Q&A: Homebrewing

[cdh]

bottled the wheat beer- used the website you kindly recommended to work out the priming amount. I've gone a little under, with honey. Went to local bar with big bucket last night- 100 empty Nastro bottles waiting for me in the morning!

I tasted prior to priming(racked into other bin first). It looks good, smells good but tastes a bit sour(not vinegary), rather watery. No carbonation whatsoeva. Bit like an ale. Not impressed at the moment but not despondent as its my first try.

Will it improve with the honey/priming/age?

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You should expect no fizz before the beer has been primed and sealed in bottles for 2 weeks. Acidity is a part of the recipe you used. German wheat yeasts throw some tartness, and you used acid malt in the mash, no? It should have a nice lactic edge. The wateryness will likely seem much improved once carbonated.

[Bill Poster]

Cheers- What temp should i store? Getting a little hot in London again. I take it the fridge is too cold?

[cdh]

Back to the basement. That should be fine to carbonate them.

[cdh]

So anybody else with results to report? Msk, how did the saison turn out? Anybody else with new beer to brag about?

[FoodMan]

I think I will finally have some time and space to brew the last recipe this weekend. I am still drinking the last of the red ale and enjoying it very much.

[Msk]

The Saison turned out great. Perhaps a little too malty based on my problems in the mashing process but great nonetheless. I found it to be the perfect "one beer" beer. I slapped some homemade labels on a six pack and gave it to my friend as a present. Named it "AbigAle" for his brand new daughter (Abigail). Great citrus malty combo there. You really have given us some great recipes.

I have made two more batches since then a nut brown ale and I remade the golden ale with a few tweaks. Nut brown definetly needs some age on it. The golden ale however, just rocks. Its such a crowd pleaser, people who don't like beer like it.

My next two will likely be a Dubel or Tripel and a remake of the Red Ale since I messed that one up too (though still made good beer)

I also made the investment in a kegging setup, just getting it going but loving it.

[FoodMan]

I did manage to brew the beer from the last recipe this Sunday.

- I made a four gallon batch, so I added an extra 1/2 lb sugar and extra 2 lbs of DME. I used light wheat extract. I did also double the spicing and the hops, but not the grains.

- I must have a bigger cooler than yours Chris. I actually had to keep my cooler tilted to make sure the gallon of water covers most of the grains. The liquid cleared very quickly and had a very light brown color.

- The guy at the brew shop recommended I use a good Belgian Wit Yeast from White labs with the recipe. So, I uised that.

- This morning, 20 hours or so after brewing, I see a few gurgles every few seconds but nothing crazy. I'm hoping it will pick up more soon.

Well, It smelled and tasted great, a little more bitter than I expected actually but nice and malty and not too spicy. I am sure all this will mellow and even out with age. I will report more when I have updates.

After this batch, it's Porter time!

[cdh]

A pity we're all so far apart... I'd love to taste what you all have been making.

[FoodMan]

Chris-

two questions about this latest batch of beer I'm brewing. Keep in mind that I used a Belgian Wit Beer from White Labs (I think something like WLP400).

1- The fermentation is still going on since Sunday at the rate of a few gurgles every 40 seconds or so. It never exactly had that spike as far as I could tell. Is that ok?

2- Will this kind of yeast also benefit from a higher temp than normal like you mention in the lesson? I have it in a room that is probably in the high 80s most of the day.

[cdh]

The Wit yeast won't mind the heat much, but won't benefit from it either. It is the Saison yeasts that do interesting stuff when they get warm.

Don't worry about the absence of spike in fermentation activity.

[FoodMan]

The Wit yeast won't mind the heat much, but won't benefit from it either.  It is the Saison yeasts that do interesting stuff when they get warm.

Don't worry about the absence of spike in fermentation activity.

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Darn it! I should've insisted on the yeasts you suggested rather than take the proprietor's suggestion. Oh well, we'll see what I'll end up with, I'm guessing something not as tangy as you intended.

[Bill Poster]

Opened a bottle of the Wheat beer I brewed- its much better than when i bottled it, but still barely drinkable IMO. 'Irony', too yeasty, slightly watery taste overshadows any flavour. Smells ok tho and the carbonation is spot on! Nice big white head which doesnt disappear after 5 seconds. Pot of honey did its job.

Chris, any thoughts on the irony taste?

[cdh]

Chris, any thoughts on the irony taste?

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That flavor could have come from any number of issues--

1. Iron in your water can cause it... got iron pipes? Does your white porcellain get reddish stains?

2. Iron brewing utensils can cause it... stainless pots and spoons and whisks are the way to go.

3. Oxidation can cause it... did your beer get shaken up/jostled after it finished fermenting?

[Bill Poster]

no.3 i reckon

[FoodMan]

Opened a bottle of the Wheat beer I brewed- its much better than when i bottled it, but still barely drinkable IMO. 'Irony', too yeasty, slightly watery taste overshadows any flavour. Smells ok tho and the carbonation is spot on! Nice big white head which doesnt disappear after 5 seconds. Pot of honey did its job.

Chris, any thoughts on the irony taste?

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Oh boy, now I'm more worried about my beer. I used a wheat extract and wit yeast. Fingers crossed...

[cdh]

Don't worry. You'll notice on the previous page that Bill is not following the class or making my recipes. He's doing his own thing, and his problems are not something for you to concern yourself with.

The Saison recipe is a good one, and if you followed my instructions, you'll do fine. I made my own with the Wit yeast (albeit Wyeast 3944, rather than White Labs, though word has it that they are from the same source.) It came out delicious.

How long has yours been going in the fermentor? How's your airlock activity now?

Edited September 19, 2006 by cdh (log)

[FoodMan]

I'm lazy man, I could've looked back and verified what Bill is talking about. Thanks for the reassurance.

The beer has been in the fermentor for 8 days now and the activity is pretty slow. I would say last night it was a few bubbles every 90 seconds or so. Should I bottle this weekend or give it till the end of the month? What do you think?

[cdh]

I'm lazy man, I could've looked back and verified what Bill is talking about. Thanks for the reassurance.

The beer has been in the fermentor for 8 days now and the activity is pretty slow. I would say last night it was a few bubbles every 90 seconds or so. Should I bottle this weekend or give it till the end of the month? What do you think?

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I'd say to bottle this weekend. Two weeks in warm conditions is enough time.

[Matty]

So anybody else with results to report?  Msk, how did the saison turn out? Anybody else with new beer to brag about?

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Hi Chris,

I've been busy AG brewing and have four batches under my belt now. A neighbour made me an immersion chiller and I got great results in my last batch, which was:

Maris Otter - 4kg

Carapils - 200g

Crystal - 100g

East Kent Goldings - 50g full boil

Wyeast 1098 British Ale

I think I will up the Carapils next time for better head retention.

Anyway, my main reason for posting was to thank you for doing the class and for getting us all going - your time and input is really appreciated. Cheers.

Best,

Matt

p.s. Bill Poster - in case you haven't seen it mate, there is a good UK brewing forum here

Edited September 20, 2006 by Matty (log)

[Tim Dolan]

What are/are there consequences of letting the wort ferment past two weeks? Will it turn out bad if it goes to 3 weeks?

[cdh]

Your beer will be fine after 3 weeks in the fermentor.

If you leave it there for a long time, and the environmental conditions are right, then the yeast may begin to break down the remains of earlier generations of yeast. This is called autolysis, and it stinks like burning tires. It is rare, but can happen if you leave beer on a yeast cake for a very long time.

[FoodMan]

Chris-

I did not have time to bottle this weekend (with a 6 month old bvaby in the house and all). However, there is still activity going on in the airlock, maybe every 2 minutes or so. Keeping that in mind and your last comment, I feel better about letting it sit for a few more days to a week now.

BTW, ditto Matt's (nice looking beer too) comments. I am positive I would never have gotten around to starting brewing if it was not for this class.

[FoodMan]

I bottled the latest brew last night. So, it spent a good 2.5 weeks in the fermentor and I think it needed it. There was still some yeast floating on top there. The smell as soon as I opened the tub was absolutly fantastic, very aromatic a little floral and crisp. It tasted quiet good too and none of the original strong bitterness I detected was there. Looking forward to giving the final result a try in a couple of weeks.

I also was a little short on PET bottles this time (a 4 gallon batch like last time) so I ended up with two one liter glass bottles full of beer to make up the difference. This will be the first time I use glass, so I hope I don't have any bombs on my hand!

[Matty]

Elie, do you think Chris has expired after a particularly excessive night on the Saison, or is he being shy about our gratitude?

Edited October 5, 2006 by Matty (log)

[cdh]

Just being a little shy...

I'm glad that I succeeded in getting some more people excited about my favorite hobby... I do wish it were easier to send samples around, as getting a taste of your beer would be a really interesting experiment... I'd like to see how my recipes turn out when brewed by people who aren't me in places that aren't my house.

Something I have noticed is that the golden ale should mature really well over time... I made my pilot batch with wheat extract rather than plain pale extract and it came out a little blandly wheaty for me, so a bunch of bottles sat in my basement untouched over the summer... I grabbed one recently and the hop character had really matured nicely into an almost apricot flavor... just further evidence that beers change and mellow over time. If you have the fermentor space, make the golden ale recipe with wheat dry malt extract and let it sit until next summer and you should be in for a treat.

I've been busy recently brewing the fall's beers... I've got an espresso stout and two variations on a belgian dubbel in the works, and I got swamped in pears from a few big old pear trees and couldn't help myself but to juice and ferment them in a perry making experiment...

Keep us all up to date on your brewing adventures, and I'll do likewise.