temperature: aging and brewing ale

[togodoug]

I do not have a hose on my spigot and it does bubble sometimes in the bottel. But the taste is more consistant than the gurgling I'd say. I use a spray bottel on like teh hops pack, yeast pack, prier sugar pack, sstir paddel and so forth. I use glass bottles. I cover prime solution.
I now wonder about "extract twang". I was told aging took up to 4 weeks. Now I hear the beer goes bad in 3 or less.

 

[BOBrob]

Hello ToGo. A short length of hose on the spigot to reach the bottm of the bottle while filling with help eliminate oxygen in new beer. Oxygen at the bottling stage is bad, and will effect an after taste. The yeast is still at work when you prime;the oxygen during carbonation could give any number of undesirable flavors. Extract twang you can fix with boiling time, adjust for a late addition of a portion of the extract you use. Dry extract is normally fresher and stores longer; in kits it most often LME. Aging takes as long as you want it to, but the temp. where you store the brew will also effects the end product. If you did allow oxygen in during bottling and aged at the higher temps you mentioned then YES you will get off flavor. You have gotten alot of real good advice from various people on this problem. I would take all the answers, make a plan to follow step by step for your next brew and hope/know you did it all right. Clean, sanatize , good water , boil, clean bottle without any bubble, and store it a cool dark location(68 Deg.) . Chill em down in the fridge and see how they taste. There are alot of steps , but not just one answer. Make your plan and good luck.

 

[togodoug]

Hello ToGo. A short length of hose on the spigot to reach the bottm of the bottle while filling with help eliminate oxygen in new beer. Oxygen at the bottling stage is bad, and will effect an after taste. The yeast is still at work when you prime;the oxygen during carbonation could give any number of undesirable flavors. Extract twang you can fix with boiling time, adjust for a late addition of a portion of the extract you use. Dry extract is normally fresher and stores longer; in kits it most often LME. Aging takes as long as you want it to, but the temp. where you store the brew will also effects the end product. If you did allow oxygen in during bottling and aged at the higher temps you mentioned then YES you will get off flavor. You have gotten alot of real good advice from various people on this problem. I would take all the answers, make a plan to follow step by step for your next brew and hope/know you did it all right. Clean, sanatize , good water , boil, clean bottle without any bubble, and store it a cool dark location(68 Deg.) . Chill em down in the fridge and see how they taste. There are alot of steps , but not just one answer. Make your plan and good luck.

Thanks. I'm still not clear on why it would be good for 10 days and then go south. Oxygen and bacteria make the most sense I guess, something that takes time to grow? If it was the LME I would think it would show up right away, no?

 

[BOBrob]

No ,LME will caramelize and the extract twang comes later; dme suspends in the water as you stir instead of sinking to the bottom. When you burn LME you will see black floaties in the wort as you stir. Yes oxygen and bacteria are trouble at bottling time and will show after 2 weeks. Oxygen before yeast is pitch never after. even using a turkey baster to take a sample for F.G. will cause heart ache , get the air out of the bulb before putting it in the wort. Goodluck

 

[togodoug]

No ,LME will caramelize and the extract twang comes later; dme suspends in the water as you stir instead of sinking to the bottom. When you burn LME you will see black floaties in the wort as you stir. Yes oxygen and bacteria are trouble at bottling time and will show after 2 weeks. Oxygen before yeast is pitch never after. even using a turkey baster to take a sample for F.G. will cause heart ache , get the air out of the bulb before putting it in the wort. Goodluck

What would oxygen at botteling taste like? Bitter and astringent? Some say like cardboard. This is the former.

 

[BOBrob]

Back to your cleaning water. You said you use tap water for cleaning and it has high lime and chlorine in it. The chlorine and the lime can be gotten rid of by boiling the tap water before use in cleaning. Boil you tap water hard for 30 minutes in a different pot than your brew pot. This will leave any lime or calcium deposits behind in the pot. By using this boiled water for cleaning you will not leave any residue behind to spoil the beer brewed with imported mountain water. You have also asked about temp. after bottled; 70s &80s with the humidity in the 90s will increase the ageing temp. upwards of 90 deg. Use a conversion chart for "wet ball temps." ; this compares air temp. & humidity to give a "real feel" temperature. Make a plan and make beer with any changes you make NOTED so you will know what change was effective. Cheer and good luck.

 

[togodoug]

I just bottled another batch, really, really tried to clean and Sanatize everything. It tasted pterry good at bottling, flat and warm, but good.
BUT I did notice a lot of air in my siphon line. IF this is the problem, what will it taste like?
I used an auto-siphon so am not sure how to correct this.

 

[BOBrob]

Hi togo. the auto siphon may be sucking air where the hose is attached to it,use a small clamp to stop that. I too get small bubbles running down the hose sometimes, but you have to wait to drink the beer to know if it was too much. Some people like it. It may have a slight cardboard taste. I must say you will sooner or later correct your problem if you keep making beer. I hope you boiled your cleaning water this time,cause I got a sneaky feeling that is where the issue with the bitterness comes from. try ageing at a constant low 70s too. Good luck &cheers