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Braden wrote:The hydrometer is perfect, checked it in water. The fact that is has stopped fermenting at 1040 was my first concern, then when i tasted it, it was very sweet and had a malt after taste. I was very careful with sterilising so i'd say it would be the yeast. Im going to cut my loses and start again with a coopers pale ale which leads me to my next question. Can I pour the malt and brewing sugar into a sawspan with 2 litres of water and boil until it is a liquid, then pour it into the fermenter, then add the rest of the water?
What temperature are you cooking at Braden?
Do you have a belt, fish heater, heat pad, or a room that's just right (No goldilocks jokes fellas )?
I'm concerned that you may be throwing the yeast in and it cooks for a couple of days and then goes into sleep mode due to the temp.
Maybe try a lager yeast if the temp is too cold??
Try and keep the temp at a constant for best results
A homebrew is like a fart, only the brewer thinks it's great.
Give me a flying headbutt.......
I'm halfway through botting my 1st brew, just ran out of bottles. going to go pick up some PETs from the supermarket soon. the 1st one i bottled smashed, everywhere it went. i reak of beer now, but it tastes pretty good!
it had been in the fermenter for about 8 days, only two or three of those days near the start was the airlock doing anything at all. is that reasonably normal? my hydrometer reading dropped from about 1040 to 1010, stayed on 1010 for about 3 days befor i started today. it should be ok yeah? i put a miniscule amount of sugar in each bottle, about 1/6th of a teaspoon for 330ml bottles. the beer seemed pretty carbonated already, no quite enough though.
the problem i'm faced with now is how to keep the stuff warm. i can't keep the beer inside becouse the other people living here seem to think they will explode. so they are out in the shed. none of this should be a problem with my next batch, i should have some money together for a heater of some sort...
lethaldog wrote:sounds ok m8 just let it sit in the shed for 6-8 weeks as it will take a bit longer if it is cool out there
6-8 weeks!?! your killin me!!
Lethal, should we let Hatchet know that this is a 6-8 week MINIMUM, and that ideally the prime drinking age of most homebrew is usually measured in MONTHS?
Not sure how he would take it after the reaction i got
Should i let him know that most of my brews stay in for a minumum of 3 months ageing and up to 12 months for some brews Do you think that he will take that ok
blandy wrote:The trouble is it sometimes tastes so good straight out of the fermenter.
I know what thats like, i just bottled my chimay clone and had a taste as i was doin it, my god it was good, i also tasted it a couple of days ago and it nearly didnt make it to the bottles But i have tried to be patient, if a brew is that good straight out of the fermenter imagine how good it will be in 6 months, i also used malt to prime this 1 and as i have never used malt to prime with before i thought id better bottle to see what its like primed with malt
blandy wrote:The trouble is it sometimes tastes so good straight out of the fermenter.
thats my problem.
I am perfectly willing (and planning) to let my 4th or 5th batch sit for months and months, I'll open one maybe once a month to see how its going. but this is my 1st brew! I'll probably be drinking it after 4 weeks. by then i'll desperately need the empty bottles, and will be far to fed up to care about how it tastes! :S
I know every one here would have been drinking their 1st brew befor a month in the bottle was up. come on, admit it!
btw, am i better off leaving it in the shed now its there, or moving it into a hotbox in a couple of days when/if i set one up?
please don't let us put you off trying your first batch after a couple of weeks in the bottle. Just keep a bit aside so you can try it at 6 months. I recently tried the last bottle of my first batch, which was about a year old at the time. Although it was absolutley delicious after three weeks in the bottle, the improvment was outstanding.
Just get on to your second batch soon so that saving beer means drinking other beer as opposed to not drinking (not that I'd support exessive drinking or anything...)
As for your hotbox idea, I can't see how putting you bottles in it would slow the aging process down or harm it any way. At this stage, there's not really much you can do that will reck your beer. If you've got an Ale, about 22*C should be good, for lagers, maybe you might want to go a bit cooler.
At the end of the day, if it tastes good, there's nothing wrong with drinking it.
i'v already got my second batch going, and i bought a second fermenter so i can bulk prime. this is probably the best hobby i'v gotten into. so much fun!
Hatchet Juggla wrote:exelent thanks for the suggestions!!
i'v already got my second batch going, and i bought a second fermenter so i can bulk prime. this is probably the best hobby i'v gotten into. so much fun!
If your like most ppl on here you will be making excuses just to check it and i dont know how many times ive been in the shed in a daze just watching the airlock bubble, dont know what it is about those things
As far as hobbies go you just cant beat the rewards you get from brewing
blandy wrote:The trouble is it sometimes tastes so good straight out of the fermenter.
thats my problem.
I am perfectly willing (and planning) to let my 4th or 5th batch sit for months and months, I'll open one maybe once a month to see how its going. but this is my 1st brew! I'll probably be drinking it after 4 weeks. by then i'll desperately need the empty bottles, and will be far to fed up to care about how it tastes! :S
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