Lab Cat Posted August 25, 2018 Author Share Posted August 25, 2018 OMG Just added the first 500 of LDM to my bootmakers, and it's all gone rock hard into muffin sized lumps. Surely not normal? Stuck now, don't want to add more if it's ruined. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fergy1987 Posted August 25, 2018 Share Posted August 25, 2018 3 minutes ago, LabRat said: OMG Just added the first 500 of LDM to my bootmakers, and it's all gone rock hard into muffin sized lumps. Surely not normal? Stuck now, don't want to add more if it's ruined. Just mix and mix and mix, it will dissolve.....small clumps will ferment out anyway. You might just get a bit of a false reading for your SG Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lab Cat Posted August 25, 2018 Author Share Posted August 25, 2018 Thanks for jumping in. I'm mid mix and had a cardiac when it all ballooned up. Thought maybe because the water was too hot, but that's exactly how I did the lager with BE1. shall I tip the rest of the kg in? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fergy1987 Posted August 25, 2018 Share Posted August 25, 2018 3 minutes ago, LabRat said: Thanks for jumping in. I'm mid mix and had a cardiac when it all ballooned up. Thought maybe because the water was too hot, but that's exactly how I did the lager with BE1. shall I tip the rest of the kg in? Yeah chuck it in just keep mixing and you will be fine. Even pick up the fermenter and swirl it around if you havent added everything else Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Otto Von Blotto Posted August 25, 2018 Share Posted August 25, 2018 Yep dump it all in. I find that type of dry malt doesn't dissolve well but the yeast will still ferment it anyway. You'll probably get a false OG reading but it can be calculated pretty accurately. I've used the same type, although not Coopers brand, in yeast starter worts in the past, it didn't dissolve well and when boiled it foamed up like a mothertrucker, all over the stove if not watched closely. The boiling did dissolve it, however not really a practical solution when mixing in a fermenter. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lab Cat Posted August 25, 2018 Author Share Posted August 25, 2018 Thanks guys. Appreciate you taking the time. Clearly a newb response on my part. It is dissolving now, but was a completely unexpected occurrence for me. I'll get back to mixing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popo the Reprobate Posted August 25, 2018 Share Posted August 25, 2018 I wouldn't sweat it too much. It'll dissolve and the yeast will get to it. Stir for a while but don't worry too much if there are clumps. This has happened to me and the brew always turned out ok. I had one lot of malt that was a bit older and it was a solid block. I broke it up and mixed a bit but it was still pretty big. There were no dramas with fermentation. As mentioned, your OG will be out by a bit because of the malt that's not dissolved. Your expected FG will be the same though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lab Cat Posted August 25, 2018 Author Share Posted August 25, 2018 Yep, all good. Gave it an arm tiring mix and the malt is all grainy speckles in the FV, no rocks. Shame the OG will be borked, wouldv'e like to get a estimate of the abv on this. I used the 1.5kg of LDM but only made 21l Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popo the Reprobate Posted August 25, 2018 Share Posted August 25, 2018 Beerlust had a good method of mixing in the malt. I used it a few times with good results. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popo the Reprobate Posted August 25, 2018 Share Posted August 25, 2018 You should still be able to work out the OG just based on volume. If you've got IanH's spreadsheet you can just punch the details in. If you google search you'll find a download link. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Otto Von Blotto Posted August 25, 2018 Share Posted August 25, 2018 Should be an OG about 1.050. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lab Cat Posted August 25, 2018 Author Share Posted August 25, 2018 5 minutes ago, Otto Von Blotto said: Should be an OG about 1.050. Spot. On. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Otto Von Blotto Posted August 25, 2018 Share Posted August 25, 2018 Pretty easy to work out, dry malt should give an SG of 1.037 when mixed to a ratio of 100g per litre. 1500g in 21 litres is about 71.4g/L or 26.4 SG points. Assuming the kit is 80% solids (1360g) it works out at about 64.8g/L or 24 SG points. Add them together and you get 50.4 or 1.050. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lab Cat Posted August 25, 2018 Author Share Posted August 25, 2018 Cheers. If that's easy, I'm glad I did it with the hydrometer. Maths is not my thing. I may work in a lab, but I'm not a scientist. Serious nerds - love spreadsheets and analysin stuff... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sion Di 13 Posted August 28, 2018 Share Posted August 28, 2018 On 8/18/2018 at 11:29 PM, porschemad911 said: Don't add the whole 1kg dextrose by mistake. That's what I did instead of reading the recipe carefully. Would have been much tastier with the correct amount. Cheers, John Did the dry hop for my celebration ale last night. Had a taste and it was good. Really looking forward to this one. Made sure that I only put in the 1/2 kg of dextrose. Got to be really careful when reading the recipes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lab Cat Posted September 1, 2018 Author Share Posted September 1, 2018 Hi all I've used a belt this time and managed to keep the temp 22-24C, so the Bootmakers has been noticeably more active than the lager I did before. Decent krausen that's only just dissipating now I've removed the collar after 5 days, so I might need to leave this one longer than 7 before bottling. Took a SG to see where I'm at I'm still unsure whether to bother with the carb drop this time. My lager has improved a little after a week of temp management (3 weeks in the bottle now), but is only a smidge off being still flat. Great head on it though. My fellow lab rat at work says to use 2 teaspoons white sugar, as does the brew shop. But most here say not too as that's too much. Trouble is, no one has a sugar scoop to measure the correct amount. Anyone any ideas I haven't though of? My only suggestion was a baking teaspoon measure, which you can level off. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Otto Von Blotto Posted September 1, 2018 Share Posted September 1, 2018 Another idea would be bulk priming. But you'd need an extra fermenter, or a water drum from Bunnings. I reckon if you keep the bottles above 18 from the outset you shouldn't have any trouble with the drops anyway. 22-24 is a bit warm for fermentation too, you're better off around 18-20. As for time before bottling I'd expect every batch would be left longer than 7 days. Just because it reaches FG doesn't mean the yeast have finished doing their job. The extra time allows them to clean up the byproducts (i.e. potential off flavors) they produce during fermentation, leading to a cleaner tasting beer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lab Cat Posted September 1, 2018 Author Share Posted September 1, 2018 Cheers. Nothing I can do about FT now. I checked it every morning and evening, and loosened the belt when I had to, it was a bit too efficient in getting the temp up. Wanted to keep it in the 22 zone, I thought that was meant to be ok. It's likely it dipped below 20 during the nights. It had 4 day ferment before I got the belt, so it was probably around your suggested temp during that time. I'm actually on 7 days now, as I mixed this last Saturday. But I'll be leaving it til at least Monday, to bottle maybe later. My lager is still stored, so hoping it gets better in another week. It's getting drinkable, especially if I compare it to the carb levels in commercial Coopers pale, which are pretty low too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Otto Von Blotto Posted September 1, 2018 Share Posted September 1, 2018 22 isn't bad, 24 is getting up there though. Stable temp is the most important thing though. May as well leave it till next Saturday and bottle it, plenty of time for the yeast to finish and clean up. It's probably finished actual fermentation by now; the yeast will be in cleanup mode. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lab Cat Posted September 1, 2018 Author Share Posted September 1, 2018 Hard to keep it stable, but I'll manage the belt better next time, if it's needed. Beer tastes fine, no odd taste or off flavour. Tastes like a flat pale, so hopefully all ok. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lab Cat Posted September 3, 2018 Author Share Posted September 3, 2018 Will be bottling this in a day or 2. Thought I'd try a few bottles with sugar instead of the drops. No brew shops locally sell the scoop, but I have a baking measure, which holds exactly 4g of sugar. Two of these shouldn't be too much should it? I also did see a bulk priming method where the sugar mix is poured into the FV and very gently stirred. I get a 2nd FV would be ideal, but any opinions on trying this? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Otto Von Blotto Posted September 3, 2018 Share Posted September 3, 2018 8g in a tallie is higher than usual, one and a half of them would be the ideal amount. You can bulk prime in the primary fermenter but it will probably stir up the sediment a bit. Some have had success with it, however they're usually cold crashing the beer first, to compact the sediment as much as possible. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lab Cat Posted September 5, 2018 Author Share Posted September 5, 2018 So, I did a few bottles with some sugar, just ...because. Now my storage temp is sorted and the weather is improving, these should be right too hopefully. Thanks Otto and other regards my first brew, the Lager. Bottles now have come good. Decent carb and head without being fizzy, so you can still smash it. Pretty bland though, but it's a kit that's probably a good base for adding some malt or hops to to make it a good beer. I was toying with the idea of stepping up and doing the Czech pils for summer, it's a fairly straightforward recipe. But the weather won't be my friend for fermenting this, and I have no means of FV temp control downwards. So probably best to stick with ale yeast type beers for a bit, as my ambient temp will be right in that zone. I was thinking the English Bitter, but with some added interest - maybe an extra 500g of LDM and/or some hops. Any ideas what would work well, and still keeping it this simple? Fullers ESB and the 4 Pines ESB are favourite English bitters of mine. Not expecting to replicate those, but would like to make a good full-bodied bitter. cheers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hairy Posted September 5, 2018 Share Posted September 5, 2018 I just made a simple ESB which was decent: Coopers EB kit 1.3kg LDM 250g Dextrose 25g Challenger - hop tea I also make an All Grain version based on the 4 Pines ESB, which I have tweaked a few times. It is one of the few beers I make regularly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beerlust Posted September 5, 2018 Share Posted September 5, 2018 Hi Lab Rat. 10 minutes ago, Lab Rat said: ...Fullers ESB and the 4 Pines ESB are favourite English bitters of mine. Not expecting to replicate those, but would like to make a good full-bodied bitter. The following sounds exactly like what you are after. Coopers DIY recipe: Battleship Bitter On a side note Coopers, I knew the recipe I was after to link to for this post, but it took me forever to find it using your new website "Filter" system. IMHO, your older list based recipe format was far easier to use & access. I'm a persist bastard in areas like this, but others aren't quite as vigilant. I think you understand what I am trying to convey with those comments. Cheers, Lusty. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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