First beer Analysis

[Colo]

Hello All,

I have read that you learn a lot from your first brew, I am onto my third but have only been drinking my first for about 3 weeks now. When I purchased my DIY kit it came with the coopers heritage lager, I thought this would be all I'd need so made my first brew only using the kit and a bag of dextrose. One of my biggest lessons being, that the kit with a straight dextrose doesnt give you much in the way of body and no head.

One thing that I am a little confused about though, is that it has quite a strong taste for a lager and is also a little cloudy. When I hold the bottles up to light I can see the sediment has attached itself to the wall of the bottle in addition to the build up in the bottom. Im attributing the strong taste of the beer to this sediment being poured into the glass with the beer, I stop pouring before the build up at the bottom flows into the glass.

I remember the old man was a brewer when I was a child and he used to pride himself on how golden and clear his lager was. Mines just shameful...

I have another lager in the fermenter now, so I really want to improve on the first, especially in the taste/clarity region. The conditions of my first beer are below-

Cooper Heritage Lager
1 kg Dextrose
Yeast that was in the kit
Yeast pitched at 26c
Start Grav - 1038
Finish Grav - 1010
Time in fermenter - 2 weeks
Time secondary fermenting in bottles - 3 weeks+
I'm in Brisbane, we have a very short winter so it is harder to get cooler temps. When this brew was fermenting it was prob around 12 - 16 degrees at night and around 22-26 during the days.

I have been trying to let the bottles sit in the fridge for at least a week before drinking, I read that may help to settle the yeast, doesnt seem to be the case though.

Thanks in advance for any advice.

 

[Diesel80]

Hi, welcome.

Don't get too despondent, because the lager you brewed is actually probably an ale. Kit most likely came with an ale yeast so technically can't be a lager (there is a loophole for you!)

Second point I would make is that the swings in temp during your ferment would not be helping the final product.
Your primary ferment time is good, 2 weeks is better than 1! props there.

You are also spot on with the straight dex synopsis. try a brew blend or Dry malt next time.

Also if you left your carbed beers in the fridge for about 4 weeks they would pour clear I reckon, so don't read too much yet into the cloudiness.

keep at it.

hot tip: get yourself a temp controlled ferment fridge plenty of info on this site how to do it. :beerbang:

Cheers,
D80

 

[MaltyHops]

I have been trying to let the bottles sit in the fridge for at least a week before drinking, I read that may help to settle the yeast, doesnt seem to be the case though.

Are you pouring the beer out gently and without tipping the bottle back and forth? With bottle conditioned beers, as soon as you let the beer agitate by tipping the bottle back, or if you tip the bottle too much to create a bit of head (say), the yeast is going to get all stirred up.

One thing you could do is decant a whole bottle into a carafe/jug in one gentle, steady pour and stop when yeast start to flow out towards the end - pour remaining beer into another glass for a muddy one Then you'll have a jug of bright, clear beer that you can foam up as much as you like.

 

[Colo]

Don't get too despondent, because the lager you brewed is actually probably an ale. Kit most likely came with an ale yeast so technically can't be a lager (there is a loophole for you!)

You are also spot on with the straight dex synopsis. try a brew blend or Dry malt next time.

Also if you left your carbed beers in the fridge for about 4 weeks they would pour clear I reckon, so don't read too much yet into the cloudiness.

hot tip: get yourself a temp controlled ferment fridge plenty of info on this site how to do it. :beerbang:

Thanks for the response!

Why do coopers put the wrong yeast in the kit, I could imagine this makes people disappointed at the final result (like I am)?

As the weeks go by I do more and more research, so both my Hefe (in secondary ferment) and new Lager (in primary ferment) have DME combo's, used a dry hop bag with WB-06 in the Hefe and a Saflager yeast in the lager. Hopefully this will produce better results :drinks:

The temp controlled ferment fridge is on the cards, maybe once winter is coming to an end. Im sure those hot Qld days and nights will play havoc with my brews.

 

[Colo]

Are you pouring the beer out gently and without tipping the bottle back and forth? With bottle conditioned beers, as soon as you let the beer agitate by tipping the bottle back, or if you tip the bottle too much to create a bit of head (say), the yeast is going to get all stirred up.

One thing you could do is decant a whole bottle into a carafe/jug in one gentle, steady pour and stop when yeast start to flow out towards the end - pour remaining beer into another glass for a muddy one Then you'll have a jug of bright, clear beer that you can foam up as much as you like.

Cheers for the response!

Yes I admit I am a brewing newbie, but I think this is one thing I have down pact. I pour in one fluent pour into a glass jug, usually with some sort of light behind the bottle (used to watch the old man as a kid!). The only issue is I dont get a bright clear beer at the end of it, its darker then your average lager, looks more like a draught actually and is slightly cloudy.

One to drink and forget me thinks. Luckily it "is" drinkable.

 

[dammag]

I have 2 x fridge only fridges (no freezer) to ferment in and store my bottled beer in (I'm on the Gold Coast and don't want to store my bottled beer in 30+ degree heat). They cost about $60 each plus the temp controller. They are set at around 18 degrees and I haven't noticed a jump in the bill while running them.

Brewing Lagers from kits is a pretty difficult prospect. Maybe choose some ale kits, get a decent yeast and add some hops. Even if you don't drink these more tasty beers yet you will probably come to love them. You don't have to go silly with hops but a well thought out hop addition lifts a kit beer.

 

[verysupple]

Why do coopers put the wrong yeast in the kit, I could imagine this makes people disappointed at the final result (like I am)?

They put ale yeast in the kits so that anyone can brew it and they sell more units. If they put lager yeast under the lid then lots of people wouldn't buy it because they can't ferment at the correct temperature.

 

[Colo]

They cost about $60 each plus the temp controller.

Where'd you get a fridge for $60?...thats within budget.

So from all the comments it sounds like the old man had it easy with his lager, because I grew up in NZ. He used to put his fermenter on-top of the hot water system to get it "up" to lager temperatures.

Thank you all for your advice.

 

[dammag]

Ebay is full of fridges. Gumtree too.

Some people get them for free even!

I gave mine a really good cleanout with sugar soap, bleach and obviously water.


If you are handy with electrical wiring an STC1000 is easy to wire up (unless you are a qualified electrician it seems, going by recent posts).

If you really like beer then you will be going BIAB soon so the kits will be a thing of the past.

 

[Colo]

Something to aim for I think. In the mean time I'm gonna throw the current lager thats in the fermenter under the stairs underneath the house. Hopefully it will drop a few more degrees in temp, dont want another disaster.

Was looking at leaving it in the fermenter for a good 3-4 weeks, do you think this will help considering its going to be fermenting at higher temps?

 

[Colo]

Instead of starting a new thread I thought I would just carry on with this one. So I tried my Hefe last night (my second brew), Hefe's are prob my favourite beer along with a Whitbier so I really want to get a great receipe. I cant look at all grain until next year, so I need to perfect an extract kit in the mean time.

The initial taste was great, tasted just like a Hefe with a slight banana aroma. The issue Im still having is the after taste is just water, its a real let down to go from great flavour hit to...water. In this kit I used DME/Dextrose mix and a dry hop bag with WB-06 yeast.

So my questions are-

- is this a typical side effect of an extract kit, is this why people go all grain?
- If I use 2x Extract kits will this give the beer "a lot" of body, possibly solving the water after taste?
- Should I use a liquid malt, with a DME and Dextrose, I know this will cause it to be very high in alcohol.

Please help.

Cheers

 

[slash22000]

Incidentally with your original post, the Heritage Lager kit actually comes with a legitimate lager yeast, which needs to be fermented/treated specially.

With the Hefeweizen, you're saying it's bland? I honestly don't know jack about wheat beers, just trying to clarify your concern, but yes improved malt flavour is definitely a huge reason people move to all-grain.

 

[Three Sheets]

I'm a fan of full bodied beers and you'll get that with two cans. The other thing that may help is to reduce the amount of water in your brew ie 20L instead of 23L.

"Should I use a liquid malt, with a DME and Dextrose" yep this would be better than straight dextrose.

" I know this will cause it to be very high in alcohol." depends on the amount you use.

 

[Colo]

So, if using two cans, do I then bother using a DME?

 

[slash22000]

http://www.brewmate.net/downloads

I thoroughly recommend you download the above, it's very helpful and it's free.

Please note that using two cans will double the bitterness. Two cans, double bitterness, but it will also double the malt so it balances out (in theory) depending on your tastes.

As far as using DME, it depends how alcoholic you want the beer to be. At 23 litres, two cans will earn you about 1.046 OG, ~4.5% ABV. If you want a higher ABV, add more malt. +500g DME = ~5.3%, +1000g DME = ~6.1% ABV. Brewmate will help you calculate all this (just use "liquid malt extract" for your fermentable option).

The main advantage to using two cans is that you get two packets of yeast. 1 packet is not enough.

 

[yum beer]

**** there is some shocking advice flowing in this thread.
Heritage lager comes with a lager yeast, not ale. But if you ferment at between 12 and 26c you've got no hope.
Don't bother with 'two cans' unless you are doing a stout/dark ale, you won't make a good beer with two cans of light bodied beer.

Get temp control, **** off the dex (for the time being), use malt; liquid or dry and try from there.
Brew your Lager at 12c, 3 weeks in the primary, 1 week at 1c to clear up, bottle, wait 6 weeks or more, then drink, yum beer.

 

[Alex.Tas]

I suggest using some dry wheat in addition to dme. And don't worry if your wheat beer is cloudy. It's meant to be.

 

[Colo]

Wow, its all pretty confusing now. Not sure if I should be toucanning or not.

 

[slash22000]

Did you download the brewing software I linked? There's no point in just guessing at what you want to end up with, you need to plan a recipe. If your beer is watery, it needs more malt. I gave you the estimated ABV for adding a bit of extra dry malt in a previous comment, you don't need to add another can.

 

[bum]

Did you download the brewing software I linked? There's no point in just guessing at what you want to end up with, you need to plan a recipe.

If he doesn't understand what basic ingredients add to a brew (which is fine - we all have to learn this stuff) then I don't see what BrewMate is going to tell him except that brewing is complicated.

It is a good program, Colo, but for now just read some recipes here and try them out first. Read the sticky threads. Have fun with it.