Jump to content
Coopers Community

Flat Beer


DonPolo

Recommended Posts

It is a good idea but the timing of it is key. You want to make sure the brew has completely finished fermenting' date=' then give it another few days at the elevated temp for the yeast to clean up a bit, and then drop the temp down. If you start dropping the temp down before it finishes fermenting then it will just make the yeast sluggish and they will either stall or not clean up as effectively. [img']cool[/img]

 

Not sure what to do now!unsure

Link to comment
Share on other sites

For this one just warm it up and leave it there, then bottle it after a few days. It'll be fine.

 

In future, raise the temp a few days after pitching the yeast, when FG is determined leave it another few days and then drop the temp down if you want to for another few days to a week or whatever, and bottle it. Simplez!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

For this one just warm it up and leave it there' date=' then bottle it after a few days. It'll be fine.

 

In future, raise the temp a few days after pitching the yeast, when FG is determined leave it another few days and then drop the temp down if you want to for another few days to a week or whatever, and bottle it. Simplez![/quote']

 

I reckon I've almost done this, this time.

 

I can't be sure that my first two SG readings were all that different. For the first one perhaps I wasn't looking that closely since I was pretty sure, since it had been in the FV for two weeks that the fermentation had finished. Then I let it rise for a few days and now I've dropped it again.

 

If I get the chance I might bottle it tonight or keep the temp down until I do.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Bottled and now we wait .... Will the Carapils have done its work?

 

I'm a bit concerned that I did not crack it correctly but we'll see.

 

FG was about 1.013. The sample tasted very interesting; strong but not too strong hint of pasionfruit, I suppose from the Galaxy. Other hoppy notes underneath.

 

From experience how does the final sample compare with the bottled product after 2-4 weeks in the bottle? Obviously carbonated, but drier, sweeter, or very similar. I would not say that the sample was too bitter even though being a Toucan, equivalent in 11L, Ian's spreadsheet had the IBU at 41.7

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Usually I find FG samples taste more bitter than the beer eventually ends up once it's carbonated. This could simply be due to more yeast being in suspension. I wouldn't exactly say the carbonated beer tastes sweeter though' date=' just smoother and more rounded.[/quote']

 

Ta. All will be revealed in a few weeks I guess. In the meantime I'll be enjoying my other over-carbonated, headless beer!

 

Could be worse. Could be drinking REAL draft from the local.

Was going name some brand names but that could be unfair and/or divisive; some may actually enjoy one brand or another.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 weeks later...

Quick update. Mostly a success! Much better head after the carapils and a certain crispness, I’m assuming from the US05 yeast. 

Passionfruit flavour and aroma from the galaxy with an undercurrent of cascade and centennial. 

However not quite as good a head an IPA batch supplied by my son in law and he only used a Cooper’s IPA can  

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Another week in the bottle and it's drinking really well.

Thanks guys!

PS gave a fellow brewer a bottle and he said he really liked it. "A bit subtler than mine", he said.

Hope he was not just being nice.

Anyway, I like it.

So in summary, Mexican Ceveza Toucan with late hops; not too bad!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

DonPolo I find other brewers to be the best at giving honest feedback.  It's the family, friends and colleagues who like free beer and want it to keep coming who can be overly flattering!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

18 minutes ago, joolbag said:

DonPolo I find other brewers to be the best at giving honest feedback.  It's the family, friends and colleagues who like free beer and want it to keep coming who can be overly flattering!

Thanks ( Jools is it?)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 month later...
On 3/15/2018 at 1:52 AM, Otto Von Blotto said:

I'd probably start with 100-150g for an 11L batch. You shouldn't really need any more than that anyway.

 

You can crack them or you can get the brew shop to crack them, but either way they need to be cracked. Heat about 2L of water to 70C, pop in the cracked grains and let them steep in the water for about half an hour. Strain the grains out into another pot and then bring this mini wort to the boil for about 10 minutes. Then either tip this into the FV to mix up the kit and whatnot, or cool it down first and then do that. Rehydrate and pitch your yeast and away you go. cool

After the grain boil for 10 minutes. Do you think it is worth doing a hop tea of say 10g each of Centennial and Cascade for 10 minutes? I was then planning to dry hop with 10g each of Centennial, Cascade and Galaxy. Do you think that procedure is OK? It's an 11L batch.

Also I plan to be a way for a few days after I set the brew down, so it might be 14 days or so until I do the dry hop. Do you think that would be OK? I don't want to leave the hops in for 7 days I'll be away. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Depends what you're aiming for. You can do a hop tea if you like, it'll provide a bit more hop flavour and some aroma. Good call not dry hopping for ages with galaxy in there. You can put them in 2-3 days before bottling it if you prefer, that's enough time for them to do their thing.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, Otto Von Blotto said:

Depends what you're aiming for. You can do a hop tea if you like, it'll provide a bit more hop flavour and some aroma. Good call not dry hopping for ages with galaxy in there. You can put them in 2-3 days before bottling it if you prefer, that's enough time for them to do their thing.

In the end I ditched the hop tea. Only because I was and a hurry - had to get to a whisky tasting. Will just dry hop when I get back. What I meant to ask in the previous post was could I do at 15 minute hop tea in the carapils boil to kill two birds with one stone?

Edited by DonPolo
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Sorry to jump in here guys... quick question.  It is winter and I have some ales which have been bottled for 3-4 weeks and they have not properly carbonated due to colder temps.  Can I put those bottles back into a warmer conditioning environment for a couple of weeks, and will the yeast wake up and finish carbonation?

Cheers

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm just back from having a chat with my neighbour who brews kits and extract. I went to borrow a heat mat and told him about my suspicion that I was not getting carbonation in my ales due to the colder weather.

He grinned at me and pulled a couple of his plastic bottles off the shelf in the shed, which would be lucky to average 14c here in NE Victoria, and invited me to squeeze them. They were fairly hard, bottled in late May.

Buggered if I know, I'm currently drinking one of my ale batches, 4 weeks bottled, and they are very low on carbonation. I'm putting the rest of that batch back into bottle conditioning hoping for repair. My neighbour drinks on happily.....  ?

Cheers

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...
On 6/28/2018 at 5:11 PM, Worthog said:

Sorry to jump in here guys... quick question.  It is winter and I have some ales which have been bottled for 3-4 weeks and they have not properly carbonated due to colder temps.  Can I put those bottles back into a warmer conditioning environment for a couple of weeks, and will the yeast wake up and finish carbonation?

Cheers

 

On 6/28/2018 at 6:07 PM, Otto Von Blotto said:

They should do. I had the same experience years ago, but I just waited til the weather warmed up and it didn't work. The yeast probably carked it by that time. If you're gonna warm them up, now would be the time. Maybe resuspend the yeast as well.

Saved em! A week in my bottle conditioning toolbox fixed them. 

I  now have beer that is not queried for effervescence, not that I would care, I would just drink it anyway. 

Cheers

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Just put the dry hops in having returned from my trip. The FV is now on the balcony out of any direct sun light covered by three black garbage bags just in case. Currently at -2 with expected temperature range of -4 to 12 for the next few days. Any chance that an 11l batch could actually freeze ?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...