Coupla of Basic Questions

[DarrenTheDrunk]

Hi Brewing Gods. I brewed the basic kit beer 30 years ago I loved it and have just started again. Like I do... I am doing 6 x 23 litre barrels at a time cos I do love the "liquid Gold" very much. Just sampled my first batch now and it only is 10 days post bottling and I certainly will leave it for as long as possible to mature. So...my questions are:
1. What can I add to hold the head better and
2. being a Victorian and a lover of Melbourne Bitter and VB, does anyone have a good recipe for something in this taste... oh and one more question
3. I think this is rhetorical question but.. if a do brew as per normal and add say 500ml of molasses to a 23 litre brew, will this make the alcohol content too high. I am would not want to go above 6% as from experience 30 years ago, it just is not enjoyable .

I should add, I do not want to do any of the "fancy" stuff and prefer just to use the "pre mix" tins you get from the HB shop.

Thanks in advance...and CHEERS

darren

 

[wide eyed and legless]

Hi Brewing Gods. I brewed the basic kit beer 30 years ago I loved it and have just started again. Like I do... I am doing 6 x 23 litre barrels at a time cos I do love the "liquid Gold" very much. Just sampled my first batch now and it only is 10 days post bottling and I certainly will leave it for as long as possible to mature. So...my questions are:
1. What can I add to hold the head better and
2. being a Victorian and a lover of Melbourne Bitter and VB, does anyone have a good recipe for something in this taste... oh and one more question
3. I think this is rhetorical question but.. if a do brew as per normal and add say 500ml of molasses to a 23 litre brew, will this make the alcohol content too high. I am would not want to go above 6% as from experience 30 years ago, it just is not enjoyable .

I should add, I do not want to do any of the "fancy" stuff and prefer just to use the "pre mix" tins you get from the HB shop.

Thanks in advance...and CHEERS

darren

Why don't you go with 250- 350 gram of molasses first off and see how that turns out.

 

[Jack of all biers]

Hi Brewing Gods. I brewed the basic kit beer 30 years ago I loved it and have just started again. Like I do... I am doing 6 x 23 litre barrels at a time cos I do love the "liquid Gold" very much. Just sampled my first batch now and it only is 10 days post bottling and I certainly will leave it for as long as possible to mature. So...my questions are:
1. What can I add to hold the head better and
2. being a Victorian and a lover of Melbourne Bitter and VB, does anyone have a good recipe for something in this taste... oh and one more question
3. I think this is rhetorical question but.. if a do brew as per normal and add say 500ml of molasses to a 23 litre brew, will this make the alcohol content too high. I am would not want to go above 6% as from experience 30 years ago, it just is not enjoyable .

I should add, I do not want to do any of the "fancy" stuff and prefer just to use the "pre mix" tins you get from the HB shop.

Thanks in advance...and CHEERS

darren

I will take your not wanting to do 'fancy' stuff comment seriously and only mention kit and kilo advise here.

1. I know it sounds patronising, but clean your beer glasses with hot soapy water, then rinse three times at least. Either let them drip dry or dry with a clean (newly washed) tea towel (polish them). Residual soap, grease, fats, oils and rinse aid will kill head. Another thing you haven't mentioned, is if you are using a kilo of sugar or dextrose. This will not assist head retention as neither add the properties that build or retain beer foam. Using a kilo of dried malt (or liquid) with your can of pre-hopped malt will increase foam retention. If you already are doing the above, you could trade out the normal dried malt (or liquid malt) for a portion (or all) of dried wheat malt (Coopers have a can of liquid wheat malt [it is only 50% wheat malt, but will still assist in foam formation and retention]). Wheat has a higher amount of proteins and those are what make up alot of the foam. Hops can help head retention, so if you like bitter beers, you could mix two cans and add no further sugar/malt. The extra poly-phenols from the hops assist with foam retention.

2. try a search using the search function. I can't help you, but I bet there is a recipe or three on this forum. If that fails, search Google. You'll find something out there.

3. If you like your beer darker and sweeter then give it a try. Molasses, isn't as fermentable as sugar (invert sugars included) or dried malt as much of the sugar is carmelised (which the yeast won't eat it and it will leave a sweeter residue in your beer. Give it a try and you will either like it or learn to increase/decrease as per your personnel taste. You can used a OG/FG/ABV calculator like brewers friend and enter in your volumes as 23L (both) and change it to 100% efficiency. Enter in your weights of liquid malt, dried malt, etc and the molasses as ingredients to give you a prediction for roughly what to expect with specific gravity readings and alcohol content. I just checked for you and in a 23 L brew 575 gm will add about 0.71% alcohol (500ml will be around 575gm if the molasses is 1.15 SG, so weigh it to get a better reading and add this to the brewers friend calculator to give you a more accurate reading).