My 1st homebrew IPA styled ale

[daveb123]

I want to get into the more complex and satisfying side of AG beer brewing but that's a long way away for now..so for my first beer brew i have decided to make 6 galls of an IPA ale style beer using two Brewmaker IPA tins of LME and some extra dried malt (2kg dried pale) and just over a bag of sugar..( i soon realised the sugar was a mistake!)

But am quite excited about it and it is now brewing away nicely!


hops i had no idea about so i went and purchased two half price packets of 'Target' and 'WGV'...

I wanted to use a harvested bottle conditioned yeast so went with Chimay blue as its capable of fermenting at the intended ABV i want of around 8-9% Abv



So i made up my two beer kits...added the extra 2kg of DME and around 1.4kg of household sugar and yeast nutrient...brought all this up to the boil (3galls!) and added 50g of Target hops and 30 g of WGV...Boiled for 30 min then added the rest of the Target and 20g of WGV..then 15mins before the end of the boil i added the rest of the WGV...my idea here is the target was more for bittering and the WGV for aroma..but if am honest i don't have a clue much about these hops only that the Target had a higher alpha content...but it was FUN!..and the smell was great!...the whole house smelt like a brewery...i really enjoyed the boiling process!

After the boiling was over i emptied the hot 3 galls of wort into the brewing vessel which had 3 galls of ice cold water....i sealed this and allowed to cool to pitching temp!..took the SG reading which was 1.076 after allowing for small temp correction of the wort at 22c..

The beer soon started to bubble away!...after 3 days i noticed it had slowed right down (around 1 bubble through the airlock every 18 secs!..yes i was bubble counting already)...i took a SG reading and it was still at 1.060 (my original SG was 1.076) ...i noticed there was a huge krausen just sitting on the top with all that yeast in it not doing not a lot so i gave the whole fermenter a jolly good swirl and incorporated that krausen back into suspension!...after 5 mins the bubbles in the airlock where now at the rate of 1 every 3 secs!...its still fermenting after 9days it smells absolutely lovely and fruity with lots of hoppiness..

I took an sg reading and its now at 1.014 and still fermenting!...

But!..after a sample taste i can now see using beer kits and sugar wasn't a good idea..yes it has plenty of hop aroma and bitterness but not much mouth-feel or body..and it doesn't seem that malty either...

So it now seems i have a dry weak tasting high alcoholic beer that wasn't what i had in mind...its already around 8.5% Abv and still fermenting (about 4-5 bubbles a min)....

What i want to know is how can i improve the lack of maltiness and mouth-feel/body?

Because i am bottle conditioning this beer i don't really want to put anymore DME in as the resultant extra alcohol may exceed the yeast tolerance and my beer may not carb up when i bottle it if it finishes fermenting in the primary due to alcohol tolerance of the yeast being exceeded....

I know i can use something called Maltodextrin which wont effect fermentation but will give more body and mouth-feel ...but no taste or maltiness...is this worth a try?

Is there any other ingredient or flavour enhancer i can use to make this beer tastier and more maltier before i bottle it?..i know its a daft question.

I def wont be using household sugar again ever...my idea was to try and brew a strong ale for bottling ....yes its strong in alcohol but not in taste!..an important lesson has been learned...

On a side note this Chimay blue yeast ferments really well..its easy to start a culture and ferments very consistently at 72F.....i dont know its alcohol tolerance but some say its the same as a well known commercially available equivalent that is good for around 12% Abv......if i did go ahead and add another 1 Kg of DME to this already near 9% fermenting beer will it ALL ferment out and still allow for bottle conditioning?...

Sorry for so many questions...thanks..

Heres a few pics of my yeast starter and fermentation..the bottle am holding is the yeast culture after two days at 72F:

 

[Bmorebrew]

My advice is this: do not attempt to make flavor changes in your first beer based on a sample test only a few days into fermentation.

Your best course at this point is to let it finish out fermentation and conditioning for at least another week (two if you have the patience), then bottle it up. Allow to bottle condition for a minimum of two weeks, then enjoy. The beer will continue to evolve for some time, allow it to reach its potential - it won't taste like commercial award winning beer after only a few days.

 

[BrewMU]

That's a big @$$ 1st batch! Remember, IPAs aren't supposed to be overly malty or heavy bodied - IMO, they NEVER need carapils (dextrin malt). Next time skip the sugar and use a little crystal/caramel malt. Look at some recipes and plan your next batch a little more carefully, meanwhile, like the man said, give it some time to get the best out of it. It might be tasty beer. Btw, I'm brain cramping here - what is WGV? Whitbread Goldings?

 

[BamaRooster]

IMHO, get your process down first, then branch out.

 

[fivepoundpossum]

+1 on what BamaRooster said. it's all about figuring out your process, what works for you with the equipment you have.

i also find that taking copious notes regarding ingredients, boil size, fermentation temps, etc. as you go along and then matching up the finished beers with the notes really helps get a sense of how it got to taste that way and how it could be improved for next time.

 

[daveb123]

Thanks for the advice guys i will do as you say ...i agree i probably need to exercise some patience....this beer brewing is like babysitting for the first time lol!....am excited and nervous too.....maybe i just needed some reassurance......will check back in a couple of weeks when i bottle it up......thanks you for the replies very much appreciated..

 

[dirtyrick1300]

I am on my second beer ever. We started with AG no extract here. But both have been IPA's. I know exactly what you are talking about with the lack of mouth feel.
IT WILL GO AWAY!! Just wait and it gets better with age!

 

[chainsmoke]

Using 2 5 gallon IPA kits to make 6 gallons of beer = Double IPA

 

[unionrdr]

Pre-hopped extracts should never be boiled. It drives off flavor/aroma part of the hop profile. You'd get more bittering. I use plain DME in the boil,then add remaining DME, & all the LME at the end. You get lighter color,& cleaner flavor that way. But,since you like bittering,& added more hops,it should wind up more to your liking given some conditioning time.

 

[daveb123]

Thanks again guys for those helpful tips.....i think the fermentation is nearly over it seems to have stopped in the airlock....i will take an SG reading tomorrow and then again in two days to see...patience is the hardest part of my 1st brew but after listening to you guys i know i need to cultivate it...

Maybe the extra bitterness masked any residual sweetness....one reason i wont be using household sugar again that has contributed nothing to the body or mouth feel...but its still early days and it has had a fair amount of malt in those 5 galls and does smell really lovely and hoppy and fruity....maybe it is just me...but i will wait and see now...am not messing with it...

Now i must wait until its completely stopped fermenting and clear....

Then when that time comes i was wondering if its best to rack into a secondary just before bottling so i can add my priming sugar in bulk and mix in the secondary container before bottling and maybe even mix a little yeast from the primary in with it? just enough to ensure a bottle conditioned secondary fermentation?.....

Am worried if the beer clears completely then when i bottle it there wont be any yeast in the bottles to prime em up.....what's the best way to bottle up...from the primary or secondary?....i dont wont to introduce oxygen racking into a secondary if i can avoid it...as i have heard that isnt a good idea?..if my beer is completely clear how do i ensure enough yeast gets bottled to prime up?

 

[fivepoundpossum]

i would rack to a bottling bucket immediately before bottling. that way, as you say, you can mix up the priming sugar/water mixture. if you do it right, racking doesn't oxygenate your wort too much. moreover, i think people freak out too much about the oxygenation effects. i've had batches where my autosiphon kept losing pressure and i had to pump the hell out of it repeatedly (which must have really oxygenated the wort) and it imparted no discernible "cardboard" flavors. from what i gather here on the forum, oxygenation is really a problem when for beers that have to age. finally, don't worry about not having enough active yeast; there are plenty still in solution. they're microscopic, afterall!

 

[daveb123]

Thanks for that advice on the bottling i wil definitely do that cheers!...

 

[unionrdr]

Not necessarilly. If you didn't oxygenate it too much,then the priming sugar would use it up,regardless of gravity. Too much oxygen,& what the priming sugar doesn't use creates that off flavor. It doesn't take too long,it can show up in as little as 2-3 weeks if it's bad enough. But some small amount of air in a racking tube,or bottle wand tube won't add up to much. That seems to be ok in my experiences.