Hey all,
Finally joined up after nerd sniping myself on this site by reading a ton of posts before brewing my first batch. and decided I would ask if any of you can guess where I am messing up, if you want to call it that. I bought myself a 5 Gal brewing kit for a new job warming gift in October. It came with a Irish Red kit with a dry yeast.
So for my first brew of the Irish Red, the OG wasn't near as high as it should have after soaking the grains and adding the malt extracts/adding hops/etc. After adding the yeast and letting it age for a week, then racking to secondary since it came with a carboy and I figured what the hell, why not. After the two weeks in secondary, I found that the beer only ended up at 3.3%. Not what it was supposed to be, but what the hey, not bad for a first attempt. The beer after bottling and time to carbonate itself turned out perfectly clear though a touch on the sweet side and a weak head. Still, a first beer that came out well, you know I am hooked.
My second beer was an Oatmeal Stout kit, yes I have beer ADD. This was supposed to be a harder beer, but following the directions I hit the OG spot on. Primary and then secondary as before, and the FG ended up 0.014 high. Once again, a much lower ABV than I was supposed to get (only 3.28% rather than the 4.4-5.5% it was supposed to reach). After bottling and self carbonation, this was a deliciously black beer with a wonderful head though a bit of a bite. After a couple sips though you get used to it and can really enjoy it. Definite success in my eyes.
For Christmas I decided to brew an Imperial Nut Brown kit with my father. We got nowhere near the desired OG or FG once again (unfortunately I don't have the sheet with my notes from the brew to give exact figures) Upon sampling the beer on bottling day (this past Sat) the beer also has that strong bite which I am sure will fade while it carbonates.
My question, after writing this book of a post is where could I be screwing up? Is there anything I must be screwing up that would cause fermentation to not drop the gravity or ending up with an ABV anywhere near what the kits are claiming they should, and getting the bite. I imagine I must be boiling too hot or long with the hops or maybe just not cooling it fast enough to get it off the hops before it bitters too much. I am making a point to follow the directions to the letter.
Finally joined up after nerd sniping myself on this site by reading a ton of posts before brewing my first batch. and decided I would ask if any of you can guess where I am messing up, if you want to call it that. I bought myself a 5 Gal brewing kit for a new job warming gift in October. It came with a Irish Red kit with a dry yeast.
So for my first brew of the Irish Red, the OG wasn't near as high as it should have after soaking the grains and adding the malt extracts/adding hops/etc. After adding the yeast and letting it age for a week, then racking to secondary since it came with a carboy and I figured what the hell, why not. After the two weeks in secondary, I found that the beer only ended up at 3.3%. Not what it was supposed to be, but what the hey, not bad for a first attempt. The beer after bottling and time to carbonate itself turned out perfectly clear though a touch on the sweet side and a weak head. Still, a first beer that came out well, you know I am hooked.
My second beer was an Oatmeal Stout kit, yes I have beer ADD. This was supposed to be a harder beer, but following the directions I hit the OG spot on. Primary and then secondary as before, and the FG ended up 0.014 high. Once again, a much lower ABV than I was supposed to get (only 3.28% rather than the 4.4-5.5% it was supposed to reach). After bottling and self carbonation, this was a deliciously black beer with a wonderful head though a bit of a bite. After a couple sips though you get used to it and can really enjoy it. Definite success in my eyes.
For Christmas I decided to brew an Imperial Nut Brown kit with my father. We got nowhere near the desired OG or FG once again (unfortunately I don't have the sheet with my notes from the brew to give exact figures) Upon sampling the beer on bottling day (this past Sat) the beer also has that strong bite which I am sure will fade while it carbonates.
My question, after writing this book of a post is where could I be screwing up? Is there anything I must be screwing up that would cause fermentation to not drop the gravity or ending up with an ABV anywhere near what the kits are claiming they should, and getting the bite. I imagine I must be boiling too hot or long with the hops or maybe just not cooling it fast enough to get it off the hops before it bitters too much. I am making a point to follow the directions to the letter.