My First Brew Diary - Advice and Comments Appreciated

[Shamus O'Sean]

56 minutes ago, DeviantLogic said:

That's good to hear. How long do you typically CC at 4C?

Just catching up DL.

Two carb drops for the EB in my opinion.

Your hydrometer should be okay.  These days I do not leave the hydrometer in the sample.

Lately with my cold crash I have been doing the 10°C for 12hrs, then 4°C for 12 hrs, then 1°C.  I did not mention the 4°C so I did not complicate the process. 

I ferment and cold crash in a freezer and need to be careful about freezing anything else in the freezer when I am doing the temperature ramp down.  The probe being against the fermenter is warmer to start with than the ambient air in the freezer.  Because the freezer is trying to get the fermenter contents down, its ambient temperature could be -15°C.  This is easily cold enough to freezer the sample tube.  I also usually have a cold crashing yeast starter in the freezer around this time (for the next brew).  This temperature is easily cold enough to freeze the starter too.  Luckily, I have not frozen a starter so far.  You are not likely to freeze the main fermenter because the probe will turn off the freezer before it gets the fermenter cold enough to freeze.  Once the temperature is stable at 1°C, it seems fine for me to leave it there.

Having said all that, it is possible to freeze the beer.  Other brewers have posted pictures of beer slushies they have made by cold crashing too low, if they have a dodgy temperature probe, or the temperature controller is out of calibration. 

 

[DeviantLogic]

1 hour ago, Shamus O'Sean said:

Just catching up DL.

Two carb drops for the EB in my opinion.

Your hydrometer should be okay.  These days I do not leave the hydrometer in the sample.

Lately with my cold crash I have been doing the 10°C for 12hrs, then 4°C for 12 hrs, then 1°C.  I did not mention the 4°C so I did not complicate the process. 

I ferment and cold crash in a freezer and need to be careful about freezing anything else in the freezer when I am doing the temperature ramp down.  The probe being against the fermenter is warmer to start with than the ambient air in the freezer.  Because the freezer is trying to get the fermenter contents down, its ambient temperature could be -15°C.  This is easily cold enough to freezer the sample tube.  I also usually have a cold crashing yeast starter in the freezer around this time (for the next brew).  This temperature is easily cold enough to freeze the starter too.  Luckily, I have not frozen a starter so far.  You are not likely to freeze the main fermenter because the probe will turn off the freezer before it gets the fermenter cold enough to freeze.  Once the temperature is stable at 1°C, it seems fine for me to leave it there.

Having said all that, it is possible to freeze the beer.  Other brewers have posted pictures of beer slushies they have made by cold crashing too low, if they have a dodgy temperature probe, or the temperature controller is out of calibration. 

 

Two drops it is then.

I think I might just leave it at 4C this time and see how I go. Worst case the beer is a little more cloudy than I would like. Between the slight risk of freezing, and the fact it is a second hand fridge and I'm not sure how much life it has left in it, 4C seems reasonable. Do you think I would get away with bottling tomorrow, or is waiting until Monday likely to make a big difference in terms of beer clarity? I was planning to clean, sanitise, and put my second brew on immediately after bottling. I have time to bottle on Monday/Tuesday, but may have to delay my second brew by several more days if I put off bottling until then.

[Shamus O'Sean]

9 minutes ago, DeviantLogic said:

Two drops it is then.

I think I might just leave it at 4C this time and see how I go. Worst case the beer is a little more cloudy than I would like. Between the slight risk of freezing, and the fact it is a second hand fridge and I'm not sure how much life it has left in it, 4C seems reasonable. Do you think I would get away with bottling tomorrow, or is waiting until Monday likely to make a big difference in terms of beer clarity? I was planning to clean, sanitise, and put my second brew on immediately after bottling. I have time to bottle on Monday/Tuesday, but may have to delay my second brew by several more days if I put off bottling until then.

Good point with the second hand fridge.  Also, just because you set the temperature controller to 1°C, does not mean the fridge will get there.  It will only go as low as it can.  For many fridges, setting the temperature controller to 1°C, is basically letting the fridge operate under its own thermostat to the lowest temperature it can get to.

Looking back through your posts, you started the cold crash on Friday morning (10°C) and probably set it to (4°C) later on Friday.  Bottling on Sunday (tomorrow) is only two days cold crashing.  You will get better clarity if you bottle on Monday or Tuesday.  Having said that, my first English Bitter was not cold crashed at all and it was fine.  Certainly your 2 days of cold crashing will be better than no cold crash.  It will also clear up a bit more in the bottle during carbonation.

So if Sunday suits you better, then you could bottle then in readiness to brew your next batch on the same day.

[DeviantLogic]

3 hours ago, Shamus O'Sean said:

Good point with the second hand fridge.  Also, just because you set the temperature controller to 1°C, does not mean the fridge will get there.  It will only go as low as it can.  For many fridges, setting the temperature controller to 1°C, is basically letting the fridge operate under its own thermostat to the lowest temperature it can get to.

Looking back through your posts, you started the cold crash on Friday morning (10°C) and probably set it to (4°C) later on Friday.  Bottling on Sunday (tomorrow) is only two days cold crashing.  You will get better clarity if you bottle on Monday or Tuesday.  Having said that, my first English Bitter was not cold crashed at all and it was fine.  Certainly your 2 days of cold crashing will be better than no cold crash.  It will also clear up a bit more in the bottle during carbonation.

So if Sunday suits you better, then you could bottle then in readiness to brew your next batch on the same day.

Thanks for the advice! I will see how it is looking tomorrow morning and make a call then, but right now I lean towards getting it bottled and putting on my next one. 

[DeviantLogic]

Quick update. It was looking a bit hazier than I would like today so I'm going to bottle tomorrow or Tuesday.

[DeviantLogic]

I got around to bottling today. The beer was still not crystal clear, but it was relatively clear and tasted quite nice! For whatever reason, there was much less head when I poured today than there was on previous occasions.

I ended up filling 27 740mL PET bottles. I was quite happy with this quantity as it is only ever so slightly under the 20L this kit is supposed to make, and I have had a few half glasses along the way, including the one pictured above.

I've packed the bottles up into the box my FV came in and have them sitting on a shelf in my closet. The ambient temperature in there is usually around 21C, so I think it should be pretty good (though they are taking their time to warm up from cold crashing temperature!). I was hoping to get some kind of temperature controlled setup for bottle conditioning, but this will have to do for now. I'm very open to suggestions on cheap/easy ways to improve my bottle conditioning process. Other than that, I guess this brew is pretty much done. Will smash my next brew on tomorrow and update this thread in 2-3 weeks when the beers are carbed up and I get to have a proper taste.

Thanks to everyone who contributed to this thread and helped me along the way. Special shout out to Shamus O'Sean; you were a great help to me throughout this process and I really appreciate the time you put into helping me out - thanks a lot!

[Shamus O'Sean]

9 hours ago, DeviantLogic said:

I was hoping to get some kind of temperature controlled setup for bottle conditioning, but this will have to do for now. I'm very open to suggestions on cheap/easy ways to improve my bottle conditioning process.

Looks good DL.

I am guessing that the flatter beer at bottling time is because most of the CO2 has escaped from the beer.  Just like if you leave a glass on the bench all night.  It will go flat.  The earlier shots were when it was probably still fermenting a bit and so was producing CO2 that, when you agitated the beer, made bubbles.

You do not need to go to any sophistication with bottle conditioning most beers.  As long as you have somewhere to store the bottles over about 18°C and less than 30°C for at least 2 weeks.  It does not even matter if the temperature varies much.  I do all of mine inside the house.  Cupboards, under desks, wardrobes, etc.  I know that I cannot put them in the overhead kitchen cupboards in winter because they are against an external wall and it does not get warm enough.  This time of year, they are fine in those cupboards. 

If you are conditioning outside in a shed or garage, you will probably need a heat source during winter.  I am in Melbourne and do not even bother trying to bottle condition outside.  Lagering in the garage in winter, now that is a different thing.

[Classic Brewing Co]

I store mine in boxes which are labelled by variety, I am in a wine club & the heavier boxes with the dividing partitions they send the wine in a perfect for this. Seal them with tape & stack them.

I agree with @Shamus O'Sean Cupboards are good as they also keep out the light.

If I am using Grolsch Swing Tops they go back in the box they were bought in to store.

Any box will do.

[DeviantLogic]

Sounds like the closet will be fine for now. Perhaps some temperature control will be required as the weather cools a bit, but I'm quite confident the ambient temperature shouldn't drop below 18C too often. They are taking their time to come up to temperature, which I suppose is to be expected after a cold crash. Hopefully that's a sign that once they reach the right temperature it should take some extreme temperature swings to shift them from there! 

[Shamus O'Sean]

6 hours ago, DeviantLogic said:

Sounds like the closet will be fine for now. Perhaps some temperature control will be required as the weather cools a bit, but I'm quite confident the ambient temperature shouldn't drop below 18C too often. They are taking their time to come up to temperature, which I suppose is to be expected after a cold crash. Hopefully that's a sign that once they reach the right temperature it should take some extreme temperature swings to shift them from there! 

It will take a while for them to get there.  I always cold crash these days.  Condensation hangs around on the bottles for up to a day sometimes.  It might mean they need an extra day to carbonate.

[DeviantLogic]

After more than 3 weeks in the bottle and a few down the hatch tonight, now seems like as good a time as any for a final update to this thread. I'm very happy with this beer, it fits my idea of what an English bitter should be fairly well, and I was pleasantly surprised how bitter the finish is without any hop additions. If I have one gripe about this beer, it's that the head retention is less than stellar. I can't help wondering if this has something to do with the addition of dextrose. I will definitely brew this again, but next time I would omit the dextrose and use 1.5kg of LDM instead of 1kg. 

[Cee]

Nice looking beer

Isn't it a buzz when you really enjoy your own brew

This thread/diary is a great resource too