Brewing a better Beer

[recordsmith]

Hello all,

I have just racked my 4th batch into the secondary and i tasted it. I have brewed 3 previous and very separate kinds of beer. But I have noticed a common taste thread between all of them and i don't like it. It has a very heavy yest taste I guess that is what it is, i guess all i can say is that it does not taste clear or clean. i thought maybe it was the recipe but you know it is common to all of my beers so far.

Anyway any ideas on some solutions? I would just like a cleaner taste. Thanks guys you are the best.

Jon

 

[brackbrew]

Approximately how long are you letting each brew finish and condition in the secondary before you bottle it?

 

[recordsmith]

I am letting the beer sit in the secondary for about a 2 weeks.

 

[recordsmith]

I have been fermenting in a plastic fermenter. Could that be it? I am just grasping at straws.

jon

 

[Shambolic]

Could you post a summary of your ingredients and techniques? It might help...

 

[drengel]

try cold conditioning, think about your sanitation, think about your water...

 

[recordsmith]

Thanks guys for all your ideas. This batch is the good brew from good eats. The process is different then the others that I have found. You steep the grain and leave it in, then boil malt extract for 10 then add hops for 10 then add finishing hops for 5. The ingrediants are .5lb crystal, 1oz cacade, .75oz goldings, 1oz goldings as finishing.

I am using bottle spring water. I will go over my sanitizing technique, maybe that is it.

Jon

 

[kornkob]

How long after bottling are you drinking it?

 

[cweston]

Thanks guys for all your ideas. This batch is the good brew from good eats. The process is different then the others that I have found. You steep the grain and leave it in, then boil malt extract for 10 then add hops for 10 then add finishing hops for 5. The ingrediants are .5lb crystal, 1oz cacade, .75oz goldings, 1oz goldings as finishing.

This seems like a very odd and puzzling technique. Can you be a little more detailed? Is the total boil only 25 minutes, then?

 

[Blender]

Thanks guys for all your ideas. This batch is the good brew from good eats. The process is different then the others that I have found. You steep the grain and leave it in, then boil malt extract for 10 then add hops for 10 then add finishing hops for 5. The ingrediants are .5lb crystal, 1oz cacade, .75oz goldings, 1oz goldings as finishing.

I am using bottle spring water. I will go over my sanitizing technique, maybe that is it.

Jon

When you say steep grains and leave it in are you boiling the grains or just the liquid? You don't want to boil the grains.

 

[brackbrew]

Sounds like you're an extract brewer with specialty grains, like me. A resource that really helped me improve my brewing technique and therefore the quality of my beer was the October 2005 issue of BYO; more specifically, Chris Colby's article called "10 Keys to Extract Glory." If you've got the basice extract brewing process down, this will help you refine it. It should also give you a better idea of what's going on behind the scenes when you are brewing.

 

[recordsmith]

To answer afew questions...
Yes only 25 minutes of boiling, and yes leaving the grain in the whole time. I have been reading a lot and I think I understand that this is not conventional and maybe the source of all the problems.

I will look up the BYO article and see what it says. Again thanks for all the responses. i think I am going to dump this brew and start again with a more conventional technique and see what happens.

One quick question though. Should I ferment in glass. or continue with the plastic bucket? I have a glass carboy should I use that?

 

[brackbrew]

I use all glass. Only use the carboy for your primary if it's 6 or 6.5 gallon capacity. Otherwise the krausen will come through the airlock. You could attach a blow-off though, if your carboy if a 5-gallon. If you still use plastic, just make sure the lid is sealed tightly and the airlock is properly attached.

Good luck and BREW ON

 

[Blender]

To answer afew questions...
Yes only 25 minutes of boiling, and yes leaving the grain in the whole time. I have been reading a lot and I think I understand that this is not conventional and maybe the source of all the problems.

I will look up the BYO article and see what it says. Again thanks for all the responses. i think I am going to dump this brew and start again with a more conventional technique and see what happens.

One quick question though. Should I ferment in glass. or continue with the plastic bucket? I have a glass carboy should I use that?

When you boil those grains you will get tannin flavors. Not a good thing. You should get a grain bag for steeping. It is very similar to making tea. You are not boiling long enough either, most of us boil for an hour.
It's OK to continue to use the plastic bucket for fermentation. Use the glass carboy for secondary. Hang in there because you will have success. Keep asking questions before the next brew.You should check out this online resource. http://howtobrew.com/intro.html

 

[ESPY]

Certainly boiling the grains and the length of the boil will be contributing factors to less than ideal flavors. But if the biggest complaint is a yeasty flavor, then I would think you be mostly concerned with post-boil practices. Like the type of yeast, length of primary & secondary fermentation, completeness of fermentation, siphoning technique, etc.

I had yeasty beer back when I first started with the MrBeer kit and that was despite a full length boil and no grains. I'm convinced it was because of the type of yeast and the fact you could only do primary ferment. Plus, I never saw an extremely active ferment like I do now with my more conventional setup.

SP

 

[BeerLuvnGrl]

when i did my partial mash with grains.. i did my grain boil totally seperate.. did the whole temperatures set for certain times to make sure and convert the starches.. then i sparged into my brew pot and did my extract from there...

now i always do a 60 minute boil.. also i use water from walmart that i dispense in a 5 gallon container.. i tend to find simply as a water drinker that natural spring in a gallon container even has off flavors...

i also start my boil time when it actually starts to boil...who knows..

my partial mash was freaking awesome.. well it was to me and everyone who tastes it comments on how its basically a lager with ale ingredients..

i also find that my yeast has TONS to do with it. and the fact that i rack in a glass carboy.. the plastic tends to hold flavors i think and i like to ferment and rack in glass

edited to say:

i ferment til it stops and i get a good OG then i rack in my secondary for a minimum of 2 weeks.. then i let sit in the bottles for about 3 weeks before i drink.. i suppose its the 1, 2, 3 method..