WATMM Homebrew Thread

  On 10/24/2012 at 3:51 PM, onesixoneight said:

US-05. Seen that in my local brewshop. Noted.

That's cool, my local shop didn't have it and was saying that less people are stocking it because it's hard to shift and goes off. I found it on ebay. Apparently it's gives it a nice american flavour so hopefully my beer should end up a little like Sierra Navada Pale Ale (in theory!!).

US05 is a very clean/neutral yeast. If you can't find it but your store stocks Wyeast or White Labs, the have the exact same strains, just wet instead of dry (WY 1056, or WLP001 respectively)

I sampled my Imperial Pumpkin last night. It's been just over three weeks since brew day. I added 4oz of real vanilla extract and more pumpkin pie spice 4 days ago. It's tasting nice, still a little hot from the 9.6% abv, but mellowing well. I think it still needs more spice though. Unfortunately I don't think it will be ready for Thanksgiving as high gravity brews take longer to carbonate and this one still needs more time before I bottle.

Also tried first wort hopping and burst hoping on an American IPA and it's tasting really good. A little more bitter than I anticipated, but it's on the high end (technically out of style) for an AIPA @ 7% and 90 IBUs. I'll be dry hopping it with a mix of Columbus, Cascade, and Zythos shortly. Then into the bottle after about a week.

Yep my latest brew didnt work out well, Im blaming the yeast as its got no kick. Justified?

Ive got a clean, malty, nice tasting dark ale with very little alcohol. Shame.

Geordie Winter Warmer with Coopers Amber extract.

Left for 16 days in a steady 20C room.

OG - 1.038

FG - 1.014

Thats just about 3%. Ive read that the aim is to get a fourfold decrease in the last 3 digits FG from the OG.

Its plenty fizzy out the bottle and stays that way all the way down, what I noticed was that the krausen was pants it hardly touched the lid of my bucket whereas previous brews have gone over the top.

So whats going on here stuck fermentation or crap yeast, using malt instead of the recommended sugar? or should I have left it longer, the bubbling had slowed right down though, the instructions on the pack tell you its ready in a week!

What kind of yeast is it? That FG is pretty high, but if the kit recommends using sugar and you added more malt extract that could be your problem. Sugar will ferment out completely whereas malt extract won't.

What kind of temps were you fermenting at? A week is pretty quick in my experience. It will ferment hard for 3-7 days, but even after the krausen has dropped it will still go down a few more points as it sits. I usually let everything sit for at least 2 weeks before bottling.

How long has it been in the bottle? If it wasn't completely done fermenting you could have some explosions.

a lot of recipes suggest 2-4 cups of corn sugar as well as your malt extract.

The yeast was the standard packet that came with the pack and wasnt stamped with anything discernible to be a yeast strain.

The room was 20 degrees celsius and didnt change throughout, it was racked 3-4 weeks ago, stood for a week at room temp then in my garage at about 9C.

Ive read that its better to use malt extract as its got more nutrients for the yeast to grow with whereas sugar is just sugar, nothing else.

Are the yeast strains produced so that they adapt better with sugar as some brew packs have two cans of malt and you add no sugar?

  On 10/31/2012 at 2:38 PM, keltoi said:

a lot of recipes suggest 2-4 cups of corn sugar as well as your malt extract.

Noted I will look into that one thanks.

  On 10/31/2012 at 3:53 PM, onesixoneight said:

Ive read that its better to use malt extract as its got more nutrients for the yeast to grow with whereas sugar is just sugar, nothing else.

my understanding is that malt extract is used because it will add/enhance flavour whereas brewers sugar is more or less tasteless in the finished brew. (but i'm also a noob so could be totally wrong)

did you re-hydrate your yeast?

I did yes and got it to the same temp as the wort before pitching.

I also aerated the cooled wort before pitching the yeast.

I'd say it just comes down to using all malt extract and no simple sugars. There's often more long chain sugars in malt extract that the yeast are unable to chew up. I'm sure you have a small ale with really nice body and head retention. Adding simple sugar would have bright the FG down slightly and thinned the beer out.

Did you use a dark extract? Dark extracts have more crystal/caramel malts which are not as fermentable so that could have lead to your high FG.

Simple sugars are tasteless in beer to an extent, up to about 10-15% of your total grain bill, but too much can add a cidery flavor.

I used an amber malt so middling really. My brew is a lovely color and really clear.

Iwill put some sugar in aswell next time to help things along.

Thanks guys for the advice, appreciated.

I now have 21 bombers of Imperial Pumpkin Ale and 41 12oz bottled of delicious West Coast American IPA that I bottled last week. Really looking forward to tasting the IPA next week, it was amazing out of the bottling bucket. The pumpkin probably won't be carbonated for a month or more since its such a big beer.

Planning on brewing a Deschutes Mirror Pond pale ale clone this weekend

**the waiting is the hardest part**

man you must drink a lot of beer! does some lucky person help you get through all that?

I give a lot of it away to friends and family.

I haven't been able to brew regularly for a while, so I really want to get a pipeline going again.

pls pipeline it to my mouth.

  On 10/1/2012 at 8:45 PM, jhonny said:

Just put a brew on:

 

Coopers Australian Pale Ale

1 kg Brew Enhancer 2

2 litre cascade hop tea (20g boiled for 15 mins, then added 20g more and steeped for 30 mins).

US-05 yeast.

 

Gonna leave it for 10 days and then syphon to secondary and dry hop for another 7 days with 20g of cascade.

 

First time I've tried messing about with hops, so am excited to see how it turns out!

Jhonny how did your brew turn out, are you pleased with it?

I've got a brew fermenting since Saturday. It's meant to stay untouched until just before Christmas but I doubt it'll make it. Also got some damson gin and sloe vodka ready to go.

  On 11/21/2012 at 8:23 PM, onesixoneight said:

  On 10/1/2012 at 8:45 PM, jhonny said:

Just put a brew on:

 

Coopers Australian Pale Ale

1 kg Brew Enhancer 2

2 litre cascade hop tea (20g boiled for 15 mins, then added 20g more and steeped for 30 mins).

US-05 yeast.

 

Gonna leave it for 10 days and then syphon to secondary and dry hop for another 7 days with 20g of cascade.

 

First time I've tried messing about with hops, so am excited to see how it turns out!

 

 

Jhonny how did your brew turn out, are you pleased with it?

I left it what I thought was a warm place for a couple of weeks and then tried it and it tasted nice but hadn't really carbonated. I bottled them all in glass bottles and so couldn't feel to see if it had worked. So I've bought an old scummy secondhand electric blanket (with a 'tea' stain on it) from ebay and left it over the bottles to bring the temperature up. My house is quite old and gets cold if the heating isn't on. The bottle are at 24c which should be fine and I've put one in the fridge this morning to give it at test tonight after 4 days. The missus isn't happy about me leaving it on over the weekend when we're away but I'll try to sneakily do it because I don't want to keep interrupting it, I reckon it needs a couple of weeks of being warm and then is should be ready to leave in the cold and dark and be in good shape for xmas.

Ok so I hope the tasting went well.....

Did the carbonation go off in the bottles?

You could try putting your beer in an plastic coke bottle as a test to see if it firms up during conditioning. That would give you an indication on how well the rest has done.

I leave my bottles in a cupboard for two weeks at 19-20°C and they are just right.

just cracked one open. it's definitely carbonating but I reckon it needs a few more days in the warm at least. in the night our house drops down to about 14c so it's definitely too cold for much of the time, even in the cupboard with the boiler.

Yes I'll definitely do that with a coke bottle next time.

The beer tastes very fresh and perhaps a little thin but you can taste the bitter/citrusy cascade hops and it's got a lot of potential so excited to see how it is in a few weeks.

  On 11/21/2012 at 9:53 PM, spratters said:

Also got some damson gin and sloe vodka ready to go.

  On 11/13/2012 at 4:09 PM, keltoi said:

pls pipeline it to my mouth.

  On 11/22/2012 at 8:14 PM, jhonny said:

just cracked one open. it's definitely carbonating but I reckon it needs a few more days in the warm at least. in the night our house drops down to about 14c so it's definitely too cold for much of the time, even in the cupboard with the boiler.

 

Yes I'll definitely do that with a coke bottle next time.

 

The beer tastes very fresh and perhaps a little thin but you can taste the bitter/citrusy cascade hops and it's got a lot of potential so excited to see how it is in a few weeks.

Citrusy, that sounds good. The full flavour will take a few more weeks and im sure you will be checking up on it regularly.

Yeah if you can get the temp to 18°C minimum you should be ok.

My West Coast IPA has turned out amazing! Piney, fruity, with slight citrus. Big bitterness up front, but it dissipates quickly and leaves a sticky/resiny pine flavor on your tongue. If it was that bitter all the way through it would be too much, but as it is I'm very happy with it. Calculated 93 IBUs, 7.4% abv, hoppy goodness :D

I've only opened one bottle of the Imperial Pumpkin and it wasn't carbonated at all yet. Probably won't be sharing that one til next year unfortunately. ..

I helped my friend make this and it turned out GREAT!!

Looks good, nice white head on that how does it taste?