loikar
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OK, First Some History:
so way back last year I had a bout of infected beers.
After checking my sanitation process and troubleshooting the issue, the only rational explanation was airbourne infection, primarily during the dry hop after fermentation had begun.
So, I needed a closed system, or as closed as possible.
From there I went to No-Chill and wanted to try and reproduce what I was making while using my immersion chiller. This involved everything from standard hop additions all the way down to only cube hops.
The Idea was to ensure from the time of pitching to the time of kegging, no air got into my fermenters.
No infections, but the beer was nowhere near as crisp, fruity or really anywhere near as good as my chilled beers.
So I bought a plate chiller from Nige at BrewAdelaide.com and decided to go back to chilling while keeping my system as closed as possible.
everything was fine until the dry hop and........ return of the infection.
After discussions with some of Australias best brewers, it was put down to the ferment fridge being the same area as the car, workshop and sometimes the dog, as well as perennials in the neighbours front yard. Plenty of bugs to be had in the car port.
So not only was the fridge keeping some bugs out, it was also sealing some in.
Anyway;
Moved my fermentation area from the car port to the office, tossed the old ferment fridge, bought the wife a new fridge and I now use our old one.
Moved the brew area from the carport to the veranda.
Nuked the shit out of my fermenters and equipment with a strong bleach and vinegar mix
All Dry hopping would be done cold and in the keg meaning the fermenter wont need to be opened at any time during the ferment.
so in light of me re-re-infection, before I spent 5 hours to brew an AG beer just to tip it, I decided to brew a K&K to make sure the infection was gone.
All Supermarket bought except for Hops and yeast, and if I spend the time fermenting it for 2 weeks and another week in the keg, i want to at least be able to drink it.
Also given my well publicised opinion of the "instant coffee" of beer, I thought I would give it the best chance to prove me wrong.
It's been about 5 years since I did an extract beer, so it was interesting
Date on the tin was 22/2/14 so hoping that means it was only a couple of months old.
Got the BE2 and LDME since the BE2 is Dex, malt and, Maltodextrin. Just to boost it a little.
10min 50g Cascade addition in 5L of water with the LDME. Everything else in at flame out.
Chilled with ice in the sink.
topped up to 20L
Pitched US05
Held at 18c for 2 weeks
healthy US05 too
Into the Keg with 50g of Amarillo for 7 days at about 4c.
pushed beer into another keg and only slightly force carbed it to get a bit of fizz back into it.
Poured a glass today.
So how is it?
Murkey but expecting that after the transfer, nice light tangerine colour.
Aroma is actually really nice, without being grassy, nice pine and citrus without smacking you around the face.
little to no middle palette, and finishes clean apart from thickening your saliva.
The Malt is well, lacking in general. I'm glad I put the 500g of LDME in or it would be shocking.
Body is thin, definitely watery, but tends to get better as your saliva thickens.
Definite acidity there, probably from the Amarillo more than anything
There is however, a detectable "twang" and I did expect this.
The 10min 50g cascade addition and 7day dry hop of Amarillo is definitely what's getting this beer over the line with me.
For the money I spent to make it ($30+, all ingredients from a FoodLand supermarket apart from Yeast and hops) and the end result, I will officially go on record to say that apart from time factor, All Grain brewing makes a much better beer than K&K.
But with that being said, I have made a worse AG Beer (when experimenting with no-chill and hop additions). And to the best of my memory, this is probably the best K&K I have ever produced.
The only reason I can see to brew K&K again would be so I can knock something out in 30min and drown it in hops so I have something on tap in stead of having to buy something.
Considering something like Atomic Pale Ale is only $40 a slab at BWS and MAC's Hop Rocker is currently $15 a sixpack, in my opinion it comes down to how much you drink and the standard of drink you're prepared to accept.
So you can officially quote my opinion.
All grain brewing produces a far superior end product than K&K.
if you have the time available, and are passionate about beer and brewing, it is my opinion to invest in moving up to AG.
I'm considering doing a K&bits as well as an all extract, just to compare them also, if I have the time.
Currently trying to build up stocks.
I also have a 10min SMaSH IPA planned and in stock that I will post about in a few weeks.
20L batch
8kg Pale malt
1.5Kg of Amarillo @10min
OG 1095
IBU 670
Cheers,
BeerFingers
so way back last year I had a bout of infected beers.
After checking my sanitation process and troubleshooting the issue, the only rational explanation was airbourne infection, primarily during the dry hop after fermentation had begun.
So, I needed a closed system, or as closed as possible.
From there I went to No-Chill and wanted to try and reproduce what I was making while using my immersion chiller. This involved everything from standard hop additions all the way down to only cube hops.
The Idea was to ensure from the time of pitching to the time of kegging, no air got into my fermenters.
No infections, but the beer was nowhere near as crisp, fruity or really anywhere near as good as my chilled beers.
So I bought a plate chiller from Nige at BrewAdelaide.com and decided to go back to chilling while keeping my system as closed as possible.
everything was fine until the dry hop and........ return of the infection.
After discussions with some of Australias best brewers, it was put down to the ferment fridge being the same area as the car, workshop and sometimes the dog, as well as perennials in the neighbours front yard. Plenty of bugs to be had in the car port.
So not only was the fridge keeping some bugs out, it was also sealing some in.
Anyway;
Moved my fermentation area from the car port to the office, tossed the old ferment fridge, bought the wife a new fridge and I now use our old one.
Moved the brew area from the carport to the veranda.
Nuked the shit out of my fermenters and equipment with a strong bleach and vinegar mix
All Dry hopping would be done cold and in the keg meaning the fermenter wont need to be opened at any time during the ferment.
so in light of me re-re-infection, before I spent 5 hours to brew an AG beer just to tip it, I decided to brew a K&K to make sure the infection was gone.
All Supermarket bought except for Hops and yeast, and if I spend the time fermenting it for 2 weeks and another week in the keg, i want to at least be able to drink it.
Also given my well publicised opinion of the "instant coffee" of beer, I thought I would give it the best chance to prove me wrong.
It's been about 5 years since I did an extract beer, so it was interesting
Date on the tin was 22/2/14 so hoping that means it was only a couple of months old.
Got the BE2 and LDME since the BE2 is Dex, malt and, Maltodextrin. Just to boost it a little.
10min 50g Cascade addition in 5L of water with the LDME. Everything else in at flame out.
Chilled with ice in the sink.
topped up to 20L
Pitched US05
Held at 18c for 2 weeks
healthy US05 too
Into the Keg with 50g of Amarillo for 7 days at about 4c.
pushed beer into another keg and only slightly force carbed it to get a bit of fizz back into it.
Poured a glass today.
So how is it?
Murkey but expecting that after the transfer, nice light tangerine colour.
Aroma is actually really nice, without being grassy, nice pine and citrus without smacking you around the face.
little to no middle palette, and finishes clean apart from thickening your saliva.
The Malt is well, lacking in general. I'm glad I put the 500g of LDME in or it would be shocking.
Body is thin, definitely watery, but tends to get better as your saliva thickens.
Definite acidity there, probably from the Amarillo more than anything
There is however, a detectable "twang" and I did expect this.
The 10min 50g cascade addition and 7day dry hop of Amarillo is definitely what's getting this beer over the line with me.
For the money I spent to make it ($30+, all ingredients from a FoodLand supermarket apart from Yeast and hops) and the end result, I will officially go on record to say that apart from time factor, All Grain brewing makes a much better beer than K&K.
But with that being said, I have made a worse AG Beer (when experimenting with no-chill and hop additions). And to the best of my memory, this is probably the best K&K I have ever produced.
The only reason I can see to brew K&K again would be so I can knock something out in 30min and drown it in hops so I have something on tap in stead of having to buy something.
Considering something like Atomic Pale Ale is only $40 a slab at BWS and MAC's Hop Rocker is currently $15 a sixpack, in my opinion it comes down to how much you drink and the standard of drink you're prepared to accept.
So you can officially quote my opinion.
All grain brewing produces a far superior end product than K&K.
if you have the time available, and are passionate about beer and brewing, it is my opinion to invest in moving up to AG.
I'm considering doing a K&bits as well as an all extract, just to compare them also, if I have the time.
Currently trying to build up stocks.
I also have a 10min SMaSH IPA planned and in stock that I will post about in a few weeks.
20L batch
8kg Pale malt
1.5Kg of Amarillo @10min
OG 1095
IBU 670
Cheers,
BeerFingers
