Opinions Of My Latest Brew

[Mitcho89]

Yeah I think I should take on that mindset. All I'm doing is wasting beer. After the 2 weeks, by the time I've done readings I've lost a liter or 2. After it's finished I think I'll crash chill it for a couple of days and then rack it for 2-3 weeks before I bottle it. Or rack from primary and then crash chill it?

Sorry, I've been wanted to do this but I never have...

Thanks very much mate,

Mitch.

 

[Pennywise]

I don't rack many beers, the main ones I do rack are any AG brews I do (which isn't much), any brews with a heap of hops like IIPA's, or if I end up with a lot of sediment covering the tap. But my advice would be fement as normal, once the SG hits a few points higher that expected rack it (so if you're aiming for say 1012, then rack it off when it hits 1016), this will mean there's still yeast there in suspension to finish the job properly and to give you a bit of a co2 blanket whilst it's in secondary. Then when you hit FG, leave it for a few more days at ferment temp so it can clean up a bit, then crash chill it for 24-48 hrs so you can get more yeast to floc out and settle nice and tightly on the bottom of the fermenter.

That's just how I do it, others may do differently, but it works for me :icon_cheers:

 

[Lord Raja Goomba I]

Buy a reusable hop bag for putting in hops into the brew. The bag reuses and the quality and cost per brew of DIY hopping reduces. I went from hop tea bags to hop pellets in a hop bag and it was one of a number of improvements to my bittering and hopping (as was further research). It also allows you to have a hop schedule, whereby you put in multiple hop varieties or utilising different boiling times for different effect (flavour, bitterness and aroma).

 

[Mitcho89]

Great advice there guys, thanks a lot. Good news, I took it up to 20C' and it's gone down to 1014. Usually pretty close to the mark for brews I use the BE2 with. It's murky as all sh!t so I think it's time to rack to secondary for a week at 20C' and then crash chill next Saturday for a day or so.

With crash chilling, how low temperatures do I have to go? All I have access to is a fridge laying on it's back that I use for stable temp control. I was thinking of lining the freezer section with a big garbage bag and filling that all the way up with water to cover the fermenter and using about 3x2L frozen juice bottles interchanging at all times. Either that or a plastic tub I have close to a good fit for the freezer.

Cheers lads, I appreciate it.

Mitch.

 

[Pennywise]

At this stage I wouldn't rack to seconadary for a week, if it's finished fermenting then you'll have no co2 layer to protect the wort/beer. Just wait till' you've hit FG, which by the sounds of it you have, then crash chill it for 48 hrs at 1-2 degrees. You might have trouble getting to that temp though with the method you describe though

 

[Mitcho89]

Yeah I don't think I'll progress to cold chilling until I have the proper equipment for it. Bugger it, I think I'll just leave it sitting in primary for a couple more weeks to clear up. I've read quite a bit that us-05 really doesn't produce many yeasty flavors at the temp I'm keeping it at so I don't think there is a need to rack to secondary and get it off the trub.

I might do the same with the Coppers Mex Cerveza I have going. It's finished but I think just letting settle for another week won't hurt.

Thanks mate,

Mitch.

 

[Siborg]

Good stuff, Mitch.

The yeast probably won't start eating itself and producing off flavours (autolysis) unless, its active and really starving for fermentables. So at colder temps (especially at crash chill temps), its not gonna happen over a few weeks, or even a month.

One idea I forgot to mention that was suggested to me is to sanitise a spare bottle, take an og, and instead of tipping it, pour it into the bottle, shake the **** out of it and put it some place warm, like 24 degrees and upwards. It will ferment out alot quicker than the full brew due to the extra oxygen from shaking and hotter temps.

It will taste like ****, but if you take a reading after a couple of days, you should have an idea of where the whole batch should end up.

The last one I did finished a bit lower than the actual brew, but I wasn't being very sanitary with it, as it was just a tester, so something else could have gotten in there and fermented stuff that the US-05 normally wouldn't.

 

[Siborg]

Oh, and in terms of crash chilling, I tend to aim for around 2-4 degrees. Ice bottles in a fridge work great. In my fridge I worked it out to be about 2L for a drop of 2 degrees during 25-30 degree weather. Maybe allow for the current cold weather.

 

[Mitcho89]

Will any temperature I can achieve in a freezer compartment filled to the top of the fermenter with lots of ice and blocks of ice help settle any of the murkyness?

I'm doing a few batches for mates and I'm trying to get it as clear as I can with what I have. Possibly rack to another fermenter and leave it for a few weeks?

Thanks a lot mate!

 

[Pennywise]

You could add some isinglass/geleten/agar agar when you rack. Chill it for a couple of days and it'll be pretty darn clear.

 

[Mitcho89]

Yeah I added some finings (gelatin) a couple of days ago when the gravity was about 3/4 done. Using ice and lots of water around the fermenter, I reckon I can get it down to about 5-10C'.

Cool enough you think?

 

[Pennywise]

Yeah I added some finings (gelatin) a couple of days ago when the gravity was about 3/4 done. Using ice and lots of water around the fermenter, I reckon I can get it down to about 5-10C'.

Cool enough you think?

This is vital info, I would say this is why the brew has stalled, finings/geletin will drop out any yeast in suspension. It shouldn't be added untill you have reached FG

 

[bum]

This is vital info, I would say this is why the brew has stalled

Dunno about 'stalled' as gelatined beers seem to carb up ok in bottles. But yeah, it is a big mistake to add gelatine so early (even if it won't work its best at ferment temps). This could explain any number of problems you might end up having with this beer.

 

[Mitcho89]

Woops! I gave the info for the wrong brew (smacks self in the forehead) With this brew (blackrock) I haven't added any finings to it yet, I don't want to touch a thing on it until I know it's done.

I added some finings to my Coopers Mex Cerverza when it was at about 1016, close to the FG of this batch. Everyone I've made has stopped around 1012-14 after being at 1048/

Sorry guys haha..