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tommysauder

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Ok so about a year ago I decided to attempt some home made beer without doing a lot of research... That alone will tell you how it turned out.

I bought a coopers kit, cleaned everything but didn't sterilize. Used a USED fermenter bucket from a wine making store, and used raw sugar as a primer. Lets just say it was sour and tasted like green apples. Not wanting to waste any beer, I used almost all of it for cooking! (Roasts etc...).

Did a lot of research, while doing the research went back to making some other type of alcohol.

So now I'm on batch 2 of the beer. I am very excited about it but decided to do a low recipe and only 15L (3.9 Gallons). And if it does fail, atleast I'll have some more beer to cook with.

I just wanted some inputs on how long to leave in the fermenter because of its low ABV. (I have since got a new fermenter, a glass 57L Demijohn).

Ingredients: 2kg American 2-row, .5kg Vienna and .5kg of Munich. Steeped between 155-158 F for 1 hour. I couldn't get a large rolling boil as the bbq burner wouldn't allow it, but it was rolling slightly. Added Willamette hops (1 oz at 60 mins, .5 oz at 30 mins, .5 oz at 10 mins). Cooled it down as quickly as possible, but after an hour it was at approx. 90F (I know too high but I was getting nervous of infection)... wort did have a cover on it, and transferred it to the Demijohn and pitched 1/2 oz of US-05 Yeast and stored in a cool area (Ranges between 50-55F). Fermentation wasn't fast but was occurring slowly which I'm assuming was due to the cooler temperature.

It has been a week now, and I plan on letting it clear up for another week at that temperature then bringing it to 40F for a week. Is that enough time before bottling at a lower percentage? I also made the mistake of not taking a Hydrometer reading before... which I will for my next batch.

Regards! (Wish I discovered this site before my coopers failure)
 
You're right on about the slower speed given the lower temperature. Since that's pretty cold, your yeasty friends may have dropped out, leaving you a bit of acetaldehyde (the green apple flavor that was the scourge of your last batch).
I wouldn't do the cooling to 40F until you have established that the gravity is stable - you might not have gotten the original hydrometer reading, but the most important bit is having a stable measurement for a couple days at the end. THEN you can crash it and get the yeast out.

So yeah, in general I think a quicker schedule probably works fine for a low gravity beer, but not a LOT quicker. Yeast still likes some time to clean up. The low ale fermentation temperature would likely negate any speediness gains you might achieve in this case. Check that hydrometer, and use that to determine when to bottle. If you do crash out the yeast, it can take a bit longer than usual for the bottles to carb up.
 
When I did the fermentation last time it was at a much higher temperature with the coopers.

After 4 days of fermentation I was still seeing very small yeast particles dancing around, moving up and down in and out etc.. Not like the huge junks of yeast I see in some on youtube mind you, but they were very active.. So should I move the Demijohn to a bit warmer area, say 60 and give it a little stir? Or leave it at 55 where it is. I just figured since it was still fermenting after 4 days it should be ok?
 
I'd move it to the 60* area. But I think it was perfect to start in the colder area. That limits excessively fast fermentation which can heat up your wort and cause off flavors. Likely fermentation is slowing down and it would benefit from being a little warmer. That will help to make sure it ferments completely.
 
I'd let it warm up for a week. 50-55f is on the cool side for an ale yeast like S05. You run the danger of the yeast floccing out of suspension and going dormant before fermentation is complete.

IMHO, i'd move the fermenter to a warmer area for a week. If the fermentation is mostly complete, there's little risk of additional fusel alcohol production and the warmer temp will help roust the yeast. Yeast hates getting colder, and loves being warmed up. The warmer temp will help wake up the yeast and if there are any early fusel alcohols (acetylaldehyde or diacetyl), it will consume them as a food source and clean them out of your beer.

I have a similar situation going on with an ale that I have in a drop freezer in my garage. The outside temperatures have been dipping to the freezing point for the past week, even though the temp on the freezer is set to 60 degrees f. It's been warming to the 70's during the day and the freezer is well insulated and located close to the interior of the house, so i'm not that worried about the cooler ambient outside temps. I do need to move the fermenter bucket inside today though, as I have one week left on a three week fermentation and want the yeast to warm up and eat any remaining off flavors from fusel alcohols. Just a nice little diacetyl rest before it gets bottled.
 
Ok sounds like a plan. I'll remove from cold storage to main level. Sits between 63 to 70 for a week then cold crash it
 
Ok so I'll update: I moved the fermenter to a bit of a warmer place, 62-65. Gave the demijohn a slight swirl, and it sat for 2 days with no activity and the yeast just fell back down. So day 9 I decided to bottle. 1/2 cup of brown sugar, 1 cup of water boiled and put into bottling bucket. Sterilized auto siphon and bottling pipe. Bottled it all and sampled a glass full. Definitely has alcohol in it, but it did have a hint of apple to it... which in my coopers experience is bad, but it has a lot less of an apple taste than my coopers still has conditioned for 10 months.

So now it will sit at around 65 bottled for 3 weeks in the dark and hopefully all that slight apple taste goes away.

Going to brew my next batch once I get my hands on a hydrometer... which should be this weekend. Hopefully all goes well.

I'll post here this weekend when I do my next all grain and in a couple weeks when I taste test one of my brew before the 3 weeks!
 
US 05 is an ale yeast, it does best fermenting from start to finish around 65 F. Don't let this batch get you down if it doesn't turn out right. Improve the process. The first batch of beer I brewed I pitched my yeast around 90 F, with Nottingham Ale yeast. Ale yeast (other than Saison) does well between 65 degrees F and 72 degrees F. If you like cold fermented, and you seem to do well with it, use Lager yeast which does well around 55 degrees F. It takes much longer for finished beer, but you get a clean taste with few byproducts. You'll need to do a diacetyl rest after most the fermentation is done, which is similar to your process so far in this thread.

In the winter time I brew 10 gallons, 3 times each month with ale yeast in a cellar that stays 68 degrees. I can't brew enough to keep up with my friends' consumption. In the summer I switch to Saison yeast, and ferment at 75 degrees.
 
Move your bottles to an area that is about 70° to 74°. At 65° full bottle conditioning may not complete for 5 to 6 weeks.
 
For that third batch try to add yeast AFTER you are into the 70s. Then keep it for 3 weeks in the low 60s. The yeast will heat the wort to mid 60s. Keep the beer bottled at 70 if you can for 3 weeks then chill for 3 days and enjoy. You cold "cold crash" after the 3 weeks in the primary for say a week and then bottle.
 
Yea, had some copper tube laying around so made a small wort chiller, but it is better than nothing. Also had washing machine hoses and was able to cut on and it fit perfectly with some gear clamps. Should be able to get that wort cooler a lot quicker!
 
Currently mashing outside... hard to keep temperature consistent. Heat it up to 155F then turn off propane, put a lid and when it drops to 150F heat back up etc... checking temperature every 10 minutes. (32F here right now so it cools quickly).
 
Starting my boil. Very concentrated as the mash smells amazing!!

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I already see where I went wrong with batch 2. After seeing the foam from this boil I can assume my last batch wasnt near to boiling. This almost roamed out of the pot!
 
Ok so added water to the 5 gallon mark and over pitched safale s33 yeast (dry). 5 hours later a large krausen and it seems to be bubbling like it's boiling (slowly but big bubbles)?? that good or bad??
 
I haven't seen actual bubbles coming up to the surface, but it sure sounds peppy! Sounds good to me. It'll probably clear through that amount of sugar in a very short time. Looking forward to hearing how it is.
 
Popped the lid and took a quick peak, 48 hours after pitching. Still visibly bubbling away with a good krausen... Decided to take a sniff and OW! Nose lit on fire. After some research it's co2 burn... which is a shame because I want to smell the flavors but every time I sniff it, it just burns lol... Oh well guess I'll wait until 14 days before sniffing again :p
 
I'm just kidding. I'm actually making a yeast starter currently. It will be ready tomorrow for Thursday brew day. I've burned my nose with it twice. I'm a slow learner, but I get there eventually...
 
lol! I decided that I wanted to try my first all grain that I made MANY mistakes on. Been sitting for 2 weeks and in fridge for a day. Couldn't wait and opened a bottle and tested ( I want to see the progression and improvement with all my brews/methods). I think I over hopped with willamette hops first off. But the smell is sort of grassy like willamette but tastes slightly banana ish... but very bitter. I can tell this was a screw up recipe and I did a lot wrong but it still tastes 1000% more drinkable than my first coopers failure!

My next batch will be drinkable in 3 weeks, and I'm brewing another one this weekend. All improving by getting better equipment and better control over temperature. Here's a picture of the young but still drinkable beer (The rest of them I am going to let sit @ 65F for 2 weeks)
 
Definitely too bitter. very strong on the back of the tongue. Good thing I like bitter! My first brew that can actually be used for drinking and not be banished to a cooking beer. Although the bad outcome, I'm extremely happy that I made my first drinkable beer (to me anyways)

edit: Happy that there's no green apple taste though :D
 
Congrats on the tasty beer! There are lots of recipe calculators online, most let you pick the style of brew and help you create your recipe to fit.
 
Ok so my second all-grain has been fermenting for a week. So I open up the lid to take a hydro reading (starsan the hell out of the hydro, let sit for a minute and dropped it). Got a reading of 1.013 which is dead on to beer smith calcs. Only thing that concerned me was that the underside of the lid had a lot of water on it (condensation). is this normal?

I will check the reading tomorrow, if it is the same, is it safe to move it to a colder area (say 55F? )

EDIT: Or just leave it alone and have a homebrew for a couple more weeks :p
 
I wouldn't worry about the water condensation. Even if your hydrometer reading is bang on where it should be, you want to see that it is stable at that reading for a couple days before calling it done. I've had just as many beers not reach the predicted FG as I have had beers that beat the predicted FG by 2 or 3 points.

For maintaining your mash temp, if you aren't already doing it, once you turn the flame off, wrap that pot in as many towels/blankets as you can and stack a couple of them on top of the lid too. So long as they are cotton you won't have any problems with fire/melting of them if the burner is off. I do it every time.

Also, if you have stable 50-55F temperatures.. *cough* LAGERS!! *cough*...
 
funny you cough out lagers lol. My next one is a lager. I'll have stable 50-55F for the next month or two. (I have two cold cellars in my basement!) and being in Canada, average temp is 32F, with wind -11C :p

I'll check over the weekend and by sunday if it stays @ 1.013 I'll put it in a cold cellar for 2 weeks then bottle :)
 
After 7 hours , worrying and multiple swooshing krousen in my starter for my.lager. now that it started should I swoosh again?

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So I did a pretty bad efficiency BIAB for second batch (still testing).

Grain Bill: 10lbs 2-row and 1lb caramel 10L.

Wound up getting 16L total, only been in bottle 5 days but really wanted to try one. And to my surprise... wow! It is pretty sweet but I'm assuming that would be the caramel 10L, and a final gravity of 1.018 (s-33). But VERY good and drinkable. Also used 3oz of cascade @ 60min, 30 min, 1 min.

Very sweetish type beer, but VERY drinkable. Can't wait to try again in a week to see how taste improves! (Going to make a hefeweizen tomorrow while my lager ferments away @ 52F. Almost been a week!)
 
:tank:

Finished the 800ml and haven't felt this buzzed from a brew in a long time. must be higher in ABV than I thought.. didn't get a OG reading so no clue... but from my head after 800ml, definitely about 6%... a beautiful sweet nice 6%. I'm officially hooked on homebrewing! (saving recipe on beersmith!)
 
So I get back from the worst lhbs. Ask for 7lbs wheat malt , 4 lbs pils, mauribrew wheat yeast and hallertauer. Get home I have 7lbs wheat malt, 4 lbs 2-row. Safale s33 and my hallertauer. Called they said had no wheat yeast and that the s33 would work instead. And no pils. Here comes my monster wheat brew. Hopefully it's good
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20.4L brew pot, and boiling. I go slow enough that I can successfully get a rolling boil with no boilover :) (Just found that out yesterday which makes me SUPER excite because no more propane, all done on electric stove top)

edit: That's why the thermometer was in there, slowed down once I hit 210F to creep to the boil. Didn't feel like having a mess in my kitchen!
 
Update on this one: 3 days in primary and looks like most of the action has subsided. Krausen is falling slowly, and it smells like an amazing wheat beer. Just like my last batch, s33 took off instantaneously. I just hope that it doesn't stall out at 1.020 like my last one. (Although with a OG of 1.054 that will still bring it to the 4.5% range).

Will update when I take a reading in a few days (7 in Primary)
 
Ok so took a ready 7 days in primary 1.016. Checked again at 9 days 1.016. Primed and bottled it. Was sitting for 4 days in bottle and I was anxious to try it so I did... put one in the freezer for 45 minutes, took it out, and poured. Was carbonated, and I'm assuming all the yeast was still in suspension (cloudy and no sediment on the bottom!) it tasted just amazing. I have to say it is probably one of the best beers I have ever had.

:D

Now lets see how it tastes in a week !
 
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