Everyone's homebrew seems to taste good to them -- so here is mine

ed_brews_now · 02-12-2011, 07:45 PM

Everyone's homebrew seems good to the brewer him/herself. Is this a case of a baby with a face only a mother could like? Is this a delusion? Or is it just the case any beer will do?

Anyways, I made my first batch (all extract) and have been tasting -- it is quite good (I need some experts to taste it to put me in my place -- if you live in Toronto you can volunteer) so here is the recipe (It is essentially the John Palmer recipe but with whatever ingredients I could get my hands on):

3lbs Breiss Amber DME extract
3.3lbs Breiss Golden LME extract
1oz Palisades for bittering pellets
1oz Cascade for flavoring pellets.
Safale S-04.
No hop bags

Dissolve DME in 3 gallons of water and bring to boil.
60 minute boil, add .75 oz of Palisades --
30 minutes add remainder of Palisades and half of Cascade.
15 minutes add remainder of Cascade.
0 minutes add LME and let to boil for five minutes (so the hops are actually in there longer.)

Here are a few things I thought I screwed up -- and I did, but it turned out quite drinkable -- I enjoyed it and will try it again.

1. diluted to much and go OG of 1.035.
2. I did not control the temperature and it went down to 58 degrees at night so I don't think I go complete fermentation -- final gravity was 1.02 -- so it is very light on the alcohol. Very clear without clearing agents. That yeast dropped -- but there was enough for good carbonation in bottles.

But even though I don't get the alcohol it seems to taste like some of the micro-brewery commercial brews. I am amazed. I am drinking it a five weeks.

Not great foam retention. Quite a nice balance between bitter and sweet. I think at this alcohol level, I will probably have to drink it quickly because it might not last that long.

I am going to try the recipe again --- I wonder what it will taste like if I get the completely fermented? Will it be more bitter without the sweetness balancing it out? Any guesses?

McGarnigle · 02-12-2011, 09:51 PM

How much did you dilute it to get a 1.035 OG? Are you sure this isn't just a bad measurement due to unmixed wort? I haven't run this through a calculator, but you'd need to go way over 5 gallons for this to start at 1.035.

Also, if you let the LME boil for 5 minutes, then that's a 5 minute addition (not zero minutes). You could take it off the boil and let residual heat sanitize the LME.

58 degrees could stop fermentation. If you went down to, say, 1.010, it would be a bit less sweet.

I don't know the AA% of your Pailsades to judge your IBUs and your level of bitterness. BTW, for your next batch, consider trying all pale/golden extract and steeping some Crystal grains instead.

**RM-MN** · 02-12-2011, 10:24 PM

Your malt extract contains some unfermentable sugars so at 1.020, it could have completed teh fermentation.

unless you added way too much water, your OG was more like 1.05 than 1.035. Getting water and wort to mix properly for your OG sample is hard to do.

Even if your air temperature went down to 58 at night, your wort probably did not. It takes quite a while for wort to get down to 58 even if it started at 65. I ferment much of my beer at 60 to 65 degrees now and it tastes better than when I did it at 72, much better. Controlling the temperature so it doesn't go too high is more important than getting down to 58 overnight. The only caveat is that yeast don't like big, fast swings in temperature. Wrapping your fermenter in a jacket or sleeping bag will tend to keep it nearer the same temperature.

If you want better head retention, steep a bit of carapils at about the 150 to 160 temperature for 20 minutes to extract some of the proteins before you remove them to begin the boil. If you don't care about haziness in the beer, oatmeal will do that too.

ed_brews_now · 02-13-2011, 12:50 PM

Is it the case that the amber extract gives you more unfermentable sugars?

Quote:

Originally Posted by McGarnigle

. BTW, for your next batch, consider trying all pale/golden extract and steeping some Crystal grains instead.

McGarnigle · 02-13-2011, 05:22 PM

Yes. All extracts have something other than 2-row. Amber will have more other stuff (crystal mostly, which has low fermentability) and dark extract will have the most.

This is why a lot of brewers only use light/pale extract and build on top of that.

gregpio85 · 02-13-2011, 05:26 PM

If you're looking for a taster, call you lhbs and see if they'll taste it. The guy at my lhbs knows his stuff and can pick up on tastes that I can't

ed_brews_now · 02-13-2011, 07:39 PM

This time I have 3 lbs pilsner DME and 3.3lbs Amber.
Do you think this will help much?

Quote:

Originally Posted by McGarnigle

Yes. All extracts have something other than 2-row. Amber will have more other stuff (crystal mostly, which has low fermentability) and dark extract will have the most.

This is why a lot of brewers only use light/pale extract and build on top of that.

boo boo · 02-13-2011, 08:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ed_brews_now

This time I have 3 lbs pilsner DME and 3.3lbs Amber.
Do you think this will help much?

There are a lot of guys from your area who homebrew who would welcome a chance to taste your beer and offer advise. Contact George Leet from the S.O.B. http://www.homebrewersassociation.org/forum/index.php?topic=56.0 for members near you.