TonyW Posted September 17, 2011 Share Posted September 17, 2011 Thought i would do a bit of a write up on the brew i put together of the Lager in the DIY kit. Going pretty much by the book i got the brew together without any fuss, took a gravity og 1.040 pitched the yeast at 23C and into the fermenter for a week, keeping the temp at a constant 18c using a heat pad. After 2 readings of 1.012 i decided to bottle 1 litre then dry hop the brew with 20g of Nelson Sauvin and leave it for another week, i am going to bottle that today and do a comparison next week with a bottle i have left over from the litre i drew off last week. Last night i decided to test one of the half litres and see what the beer is like albeit a bit green, but as i said i was doing it by the book and the book states its drinkable after being bottled for a week. Cracked the lid on the Grolsch bottle and 1st thing i noticed was the pressure build up was a bit weak and i cant remember if i put 2 carbonation drops in or 1 [roll] Poured 500ml into a pint glass and the 1st thing i noticed was not much head but the carbonation seemed ok. I know the beer hasnt been sitting at very high temperatures before i put this one in the fridge for 24hours. The taste was fine although nothing spectacular but should improve with age. All in all a drinkable beer and no funny tastes in it. What have i learnt so far with my DIY experiment is that a novice brewer would have no trouble brewing up a drinkable beer that they could indulge in 2 weeks after making the kit up, not that i recommend doing that just that you can do it. The other thing is i wouldnt use Brew enhancer1 but then again it was in the kit so i used it. Later today i will bottle the brew i left standing for the extra week and taste how the hops went in it, then next week i will do another taste test and a comparison with the 1st bottle i took out of the fermenter a week ago. Bring on my next brew, a heavy vintage ale, then i am going to try and remember the ingredients for my millenium Stout i made in 2000 which was a ripper using 2 cans of Coopers Stout.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Muddy Waters Posted September 17, 2011 Share Posted September 17, 2011 Nice write up Tony [cool] BTW - I wouldn't be using carb drops in the grolsch bottles (467ml?) as for a "typical beer" 1 drop isn't enough and 2 drops is way too much for a bottle that size. Of course this doesn't apply to lower carbed beers such as a stout - 1 drop in a grolsch bottle would be ok. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TonyW Posted September 17, 2011 Author Share Posted September 17, 2011 Nice write up Tony [cool] BTW - I wouldn't be using carb drops in the grolsch bottles (467ml?) as for a "typical beer" 1 drop isn't enough and 2 drops is way too much for a bottle that size. Of course this doesn't apply to lower carbed beers such as a stout - 1 drop in a grolsch bottle would be ok. I only used them because they were in the kit, but yeah you are right about them, and now i remember i did only use one drop in each as i didnt want any bottle bombs. I used to bulk prime so i will get back to that at a later date. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TonyW Posted September 17, 2011 Author Share Posted September 17, 2011 Just had a taste out of the test tube and its a totally different beer now that its hopped with the Nelson Sauvin, cant wait to compare the 2 beers next weekend, the original and the hopped [love] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HbgBill Posted September 28, 2011 Share Posted September 28, 2011 This might be a dumb question.. but, I'm a noobie. When you dry hop.. I guess that means you are adding dry hops to the FV. Do these hops have to be "sterilized" before doing this? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hairy Posted September 28, 2011 Share Posted September 28, 2011 No need to sterilise the hops. Apparently they have anti-bacterial properties (or something). I'm no scientist; I just know that they don't cause infections. However, if you are using a hop bag to restrain your hops, then you should sanitise the bag. I just boil it in some water for a few minutes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Muddy Waters Posted September 28, 2011 Share Posted September 28, 2011 Nope you just add them dry (not sanitised or sterilised) however they should be handled with clean utensils. Some people just toss them in loose and others tie them in a clean chux cloth straight from the pack. Personally I use a muslin stock bag - I sterilize this by boiling it in water before adding the hops to it and tossing it in my brew Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TonyW Posted September 28, 2011 Author Share Posted September 28, 2011 I originally dry hopped by just throwing the pellets in but for my next brew i have used sanitised hop bag. I am finding small amounts of hop in the bottle, no biggy they are good for you, but they did clog up my bottler. Compared the hopped with the unhopped and although the unhopped had improved and the carbonation was good the greener dry hopped bottle was far more tasty if at all a bit over hopped but drinkable, time will bring this down. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BrendanS8 Posted September 28, 2011 Share Posted September 28, 2011 I just throw em in loose. Then bulk prime into a secondary fermenter come bottling day. No probs with a clogged bottler that way[biggrin] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TonyW Posted September 29, 2011 Author Share Posted September 29, 2011 I just throw em in loose. Then bulk prime into a secondary fermenter come bottling day. No probs with a clogged bottler that way[biggrin] I used to do a secondary but dont see the point these days although alot of people do it, i just leave it int the primary for an extra week and alls good. [biggrin] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Muddy Waters Posted September 29, 2011 Share Posted September 29, 2011 Tony - I agree that secondary fermentation is a waste of time and effort but I beleive Brendan was just saying he moves his beer to secondary FV just for the purposes of bulk priming. As for throwing hops in loose - I for one strongly beleive in constraining them as whenever I've chucked them in loose I've ended up with hop matter in my bottles. It does settle out with time in the bottle but I prefer to avoid it altogether. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TonyW Posted September 29, 2011 Author Share Posted September 29, 2011 Tony - I agree that secondary fermentation is a waste of time and effort but I beleive Brendan was just saying he moves his beer to secondary FV just for the purposes of bulk priming. ahh i missed the bulk priming part, yes i would bulk prime the secondary add some hops and throw some whiskey laden oak chips down the bottom as well [love] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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