Just started and have some questions.

[luke_d]

Hey everyone!
I've just gotten into brewing. On the first of this month, I brewed a one gallon batch of IPA from the Brooklyn Brewshop. Brew day went well besides some minor gimmicks but all in all it was great! I went on my honeymoon on the 13th, and wasn't going to be back until around the 22nd, so I decided to bottle the night before the wedding, on the 12th. I realize this was probably a mistake, but i learned from it (I'll elaborate). I didn't leave the full 2 weeks recommended for fermentation, but I wasn't sure what to do, so I bottled.

So I bottled with the suggested amount of honey, and stuck them in the closet.

About two weeks later i put one in the fridge, waited for it to chill, and poured it. I was surprised that it was drinkable, I thought it was going to be nasty.

However, it is VERY sweet, which I attribute to the fermentation being cut short. Am I right there?

And, it doesn't seem to be very bitter at all. It definitely has a hop-forward taste to it, but not bitter at all. Is this because of the unfermented sugars as well? Like maybe it tastes unbalanced with no bitterness because of the sugars?

Any answers would be appreciated!

Thanks,
Luke

 

[luke_d]

I forgot to mention that stupid me didn't get a hydrometer until AFTER brew day. So a week along during fermentation I took a hydrometer reading, and it was like 1.024, which from what I've read, seemed good.

 

[jamesewelch]

I have the same kit and did the same Everyday IPA as my first brew. Unfortunately, I over carbonated my first batch and it was nearly 95% foam when opening the bottles. Good thing your first batch came out right. I highly recommend getting the Brooklyn Brew Hop's Beer Making Book (I think it's cheaper on Amazon than their web site). It has a lot more instructions, diagrams, and recipes than what came in the box. I've tweaked their Simcoe IPA a little bit and uploaded my recipes to hopville (http://hopville.com/brewer/jamesewelch).

I'm unsure about the sweetness. If you want to make your next batch more bitter, then you'll need to add more hops at the start of your boil. In the Everyday IPA, you added .1 oz Columbus. You could double that to around .2oz and also increase the Cascade hop numbers. (Adding more hops at start of boiling adds to bitterness, adding hops later in boil adds to aroma and taste - from my understanding.)

Did you see your carboy start fermenting and bubbling on the first couple of days? Did some gas and foam come out of your carboy via the tube before you put in the airlock?

 

[luke_d]

I actually already have their Beer Making Book! It's an awesome book and I look forward to trying the recipes!

In terms of fermentation, it was active within hours of pitching my yeast. There never was a lot of bubbling in the airlock, but I've read up and heard that the airlock isn't an indication of whether or not you have fermentation. And no foam came up through the blow off tube either.

Despite the airlock not bubbling a lot, i could clearly see signs of fermentation, i.e. bubbles coming up through the beer, using a flashlight to see them.

So I know that fermentation went well and most things went according to plan, except two things: the excessive sweetness and the lack of bitterness.

I have their Bourbon Dubbel kit too, I'm excited to try that one soon! Thanks!

 

[peterj]

If I were you I would take a hydrometer reading of one of the beers. You'll have to get rid of the carbonation for it to be accurate (you can just pour it between 2 cups until its flat). I would just use enough to fill the hydrometer tube though, no use wasting beer.

Did you mash at the temperature it listed in the instructions? If your temperature was too high (like upper 150's or higher) it would have resulted in a less fermentable wort, so the yeast wouldn't be able to ferment it as well as it should, which would result in the sweet beer that you're describing.

Alternatively, if fermentation truly wasn't over when you bottled then you may end up with exploding bottles. When you bottle it the yeast is still alive and working in the beer. Hopefully they have already eaten up all of the sugar you gave them at first (the wort) and when you bottle you add a small amount of sugar (or honey in your case) so they can create enough CO2 to carbonate the beer. If there is still sugar from the wort in there that they can consume and you add more sugar then seal the bottle, you risk too much carbonation and maybe even exploding bottles. But I think 12 days is probably enough time for almost all of the original sugar to have fermented out, so you're probably fine. Usually people will take hydrometer readings a couple days apart and if they are the same then they know it is ok to bottle.

This link will answer pretty much any question you might have: http://howtobrew.com/

Hope this helps. Oh and the bitterness thing might just be a recipe issue. Hard to say without knowing the recipe.

 

[Bricks41]

As with the other posters, I also started with their Everyday IPA as my very first attempt at brewing.

Regarding never really seeing a lot of airlock action -- the cap they provide is terrible. When I use it now, it never seals - same for the hole for the airlock. I find myself wrapping it with plumber's tape. You should be able to get a cheap stopper to use next time.

All in all, it 's a good, tasty kit. Congrats!

 

[luke_d]

http://brooklynbrewshop.com/directions/Brooklyn Brew Shop - Everyday IPA Instructions.pdf

There's the recipe.

I'll try the hydrometer reading then!

During the mash I stayed at about 150 the whole time so i think I'm good there.

And thanks, Bricks! I've found a nice little homebrew shop here so I'll be getting another cap and airlock!

 

[jamesewelch]

Interesting. I thought my airlock was a bit loose, but I didn't know exactly how it's suppose to work. I've seen bubbles in my airlock and the cap has seemingly worked okay for me so far. I'll pick up another cap at the homebrew store, just in case.

Also, let me know how the Bourbon Dubbel comes out. I'm thinking of trying the Cranberry Wheat (from book) next for something other than an IPA (my last 3 batches have been IPAs).

 

[luke_d]

Tasted it again today! Maybe it mellowed out, or just needed a few extra days? Because it is A LOT more balanced than it was a few days ago. The hops really shine through, citrusy and punchy. Love it! Although...i popped the bottle open, the doorbell rang, and when I came back, my beer had foamed up all over the counter. One beer wasted. So I popped another open, and poured immediately. I poured about half, and the glass was full of head. The bubbles of the head were bigger bubbles and not very tight, almost like a soda. But it retained about a quarter inch of head the whole time I drank it!



So now I'm wondering what the foaming up is from. Too much sugar at bottling?

 

[peterj]

Sounds like you either added too much sugar at bottling or you bottled too early. I'm leaning towards bottling too early since you said it tasted too sweet before and now it's not as sweet. Sounds like there were some residual sugars that got fermented in the bottle instead of the fermentor and that added with your priming sugar lead to overcarbonation.

Also, I think you said you primed with honey. I've never primed with honey but I know that the sugar levels can vary a lot so it's hard to predict how much you need to get a certain level of carbonation. I always use corn sugar measured with a scale and I use this calculator to see how much to add: http://www.northernbrewer.com/priming-sugar-calculator/

 

[Dynachrome]

How long has it been in the bottle? We generally try to let them "bottle condition" for a minimum of 4 weeks, longer is generally better.

...also, I've been through a couple experiments in my time. If there are a great deals of unfermented-fermentables left, you might consider putting the bottles in a Rubbermaid container. There may still be fermentation going on.

As more CO2 gets produced, the caps may pop or the glass explode. The Rubbermaid contains the mess.

 

[luke_d]

It's been in the bottle since October 12th. So just about three weeks. Maybe the honey had something to do with it, with varying sugar levels, but I think it was because I bottled too early. And just in the past few days, the yeast fermented more. Because its definitely more carbonated than the first time I tried!!

Well, there are only three bottles left...better drink em fast before they explode.

I think if I ever make this recipe again, I would use way more hops. It tastes somewhere between a Sierra Nevada Pale Ale and a Firestone Double Barrel Ale. It has the characteristic of more a pale ale than and IPA. Nonetheless, it tastes great and that's all I care about!!