I WILL make good beer

[grace1760]

I took a gravity reading on my first brew (brewer's best Kolsch kit) last night after 19 days in primary -- 1.013, pretty much where it should be. I'll take another one tomorrow and if consistent I'm going to bottle. But when I tasted the sample, it had a bitter and somewhat sour flavor to it. I'm 99% certain my sanitation was fine, so I've pretty much ruled that out. I tried doing a full boil (no adjustment on hops, so maybe that accounts for some of the bitterness) but ended up with only ~4 gal of wort and didn't have any clean water to top off. Now, my temp controls aren't great, and I do know that the temps got up in the upper 70's for a couple of days earlier this week. I think that is probably the main culprit for the off flavors (which sucks since the same things happened to the IPA I have in my other fermentor right now). I have a swamp cooler setup -- without the water; basically, a plastic bin holding both fermenters, with ice bottles laying on the floor of the tub and some t-shirts laying over the top to create a "lid". I really want to get some foam board insulation to create a cap, and possibly add a few inches of water to it as well (even though I was trying to avoid having standing water in there).

But, even though I am disappointed, I'm not discouraged. I've decided to be Zen about the whole experience. In fact, I just ordered 3 more extract kits from AHS. I will not be deterred.

 

[heferly]

definitely get those temps under control...i'm lucky we're in a garden condo on the north side, so our temps stay around 65 during the up swings...soon enough, we'll have to turn on the air, and i'll have to think about temps again!

i think water w/ice would be best to keep your temps under control...you'd be pushing it any other way, and why waste all that sweet, sweet beer? good luck! keep brewing!

 

[terrapinj]

time heals a lot of unpleasant tastes, esp after its bottled and carbonated

off flavors from high ferm temps usually happen closer to the reproductive phase of the yeast so if it happened a few weeks in it's prob not as much of an issue

 

[douglasbarbin]

A chest full of water is usually at least 4-5 degrees cooler than ambient temperature. Sort of how it takes FOREVER for a swimming pool to heat up, and it is always cooler than its surroundings. Keeing water in the chest will be much more effective than just placing ice bottles and tshirts.

 

[unionrdr]

Mine was bitter as well at the 2 week mark. But I used the cooper's OS Draught can as a base. Even the Aussie's say it's a bit bitter. I thought I fixed that by adding 3lbs of Munton's plain light DME. Added 3lbs Munton's plain light DME to 2.5G boiling water. Then did 3 hop additions of 1oz US Perle at 20 mins,.5oz Czech Saaz at 10mins,& the other .5oz Saaz at -10 off the heat with a lid on the BK. Then added the OS Draught can.
So I let it sit a 3rd week+. Gunna take another FG today & see what it tastes like. It was down to 1.010 at 2 weeks from OG of 1.046. Should be a little mellower by now. We'll see.

 

[malkore]

ice and t-shirts isn't doing anything to cool it down without water to wick up the t-shirt and side of the fermenter.

green beer often tastes funny.
you really can't make a kolsch if you're not maintaining the cool temps, 60F or slightly under. Kolsch is done with a pseudo lager yeast...not a true lager strain but it does well at cooler than normal ale temps, and throws next to no esters/phenols at that temp range.

 

[grace1760]

ice and t-shirts isn't doing anything to cool it down without water to wick up the t-shirt and side of the fermenter.

green beer often tastes funny.
you really can't make a kolsch if you're not maintaining the cool temps, 60F or slightly under. Kolsch is done with a pseudo lager yeast...not a true lager strain but it does well at cooler than normal ale temps, and throws next to no esters/phenols at that temp range.

Yeah, I realized/discoverd this after I had purchased the kit, but figured it might end up decent anyway. Turns out that might have been wishful thinking.

 

[BradleyBrew]

I recently built a swamp cooler that works great... I just bought a sheet of the insulation board 8' by 4'. Basically built a 5 sided box. Inside I have a large plastic tub (keg tub) equipped with a clip-on style fan. I rotate out 4 frozen water bottles twice a day and have the fan hitting the t-shirt wrapped over the fermenter. The room stays around 72ish and I can easily maintain water temperatures 65 degrees and below. Might help.. total invest 40ish dollars. I'm sure if I tested and pushed the ice I could get down around 60ish. Cheers!

 

[jroot]

I'm always amazed at how a beer you tasted at 2 weeks and one you dubbed undrinkable turned out to be very good at 4-6 weeks. It's been said many times on this forum to let the beer set before judgement. I recently poured a glass of Honey Malt Ale down the drain at 2 weeks and now its one of my best on tap at the moment.

 

[C-Rider]

I recently built a swamp cooler that works great... I just bought a sheet of the insulation board 8' by 4'. Basically built a 5 sided box. Inside I have a large plastic tub (keg tub) equipped with a clip-on style fan. I rotate out 4 frozen water bottles twice a day and have the fan hitting the t-shirt wrapped over the fermenter. The room stays around 72ish and I can easily maintain water temperatures 65 degrees and below. Might help.. total invest 40ish dollars. I'm sure if I tested and pushed the ice I could get down around 60ish. Cheers!

I'm getting temps here in Hawai`i around 68 during the day w/a muck buckte, water in it and 4 1/2 gallon jugs of ice. Change twice a day, whole thing is covered w/a towel that is sometimes wet. Measured beer temp during OG sampling at about 68*. This whole unit is outside, under a deck w/the sun never shines. It's been up to 85 outside and the brew remains at 68.

 

[grace1760]

I think the effort to control fermentation temps will be the easiest/quickest way to improve my beer.

 

[BradleyBrew]

Sorry, I thought you meant your brew got in the upper 70's... 68 is really good! Maybe the bitterness problem is that you only brewed 4 gallons? The hop schedule is pretty sensitive especially if you are missing 20% off the water to dilute the wort. My 3rd brew of my "career" I forgot to add the extract and my IBU's were off the chart and the bitterness was crazy!

i spent some time in hawaii back in my Marine Corps days!

 

[grace1760]

Unfortunately, my brews were fermenting in the upper 70's.

No es bueno.