Viewing 40 posts - 201 through 240 (of 714 total)
  • Brewers of STW
  • peterfile
    Free Member

    It’s a belter! Rich, deep flavour. Really happy with it.

    Do you marvel at the contents of the glass as you reach the half way mark? I do 🙂

    My little mishap when producing my last batch (tap water leaking from the cooler tubing into the pot) has unfortunately resulted in a useless batch 🙁 It seemed “ok” when I bottled a couple of weeks ago…however I recently opened a bottle and could barely swallow a mouthful. Ah well!

    john_drummer
    Free Member

    contaminated? I feared the worst when I read about that, as it’s happened to me too in the past.

    Sadly for me, the water leaking into the boiler (a) topped up the boiler so I didn’t get the required boil off and (b) was in contact with an unsanitised part of the copper coil and bringing all sorts of cr@p into the wort.

    I managed to crimp up the hoses where they attach to the copper, but it wasn’t long before it started leaking again.
    So I switched to a counterflow wort chiller, which also has the added advantage of using a lot less water. Rather than running cold water through the chiller for 30-40 minutes (to get 23 litres from 100 down to 25 degrees), it only takes as long as it takes to empty the boiler

    peterfile
    Free Member

    I think it must be john. When I tasted it before bottling it was ok (although there were off flavours galore!) and so I still had hopes that it would turn out alright.

    I had a look at a counterflow chiller when you mentioned it last time, it’s on my shopping list. I’m planning a more semi-permanent set up when i move house, so keeping everything on hold until then. Plus, the longer I spend with the smaller kit, the more experience I get, so i’m in no real hurry.

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    zilog6128
    Full Member

    Just finished brew #4 and am pleased to say that I have improved my process a lot!

    Everything went very smoothly this time, hit all my expected temps/volumes/numbers – actually exceeded expected mash efficiency with 78% (massive improvement from before so happy with that). Managed to get a much better rolling boil as well (possibly down to my new Aldi stock pot which is a lot more substantial than the Massive Brewery one).

    Minimal faffing around too as I managed to get everything ready for each stage ahead of time which was good too! Loving a bit of Star San as well – made sanitising for bottling yesterday and brewing today a doddle (assuming it’s as effective as it’s supposed to be)!

    peterfile
    Free Member

    Wow!

    Just had a proper tasting of the Black IPA I brewed a while ago. It’s incredible! Even mrs PF is loving it, despite not really being a fan of dark beers.

    Definitely worth a bash if you like the malt complexity and richness of dark beers, but with a sharpness/refreshment of a hoppy IPA. Works far better than I thought it would.

    Don’t substitute the Carafa III Special

    lbs 12.4 oz Maris Otter
    7.0 oz Carafa III Special
    5.0 oz Munich Malt – 10L
    4.7 oz Caramel/Crystal Malt – 40L
    0.4 oz Northern Brewer [8.5%] – Boil 60 min
    0.2 oz Centennial [10.0%] – Boil 60 min
    0.4 oz Centennial [10.0%] – Boil 30 min
    0.4 oz Northern Brewer [8.5%] – Boil 5 min
    0.8 oz Centennial [10.0%] – Boil 0 min Hops
    1 pkgs California Ale yeast (I used Safale 05)
    0.8 oz Centennial [10.0%] – Dry Hop 7 days

    dc1979
    Free Member

    If anyone is local to Guildford and fancies getting their own ale brewed by a professional……..
    http://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/surrey-news/can-you-help-find-taste-6892132?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter

    yourguitarhero
    Free Member

    First brew didn’t go too well. A lot of the bottles were flat.
    Spoke to the local homebrew shop and put all the beer back in the fermentation vessel with more yeast for a few hours and rebottled it.
    Will give it another ten days and see what happens.
    Tried some out of a bottle that had carbonated – was good!

    peterfile
    Free Member

    carbonation can be a bit of a dark art! John’s idea of bottling some into a PET (plastic) bottle is a good one, since it lets you see when the batch has carbonated.

    A few thoughts:

    Did you leave for 10 days? I tend not to touch the beers for 2 or 3 weeks these days. I’ve had bottles which have carbonated in a week, but i’ve also had ones which took weeks.

    Where did you store them when carbonating? If it was somewhere cool/cold, you’d need to leave for longer. Try to keep at room temperature for carbonation, it speeds up the process.

    How long was the beer in the FV for and what were your gravity readings? Sometimes, there can be no active yeast left when you bottled, which can be a sign of having underpitched in the first place. I’ve had beers sitting in primary for 2/3 months which have carbed up fine though.

    How were you adding sugar? If it was by adding a small amount into each bottle, can I recommend adding it to the whole batch before bottling? I make a sugar solution (boil about 40-45g of sugar in some water for a few minutes, let it cool) then add it to my bottling bucket. Then I siphon in the beer on top. This has given me really even carbonation across all my bottles since I started doing it, it’s very consistent.

    Patience really seems to be the key with carbonation though

    albino
    Free Member

    I’ve also had some mixed results so far and could do with some help/confirm my suspicions.

    Batch#1 – SMASH recipe that came with the Massivebrewery kit. This has turned out okay. Definitely drinkable. Light body with a decent bitter finish. Nothing to write home about but def drinkable.

    The next 2 batches haven’t turned out so good however. They’ve carbed up nicely but have a fruity/sweet taste which seems to have hidden any hop presence. From the little I know/have read, this is probably Acetaldehyde which might have come from fermenting too high. I’ll leave them awhile longer but don’t hold out much hope on these. Both have had 2 weeks in Primary and 2 weeks in bottles so far.

    I’m pretty fussy about my beer and want to get this right, (although I know it’s going to be a long process to get sorted). So I need to figure out where I went wrong.

    Fermentation – I think this is the main culprit. The room I kept it in is the most suitable in the house but the room temp ranged from 13c-23c
    – Far from ideal I know! (Although it was the same room conditions as Beer#1 which worked out okay). Anyway, to counter this I’ve bought an STC1000 and wired it up today ready to do the whole temperature controlled fridge thing.

    I’m hoping that this will sort out the main issues in my brewing but is there anything else major that I may have overlooked or not considered? Any help will be greatly appreciated and hopefully, one day, rewarded with large quantities of fine ale. 😀

    john_drummer
    Free Member

    What’s the gravity been when you decided to bottle or keg it? And also what’s the OG?

    It needs to be around 1012 or less (generally speaking) and the same reading for three or more consecutive days. Unless it’s a really high OG…

    yourguitarhero
    Free Member

    ^ That’s a good tip about using the sugar solution – I saw that somewhere else online when looking up best ways to bottle.

    Left the bottles in my cupboard, exact same place as the FV. Steady temp of 17c there.

    I left the beer in the FV for 10 days and my gravity reading was a steady 1.010. Beginning reading was 1.050 I think.

    We’ll see how these bottles turn out after re-bottling them, and then I’ll start a new batch.

    albino
    Free Member

    What’s the gravity been when you decided to bottle or keg it? And also what’s the OG?

    Hi John – It needs to be around 1012 or less (generally speaking) and the same reading for three or more consecutive days. Unless it’s a really high OG…

    The first one had an OG of 1.050 and a gravity of 1.011 when bottled. It had been at that reading for a couple of days.
    The second had a OG of 1.056 and was bottled at 1.016 where it had remained for 2 days.

    To be honest I think I’m really stuffing up somewhere. I got carried away after tasting the original SMASH beer and thought I’d got the basics right so I kept brewing. However I’ve just tasted another (Summer Ligtning Clone), which is still in Primary and has that same sweet fruity taste. It’s been at 1.011 for a week – 3rd week in primary. (I’m sure the little taste of the wort I’ve just had has given me a headache too!).

    Could under pitching be a possible cause too? I’ve only used half a packet of S-05 or S-05 for each brew.

    I’m thinking of ditching everything and starting again at this point! 👿

    john_drummer
    Free Member

    A full pack of us05 is enough for 23l so in theory half a pack should do 11l… but once it’s open the remainder might not last too long.

    gravity sounds fine so I’m stumped, sorry

    Garry_Lager
    Full Member

    albino – Member

    What’s the gravity been when you decided to bottle or keg it? And also what’s the OG?

    Hi John – It needs to be around 1012 or less (generally speaking) and the same reading for three or more consecutive days. Unless it’s a really high OG…

    The first one had an OG of 1.050 and a gravity of 1.011 when bottled. It had been at that reading for a couple of days.
    The second had a OG of 1.056 and was bottled at 1.016 where it had remained for 2 days.

    To be honest I think I’m really stuffing up somewhere. I got carried away after tasting the original SMASH beer and thought I’d got the basics right so I kept brewing. However I’ve just tasted another (Summer Ligtning Clone), which is still in Primary and has that same sweet fruity taste. It’s been at 1.011 for a week – 3rd week in primary. (I’m sure the little taste of the wort I’ve just had has given me a headache too!).

    Could under pitching be a possible cause too? I’ve only used half a packet of S-05 or S-05 for each brew.

    I’m thinking of ditching everything and starting again at this point! Can be hard work tracking down the source of an off-flavour – have to keep on brewing! A persistent off-flavour over a number of brews normally points to a water or equipment sanitation / contamination issue, IME – not normally a fruity taste but I guess it could be.
    It’s not something simple like under-hopping, either in terms of mass or maybe if you’re using hop bags? I don’t use them, but I’ve read that they’re not quite as efficient for the bittering process – doubt there’s much in it though.
    Other than that I guess you should pursue your acetaldehyde hypothesis – usually linked to oxygenation levels and yeast metabolism AFAIK. Change the yeast?

    albino
    Free Member

    Thanks for the input guys. It really is driving me mad, especially as the first brew on the equipment have me hope to keep going. I had a stab at a couple of extract brews last year and a similar problem. I put it down to either; equipment (I used an old enamel jam put for the kettle); sanitisation or fermentation temps. It put me off enough to give up until I saw the MassiveB kit.
    As for the potential current issues, I’m going to go at it like this:

    Sanitisation: Not sure what I can do to improve this. Everything gets at least 20 mins in Starsan and Often gets an additional spray down with ss too.

    Under hopping: I’ll double check the quantities scaled down through Beersmith but 2 of the brews were hop forward, American PA/IPA style. Don’t think the hop bag is an issue as I’ve brewed with and without._

    Under pitching yeast: Would it do any harm to go with the full packet next time? Also maybe I need to acetate better before pitching.

    Fermentation temperature: I’m really hoping that this is the key and that the range and high-end temperatures have created unwanted esters/fusion alcohol. Designated, temperature controlled beer fridge ready to rock!

    I’m trying to motivate myself but the though of waiting so long again, only to discover a cack beer is holding me back. Maybe a homebrew club is the next step??
    Thanks again and any further advice will be much appreciated!

    peterfile
    Free Member

    Sanitisation: Not sure what I can do to improve this. Everything gets at least 20 mins in Starsan and Often gets an additional spray down with ss too.

    How are you cleaning your equipment?

    Star San is a sanitiser, it doesn’t clean stuff.

    Apologies if I’m telling you something you already know, but a good clean is essential before using star san (as I found out!).

    I use PBW, which is great but expensive. I’m currently looking for an alternative which is a bit more cost effective, then I’ll just use PBW for an occasional deep clean.

    Could be worth picking up some PBW and doing a deep clean on all your kit, just to rule sanitation out for sure.

    I’ve noticed off flavours in a couple of my beers which I just can’t put my finger on. It’s hugely frustrating. I have a feeling that fluctuating fermentation temps might be the issue. I think that with brewing, it seems that the only way to fix things is just to change one thing at a time until the problem disappears.

    albino
    Free Member

    Peter – You’ve got me thinking now. To be honest I only wash the equipment with normal washing up liquid after use. I wash it all again the same way before brewing and then fill the fv with Starsan solution after I’ve rewashed it after sparging. So is normal old Fairy not up to the job? I’ll definitely invest in some PBW just to rule out another possible variable. Cheers!

    peterfile
    Free Member

    Yeah, the problem with Star San, particularly when you spray it on, is if there is anything on the surface or in a scratch which wasn’t removed by the cleaning then the Star San won’t do much.

    This is particularly important with the FV, which can get scratched easily and where the wort will be sitting for a couple of weeks.

    Go with the big deep clean, then if that fixes the problem, great. Even if not though, you’ll have ruled it out and can move on to the next thing (I’d go for controlling fermentation temps next).

    thejesmonddingo
    Full Member

    If it’s acetaldehyde,then two things will help,fermentation temperature control,and letting the beer sit in the fv for about a week after the SG stabilises,as the yeast will metabolise it given time.

    albino
    Free Member

    Thanks again Peter. I’ll get some ordered tonight. Do you pre clean or straight in with the PBW? I think I’ll have a fresh start and ditch everything that’s not already bottled and put it down to experience. Going to go for the deep clean and fermentation temp control in one go (seeing as that’s ready to go now). Fingers crossed for a productive, simple weekend brew.

    singletrackmind
    Full Member

    Fairy Liquid !!!!!!!!! No no no no .

    Head negative and loaded up with Citrus or Apple smell. Better to use a very weak bleach solution NAOH 1% ish for cleaning . Then Soak with Starsan at the recommended rate for afew mins before use.

    Bin off the SO5 IMO . Try a batch with NAY and see if you gte a better result. Could be you are using water that simply isnt suitable and are picking up a load of flavours there. Fusel Alcohol isnt nice at all. What temps are you pushing , should be ok if below 24’C . You can let the temps creep up later in the fermentation profile ( say 48hrs in ) .

    You might also be pushing the yeast in autolysis by leaving it too warm for too long and asking the yeast to break down the tri saccherides (hard for it to do ) or die.

    peterfile
    Free Member

    Do you pre clean or straight in with the PBW?

    There are some instructions on the tub and a fair bit of info on the US based forums, but I basically give the kit a good clean with hot water, then measure out the correct amount of PBW and fill it up with water, agitate a bit and then leave it to sit.

    You MUST rinse really well. It can leave a bit of a film if you don’t.

    I use PBW to clean my bottles too, before giving them a bit of a Star San bath.

    The cleaning can be a bit of a faff, but for every brew that you do, you’re one step closer to ruining one or all of your batches by cutting corners.

    thejesmonddingo
    Full Member

    Before I built a brew fridge,I used to control fermentation temperature with an aquarium heater,and keep the FV in a cooler room.That will keep it at 18-20 degC.Also try OXI type cleaners for general clean up,you can get an unscented one from Waitrose LOL,it’s Ecover laundry bleach.I’ve had no probs with S-05,but you’re better using a full sachet,saving the dried stuff is risky,as it can get moist.I usually finish fermentation and then leave for a week prior to kegging/bottling,works for me.

    thejesmonddingo
    Full Member

    Oh,and +1 for no washing up liquid,it will kill your beers head,and smells and tastes of non-beery things 👿

    thejesmonddingo
    Full Member

    Did you just sprinkle th S-05 into the brew? It helps to prep it as here
    for rehydration here-

    http://www.fermentis.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/SFA_US05.pdf

    albino
    Free Member

    Thanks for multiple responses again!
    Right – Definitely going to go full on clean – no fairy. I To be honest the head retention on all the beers has been really good but the off-tastes are very dominant. I can’t believe this is something that I could have overlooked and could be the possible cause of the off flavours. I assumed that a normal wash followed by starsan would be okay :oops:I’ll kick myself up the arse if this was where I was at fault.

    For the yeast, I have just been sprinkling in but I’ll give it a go using the prep you’ve suggested too thejesmonddingo

    Thanks for the renewed hope!

    yourguitarhero
    Free Member

    Well, taking a second go at bottling/carbonated my batch worked out well. Brew #1 was a success. It was the one that came with the Massive Brewery kit.
    Me and my pals enjoyed a few bottles while staying down nea Dalbeattie on a three day biking trip.

    Got a couple of days off, so might see about going up to the home brew store and getting ingredients for another batch

    peterfile
    Free Member

    That’s great news YGH 🙂

    I’ve just ordered a load of ingredients for another few batches.

    Really going to try and up my game a bit over the coming months.

    Just picked up a 19l pot for £21 so that I can do away with needing a dunk sparge, and to allow me to get a full 10l in the FV.

    I’ve also just started picking up parts for a very very cool brew fridge. Have a look at BrewPi. Will allow me to really control fermentation temps and schedules, which I think is the only part of my process which I can’t control at the moment and is arguably the most important! It will also satisfy my Raspberry Pi addiction 🙂

    mugsys_m8
    Full Member

    Following on from my posts srting at Page 1. I’ve got the MB kit sitting at home. I am however severla thousand miles away and will be for another week or so.

    So, all this cleaning and sanitising. Is this stuff that is not in the MB kit I presume?

    yourguitarhero
    Free Member

    Haha, mega geeky.

    I’ve got the ingredients for the Sierra Nevada recipe on the first page of this thread.
    They didn’t have the exact hops mentioned but the guys at the brew store gave me some others that are supposedly good alternatives:
    Centennial, Perle and Colombus.

    Now I guess I need to do a bunch of conversions to make the recipe work for the Massive Brewery kit – unless any of you guys have it already worked out and written down?

    peterfile
    Free Member

    If you look back a few pages you’ll see a link to my equipment profile for beersmith.

    My scaled recipe came out like this (this is for 8.5l @ 73% efficiency):

    4 lbs 4.1 oz Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM)
    10.1 oz Caramel/Crystal Malt – 60L (66.0 SRM)
    2.0 oz Cara-Pils/Dextrine (2.0 SRM)
    0.7 oz English Carastan (35.0 SRM)
    0.2 oz Columbus (Tomahawk) [14.5%] – Boil 60 min
    0.2 oz Challenger [7.5%] – Boil 30 min
    0.43 tbsp Irish Moss (Boil 10 min)
    0.4 oz Cascade [5.5%] – Boil 10 min
    0.43 tbsp Wyeast Beer Nutrient Blend (Boil 10 min)
    0.9 oz Cascade [5.5%] – Steep 2 min
    0 pkgs Safale American (DCL/Fermentis #US-05)

    john_drummer
    Free Member

    So, all this cleaning and sanitising. Is this stuff that is not in the MB kit I presume?

    if it’s not you can simply use cheap thin bleach, watered down. Just be sure to really rinse well. then rinse again, and one more time for luck

    Chlorine + Yeast = Phenols, which really does not taste nice. think “I’ll have a pint of germolene please”

    yourguitarhero
    Free Member

    Well, got my second brew done – the Sierra Nevada. Fermenting away in the cupboard now.

    I think I’ll pick up a second fermentation vessel so I can have two batches on the go, maybe do one every couple of weeks. That would mean I’d have some beer for drinking while others are brewing.

    I might start stashing a couple of bottles from each batch away for 6 months or so and see how they taste then.

    peterfile
    Free Member

    Good work! Addictive isn’t it? 🙂 it gets better with every batch (in terms of quality, enjoyment and smoothness of process)

    Definitely get a couple of spare FVs. They are only £5, and it means that if you find yourself with a couple of opportunities to brew you can use them, rather than letting a free FV dictate when you can brew.

    The Sierra Nevada clone is great. But, although it will make for a useful learning experience, I wouldn’t expect a hoppy IPA to taste great after 6 months. regular hoppy beers like IPAs tend to be their best as soon as they are ready (for me, that tends to be around 2-4 weeks after bottling). They will gradually lose that hoppy flavour and aroma after a while (although will still be great for a couple of months or more). It won’t be bad, but just a shadow of its former self!

    I’ve made a few purchases and process changes to really up the standard of my beer:

    Picked up a wine cooler and I’m in the process of rigging it all up through a temperature controller to allow me to fine tune fermentation temps.

    Bought a 20 litre pot so I can dispense with the dunk sparge and to allow me to brew 10-12 litre batches. First brew in the new pot, with no sparge, gave me 70% efficiency and much less faff/mess. No boil over with this pot either! It was only £20.

    Chemipro Oxy – I was going through PBW cleaner way too quickly and it’s not cheap. Bought 1kg of chemipro oxi for £9 and it’s great! Fizzes away and leaves the kit absolutely sparkling.

    Yeast starters – i’ve started noticing a few subtle off flavours in my bigger beers, which I suspect are caused by under pitching/stressed yeast. I’ve been mostly using dry yeast packets until now, but going to try some liquid yeast starters and really pay attention to hitting the correct pitch rates for beers that need extra work. Because of the small batch sizes, I think the WY smack packs will be about perfect for 10l of big beer, without the need for a separate starter. Saves faffing about with proper starters for now.

    Also, I fixed my chiller (it was leaking around the area where the plastic tubing attaches) with some self fusing silicone tape, which seems to have worked perfectly. Definitely something for anyone with the massive brewery kit to watch out for.

    bob_summers
    Full Member

    Anyone fiddled with their water, ahem, brewing liquor? Friend of mine brewing with same mains water as me has sent off a sample (to brewlabs I think) and it’s come back as being almost totally unsuitable for brewing! Very little calcium iirc. So he’s going to treat it with various salts. Tbh I have had pretty good results with my tap water, is it fiddling for fiddling’s sake? Is it worth going for bottled water?

    Clobber
    Free Member

    Bob, I’m interested in water fiddling, struggling to get time to look into it though…. any advice gratefully received..

    peterfile
    Free Member

    Friend of mine brewing with same mains water as me has sent off a sample (to brewlabs I think) and it’s come back as being almost totally unsuitable for brewing! Very little calcium iirc

    I’ve managed to get a hold of my full water report from Scottish Water and popped the figures into a water additions calculator. It’s not the most simple thing in the world, but suggested that my water would benefit from a bit of gypsum. Tried it on the latest batch, will update on whether it makes much difference!

    Interested in the brewlabs testing though….

    EDIT: just spotted that Murphy Homebrew offer lab testing and recommendations for £18. Seems like a bargain if it will offer an improvement in the beer! Just ordered it. Seems to get great reviews on jimsbeerkit etc.

    bob_summers
    Full Member

    I’m not sure I’ll be getting into the water balancing, I’ve only got small capacity (10L) so I’m just trying different recipes and having a bit of fun in the process. My mate brews a lot more, and is more interested in repeatability so I guess it makes sense for him. I’m not 100% sure it was Brewlabs that did the test, I’ll ask.

    The test wasn’t cheap (I ‘helped’ with the cost in the form of a few bottles, you could split it if anyone brews in your area) but you do get their recommendations for addition of minerals for various beer styles, yeasts etc.

    zilog6128
    Full Member

    I’m not sure I’ll be getting into the water balancing, I’ve only got small capacity (10L) so I’m just trying different recipes and having a bit of fun in the process.

    I did some reading online and the consensus seems to be it’s very important if you want to make great beer. A good analogy I found is that it’s like seasoning when cooking; getting it right will make a good meal taste amazing but it won’t rescue a bad one!

    I found my local water report and it basically said the water as-is was unsuitable for brewing any beer. So for my latest beer I used supermarket bottled water (with the mineral content listed on the side) and added the salts, etc to make it suitable for a porter. (I did also buy some CRS with which in theory I could treat my tap water but as I’m also only making 10L that’s only about £3 worth of bottled water from the supermarket).

    Got to say it’s smelling and tasting awesome in the FV, definitely my best effort so far. Will probably bottle some time over Easter.

    Managed to get very acceptable efficiency as well thanks to more reading around & some tips earlier in this thread! (this is using the Massive kit)

    Clobber
    Free Member

    Let us know how you get on with Murphy’s water test report please Peterfile

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