My beer, from brewday to sitting in front of TV enjoying

Just a thread for my records, how things went to how it tasted. Comments and advice welcome

Date : 25 feb 2013
Beer : "Devils Sidekick" dark lager (ver. 2.0)
Volume : 23L
Process : extract with grains

Recipe 1.7 kg coopers lager lme
1.0 kg muntons EL DME
100g chocolate malt
50g carahell 10ebc (crystal 10)
50g carared 40ebc (crystal 40)

4 oz styrian goldings (20 min)
5 oz Saaz (15mins)
Irish moss @15

2 x Saflager S-23 (22g)

Process :
Bring 10L water to 150f
Steep grains for 30 mins
Remove grains

Top water up to 15L
Bring to rolling boil
Add 1/2 DME
Hops:
Styrian goldings @ 20 mins (left)
Saaz @ 15 mins
Irish moss @ 15

Flameout
Add remainder DME
Add LME

Cool wort to 12c
transfer to FV & top up to 23L
pitch yeast

WAIT I forgot to close tap in FV after sterilising aaaaaagh lost about 1L

OG 1040 ???? Low

10L for steeping
5L add for boil
14L to top up to 23 L (seems a lot!!)
6 L lost dusting boil? (1 gal)
Seems wrong ill work back nd figure it out

24 hrs after pitching

All look good

Couldn't help but have another look and I think I know what happened.

Like an idiot I didn't check the markings on the FV and may have topped up more then I should have, hence the lower then expected OG (1040)
Still it tasted nice yesterday and will be nice beer, I hope
Lessons learnt this brew : ALWAYS check new equipment for accuracy

Your low OG is more likely caused by incomplete mixing when you topped off your wort. You would have to have a larger carboy to add enough top off water to lower your OG very much. It is quite difficult to mix water and wort well enough to get a good hydrometer sample. If this was a kit with the expected OG listed, that is likely the true OG. Don't sweat it either way, you're making beer not a nuclear bomb.

I dig your workspace man! I've got my Corona Mill clamped to a crappy plywood board, and when I'm crankin on that thing while it bobbles up and down I'm thinking "Man this sucks"

RM-MN said:

Your low OG is more likely caused by incomplete mixing when you topped off your wort. You would have to have a larger carboy to add enough top off water to lower your OG very much. It is quite difficult to mix water and wort well enough to get a good hydrometer sample. If this was a kit with the expected OG listed, that is likely the true OG. Don't sweat it either way, you're making beer not a nuclear bomb.

Click to expand...

That's true it'll be nice beer alright. It was a higher OG the 1st time I made it (not a kit but my own recipe). I expected 1047 OG. It's probably the mix alright but I did lose 1L due to stupidly leaving the tap open dde01and misread the markings on the FV and added probably 2 1/2 litres (including the lost wort) more then necessary so prob a combination of both. Again it'll be nice beer at the finish. cdf7b

mbobhat said:

I dig your workspace man! I've got my Corona Mill clamped to a crappy plywood board, and when I'm crankin on that thing while it bobbles up and down I'm thinking "Man this sucks"

Click to expand...

Thanks. It's clamped onto the side of my ferm chamber, I purposely left a 2 inch over hang on that side to clamp on the mill. The chamber has 2 sides, one for lager & the other for ale & conditioning, both stc controlled.

unionrdr said:

I need to build something like that for better temp control. I see the recipe changes you made from the original you gave me. Guess we both got some new insperations. It'd be cool to trade a couple bottles when all is said & done.
I was thinking also that maybe you didn't get the wort & top off mixed well before testing. But if you're sure you overfilled,then that's the culprit.
I was reading the wikipedia page on lagering at this link; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lagering
I was reading under "dark lagers",& saw a dark commercial one called "Devil's Backbone". I was wondering if this one was you're insperation for your recipe? I'm glad I brewed it with some changes of my own so we can compare notes. I've been curious about black lagers anyway. Not to mention doing a partial mash with a Cooper's can. I have you to thank for getting me going on that idea. It was kickin around my head since my 1st PM batch. I'll post mt recipe if you or anyone else is interested. Just for comparison's sake anyway...

Click to expand...

Post it up. We'll see what the results are. Expected or not

I Read the article on "Devils Backbone" interesting but not where the name came from....my 4 yr old (my sidekick) usually hands me ingredient etc when I'm brewing but he wasn't there the day that beer was brewed (he was under the weather) so I named it after him.... That means I'm the Devil hehehehe dde1d

That's right,break'em in early! He may follow in his fadder's footshtops!
Here's my version of the recipe you pm'd me about for comparison's sake that I added to;
Pork Soda-
1/2lb German (Weyerman's) rauchmalt
3.5oz chocolate malt
1.75oz Carahell (I think it too was Weyerman's)
1lb plain Extra light Munton's DME
1/2lb Munton's plain light DME
1lb plain Amber Munton's DME
1 can Thomas Cooper's select Heritage Lager
1oz German Haulertauer hops,20 minutes
1oz Czech saaz hops,10 minutes
OG-1.046
Projected FG-1.010-1,012
WL029 kolsh yeast,pitched direct
Mashed @ 152F 1 hour due to use of rauchmalt.
Sparged with a bit over one gallon of water @ 172F (oopsie)
Total BK volume was 3.5 gallons. Used the extra light & light DME's for the boil. Added amber DME & Cooper's can at flame out. Chilled in ice bath down to 72F. The chilled spring water was colder than I thought in the garage. Wort got down to 12C,53.6F. Temp stayed within the yeasts' range of 65-69F the whole time,currently a few days past initial fermentation...

Weh hey we got action

Bubbles & nice krausen

Now that's a beautiful sight

I've done many extracts, but once I started PM, and AG, I've realized that extract is for the birds, It's just crap in a can.........

dstranger99 said:

I've done many extracts, but once I started PM, and AG, I've realized that extract is for the birds, It's just crap in a can.........

Click to expand...

Tell that to the people who have won awards in competition with their extract beers going head to head with all grain.

OhCrap said:

Now that's a beautiful sight

Click to expand...

Congratulations, you have beer in the making. I've never had blowoff like that because I keep my fermenters cool which limits how fast the yeast work and also limits the off flavors. I prefer the range of 62 to 64 F. ambient.

RM-MN said:

Tell that to the people who have won awards in competition with their extract beers going head to head with all grain.

Click to expand...

These people created their own extracts ? Otherwise how can someone who made a Coopers extract claim the beer as their own ?

Just FYI. "Devil's Backbone" is a brewery in Virginia.

RM-MN said:

Congratulations, you have beer in the making. I've never had blowoff like that because I keep my fermenters cool which limits how fast the yeast work and also limits the off flavors. I prefer the range of 62 to 64 F. ambient.

Click to expand...

Tnx
It's actual long fermenting @ 51f controlled to .5f fluctuation. It didn't blow off,YET I pitched 2 pks s-23 as I only used 1 in my original version. If its as good as that one ill be a happy drinker

dstranger99 said:

These people created their own extracts ? Otherwise how can someone who made a Coopers extract claim the beer as their own ?

Click to expand...

Who are u to tell me that the beer isn't my own? I've done many extract beers & believe it or not I started all grain late last year... This was a recipe from my brew book that was exceptional. Fine someone else made the extract but FU if u think u are better then me at making beer. I started this thread for ME, to track this beer from start to finish and to compare to MY other beers (extract n grain), not to start a debate about what is better extract or all grain. If you have something constructive to say great ill listen and learn but if you just want to troll them F OFF

Jayhem said:

Just FYI. "Devil's Backbone" is a brewery in Virginia.

Click to expand...

Yeah I read about it the other day, but not the inspiration for the beers name

Sorry I over reacted to dstranger99

^..........

It's ok, relax..........

dstranger99 said:

^..........

It's ok, relax..........

Click to expand...

Just defending a beer that I'm proud of. Also it may help beginners to throw away kit instructions and experiment a bit. Again I shouldn't have jumped down your throat

OhCrap said:

Just defending a beer that I'm proud of. Also it may help beginners to throw away kit instructions and experiment a bit. Again I shouldn't have jumped down your throat

Click to expand...

No, it's not you, it's me, I shouldn't have come in and pooped on your thread !!! ....

But here's my beef.... I just got so frustrated with extracts, I even got to the point where I mastered the "no extract twang taste" and I still was just never happy with the beer!!!! I liked it, others liked it, but it just wasn't the holy grail that I'm still looking for....But things became clear as day when I tasted an AG from my Brewshops Keg. With each swallow I could taste my own failures......

dstranger99 said:

No, it's not you, it's me, I shouldn't have come in and pooped on your thread !!! ....

But here's my beef.... I just got so frustrated with extracts, I even got to the point where I mastered the "no extract twang taste" and I still was just never happy with the beer!!!! I liked it, others liked it, but it just wasn't the holy grail that I'm still looking for....But things became clear as day when I tasted an AG from my Brewshops Keg. With each swallow I could taste my own failures......

Click to expand...

So you're comparing your extract beer to someone else's grain beer? That's not a good comparison. So far, I have had good and bad from extract and from grain. That makes me think it's about the process - temperature during mash, time in fermenter, sanitation. If all those are done right, either way will have a good result.

dstranger99 said:

No, it's not you, it's me, I shouldn't have come in and pooped on your thread !!! ....

But here's my beef.... I just got so frustrated with extracts, I even got to the point where I mastered the "no extract twang taste" and I still was just never happy with the beer!!!! I liked it, others liked it, but it just wasn't the holy grail that I'm still looking for....But things became clear as day when I tasted an AG from my Brewshops Keg. With each swallow I could taste my own failures......

Click to expand...

Ah the mystical 'extract twang'. I've had that discussion with myself, this was the first beer I made without that twang..... I wouldn't say you were tasting failures more like tasting lessons 'things that need to be changed' . I still have a beer (20 500ml bottles) that I'm not happy with but drink one before each brew to remind me what I did wrong

To be honest,ohcrap,it was nice to do a (mostly) AE beer again. That lil micro mash I did when I added the rauchmalt to your grain bill was easy. But to those that think extract is no good,I'll say what I've always said-blame the brewer,not the brew. I worked with a lot of AE beer mixtures in my lil brewing corner. Making good beer is a concerted effort,regardless of what brewing style is employed.

Took a hydrometer reading.... 1.016 after 1week

That's 75% done so moved it to chamber 2 set at 16c for D-Rest
Seems lighter in colour this time around....funny that since I used the same weights of each grain. Carahell, chocolate, but added carared this time, should not have lightened the beer tho. Interesting

I'll be checking your dark lager at 2 weeks this Saturday. gotta check the light colored one @ 2 weeks later. We'll see how far the WL029 yeast gets in that amount of time. Stayed within the yeasts' optimal range the whole time.

unionrdr said:

I'll be checking your dark lager at 2 weeks this Saturday. gotta check the light colored one @ 2 weeks later. We'll see how far the WL029 yeast gets in that amount of time. Stayed within the yeasts' optimal range the whole time.

Click to expand...

Are you lagering? If so don't forget drest

Just finished 72hr D-Rest at 60f

She's now back in the cool chamber to finish fermenting at 50f for at least 5 days,
I'll take gravity readings Fri/Sat/Sun and if steady rack to secondary & lower temp down to 32/33f for 4/5 week lagering.
I think that's right procedure anyway, if not jump in and tell me

4-5 weeks sounds about right for a lager yeast. I'll be checking my version for a 1st FG this Saturday. It's past initial fermentation & finishing up atm. The other brew with the same yeast tested at FG1.016 from 1.055.
The dark lager version started at 1.046. Should be close to FG by Saturday.
Interesting that we had a few more cold days in a row while the beers slowly finish up. Not as good as lagering,but as close as I can get. The ferment temps went down a couple degrees in both. But moreso in the lighter one covered with a dark tee shirt vs the darker one covered with a black velven smoking jacket. The lighter colored of the two has the higher gravity as stated,& has a crispness already that's showing how good they'll likely turn out thus far. Sounds like yours is doing well too.

unionrdr said:

4-5 weeks sounds about right for a lager yeast. I'll be checking my version for a 1st FG this Saturday. It's past initial fermentation & finishing up atm. The other brew with the same yeast tested at FG1.016 from 1.055.
The dark lager version started at 1.046. Should be close to FG by Saturday.
Interesting that we had a few more cold days in a row while the beers slowly finish up. Not as good as lagering,but as close as I can get. The ferment temps went down a couple degrees in both. But moreso in the lighter one covered with a dark tee shirt vs the darker one covered with a black velven smoking jacket. The lighter colored of the two has the higher gravity as stated,& has a crispness already that's showing how good they'll likely turn out thus far. Sounds like yours is doing well too.

Click to expand...

Seems to be. But the logic behind time frame is, from Yooper's advice, 1 wk per 10 pts. The only thing bothering me is the lower then expected OG @ 1040, thought 1047/8 but probably a case if inadequate mixing so I'm going 5 wks. I pitched 2 pks of s-23 so she took off like a train and should be all cleaned up in the next couple if days, ill give it till Monday before even thinking of lagering.
I'm planning your shandy for a good reason NOT to have an empty primary
the new chamber is a gift, I set the required temp a day or so in advance and jus move FV from one side to the other, no heavy lifting or ice baths. Total cost was
Wood €48
Stc x2 €40
Insulating 2x 2" sheets €50
Ceramic lamp 40w €10
Freezer parts €0
Labour.... Couple of bottles and lots if slagging

Total cost €148
Total VALUE Priceless

I've been kicking around the idea of adding a dual chamber fermenting cabinet to the top of my fermenter stand. But that'd leave nowhere to store the bottle tree/vinator,bottling bucket & bench capper.

Three weeks in and we're at 1012. Not much left to go if any, will check again & again. Then move to secondary for lagering.
Current temp 10c. Sample looked light and tasted nice but a bit thin, probably the loss of wort (1ltr. and additional water added to compensate) still it's beer

Beer

Three weeks in today for the dark one,three weeks & 4 days for the lighter one. Gotta take 2nd FG sample on both today. A week ago,the dark one was at 1.012 here as well,but the lighter,higher OG one was at 1.016. We'll see what's doin in a while. I have hopes that the dark one will be cleared up more today,exactly 3 weeks in. The flavor was not very smoky or even roasted grilly anymore. Dang...need more rauchmalt. But who knows what it'll be like after carbonation & conditioning? The lighter one had nice crispness to the bittering a week ago. We'll se how it is today. I'm hoping to be able to bottle one of them,as I need to wash the yeast for the NZIPA waiting in the wings.
Just finished 2 FG tests. The lighter one only dropped 1 point in a week to 1.015,seems cloudier too? But flavor not as bitter/crisp,& has this "blue" note,for lack of a better word,to the malt/hop combo. A bit of spice noted as well. Should be darn good when done.
The dark one is steady at Fg1.012 for the week,but clear as crystal. Amber brown color,well balanced malt/hop flavor I dare say. Spicy hops starting to shine through. Wanna bottle this one today.
**bottled the dark one today,3/17. Got 65 12oz bottles out of 6 gallons. Bottled up very clear too. Carbed to 2.6 volumes of co2 per "american dark lager" style. Range for the style is 2.5-2.7 VCO2). Here's a peek at the last lil bit in my Thirsty Dog sampler glass;
http://

Gravity readings stable for 4 days (2 samples in 4 days) after last check...1012. A little higher then hoped, 1010, but not too bad.
Racking to secondary tomorrow for bulk lagering @ 33f.
Sample is a lot lighter (like an amber lager) then last version but so far a very clear clean tasting beer, should turn out a very drinkable inoffensive lager...
Must be the late addition lme etc (that's the biggest change. Would that account for the less roasty taste?

I think it could contribute to less roastiness. Mine isn't very roasty either from the FG sample. The late extract addition def seems to have lightened it up compared to the pic of your previous effort. I've started playing around with it in BS2 to get a bit darker color,etc. It'll be interesting to see what the flavors are like when it's carbonated. And with my new bench capper,that problen should be alieviated.

unionrdr said:

I think it could contribute to less roastiness. Mine isn't very roasty either from the FG sample. The late extract addition def seems to have lightened it up compared to the pic of your previous effort. I've started playing around with it in BS2 to get a bit darker color,etc. It'll be interesting to see what the flavors are like when it's carbonated. And with my new bench capper,that problen should be alieviated.

Click to expand...

I think I may have stumbled upon a beer for the BMC masses. It's clear, clean & crisp inoffensive flavour with only a more darker colour.
I have high hopes for it with the locals BUT I'm disappointed in my process for this one. Still from my mistakes comes another creation, I kept really detailed notes inc mistakes so if her indoors likes it I can repeat it

It's funny how both FG were the same yet og was different (mistakes I made)
The colour seem to be in the same range as yours (to look at ill post tomorrow when racking)