Virgin Brew

[andrewl]

I can see GG spiralling down the (great) bottomless pit that we know of as "homebrewing". I'm on about my 10th brew now and personally I think it's getting better each brew. So if it's not exactly what you planned for, don't stress! Have another go, you can always change it up until you get something you like. Let us know how the brew goes GG, and congrats on the 1st one!

Cheers,
Andrew

 

[peas_and_corn]

Totally in agreement with andrew. I've had a couple brews taste nothing like I expected, but- they tasted good anyway! It's all about learning.

 

[AngelTearsOnMyTongue]

I normally leave the beer in the bottles for a month before tasting, gives some time to settle and get nice.

What do you think of the PET bottles? I've always found it strange to drink out of plastic (hence I use stubbies), or do you pour it into glasses first?

[post="126998"][/post]​

I brew to glass bottles and have over the last year tested the PET bottles by including 1 or 2 in every brew. I stopped including them about 5 brews ago. Basically I found the results from PET far inferior....... I mean FAR inferior, to bottles.

One of my theories was that the slightly flatter feel to the brews may have resulted from the ability of the bottle to expand during conditioning thus absorbing some of the carbonation effect. I tested this by adding about another half measure of sugar at bottling. Come tasting time I gingerly carried this PET outside. It was Rockhard and I feared lest I jolt it or (God forbid) dropped it, that I might take out a couple of neighbours houses.

It did have a much better feel and taste but in the end was inferior to the glass bottles. I gave up at this point, wondering why "Coopers" and others "Recommend" using the PET bottles in preference to glass. Maybe to avoid newcomers suffering injury when using a hammer and capping tool.

I got around this by building my own capper (For photo see thread on "secondary or not/") as the hammer method freaked me out too much.

I vote "ney" to the PET and would prefer to occasionally clean batches of glass bottles all the better to enjoy my brews.

 

[AngelTearsOnMyTongue]

OK, I am convinced

I will definitely try one tonight. After all, how else will I know it improves with time if I don't try one now?

[post="127018"][/post]​

Soooooooooooooo?!!!

How was it GG?

 

[AngelTearsOnMyTongue]

At the moment I think I prefer the PET bottles because they are easy to get hold of (I still don't know where to get glass ones from),

[post="127002"][/post]​

I have managed to build up a circulating store of about 500 glass bottles. It takes time but the only way to avoid this is to buy them or Keg. I cant keg as I would then become a drunk!

Where do I get them? Apart from parties, I will go and round up about 120 or so in a go by ringing the manager of the local pub and asking if he minds me rifling his glass bin on a Saturday morning. I back up the car with boxes in the boot and wearing a good pair of gardening gloves (for splinters etc) fill up my boot. Then I just have to clean them up and thats the bugger of a job.

The good thing about this is that you also manage to get large numbers of the same style bottles. One night a bunch must have been in drinking crownies and I managed to get almost two batches worth of crownies.

So there you go. An easy way to round up a few batches worth of bottle.

I try to keep about 350 to 450 filled at any one time. Actually, 450 seems to be some sort of glass ceiling for me. Once I approach that number I seem to lose interest in bottling a bit and get a bit slack with my brewing.

 

[GothGargoyle]

Soooooooooooooo?!!!

How was it GG?

[post="127237"][/post]​

The colour is a nice dark amber. I am impressed by how much it has cleared and darkened since it was bottled.

Carbonation seems to have gone very well, it formed a nice head and retained its bubbles.



Aroma - a slightly sweet malty aroma - definitely a lot more like a good belgian beer than any horrible Aussie beer, which is fantastic.

Taste was way too bitter for my liking. The bitterness masked any other flavours that may have been present. After the bitterness faded from my tongue I was left with a quite pleasant aftertaste, with a light body caramel/malty flavour.

I am hoping some time will fade the bitterness and allow the underlying flavours to dominate. If so it should be a damn fine beer.

 

[Steve]

Onya GG! Thats looking the goods! A couple more weeks and you will be surprised how much the taste changes. Carbonation looks good at this stage.
Cheers
Steve

 

[AngelTearsOnMyTongue]

Looks Fantastic. I can almost taste it and might have to have a lunchtime beer just to quench my thirst now.

Also impressed with the head, particularly if it came out of a PET bottle.

Good job GG.:beer:

 

[GothGargoyle]

Had another taste yesterday, now it has been bottled for 3 weeks. I have had a bunch in the fridge for 1 week.

It is soo much better now. Still got a little way to go I think, but definitely drinkable now, and that is saying something because there aren't a lot of beers I can drink (unless I happen to be in the Belgian Beer Cafe).

Anyway, a lot of the bitterness is gone - there is still some, but it is, say, less that what you would get in an average guinness. But now I get a better idea of the flavours of the beer.

It seems slightly fruity. I notice an almost mild strawberry flavour as an aftertaste.

 

[peas_and_corn]

Sounds like a success! seems like you made a much better beer than my first, which was terrible!! :blink: <_<