drunkinmonkey
New Member
Being new to brewing I started out strictly with Extract Brews with the intention of moving up slowly to adding steeping and finally all grain. All were turning out tasty. Nothing amazing but very drinkable and enjoyable. I was very pleased with the results and knew that refining my process would make them very good. There was no flavor either.
So then I started extract with steeping grains. Since then ugh. Everything kept having a sharp/hard a alcohol smell when done fermenting. The aroma would hit your nose at first with a nice aroma of beer and then quickly turn into a harsh smell of alcohol.
At first i figured it was due to fermenting at to warm of a temp (avg 66-68 degree). So i tried everything to maintain a cooler temp and was successful (62-65degrees depending on recipe) But to no avail. Then I realized i was not steeping correctly. I was boiling the grains rather than getting the water to 160-165 degrees and cutting the heat and then adding the grains (after waiting a bit to insure the water temp didn't increase) to steep for 20-30 mins.
So today I opened up my fermentation bucket to bottle my Irish Red Ale. Had maintained a 64-65 degree ferment, and had tracked the temp of the steeping grains (temp never got above 165 from the time i added the grains). Same alcohol smell and not much flavor.
After my boil my gravity was 1.052 Gravity before bottling this morning was 1.012.
Not sure what i am doing wrong at this point. Any suggestions
thx
So then I started extract with steeping grains. Since then ugh. Everything kept having a sharp/hard a alcohol smell when done fermenting. The aroma would hit your nose at first with a nice aroma of beer and then quickly turn into a harsh smell of alcohol.
At first i figured it was due to fermenting at to warm of a temp (avg 66-68 degree). So i tried everything to maintain a cooler temp and was successful (62-65degrees depending on recipe) But to no avail. Then I realized i was not steeping correctly. I was boiling the grains rather than getting the water to 160-165 degrees and cutting the heat and then adding the grains (after waiting a bit to insure the water temp didn't increase) to steep for 20-30 mins.
So today I opened up my fermentation bucket to bottle my Irish Red Ale. Had maintained a 64-65 degree ferment, and had tracked the temp of the steeping grains (temp never got above 165 from the time i added the grains). Same alcohol smell and not much flavor.
After my boil my gravity was 1.052 Gravity before bottling this morning was 1.012.
Not sure what i am doing wrong at this point. Any suggestions
thx