tspilker
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Mar 23, 2009
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- 203
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So last week I cracked open my first bottle of homebrew and saw that it still needed time to condition. That was day 9 or so (home brew shop told me 10-14 days for condition, but I was anxious). Today being day 14 I decided to crack another open and see how it was doing. It was slightly more caebonated, however, a vigerous pour yielded no head, it still lacks a decent amount of CO2 buildup. I drank the glass however. I have some thoughts on it's taste.
It was woody and bready. The woodiness wasn't bad. It is a porter, and it had a definate smokey nature to it. The breadiness didnt bother me and I ruled it off as a yeast flavor that might work its way in in time. However, the problem that I had which I crdited to lack of carbonation last week when I tried it was a lack of refreshing bitterness to it.
Its a porter, and I generally dont like hoppy beers. This was a noboil kit, it had "hop extract" in it. My LHBS told me to add extra malt extract with it to make a 5-gallon batch, however, I feel like I should have hopped it as well, like the hop extract in the noboil kit wasn't enough to go around.
I also think i may not have mixed my priming sugar enough which is why I am having low CO2 issues. However, I haven't had any bottle bombs, maybe I just need to give it 4-6 weeks to even out. Other than my speculation on mixing priming sugar, I feel like I made it pretty well. I kept a good eye on the temperature during fermentation, I was sanitary, I was very cautious not to infect it, I made sure to check the OG reading at day 7, then waited 3 days to check again and see that it had indeed remained at 1.011 so I didnt have a bottle bomb situation on my hands.
I feel like my LHBS rushed things in their instructions, so I will let this batch hang out as a casually twiddle my thumbs and enjoy some commercial micros.
Next batch I will most certainly do an extract and use REAL hops. As for this one, I will most likely have some buddies over and try and get some headaches off of it so I can reclaim my bottles in time for my next batch.
Also, I spent my Sunday afternoon reading threads here... and I wish I was deeper into this hobby. I plan to some day... but man, you guys are awesome, I am glad to be here.
It was woody and bready. The woodiness wasn't bad. It is a porter, and it had a definate smokey nature to it. The breadiness didnt bother me and I ruled it off as a yeast flavor that might work its way in in time. However, the problem that I had which I crdited to lack of carbonation last week when I tried it was a lack of refreshing bitterness to it.
Its a porter, and I generally dont like hoppy beers. This was a noboil kit, it had "hop extract" in it. My LHBS told me to add extra malt extract with it to make a 5-gallon batch, however, I feel like I should have hopped it as well, like the hop extract in the noboil kit wasn't enough to go around.
I also think i may not have mixed my priming sugar enough which is why I am having low CO2 issues. However, I haven't had any bottle bombs, maybe I just need to give it 4-6 weeks to even out. Other than my speculation on mixing priming sugar, I feel like I made it pretty well. I kept a good eye on the temperature during fermentation, I was sanitary, I was very cautious not to infect it, I made sure to check the OG reading at day 7, then waited 3 days to check again and see that it had indeed remained at 1.011 so I didnt have a bottle bomb situation on my hands.
I feel like my LHBS rushed things in their instructions, so I will let this batch hang out as a casually twiddle my thumbs and enjoy some commercial micros.
Next batch I will most certainly do an extract and use REAL hops. As for this one, I will most likely have some buddies over and try and get some headaches off of it so I can reclaim my bottles in time for my next batch.
Also, I spent my Sunday afternoon reading threads here... and I wish I was deeper into this hobby. I plan to some day... but man, you guys are awesome, I am glad to be here.