first brew pretty sweet and malty

[halister]

Hi first brew ever, I did an octoberfest I hit all my readings within .001 1 week in main and 2 weeks in secondary Carboy all at room temp all went perfect then bottled after 3 days of constant reading. Bottled now on 3 weeks one week at room temp 2 weeks in basement at 60.
I'm getting a pretty sweet Malty taste and decent carb? Normal just not long enough in bottle?

 

[idigg]

You should have had 3 weeks in bottle at room temp. Also octoberfest is a very malty beer!

 

[BrewMU]

Octoberfest is a lager, and would ordinarily be cold-stored for weeks or months - it's called Marzen, March, because it was traditionally brewed in March and cellared until Fall. You would probably be better off leaving it in the carboy a little longer.
But, hey, if it tastes good, so be it - congratulations. You might want to brew a couple of ales next - they come out of the pipeline a little faster.

 

[MuchoGusto]

Brewing a lager at room temps will produce a beer... a beer that I probably wouldn't want to drink. I would suggest you are trying to make chicken salad out of chicken siht.

Is this a kit you brewed from?

 

[halister]

Yeah it called for it. It's not bad tasting it's on the sweeter side. So I should stuff them in the fridge? I have the bottles in the basement right now? Think it will get better?

 

[NordeastBrewer77]

i'm guessing it was one of the oktoberfest kits that's brewed with ale yeast. the reason it may be sweet is there's still priming sugar left to ferment. 60 degrees is cool for bottle conditioning, and it's would most likely take over a month to condition at those temps. leave them a MINIMUM of 3 weeks at 70 degrees to condition.

 

[halister]

It was a lager yeast Buthelezi it was a kit, I'll grab them and bring them into room temp for a couple of weeks see what they do.

 

[unionrdr]

Also,1 week in primary is def a little short. 1 week in bottles at 70F or so,then going cold is another mistake. You need at least 3 weeks around 70F to carb well. Storing in a 60F basement would be ok,but not for carbing/conditioning. Def too cold.

 

[halister]

Ok then I pretty much did it backwards. I swear those kit makers tell you that just to get you back in sooner... Uugg

 

[unionrdr]

That's the concencuss that most of us came to in regard to kit instruction time tables. We leave it in primary till a stable FG is reached,however long that takes. Then give it about a week to clean up & settle out more till clear or nearly so. Then 3 weeks+ in bottles at 70F to condition. At least one week,preferably 2 weeks in the fridge for thicker head & longer lasting carbonation.

 

[halister]

Well the wife isn't happy but the cases are back upstairs. Lol she will get over it when she has finished beer...

 

[unionrdr]

I'm sure she will,mine always does. So much so that she'll be brewing her 3rd batch soon.

 

[halister]

Very nice! My wife is more of wine junky so I'm sure in the future I will have to get wine 101 books...

 

[NordeastBrewer77]

I'm sure she will,mine always does. So much so that she'll be brewing her 3rd batch soon.

there's never enough room for conditioning beer! but once the beer's conditioned, no one here complains about cases of bottles everywhere! :rockin:

 

[unionrdr]

Least of all,her. She loves my ales so much she decided to try brewing something she likes. They just so happen to be ones I enjoy as well. Win-win for me...

 

[halister]

She's a keeper!

 

[halister]

When should I try my next bottle?

 

[unionrdr]

Give them a couple weeks at room temp to carb & condition,then try one.

 

[Toga]

I recommend giving it at least 2 more weeks. Let them sit at room temp till then. 4 weeks in the bottle seems to be the perfect amount of time at my house with the beer sitting at 67 degrees.

 

[halister]

My house sits right around the same deg. Ok couple of weeks then, I better go get some SA from the store ha ha

 

[halister]

Holy sh$t my beer turned out really good..I threw 4 in the fridge a few days ago and I'm sad to say all 4 went to a better place. I'm hooked I'm brewing a Boston lager this weekend..
The only issue is a smaller head than I hoped for. Nice pop when opening the bottle just smaller head.

 

[halister]

What would cause low head?

 

[halister]

So I did some research and so basically if you do a partial boil your never going get good head retention?

 

[rifraf]

So I did some research and so basically if you do a partial boil your never going get good head retention?

Just cracked open my first brew this week and did a partial boil, head was pretty foamy/creamy on most of them. Here's a pic:



Didn't do anything special, just followed instructions straight from the kit.

EDIT: From what I've read, give your beers more time in the bottle. You may get a good pop/hiss but if the CO2 isn't actually in solution it wont bubble up the beer and create head.

 

[Yooper]

So I did some research and so basically if you do a partial boil your never going get good head retention?

No, you should have fine head retention. One thing to do is to make sure your glasses are "bar clean", and anything like Jet Dry in the dishwasher can kill head retention. To check and see how your head retention really is, you can make a salt water "scrub" for your glass by moistening a glass and then scouring it inside and around the rim with table salt. Rinse well, dry, and then pour a beer. I think the biggest cause of lack of head retention is the glassware, not the beer.

 

[NordeastBrewer77]

so i did some research and so basically if you do a partial boil your never going get good head retention?

nope, a partial boil shouldn't affect the head of the beer. not letting them condition at room temp or not having them in the fridge for long enough will, though.

 

[halister]

I brought the bottles back in room temp for 2 weeks and it has everything I like. I will try the salt scrub being the easiest and see what that does.

 

[unionrdr]

I let my beers condition for 4-5 weeks now,since my experiences have shown mr that is the point where they're at there best. On average,anyway. It also depends on gravity,&/or hoe dark they are. Those can take longer,like my Whiskely ale,& Burton ale.
& one to two weeks fridge time is def better for thicker head,& longer lasting carbonation.

 

[NordeastBrewer77]

I let my beers condition for 4-5 weeks now,since my experiences have shown mr that is the point where they're at there best. On average,anyway. It also depends on gravity,&/or hoe dark they are. Those can take longer,like my Whiskely ale,& Burton ale.
& one to two weeks fridge time is def better for thicker head,& longer lasting carbonation.

yeah, i do too, man. i've only made a couple beers that were 'ready' in under a month, and those were IPAs with a lot of hops that cover up the green flavor. i also like to fridge the beers until the chill haze is gone before drinking, i find they're much nicer, although that could be aesthetic.

Halister, definitely try cleaning your bar glasses with hot hot water and maybe some salt, like you said. i find even a poorly rinsed glass washed in a light dish soap solution can kill beer foam. also, keep in mind that not all your beers will pour a great head, or have great retention. i make a pale ale that i use no caramel in (based on JZ's recipe in BCS), i have a batch in bottles and a batch kegged, both pour a <1 finger head which quickly dissipates to just some soft bubbles. usually, a beer i keg will show a large head that sticks for the entire drink, but some recipes (like one without any crystal type malts) will not have good head retention.

 

[halister]

That's what mine are doing foam so so the goes away in a 5 count. I have 2 mugs soaking right now.
Do you think freezer would help?

 

[NordeastBrewer77]

Do you think freezer would help?

for the mugs? the cold glass may chill the beer, which will help it hold co2 in solution better. that may slow the dissipation of the head.

 

[bleme]

I read in a thread yesterday that cold glasses shock the beer, causing CO2 to be released faster, which might give a bigger head up front, but poor retention. Since both theories seems to have valid arguments, I think this is going to require some extensive side-by-side research...

 

[tre9er]

Perhaps chill the glass in the same refrig, so as to help maintain the temp but not shock the beer.

 

[halister]

I have 2 mugs scrubbed so I will put one in the freezer and one in the fridge. Let's see what happens. Either way I hope one works so I can rule out my beer.

 

[halister]

Gentleman very interesting results. So I wanted real results so I did 3 mugs. All bottles came out of the same fridge.

1 control: mug right out of cabinet- good taste, very low head, 5 count retention.
2 mug in same fridge scrubbed: good head, 20 count retention, very tasty.
3 mug in freezers scrubbed: very good head, 10 count retention, totally lost a lot of taste. I will not be freezing my mugs..

So scrubbing worked but I wasn't ready for the dismal taste that freezing did. Thoughts?

 

[gavball6]

Interesting... I think we need a 4th sample. Scrubbed mug at room temp. Sorry, but you have to drink another beer!

 

[halister]

The control was room temp but I'm sure I can muster another test if needed..

 

[gavball6]

Oh... I thought the control was unscrubbed though. I will think of some other tests then!

 

[NordeastBrewer77]

3 mug in freezers scrubbed: very good head, 10 count retention, totally lost a lot of taste. I will not be freezing my mugs..

oh yeah, if a beer's too cold, some of the taste is hidden. it's why i keep my beer fridge and kegerator at ~44, works out a lot better that way.
i still vote for letting the brew condition longer, chances are it's not a glass issue and either some more time will produce a better head, or it's one of those brews that isn't gonna have great head retention.

 

[halister]

Well for my first brew it's tasty and I like it so there in my fridge now. I was more worried about taste seeing it came out malty at first.