoping it will settle down a bit in the last 4 days or so, has anyone any experience with cocoa nibs used in this way?

 

Hopefully the nibs are not making it go bitter, or maybe a combination of the yeast and nibs??

 

This is a bit of an experiment so it may not work out, but I hope so :)

 

Any addidtional advice would be great.

 

Thanks

 

Clark

 

[Spiz]

Sorry Duplicate, Stupid IPAd

 

[Spiz]

Sorry Duplicate, stupid IPad

[MarkC]

Nibs are usually sold raw, so it's best to crunch them into smaller pieces and roast them in the oven for about half an hour, then dump them in the wort, not the boil. I've found that while they do add nice chocolate notes, chocolate malt works better.

[Otto Von Blotto]

I don't think a wit yeast is really suited to a winter dark ale, an English ale strain would have been much more in line with it. At the end of the day, you can ferment it with whatever you choose, but some strains do suit certain styles more than others. I fermented a Czech pilsner with English ale yeast once due to an emergency, but I'd never do it again or by choice.

 

I'd agree with Christina on the priming sugar too. There's no real gain to be had by using fruit syrup. It is fructose; cane sugar is fructose & glucose, and dextrose (and the carb drops) is just glucose, but all forms will be completely fermented away by the yeast and result in the same outcome. It's probably easier just to use the carb drops.

[Spiz]

Maybe the belgian wit yeast was a bad call. If so lesson learned. :)

 

The smell has settled down, but it still has rather a bitter taste, it seems to be calming a bit but still quite Bitter to the taste after 7 days.

 

Any way I can take the edge off the bitterness??

[ben 10]

New World Strong would have been the go. Used to be British Ale.

[Otto Von Blotto]

The smell has settled down' date=' but it still has rather a bitter taste, it seems to be calming a bit but still quite Bitter to the taste after 7 days.

 

Any way I can take the edge off the bitterness??[/quote']Wait. That's about all you can do. Beers almost always taste more bitter in the fermenter, I suspect it's due to the yeast in suspension which bitter compounds are attracted to. I almost always find that when I taste samples from the fermenter at the end of the fermentation, the beer is more bitter than it ends up being once the yeast have dropped out, it's suitably carbonated and ready to drink.