entilza
Member
- Joined
- 5/12/08
- Messages
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Hi gang, Newbie question here.
I used to brew (bottles, not keg) a long time ago, but gave up as all my lagers were terrible.
I recently started again and have been having great success with ginger beer, however my lager was just as bad as it always was!
I'm very careful with my cleaning and the fermenter smells fresh before I used it.
The ingredients:
Kit: Morgan's Blue Mountain Lager
Sugars: Various, from various quantities of dextrose, to various quantities of brewer's sugar, to various mixes of malt and dextrose.
Other: sometimes I would add hops, but it made no difference to how bad the outcome was.
Water: Brisbane tap water.
Method: Usual closed fermenter brew, bottle at an SG around 11, prime with carb drops.
The result:
3 weeks after bottling, the colour is a *dark* yellow, with a very bitter after taste. After it has matured to about 1.5 months in the bottle, it will be quite dark (tending towards brown/red) and is extremely bitter. The aftertaste is the real killer - the initial taste is "OK, tending to bitter", but the aftertaste kicks you with an almost chemical bitterness that lasts for a good 20 seconds or so.
The results have been reasonably consistant. Perhaps the problem is my expectations: I expect a larger to be a mid-to-pale yellow, with a slightly crisp taste, not bitter.
Does anyone have any suggestions?
Cheers,
Entilza (Jason).
I used to brew (bottles, not keg) a long time ago, but gave up as all my lagers were terrible.
I recently started again and have been having great success with ginger beer, however my lager was just as bad as it always was!
I'm very careful with my cleaning and the fermenter smells fresh before I used it.
The ingredients:
Kit: Morgan's Blue Mountain Lager
Sugars: Various, from various quantities of dextrose, to various quantities of brewer's sugar, to various mixes of malt and dextrose.
Other: sometimes I would add hops, but it made no difference to how bad the outcome was.
Water: Brisbane tap water.
Method: Usual closed fermenter brew, bottle at an SG around 11, prime with carb drops.
The result:
3 weeks after bottling, the colour is a *dark* yellow, with a very bitter after taste. After it has matured to about 1.5 months in the bottle, it will be quite dark (tending towards brown/red) and is extremely bitter. The aftertaste is the real killer - the initial taste is "OK, tending to bitter", but the aftertaste kicks you with an almost chemical bitterness that lasts for a good 20 seconds or so.
The results have been reasonably consistant. Perhaps the problem is my expectations: I expect a larger to be a mid-to-pale yellow, with a slightly crisp taste, not bitter.
Does anyone have any suggestions?
Cheers,
Entilza (Jason).