Hoeggarden Can in two styles - questions

[LeCoq/Rooster]

Hi all. Been a long time since i've hang around on here. Have created several brews and only chucked one.

 

I ve got a Hoeggarden can split in two fv's, one straight as directed, two can + light amber malt. I'm brewing at 20C in fridge with temp controller. Day 6.

 

Day 2-3 had a lot of scum on top 2-4inches but has dropped down to 1cm - 2cm. I've not seen much of this huge growth then massiv drop back. Is this normal?

 

Also, current taste on Can + Malt is very bitter with long bitter finish. No love yet. This is going to soften significantly, right? first time using amber malt grains. Have been wondering if I should drop some orange rind in there to sweet the bitter end.

 

Any feedback requested. thanks

[Otto Von Blotto]

Jeez you must have hopped it up to get a bitter taste using amber malt.[lol]

 

Anyway, bitterness does mellow in the bottle over time. And the "scum" you refer to is just the krausen. Sounds pretty normal to me, every brew is different so sometimes they can do unpredictable things like that.

[LeCoq/Rooster]

Thanks Otto. That's what i couldn't figure out re flavour. It had a similar flavour to a pale ale i over-hopped due to measuring in litres rathern than grams on my wife's kitchen scales. That was the disposed of brew i mentioned.

 

I remember a guy on here who was nuts for hops, using them in espresso and food. He probably would have loved it.

 

Also, interested the recipes for some of the brews you've got aging. European Amber Ale, Willamette Amber Ale, 196 Pale Ale. Are these and the Sussex Suntan ale in the recipes forum?

 

Thanks

[Otto Von Blotto]

The Euro Amber lager is just a European Lager kit plus a tin of light liquid malt, 250-300g of dark crystal grains and 20g Hallertau boiled for 10 or 15 minutes. I made it to 22L and fermented with the kit yeast.

 

The 196 Pale Ale is featured in my brewday thread, I haven't tasted it as yet though as it's still conditioning/carbonating. But going by the gravity sample tastings it should be a nice brew.

 

The other ones aren't in the recipe resource yet. The Willamette one was an ok beer but it can definitely use some improvement and I haven't fermented the Suntan ale yet. It's an English pale ale style if the name didn't give it away.[lol] I am planning to post that recipe once I've fermented and tasted it if I decide it's a cracker. They are all grain recipes too by the way.

[LeCoq/Rooster]

They all sound great, but grains scare the crap out of me. Just getting over the fear of sterilising.

 

Just checked my the OG on both (Day 6)

Hoeggarden Clone - 103

Hoeggarden Amber - 112

 

They seem really low to me. both started at 120. What's going on?

 

*** Should i be changing the temp?

[Otto Von Blotto]

I used to think that about doing all grain recipes, but it's really easy in reality. It just takes a lot longer.

 

Those are really weird gravity readings. I can't really tell whether they're low or not, most hydrometers read 1000 in 20C water, beer normally ranges between 1045-1060 OG and finishes around 1008-1012 or thereabouts depending on ingredients and yeast. What temp are they fermenting at?

[LeCoq/Rooster]

FV Temp is 20C / Temp Controller is 16.5C; the first two days the FV Temp was 22C.

 

This is my first brew with the Temp Controller and didn't realise it would have to be lower than required temp as the FV temp is higher than the fridge temp.

 

Maybe I need to get the FV to 22 again?

[Otto Von Blotto]

20C is fine mate. But what you could do next time is tape the temp probe to the side of the FV and tape some foam over it to insulate it. This will measure the temp of the brew rather than the surrounding air. When the brew is fermenting it will produce heat, so it's not really surprising that the air temp would be a little lower, but yeah if you use that method with the temp probe, just set the controller to whatever temperature you want to ferment at and it will regulate the fridge on and off to maintain the brew at that temp.[biggrin]