Home Brew Taste

[birusuki]

So I cracked a bottle last night 10 days after bottling, I know its early.........
While I`m quite happy with it, but at the same time a little dissapointed.
I Used to brew in my larakin days. straight kit and white sugar, didnt do anything about temp
control, and was happy with the results.
this time round after a bit of reading on here and other places I used other ingredients
for the first time for me:

black rock nut brown ale
1kg LME
500gm corn sugar
bittering hopps
aroma hopps
yeast .....58

great colour, nice smell. first taste very home brewish, like my old days (above).
halfway throughthe long neck I quite enjoyed it. Have one in the fridge for when I get home tonight.
But will leave the rest at least amonth.
how much better will it taste if left for a few months?

To be rid of the home brew taste what should be done?
or does that require getting away from kits and into grains?

cheers.

 

[MarkBastard]

I have never done a kit I've been happy with. Done plenty of extracts I've been happy with. I reckon it's isohops.

 

[DU99]

what hops did you use..they make a difference..

 

[Lecterfan]

I have never done a kit I've been happy with. Done plenty of extracts I've been happy with. I reckon it's isohops.

I sort of agree with that (as far as my brews go that is!), but I also found that a kit beer will significantly improve in the bottle after a minimum of 8 weeks. Extracts and partials were generally excellent by 6 weeks (when compared to Kits), and I am so new to AG that none of them have lasted to 8 weeks yet haha.

Seriously though, I have done a few K+K type arrangements that I really liked, and depending on the hops some of them were great at 3 months, some at 6 months. If it's no good at 6 months it never will be (at least that was my experience).

Time and patience buddy...you WILL make a nice beer. :icon_cheers:

 

[DU99]

also look around for brew club..they help alot...

 

[hoppinmad]

To be rid of the home brew taste what should be done?
or does that require getting away from kits and into grains?

cheers.

my 2c is that the home brew taste comes from the canned liquid malt extract (ie. the kit plus the 1kg LME).

Anything with liquid in it will degrade more quickly than dried form (think dried chicken soup vs liquid chicken soup.... dried fruit v fresh fruit, etc) which will contribute to "funny flavours". I have always had much greater success with dry malt extract than liquid malt extract.

Maybe give DME a try next time.

 

[birusuki]

I have never done a kit I've been happy with. Done plenty of extracts I've been happy with. I reckon it's isohops.

Can you explain extracts simply for me, I`ll search some and maybe give it
a go if its not too dounting.

Du99. not sure what the hops were they came together not labled in one kit.
brew club........Live in the boonies in japan buy everything from the net.

Hoppinmad, dry malt. Got a kg ready to go, will be in my next brew.

cheers guys

 

[slimygreen]

Hi Monchan, i'm pretty new to this as well, drinking my 8th brew of K&K style (+cystral malts) at the moment but i can say i have noticed incremental improvements from the following:

1. Read the book "how to brew" - it is well worth it. really good on the techniques, hows and whys.


2. don't be too quick to bottle - just because the gravity is down doesn't mean the yeast aren't still operating and cleaning up the less enjoyable biproducts of fermentation. let the yeast do what it needs to do - people are overly scared of infections, you shouldn't worry just sanitise with quality stuff - i recommend starsan or saniclean made by "five star". no rinse required and can be put in a squirt bottle and squirted everywhere! i leave mine an extra week in the fermenter without issues.

3. Use highly floccullent yeast, finings or cold conditioning in a secondary fermenter - less in the bottom of your bottles seems to make a difference.

4. Don't aerate your brew when it is still hot, let it cool to <30deg before putting into the fermenter. otherwise you can oxidise the sugars. also if transferring between primary, secondary or bulk primer containers, keep splashing to a minimum.

5. Try subbing in some crystal or other malts that only require steeping for 1/2hr - this makes a big difference and doesn't take much more time. I also use LDME instead of dextrose unless i need to bring up the O.G. to the required level.

6. Use unhopped malt extracts and hop yourself - i've resently tried a few from the Morgans range - managed a ripper Oktoberfest. also dry hop some aromatic hops.

7. Throw away the yeast that comes with the kit and buy some real yeast.

8. i drink them after 4 weeks but notice a big difference after 6 weeks in the bottle, even after a week in the secondary fermenter before drinking - 8-10 will see further improvements. also, fidge conditioning seems to improve them as well after the initial bottle conditioning - just keep the fridge stocked and drink the one that have been in there the longest.

Hope this helps, i'm sure someone will come in with a different opinion shortly to help confuse you. I'm interrested that so many people think all gain is the only way to go - maybe i'll get there soon.

 

[Thunderlips]

Can you explain extracts simply for me

Basically your taking unhopped malt extract (liquid or dry), boiling it in a pot with some water for 60 minutes and adding hop pellets at
varying stages of that 60 minutes.

The stages are ...

1. bittering hops.
2. flavour hops.
3. aroma hops.

It really is a step up from kits and you wont get that isohop kit twang.

Here's an easy, great tasting extract recipe. This one is a 30 minute boil instead of 60.
http://www.aussiehomebrewer.com/forum/inde...&recipe=867

 

[birusuki]

Basically your taking unhopped malt extract (liquid or dry), boiling it in a pot with some water for 60 minutes and adding hop pellets at
varying stages of that 60 minutes.

The stages are ...

1. bittering hops.
2. flavour hops.
3. aroma hops.

It really is a step up from kits and you wont get that isohop kit twang.

Here's an easy, great tasting extract recipe. This one is a 30 minute boil instead of 60.
http://www.aussiehomebrewer.com/forum/inde...&recipe=867

Yeah thats basically what I did. 60 min boil with the above ingredients but with a hopped kit.
So the stuff your talking about would that be this stuff
http://www.sakeland.net/?mode=cate&cbi...284&csid=14 liquid malt.
morgans master malt base without hopps or yeast.

http://www.sakeland.net/?mode=cate&cbi...3284&csid=6 dry malt


cheers really helpful, I`ll have to get a copy of that book.
I know theres one on the net, but I only have a pc at work.

 

[Thunderlips]

So the stuff your talking about would that be this stuff
http://www.sakeland.net/?mode=cate&cbi...284&csid=14 liquid malt.
morgans master malt base without hopps or yeast.

http://www.sakeland.net/?mode=cate&cbi...3284&csid=6 dry malt

As long as it's unhopped.
I've only ever used Coopers, basically because it's what my nearest homebrew store has.

 

[MarkBastard]

Can you explain extracts simply for me, I`ll search some and maybe give it
a go if its not too dounting.

Du99. not sure what the hops were they came together not labled in one kit.
brew club........Live in the boonies in japan buy everything from the net.

Hoppinmad, dry malt. Got a kg ready to go, will be in my next brew.

cheers guys

The kits you normally get are basically liquid malt extract + isohops. The isohops give the bitterness.

You can buy tins that only contain liquid malt extract with no hops. Then you boil and put your own hops in to give bitterness and flavour.

The bitterness and flavour you can from real hops is better and doesn't have that home brew taste as much.

 

[peas_and_corn]

Using old kits tends to also put a bad twang into the flavour.

 

[felten]

Like Hoppinmad said, the liquid malt will stale faster than dried, if you're going to use liquid just make sure its really fresh.

 

[brett mccluskey]

Like Hoppinmad said, the liquid malt will stale faster than dried, if you're going to use liquid just make sure its really fresh.

What exactly do you mean by the term 'homebrew ' taste.Cidery? Thick and syrupy? please define :beerbang:

 

[milob40]

if you wanna drink it straight away, get a keg set up, chill filter at 2 degrees c, then run through a 1 micron filter this will take out 99% of the yeast and leave a crystal clear beer.
tastes way better than a bottle left for 6 weeks.
non filterers don't knock it till you try it :icon_drunk:
if you need it in a bottle for a party , just drop the pressure and fill bottles from tap slowly :icon_cheers:

 

[hydroboy]

Can you explain extracts simply for me, I`ll search some and maybe give it
a go if its not too dounting.

Hey,

I have just done my first two extract brews in the past couple of weeks so I will quickly go over how I am doing it. You said you don't have a PC at home but the extract brewing spreadsheet is a great help: http://www.aussiehomebrewer.com/forum/inde...st&p=644034

Basically if you want to steep some crystal malt, do that first. A thermometer is handy here, get 2L of water to 70deg C and throw in the grain. Leave it for 30 minutes then strain the grain out. With another 2l of 70 degree water sparge (wash) the grain through the strainer. Depending on the size of your pot add more water to total 5-10L. Add 100g of light dry malt extract per litre of water to achieve a SG of ~1.040. Bring it all to the boil, once in a rolling boil you start your timer and add your first hop addition. Assume you are making the following recipe:

15g @ 60 min
15g @ 15 min
15g @ 5 min
15g Dry hop

You would need a 60 minute boil for this. The minute values refer to time between hop addition and the end of the boil so chronologically you would have the following hop additions:

Boil starts
15g @ 0 minutes
15g @ 45 minutes
15g @ 55 minutes
Stove off at 60 minutes
Add the rest of the malt the recipie calls for then cool as quickly as possible, put the pot in an ice bath in your sink or similar. Change the water as it heats up. Once the wort reaches about 35 degrees you are probably ok to transfer to fermenter through a strainer and top up with cold water to start and then hot if required to reach desired yeast pitching temp. Ferment as usual. Add 15g ~ 3 days before bottling for the dry hop or you can also add to the keg if you are kegging.

HTH.

 

[govorko1974]

Here my 2 cents..being a new kit and bits brewer i have found that a fridgemate and temp control will make a huge difference to your beer, i have been using different yeast and adding ldme..as someone else has already said they seem to taste better if they have been in the fridge for a while...i once put a 4 week old bottle in the fridge for a week and just chilled another down that had been at room temp since bottling to compare the two...the one that had had the week in the fridge tasted alot better than the room temp one, so now 2 weeks after bottling i put them all in the fridge

 

[birusuki]

What exactly do you mean by the term 'homebrew ' taste.Cidery? Thick and syrupy? please define :beerbang:

I dont know exactly.
It doesnt taste bad or cidery. nothing to do with infection etc.
but rather a taste that sets it apart from shop bought beers.
While the brew I made as decribed above is by far much more superior than any from
in my younger days and is very drinkable. it is unmistakenly homebrew.

I think I`ll give some of the above recipes a go next, and after a while I`ll put my finished brews
in the fridge to cold condition. it all sounds good to me. I ordered the how to brew book on amazon
luckily my brew is drinkable and will keep me company while I read the book.

 

[enuun]

Hi monchan,

Give your beers a few weeks conditioning and clearing up
My first beer was no good either after 2 weeks but after 3 months, it was WOW!
As to the comparison with store-bought, you are talking about the Asian Adjunct lagers (I am a fan of Asahi)? I am not too sure what other types are available in Japan
If its those you are comparing to, there are alot of difference because most likely you have done an ale and ales are not as clean as the lagers
I do have a few resistant lager fans (nothing wrong with that) that has not come around to ales yet.
If thats the case, you can consider getting a really good temp controller, maybe convert a fridge and start brewing the best lagers =)

Anyway, enjoy the process and give your beer a chance to get better =)