up and running....

[Zamial]

I wanted to start this out by thanking all of the people that post and add in advice here on HBT! I have even been in posts from 2+ years ago that still have enlightened me!

I wanted to post some results and updates on my fathers and my brews. We had brewed a "pale ale" w/ alcohol booster (no idea what it was) on St. Pats weekend. It was an extract kit from Austin home brew and had a grain bag. We were drinking and having fun while we brewed it but may have had something go slightly off due to consumption issues...

I got super impatient and researched recipes like mad, designed my own extract batch/partial recipe and brewed it about 3 weeks ago.

2 weeks ago tragedy struck my family and my father was diagnosed with a grade 4 brain tumor. He was rushed in for emergency surgery and is now recovering fine but obviously will not be imbibing much anytime soon. He is doing well now and has been at home for about 5 days, no loss of function of any kind but it will be a long recovery...

Yesterday I bottled my 2nd batch and we "cracked" the 1st batch. I chilled a 1 oz shot glass and poured it for dad.... he was only allowed 2 oz but we did get to taste it together. It was pretty good but I think it was very strong and had alot of flavor. Pale ales are not really my thing. Oddly this stuff was FAR from pale, I think this is where some of the "issues" show. The other thing I noticed was a lack of carbonation, it had a subtle fizz and I mean subtle.....I am planning to store them at room temp 65-70 for about 2 weeks then cold crash them.
Think this may help???

I tasted my Irish red and it was better than I could have imagined...I am VERY excited for this batch! So far I am in the mid to high 90% range for the style from what I could tell, even the color is almost right on the money. I am planning a 3 week conditioning at room temp then a cold crash as well. I am worried about lack of carbonation......should I be?

Is it normal to have to condition bottles at room temps to get them to carb?

I would have posted pics of our 1st beer but it is something that I am reserving as a private memory with my dad. I will however take some pics and post the results of my Irish red hybrid. :rockin:

Thanks in advance!

 

[DrawTap88]

First and foremost, sorry to hear about your dad. He will be in our prayers.

As for the bottle conditioning, I believe the rule of thumb is to wait at least 3 weeks before cracking one open and expect to get a good "pssst." You are doing it right by letting them sit at room temp and then cold crashing. I'm sure you already know this, but for those don't...leaving them at room temp allows the yeast to get back to work on the priming suger that was added at bottling time and to produce a sufficient amount of CO2. Cold crashing, or chilling, the beer for a few days allows the CO2 to be absorbed back into the beer which helps create the "psssst" and head from CO2 released from the pressure change when the bottle is opened.

Take care. Can't wait to see the pics of your Red.

 

[TipsyDragon]

alcohol booster = enough corn sugar to raise your ABV by 1%

extract kits tend to be darker than intended. this is due to mailard reactions similar to what happens when you bake bread. you are effectively boiling the wort for 2 hours. one at the manufacturing and one during your brew day.

you absolutely have to condition and carb your beer at room temp. to cold and the yeast shut down and don't do anything. mid 70's for 3 weeks is recommended. warm your beers up and give them a good shake to get the yeast back into suspension.

 

[Zamial]

Thanks for the replies. As soon as I tasted the 1st sip I thought something was off (they should have been carbed by that much time.) and "Doh" bottle conditioning hit me. they should be all set in a few weeks.

Thanks again for the confirmation.

Ps. The dark color in addition to the x2 boiling is partially because there was scorch on the bottom of the boiling kettle. Insert mom, "You are not going to use my good kettle on that propane burner, use this old one." followed by during some clean up that she was not supposed to be helping with, "Hey this stuff at the bottom is coming off!" Me, "What stuff?" followed by /facepalm. I also think we may have added some scorch when adding the extract. does the srm adjust for hues of grey??? lol I had no idea what was going on because it was all set up by the time I arrived. Needless to say I was hooked and ended up here, got my learn on and brought my own boiling kettle for my red. If this red turns out as awesome as I think it is going to I am going to try to duplicate the process next. Followed by a wheat beer for SWMBO and friends.