My First Brew

[Goldcoast Crow]

2 hours ago, pilotsh said:

Great Looking beer, terrible glass! 

It was either that or an old Southwark Imperial Pint, maybe tomorrow 

[Lab Cat]

4 hours ago, Goldcoast Crow said:

I did notice it was a battle to get a good head on it, and it died pretty quick, not a lot of fizz but had that real sark/old ale consistency to it, really yum.

Might just be a little early. Depends on the temp they've been conditioning at. All my beers take longer than 2 weeks in cooler weather, as they're in the garage.

Don't discount the crap glass as a factor, a decent beer glass makes a difference to taste and can help retain the head.

I think HB is generally lighter on carbonation than many mass commercial beers. It's something you get used to, and a good HB has more flavour. But you can up the carb if you prefer. I always use white sugar and a bottle scoop measure. I did my first brews with carb drops and found them all too flat.

Edited April 24, 2020 by Lab Cat

[Goldcoast Crow]

7 hours ago, Lab Cat said:

Might just be a little early. Depends on the temp they've been conditioning at. All my beers take longer than 2 weeks in cooler weather, as they're in the garage.

Don't discount the crap glass as a factor, a decent beer glass makes a difference to taste and can help retain the head.

I think HB is generally lighter on carbonation than many mass commercial beers. It's something you get used to, and a good HB has more flavour. But you can up the carb if you prefer. I always use white sugar and a bottle scoop measure. I did my first brews with carb drops and found them all too flat.

Yeah my kids bought me those glasses for my bday, I do have some proper beer glasses I won at golf, and my pop used to use sugar rather than carbonation drops aswell, maybe it’s worth a shot.... cheers for the feed back, it was nice to taste tho.

[Journeyman]

11 hours ago, Goldcoast Crow said:

It was either that or an old Southwark Imperial Pint, maybe tomorrow 

I think he meant he doesn't like the Crows.

[pilotsh]

6 minutes ago, Journeyman said:

I think he meant he doesn't like the Crows. 

[pilotsh]

To assist with head retention, I have two things I know of:

1- Be sure to use a rinsed glass. Residual washing liquid kills beer foam. I've met a few people who when they hand wash stuff just let it drip dry on the drying rack without rinsing! Eeek!
2- Use a cold glass out of the fridge or freezer.

Hopefully that helps!

[Otto Von Blotto]

Nucleated glasses are great for head retention. With non nucleated ones I haven't noticed any difference between room temp and chilled glasses though. They perform equally for me.

[Goldcoast Crow]

16 hours ago, Lab Cat said:

4 hours ago, Otto Von Blotto said:

Nucleated glasses are great for head retention. With non nucleated ones I haven't noticed any difference between room temp and chilled glasses though. They perform equally for me.

what does nucleated mean? My glasses are washed and rinsed and placed in the freezer, but they probably were cheap gimmick glasses, I will try a more beer style glass tonight for good measure, an extra day of secondary ferment will also help.

[pilotsh]

I had to look it up to! Here is a good explanation, with a video at the bottom.

https://brucrafter.com/nucleated-beer-glasses/

Essentially it is a glass that has an etched bottom to make more of the gas in the beer come out into bubbles. (More surface area). A bit like how throwing a strawberry in a glass of bubbly makes it bead more.

 

[Goldcoast Crow]

We used to do that at our old footy club with the club mugs that all the players and members got, we would get an engraver and just scratch the hell out of the bottom and it would do exactly that, might have to do that with my glasses.

 Ok on another note, have to say that this amber ale on second day tasting definitely reminds me of tooheys old!!! Not as heavy but flavour wise definitely along those lines.

[Goldcoast Crow]

Got my kids helping bottle my lager up today.... teach em young

[Otto Von Blotto]

Yeah just etched or sandblasted bottoms. I've done it with a few, with sandpaper and one or two with a diamond file tip. It works pretty well. 

[Thecko]

On 4/8/2020 at 9:38 PM, Goldcoast Crow said:

That looks amazing, I love a thick pale ale and also love butters so this could be a perfect mix..... that’s brew #2 right there

I agree with Goldy Crow that’s my second brew right there! Instigator you did this in 10 lt batch yeah?

 I have the large FV this wouldn’t be a problem with flavour etc?

[Instigator]

6 hours ago, Thecko said:

I agree with Goldy Crow that’s my second brew right there! Instigator you did this in 10 lt batch yeah?

 I have the large FV this wouldn’t be a problem with flavour etc?

Yeah, bloke. Just whack the whole APA can in the FV and fill to 10L. Add the whole packet of kit yeast. I brewed mine at 18C.

You can also add two cans of APA to the big FV and fill to 20-23L for a true toucan. Which way you go depends on how thirsty you are.

[Malter White]

13 hours ago, Goldcoast Crow said:

Got my kids helping bottle my lager up today.... teach em young

Nice, healthy looking kids, GC. That's a good ploy to get them involved, then when Mum eventually says, "You drink too much!" You can retort with, "I do it for the girls."  

[Journeyman]

17 hours ago, Goldcoast Crow said:

we would get an engraver and just scratch the hell out of the bottom

Hmm... Might give that a try - cheaper than buying new glasses. But will try it out on one of my other glasses first rather than risk my Guinness one.

[Journeyman]

3 hours ago, MUZZY said:

then when Mum eventually says, "You drink too much!" You can retort with, "I do it for the girls."

Is it just my perception that we spend quite some time finding excuses to help SWMBO think our beer hobby is a good idea?

[pilotsh]

9 hours ago, Instigator said:

You can also add two cans of APA to the big FV and fill to 20-23L for a true toucan. Which way you go depends on how thirsty you are.

So if each can comes with a sachet of yeast would you use both or just one sachet?

[Journeyman]

7 minutes ago, pilotsh said:

So if each can comes with a sachet of yeast would you use both or just one sachet?

Both. Or use a viability starter like Titan mentioned to increase the yeast cell count.

General rule - if you plan on OG of over 1.050 you should use more than just 1 pkt of kit yeast. You would be OK with another yeast that comes in 11 g pkts but the higher the OG the more yeast needed, either extra pkt or starter.

Some very high ABV brews need special yeast to handle the extra alcohol levels.

[Goldcoast Crow]

Ok so I had a break for a few days and cracked my amber tonight, about 2 weeks in 2nd ferment..... definitely taste and see the difference in head form and carbonation.... patience is the key I now know

[pilotsh]

Sounds promising! Because my second brew is going, I almost forgot my first brew is in bottles maturing, lol

[Shamus O'Sean]

7 hours ago, pilotsh said:

Sounds promising! Because my second brew is going, I almost forgot my first brew is in bottles maturing, lol

Speaking as an oldest child: How quickly we forget our older children when the new baby comes along!!

[pilotsh]

1 hour ago, Shamus O'Sean said:

Speaking as an oldest child: How quickly we forget our older children when the new baby comes along!!

Imagine if I kept doing a daily diary for brew one: "Still in bottles, nice and firm, lids tight. They look like bottles." 

[pilotsh]

On 4/26/2020 at 11:42 AM, Journeyman said:

General rule - if you plan on OG of over 1.050 you should use more than just 1 pkt of kit yeast. You would be OK with another yeast that comes in 11 g pkts but the higher the OG the more yeast needed, either extra pkt or starter.

But would the SG be higher!? You are using two cans, but also twice the water and ingredients! And here is an interesting thing: My small craft brew kit (8.5lt) came with a 10g yeast packet, but the the normal kit (23Lt) came with a 7g yeast packet! Now that does not make sense, although to be fair, SG of the craft was 1052 and for the Regular was 1040.

Edited April 29, 2020 by pilotsh

[Journeyman]

17 minutes ago, pilotsh said:

But would the SG be higher!? You are using two cans, but also twice the water and ingredients! And here is an interesting thing: My small craft brew kit (8.5lt) came with a 10g yeast packet, but the the normal kit (23Lt) came with a 7g yeast packet! Now that does not make sense, although to be fair, SG of the craft was 1052 and for the Regular was 1040.

My response was about using 2 cans of APA - And the 2 cans were into a 20+ litre brew and 2 cans of APA into a craft FV would be a quadcan.  And it was a general rule - I didn't actually specify he should use 2 lots of yeast in the brew.

Edited April 29, 2020 by Journeyman