New To Brew

[QIK86]

It's all bottled! I'll let you know if I've produced any weapons of mass destruction over the next week or so.. haha

On a different note, the Coopers Mexican Cerveza I bottled 2 weeks ago has cleared up very well. Crystal clear in the bottle with only a small layer of sediment on the bottom. Will give it the 2 week taste test tomorrow night.

 

[0M39A]

the airlock bubbling means nothing!!!

if your SG has been stable for 3 days and its at a normal fermenting temperature (ie. not cold enough for the yeast to go dormant) then its fine.

kit + kilo of dex then 1009 sounds fine.

 

[QIK86]

Suspended co2 sounds spot on butters. I was getting a good inch of head in some of the bottles when filling them. I let it dissipate before capping though. Would that be the best idea?

As for the airlock debate, relax have another home brew.

 

[Interloper]

relax have another home brew.

words to live by my friend.....words to live by

 

[QIK86]

Update on the Morgan's Queenslander Lager... No bottle bombs as yet!

As for the 2 week Mexican Cerveza taste test, it still has a very slight "green" taste, but is very drinkable. It's crystal clear in the bottle, but has a slight chill haze when cold. It has a great head which is retained well and leaves a nice lace around the glass, although the beer itself is not very fizzy at all. I didn't think you could have one without the other, but it appears as though you can. :huh:

I primed the bottles with pre packaged white sugar sachets (one per 750ml bottle). I did the same for my previous brew, and carbonation was spot on. All I can put it down to so far is the cold snap we had while secondary fermentation/conditioning was taking place. Could this be the cause? As an experiment, I decided to mix the sediment back up in half the bottles and leave the other half as is for a little longer to compare the difference. Do you think this may help at all?

I've got some pics of it I'll post up when my connection stops being difficult..

 

[Bribie G]

I've had a kit beer in the fermenter for almost three weeks and it was still giving a little bloop every couple of minutes. One thing I would put it down to is that, with a bit of a headspace (30 litre fermenter) and the tendency to warm up gradually over the day in my garage, the combination of CO2 coming out of the brew and the very slight expansion of the gases in the headspace due to daily warming, it was 'cooked' for sure. Bottled it today but took a hydrometer reading just to make sure the yeast hadn't gone to sleep (Queensland made kit with a yeast more suited to summer brewing) I took hydro reading and it looked fine at about 1005.

I've just got back into fining with gelatine as well, there's a sticky you might want to have a look at. Gives beautifully clear beer.

 

[Cocko]

Clear beer... how much better does clear beer taste???

Why are you brewing beer? To produce a product you enjoy drinking or.......

"its so clear I can see through it" - Naked Swedish girl with excessive bosom.

Sorry, had to vent!

:huh:

 

[QIK86]

Not sure if that was directed at me, but I'm not overly concerned if my beer isn't perfectly clear. Just mentioned the chill haze in passing.

I'm more concerned as to why my beer doesn't seem to be properly carbonated, yet has a good head on it.. :huh:

 

[Cocko]

Clear beer... how much better does clear beer taste???

Why are you brewing beer? To produce a product you enjoy drinking or.......

"its so clear I can see through it" - Naked Swedish girl with excessive bosom.

Sorry, had to vent!

:huh:

Sorry gents, I had had a few..... I wrote this and have no idea what I was talking about!!!


:blink:

 

[QIK86]

Thanks for the info butters.

It's ok Cocko, we all over-indulge and lose the plot at times..

Anyway, I'm putting down another brew in the next few days and I've decided to have my first go at using hops! I've just bought the following.

Coopers Pale Ale Can
500g Light Dry Malt
250g Dextrose
250g Corn Syrup
Cascade Hops Teabag (Will just sit in boiled water for 10mins then throw the lot into the brew just before adding the yeast, as per instructions)

Any opinions on this brew? At the very least it should be a good comparison to my last Coopers Pale Ale brew which is about to be bottled, which was just the can contents with 500g dex, 250g LDM and 250g Corn Syrup.

Looking forward to starting my exploration into the world of hops.

 

[QIK86]

I can't comment on the one I did with 250g malt yet, as I'm only bottling it in the next couple of days.

So are the hops teabags ok to boil if I choose to go that way? If so, how much water should I boil it in?

By boiling it for 4mins as recommended (it's a 12g bag) would that add both additional bitterness as well as the flavour and aroma?

As for the corn syrup, the dry ingredients are actually a pre-packaged mix from my LHBS, so (short of buying more) the amount can't be altered.

 

[QIK86]

Oh, and here's the pics of the Mexican Cerveza, as promised..

 

[QIK86]

As well as the bitterness, will I still get the same flavour and aroma additions from the bag after boiling as I would if I simply steeped it in hot water?

I'm actually looking at adding some chinook pellets at racking stage too. Is dry hopping the correct term? Would this just entail dropping the pellets into the secondary fermenter after racking from primary? Should I put them in a tied off stocking or something, or just let them float around freely? I'll have to go mail order for these, as my LHBS doesn't keep Chinook. Had never heard of it actually? :huh:

 

[QIK86]

After more research I've decided to skip the racking stage as it seems to pose more risks that the benefits on offer. At least at this stage anyway.

Is it possible to dry hop into the primary fermentor? If so, when would be the best time to do so? Just after it has reached FG? Then how long should it be left?

 

[Bribie G]

I was using hop teabags for just about every brew but they are up to three times the price of just buying the pellets (From Craftbrewer etc) so I have just started putting about 10 to 15 g of pellets straight into the fermenter. So far they seem to settle out nicely and I don't get any greater amount of sediment passing through to the bottles. If I were using flowers however (as some British Breweries still use for late hopping) then I would look at using a stocking to avoid clogging the fermenter tap.

I usually put mine in after about 4 days when the original fermentation has died down because at that stage I top up the brew with boiled (i.e. deoxygenated), cooled water to bring it up to my bottling requirements. (I brew to 24L plus a bit of waste as I bottle in 12 two litre PETs. and like to give the wort plenty of headroom early on)

So at that stage I whack in the pellets as well. My theory is that while the wort is still fermenting steadily any oxygen introduced at that stage will be quickly flushed from the head space.

edit: I have added pellets to two brews at the same time as pitching the yeast and on both occasions most of the hop material seemed to end up smeared up the sides of the fermenter after the initial krausen died down. Seems a waste, I would rather have the hops in the beer, not up the side of the vat

 

[Cocko]

Hey QUK86,

Surely by now you trust in the info you are receiving and reading on this site, especially from buttersd70 in this particular thread....

I just love the fact you have your own thread for QnA as you go.... I can see this beast ending up 30 pages and you posting on your first AG

Anyway mate, congrats on your journey so far and the cerveza, looks or is that looked? Good!!

Cheers
Cocko
:icon_cheers:

 

[Cocko]

No I AM Annie Wilkes!!!

You will finish the 'post' how I want the post to go!!


:lol: B)

 

[QIK86]

Thanks for all the help guys. I really appreciate it. Just like Cocko said, this is like my own little Q & A education into the world of brewing. It's fantastic!

 

[QIK86]

Just wondering, will I have enough fermentables in my planned brew? (Coopers Pale Ale Can, 500g LDM, 250g Dex, 250g Corn Syrup)

Any idea on approximate ABV% from this?

 

[petesbrew]

Where was the slice of lime in the cerveza?