First brew....hmmmm

[LagerLover (formerly TimA6]

Hi guys

 

Well two weeks is up and I stuck a bottle in the fridge to chill and taste.

Not much of a "tsst" sound when I opened the bottle, and zero head when I poured it - flat as a tack. [crying] Not to mention cidery taste hehe (I knew that was coming!)

Not enough time? Infected? What could cause this???

 

Thanks guys

[Rebel Rockin Brews]

Im in no way an expert as im still on my first brew .. but maybe give us more details on ingredients, temperatures etc etc .. and im sure others in the know will chime in with advice :)

[LagerLover (formerly TimA6]

ah yes of course. Kit OS lager, brew enhancer 1, fermented at 26C for a couple days - too high I know - the settled down to around 21C for the remainder of the time.

[LagerLover (formerly TimA6]

Basically all the stuff that comes with the DIY Beer kit.

[Muddy Waters]

What temp did you store the bottles at Tim? They really need to be at 18C+ for the first couple of weeks to carb up.

 

Not sure about Grafton but Sydney is moving to the kind of temps that make it necessary for you to be sure the bottles aren't too cold.

[LagerLover (formerly TimA6]

Bottles stayed at around 21C for the two weeks. Need a bit longer?

Truth be told it would actually taste alright with a bit of fizz!

[Hairy]

The thing to try first is to invert the bottles to disturb the sediment, even a gentle shake.

 

Then store it somewhere quite warm and test again in another week.

 

Sorry, no magic answers right now. Time is your friend (and your enemy) at the moment.

[LagerLover (formerly TimA6]

Thanks guys. I'll do that right now. [biggrin]

[Scottie]

Hey Tim

I reckon it will taste alright as well. I remember my first taste after two weeks, it was my Birthday, I rang up home brew mate who couldn't believe I was trying one so early and I said "Mate its great".

 

Wait another couple of weeks before chilling a cracking another one or two or.....

 

If you primed right then time = fizz, and the longer the time the > fizz.

[Hairy]

If you primed right then time = fizz' date=' and the longer the time the > fizz. [/quote']

Scottie, is that equation exponential? Boom [devil]

[LagerLover (formerly TimA6]

Thanks Scottie.

I just checked the temp of my bottles and they're at 23C. I just tipped them all upside down.

Hairy you mentioned sediment. I left my brew a few extra days to clear up... do you think that's bad as there's maybe not enough sediment/yeast to do the secondary ferment??

[Hairy]

Thanks Scottie.

I just checked the temp of my bottles and they're at 23C. I just tipped them all upside down.

Hairy you mentioned sediment. I left my brew a few extra days to clear up... do you think that's bad as there's maybe not enough sediment/yeast to do the secondary ferment??

There will be plenty of yeast. I have, on a few occasions, chilled at 2C for 4 weeks before bottling. They carbed up fine.

[LagerLover (formerly TimA6]

wow! OK. No probs with sediment [lol]

Thanks bud.

[Scottie]

Scottie, is that equation exponential? Boom [devil]

Hey Hairy

To a point, I can tell you that after extended periods, e.g. 70 weeks, the ones carbed with carb drops take some exceptional skill to pour i.e. it is quite easy to pout 3/4 of a glass of head.

[PhilboBaggins]

Sorry, but carb drops are awful. Way too fizzy. I love opening one of my beers and being able to pour to the centre of the glass without tilting and getting a lovely pour every time. [love]

[Hairy]

Sorry' date=' but carb drops are awful. Way too fizzy. I love opening one of my beers and being able to pour to the centre of the glass without tilting and getting a lovely pour every time. [love']

Is it the carb drop itself that makes it too fizzy or the amount of drops you add? I would say the latter.

[Scottie]

I think I've been misunderstood.

I don't use carb drops haven't for a long time. As it would happen though the 70 week old brew (That's over a year) I have was carbed with drops. What I am saying is; that at 70 weeks it has much more fizz than it had at 12 weeks.

 

As for the card drops v dextrose v sugar, I actually think any form of natural priming is detrimental to your beer unless you wait for 3 months.

[Otto Von Blotto]

How does that work though? Surely there's only a certain amount of CO2 produced and once that's been produced that's all there will ever be in a particular bottle. I'm not trying to be a smartarse, I'm just trying to understand how you get more fizz out of the same amount of CO2.

 

I have noticed this extract amber ale that I bottled in Sept last year I think it was, ends up with a massive head on it which it didn't have when it was younger. The beer isn't any fizzier though, it just froths up more for some reason.

[Scottie]

I have noticed this extract amber ale that I bottled in Sept last year I think it was' date=' ends up with a massive head on it which it didn't have when it was younger. The beer isn't any fizzier though, it just froths up more for some reason.[/quote']

 

Hey Kelsey

 

I am going to score you a +1 for this post. I was just assuming that the massive head was due to over carbonation, but as you say this defies logic/science. When I finally get it poured right there seems to be a lot of bubbles, are there more than before? I can't really say, has some of the Co2 escaped from solution in forming that initial massive head? Certainly a strange phenomena that no doubt someone has an explanation for.

But without doubt as you say the head on that beer is way bigger than it was originally, and I know I had a similar problem with my Bushy Park Blonde and an English Special Bitter.

 

BYW Sorry to hijack your thread Tim, but think of it this way by the time I stop rambling on you'll be due a second taste and you will have more fizz in your beer [biggrin]

[Sticky Wicket]

Hey Scottie,

 

Isn't that over carbonated 70 week old beer you talk about, the one that you said has not matured with age and you were considering tipping?

 

I did a Heritage Lager that got worse with age, tasted like chemicals after about six months, in fact it was undrinkable, absolutely awful.

 

I assume it was infected, I don't know why as my sanitary processes are very particular, however the longer I left it the quicker the bottle cap wanted to hit the ceiling.

 

I use carb drops without a problem, just find it easy. However if your beer is infected, I don't think it matters how you carbed/conditioned the little fellas.

 

Infection equals extra carb!

[Otto Von Blotto]

I wonder if it's something to do with the malt extract. I just finished an AG batch last weekend that was bottled after the amber I mentioned and it didn't get this big crazy head on it. [unsure]

[Sticky Wicket]

I think you are onto something Kelsey, I definitely noticed an inconsistency with extract brews. However with AG brewing carbonation is very consistent.

 

Must say the Heritage lager was over the top with carb and horrible to drink, you couldn't even give the stuff away, I thought it would be like killing family pouring a beer down the sink, not this stuff though, I couldn't get rid of it fast enough.

[guest1525228310]

I think you are onto something Kelsey, I definitely noticed an inconsistency with extract brews. However with AG brewing carbonation is very consistent.

 

Must say the Heritage lager was over the top with carb and horrible to drink, you couldn't even give the stuff away, I thought it would be like killing family pouring a beer down the sink, not this stuff though, I couldn't get rid of it fast enough.

 

Sorry guys but I am struggling to see how extract brews would carbonate less than AG. I would have thought that was directly linked to the fermentable priming sugar added at bottling time - assuming all else is equal.

Perhaps you are comparing head quality/retention and I would agree depending what grains and other additions you make to your AG recipe that would effect the head quality as opposed to simply the amount of CO2 in the beer which is produced as a result of adding priming sugar.

[Scottie]

Hey Blokes

 

Some interesting discussion but I think we're yet to solve the puzzle. My beers that produce massive heads aren't infected. The Dr Smurtos is drinkable it just finishes too bitter, the Bushy Park Blonde tastes the same as it did at 3 months.

 

I agree with the devil's advocate guy, I know I shouldn't, that the malt extract will fully ferment out in the FV. Bit that's OK I know that you AG guys will try anything to get us extract brewers to the dark side [lol] .

 

This is a strange phenomena [alien] but not one I have to worry about now that I keg. Oops there you go a plug for kegging in a subtle effort to convert all you bottlers.

[Otto Von Blotto]

I think the post has been misunderstood a bit. If the extract brews carbonated less then they wouldn't end up with these crazy over the top foaming heads in the first place. I haven't noticed any difference in the actual carbonation levels between extract and AG, and that's not what I was saying, but none of my AG brews have foamed up like that extract brew does. Even when I pour it and only have a cm or so of head, by the time I rinse the bottle it's foamed up over an inch high and out of the glass. And then you can't drink it for about 10 minutes while it settles down again. At least I've only got 5 of them left.[lol]

 

None of my kit or extract brews were ever over carbonated, but for some reason some of them used to get this ridiculous foaming going on which is something that I haven't had in my AG brews, which are all different recipes and some with basically the same specialty grains as my old extract brews. This is why I'm wondering if it is something to do with the extract itself causing something to happen with the formation of the head which makes it go mental. But even that doesn't explain why some of them do and some don't. [unsure]

 

Scottie, have you noticed in the ones that foam up heaps that the bubbles are bigger and more loosely packed? This is something I have noticed in the ones that have done that for me, the bubbles are more akin to pouring a glass of coke than a glass of beer where they are normally very small and tightly packed. So maybe it's not so much that they are over carbed, but that the gas is being released faster than maybe it should be, for some reason.