Smash Posted January 20, 2019 Share Posted January 20, 2019 Set up my keg system the other day, tightened up all of my connections and set the PSI for a few days to carb. Tried to pour my first beer from the system and no gas left. Connection on regulator was loose that I didn't check. 2.6kg of gas down the drain 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark D Pirate Posted January 20, 2019 Share Posted January 20, 2019 4 minutes ago, Smash said: Set up my keg system the other day, tightened up all of my connections and set the PSI for a few days to carb. Tried to pour my first beer from the system and no gas left. Connection on regulator was loose that I didn't check. 2.6kg of gas down the drain You're not the first to have made that mistake, I lost most of as 10 kg bottle by leaving a daisy chain adaptor connected for a week slowly leaking Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grogdog Posted January 21, 2019 Share Posted January 21, 2019 Maybe not a 'mistake mistake' but my English ale finally cleared yesterday and then the keg blew on the very next pour Murphy's law is alive and well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
retromaticon Posted January 22, 2019 Share Posted January 22, 2019 So I don't even know how this happened. Been brewing for about a year and have been doing mainly kits, but on my second all grain batch... I managed to bottle a fly! When I first looked at the bugger I thought it was an infection or something. Luckily the rest of the batch is ok and tastes fantastic. 2 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hairy Posted January 22, 2019 Share Posted January 22, 2019 You needed two in there. That's how you make Tooheys Extra Fly. I'll show myself out. 1 10 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Titan Posted January 22, 2019 Share Posted January 22, 2019 The problem I see is you have no idea how many calories the fly is. So it could ruin your calorie controlled diet. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
retromaticon Posted January 22, 2019 Share Posted January 22, 2019 6 hours ago, Titan said: The problem I see is you have no idea how many calories the fly is. So it could ruin your calorie controlled diet. The bloody fly is lucky I'm not a Scotsman or I would have demanded the bugger to spit the rest of the beer out. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Captain!! Posted January 29, 2019 Share Posted January 29, 2019 So I’m not sure about what I did with this brew but I’m sure I messed up somewhere. It tasted a bit off a while back. Kept it in the bottle a few months to see what would happen. Today I popped them all and dumped em. For the record this is the 3rd beer I have dumped. One due to recipe, one due to the effing commando dry hop kept clogging up the bottle wand (lawn food), one to infection. My first infection since I started brewing. Oh well. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
King Ruddager Posted February 25, 2019 Share Posted February 25, 2019 My spoon is in here somewhere ... 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marty_G Posted February 25, 2019 Share Posted February 25, 2019 2 x 86 days pilsner and 2 fails .... both tasted crap ... 1 was when the 1st started and fermented way to fast as had no temp control and was done in March or April when it was hot in SEQ but with many many many months lagering was just Ok ... so I drank it eventually ... so not to be defeated I did another one in the middle of winter .... once again no temp control but nights around 6 and days around 18 ... the shed where i did it was pretty stable if this is stable in the 8 -16 range which i thought ok it takes a lot of energy to heat water so the the brew should be ok ... I have no idea what went wrong .... colour is closer to a 30 than and 8 ... and just tastes wrong ... good head retention though ... have thrown all the PET bottles out as they are worse than the glass ... am really pissed off as I love Pils but to my relief just did a Czech Pils recipe using Morgans Golden Saaz pils and Saaz hops instead of the 86 days and that seems to be great ... tasted wonderful on bottling will be carbonated in a week or so will have a taste before lagering it ... but yes 2 flops ... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beerlust Posted February 25, 2019 Share Posted February 25, 2019 Hi Marty. 51 minutes ago, MartyG1525230263 said: 2 x 86 days pilsner and 2 fails .... both tasted crap ... 1 was when the 1st started and fermented way to fast as had no temp control and was done in March or April when it was hot in SEQ but with many many many months lagering was just Ok ... so I drank it eventually ... so not to be defeated I did another one in the middle of winter .... once again no temp control but nights around 6 and days around 18... You've answered your own questions here. No temp control. With true lager yeast fermented beers temp control is critical. 1 hour ago, MartyG1525230263 said: ...the shed where i did it was pretty stable if this is stable in the 8 -16 range which i thought ok it takes a lot of energy to heat water so the the brew should be ok ... I have no idea what went wrong .... "pretty stable" ain't stable mate. "8 - 16 range" uncontrolled is again unacceptable for lager fermenting. Yeast are exothermic (release heat) as part of active fermentation. 1 hour ago, MartyG1525230263 said: ...colour is closer to a 30 than and 8 ... and just tastes wrong ... good head retention though ... have thrown all the PET bottles out as they are worse than the glass ... am really pissed off as I love Pils but to my relief just did a Czech Pils recipe using Morgans Golden Saaz pils and Saaz hops instead of the 86 days and that seems to be great ... tasted wonderful on bottling will be carbonated in a week or so will have a taste before lagering it ... but yes 2 flops ... True lager yeast fermenting is not for the uneducated. It requires extra levels of control that ale yeast fermenting is a little more lenient with in regard to ferment temperature control. I can vouch firsthand for the 86 days Pilsner being a very good kit. I've brewed it. Unfortunately with true lager kits the manufacturers (including Coopers) have been reluctant to offer enough dry yeast volume with their kits to properly help the new home brewer successfully ferment out these types of beer tins. The advice Coopers offer with their 7gm weight with these kits is satisfactory to achieve a decent outcome, but not without some extra unneeded effort required from the home brewer, often above their current brewing level. Unfortunately most new brewers don't have the ability to control those temperature start points through to desirable fermentation temperatures, thus their final lager/pilsner beer doesn't turn out well in most cases, & I read posts like above fairly often regarding them. It costs these kit tin manufacturers further sales of them due to outcomes like you have mentioned. Once bitten, twice shy. I've also brewed the Coopers Golden Crown Lager with enough extra starting yeast & thought it was terrific. Cheers, Lusty. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marty_G Posted February 25, 2019 Share Posted February 25, 2019 12 minutes ago, Beerlust said: Hi Marty. You've answered your own questions here. No temp control. With true lager yeast fermented beers temp control is critical. "pretty stable" ain't stable mate. "8 - 16 range" uncontrolled is again unacceptable for lager fermenting. Yeast are exothermic (release heat) as part of active fermentation. True lager yeast fermenting is not for the uneducated. It requires extra levels of control that ale yeast fermenting is a little more lenient with in regard to ferment temperature control. I can vouch firsthand for the 86 days Pilsner being a very good kit. I've brewed it. Unfortunately with true lager kits the manufacturers (including Coopers) have been reluctant to offer enough dry yeast volume with their kits to properly help the new home brewer successfully ferment out these types of beer tins. The advice Coopers offer with their 7gm weight with these kits is satisfactory to achieve a decent outcome, but not without some extra unneeded effort required from the home brewer, often above their current brewing level. Unfortunately most new brewers don't have the ability to control those temperature start points through to desirable fermentation temperatures, thus their final lager/pilsner beer doesn't turn out well in most cases, & I read posts like above fairly often regarding them. It costs these kit tin manufacturers further sales of them due to outcomes like you have mentioned. Once bitten, twice shy. I've also brewed the Coopers Golden Crown Lager with enough extra starting yeast & thought it was terrific. Cheers, Lusty. Thanks Lusty, I have temp control now, funny thing i have always had a temp control unit just did not use it as i was in denial with how vital it is for Lagers ... with the 86 days I also did a European lager at the same time and that was wonderful, well maybe not wonderful, but I thought it was pretty good ... just with the temp in the shed at the time .... I did monitor the temp regularly but as i know now the few degrees change in the temp each day was not OK for it .... I have been temp controlling now for about 2 months and done a lager, a cider, a Pils and now doing a Beer Lao clone which was a kit, some grain, hops and rice malt which i thought was pretty easy to do both the Pils and the Asian beer used 34/70 which I fermented at 12 degrees ... the good thing is I have learnt so much since starting brewing again 12 months ago after a 25 year hiatus and now have it ingrained that the temp needs to be as close to the optimum ferment temp with fluctuations kept to a minimum ... that is the minimum starting point with sanitation for consistent quality beer ... the next thing is getting familiar with the taste profiles of different hop regimes and using more grains ... 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Otto Von Blotto Posted February 25, 2019 Share Posted February 25, 2019 Yep, done heaps of pilsners and other European lager styles. The keys to a great outcome are pitching a lot of yeast, fermenting low and stable (I usually use 10 degrees for the first 6-7 days), and a reasonable lagering period after packaging/carbonation. I would say these are all equally important because if one isn't done properly then the quality of the beer will likely suffer. A fourth I've found has improved mine has been to slowly lower the temperature for lagering rather than a straight drop. My lagers improved a lot when I began doing the first three things, with some extra improvement when I started doing the slow ramp down for lagering. I too have read a number of posts from brewers dissatisfied with their lagers because these things weren't done. It's unfortunate, but without the information they don't know any better. I've been there myself, doing a couple of Euro lager kits in winter without any temp control and only the kit yeast. They didn't turn out that great. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aussiekraut Posted February 25, 2019 Share Posted February 25, 2019 (edited) Tried a nice and simple recipe, where one cannot do much wrong...or so I thought. It's a small batch involving a North Western Pale ale, some un-hopped pale malt extract and some hops. Then I thought, for good measure, I'll add another 250g of light DME. All was coming along quite nicely and after two weeks, the beer was looking good but the hop flavour was overwhelming, so I was hoping this would subside with age. Well it did and the beer itself, while a little malty, does taste quite nice but has a fatal flaw: too much alcohol. The alcohol taste is so dominant, it ruins the entire beer. Other high alcohol beers mask the alcohol taste a lot better, like a "Trappist Radieuse" or even the 10%abv Quadrupel. Mine just throws it into your face. Not a particularly enjoyable beer I must say. Next time I think twice before adding humongous amounts of malt to kit which doesn't need any additional fermentable ingredients to start with. Well, I make mistakes to learn from them Edited February 25, 2019 by Aussiekraut 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hairy Posted February 26, 2019 Share Posted February 26, 2019 Even in a half batch, I wouldn't think that an additional 250g of light DME would cause the strong alcohol taste. Perhaps it just needs more time. At what temperature did you ferment it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aussiekraut Posted February 26, 2019 Share Posted February 26, 2019 (edited) 19 minutes ago, Hairy said: Even in a half batch, I wouldn't think that an additional 250g of light DME would cause the strong alcohol taste. Perhaps it just needs more time. At what temperature did you ferment it? In the absence of a brewing fridge, I rely on evaporation cooling using a wet towel and a fan in the coolest place in the house. Generally it ferments at around 24C. Not ideal I know but I'll get my fridge at some point. Most of my brews worked ok at this temp, although with room for improvement. The beer itself has something like 5-5.5% IIRC. The recipe says with the addition of the 250g liquid malt, it comes out at approx. 6.5%, so adding another 250g of DME, should bring the level up some more. Then add another half a percent because of the bottle conditioning and we're talking about a fair amount of alcohol. While I drink stronger beer every now and then and don't mind a nice barley wine either, I prefer my beer in the range between 4% and 6%. It was an experiment but one which wasn't thought all the way through Edited February 26, 2019 by Aussiekraut Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hairy Posted February 26, 2019 Share Posted February 26, 2019 How long has it been in the bottle? It will probably settle down with time. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aussiekraut Posted February 26, 2019 Share Posted February 26, 2019 It's been in the bottle for about 4 weeks now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hairy Posted February 26, 2019 Share Posted February 26, 2019 4 minutes ago, Aussiekraut said: It's been in the bottle for about 4 weeks now. Higher alcohol beers take a little longer to condition. Perhaps put it aside for a few more weeks and then try it again. It will still pack a punch but the pronounced alcohol taste may have softened. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aussiekraut Posted February 26, 2019 Share Posted February 26, 2019 4 minutes ago, Hairy said: Higher alcohol beers take a little longer to condition. Perhaps put it aside for a few more weeks and then try it again. It will still pack a punch but the pronounced alcohol taste may have softened. So you think there is hope it might turn out not so bad? Would be good because I hate wasting beer. That's why I only experiment with small batches. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hairy Posted February 26, 2019 Share Posted February 26, 2019 34 minutes ago, Aussiekraut said: So you think there is hope it might turn out not so bad? Would be good because I hate wasting beer. That's why I only experiment with small batches. I wouldn't write off a big beer after only 4 weeks in the bottle. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shamus O'Sean Posted February 26, 2019 Share Posted February 26, 2019 7 hours ago, Hairy said: I wouldn't write off a big beer after only 4 weeks in the bottle. 100% agree. I did a Coopers 2018 Vintage. ABV around 7.4%. Tried a one every week or two for first two months and they were not real great. Been in the bottle now over 4 1/2 months. Had one last weekend and it was much nicer. You still knew it was a strong beer, but the alcohol was not so dominant. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popo the Reprobate Posted March 2, 2019 Share Posted March 2, 2019 Started to mash in and realised I'd forgotten to put on my pump filter. Have to get it back on with my hand. I tried the long tongs but can't quite get it. Far too hot for bare hands. Waiting for it to cool takes much longer than waiting for it to heat up. I'd hoped to be finished earlyish tonight..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hairy Posted March 2, 2019 Share Posted March 2, 2019 I wouldn’t worry about it. Just try to get a good whirlpool happening. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popo the Reprobate Posted March 2, 2019 Share Posted March 2, 2019 I thought about that. I've bumped it off mid brew before and things were fine. I got it on though. Not too many blisters. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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