Another Newby

New to the brewing and already loving it.

I was given some gear and a couple of kits by a workmate

I did the "Black Rock Lager" kit first (pretty much on the low side of quality here in NZ). Sat in the fermenter for 10 days, SG stayed put at 1.012 for the last 6 days. High due to using enhancer that came with it. Bottled last night. Tastes ok at this point. We'll see ina few more weeks.

Did another kit last night. This one is a Muntons Premium Lager. Once again not the best quality but a bit better than the previous kit. This time i chucked in some Hallertau finishing hopss and controlled the temp a lot more (damn hot over here at the moment). We'll see.

Doing an extract jobby next time. The plan is to have a go at a simple Belgian Pale Ale. This is what i have in mind, let me know if anyone has clever ideas without complicating it

3kg Light Malt Extract
0.5kg Belgian Candi Sugar

25 grams Styrian Goldings 60mins
25 grams Styrian Goldings 30mins
15 grams Styrian Goldings 5 mins

Safbrew S-33 yeast

if you tasted it after the bottling sugar was added, then i would expect it to have a terrible apple cider taste. that will all turn into carbonation.

Haha no I used the drops directly into the bottle. ie Tasted without the extra sugar. Tastes ok. But I have picky beer taste

Dogphish said:

if you tasted it after the bottling sugar was added, then i would expect it to have a terrible apple cider taste. that will all turn into carbonation.

Click to expand...

Not every young beer is going to have an increased level of acetaldehyde (green apple), especially if they are all-malt beers. So, I would not always assume this.

sockmerchant said:

This is what i have in mind, let me know if anyone has clever ideas without complicating it

3kg Light Malt Extract
0.5kg Belgian Candi Sugar

25 grams Styrian Goldings 60mins
25 grams Styrian Goldings 30mins
15 grams Styrian Goldings 5 mins

Safbrew S-33 yeast

Click to expand...

Glad to have another person joining one of the greatest hobbies out there!

As far as improving the recipe, I think it's a good starting point. Extract brewers do well to include a higher percentage of candi sugar, or even better, sucrose, in the belgians (as you have here with 14.3% candi sugar). Because this is your only affect on fermentability of the wort (to a degree), the beers are more likely to dry out appropriately for the style. See if you can find a true Pilsen LME. There is definitely a flavor difference if it is true pilsen malt.

Other than that, you've already touched on what I think is the most important aspect of homebrewing - fermentation temperature control. On the homebrew level, I think there is hardly anything else that can affect a beer so greatly. Belgian yeasts are a little more forgiving, but you would still do yourself to control the temp the first few days.

What would you suggest i bump the candi sugar up to then?

anyone?

Ok so I brewed this thing up yesterday. Used T-58 yeast instead as its been recommended fairly highly here and elsewhere. I left home shortly after it made its way into the fermenter. Got home 4 hours later and the air lock was already going nuts.

Bumped up the sugar to 15% and subbed candi for cane (Been listening to some Jamil stuff recently)

OG was 1.056, a little higher than i expected but oh well

This morning took a tiny sample and things are looking good.

Hey. Sorry for the delay. I was saying the 14.3% you had was prob good. Going to 15% won't hurt either. There are some Belgian brews out there going to 20% or higher (see Brew Like a Monk).

Let us know how it turns out!

No worries.

at 20 degrees C its pretty close to FG after 30 hours since pitching. madness. Poor little yeasties will be bored for the next 7 days I guess