I might've stuffed this one Up

[bryanstrider]

Was planning to do a k&k. Coopers euro lager + BE2 up to 23 litres. Nice and easy right?

DAd says he wants a 8% lager. Looked around there was only white sugar available.

Downloaded the spreadsheet and did the calc. In goes 2kg of white sugar.

Did I **** this up?

 

[hwall95]

Considering BE2 also contains dextrose, I can't imagine it tasting very malty.. If you ferment coolish less then 20, you should avoid a lot of off flavours due to a really intense ferment that you get with higher grav beers but at 8% and little flavour to hide it, you'll probably taste the alcohol.

Maybe some dry hopping could help it but you'll probably have to wait and see. Worst case you've definitely got rocket fuel

 

[menoetes]

+1 to what Hwall says.

Hopefully the yeast can take an SG that high, I'm assuming you just through it in dry?

 

[TheWiggman]

Yeast cell count (i.e. amount of yeast that can convert sugar to alcohol) will almost certainly be too low if using the yeast from under the tin. It might end up finishing a bit early and not get to the 8% you're after. This will leave it tasting very sweet.

The other matter is that of the 8% lager. Sure it might end up at 8%, but will it taste good? My experience with upping the % on kits is "no". There's an art to making nice tasting beer with a high percentage of alcohol.

 

[mkstalen]

IMO you'll have a fair alcohol burn with this. All that dex/sucrose with little to no extra malt and hops. Also probably not with a real lager yeast at real lager temps could impart unwanted flavours.

Just because you can do an 8% beer by adding extra sugar doesn't mean you should.

Bottle it, give it to your Dad, and move on to a new brew.

 

[bryanstrider]

Hi guys,

Dad has cellared the beer for 3 months and popped one open. It has fermented out fully with no sweetness, I used a yeast starter with US-05 Safale. Yep, its beer.

Color : - Almost copper (Weird) I was expecting bright yellow (I've read somewhere that if the beer kit has been kept too long the brew might be darker in color) http://imgur.com/A2hkKeU
Body: - Thinner body than your ave pale ale, but some maltiness detected. No sweetness.
Taste: - Balanced and lacking bitterness (tastes like Budlight watered down) Dad digs the taste, I reckon it needs MOAR bittering hops. But hey, its for him.
Aroma: - Grass and citrus refreshing, (developed tastebuds) probably need some dry hopping hallertau would do wonders.

Alcohol burn: Surprisingly it wan't cidery/estery as I had expected. I did it with good stable temperature control below 18'C (around 16'C) for the first 5 days. Racked it in my secondary at 22'C for another 14 days. Bulk primed and bottled and put aside for a couple of months to age.

What an odd brew but dad seems to have gone thru' a few the past couple of days. 6.5/10

 

[menoetes]

Glad to hear it turned out well sir. The white sugar would have dried it out a fair bit, even overshadowing the bitterness but so long as dad's enjoying it that's what's important right?

Maybe next time, if you want to do a high alc % beer try adding a kilo of light dry malt + the BE2 and you'll get a fuller bodied beer with a similar alc %.

Either way you have beer, I'm glad it turned out well.

 

[burrster]

As long as someone is willing to drink it it can't be that bad! That's a lot of white sugar! I've yet to make a high ABV beer, though it's on my list to test my skills.

As Menoetes has said adding 1 kg of light malt extract would give you a better flavour profile, while still adding a bit of sugar for the dryer mouth feel. Dry hopping with Hallertau is a good bet too as you've mentioned.