One of the reasons I got into home brewing was so I could drink awesome homemade beers that I couldn't find in the stores. There were obviously other reasons, but that was a big reason and I've heard many others make similar comments.
I've been brewing a little over 2 years, (I'm not sure how long one is considered a "Beginner"). Is it a period of time or a number of brews? I would imagine that in most cases, if you've been brewing for a year, a beginner is anyone who has only been brewing for 11 months. If you've been brewing for 2 years then a beginner is probably 0-23 months. But I digress.
I've brewed quite a few batches of mediocre to slightly less than mediocre beer so far. With each batch I've learned what works and what doesn't and made adjustments in equipment and technique accordingly. I don't know if I've brewed two batches using the same equipment or process. It seems like so far I've been in a constant state of trying to dial things in.
Two batches ago I decided to brew a Quad - my second Quad. The first one was okay. It wasn't a world class award winner, but it wasn't bad. I changed up the recipe on the second attempt, and also changed up some equipment and planned on changing some of the processes. I went from a 10 gallon Igloo cooler MLT to a 15.5 gallon, stainless steel, bottom drain, keggle MLT. I also decided to try (for the first time) a step infusion mash. I hadn't made up my mind if I wanted to go with "The Brew Bag" as my MLT filter or a false bottom. Most false bottoms seem grossly over priced to me, (but I'm cheap). The "Brew Bag" for a keggle is $30 and (in theory) seems like a better filtration system. The claim is that you can use a finer crush and increase the efficiency. That made sense, so I was leaning toward that.
Brew day for the big Quad was approaching and I still didn't have any filter worked out for the keggle MLT. I could have used the Igloo, but really wanted to try out the new bottom drain keggle. So I ordered an extra large brewing bag on Amazon for like $8. (It wasn't "The Brew Bag" obviously). The dimensions were like 22" x 26", so I figured 26" was tall enough to use for a keggle. Brew day arrived, the strike water was heated, everything was laid out, and it was time to start doughing in. I opened up the $8 brew bag to discover it was 26" wide by only 22" tall. What on earth would be the reasoning for making a bag like that?
Long story short, I did the best I could without dumping grain all over the inside of the keggle - it wasn't easy. This Quad had 21 pounds of grain - it was estimated for a 1.100 OG with an abv of 11.4. The ingredients, (including 2 lbs of dark candi syrup), added up to my most expensive brew so far.
Since it was my first time using the keggle I missed all three of my infusion rest temps (low) and had to add extra water to boost the temp. On the second infusion the water I was heating wasn't up to temp when the time came to add it so I had to wait almost 20 minutes longer. I then added ALL the water I had heated and was still 4 or 5 degrees low, so I had to get more water heating up - which completely screwed up that rest.
The $8 sideways bag was overfilled with the 21 pounds of swollen grain, so there was no way to stir without sloshing grain all over the inside of the keggle and risk clogging the bottom drain.
By the time I was done with the mash I was debating just scraping it and throwing everything away, except again, this was the most I'd ever spent on ingredients. It was hard to just scrap that much money - so I pressed on. I drained the MLT, did a quick, (probably too fast) batch sparge, got my preboil volume without taking any gravity readings and fired up the burner. At this point I just wanted to get it done ASAP, (it wasn't fun anymore).
After the 90 minute boil I should have had 5.5 gallons going into the fermenter, but I was lucky to have 5, (if that). The OG was figured at 1.100 and I measured 1.055. I was pissed. 21 pounds of grain, 2 pounds of candi syrup, a 90 minute boil and an OG of 1.055?
I had to take a short break to keep from trashing my entire brew system at that point. I came back, pitched my yeast starter and stuck it in the fermenter.
So I brewed this disaster on 04/24. It finished fermenting at 1.005 and I bottled on 05/15, (3 weeks in primary). I cold crashed it the last 3 days in fermentation so it was 40 degrees at bottling. I adjusted the corn sugar according to the calculated temp which was considerably less than I usually use.
It's been in the bottle almost 4 weeks now. If I pour one super aggressively, (I mean hold the bottle a foot above the glass and pour it right down the middle), I get a decent finger and a half of head that completely disappears within 10-15 seconds. The aroma is strong Belgian yeast and malt. It's not a faint nose - it's definitely there. Just not much to the nose other than yeast first and foremost, with malt. No floral or fruity notes, raisins, carmel, or any of the smells one would associate with a Quad.
It has a full bodied mouth feel, fairly dry on the finish, with a definite sour off flavor. I can't quite put a taste to the sourness other than just . . . sour. It's not really a face puckering sour - it's actually fairly subdued. But it's just enough to distract the tongue from picking up on any other flavors.
It tastes and feels like it's carbonated perfectly. The fact that the head vanishes immediately makes it seem like it should taste flat - but it doesn't.
It's not a disgusting. It's not at all what I expected so I've had a few now just to see if it's bad, or if I get the impression it's bad because I anticipated something else. Like when you pick up a glass that you think is coke and it turns out to be iced tea. I like coke and iced tea, but when you're expecting coke it's a shock.
In short - I can't decide if this is a drain pour?, if it's infected?, where the "sourness" is coming from?
When I grabbed the first box out of the pantry there was beer leaking out of it. I thought, Uh Oh, something broke or exploded. There was maybe a teaspoon of beer at one end of the box. I inspected every bottle, held them upside, turned them around . . . not one bottle appeared to be leaking???
So anyway, this has been the batch from hell. Just venting
I've been brewing a little over 2 years, (I'm not sure how long one is considered a "Beginner"). Is it a period of time or a number of brews? I would imagine that in most cases, if you've been brewing for a year, a beginner is anyone who has only been brewing for 11 months. If you've been brewing for 2 years then a beginner is probably 0-23 months. But I digress.
I've brewed quite a few batches of mediocre to slightly less than mediocre beer so far. With each batch I've learned what works and what doesn't and made adjustments in equipment and technique accordingly. I don't know if I've brewed two batches using the same equipment or process. It seems like so far I've been in a constant state of trying to dial things in.
Two batches ago I decided to brew a Quad - my second Quad. The first one was okay. It wasn't a world class award winner, but it wasn't bad. I changed up the recipe on the second attempt, and also changed up some equipment and planned on changing some of the processes. I went from a 10 gallon Igloo cooler MLT to a 15.5 gallon, stainless steel, bottom drain, keggle MLT. I also decided to try (for the first time) a step infusion mash. I hadn't made up my mind if I wanted to go with "The Brew Bag" as my MLT filter or a false bottom. Most false bottoms seem grossly over priced to me, (but I'm cheap). The "Brew Bag" for a keggle is $30 and (in theory) seems like a better filtration system. The claim is that you can use a finer crush and increase the efficiency. That made sense, so I was leaning toward that.
Brew day for the big Quad was approaching and I still didn't have any filter worked out for the keggle MLT. I could have used the Igloo, but really wanted to try out the new bottom drain keggle. So I ordered an extra large brewing bag on Amazon for like $8. (It wasn't "The Brew Bag" obviously). The dimensions were like 22" x 26", so I figured 26" was tall enough to use for a keggle. Brew day arrived, the strike water was heated, everything was laid out, and it was time to start doughing in. I opened up the $8 brew bag to discover it was 26" wide by only 22" tall. What on earth would be the reasoning for making a bag like that?
Long story short, I did the best I could without dumping grain all over the inside of the keggle - it wasn't easy. This Quad had 21 pounds of grain - it was estimated for a 1.100 OG with an abv of 11.4. The ingredients, (including 2 lbs of dark candi syrup), added up to my most expensive brew so far.
Since it was my first time using the keggle I missed all three of my infusion rest temps (low) and had to add extra water to boost the temp. On the second infusion the water I was heating wasn't up to temp when the time came to add it so I had to wait almost 20 minutes longer. I then added ALL the water I had heated and was still 4 or 5 degrees low, so I had to get more water heating up - which completely screwed up that rest.
The $8 sideways bag was overfilled with the 21 pounds of swollen grain, so there was no way to stir without sloshing grain all over the inside of the keggle and risk clogging the bottom drain.
By the time I was done with the mash I was debating just scraping it and throwing everything away, except again, this was the most I'd ever spent on ingredients. It was hard to just scrap that much money - so I pressed on. I drained the MLT, did a quick, (probably too fast) batch sparge, got my preboil volume without taking any gravity readings and fired up the burner. At this point I just wanted to get it done ASAP, (it wasn't fun anymore).
After the 90 minute boil I should have had 5.5 gallons going into the fermenter, but I was lucky to have 5, (if that). The OG was figured at 1.100 and I measured 1.055. I was pissed. 21 pounds of grain, 2 pounds of candi syrup, a 90 minute boil and an OG of 1.055?
I had to take a short break to keep from trashing my entire brew system at that point. I came back, pitched my yeast starter and stuck it in the fermenter.
So I brewed this disaster on 04/24. It finished fermenting at 1.005 and I bottled on 05/15, (3 weeks in primary). I cold crashed it the last 3 days in fermentation so it was 40 degrees at bottling. I adjusted the corn sugar according to the calculated temp which was considerably less than I usually use.
It's been in the bottle almost 4 weeks now. If I pour one super aggressively, (I mean hold the bottle a foot above the glass and pour it right down the middle), I get a decent finger and a half of head that completely disappears within 10-15 seconds. The aroma is strong Belgian yeast and malt. It's not a faint nose - it's definitely there. Just not much to the nose other than yeast first and foremost, with malt. No floral or fruity notes, raisins, carmel, or any of the smells one would associate with a Quad.
It has a full bodied mouth feel, fairly dry on the finish, with a definite sour off flavor. I can't quite put a taste to the sourness other than just . . . sour. It's not really a face puckering sour - it's actually fairly subdued. But it's just enough to distract the tongue from picking up on any other flavors.
It tastes and feels like it's carbonated perfectly. The fact that the head vanishes immediately makes it seem like it should taste flat - but it doesn't.
It's not a disgusting. It's not at all what I expected so I've had a few now just to see if it's bad, or if I get the impression it's bad because I anticipated something else. Like when you pick up a glass that you think is coke and it turns out to be iced tea. I like coke and iced tea, but when you're expecting coke it's a shock.
In short - I can't decide if this is a drain pour?, if it's infected?, where the "sourness" is coming from?
When I grabbed the first box out of the pantry there was beer leaking out of it. I thought, Uh Oh, something broke or exploded. There was maybe a teaspoon of beer at one end of the box. I inspected every bottle, held them upside, turned them around . . . not one bottle appeared to be leaking???
So anyway, this has been the batch from hell. Just venting