G'day Guys,
I've been lurking around this site for a while now, so thanks everyone for the shed load of advice I've already got.
But I'm having a bit of a crisis and need some more ideas.
I'd brewed a few kit beers before a work mate encouraged me to try all grain. He had an old bucket in bucket boiler / mash tun that he leant me.
I started off with a schwarzbier - I think I got this recipe off the AHB recipes section
2.6 kg Light Muncih
1.9 kg Pilsner
0.75 kg Caramunich
0.25 kg Chocolate Malt
0.01 kg Wheat
10 mins @ 45 deg
30 min @ 60 deg
30 min @ 66 deg
35 g Mt Hood 60 mins
10 g Mt Hood 20 mins
10 g Mt Hood 5 mins
Did bucket in bucket. Tempretures were all over the place (up 5 deg out on a crappy thermometer) It splashed like hell while sparging (made me think hot wort aeration might be a problem). OG was about 50.
Saflager Yeast used. Fermented at 15 deg for one week. Racked to secondary for 2 weeks. FG was about 10.
Tasted very yeasty / starchy / musty out of the secondary, but bottled anyway. (Man, tastes are so hard to describe in words).
Then tried an Oktoberfest - Got this recipe from a clone brew book
3.0 kg Vienna Malt
1.7 kg Pilsner
1.2 kg Munich
0.25 kg Melanoiden
0.1 kg CaraAroma
Single Infusion 66 deg for 80 min
40 g Tettnanger 60 min
10 g Tet & 15 g Hersbruker 45 min
10 g Tet & 10 g Hersbruker 5 min
Mash temp might have been a bit out (64 deg, dropping to 59 at the end - still with a crappy thermometer). This time used a grain bag (BIAB style) and lifted it out to drain. Less splashing. Efficiency was a long way down on this one. Saflager Yeast used. OG was bout 42
Fermented at 15 deg for one week. Racked to secondary for 2 weeks. FG was about 12
Still tasted a bit yeasty / starchy / musty out of the secondary.
Thought my problem might be mash temp related, so got me a new digital thermometer.
Then brewed an Irish red - this recipe came from the Beersmith Website:
5.3 kg Maris Otter
0.45 kg Flaked Barley
0.3 kg Dark Crystal
0.07 kg Chocolate
Single Infusion 70 deg for 45 min (missed by a mile - 65 deg. I figured it would just be a bit drier than expected, but I extended this to an hour). Back to bucket in bucket with all the splashing.
40 g EK Goldings 60 min
20 g EK Goldings 5 mins
OG was about 60, added water to get 55 (recipe og). Nottingham Ale Yeast
Fermented at about 18 deg for a week
Tasted horrible. Exactly the same yeasty / starchy / musty taste but much stronger.
I've now given is a day rest at 24 deg, then into the fridge for a day.
By this time the schwarzbier was ready to taste.
Crap. Exactly the same yeasty / starchy / musty taste.
The oktoberfest was a bit young in the bottle, but I thought I'd give it a taste.
Barely drinkable. Tasted okay at first, but then a slight yeasty / starchy / musty aftertaste. Unfortunately, the aftertaste kept building up. So one bottle was more than enough.
The lighter beer seemed better than the darker ones, so next I tried a Peroni (Italian lager) clone from a clone recipe book.
4.2 kg Maris Otter
1.0 kg Flaked Rice
0.2 kg Crystal Malt
Single infusion 66 deg for 75 min. Missed again, temp varied throughout the mash from73 to 72 deg.
40 g Saaz for 60 min
20 g Saaz for 15 min
OG was about 56, but shed loads of trub, so syphoned off 18 l and made up to 23 l. Finished with an og of 47 (bang on recipe). Saflager Yeast used.
Fermented in water bath at 15 deg for 1 week. Gravity is down to 15, and it tastes bloody good (early days yet). I'll rack it to a secondary soon and give it a couple more weeks.
So, my main question is:
Why does my beer taste cr ap?
A couple of other things:
1) I use rainwater. Do I need to add salts? I've checked out John Palmers how to brew guide, he's got a cool spreadsheet for adding salts. Do you reckon this will make a difference?
2) I've never checked pH. I assume that rainwater pH is about 6.5, which may be high. Should I check and adjust each mash? Would this make a huge difference?
3) Does this sound like hot wort aeration? Does that cause slightly bad beer, or can it make the beer so bad that it is undrinkable?
4) Do starches change the gravity of the wort? I was thinking maybe it's incomplete conversion. But the OG's look right, and the OG's are nice and low. Maybe I should do an iodine test?
If anyone has made it this far, well done. I'd give you a beer, but they are all cr ap. Any advice would be helpful.
Cheers,
Wrenny
I've been lurking around this site for a while now, so thanks everyone for the shed load of advice I've already got.
But I'm having a bit of a crisis and need some more ideas.
I'd brewed a few kit beers before a work mate encouraged me to try all grain. He had an old bucket in bucket boiler / mash tun that he leant me.
I started off with a schwarzbier - I think I got this recipe off the AHB recipes section
2.6 kg Light Muncih
1.9 kg Pilsner
0.75 kg Caramunich
0.25 kg Chocolate Malt
0.01 kg Wheat
10 mins @ 45 deg
30 min @ 60 deg
30 min @ 66 deg
35 g Mt Hood 60 mins
10 g Mt Hood 20 mins
10 g Mt Hood 5 mins
Did bucket in bucket. Tempretures were all over the place (up 5 deg out on a crappy thermometer) It splashed like hell while sparging (made me think hot wort aeration might be a problem). OG was about 50.
Saflager Yeast used. Fermented at 15 deg for one week. Racked to secondary for 2 weeks. FG was about 10.
Tasted very yeasty / starchy / musty out of the secondary, but bottled anyway. (Man, tastes are so hard to describe in words).
Then tried an Oktoberfest - Got this recipe from a clone brew book
3.0 kg Vienna Malt
1.7 kg Pilsner
1.2 kg Munich
0.25 kg Melanoiden
0.1 kg CaraAroma
Single Infusion 66 deg for 80 min
40 g Tettnanger 60 min
10 g Tet & 15 g Hersbruker 45 min
10 g Tet & 10 g Hersbruker 5 min
Mash temp might have been a bit out (64 deg, dropping to 59 at the end - still with a crappy thermometer). This time used a grain bag (BIAB style) and lifted it out to drain. Less splashing. Efficiency was a long way down on this one. Saflager Yeast used. OG was bout 42
Fermented at 15 deg for one week. Racked to secondary for 2 weeks. FG was about 12
Still tasted a bit yeasty / starchy / musty out of the secondary.
Thought my problem might be mash temp related, so got me a new digital thermometer.
Then brewed an Irish red - this recipe came from the Beersmith Website:
5.3 kg Maris Otter
0.45 kg Flaked Barley
0.3 kg Dark Crystal
0.07 kg Chocolate
Single Infusion 70 deg for 45 min (missed by a mile - 65 deg. I figured it would just be a bit drier than expected, but I extended this to an hour). Back to bucket in bucket with all the splashing.
40 g EK Goldings 60 min
20 g EK Goldings 5 mins
OG was about 60, added water to get 55 (recipe og). Nottingham Ale Yeast
Fermented at about 18 deg for a week
Tasted horrible. Exactly the same yeasty / starchy / musty taste but much stronger.
I've now given is a day rest at 24 deg, then into the fridge for a day.
By this time the schwarzbier was ready to taste.
Crap. Exactly the same yeasty / starchy / musty taste.
The oktoberfest was a bit young in the bottle, but I thought I'd give it a taste.
Barely drinkable. Tasted okay at first, but then a slight yeasty / starchy / musty aftertaste. Unfortunately, the aftertaste kept building up. So one bottle was more than enough.
The lighter beer seemed better than the darker ones, so next I tried a Peroni (Italian lager) clone from a clone recipe book.
4.2 kg Maris Otter
1.0 kg Flaked Rice
0.2 kg Crystal Malt
Single infusion 66 deg for 75 min. Missed again, temp varied throughout the mash from73 to 72 deg.
40 g Saaz for 60 min
20 g Saaz for 15 min
OG was about 56, but shed loads of trub, so syphoned off 18 l and made up to 23 l. Finished with an og of 47 (bang on recipe). Saflager Yeast used.
Fermented in water bath at 15 deg for 1 week. Gravity is down to 15, and it tastes bloody good (early days yet). I'll rack it to a secondary soon and give it a couple more weeks.
So, my main question is:
Why does my beer taste cr ap?
A couple of other things:
1) I use rainwater. Do I need to add salts? I've checked out John Palmers how to brew guide, he's got a cool spreadsheet for adding salts. Do you reckon this will make a difference?
2) I've never checked pH. I assume that rainwater pH is about 6.5, which may be high. Should I check and adjust each mash? Would this make a huge difference?
3) Does this sound like hot wort aeration? Does that cause slightly bad beer, or can it make the beer so bad that it is undrinkable?
4) Do starches change the gravity of the wort? I was thinking maybe it's incomplete conversion. But the OG's look right, and the OG's are nice and low. Maybe I should do an iodine test?
If anyone has made it this far, well done. I'd give you a beer, but they are all cr ap. Any advice would be helpful.
Cheers,
Wrenny