Twerp129
Well-Known Member
This is long, grab a beer, if you finish the read I thank you.
Sooo jumping right in, I brewed two batches of extract beer last winter (Port O' Palmer and Cinncinatti Pale Ale) after reading "How to Brew." Both turned out poorly and I sort of stopped brewing and spent my home brew money on beer of course. Skip to this year, my grandmother is throwing away my grandfathers old wine making equipment. Obviously I said I'd take it (7 glass Carboys, probably 30+ 1 gallon jugs, possibly 100+ 750ml screw-tops, and I've yet to go through the airlocks, stoppers, siphon equipment, etc.) So with my freshly stocked armory of brewing equipment I've been motivated to try my hand again. I do want to learn a bit more about wine making as well, but that's a bit less complex than brewing, and to be honest I don't like waiting a year or more for alcoholic gratification. Plus I have detailed lists, gravities, and input on recreating my grandfather's wines. Brewing is a bit of a mystery for me, but I do have this notion that in the short term learning to brew better will help me make better wine and visa versa.
To top all that off, yesterday I was running through all this in my head and I remembered "Wild Blue." It's a blueberry lager my grandpa loved, to be honest it's really quite nasty, and I don't recommend you try it. But it got me thinking about a blueberry lambic (My family is very Belgian) after all it's the least I can bring to family barbecues after being graciously given $1,000+ worth of glassware and equipment. But that's all the mushy sentimental BS, on to me cutting corners and making **** beer. First I'll describe the beers and their flavors, and then I'll give you the process.
Pale Ale: Clear, lager color, maybe a bit darker. Big head with extra large bubbles, quickly fades. Not much on the smell front. Not a ton of beer flavor either, to me it tastes flat, or stale, very sour and puckering. Not the good sour like a Belgian Sour Ale or green apple, sort of puckering qualities without the fruity taste. My friends say it's sulfury. Bottle conditioned for over a year, flavor remains the same.
Porter: Clear, porter color, perhaps a bit lighter. Big thick bubbles, I know this one is over carbonated, the bubbles are like pop except larger. Smells fruity and delicious. Tastes fruity, not a whole lot of hops flavor, sweet, but not too much so. Tastes better, but the same sour flavor lingers in your mouth. I can drink it alright, but I don't really like to. Sour flavor was very present initially, but has faded somewhat as it has aged over the past year. Friends say it's sulfury on this one too.
Anyways, on to what I did wrong. I've lost track of my notes with gravities and such. Let me know everything an anything I did wrong.
Step 1 Sanitation: Sanitized everything with LD Carlson Easy Clean (Got with a kit). Made up about a gallon in brewing bucket, than rubbed all my kit down with a rag as opposed to soaking, what van I say, I'm cheap. Clorox bleached all working surfaces.
Step 2 Boil: Used well water (softened), I think it tastes alright. Boiled with extract only for the pale, specialty grains with the porter. Temps all lined up.
Step 3 Cool: Cooled outside in the snow with a lid on the boil kettle. Took 1-1.5 hours to reach 80. Then dumped between two sanitized buckets to aerate.
Step 4 Ferment: Pitched yeast, fermented for 1-2 weeks at about 68-70 degrees.
Step 5 Bottling: Added sugar boiled with water, siphoned to bottle bucket with mouth (I know, what can I say I'm cheap.) Bottled with racking cane.
Let me know what you think I could do to improve my next batch. I have tons of great ideas, but I really think I should master the basics first.
Sooo jumping right in, I brewed two batches of extract beer last winter (Port O' Palmer and Cinncinatti Pale Ale) after reading "How to Brew." Both turned out poorly and I sort of stopped brewing and spent my home brew money on beer of course. Skip to this year, my grandmother is throwing away my grandfathers old wine making equipment. Obviously I said I'd take it (7 glass Carboys, probably 30+ 1 gallon jugs, possibly 100+ 750ml screw-tops, and I've yet to go through the airlocks, stoppers, siphon equipment, etc.) So with my freshly stocked armory of brewing equipment I've been motivated to try my hand again. I do want to learn a bit more about wine making as well, but that's a bit less complex than brewing, and to be honest I don't like waiting a year or more for alcoholic gratification. Plus I have detailed lists, gravities, and input on recreating my grandfather's wines. Brewing is a bit of a mystery for me, but I do have this notion that in the short term learning to brew better will help me make better wine and visa versa.
To top all that off, yesterday I was running through all this in my head and I remembered "Wild Blue." It's a blueberry lager my grandpa loved, to be honest it's really quite nasty, and I don't recommend you try it. But it got me thinking about a blueberry lambic (My family is very Belgian) after all it's the least I can bring to family barbecues after being graciously given $1,000+ worth of glassware and equipment. But that's all the mushy sentimental BS, on to me cutting corners and making **** beer. First I'll describe the beers and their flavors, and then I'll give you the process.
Pale Ale: Clear, lager color, maybe a bit darker. Big head with extra large bubbles, quickly fades. Not much on the smell front. Not a ton of beer flavor either, to me it tastes flat, or stale, very sour and puckering. Not the good sour like a Belgian Sour Ale or green apple, sort of puckering qualities without the fruity taste. My friends say it's sulfury. Bottle conditioned for over a year, flavor remains the same.
Porter: Clear, porter color, perhaps a bit lighter. Big thick bubbles, I know this one is over carbonated, the bubbles are like pop except larger. Smells fruity and delicious. Tastes fruity, not a whole lot of hops flavor, sweet, but not too much so. Tastes better, but the same sour flavor lingers in your mouth. I can drink it alright, but I don't really like to. Sour flavor was very present initially, but has faded somewhat as it has aged over the past year. Friends say it's sulfury on this one too.
Anyways, on to what I did wrong. I've lost track of my notes with gravities and such. Let me know everything an anything I did wrong.
Step 1 Sanitation: Sanitized everything with LD Carlson Easy Clean (Got with a kit). Made up about a gallon in brewing bucket, than rubbed all my kit down with a rag as opposed to soaking, what van I say, I'm cheap. Clorox bleached all working surfaces.
Step 2 Boil: Used well water (softened), I think it tastes alright. Boiled with extract only for the pale, specialty grains with the porter. Temps all lined up.
Step 3 Cool: Cooled outside in the snow with a lid on the boil kettle. Took 1-1.5 hours to reach 80. Then dumped between two sanitized buckets to aerate.
Step 4 Ferment: Pitched yeast, fermented for 1-2 weeks at about 68-70 degrees.
Step 5 Bottling: Added sugar boiled with water, siphoned to bottle bucket with mouth (I know, what can I say I'm cheap.) Bottled with racking cane.
Let me know what you think I could do to improve my next batch. I have tons of great ideas, but I really think I should master the basics first.