My brewing skillz. WTF?

[jmendez29]

So I took about a 9 month hiatus from brewing. I have a Shock Top clone in the fermenter now. It felt good to get back into it. But I took the time off because of frustration. I had about 4 batches in a row that just didn't seem to turn out right. There was a Cream Ale that was WAYYYY overcarbed. Then a Irish Red Ale that was absolutely flat. And it tasted like crap. Then an IPA that is also flat, but not quite as bad. And finally a IIPA that I think is overcarbed. When I pop the top, it just kinda sits there releasing bubbles. But when I pour it into the glass, it foams up like you wouldn't believe and gets worse as it sits there. I got frustrated and let it be for a while.

So. First, WTF is up with that IIPA? Has that happened to anyone else? Can you explain to me what happened? I used the same bottle conditioning that I always have for everything else. 2/3 cup brown sugar as recommended by the guy who got me into brewing (and has won a couple awards at Michigan State Fair). Why the huge difference between brews?

And the total frustation of it all? The IPA tastes AWESOME!!! Its just kinda flat. I "discovered" the IPA and IIPA in the basement a few weeks ago and put an armload in the fridge. Busted out the IIPA last night and it was pretty good. And I am currently in the process of getting lit up on the IPA. I just think the IPA would be that much better if it was carbed right.

 

[PvtSkippy]

This is exactly why I broke down and built a kegging setup.

(Sounds to me like a gusher infection in the Cream Ale and IIPA...but what do I know?)

 

[TipsyDragon]

different beer styles need different amounts of carbonation to taste right. a blanket 2/3 cup brown sugar for every batch is not necessarily a good or bad idea depending on how you look at it. also some beers take longer to carbonate than others. if where the beer is sitting isn't warm enough it will take longer to carbonate. just because its 75 in the room doesn't mean its 75 where the beer is sitting. also high gravity beers are very hard to carbonate because by the end of fermentation the yeast are very beat up. you should also scale your sugar addition depending on how much you beer you have in your bottling bucket. 5.5 gallons of beer needs more sugar than 5 gallons and 4.5 gallons of beer needs less.

another point is that if you don't chill your beer long enough the CO2 in the head space wont have as much time to absorb properly into your brew. this can lead to foam over when you open or total foam explosion when you pour your brew into the glass.

 

[PintOfBitter]

do you use big, healthy yeast starters? this will fix SO many problems. if using dry yeast, be sure to rehydrate properly. poor yeast health can lead to either uncarbed bottles or excessive FG which turns into overcarbed bottles in the long run.

 

[soundsandsuds]

I use this guide for priming.

http://oz.craftbrewer.org/Library/Methods/BulkPriming/SimpleGuide.shtml

Also, Are you checking the gravity a few times over the course of a few days to make sure that it's done fermenting, or are you just waiting for the bubbles to stop?

 

[jmendez29]

do you use big, healthy yeast starters? this will fix SO many problems. if using dry yeast, be sure to rehydrate properly. poor yeast health can lead to either uncarbed bottles or excessive FG which turns into overcarbed bottles in the long run.

Oddly enough, I would have to say absolutely. I made a starter for my Irish Red, then dumped the IPA on top of that, and the IIPA on top of that. I don't know if I could get a bigger starter than that. Do you think that may have attributed to poor health? I fermented all of them at 62F and they pretty much hit the recommended FG. A couple of points lower, even.

Also, Are you checking the gravity a few times over the course of a few days to make sure that it's done fermenting, or are you just waiting for the bubbles to stop?

You're killing me. It's like a stab to the heart. Yeah, these represent batches probably about #14-17 for me. I wouldn't quite call myself seasoned at this point, but I like to think of myself somewhere above a newb by now. Before I even started my first batch, that was one of the things I heard OVER and OVER and OVER. Mostly from Revvy, but everyone rails on that one.

I'm not really looking for hard and fast answers at this point, just venting frustration that my beer could taste so good like this, why can't it be carbed and just be that much better. That one simple little thing. Frustrating. It's part of why I took so much time off, so I could spend more time reading up on things and maybe come up with a better plan on organizing and documenting things. I have read a LOT of good things in recent months and plan to start PMs here soon as a transition to AG.

 

[jmendez29]

I use this guide for priming.

http://oz.craftbrewer.org/Library/Methods/BulkPriming/SimpleGuide.shtml

Oh yeah. Thanks for the link. Of all the things I've seen on here, I don't think I've come across this one.