Planning for next brew

[LachieS]

Hey Guys, 

I just bottled my second attempt at the pale ale. Not sure how it’ll turn out but I wanted to get help with how to make the third batch better. I’m thinking of adding hops to my brew but still using the basic pale ale/boot maker pale ale extract. I just wanted peoples opinions on the best conditions and methods for making their pale ales. I’m finding my go sweeter like ciders than a pale ale and thinking that may be the temperature and conditions of the fermentation? 
 

usual conditions:

Temperature 24-28 (is this too high?)

In a room with windows but is covered in a towel to block direct sunlight

 

[Classic Brewing Co]

20 minutes ago, LachieS said:

Hey Guys, 

I just bottled my second attempt at the pale ale. Not sure how it’ll turn out but I wanted to get help with how to make the third batch better. I’m thinking of adding hops to my brew but still using the basic pale ale/boot maker pale ale extract. I just wanted peoples opinions on the best conditions and methods for making their pale ales. I’m finding my go sweeter like ciders than a pale ale and thinking that may be the temperature and conditions of the fermentation? 
 

usual conditions:

Temperature 24-28 (is this too high?)

In a room with windows but is covered in a towel to block direct sunlight

 

Normal Ales fermentation temperatures range from 20 -22c, during active fermentation the heat generated can warm a batch of beer by 10-15c. A constant temperature is the best.

Fermenting above the normal temperature range may produce excessive fruity-flavoured esters or harsh-flavoured alcohols.

You may want to consider Temperature Control for maintaining a constant fermentation temperature.

QUOTE:

With beer brewing, the rule of thumb is the cooler and more consistent you can keep your fermentation the better! When yeast is forced to work at higher temperatures, it will produce a large amount of fermentation by-products, such as esters and fusel alcohols. These by-products are responsible for all sorts of weird flavours in beer, flavours that are not associated with good beer! Therefore the cooler and more consistent you can keep your fermentation, the less esters your yeast will produce and the cleaner more commercial taste you will achieve for your beer!

Most generic yeasts that come with your beer tin concentrates will usually specify fermenting between 20-25C, although this will give you your best results, these yeasts generally can handle fermenting warmer (up to 28-30C) with a lot less noticeable esters than if you were using specialty yeast. Again though, the recommendation would to be to stay as close to the ideal fermentation temperature as possible!

When purchasing and using specialty yeast, the esters caused by warmer fermentation is a lot more noticeable. The ideal fermentation temperature is usually 18C-20C for ALES (with a 2-3 week fermentation time). Whilst the ideal fermentation temperature is 13C-14C for LAGERS, (with a 3-4 week fermentation time).

 

[Shamus O'Sean]

On 2/16/2022 at 11:31 AM, LachieS said:

Hey Guys, 

I just bottled my second attempt at the pale ale. Not sure how it’ll turn out but I wanted to get help with how to make the third batch better. I’m thinking of adding hops to my brew but still using the basic pale ale/boot maker pale ale extract. I just wanted peoples opinions on the best conditions and methods for making their pale ales. I’m finding my go sweeter like ciders than a pale ale and thinking that may be the temperature and conditions of the fermentation? 
 

usual conditions:

Temperature 24-28 (is this too high?)

In a room with windows but is covered in a towel to block direct sunlight

 

Hi Lachie, @Classic Brewing Co hit the nail on the head.  Ale brewing is best between 18-20°C.  Without temperature control, this might be hard for you to get to at this stage.  Just try to keep your brew as cool as you can.  Maybe sit your fermenter in a large tub with some water in it.  Drape the towel over and let the ends sit in the water.  The wicking effect will draw up the moisture and as it evaporates, it will help to keep the FV a few degrees cooler.  Other improvements are to have a fan blowing on the towel to increase evaporation.  Also add ice blocks to the water in the tub.

Now, the "sweetness" you describe in your brews is more about how your palate perceives the brews.  Although I mostly all grain brew these days, I still dabble in the odd kit brew.  And before all grain I did loads of kit brews.  I also tended to find kit brews sweet from my perception.  Even the Thomas Coopers Brew A IPA, which is about their most bitter kit (other than the stouts), I found had a sweetness to it.  Interestingly, the Coopers Canadian Blonde, I found to have a good bitterness to it.  To combat how your palate perceives these kit brews, you should think about doing some of the higher bitterness brews.  Also brews that include a hop boil will add bitterness.  The Coopers Recipe Spreadsheet is a good resource to sort on bitterness to get some ideas.  The Coopers Recipe pages also have filters to target recipes with higher bitterness.