I just finished fermenting my irish red ale. (first brew) and just transfered it to a secondary. and its been sitting about a week and a half. What you guys think about color and clarity and what not. any comments positive and negative are good.
Clarity of irish red ale pic
- Thread starter chaos2984
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Stil looks a little misty. But when it's been bottled a few days,that'll settle out crystal clear. No worries,m8.
chaos2984
Well-Known Member
ok. im not sure i want to keg it or bottle it. I kinda want to serve it at my superbowl party. and two weeks will be up on sunday. and stuff has already settled to the bottom of the carboy. If i keg it how long should i let it sit in the keg before serving 1 week?
I've hear those who keg let it sit for 2 weeks at serving pressure to condition.
AxDxMx
Active Member
If you are making the Midwest kit, so am I right now. Mine's still in primary in a glass carboy, and looks a little darker than yours (and a little clearer), then again, it could just be the light from the flash or mine being in a dark room. Your color looks similar to Boulevard's Irish Ale which I had last night. Either way, it looks appetizing to me.
I think the color looks good. Like a reddish amber.
Wait'll you pour a crystal clear glass! That first one's the best part. Everytime I pour a glass of HB,I hold it up to the light to admire it...after the requisite sniff,of course!
It should look darker in the carboy because the light is passing through a lot more liquid. I had an amber ale that looked dark brown in the carboy but perfect amber in the glass.
AxDxMx
Active Member
This is what mine looked like right after pouring my yeast in. This is my 3rd attempt at brewing and the first 2 haven't gone so great. But I've got some confidence in this one. We'll see I guess.
gr8shandini
Well-Known Member
In regards to kegging, there are several ways to force carb. The easiest is the one you mention - just letting it sit for two or three weeks. If you want to speed it up, I recommend setting it at service pressure and shaking the keg for about 20 or 30 mins while still attached to the gas. That'll get you most of the way there and it'll be fully carbed in about a week. Other methods involve bumping the pressure up to about 30 psi, but I don't like those as you can overshoot your desired carbonation level and an overcarbonated beer is a pain to deal with.
As for clarity, you might want to add a bit of gelatin when you keg it. 1/2 a pack of unflavored Knox gelating disolved in a pint of hot (but not boiling!) water will get that beer crystal clear in just a couple of days.
As for clarity, you might want to add a bit of gelatin when you keg it. 1/2 a pack of unflavored Knox gelating disolved in a pint of hot (but not boiling!) water will get that beer crystal clear in just a couple of days.
If your main concern is having it ready in 2 weeks I would definitely keg it. Whether you set it at serving pressure for those 2 weeks or you boost carb it (I set at 30 for 2 days then turn down to serving pressure) it is much more of a certainty that you will have your beer carbed and ready to pour, the only downfall being you are drinking slightly young beer. If you bottle it you are relying only that the yeast will do their work quick enough. 2 weeks in bottle for an average irish red would be considered plenty of time for carbonation in my book (as long as you have them in the right temp range) but if you want to be certain that it is carbed in time you might as well keg it.
EDIT: it is a tasty looking beer BTW.
EDIT: it is a tasty looking beer BTW.
jeffd10
Senior Member
That looks AWESOME !!!!!
AxDxMx
Active Member
Off flavors in the first one and an overpowering smell from the fermentation bucket. It doesn't taste terrible, but something's not right. I could only drink half of one. My second batch, something really got screwed up. I got the same smell in the bucket, and this one was undrinkable (I left it alone hoping it would clean up, it did not). For the third, I changed from tap water, to treated tap water with Campden tablets and preboiling. I made a yeast starter for the first time, was way more diligent about sanitization and cleaning. There is vodka in my airlock, instead of tap water. Changed from using my bucket for primary to my glass carboy. Refrigerated my yeast, hops, and extract prior to use. I forgot to aerate the wort on the first 2, and only siphoned the 3rd into the carboy. I've made enough changes that even if this one is bad, I think I'm getting it narrowed down to knowing what's wrong. Before i brewed this one I was close to giving up, but now I think I'll give it a least one more try even if this Irish Red doesn't work out.
chaos2984
Well-Known Member
well i dont think you want to use tap water due to the chlorine in it. I filter my water before i use it. And i just use santaized water in my air lock. hope all turns out for you.
And are you talking about my sample jeff if so thanx hope it tastes yummy
And are you talking about my sample jeff if so thanx hope it tastes yummy
AxDxMx
Active Member
Supposedly I drove off all the chlorine with the preboil and letting it sit overnight. The chloramine should have been taken care of with the Campden tablet. If I still get that off flavor (which I do suspect is the chlorine/chloramine), then I'll probably just start buying bottled. This one has been in primary for 4 days, but fermentation seems to be over/slowing down, so I might crack it open and take a reading tonight. My goal is to have it ready for Feb 9th when I go on a trip to Wisconsin to see some friends. I know I'm pushing it, but if fermentation is done, and it tastes ok, I'll probably bottle around the 7-14 day mark, to give it 2-3 weeks to carb up.
And your beer does look very good.
AxDxMx
Active Member
The Oatmeal Stout was my 2nd batch as well. I dumped it unfortunately. Had big plans for it too. Wanted to turn part of it into a breakfast stout with some cold steeped coffee. It was going to be glorious.
chaos2984
Well-Known Member
lol that sounds good. Well i think ive got my brewing process down. I think my fermentation process needs work. I will post up how it goes on saturday. but im excited about my irish ale and how its going to taste
Good fermentation practices are key to a good process. But it can also take money &/or imagination To do correctly. Not to mention some basic tool skills.
chaos2984
Well-Known Member
yea i just try to take my time when im fermentating. I try to get a good constant temp with maybe a +- 2 degree swing. and try not to check the bucket untill i see a bubble a minute. thats when i tests the SG of the brew any other pointers??
Well,I made it a rule to wait til the 2 week mark to take my 1st FG reading. It'll either be done or close to it with an average gravity ale. I'd like to come up with a temp controlled fermenting box or whatever that needs little input from me. That way,temps will be controlled minute to minute so to say.
And give the beer time in primary to settle out clear,or slightly misty before bottling. Then they'll settle out clear in a few days,ime.
And give the beer time in primary to settle out clear,or slightly misty before bottling. Then they'll settle out clear in a few days,ime.
chaos2984
Well-Known Member
yea that would be ideal. but problem goes on to where you need a big storage when you have more than one batch fermentating. What would be ideal is some sort of wrap that you put around the bucket to run fluid to to keep the bucket at the right temp.
Like the blanket I saw at morebeer for the ss conical fermenters. It's a temp controlled heating & cooling blanket with temp controller box & all. I wish they'd make one for plastic fermenters that Was adjustable for the shape of said fermenter. That'd be sweet.
chaos2984
Well-Known Member
yea that would be nice. that would be easy just set the temp and forget it lol. no for your brew kettler does it matter that it smells a little bit from previous brews? Should i atempt to clean it heavly or not worry about the smell to much. Or is it not that big of deal as long as you clean it before you brew with soap and water ?
I clean my SS steel BK with an sos pad & a little water. Then rinse really wel. Then add som PBW,& take my dobie & scrub it down again to make sure I get all the lil bits ob wire mesh from the sos pad loose if any. Then rinse well again. Place it upside down on the dish rack to dry.
Clean & shiny again. And never any lil rust spots from the brillo pad wire.
Clean & shiny again. And never any lil rust spots from the brillo pad wire.
Yeah,aluminum is allegedly another animal. They claim you need that oxidation layer on the inside from boiling water in it for 30 minutes to keep from leaching metallic flavors into the wort. Not sure how true that is,as I've never used an aluminum BK. But be carefull with the dish soap. you'd have to rinse well to get that anti water spotting enzyme off it before drying.
Yeah,some folks have said that recently. I prefer to soak the fermenter with 3-4TBSP of PBW in the FV,then fill with water & stir. Cover lightly & let it sit for 5-7 days. The use a bottle brush & a soft cloth to get the loose,sorta powdey residue off the inside. Dump all the dirty cleaner in the head & flush your roubles away. Run rinse water inaround the inside if the FV till you have a couple gallons in there. Set it down & open the spigot to drain into the sink to rinse that out.
Then remove & soak the spiogot in some PBW for a bit,using aquarium lift tube brushes inside it. I use a soft cloth to clean the seals & lock lug.
Rinse,re-assemble & sanitize. Mine look & smell fresh after this treatment.
Then remove & soak the spiogot in some PBW for a bit,using aquarium lift tube brushes inside it. I use a soft cloth to clean the seals & lock lug.
Rinse,re-assemble & sanitize. Mine look & smell fresh after this treatment.
chaos2984
Well-Known Member
i just checked on the beer last night. It seems to have little particles floating around in the beer about 1 inch from the top of the beer to the bottom. Do i need to wait for that stuff to settle out. It doesnt look like it whats to settle. What is that stuff. Is that yeast particles??
I'd say it's yeast bits,hop particles,that sort of thing myself. It sounds like fermentation & it's resulting swirling action are slowing down. That stuff should settle out,given time.
And starsan is a wet contact sanitizer,& just needs 30 seconds or so contact time on all surfaces,then dump it back into your storage container & go.
And starsan is a wet contact sanitizer,& just needs 30 seconds or so contact time on all surfaces,then dump it back into your storage container & go.
I have a SS BK myself,& have used PBW to soften gunk on the bottom & upper sides so I can then use a dobie to scrub the stuff off. But I don't use starsan on metal. Acid & metal do not play well together. It gets boiling water anyway,so that's cool. Just get it clean & rinse well. I let it drain upside down on the dish rack for a while,then wipe dry.
chaos2984
Well-Known Member
ok gotcha. well theirs nothing to the naked eye in the kettle. It looks clean to me except for the oxyidation coating on it. Ill just give it a good scrub when i clean it tomorrow before i brew on saturday
Just rinse well afterwords,then drain & wipe dry. That'll do just fine. Hopping the rest of my ingredients get here today or tomorrow,as shipping indicates. That'll be 2 more brews this weekend! Brew on man! 
