Worried about 2nd brew !

[lohr500]

Hi all,
New brewer here with next to no knowledge or experience so please go easy

My 1st brew was a bog standard Coopers Wheat Beer kit, made per instructions but substituting 500g of brewing sugar with wheat spray malt.

Temp during PF around 20 deg C.

Bottled after 10 days in the fermenter, using Coopers 500ml Ox bottles and one and a half Coopers carb drops per bottle. I did experiment with 10 bottles carbed with a sugar cube in each.

After 3 weeks in the bottles at temps between 20 & 28 deg, the beer tastes OK. Much better after the 2nd week. When cooled I get some hazing which I presume is what is known as chill haze.

During the 1st fermentation the bucket practically erupted. The airlock couldn't cope and spewed out a load of gunk. After a few days it calmed down.

Now I have started a 2nd brew. Another wheat beer. Black Rock Whispering Wheat. Because attempt one lacked flavour, I have started this one with 1Kg of Spray Malt and 300g of brewing sugar.

Also 25 grams of dried Curacao orange peel and 12.5 grams of crushed coriander seed, steeped in off the boil water for 1/2 hour and then the whole lot tipped into the bucket.

I used a sachet of Safbrew WB-06 poured on top of the liquor made up to 23 litres. Temp at that point was around 26 deg.

Unlike the 1st brew, this one hasn't erupted, but did bubble away nicely for the first few days. 5 days in and it has all but stopped bubbling and the HG is just in the black band for bottling.

BUT, it is very, very cloudy. Much more cloudy than the 1st attempt was 5 days in. It tastes OK though.

Would using more spray malt/less sugar, the addition of the peel/coriander and the WB-06 yeast slow down the fermentation.

After the volcanic like eruption during PF on attempt 1, I am worried something is amiss with this 2nd attempt. And also about the cloudiness. (Yes, I know it's a Wheat beer so it should be cloudy, but this is like soup).

Is it likely to clear up a little if I give it another 5 days in the bucket before bottling?

I thought I was being smart adding the peel & seeds to give more flavour and using more spray malt, but now I am having serious doubts

Have I screwed up or do I just need to chill out and give it time?

Cheers

 

[HellBound]

I'd say if you are really worried about you, drop some gelatin in it and it should clear out a great deal. Do a search for isinglass.

 

[unionrdr]

It dosen't need a clearing agent after only 5 days in primary. It needs more time. like a couple weeks to finish fermenting & 3-7 days after FG is reached to clean up by products from your high ferment temps & settle out clear or slightly misty. Then bottle. wheat beers should be misty,but not turbid with yeast & other gunk. 5 days isn't enough time. In 5 days,you may see the airlock's rapid bubbling slow or even stop. This only means initial fermentation is done. It'll then slowly,uneventfully creep down to FG & settle out. Patience & the hydrometer are your friend. And 26C is 78.8F. 18-20C would be a better temperature range in the fermenter.

 

[JasontheBeaver]

This early in your brewing career I wouldn't worry about the haze just yet. Get your process down before you go tweaking with it.
You added quite a bit more malt and sugar to this second batch, what did that do to your original gravity? What is the gravity now?
Also, I know Safale says you can sprinkle the yeast directly onto the wort but I would strongly recommend following their re-hydrating instructions instead. This will result in less yeast cells dying right off the bat and they will be healthier too.
More time is always good and so is good record keeping. Experimenting like you have is a good thing IF you keep records so you know what you've done.

 

[HellBound]

+1 to waiting longer I must've skipped over the only been 5 days part.

 

[lohr500]

Thanks all.
I'll just leave it alone for at least another week before drawing off a second test sample. Then it will have been on the go for close to two. I'm struggling with the temperature because we are having an unusual heatwave in the UK at the moment! I forgot to take an OG reading as well so I can't answer Jason.
Hopefully it will clear up a bit with time.
Thanks again.

 

[HellBound]

Thanks all.
I'll just leave it alone for at least another week before drawing off a second test sample. Then it will have been on the go for close to two. I'm struggling with the temperature because we are having an unusual heatwave in the UK at the moment! I forgot to take an OG reading as well so I can't answer Jason.
Hopefully it will clear up a bit with time.
Thanks again.

Ya. The hardest thing to learn as a new brewer is patience. We brew cause we love beer. And since we love beer, we want to DRINK IT!!! but you have to learn to relax.

RDWHAHB

 

[unionrdr]

Agreed. The first & hardest thing we learn as brewes is patience in all things.

 

[lohr500]

Well I bottled it today and it is still cloudy, but not as bad as it was. It had 16 days in the PF bucket.
There didn't appear to be any really nasty things growing in the bucket when I took the lid off to clean it out, so perhaps my fears about an infection were unfounded.

I have learned though that I should be brewing at a lower temperature so I'm not going to start another batch until end August/September when the UK temp will have fallen.

Also I think for the next orange & coriander attempt, I will use less orange peel as the orange aroma is very strong on this one.

If you want to leave the peel & seeds in the PF, van you place them in some sort of bag to stop them clogging up the tap and bottle filler tube? I had a hell of a job bottling as bits of peel and coriander found their way into the tap etc

Anyway, fingers crossed that it turns out OK after all the worry.

 

[unionrdr]

Def use some muslin hop socks for the peels & coriander. keeps them from making messy problems later. just dunk them in sanitizer before filling & dropping them into a primary or secondary.

 

[lohr500]

Well I am afraid it didn't get any better with age so today it went down the drain

I don't think it was infected because it was relatively clear for a wheat beer and had a great head. But the taste was just not right.
I think a combination of the excessive primary brewing temperature and too much orange peel & coriander ruined it.
Perhaps the extra sugar I added at the start on top of 1Kg dried spray malt made it overly alcoholic as well.

Still nothing ventured, nothing gained as they say. Next set of ingredients now ordered so fingers crossed for the third brew. At least the temperatures in the UK have returned to normal, so overheating won't be a problem now.

 

[Yooper]

Well I am afraid it didn't get any better with age so today it went down the drain

I don't think it was infected because it was relatively clear for a wheat beer and had a great head. But the taste was just not right.
I think a combination of the excessive primary brewing temperature and too much orange peel & coriander ruined it.
Perhaps the extra sugar I added at the start on top of 1Kg dried spray malt made it overly alcoholic as well.

Still nothing ventured, nothing gained as they say. Next set of ingredients now ordered so fingers crossed for the third brew. At least the temperatures in the UK have returned to normal, so overheating won't be a problem now.

I know that a few brewers on this forum have nice things to say about Cooper's, but I found them to not be very good quality and never did like the beer I made with them.

I don't know what you have available in the UK, but I'd try unhopped malt extract, hops, good yeast (sounds like you have done that), and hops. I'd skip the Cooper's, John Bull, and other brand that have canned prehopped malt extract. I think that would make a huge difference in the quality of the finished beer.

 

[trogdor447]

Might I suggest keeping it simple first? getting the routine of brewing down properly then get to adding extra stuff and experimenting? If it fermented hot... its likely got fusel alcohol coming out in it too. Did you do homework before adding orange peel and coriander? Its a funny thing with beers... we all like different flavors.

 

[lohr500]

Hi trogdor447, I did a lot of searching to find out how much curacao peel and coriander to add, as I was trying to get a Hoegaarden taste. Just a simple addition of the peel and crushed coriander seeds after a 20 minute soak in near boiling water. But definitely too strong an orange and coriander taste coming through.
After reading about high fermentation temps I learned about fusel alcohol and whilst I have no idea how fusel alcohol tastes, I do wonder if fundamentally that's what spoiled it.

But you are right. I was probably trying to run before I could walk!!
So brew 3 will be back to basics, other than the addition of a lesser quantity of the orange & coriander.