Tasting..?

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sluggerdog

Beer In Here
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I was wondering about tasting and how much it improves with age?

e.g I am going to rack my first batch laster today so I gave it a taste while I was measuring the gravity, the beer taste was not the most pleasent I have ever tried, I could tell it was beer but hmm... sweet fruity taste (maybe.. hard to describe)

So anyway probably just looking for reasurance that it will taste better one it has been primed and left for a few weeks.

And does the taste improve with age in the bottle? the longer the better? I am planning to try it after 2 weeks in the bottle (9 days fermenting, 2 weeks bottle) is this too soon and should I wait longer before the taste will improve and the beer will clear up?

Thanx
SD :(
 
Your beer will get better with age. Dont worry about that. As for your beer tasting cidery, did you use normal sugar? This will give you that cidery taste.
 
Yes it does improve in the bottle , when I used to bottle I believed at 3 months it was best

Batz
 
Sluggerdog

The flavour can change heaps - IMHO usually the hop flavour/profile diminishes with age, while the malt profile increases.
Hence, lagers are not aged as long as ales and drunk earlier than ales.

With big Barley Wines - the longer you age them - the more depth of flavour due to some compound called flavanoids that develop in th ebottle over time.

Hope this helps
 
sometimes i wonder if you just make this stuff up on the spot GMK!
'Hence, lagers are not aged as long as ales and drunk earlier than ales.'

try putting that the otherway around and see how it looks.
ales are ussually consumed fresh as a daisy where lagers 'lager'


Jayse
 
GMK said:
Hence, lagers are not aged as long as ales and drunk earlier than ales.
GMK

I think you have this arse about.

Think of the UK - they drink their ales fresh.

Barley Wines and other high alcohol beers do take time to mature and they do need high bitterness to start as it will diminish over time.

The word lager means "To store beer at low temperatures for a period of weeks or months prior to consumption"

Yes, the profile of beer does change over time, but lagers with the correct storage and hopping are magnificent after 6 months. The pils I do for competitions, I aim to brew my pils at least 3 months ahead for the state competitions, and then they are around 6 months for the nationals.

Cheers
Pedro
 
In response to Jayse and Pedro - i can see where confusion was in my earlier post.
By aging - i was referring to Bottle Aging/Conditioning.
When i brew lagers i will Cold Condition for 4-6weeks in the fridge prior to bottling/kegging.
I usually drink my bottled/kegged lagers within three months of their bottling/ kegging.

Where as Ales - i try and Bottle Condition/Age for at least 6months and Barley Wines for upto 18months - in the bottle.

Hope this clears up my last post...
Sorry for any confusion.
 
GMK

I still think you have it wrong. You can lager in the bottle, although in a keg is better. Ales are still better young with the exception of strong ales that need time to mature.

I saw you post something about dry hopping ale. Why would you dry hop and then not drink it fresh - you are missing out on all the fresh hops flavour and aroma.

Pedro
 
morry said:
Your beer will get better with age. Dont worry about that. As for your beer tasting cidery, did you use normal sugar? This will give you that cidery taste.
Nope, I used dextrose, maybe I don't know what homebrew after 9 days tastes like, I'll sit it out until the time is right and worry about it then if it is still bad.

Bought my second bacth ready to go nearly next week:

- Morgan's Golden Saaz Pilsner
- Brew Pack with dextrose(250), corn syrup(250) and light malt (500)
- Standard yeast that came with the morgans tin (HBS Guy said it's good for the heat we have now)
- 15 gms of sazz hops

Any suggestions on the above would be great, Thanks

SD :)
 
sluggerdog said:
Bought my second bacth ready to go nearly next week:

- Morgan's Golden Saaz Pilsner
- Brew Pack with dextrose(250), corn syrup(250) and light malt (500)
- Standard yeast that came with the morgans tin (HBS Guy said it's good for the heat we have now)
- 15 gms of sazz hops

Any suggestions on the above would be great, Thanks

SD :)
slugger,

sounds ok, but if you have extra light malt lying around I'd use that over the dextrose and corn syrup.
The yeast in the kit will be an ale yeast which is why your HBS guy suggesting using it in the current temps. If you aren't setup for lager ferments ( a nice cool part of the house ~10-12 deg, or a temp controlled fridge ) the this is the go. Ideally there are better dry ale yeasts available but for your second brew you will be fine.

RDWHAHB.

Beers,
Doc
 
GMK said:
.
By aging - i was referring to Bottle Aging/Conditioning.
When i brew lagers i will Cold Condition for 4-6weeks in the fridge prior to bottling/kegging.
I usually drink my bottled/kegged lagers within three months of their bottling/ kegging.

Where as Ales - i try and Bottle Condition/Age for at least 6months and Barley Wines for upto 18months - in the bottle.
Seems arse about too me as well GMK

Take a nice hoppy APA , you don't won't to age that for six months , it would not have the hop profile by then

Lagers are the ones I do like to age , after CC in the bottle.

Batz
 
Doc said:
sluggerdog said:
Bought my second bacth ready to go nearly next week:

- Morgan's Golden Saaz Pilsner
- Brew Pack with dextrose(250), corn syrup(250) and light malt (500)
- Standard yeast that came with the morgans tin (HBS Guy said it's good for the heat we have now)
- 15 gms of sazz hops

Any suggestions on the above would be great, Thanks

SD :)
slugger,

sounds ok, but if you have extra light malt lying around I'd use that over the dextrose and corn syrup.
The yeast in the kit will be an ale yeast which is why your HBS guy suggesting using it in the current temps. If you aren't setup for lager ferments ( a nice cool part of the house ~10-12 deg, or a temp controlled fridge ) the this is the go. Ideally there are better dry ale yeasts available but for your second brew you will be fine.

RDWHAHB.

Beers,
Doc
Thanks Doc for the advice, I'm not set up for anything on a large scale (i.e. lager ferments) so I'll just stick with the kit yeast until I can afford more equipment or it gets cooler (QLD weather - 34C today and worse inside my house)

I'll stick with the brew pack that I have too, my first batch had only dextrose, the second will have the dextrose/corn syrup/light malt so atleast I can tell the differance and learn from my mistakes.. hehe

BTW the yeast ferments at 25C (Morgan's Golden Saaz Pilsner yeast) occording to the HBS Guy, this seems hight to me however I'm no expert, anyone can confirm/deny this?

Thanx
SD :)
 
Ummmmm

to lager means to store. . .that is all

longer term ageing does nice things to most beers. . .lagering improves even ales

Jovial Monk
 
Ummm a real traditional IPA/APA I would to age 12-14 months so hop biterness has started turning into flavor and the ale stops stripping layers off cells from your tongue and cheeks. . .a Mild I would drink fresh, same as a smaller English Bitter.

Ageing/lagering does increase with alcohol content and bitterness

Beer style rules over other hard and fast rules!

Do not apply commercial practice to HB scale, even 1000L is radically different to 23 or 60L

Jovial Monk
 
sluggerdog said:
BTW the yeast ferments at 25C (Morgan's Golden Saaz Pilsner yeast) occording to the HBS Guy, this seems hight to me however I'm no expert, anyone can confirm/deny this?
The yeast will work at those temps, but they aren't the most optimal ones.
Try and keep it around the 20 degree mark if you can.
A good constant fermentation temp is very desirable.

Beers,
Doc
 
Doc said:
sluggerdog said:
BTW the yeast ferments at 25C (Morgan's Golden Saaz Pilsner yeast) occording to the HBS Guy, this seems hight to me however I'm no expert, anyone can confirm/deny this?
The yeast will work at those temps, but they aren't the most optimal ones.
Try and keep it around the 20 degree mark if you can.
A good constant fermentation temp is very desirable.

Beers,
Doc
I emailed the morgans brewing crew on the weekend about this and someone called me back today to confirm this. They said to keep it around 20 degrees however on their cans it says 22-27.

Will be starting this one laster today when it cools down a little.

Thanx
SD :D
 
try some S189 yest with the kit.
Dry hop with 25gms of Saaz pellets in the secondary....
 
GMK said:
try some S189 yest with the kit.
Dry hop with 25gms of Saaz pellets in the secondary....
I don't have a second fermenter at the moment, just a second can from bunnings which I used to bulk prime.

So I was going to just put in the hops at the start (cup of boiling water and wack it into the mix.

Is 25 a lot or not? My HBS guty said no more then 15gms with the morgans pils can as there was already lots of hops in the can...?

ThanX
SD :D
 
i have tried secondry dry hop's with saaz and 90% of the time find it to grassy hence that has been banned in the Bentleigh BrewHouse

say NO TO DRY HOP :)

that said i cant remember if i did when i tried Ken's recipie but it turned out great and every one liked it, i found the morgans kits much better than coopers
 
Gout have you tried GMK's method of seeping the hops before adding to the fermenter when dry hopping. GMK claims the seep removes the grassiness, I gave it a go and it worked well. Might be worth (if you haven't tried it) a try then maybe you'll have dry hopping back in the homebrew tool bag ;)
 
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