Morgans Yukon Brown Kit

[slowlearner]

arvo all.
I've just done a MORGANS yukon brown smoked ale, using the MORGANS dark crystal malt (1kg) and nothing else.
Just out of curiosity, I was looking at a MORGANS brochure I have lying around, and it says to add some extra dex (eg; 750g for a "guiness" copy)to the mix to correct the alc%.
Thinking I'd mixed a brew of lolly water, I added a cup and a half of coopers brewing sugar from a new pack left over from the original kit. I don't have scales to measure by weight, yet.......
QUESTION: Is the abscence of the extra dex when using liquid malt going to detract from the brew, alc%-wise and flavour-wise?
Any opinions on what the bit of dex I added will do???
spanx all.

 

[dc59]

Don't worry it definately wont detract from the flavor. All the extra dextrose will do is bump up the alcohol content.

You should found that a kit and 1kg of liquid malt extract made up to 21L will give a fullish strength beer (approx. 4.2%). If your bottling by the time you add priming sugar you'll have a full strength beer.

Best of luck
Dave.

 

[new2brew]

At what point did you add the extra fermantables? if it was prior to fermentation completion, all should be cool.

If it was after fermentation is completed im pretty sure it would make the beer taste a little sweeter than normal

 

[slowlearner]

'spose I should qualify that the dex was actually SUCROSE MALTODEXTRIN, the coopers crap.
It wuz added to the brew about an hour and half after the yeast. I made sure I stirred it in as much as possible too.
The flavor is probably the most important thing to me. I'd rather drink a slightly weaker beer and have it full of flavor than rocket fuel that tastes like XXXX GOLD. Still nice to have the alc% up around a heavy though, means I can enjoy me drink and still get a glow.......

 

[new2brew]

I'd rather drink a slightly weaker beer and have it full of flavor than rocket fuel that tastes like XXXX GOLD. Still nice to have the alc% up around a heavy though, means I can enjoy me drink and still get a glow.......

you know you can get a glow from weaker beers........just drink twices as much!!!!

Your brew should be ok if frementables added just after yeast. hope it turns out ok, keep us all posted on it

 

[slowlearner]

update on the brew......
today makes 7 days in primary fermentation. it was slow off the mark, no airlock activity until monday midday. it then stopped bubbling wednesday night, started again for a while friday and has stopped again since yesterday sometime. dunno if this is normal for MORGANS or if it's my inexperiance with brewing.......
The OG was 1034, the first reading I took was yesterday of 1012. had a small taste of the wort, was like sucking on a burnt match dipped in smoky bbq sauce, so the description of the brew was spot on.....
hoping to bottle end of the week.
more later.

 

[jdsaint]

sounds around a 3.5% to 3.8%.
enjoy the brew, dont worry about percentages though, as I would rather 6pk of 4% then a 6pk of 8%.

Oh unless their docs brews which are around 8%

 

[slowlearner]

yeah I calculated 3.44%.
that's not a drama to me, more worried about fermentation stopping and starting, if it has anything to do with procedure as mentioned previous thread.
Biggest drama for me is I'm not sure about the timeline of primary with THIS brew, being stop start stop. I am taking hydrometer readings, but if I'm getting consistant readings over approx a week
(1 every 3rd day) when primary has stopped prematurely, how do I know fermentation is complete and won't start up again?

 

[jdsaint]

fermentation usually takes 1-2 weeks from my knowledge if you get the same fg reading (final gravity) over a period of 3 days it is ready for bottling, another thing for stop start is what yeast have you used eg (the one that came with the kit)
and another reason would be temp, which can rise up down and so will stop start fermentation.
to me you fg should be around 1006-1010.

try to contact InCider as he answers my silly questions most of the time ( not that yours is silly) just InCider would be more experienced. what is your last reading? how long has it been in primary for? (sorry seen it was in for 7 days tomorrow maybe right to bottle in 2 more days, unless you have another fermenter? otherwise check the fg for 3 days if its the same, bottle that baby, clean your fermenter, and throw in another, and of cause keep it simple n clean for the first few cheers n beers mate!)

 

[slowlearner]

yeast was BREW CELLAR's ale yeast (15g).
last brew I did was a coopers dark ale which took best part of 2 weeks using same yeast, which is why I'm thinking this one may take same sort of timeframe.
temp has been around the 24deg mark for the first few days, has been down around 21/21deg since then.
like i say, hoping to bottle end of this week when more time available. just a bit nervous about using glass bottles for first time. maybe storing them on shelf over babies cot not a great idea?????

 

[jdsaint]

Take a fg reading, let us know what it reads. Dont place bottles around "baby" just in case of breakage!
Read up on the wiki about "bulk primming" unless you know how to do this already.

 

[slowlearner]

today makes 9 days in the fermenter, like I said previously, was stop-start-stop.
well, the F%$#ing thing has started again, no idea on SG. Was going to take reading today, but then it started again, so I'll let it go a day or two to settle down. Gunna put it in plastic now, I don't want it in glass if there's any chance of bomb's when it's playing these games.
This brew may have to be renamed as a female name; it doing what it wants when it wants.

 

[jdsaint]

today makes 9 days in the fermenter, like I said previously, was stop-start-stop.
well, the F%$#ing thing has started again, no idea on SG. Was going to take reading today, but then it started again, so I'll let it go a day or two to settle down. Gunna put it in plastic now, I don't want it in glass if there's any chance of bomb's when it's playing these games.
This brew may have to be renamed as a female name; it doing what it wants when it wants.

the only difference between a beer and a women is a beer does not care how many you have, it does not talk back, u r always the boss

on the other note dont relie on the airlock they can continue to bubble even when the ferment is finished, if you leave it to long you risk infection, can 1 of the more experienced guys add to this delema?

PS: dont let that beer make the rules, it will become your new missus! :beer:

 

[boingk]

Don't worry about leaving it in the fermenter - I regularly leave brews for 10 to 14 days in there with no problems [or at least, none that I or my mates can detect?]. Only way I reckon you'd risk infection or buggering the brew is if you...

1: let the airlock run dry thus exposing it to air,
2: take off the top and expose the brew to air,
3: leave it somewhere hot and sunny thus light-striking it,
4: shake the fermenter [as opposed to swirling it gently] thus oxidising the brew,
5: all of the above in combination.

Common mistakes, but easy to resolve. Me? I leave the fermenter in my wardrobe and forget about it. 10 to 14 days later, rock in there and bottle it. Cool [and constant!] temps, no light, not disturbed in the least. Nice.

One last note: if you plan on leaving it any longer than 2 weeks in the fermenter I'd rack to secondary [meaning you'll need another fermenter]. I usually avoid this as I can't be bothered, but it does give less yeast sediment in the bottle and will generally drop a few SG points if the brew is being stubborn. Also, plastic will hold almost anything! I put on cider for my second brew and called it good when it hit 1.020 as it started out at something like 1.060-80. Well, I created apple champage! YEAH! It was good, but the lesson there was that the bottles will hold almost any mistake.

Cheers - boingk

 

[slowlearner]

planned originally to bottle this friday/saturday, will most likely keep to that.
thanx all for the words of wisdom, it's just so touching to know there are so many lovely, caring people out there in this big harsh world. The St.vinnies call line people were nice but couldn't help me in these matters. They only wanted to help me with clothing and food, but I stood strong and said in a big voice, "NO. My beer is more important!" :blink:
will post again when beer in guts safely......

 

[jdsaint]

The St.vinnies call line people were nice but couldn't help me in these matters. They only wanted to help me with clothing and food, but I stood strong and said in a big voice, "NO. My beer is more important!" :blink:
will post again when beer in guts safely......

st.vinnies just dont know how to help people, but here at aussiehomebrewer you get advice not vouchers and yesterdays bread! :icon_chickcheers:

 

[slowlearner]

beer in guts........nice drop now it's had time to come good. wuz WAY smoky the first few times I tried it, like sucking on a burnt match dipped in smoky bbq sauce. Had a XXXX drinker spit it out, the philestine. That may have been cos it wasn't ready yet and I was using him as a guinea pig, but still, theres no need to be nasty about a mans home brew.
Like I say, now it's been in the bottle a while, it's come good, with almost no smoky flavour. Nice with a steak......will definatley try it again with variations on ingredients......

side note to BOINGK's comments on fermenting timelines, I have been doing the 14 day thing ever since this brew and not worrying about SG's, just taking a FG when bottling. I come across a 75can cooler bag at Bunnings for about $30 a while ago I heard about elsewhere on the forum. It has a slit in it to let the airlock thru and have the lid zipped up, theres room around it for 4 small bottles of very salty frozen water which are rotated morning and night to the freezer for refreezing. Working a treat now, temps at 12-13deg mark. Hard to see gauge when carboy in bag, will have to get a digital remote proge gauge somewhere......got a feeling stick on one is stuffed and not real reliable