First taste, first ever brewed beer...

[deeve007]

Brew session posted here: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/forum/threads/my-first-biab-or-of-any-kind-brewing-session.667585/

The recipe told me to give it 3 weeks in the bottle, but a brewer friend of mine said it could be ready within 2 weeks, maybe even after a week, so being my first ever brew obviously I had to try one after a week!

A [not great] photo below... it's a pale ale so colour is about right, and tastes decent without being mind blowing, though definitely does need more carbonation so will wait another week before opening the next one... there is a little more yeast in the beer than I would want, but that was an issue with my siphoning that I know how to address for next time. But it does seem to be a 'not horrible" first ever attempt at brewing!

I'm wondering for my next brew if to try a stout (it's winter in my part of the world), or if that style would hide issues such as yeast in the beer (or any other minor issues) and it might be better going for something such as an IPA so I can better spot any issues to improve further?

 

[ncbrewer]

It's up to you, but my vote would be to brew a stout if you feel like it. Congrats on your first brew.

 

[Grateful Dan]

Congrats on your first beer!! I would suggest that you start with the style that you like and drink the most. It will help you dial in your process because you will be more familiar with a off flavor or a certain area that you would want to improve.

 

[Gnomebrewer]

Yeastiness will clear up with time in the bottle and extra chilling time. Three weeks of warm bottle conditioning and three days in the fridge (longer is better) should drop most of the yeast out, then just be careful pouring.

Brew whatever you like to drink! Choose a yeast strain for the style that suits the temperature you'll be fermenting at. Nottingham would be a good choice for a stout if your ferment area's a bit cooler than normal room temps at the moment.

Where in the world are you?

 

[deeve007]

Where in the world are you?

Buenos Aires: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/forum/threads/newbie-from-buenos-aires-argentina.667941/

 

[deeve007]

I would suggest that you start with the style that you like and drink the most.

Well I'm not sure I'm quite ready to brew a sour or gose...
...but I get your point, so will consider the style that's not so complicated that I will be able to appreciate (and recognise) any unusual flavours present. Thanks for the tip!

 

[Gnomebrewer]

There's no reason to avoid brewing a gose - it's as simple as any other beer!
50% wheat malt, 50% pils malt to an OG of 1.035 to 1.040. Mash at 64C to 67C.
Boil for 15 minutes (no-boil is also an option) adding 10g salt and 15g crushed coriander seed (for 5gal/20L) for the last 5 minutes. No hops.
Cool to normal ale temperatures.
Pitch an ale yeast and some Lacto (I use Lallemand WildBrew Sour Pitch, but probiotic tablets/powder work as well) at the same time. I prefer to use WLP644, but any yeast will work (US05 is fine). Ferment in the temperature range the yeast prefers. The rest is no different to any other beer.
Don't worry about contamination from Lacto, especially if you use L. Plantanum (Sour Pitch, and the main Lacto in probiotics), because it's very hop intolerant - it won't contaminate any beers with more than a few IBU's.
Of course, you can play around with the grain ratios, boil length, timing of pitching yeast/bacteria, salt and coriander quantities etc. But this should be a good start.

Proper sours, like Lambics and Flanders Reds, are a bit trickier (and take a year or more!).

 

[Saunassa]

congratulations on your first brew!
I have found that it will change noticably in two more weeks and a few days fridge time. Brighter and cleaner flavors. As stated above, pour smoothly into a glass leaving last 1/4" or so in bottle.

 

[kh54s10]

More time conditioning alone should clear the beer some. The sediment, which is not all yeast, will compact on the bottom of the bottle. If they are still cloudy at 2 and 3 weeks, cooling them longer will also help drop out the sediment.

BTW, I usually try a bottle at 2 weeks, some are fully carbonated and some are not. Some bigger beers take even longer than 3 weeks to fully carbonate. All my bottled beers have tasted better at three weeks or longer.

If you brew a stout, expect a couple of months, maybe longer for the flavors to really meld. I did a Russian Imperial Stout that was pretty harsh until hitting about 6 months. Finished the last bottle at about 2 years. It would have remained good for another couple of years, I think.

 

[deeve007]

Could I pour the beer out using my BIAB bag as a filter? Would that catch most of the sediment?

 

[deadwolfbones]

Could I pour the beer out using my BIAB bag as a filter? Would that catch most of the sediment?

It would also aerate the hell out of it and remove a lot of the carbonation. I wouldn't recommend it.

 

[deeve007]

It would also aerate the hell out of it and remove a lot of the carbonation. I wouldn't recommend it.

Cool, duly noted!

 

[kh54s10]

Could I pour the beer out using my BIAB bag as a filter? Would that catch most of the sediment?

And all that sediment got through the BIAB bag the first time, didn't it?

 

[deeve007]

And all that sediment got through the BIAB bag the first time, didn't it?

No, I had some issues with my siphoning from fermentor to my bottling bucket/pot so a little of the trub went through, which I have addressed for the next time.

 

[Gnomebrewer]

Most sediment in a beer bottle will pass through a BIAB bag - it's not fine enough to stop yeast and proteins, only hop and grain particles.

 

[kh54s10]

No, I had some issues with my siphoning from fermentor to my bottling bucket/pot so a little of the trub went through, which I have addressed for the next time.

Most sediment in a beer bottle will pass through a BIAB bag - it's not fine enough to stop yeast and proteins, only hop and grain particles.

This is my point, the trub got through the BIAB bag. Then there was yeast added. Otherwise there would have been nothing to siphon. Yeast cells are even smaller than trub so a BIAB bag is not going to filter much if anything.

 

[deeve007]

So tried it again at the 2 week mark, and while the flavour is very decent (yay!!) carbination still a little lower than you'd want, so will leave the rest another week and then see if it's carbinated more, or if I miscalculated the sugar amount needed.

 

[Mic Carp]

No, I had some issues with my siphoning from fermentor to my bottling bucket/pot so a little of the trub went through, which I have addressed for the next time.

I think the beer looks great! congrats!
when I am bottling, I rack to a separate bucket and use the spigot, this way, any trub that does get through settles mostly into a much smaller trub in the bottling bucket. With the spigot an inch or so off the bottom you get little to no fermentation sediment in your bottles. You will end up with a tiny amount in the bottle from the spent yeast during carbonation, but as stated before, chill for a few days then pour carefully and you will have crystal clear beer.
cheers!

 

[deeve007]

The issue I had last time was not knowing how best to use my auto siphon, so messed that up a bit, which shouldn't happen a second time. I do rack from my fermenter to a pot for bottling, and with the auto siphon end it sits about an inch off the bottom even if it's all the way in.

 

[deeve007]

So after 3 weeks on bottle, beer was still a little undercarbonated, which likely means I didn't add enough sugar, so will double/triple check when bottling next time. Aside from that, taste was very decent for a first ever brew, so with lessons learned was a very constructive first time!

Thanks for everyone's help, am enjoying this immensely even with mistakes (I think some people learn more by jumping in and making some mistakes first).

 

[firerat]

You mean it didn't taste like bananas and dirty socks?

Then you did better than I did my first try!! Good work!!

 

[deeve007]

Ha ha, yeah even with the errors and all, it tasted like beer, so can't be too unhappy with that!

 

[ncbrewer]

So after 3 weeks on bottle, beer was still a little undercarbonated, which likely means I didn't add enough sugar, so will double/triple check when bottling next time.

I looked thru the thread again and couldn't find how you calculated priming sugar - probably used an on-line calculator. Maybe you entered the volume in the fermenter for the calculation. The calculators I've seen don't explain the details, but I've always taken it as volume to the bottling bucket. Maybe somebody will post a link to whether this is correct. But if you based it on volume in the fermenter, and volume in the bottling bucket was intended, that would cause the beer to have low carbonation.

Edit: See posts 26 and 27 for correction.

 

[kh54s10]

I looked thru the thread again and couldn't find how you calculated priming sugar - probably used an on-line calculator. Maybe you entered the volume in the fermenter for the calculation. The calculators I've seen don't explain the details, but I've always taken it as volume to the bottling bucket. Maybe somebody will post a link to whether this is correct. But if you based it on volume in the fermenter, and volume in the bottling bucket was intended, that would cause the beer to have low carbonation.

How much that would affect the carbonation level is dependent on the difference between the fermenter and the bottling bucket. I bag hops, wait long enough for the trub to compact so I am only losing about .1 to .2 gallon between the fermenter and the bottling bucket. That small amount doesn't make much of a difference in the carbonation in my beers.

 

[deeve007]

I looked thru the thread again and couldn't find how you calculated priming sugar - probably used an on-line calculator. Maybe you entered the volume in the fermenter for the calculation. The calculators I've seen don't explain the details, but I've always taken it as volume to the bottling bucket. Maybe somebody will post a link to whether this is correct. But if you based it on volume in the fermenter, and volume in the bottling bucket was intended, that would cause the beer to have low carbonation.

Yeah it might have been something like this, will be making sure I work out the accurate bottling volume next time, and double check the sugar amount against that.

 

[wilserbrewer]

Low carb is highly preferable to high carb foam bombs lol...

Fwiw, overstating the volume, or using fermenter volume would lead to more prime sugar and more carbonation.

You did good

 

[ncbrewer]

Fwiw, overstating the volume, or using fermenter volume would lead to more prime sugar and more carbonation.

Right. I guess I was thinking in reverse, or something. Sorry for the erroneous post.

And I very much agree that low carb is way better than bottle bombs!

 

[deeve007]

Yeah I probably got that back to front too, either way I need to double check my sugar amount next time.

 

[doug293cz]

What temperature did you put into the priming sugar calculator? If you fermented in the mid 60's, cold crashed to the low 30's, and put the cold crash temp into the calculator, then you will be undercarbed. You need to put the fermentation temp into the calculator.

Brew on

 

[deeve007]

No cold crashing, just room temps here (~ 16-20 celcius)

 

[deeve007]

I'm spotting the reason my batch was under carbonated...

I used this calculator: https://www.brewersfriend.com/beer-priming-calculator/
...which just trying again now, gives me around half the amount of sugar my recipe is telling me to add.

Though checking a couple of others they're giving me around the same result...

Example:
10L batch (~2.65 gln)
Temp: 65F
CO2: 2

Calculator gives me total of 40g
My recipe tells me 7g per litre, which would be 70g

Big difference, am a little confused... but the amount I added last time using the calculator was nowhere near enough.

 

[balrog]

Couple things. I just ran those numbers and see 48g called for (corn sugar, dextrose, not table sugar, so it depends on what you use)

Secondly, no matter what you siphon, no matter how you try, bottle conditioned beer will ALWAYS have sediment. After all, you are asking suspended yeasties in the bottle to procreate and consume the priming sugar and once that's done, then they flocculate. Always gonna happen in bottle conditioned beer.

 

[deeve007]

Yeah those are the numbers I used last time when it was nowhere close to being enough... whereas my recipe called for 7g per litre, which is a lot more...

 

[ncbrewer]

I see you used 2 volumes of CO2. I just carb'd that low once, and it seemed almost flat. That might be the problem - you just don't like the low carb level that's recommended for some styles. I carb most of mine to about 2.65 volumes and don't worry about not being to style guidelines.

Also, cooler temperatures will make it carb slower. 70F is generally considered a good temperature - upper 70's seems to be ok. When I used to carb at 65F during the winter, it took about five weeks to carb up.

As far as the calculators, I trust that they are pretty close. I don't recommend ignoring the calculator and using more sugar. Bottle bombs are dangerous.

 

[deeve007]

I carb most of mine to about 2.65 volumes and don't worry about not being to style guidelines.

If I did that then the calculator result is close to the recipe recommendations.
So I might ignore the different style guidelines and try that, at least starting out...

 

[bracconiere]

i say it all the time...but admit to yourself, you LOVE being your own private drug lord, and keg....

 

[deeve007]

Damn right... I'm loving this, even though making understandable errors as a newbie brewer, I'm enjoying discussing the mistakes and how to fix as much as the brewing itself...