steviesteve31
Active Member
I looked and looked in the threads for help with this.
I have just finshed my second batch of homebrew. The first was a Irish Red Ale with WLP004 yeast (from my local HBS). It was was an extract brew with steeping grains (18 oz 60l crystal malt and 2 0z roasted barley). I followed the directions to the tee. I fermented for 10 days (not much activity) then racked to secondary for 3 weeks ( I had to go out to sea), then bottled for 3 weeks, I chilled one openned it yes it was carbed nice head but it didnt really have a taste and was pretty watery. Chalked it up to lack of experience and
A few weeks later start my second A Brewers Best English Brown Ale. This kit had dry yeast. I was thinking maybe it was the LME from the first kit that made the first batch the way it was. I substituted the 3.3 lb can of Amber LME for 3 lbs of dark DME and the kit came with 2 lbs amber LME. The steeping grains were 8 oz. Caramel 60L, 4.oz chocolate, and 6 oz Carapils. I made a yeast starter (why because i wanted to try it out) and pitched at 70 degrees. With in an hour I had active fermentation, two days later no activity out of curiosity i checked the gravity and it was finished so i racked it to the secondary for another week and a half. I bottled 8 and kegged the rest. forced carbed it then still waited 2 days. Same results watery with little taste.
Both instructions said use 2.5 gallons of water for the boil should i have used the full 5 gallons instead? I steeped at 158 degrees for both was that to little?
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
I have just finshed my second batch of homebrew. The first was a Irish Red Ale with WLP004 yeast (from my local HBS). It was was an extract brew with steeping grains (18 oz 60l crystal malt and 2 0z roasted barley). I followed the directions to the tee. I fermented for 10 days (not much activity) then racked to secondary for 3 weeks ( I had to go out to sea), then bottled for 3 weeks, I chilled one openned it yes it was carbed nice head but it didnt really have a taste and was pretty watery. Chalked it up to lack of experience and
A few weeks later start my second A Brewers Best English Brown Ale. This kit had dry yeast. I was thinking maybe it was the LME from the first kit that made the first batch the way it was. I substituted the 3.3 lb can of Amber LME for 3 lbs of dark DME and the kit came with 2 lbs amber LME. The steeping grains were 8 oz. Caramel 60L, 4.oz chocolate, and 6 oz Carapils. I made a yeast starter (why because i wanted to try it out) and pitched at 70 degrees. With in an hour I had active fermentation, two days later no activity out of curiosity i checked the gravity and it was finished so i racked it to the secondary for another week and a half. I bottled 8 and kegged the rest. forced carbed it then still waited 2 days. Same results watery with little taste.
Both instructions said use 2.5 gallons of water for the boil should i have used the full 5 gallons instead? I steeped at 158 degrees for both was that to little?
Any help would be greatly appreciated.