That home brew taste...

[GregALE]

Reading this post and other Threads - temperature control seems to be the main factor in reducing kit taste. My question is why when most of the experienced brewers on this forum are recommending the Coopers Kit yeast at 18 degrees - do the kits themselves and the coopers website recommend higher temps. There would be a legion of brewers just brewing in ambient temps in sheds having mixed results producing poorer tasting beer.

 

I am playing with temp control myself at the moment mainly by just insulating the FV in a fridge (I have no temp control device at the moment)

 

Based on the temp on the stick on thermometer I am keeping it at 18 degrees but it does sneak up to 20 during the day (I can turn on the fridge to bring it down) and on cold nights when I check in the morning it is getting down towards 16

 

Is this movement of temp likely to result in poorer tasting beer then if I could keep it at 18 constant. And for the novice palate what should I be looking for in the taste

 

[Beervis]

I don't think that temp movement will cause you too many problems because at all stages it's at or below 20 degrees, it might take a bit longer to ferment out. But in my experience when it's getting up to 24/25/26 regularly then crashing down overnight, you get a really average beer. I made a tonne of K+K's under the house with no fridge at my last place and they were all pretty bad.

 

As for the taste, there are heaps of resources and forum posts out there discussing off flavours in beer and if you google 'kit twang' you'll find heaps more. The problem with researching off flavours is that most of the resources are to do with full extract and AG brews since there doesn't seem to be much of a kit brewing community in the states and that's where most of the resources are from.

From my personal experience, a good kit brew should taste like beer and have the flavour associated with the beer style. It will probably taste a bit cheap and basic but it will taste like beer.

'Kit taste' is when it doesn't taste much like beer or enough like beer - I tend to describe it as a slightly sweet, thin taste, it's hard to put a finger on. Kit taste has a marked aroma too, which is along the same lines, a bit sweet and chemical-y. It's hard to describe but once you've noticed it a few times you'll know exactly what I'm talking about.

 

Sometimes just leaving it to condition for a couple more weeks will do the trick, but not always and it's not always because of the yeast or temperature control either - I feel like I've had good practices in both of those for ages now and it still sometimes pops up. I think some kits just aren't that good. Also carb levels that are too low have been a problem for me too. I've tried deliberately over-carbing some of the lighter style kit beers and that has made them a fair bit better. That's using 3 carb drops per PET tallie. Don't leave them to condition for more than 4 or 5 weeks though because they keep carbing up and get bad after that. I'd put them in the fridge after 4 weeks.

 

Sorry for the ramble I hope that helped!

 

 

[Jfergus]

On 4/1/2018 at 2:55 AM, Beervis said:

I don't think that temp movement will cause you too many problems because at all stages it's at or below 20 degrees, it might take a bit longer to ferment out. But in my experience when it's getting up to 24/25/26 regularly then crashing down overnight, you get a really average beer. I made a tonne of K+K's under the house with no fridge at my last place and they were all pretty bad.

 

As for the taste, there are heaps of resources and forum posts out there discussing off flavours in beer and if you google 'kit twang' you'll find heaps more. The problem with researching off flavours is that most of the resources are to do with full extract and AG brews since there doesn't seem to be much of a kit brewing community in the states and that's where most of the resources are from.

From my personal experience, a good kit brew should taste like beer and have the flavour associated with the beer style. It will probably taste a bit cheap and basic but it will taste like beer.

'Kit taste' is when it doesn't taste much like beer or enough like beer - I tend to describe it as a slightly sweet, thin taste, it's hard to put a finger on. Kit taste has a marked aroma too, which is along the same lines, a bit sweet and chemical-y. It's hard to describe but once you've noticed it a few times you'll know exactly what I'm talking about.

 

Sometimes just leaving it to condition for a couple more weeks will do the trick, but not always and it's not always because of the yeast or temperature control either - I feel like I've had good practices in both of those for ages now and it still sometimes pops up. I think some kits just aren't that good. Also carb levels that are too low have been a problem for me too. I've tried deliberately over-carbing some of the lighter style kit beers and that has made them a fair bit better. That's using 3 carb drops per PET tallie. Don't leave them to condition for more than 4 or 5 weeks though because they keep carbing up and get bad after that. I'd put them in the fridge after 4 weeks.

 

Sorry for the ramble I hope that helped!

 

 

Hey there thanks for revisiting this, i ended up giving up for a few years. Back on a tight as budget now, first baby arrived and wife no longer. I did a Bookmakers Pale Ale kit with a short cascade boil for some more flavor / aroma, lugged the fermenter out to the shed that has the temp controller fridge in it, brewed it at like 17-18 for 10 days, cold crashed, lugged it inside again. I bottled it after a mate came over and now I have the same old home brewy / stale taste but I was wondering about oxidization? I think ill make a fresh post and ask ha ha 

[Shamus O'Sean]

13 minutes ago, Jfergus said:

Hey there thanks for revisiting this, i ended up giving up for a few years. Back on a tight as budget now, first baby arrived and wife no longer. I did a Bookmakers Pale Ale kit with a short cascade boil for some more flavor / aroma, lugged the fermenter out to the shed that has the temp controller fridge in it, brewed it at like 17-18 for 10 days, cold crashed, lugged it inside again. I bottled it after a mate came over and now I have the same old home brewy / stale taste but I was wondering about oxidization? I think ill make a fresh post and ask ha ha 

Interesting JFergy

You might need to clarify the family situation.  It sounds somewhere between "not so good" and "dire".  Hope its the former, even though that might not be the best for you.

The Cascade boil should do some good to offset the sometimes sweeter taste of the Coopers concentrates.  You should not get stale.  What do you think might have contributed to oxidisation?

Cheers Shamus

[Jfergus]

2 minutes ago, Shamus O'Sean said:

Interesting JFergy

You might need to clarify the family situation.  It sounds somewhere between "not so good" and "dire".  Hope its the former, even though that might not be the best for you.

The Cascade boil should do some good to offset the sometimes sweeter taste of the Coopers concentrates.  You should not get stale.  What do you think might have contributed to oxidisation?

Cheers Shamus

oh goodness me ha ha ha dam, no longer "working" thanks for the save, what a terrible type O. Can i edit posts?

Lugging in carboy from fermenting fridge in shed to kitchen and pouring from siphon hose into bottle making bubbles, what you think? 

 

[Shamus O'Sean]

All good Fergy

I saw you subsequent post.  Congrats on the arrival of bubs.  Wife off work, you will survive (Mine has not earned a crust since 1995, however she has kept our home running ever since).  

I move my Coopers fermenter around a bit.  Fermenting fridge to kitchen bench for isinglass addition.  Admittedly that is only from laundry to kitchen.

Maybe the transfer to the bottles is more of an issue.  The Coopers fermenter, with a bottling tube in the tap gets the brew into the bottom of each bottle, minimising oxidisation.

@ChristinaS1 often bottles from a carboy.  She might have some advice for minimising oxygen.

Cheers Shamus

[Otto Von Blotto]

Was the kit bought now or was it left over from when you last brewed?

[ChristinaS1]

On 12/27/2019 at 8:19 AM, Shamus O'Sean said:

 

On 12/27/2019 at 8:01 AM, Jfergus said:

Lugging in carboy from fermenting fridge in shed to kitchen and pouring from siphon hose into bottle making bubbles, what you think? 

@ChristinaS1 often bottles from a carboy.  She might have some advice for minimising oxygen.

For moving the carboy from fermenting fridge to the kitchen I use a carboy trolley, which works well if you don't have any stairs to deal with.

And in order to reduce bubbles in the auto-siphon hose I pour some cooled, boiled water into the space between the outside "pipe" and the plunger; if anything gets sucked in it is water and not air.

Cheers,

Christina.

[Jfergus]

On 12/27/2019 at 11:29 PM, Otto Von Blotto said:

Was the kit bought now or was it left over from when you last brewed?

Ha ha ha, you sir knew the answer to this question when you asked I am sure of it will update newer Post with results