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1st post, 2nd brew 3 questions and a hello


mr black

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i just wanted to say hi as ive been reading various topics and such for the last few days now and decided to join since it seems to be an extremely helpful and friendly site,

so heres the questions (sorry if they seem really obvious or stupid but im gonna go cross-eyed if i keep searching)

the first brew was morgans blue mountain lager

the guy at brew shop gave me 1kg of dry ultra blend

(250g dex, 250g corn syrup and 500g light dry malt) using the can yeast aswell, i let it ferment for 5 days but the hydrometer didnt drop below 1012 and was stable for a few days so on the 8th day i bottled it 2 weeks later it tastes pretty good as far as im concerned,my question for this is could i add like a 100g of honey or something from the start to up the alcohol a bit and add flavour

2nd question is the temperature up here in(qld)is hot fermentation for the first 5 days was at approximately 27 degrees then i moved it to the shed to bottle it when i realised it needed a few more days,the shed is a bit hotter then the house during the day,so just wondering if this will spoil it,

3rd and final question is

as i said the temp is hot here in qld on the can or instructions of both brews ive done so far(2nd brew is coopers cerveza) it says in hotter conditions fermentation can take as little as 3days in higher temps, the 2nd brew i just tested temp in fermenter was at 27 degrees aswell but has been fermenting for 5 days and still going hydrometer is reading 1010 so should i bottle it tomorrow if its still reading 1010 as the rule on this site is stable for 2 days = ready for botlling,

thanks for reading this if you got this far

dont ya just love amateurs

look forward to hearing any feed back.

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Welcome to the forum Mr Black!

 

Re your questions:

 

1. Yes. You can add honey at the start as part of your fermentables. Here is some info on it:

 

Brewwiki - Honey

 

2. I assume the Blue Mountains Lager comes with an ale yeast. 27 degrees is too high so I wouldn't keep it somewhere that is hotter. Its a bit late for this brew but try to keep them to at least the low 20's if you can.

 

3. What were the ingredients for the cerveza? That will help us determine an expected FG. If I were to hazard a guess I would say it has probably finished.

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Welcome to the forum Mr Black!

 

Re your questions:

 

1. Yes. You can add honey at the start as part of your fermentables. Here is some info on it:

 

Brewwiki - Honey

 

2. I assume the Blue Mountains Lager comes with an ale yeast. 27 degrees is too high so I wouldn't keep it somewhere that is hotter. Its a bit late for this brew but try to keep them to at least the low 20's if you can.

 

3. What were the ingredients for the cerveza? That will help us determine an expected FG. If I were to hazard a guess I would say it has probably finished.

 

thanks for the welcome guys[biggrin]

 

exellent honey will be in the next brew as im getting another fermenter this week,

and i might have to get an old fridge to keep brews at cooler temp,i noticed that everyone on here seems to brew at lower temps do you get generally better brews with slightly lower temps,does the yeast work better at slightly lower temps,

the cerveza has dex 500g,corn syrup 250g LDM 250g and just the stock standard can and yeast

thanks for the info and help

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the cerveza has dex 500g' date='corn syrup 250g LDM 250g and just the stock standard can and yeast[/quote']

I would expect your FG to be around 1010 so it looks like she is finished. If you get the same reading it should be safe to bottle.

 

do you get generally better brews with slightly lower temps' date='does the yeast work better at slightly lower temps[/quote']

I don't think it is correct to say that the yeast works better at a lower temp, but it will generally be nicer. The lower the temp, the cleaner the fermentation.

 

Brewing at higher temps produces more esters and funky flavours, whilst brewing at really high temps may produce fusel alcohol (the hot alcohol taste that gives you a filthy headache).

 

My stock standard yeast for ales is US-05. I use this because it is a neutral style yeast and I don't want it to produce those esters mentioned above. I therefore brew it at 18 degrees.

 

However, you may be using an English ale yeast and some of those esters may be desirable in the style of beer you are making. In that case you may ferment slightly warmer in the low 20's.

 

Unless you are brewing a saison, your beer probably won't taste too good if you ferment at 30 degrees.

 

So in determining the correct temperature range, you should take into consideration the yeast you are using and the style of beer you are making.

 

But if you want to be safe, brew between 18-20 degrees and you won't go wrong (unless its a lager).

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thanks hairy i understand a bit more now ( im pretty slow at this though)i cant believe the amount of variety and variartions of beer that can be produced. cant wait to try some different brews, i will have to learn a bit more first so i will stick with the basics unitl i get some alright tasting beer.

i will get the US-05 yeast though

next brew im going to try some honey out !!

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