chipwitch
Well-Known Member
Hello everyone. This is my first post, though Google has referred me to this site NUMEROUS times, I only just joined. I'm fortunate enough to have a homebrew store just a few minutes from my house, but depending who's on duty, they can be very unhelpful, sometimes downright snobbish and rude.
I'm on the fence about whether or not to invest my time in a brew that I fear may result in gushers and/or so dry a beer as to be unpalatable. Should I toss it? Let it sit in the secondary for another month then reevaluate? First, a little background...
I started making wine less than a year ago, using mangoes from a prolific tree in my yard. After making a few 5 gallon batches, I decided to try my hand at something a little more immediately gratifying. Since my first Norther Brewer kit about 4 months ago, I've made 2 extract kits, 3 of my own design extract batches (tweaked recipes found online), 1 2-gallon all grain, 1-partial grain and 1 5-gal AG. The last 3 have been full boil. I have not been particularly happy with any of the ales to date. Rather disappointing. However, I have gained some experience in my short time at this, read extensively and spent a lot of money trying to do this right without going overboard.
My question pertains to the last one, the AG. Like I said, I'm not overly happy with any of the brews I've made, but there isn't any great problem that makes any undrinkable and generally, I know what I did wrong. But the AG batch has me perplexed.
Here's the recipe...
Strong Golden Ale
10 lb Maris Otter
1 lb Munich Malt 5.5 SRM
1 lb Red Wheat Malt
Sterling Fuggles and Hersbrucker hops
Whirlfloc tab
Wyeast 1388.
2lbs of inverted sugar syrup was added when the gravity got down to about 1.025, a 2-3 days into fermentation.
It's been 25 days since brew day. Currently in glass secondary carboy. Gravity is at 1.005. Still lots of bubble (never stopped completely). Taste is good by my palate, lightly carbed in fact. Clarity is horendous (completely opaque in the graduated cylinder). Looks like apple cider, color (maybe a little more golden) and clarity. Smells pleasant.
Known mistakes/issues:
1) Iodine test revealed full starch conversion, though I didn't check gravity until it was in the boil pot which was around 5 points lower than target 1.070
2) Underpitched yeast. Stupid mistake. I made a 2 liter starter (no stir plate, oxygen or heat) about 30 hours in advance of pitch. After refrigerating for a few hours, I incorrectly expected most of the yeast to fall out of suspension. By decanting, I disposed of much of my yeast. duh. I realized my error in the middle of pitching and ended up pitching about a third of my liquid along with the sediment... so not a complete loss. The fermentation kicked off within 10 hours of pitching and proceeded nicely for few days as expected, tapering off but never stopping.
3) In the middle of transferring to the primary, I noticed fruit flies! This is Florida. Bugs abound. I doubt it is completely impossible to keep them all out brewing outside. Got 1 visible adult fly and about a half dozen floating larva in the brew, but looks like nothing alive.
I kept the primary in an ice water bath for about 4 days... temperature avg 66F. Ramped and held at about 72F
I'm going to check the gravity in a couple days to see if there is change. Right now, it's mildly boozy but drinkable in my mind. Mouthfeel is meh. I don't have the beer tasting experience to know off flavors. The only homebrews I've ever had are my own, though in the past 6 months I've sampled just about every ale I can get my hands on and love most of them. I don't know diacetyl by experience, but there may be a little in this brew.
Any suggestions? I'm not sure where to go from here. I appreciate any help.
I'm on the fence about whether or not to invest my time in a brew that I fear may result in gushers and/or so dry a beer as to be unpalatable. Should I toss it? Let it sit in the secondary for another month then reevaluate? First, a little background...
I started making wine less than a year ago, using mangoes from a prolific tree in my yard. After making a few 5 gallon batches, I decided to try my hand at something a little more immediately gratifying. Since my first Norther Brewer kit about 4 months ago, I've made 2 extract kits, 3 of my own design extract batches (tweaked recipes found online), 1 2-gallon all grain, 1-partial grain and 1 5-gal AG. The last 3 have been full boil. I have not been particularly happy with any of the ales to date. Rather disappointing. However, I have gained some experience in my short time at this, read extensively and spent a lot of money trying to do this right without going overboard.
My question pertains to the last one, the AG. Like I said, I'm not overly happy with any of the brews I've made, but there isn't any great problem that makes any undrinkable and generally, I know what I did wrong. But the AG batch has me perplexed.
Here's the recipe...
Strong Golden Ale
10 lb Maris Otter
1 lb Munich Malt 5.5 SRM
1 lb Red Wheat Malt
Sterling Fuggles and Hersbrucker hops
Whirlfloc tab
Wyeast 1388.
2lbs of inverted sugar syrup was added when the gravity got down to about 1.025, a 2-3 days into fermentation.
It's been 25 days since brew day. Currently in glass secondary carboy. Gravity is at 1.005. Still lots of bubble (never stopped completely). Taste is good by my palate, lightly carbed in fact. Clarity is horendous (completely opaque in the graduated cylinder). Looks like apple cider, color (maybe a little more golden) and clarity. Smells pleasant.
Known mistakes/issues:
1) Iodine test revealed full starch conversion, though I didn't check gravity until it was in the boil pot which was around 5 points lower than target 1.070
2) Underpitched yeast. Stupid mistake. I made a 2 liter starter (no stir plate, oxygen or heat) about 30 hours in advance of pitch. After refrigerating for a few hours, I incorrectly expected most of the yeast to fall out of suspension. By decanting, I disposed of much of my yeast. duh. I realized my error in the middle of pitching and ended up pitching about a third of my liquid along with the sediment... so not a complete loss. The fermentation kicked off within 10 hours of pitching and proceeded nicely for few days as expected, tapering off but never stopping.
3) In the middle of transferring to the primary, I noticed fruit flies! This is Florida. Bugs abound. I doubt it is completely impossible to keep them all out brewing outside. Got 1 visible adult fly and about a half dozen floating larva in the brew, but looks like nothing alive.
I kept the primary in an ice water bath for about 4 days... temperature avg 66F. Ramped and held at about 72F
I'm going to check the gravity in a couple days to see if there is change. Right now, it's mildly boozy but drinkable in my mind. Mouthfeel is meh. I don't have the beer tasting experience to know off flavors. The only homebrews I've ever had are my own, though in the past 6 months I've sampled just about every ale I can get my hands on and love most of them. I don't know diacetyl by experience, but there may be a little in this brew.
Any suggestions? I'm not sure where to go from here. I appreciate any help.