Radboud
Well-Known Member
Hi there,
Starting Dutch brewer here, finally ready to join your awesome community. I have done a few brews, can and full grain and I am experiencing a few glitches. After doing some research I have a hunch where these come from, I'd like your opinions. I live in a fairly new house which has temp control through floor heating/cooling, my room temp fluctuates 1.5ºC max.
I have done the following brews:
- Irish Ale, recipe based on a can of Cooper's Draught. Used included yeast packet. Fermented at a steady 20C (68F). This batch was ok but a bit heavy on the stomach and had a tangy, soury aftertaste, not at all pleasant. Good carbonation, proper OG and SG. Bottled to 45cl Grolsch bottles. I guess the gastrointestinal effect is caused by the yeast left in suspension.
- Dusseldorf Altbier, 2 Brupaks kits: cans, some specialty grain and hop baggies. Fermented at 18-20C (64.4-68F).Turned out massively dark and very bitter and not very like the Altbier sold in Germany but nonetheless enjoyable. No sourness. Good carbonation, proper OG and SG. Used Wyeast German Ale yeast pack. Bottled to 75cl champagne bottles. Didn't flocculate at all and only now (after being in the bottle for 8 months) starts to clear.
I then made my switch to full grain. I batch sparged, using the method John Palmer describes in this video: . I use Beersmith and for these brews have used the auto-calculated data it provides. I sparge using one of those German helix lautercoils (pic here) in an insulated food grade bucket.
- Irish Red Ale ('Leaky Spigot', recipe here). My OG was off by -0.012. Poor (slow) cooling and didn't get a nice rolling boil, went through with it anyway. Bottled to 33cl bottles. Nice color but watery taste that hasn't improved with age. No head retention, poor carbonation. Again, slightly tangy aftertaste. Used a packet of Danstar Nottingham dry yeast. Hydrated before pitching. Fermented at a steady 20C (68F).
- Sahti, Finnish Juniper Ale based on a proven homebrew recipe. Again, massively missed OG by -0.010. Also turned out watery and again slighty sour aftertaste, even more so than the Red Ale. I used dried juniper berries that contributed to color but not to taste. I upgraded my gear for this batch, good boil, good cool. Used a packet of Danstar Nottingham dry yeast. Hydrated before pitching. Fermented at a steady 20C (68F). Bottled to 33cl bottles. No head retention, poor carbonation. Not enjoyable at all. Thinking I might have had a bug in my plastic FV this batch was fermented in a glass carbuoy.
For all these brews I have used PBW for cleaning and Star San for desinfecting (we finally have a Dutch HB store that carries this!) and have been very thorough in this and I can probably say all my stuff is clean when I use it. I think my problems are mainly caused by:
- Missing OG: too coarse a grind. I use a 2 roller mill, didn't check its gap width when I got it as I assumed it was already set for middle of the road brewing. I guess it was too wide.
- Soury taste: As this is not a very overpowering taste and only gets noticable after ageing I guess it's fermenting too hot for this particular yeast type (poor quality yeast for the Coopers kit and the Nottingham). I have read people use this yeast to get lager-like beers because it does well in a lower temp range.
I was planning to brew a summer style ale (coriander seeds and what not) and see what improving above issues would do but I managed to fracture my hand a few weeks ago. I think I am going to skip this and attempt a nice beer for the Fall instead.
What are your thoughts on improving my brews?
Starting Dutch brewer here, finally ready to join your awesome community. I have done a few brews, can and full grain and I am experiencing a few glitches. After doing some research I have a hunch where these come from, I'd like your opinions. I live in a fairly new house which has temp control through floor heating/cooling, my room temp fluctuates 1.5ºC max.
I have done the following brews:
- Irish Ale, recipe based on a can of Cooper's Draught. Used included yeast packet. Fermented at a steady 20C (68F). This batch was ok but a bit heavy on the stomach and had a tangy, soury aftertaste, not at all pleasant. Good carbonation, proper OG and SG. Bottled to 45cl Grolsch bottles. I guess the gastrointestinal effect is caused by the yeast left in suspension.
- Dusseldorf Altbier, 2 Brupaks kits: cans, some specialty grain and hop baggies. Fermented at 18-20C (64.4-68F).Turned out massively dark and very bitter and not very like the Altbier sold in Germany but nonetheless enjoyable. No sourness. Good carbonation, proper OG and SG. Used Wyeast German Ale yeast pack. Bottled to 75cl champagne bottles. Didn't flocculate at all and only now (after being in the bottle for 8 months) starts to clear.
I then made my switch to full grain. I batch sparged, using the method John Palmer describes in this video: . I use Beersmith and for these brews have used the auto-calculated data it provides. I sparge using one of those German helix lautercoils (pic here) in an insulated food grade bucket.
- Irish Red Ale ('Leaky Spigot', recipe here). My OG was off by -0.012. Poor (slow) cooling and didn't get a nice rolling boil, went through with it anyway. Bottled to 33cl bottles. Nice color but watery taste that hasn't improved with age. No head retention, poor carbonation. Again, slightly tangy aftertaste. Used a packet of Danstar Nottingham dry yeast. Hydrated before pitching. Fermented at a steady 20C (68F).
- Sahti, Finnish Juniper Ale based on a proven homebrew recipe. Again, massively missed OG by -0.010. Also turned out watery and again slighty sour aftertaste, even more so than the Red Ale. I used dried juniper berries that contributed to color but not to taste. I upgraded my gear for this batch, good boil, good cool. Used a packet of Danstar Nottingham dry yeast. Hydrated before pitching. Fermented at a steady 20C (68F). Bottled to 33cl bottles. No head retention, poor carbonation. Not enjoyable at all. Thinking I might have had a bug in my plastic FV this batch was fermented in a glass carbuoy.
For all these brews I have used PBW for cleaning and Star San for desinfecting (we finally have a Dutch HB store that carries this!) and have been very thorough in this and I can probably say all my stuff is clean when I use it. I think my problems are mainly caused by:
- Missing OG: too coarse a grind. I use a 2 roller mill, didn't check its gap width when I got it as I assumed it was already set for middle of the road brewing. I guess it was too wide.
- Soury taste: As this is not a very overpowering taste and only gets noticable after ageing I guess it's fermenting too hot for this particular yeast type (poor quality yeast for the Coopers kit and the Nottingham). I have read people use this yeast to get lager-like beers because it does well in a lower temp range.
I was planning to brew a summer style ale (coriander seeds and what not) and see what improving above issues would do but I managed to fracture my hand a few weeks ago. I think I am going to skip this and attempt a nice beer for the Fall instead.
What are your thoughts on improving my brews?
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