Curious if you have a preference for Williams Brewing malt extracts over Briess? Or is it too soon to tell, until you dial in your preferred brewing salts additions?
I haven't used LME in cans for many years and don't know if they have void (air) space. Your post makes me wonder if the cans have some air that you suspect may be causing oxidation. Do you think the pouches from Williams are better in that respect?/3/ wort color came out 'as expected'. Wort color is indication of DME/LME freshness (BYO Big Book on Home Brewing, 1e). It may be that shipping wort in sealed pouches is another line of defense against LME going stale.
With my (single) failed batch of LME in 2022, the stale LME may have been the combination of 1) time (it had been packaged about 10 months), 2) (perhaps) warmer storage, and 3) 'head space' in containers.Your post makes me wonder if the cans have some air that you suspect may be causing oxidation.
Tentatively: yes. I'm still a little uncertain about ordering LME in the summer.Do you think the pouches from Williams are better in that respect?
Those ounces of hops seem high.
- 7 oz each Magnum (12.3) & Columbus (16.2) & Fuggle (4.7) @ 45
- 7 oz Fuggle @ 30 & @ 15
- 14 oz Chinook @ 0
I corrected the recipe.Those ounces of hops seem high.![]()
Glad you did, because I was afraid you were actually doing a not too hoppy west coast IPA, but I'd never seen Fuggle hops in one.I corrected the recipe.
using Verdant yeast where the beer was at FG within a week
Based on what happens when I ferment beer at 62 ambient, your temperature should rise to about 65 before falling back to 62. With the cool starting temp you don't get as much temperature rise as you would if your beer started fermenting at 70.I corrected the recipe.
Basement is warming up slowly, currently around 62F. I split the batch between a Little BMB & a 2 gal pail. Both will sit at basement temperature (no fermentation temperature control). My plan it is to measure inside wort/beer temperature once a day over the next couple of days.
It's commonly known that US-05 can leave peachy flavors when fermenting below 66F. In an IPA you may never find it, in a lighter hopped Pale Ale and other much lower hopped, more malt forward beers, such as an Amber, Blonde or Red, you might.Am I the only one that thinks US-05 throws some odd fruity flavors when it's kept that cool (below 65F, I would say)?
They do. (More on estimation attempts below).Hops still provide bittering at 175F, don't they?
If we calculate the hop utilization for an equivalent boil hop using the time, volume and gravity of the wort for the addition, we can then apply the “whirlpool utilization” to this number to estimate the overall hop utilization. Here’s a look at the whirlpool utilization with temperature assuming 100% would be an equivalent boil hop:
Boiling: 100 C (212 F) – Utilization is 100%
At 90 C (194 F) – Utilization is 49%
At 80 C (176 F) – Utilization is 23%
At 70 C (158 F) – Utilization is 10%
At 60 C (140 F) – Utilization is 4.3%
At 50 C (122 F) – Utilization is 1.75%
Fermentation finished in about 5 days. Bottled on day 7 using fast bottle conditioning technique. Test bottle (after 3 days bottle conditioning) was ready (and showing signs of oxidation). Probably will order PET bottles (zero head space, no worries about bottles cracking, etc) for my next small batch hazy.Big Braggot Citra Hop Steep
After about a week, bumped fermentation temperature to 67F so I could package this batch this weekend. Today's hydrometer sample was "as expected" (no signs of peachy flavors).Classic American Brown Ale (LME)
Bottled this batch a couple of days ago using sugar, CBC-1, & ascorbic acid; using the (highly experimental) "fast bottle conditioning" process (75F water bath for 5-7 days) that I've mentioned on occasion. This process seems to be working well for bottles that are intended to be consumed fresh. However, given what I mentioned in #101 and (this link), I don't see it as valid approach for bottling hazies.Classic American Brown Ale (LME)
Your few gushers suggest that your priming sugar didn't get mixed well. Use a big spoon and stir the beer and priming solution. Do it slowly so as to not add extra oxygen.@BrewnWKopperKat A recent batch I made turned out to have a few mild gushers, and I'm leaning towards just adding sugar to each bottle for next time. Am I correct in thinking it looks like 2.3 grams table sugar (per 12 oz bottle, beer at 70F, aiming for 2.5 atmospheres CO2) is the proper dose?
That looks reasonable.Am I correct in thinking it looks like 2.3 grams table sugar (per 12 oz bottle, beer at 70F, aiming for 2.5 atmospheres CO2) is the proper dose?
@BrewnWKopperKat A recent batch I made turned out to have a few mild gushers, and I'm leaning towards just adding sugar to each bottle for next time. Am I correct in thinking it looks like 2.3 grams table sugar (per 12 oz bottle, beer at 70F, aiming for 2.5 atmospheres CO2) is the proper dose?
Is that atmospheres CO2 across the top? Must be...
Assuming one is willing to dose individual bottles (... hey where did everyone go?sugar crystals sticking to the spoon and inside the funnel
"fast bottle conditioning" process (75F water bath for 5-7 days)
... but you could incubate the bottles warmer and speed the process up. [poster] tried Voss bottles at 25C and it took 4 days (took Voss the normal three weeks at 19C); [someone else] held some at 30 or 37 once upon a time, and [apparently the bottles] finished overnight.
Make a simple syrup and dose the bottles with a syringe.I went ahead and bottled an amber ale (all grain) Wed nite, dosing the bottles individually with table sugar using a funnel and a slightly rounded half-teaspoon of sugar. Between sugar crystals sticking to the spoon and inside the funnel, I have LESS confidence than I did in adding sugar solution to the bottling bucket.
I made this back in February, and it's turned out very nice (still got a seriously spicy hop burn, hoping that fades in a few more months)...
Water: half RO, half TAP, 3.3 gal into fermenter
3 lb Briess Golden Lite DME
3 lb Briess Amber DME
8 oz chocolate 350L
8 oz Fawcett Dark Roast Crystal 85L
8 oz Fawcett Pale Chocolate 205L
6 oz caramel 120L
6 oz Dark roasted barley 550L
Magnum @60 for 50 IBU
Kent Goldings @30 for 8 IBU
Magnum @30 for 10 IBU
S-04 held around 62F - 64F for 4 or 5 weeks then bottled with CBC-1 and 2 oz 94 proof bourbon, per gallon (so like 6.25 oz)
Was planning for 3.0 gal into fermenter, but miscalculated, so OG was not 1.097
Ended up with:
OG: 1.088
FG: 1.021
ABV: 8.8% (I forget how much the bourbon added, I think it was only like 3/4 of a percentage point)
IBU: 68
Taste: A lot of chocolate flavor, decent but not overpowering roast (I'd call it about perfectly what I was hoping to get), a little too much spicy hops, and just a hint of bourbon.
Following up on the extract pale ale I brewed a few months ago...overall I am very happy with the malt bill, but not as hoppy with my hop selection.Below is an image of that extract Pale Ale I posted about a few entries up. It seems to look a bit more clear in person, but I expect it will clear up a bit more over the next week or two. It has been in the keg for 10 days.
That's interesting. I use pretty old hops sometimes (vacuum sealed and kept in the freezer), and it never seems to affect the bitterness as far as I can tell. I haven't used that hop combination, but I wouldn't expect it to result in excessive or harsh bitterness. I don't know what to make of it. It sounds like you still have a good, drinkable beer.I am not sure if it is the combo or the older hops, but my beer has an IPA level of bitterness that is a bit harsh, with a lingering harsh bitter character.
I HAD a good drinkable beer! That was my last bottle. Actually, it was a 2.5 gal batch, and I lost a good gallon due to a leaking disconnect.That's interesting. I use pretty old hops sometimes (vacuum sealed and kept in the freezer), and it never seems to affect the bitterness as far as I can tell. I haven't used that hop combination, but I wouldn't expect it to result in excessive or harsh bitterness. I don't know what to make of it. It sounds like you still have a good, drinkable beer.
This beer [#300] is over 7 months in the bottle. It has held up just fine.
It [#301] is a beautiful dark red as it is supposed to be