hammy1983
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Oct 20, 2017
- Messages
- 63
- Reaction score
- 22
To start off this was my first all grain batch I brewed alone (no seasoned brewer watching over me)
I bottle carb and after a week I tried it. its carb but the taste is lacking which I am not great with picking out tastes. It smells great. I brought it to a brew meeting and the ones who tried it said it had a medicinal taste (phenolic) after researching what causes that taste I have decide to post here to narrow now the potential cause
The recipe was as follows
10lbs 2 row
1lb german munich
1lb crystal 60L
1oz centennial @ 50
.5oz centennial @ 30
.5oz citra @15
.5oz citra @5
dry hop was 1oz of citra and 1oz centennial
using vermont ale yeast I got from a friend in a mason jar
I soaked my fermentasaurus tank for about a week in gental oxyclean (no bleach or perfumes), before I used it I put some stansan in it and switched it around and left it for at least 10 minutes. the valves seals, lid etc were all taken apart and washed in oxyclean then soaked for an hour in starsan.
My water I use is from my well which is 80ft down in the aquafyer as I am close to a lake. I have a water softener but the bypass was 100% on and I ran the water for 10 minutes before filling my kettle. I do have a iron and sulfur remover that uses no chemicals. It mists the water then sends it through a membrane and it works great and flushes itself once a day.
Now on the brew day. I was doing brew in a bag. Started with 7 gallons of water for my mash. Target was 152. I put my bag in at 156 stirred until no balls were present and then cover my kettle with a fire resistant moving blanket, then a decent sleeping bag.
I monitored the temp using my inkbird with bluetooth. With about 20 minutes left the grain temp and outside temp dropped it to 144. I sparked up the burner, took the grain out, hit 154 for the another 20 minutes no change.
My post mash was dead on target at 1.043 using the squeeze method. I have no markings on my pot so I took all my measurements before mash. I was aiming for 6 gallon finished and aimed for about a gallon burn off. Like a tool I added way too much water (didn't pay attention to my measurements) and added 2 gallons or so. boil was a not aggressive but a steady boil. Hops were all added on time. Worfloc at 10min (1/2 tab) and 5 drops of antifoam before boil but after mash)
again, I screwed up as it was taking way too long already and my 2 year old was well being a 2 year old. Without taking a gravity then I cooled it down to 68 put it in a bucket (bucket was full of star san for hours) and left it as I had somewhere to be.
When I got home I transferred it via vinyl hose (i was soaking in the bucket and made sure it had starsan throughout the hose and was empty before the beer went in) to my fermentasaurus. Took my gravity reading and crap 1.046 target was 1.061 then I figured out were I screw up as I remembered the water addition brought it to a rivet that meant about 7.5-8g pre boil.
I did a bunch of research and screwed around with my recipe on brewers friend and decided pre yeast to boil 1lb of dextrose in 2 cups of water fully dissolved and added it. it was less than 10% of the grain bill and kept it within the APA specs as I read the only real issue would be mouth feel.
The yeast. I received harvested vermont ale yeast (from a 8% pretty hopped up ale) in a 500 ml mason gar that was washed and probably had about 100 ml in it of yeast. It sat in my fridge for about 2 months before I used it. I don't have a stir plate so I took it out, with the lid on but not tight so it could breath for about 10 hours. I then pitched it about 30 minutes after the dextrose addition. It took about 48 hours to start bubbling as I was getting worried.
To add context to that, the guy I got the yeast from pitched the exact same yeast with no starter in his batch on the same day as me about 10 hours before I did. He had minor activity in 36 hours and full in 42 hours.
Dry hop went as planned. After about 10 days I put it in my garage at about 41F to settle a bit. After 7 days I used dextrose and bottle carbed. final gravity was 1.008. Carbonation seems to be correct with the 3 I have opened. Bottles are all rinsed in extremely hot water and soaked in starsan before bottling.
I'm leaning towards the oxyclean and I didnt rinse out the tank enough after the oxyclean soak and the lack of mouthfeel/watered down ale made the taste more prominant.
I dont think his beer has the same issue as he would have mentioned it. I'll ask just to be sure.
I bottle carb and after a week I tried it. its carb but the taste is lacking which I am not great with picking out tastes. It smells great. I brought it to a brew meeting and the ones who tried it said it had a medicinal taste (phenolic) after researching what causes that taste I have decide to post here to narrow now the potential cause
The recipe was as follows
10lbs 2 row
1lb german munich
1lb crystal 60L
1oz centennial @ 50
.5oz centennial @ 30
.5oz citra @15
.5oz citra @5
dry hop was 1oz of citra and 1oz centennial
using vermont ale yeast I got from a friend in a mason jar
I soaked my fermentasaurus tank for about a week in gental oxyclean (no bleach or perfumes), before I used it I put some stansan in it and switched it around and left it for at least 10 minutes. the valves seals, lid etc were all taken apart and washed in oxyclean then soaked for an hour in starsan.
My water I use is from my well which is 80ft down in the aquafyer as I am close to a lake. I have a water softener but the bypass was 100% on and I ran the water for 10 minutes before filling my kettle. I do have a iron and sulfur remover that uses no chemicals. It mists the water then sends it through a membrane and it works great and flushes itself once a day.
Now on the brew day. I was doing brew in a bag. Started with 7 gallons of water for my mash. Target was 152. I put my bag in at 156 stirred until no balls were present and then cover my kettle with a fire resistant moving blanket, then a decent sleeping bag.
I monitored the temp using my inkbird with bluetooth. With about 20 minutes left the grain temp and outside temp dropped it to 144. I sparked up the burner, took the grain out, hit 154 for the another 20 minutes no change.
My post mash was dead on target at 1.043 using the squeeze method. I have no markings on my pot so I took all my measurements before mash. I was aiming for 6 gallon finished and aimed for about a gallon burn off. Like a tool I added way too much water (didn't pay attention to my measurements) and added 2 gallons or so. boil was a not aggressive but a steady boil. Hops were all added on time. Worfloc at 10min (1/2 tab) and 5 drops of antifoam before boil but after mash)
again, I screwed up as it was taking way too long already and my 2 year old was well being a 2 year old. Without taking a gravity then I cooled it down to 68 put it in a bucket (bucket was full of star san for hours) and left it as I had somewhere to be.
When I got home I transferred it via vinyl hose (i was soaking in the bucket and made sure it had starsan throughout the hose and was empty before the beer went in) to my fermentasaurus. Took my gravity reading and crap 1.046 target was 1.061 then I figured out were I screw up as I remembered the water addition brought it to a rivet that meant about 7.5-8g pre boil.
I did a bunch of research and screwed around with my recipe on brewers friend and decided pre yeast to boil 1lb of dextrose in 2 cups of water fully dissolved and added it. it was less than 10% of the grain bill and kept it within the APA specs as I read the only real issue would be mouth feel.
The yeast. I received harvested vermont ale yeast (from a 8% pretty hopped up ale) in a 500 ml mason gar that was washed and probably had about 100 ml in it of yeast. It sat in my fridge for about 2 months before I used it. I don't have a stir plate so I took it out, with the lid on but not tight so it could breath for about 10 hours. I then pitched it about 30 minutes after the dextrose addition. It took about 48 hours to start bubbling as I was getting worried.
To add context to that, the guy I got the yeast from pitched the exact same yeast with no starter in his batch on the same day as me about 10 hours before I did. He had minor activity in 36 hours and full in 42 hours.
Dry hop went as planned. After about 10 days I put it in my garage at about 41F to settle a bit. After 7 days I used dextrose and bottle carbed. final gravity was 1.008. Carbonation seems to be correct with the 3 I have opened. Bottles are all rinsed in extremely hot water and soaked in starsan before bottling.
I'm leaning towards the oxyclean and I didnt rinse out the tank enough after the oxyclean soak and the lack of mouthfeel/watered down ale made the taste more prominant.
I dont think his beer has the same issue as he would have mentioned it. I'll ask just to be sure.