BjornJ
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- 15/2/09
- Messages
- 1,067
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Learned something funny today.
Guess I learn stuff all the time about brewing, but not often have I so directly tasted the effect of something I have only been reading of!
I made a lager, pilsner malt with 10% sugar and a touch of crystal. WLP830 liquid German Lager yeast.
3 weeks fermentation, 3 weeks in a cube at freezing temps before bottling. Took a LONG TIME to carb up.
Then
-had a bottle last weekend, had a clear homebrew twang.
-had two bottles at work today at our normal beer tasting session on Fridays. The guys loved it, said it was my best beer ever. The bottles had been in the fridge since Monday.
-had a bottle just now, that had been in the fridge a couple of hours today, just enough to get cold. Tasted "horrible" as in it has that twang of something or other.
So;
Lagers REALLY need to lager :lol:
Maybe I could have done it in bulk after bottle carbonating, just popping them back in the fridge at 0 degrees for a couple of weeks. Or maybe I just have to bite the bullet and store them in the fridge for a week or two before drinking.
But get this: The beer was dramatically different after a week in the fridge!
I had a similar kind of experience with my Dr.Smurto's Golden Ale. It was orange coloured and not very clear. I blaimed the high % of wheat as I am not used to using that much wheat. Then left a few bottles two weeks in the fridge and the beer came out very clear and tasting "cleaner".
Note to self:
Go back to not touching my beers until they have had the chance to spend a couple of months in the bottle. Skip "having a taste every week" as it means I will learn to taste what is "wrong" and then recognize that taste even after the beer is ok. Second, beers need a week or even two weeks in the fridge...
Anyway, that seems to make a BIG difference in my beers..
BribieG, if you see this: Please put the lager I sent you in the fridge for a week before trying it!
thanks
Bjorn
Guess I learn stuff all the time about brewing, but not often have I so directly tasted the effect of something I have only been reading of!
I made a lager, pilsner malt with 10% sugar and a touch of crystal. WLP830 liquid German Lager yeast.
3 weeks fermentation, 3 weeks in a cube at freezing temps before bottling. Took a LONG TIME to carb up.
Then
-had a bottle last weekend, had a clear homebrew twang.
-had two bottles at work today at our normal beer tasting session on Fridays. The guys loved it, said it was my best beer ever. The bottles had been in the fridge since Monday.
-had a bottle just now, that had been in the fridge a couple of hours today, just enough to get cold. Tasted "horrible" as in it has that twang of something or other.
So;
Lagers REALLY need to lager :lol:
Maybe I could have done it in bulk after bottle carbonating, just popping them back in the fridge at 0 degrees for a couple of weeks. Or maybe I just have to bite the bullet and store them in the fridge for a week or two before drinking.
But get this: The beer was dramatically different after a week in the fridge!
I had a similar kind of experience with my Dr.Smurto's Golden Ale. It was orange coloured and not very clear. I blaimed the high % of wheat as I am not used to using that much wheat. Then left a few bottles two weeks in the fridge and the beer came out very clear and tasting "cleaner".
Note to self:
Go back to not touching my beers until they have had the chance to spend a couple of months in the bottle. Skip "having a taste every week" as it means I will learn to taste what is "wrong" and then recognize that taste even after the beer is ok. Second, beers need a week or even two weeks in the fridge...
Anyway, that seems to make a BIG difference in my beers..
BribieG, if you see this: Please put the lager I sent you in the fridge for a week before trying it!
thanks
Bjorn