Homebrew Twang

[Lord Raja Goomba I]

Unless you're stuck in Darwin and it costs $70+ for grain delivery per batch. :huh:

This is where you'd need to buy by the sack.

I guess it'd be like that with a lot of things in the further reaches of this great brown land.

 

[tanked84]

Fresh wort kits don't seem to have this twang. Would they be considered all grain or partial?

 

[Crusty]

Fresh wort kits don't seem to have this twang. Would they be considered all grain or partial?

All Grain.

 

[kelbygreen]

$70+ for a batch wow! I put a batch on the weekend cost $36 for 42lts into fermenters thats for 9.82kg of grain and 99g of hops. (I had the yeast already) and OG was 1.049 so it was a full strength (prob about 5%).

Feel sorry for you

 

[Droughtmaster]

I brew with a all grain Bruimeister system that was my introduction to all grain beer .
before that all i did was coopers kits .
when i get low on beer and cant be fagged ill put down a coopers sparkling ale with there light liquid malt works for me mever had a homebrew twang with that combination.i have tasted that twang that seems to follow brewerers but i thought that was long gone

 

[Droughtmaster]

$70+ for a batch wow! I put a batch on the weekend cost $36 for 42lts into fermenters thats for 9.82kg of grain and 99g of hops. (I had the yeast already) and OG was 1.049 so it was a full strength (prob about 5%).

Feel sorry for you

geeze costs me that if i buy grains and yeast for a 25 ltr batch

 

[kelbygreen]

yeah well I buy aussie malt mainly and the LHBS does it cracked about the same price as bulk buying a bag so I cant complain I dont have to buy a mill and the quality is good but for a comp or what not maybe go with a grain from the country the style is from but you can build it up to what you want anyway.

give you a idea last recipe:

Pilsner (MEU Au) 8.280kg - $22.77
Wheat Malt (AUS) 1.230kg - $4.17
Cara Hell (GER) 306g - $1.18

 

[fletcher]

well i can safely say, after doing my first kit brew and subsequently now tasting it (and the twang); and after reading these comments and many other posts about how easy and workable BIAB is, i'm sold. consider me a believer. my second brew will be a BIAB and i'm so pumped for it.

 

[dammag]

Are there any concerns using polyester for the brew bag? It is curtain material?, not food grade?

 

[Crusty]

well i can safely say, after doing my first kit brew and subsequently now tasting it (and the twang); and after reading these comments and many other posts about how easy and workable BIAB is, i'm sold. consider me a believer. my second brew will be a BIAB and i'm so pumped for it.

You'll love it.

Are there any concerns using polyester for the brew bag? It is curtain material?, not food grade?

Swiss Voile is what you're after.
Easier to just buy this & get one of these for tossing your hops into.

 

[grantsglutenfreehomebrew]

I haven't read every comment on this thread but any sugar used including carbonation drops will cause a tang. 5g of sugar as a primer is the equivalent of another 300g of sugar in your brew. If you've gone a kit and 1 kg of sugar that's 1.3kg of tang. Like some others have said good yeast and constant brewing temps (preferably at the lower end of the scale) are good but remember when conditioning bottles you are still brewing. So try not to oxygenate the beer when bottling, prime with LDME or as I do by saving 2-300g of LME from recipe. Mix with one cup of water and boil for 10 mins. Add 5ml of this per 330ml stubby. I use a syringe. Do not shake when lid is on. Bottle condition at same constant temp as primary fermentation. Hey presto. No tang.

 

[Parks]

I haven't read every comment on this thread but any sugar used including carbonation drops will cause a tang.

I disagree with this whole-heartedly.

Sugars will certainly give a certain flavour but IMO the twang comes 100% from the processed wort, AKA goop. I have also detected a similar taste making a 100% extract batch with LDME, not as strong but it's there.

 

[bignath]

I haven't read every comment on this thread but any sugar used including carbonation drops will cause a tang. 5g of sugar as a primer is the equivalent of another 300g of sugar in your brew. If you've gone a kit and 1 kg of sugar that's 1.3kg of tang. Like some others have said good yeast and constant brewing temps (preferably at the lower end of the scale) are good but remember when conditioning bottles you are still brewing. So try not to oxygenate the beer when bottling, prime with LDME or as I do by saving 2-300g of LME from recipe. Mix with one cup of water and boil for 10 mins. Add 5ml of this per 330ml stubby. I use a syringe. Do not shake when lid is on. Bottle condition at same constant temp as primary fermentation. Hey presto. No tang.

I completely disagree with most of this.
Using sugar in brewing certain styles not only does not create twang, it's often called for as part of the style guidelines for certain beers.
Anything (ok, most things) with an Australian style guide, will have a relatively high sugar %, and if you don't use it, it won't get you close to certain beers' characteristics, both good ones and bad ones.

Using sugar doesn't mean you'll get twang, in the same way as not using it, doesn't mean you'll avoid twang.

Also, not trying to nitpick, but i wouldn't suggest going for the lower end of the fermentation temp range for a yeast is always a good idea either. Go too low into the range and a lot of yeasts will struggle. As soon as yeast struggles to stay awake and eat, they can throw or cause some unwanted (or intentional for certain beers) flavours to develop. I understand your intention about the yeast temp, just thought it might be relevant to eliminate as many off flavours, to suggest that it's not always a good idea to go the lower end.

IE: from memory....i think the quoted operating range for US05 can go down to 14 or 15 but i wouldn't use it there. 18-20 seems to be generally accepted as the best range for that yeast. The upper working end i think is around 22-24 (once again, from memory).
Often middle of the range is best for the yeast to be comfortable.

 

[Nick JD]

I made an AG Belgian Saison last summer with 35% sucrose in it and fermented it between 30 and 35C.

No twang. Freakin delecious.

 

[Impy]

I haven't read every comment on this thread but any sugar used including carbonation drops will cause a tang. 5g of sugar as a primer is the equivalent of another 300g of sugar in your brew. If you've gone a kit and 1 kg of sugar that's 1.3kg of tang.

I disagree.

Firstly, I think it would be INCREDIBLY unusual for someone to use plain table sugar in a kit beer (the instructions these days say to use DME)

Plus, sugar creating the twang is an old myth, it quite simply isn't true (especially not carbonation drop qty). Plenty of beer styles have relatively large quantities of plain sugar in them with no twang being present.

 

[JDW81]

I haven't read every comment on this thread but any sugar used including carbonation drops will cause a tang.

Really?

I've bottled my last few brews with table sugar and none of them have any tang what so ever. I even used carb drops in my last hefeweizen as I was being lazy (and don't mind the extra fizz for that style) and it is the best one I have made by a long shot.

I even did a side by side test of the same beer with one batch carbonated with LDME and the other with sugar and there is no discernible difference.

Cheap kits and poor brewing/handling/sanitisation techniques will give you a tang. Adding sugar to a brew in levels that are appropriate to style or for carbonation purposes will most definitely not.

 

[RobboMC]

Sad to say but cheap kits and poor brewing practices usually exist both in large amounts for new brewers. I remember the first ever beer that I made, flat twangy and awful.

After many years it's fair to say I'm a kits n bits n bits n bits n bits brewer. I use high end kits like Thomas Coopers or Muntons, commercial dried yeast and lots of specialty rains and hops. I'm sure the brew comp judges can identify the liquid extract source of my malt, by few others can pick it amongst the rest of the flavours.
Use the best kits you can get, the freshest malt possible, and add plenty of hops. You can make really great
beer without going AG.

I don't have time to do a decent hop boil some brew nights, and have even sometimes gone back to straight kit and kilo in desperation of having nothing to drink. An AG set-up would be nice, so would a Ferrari in the garage, we can't all have evrything.

 

[SnakeRider]

Just read this, going to revive as I have done 3 kit beers at 25-30C ferment temp, and done the following experiment on them all...

I bottled 12 330ml bottles, 4 primed with carbonation drops, 4 with caster sugar, and 4 with brown sugar....

my first beer was horrible... rocket fuel... didn't take notes but holy hell, never doing a mangrove jacks blonde again...

my second 2 were identical coopers sparkling ale with a 'cold pack'/brew enhancer fermented at 25-30+C primed the same way.

I just had the first taste of my second batch (at 10 days),
drank a 330 of each carbonation drop, caster sugar, and brown sugar primed bottles... and here is my conclusion for both batches (took notes on the first batch)..

The carbonation drops have a definite twang in comparison to both other priming methods... its terrible, I can even smell the twang.
The caster sugar is slightly better, not as much fruity punch on the tongue, and less smell
and the brown sugar is actually quite enjoyable, but still there is a twang (at 10 days no surprise)

now... before I jumped to this conclusion, on separate days on the last batch I drank them in different orders to eliminate the 'pissed now, its all good, keep em coming' variable off the table. I still came to the same conclusion.

*shrugs* I believe priming medium does make a difference, as a result of this controlled experiment, even though I am a complete novice, I have proven to myself that this is not a myth as stated above.

my 2C :chug:

SR

 

[fletcher]

Just read this, going to revive as I have done 3 kit beers at 25-30C ferment temp, and done the following experiment on them all...

I bottled 12 330ml bottles, 4 primed with carbonation drops, 4 with caster sugar, and 4 with brown sugar....

my first beer was horrible... rocket fuel... didn't take notes but holy hell, never doing a mangrove jacks blonde again...

my second 2 were identical coopers sparkling ale with a 'cold pack'/brew enhancer fermented at 25-30+C primed the same way.

I just had the first taste of my second batch (at 10 days),
drank a 330 of each carbonation drop, caster sugar, and brown sugar primed bottles... and here is my conclusion for both batches (took notes on the first batch)..

The carbonation drops have a definite twang in comparison to both other priming methods... its terrible, I can even smell the twang.
The caster sugar is slightly better, not as much fruity punch on the tongue, and less smell
and the brown sugar is actually quite enjoyable, but still there is a twang (at 10 days no surprise)

now... before I jumped to this conclusion, on separate days on the last batch I drank them in different orders to eliminate the 'pissed now, its all good, keep em coming' variable off the table. I still came to the same conclusion.

*shrugs* I believe priming medium does make a difference, as a result of this controlled experiment, even though I am a complete novice, I have proven to myself that this is not a myth as stated above.

my 2C :chug:

SR

i'll tell you what makes the twang:

1. didn't take notes
2. 3 kit beers at 25-30C ferment temp/fermented at 25-30+C

EDIT: i'm sorry, but this is laughable. you haven't proven anything

 

[SnakeRider]

i'll tell you what makes the twang:

1. didn't take notes
2. 3 kit beers at 25-30C ferment temp/fermented at 25-30+C

EDIT: i'm sorry, but this is laughable. you haven't proven anything

The experiment was to test the priming medium... what did i not prove?
3 bottles from same batch with different priming medium and 3 different results...
consistent over 2 batches.

not sure how else you could conduct such an experiment.