1st batch from Mr. Beer

[mike_bkk]

Hello Everyone,
I am tasting my first brew ever. I am pleasantly surprised.
I started with a Mr. Beer kit, Golden Ale. I was very careful sanitized everything. I made a couple changes to the kit. I used bottled water as I live in Thailand so tap water not acceptable. I added some extra hops Citra Cryo hops .5 oz. Cooled and added water and rhe wort to LBk. Changed my yeast to Kveik Voss. Works great at high temp. Let it ferment for a week. Bottled in 750ml pet bottles 2 carb tabs per bottle. Left for 2 weeks at room temp chilled it and wow. It is totally drinkable.
I am so hooked.

 

[RM-MN]

If you leave the beer in the fermenter another week before bottling you may be even more impressed with your brewing.

 

[mike_bkk]

If you leave the beer in the fermenter another week before bottling you may be even more impressed with your brewing.

I am actually wondering about that. With the yeast that I used and the temp the specs say it will finish in about 3 days. I measure the FG at day 4, day 5, and day 6 and it was always the same and all the krausen was subsided so on the 7th day I figured it must be done.
Can you help me understand is there benefit to leaving it any longer after the yeast has finished?
I so enjoy learning about this and the process.

 

[RM-MN]

There is a lot of yeast suspended in the beer when the beer reaches final gravity. Some of us do not enjoy the taste of the yeast and prefer the beer without as much of it. Being that the yeast is similar in density to beer it takes some time to settle out.

I have bottled beer at one week. It had reached final gravity, just as yours did. I had nearly 1/4 inch of sediment in each bottle.

I have bottled beer at the end of 3 weeks. I'm pretty sure it had reached final gravity well before I bottled it but this time I had so little sediment in the bottle it was hard to see.

Once the beer is bottled is begins a period of maturing. Light color beers with lower alcohol mature fast but maybe not at 2 weeks. I find that they get a better, more long lasting head if I leave them longer. As the type of beer gets darker and/or higher in alcohol, that period of maturing gets longer. When I read that someone has kegged their porter and started drinking it after a couple days, I feel sorry for them as they don't get the benefit of the beer maturing.

 

[cmac62]

There are also things that the yeast do in that extra week that can greatly improve the flavor and stability of the beer. Once the sugar has turned to ETOH and CO2 the yeast eat some of other stuff that can cause off flavors. Usually when this is complete they will fall out of suspension quicker also. I'm glad to hear you are enjoying your first homebrew. I remember being amazed that my first beer tasted good.

 

[fluketamer]

+1 +1 +1 all very good info above. also great additions to that kit .

mr beer kegs are great . 2-2.25 gallon batches and very low profile fermentor will fit in almost any fridge for temp control. only a few real probs with mr beer keg . 1 no airlock so you cant record bubble porn (!) and the interior has a bunch of nooks and crannies that can be a pain to clean . also i like to see my fermtning and the tinted plastic decreases your viewing pleasure,. lastly, plastic scratches easily

 

[mike_bkk]

There is a lot of yeast suspended in the beer when the beer reaches final gravity. Some of us do not enjoy the taste of the yeast and prefer the beer without as much of it. Being that the yeast is similar in density to beer it takes some time to settle out.

I have bottled beer at one week. It had reached final gravity, just as yours did. I had nearly 1/4 inch of sediment in each bottle.

I have bottled beer at the end of 3 weeks. I'm pretty sure it had reached final gravity well before I bottled it but this time I had so little sediment in the bottle it was hard to see.

Once the beer is bottled is begins a period of maturing. Light color beers with lower alcohol mature fast but maybe not at 2 weeks. I find that they get a better, more long lasting head if I leave them longer. As the type of beer gets darker and/or higher in alcohol, that period of maturing gets longer. When I read that someone has kegged their porter and started drinking it after a couple days, I feel sorry for them as they don't get the benefit of the beer maturing.

Thanks so much for the help and information. One of the things you said stands out to me is about the head. The beer doesn't really have much if any head. It is totally drinkable the taste is quite light, i for sure would like a bugger head. I will definitely use your advice when I make my next batch.

 

[IslandLizard]

Congrats with your first brew!

The beer doesn't really have much if any head.

How big (their volume) are the bottles?
Do the lids seal well? If they leak, there won't be any pressure built up, which is part of the carbonation process.

If that's not the problem, you could measure out the right amount of sugar per bottle or use more carb drops.
Most of us will use a bottling bucket, to which the right amount of pre-dissolved priming sugar is added, gently mixed to homogenate, then bottled from there.

 

[mike_bkk]

Congrats with your first brew!


How big (their volume) are the bottles?
Do the lids seal well? If they leak, there won't be any pressure built up, which is part of the carbonation process.

If that's not the problem, you could measure out the right amount of sugar per bottle or use more carb drops.
Most of us will use a bottling bucket, to which the right amount of pre-dissolved priming sugar is added, gently mixed to homogenate, then bottled from there.

The bottles are large 750ml as they came with the kit. The caps do seal well. There is nice carbonation, just not much head. The kit instructions had me use 2 drops per bottle. Mr. Beer is only 2 gals and I am using it to get my feet wet so to speak. It has now become too hot in Thailand to ferment without a temp controlled environment, even with the kveik voss yeast. So I have a temp controller and getting a smaller fridge to make my next batch. I plan to move up to 5 gal batches and a bottling bucket after I get the fridge and controller working and I make a couple more batches of Mr. Beer. I have one more kit from them and I am gonna try some hard cider as well.

 

[IslandLizard]

The bottles are large 750ml as they came with the kit. The caps do seal well. There is nice carbonation, just not much head. The kit instructions had me use 2 drops per bottle.

2 drops may not be quite enough to get the level of carbonation that will pour out with a good head.

I don't know how much sugar those drops contain. If you have a "small" scale you could weigh them, to get an idea. Or weigh 20, 40 or more of them on a larger scale.
Instead, you could use regular table sugar or glucose/dextrose.

For reference, here's a carbonation calculator:
https://www.brewersfriend.com/beer-priming-calculator/

 

[RM-MN]

Thanks so much for the help and information. One of the things you said stands out to me is about the head. The beer doesn't really have much if any head. It is totally drinkable the taste is quite light, i for sure would like a bugger head. I will definitely use your advice when I make my next batch.

I have experimented a bit with head formation. Opening a beer only 24 hours after bottling gave me the "phsst" of carbonation when opening but no heading. At a week in the bottle there would be some heading but it would quickly dissipate. 2 weeks gave a head that lasted fairly well but no lacing on the glass. To get a nice head and lacing I had to wait 3 weeks or more in the bottle. YMMV

 

[mike_bkk]

I think you are right about the drops. They weigh 2 grams dextrose. But the second bottle I gave it a bit of high pour and I actually got a nice head.

I have experimented a bit with head formation. Opening a beer only 24 hours after bottling gave me the "phsst" of carbonation when opening but no heading. At a week in the bottle there would be some heading but it would quickly dissipate. 2 weeks gave a head that lasted fairly well but no lacing on the glass. To get a nice head and lacing I had to wait 3 weeks or more in the bottle. YMMV

Thanks for the info. I conditioned in the bottle at yeast temps for 2 weeks. Then into the fridge. Now after 2 days in the fridge I got a decent head and some lacing in the glass.

 

[IslandLizard]

I think you are right about the drops. They weigh 2 grams dextrose.

According to BF's calculator you'd need 5.4 gram of Dextrose (corn sugar) to carbonate a 750ml bottle to 2.5 volumes.

But the second bottle I gave it a bit of high pour and I actually got a nice head.

Pouring "hard" will create more head, by sacrificing (dissolved) carbonation from the beer. Head is overrated anyway.

 

[balrog]

gave it a bit of high pour

Double +1 to @IslandLizard ; getting foam on top looks and smells pretty but if it's at the expense of flattening the glass of beer and losing the carbonic bite that lends to the mouthfeel and taste, I for one am not in favor. I remember sitting in my youth at a bar and watching the regulars shake salt into their half full glass of beer to "get the head back" and while the slat provided nucleation points and brought warming CO2 from solution to create a head, it made it a flat, salty beer. One man's opinion. But blech!

 

[mac_1103]

I have bottled beer at one week. It had reached final gravity, just as yours did. I had nearly 1/4 inch of sediment in each bottle.

I let everything go at least four weeks now. And I cold crash. And I still get 1/4 inch of sediment.

 

[IslandLizard]

I let everything go at least four weeks now. And I cold crash. And I still get 1/4 inch of sediment.

Makes me wonder, are you racking from above the trub line? And using one of those inverter tippies on the bottom of the cane/siphon?

I start racking halfway down the fermenter, and slowly lower the cane as the beer level resides. When there's a good gallon left I start tipping the fermenter (again, slowly) to the side the siphon is mounted on to keep the siphoning well deep. As soon as cloudy beer or trub/yeast starts to enter the siphon I stop the transfer. Now this's into a keg, a semi-closed transfer, although into a bottling bucket it's a similar procedure.

There's usually less than 1/16" of yeast sediment in the bottom of the keg when cleaning it. NEIPA's and hazies leave a somewhat larger amount, maybe 1/8-3/16", max.

 

[mac_1103]

Makes me wonder, are you racking from above the trub line?

I transfer from a spigot above the trub line and I put a block of wood under the spigot during fermentation and crashing so the trub settles away from the spigot.

 

[IslandLizard]

And I cold crash. And I still get 1/4 inch of sediment.

How long is the cold crash?
Lager yeast or some other super slow flocculator? I had trouble getting Kolsches clear until I used gelatin, crashing in a keg.

 

[mac_1103]

How long is the cold crash?

Anywhere from 2-3 days @ 40F to 4 weeks @ 50F.

The beer that goes into the bottles looks pretty darned clear. 1/4" might be a bit of an exaggeration and it does vary some, but it's a whole lot more than "barely noticeable."