1st ever batch is aweful :(

[unionrdr]

Yeah grog,it sure looked like it had been aerated to me. The act of pouring roughly can aerate the wort some.

 

[carton132]

m3n00b, what gravity are the beers that you make without aerating? I'm a newb and just asking for a better understanding of opposing opinions. From all the reading I've done, it seems that plenty of people agree that a lower gravity beer might be fine without, but a double or imperial IPA like the original poster is working with should be aerated for best results. Just wondering if you've found differently in the same style.

 

[GrogNerd]

Most commercially produced Active Dry Beer yeast actually require no O2 addition for a successful average gravity wort fermentation.

I will be the first to admit I am wrong. that's from Danstar, I will take their word for it

still doesn't hurt to aerate "average gravity" & anything above that, I would say it is necessary.

 

[m3n00b]

I didn't realize this was a double IPA. I wouldn't feel the need to aerate anything below 1.060. When I do doubles with us05 I try to aerate as much as I can by stirring my bucket. I'm sure this doesn't work as well as shaking up a carboy but my IIPAs come out great. Just had one go from 1.082 down to 1.010 in less than a week using 1 sachet and a little stirring.

 

[unionrdr]

Yeah,I know what they say in those PDF's,but I still like to be on the safe side & aerate with my strainer & paddle. I have to strain the chilled wort,top off,& mix the wort & water anyway. So that also aerates it some. But other than that,I don't go out of my way,unless it's liquid yeast in a starter.

 

[GrogNerd]

I didn't realize this was a double IPA. I wouldn't feel the need to aerate anything below 1.060. When I do doubles with us05 I try to aerate as much as I can by stirring my bucket. I'm sure this doesn't work as well as shaking up a carboy but my IIPAs come out great. Just had one go from 1.082 down to 1.010 in less than a week using 1 sachet and a little stirring.

I would say that all gravities could benefit from a little aeration, but they don't all need oxygenation.

anything to make the magical little beasties happy... but not TOO happy

 

[saeroner]

Thank you everyone. Lots of info on here to learn from.

I did keep brewing -- actually did 4 kits in 6 weeks, so this is just the 1st I've tried out of the 4. I got another IPA, Pumpkin and amber ale going now -- hopefully I get better results.

Question though:

Why do all the directions for kits say to pour all of the LME into the boil at 60 mins? It seems from most of you that is not the best way to go about it.

 

[Mandlbrot]

I'm feeling pretty confident my mistake was mixing Starsan with chlorinated tapwater for sanitizing fermenter and then bottling bucket/bottles later. It seems like the taste I am experiencing fits all the description of phenols or Chlorophenols in the beer. I remember my brew buddy mentioning that he thought the Starsan rinse we prepared smelled like chlorine...I had no idea it was my water at the time (didn't know better). We followed the "foam won't hurt" method and let residual sanitizer remain in buckets and bottles as we filled.

Although such a small amount, I wonder if it was enough?

We used Nottingham, rehydrated and aerated well. Fermented around 63. Strong fermentation. Everything seemed perfect. Five weeks in the bottle now, I can't make through an entire bottle (yuck).

Fingers crossed we didn't screw the next two batches to bad Kinda brewed several batches in quick succession.

Our second beer (Pumpkin Ale) is coming up on thre weeks in bottle. It does taste better...but still some of that off flavor.

Live and Learn...

 

[m3n00b]

I mix my star san with chlorinated tap water and I don't get any off flavors from it.

I use filtered water from my fridge for brewing though. Did you use plain, unfiltered tap water for brewing too?

The instructions say to pour all LME in at 60 minutes to keep it easy. This leads to darkening, caramel flavors and lower hop utilization.

 

[Trail]

Just not sure what it could be. I feel like cleaning and rinsing are solid. Wondering is mixing sanstar with our tap water is creating an off flavor due to residual chlorine. Seems like such a small possible amount.

Racking beer onto even a 1/3 carboy of starsan (mixed solution, NOT foam - the foam is harmless!) will ruin a beer. If you starsan'd your brewing water the beer is f@*#ed.

If you only used it as normal - sanitizing bottles and fermenters but not rinsing after - that's fine, it's not your problem. Try cutting your tapwater 50/50 with distilled.

 

[m3n00b]

I don't think he sanitized his brewing water with star San. I think the only star San that made it into his brew was residual foam.

 

[Mandlbrot]

I don't think he sanitized his brewing water with star San. I think the only star San that made it into his brew was residual foam.

Yes It was only the foam Although a StarSan beer might taste better than my first attempt

 

[unionrdr]

At first the way you worded it,it read like you were trying to sanitize the brewing water with it. But it does sound like you've got a lot of chlorine &/or chloromine in your water. I switched to local spring for 25c per gallon. Here's a page that says what they do to it; http://whitehousesprings.com/OurWater.php Sounds like they def have way better water than from my tap,with all the chemicals & ameba's floating in it. It def makes the beer taste better.