Home Brewing

[Spacehost]

Next batch bottled- I'm not a complete lobster handed idiot so I know the beer isn't going on the floor, but I'm still only getting about 3.4L out of a 4.5L batch, probably mostly lost to trub. Think I need to reconsider how still I keep my carboys.

 

Next batch will probably be a big 10L load in my plastic bucket, we'll see if my ratios improve.

[Spacehost]

My secret favourite bit is the labels

[Spacehost]

Revisiting another old bottle from 2014 and it tastes a lot like my last bottle from 2013- that is, tons of sherry and not much else, so oxidised to fuck. I’ll complete my trifecta of old bottles with a 2015 saison and hide the last bottle of each three down in the close store cupboard to confuse/ poison someone in the distant future.

[minstrels]

So my last beer that I hate...

 

Everybody who has tried it so far has enjoyed it!

 

I'm 90% sure that the fermentation temp made the usually clean yeast kick out a ton of eaters which is what lead to it not tasting how I'd expected. Really need to get a fermentation fridge so I can get it under control.

 

Currently bottling my American stout. Tasting *chef kiss* already.

[Spacehost]

There's what I can only describe as strands of bubbles floating around in the bottles of my Shrek-themed disaster brew. I've got infected beer right?

I distinctly remember not sanitising the jug I made up my priming solution in because I was in a rush and "hey, I'm putting boiling water in here", so that's the root cause I bet.

[Spacehost]

Cracked one open to check. Obviously it's not conditioned in the slightest yet, it went flat in a minute. Tastes okay but I think there's a hint of sour lurking in the back. Not obviously slimy to my eyes or mouth. I'll recheck on my planned conditioning-complete day.

[Spacehost]

Fuck it, down the drain with it, save a spare as a lesson.

[Spacehost]

Cracked one of my four year old saisons- wishing I’d done it a year or two sooner! It’s really dry, it’s peppery, it’s fruity, it’s a little oxidised and the hop hit has long gone, but it’s got a sour note now it didn’t have much of before that really works.

 

I gotta learn not to leave these around as they just oxidise. Won’t make that mistake again.

[jimmbob]

I bottled my IPA at the weekend. I’m not really sure what I’m doing, and I think I broke my crown capper. 

Anyway. They need another week or two, but They seem to be clearing without too much gunk and pubes floating around in there, so...

The clear bottle is simply so I can see how the thing develops over time. It’s in a box out of sunlight. I also have a smaller 330ml bottle that was drawn from the bottom of the FV. It had a bit more floaty stuff in it, but that’s also clearing, It’ll be my cheeky taster bottle next Saturday. 

The reasoning being, if that one’s OK then the rest should follow. 

Labelling them is a bit sad, so of course I’m doing that this weekend. 

[Spacehost]

43 minutes ago, jimmbob said:

Labelling them is a bit sad, so of course I’m doing that this weekend

You gotta label them!

[jimmbob]

2 minutes ago, Spacehost said:

You gotta label them!

 

 

[Sabes]

I never label mine - different coloured caps and then relying on memory of what they are and abvs.

 

Definitely labelling from now on, great idea!

[Spacehost]

Big ups to The Malt Miller's Recipe system, which lets you program in exact grain and hop quantities, rather than buying in 1kg/ 100g packets. I've got my stuff for this weekend's little 4.5L coffee porter batch all set and it only cost me £6.

[Spacehost]

Rando question time: how do you store your empties/ finished beer? Beer crates are the obvious answer, but I'll be buggered if I can find many. It all seems to be milk crates (too short) or old vintage crates (too expensive).

[minstrels]

Boxes in the kitchen that my wife constantly asks me to move.

[Gaz]

My beers sit on the shelves in the cupboard my water tank is in, which seems to hold a fairly stable temperature. I've got 3 boxes that take 24 bottles which are stacked up in a weird little alcove behind my beer fridge for empties.

I don't do labels either, I just have a system of coloured caps and stickers that makes sense to nobody except me and relies heavily on my memory.

My latest brew should be ready to go tomorrow and I've got my next one souring at the moment. Has anyone had any experience with adding fruit juice, specifically citrus, at bottling?

It's a commercial yuzu juice with a sugar content of 2.5g per 100ml so I'm thinking I can add around 100ml per 500ml bottle instead of priming sugar rather than fermenting it out, but I thought I should sense check this rather than just going ahead with it.

[Spacehost]

I've only had yuzu in a beer once and it was so heavy with this unspeakably vile sourness, like swallowing someone else's vomit, that I'm retching right now thinking about it. Make sure to do a taste test first.

[Gaz]

The best beer I have ever had, in my entire life, was Mikellers Spontanyuzu. The second best might be Baladin's Xyauyu Fume, served directly from the barrel which was just, ridiculous.

I had both of those at festivals with my mate, and he's going to come over and taste the yuzu juice by itself and mixed with the beer before it goes into bottles.

I have heard that citrus juice can ferment out to be vomity and I guess the solution to that is to use zest in the boil, which is what I think Mikeller did for the spontanyuzu, but that was also wild fermented and aged in oak so I'm unlikely to get near that exact flavour, but I'm hoping it will be very sour.

[Spacehost]

Cracked my Tropical Pale after 12 days conditioning. It was a total gusher. Lost a lot to foaming. I expected some issues due to over priming though.

 

Important thing is it tasted fucking delightful, except for being a bit too "hot" (it's a 6.8%er though that fermented and conditioned during hot weather so that figures).

 

I'll let the other 9 condition a bit longer, chill them overnight instead of for a few hours before opening, and making a big 10L lot of this again. Right up my alley.

[Spacehost]

That home made wort chiller I bought off eBay may be the best £30 I've spent in a while. Absolutely sooked the heat out of my batch with some judicious counter-stirring. Would recommend.

 

I've now got a batch of coffee dark ale that has the light-absorbing powers of the special paint they put on stealth bombers.

[Spacehost]

I've now chucked a NZ-hopped Saison in my airing cupboard. I'm very excited about it, my spare room smells amaaaaaaazing from the yeast. I really hope I've sorted out my infection issue since the Shrek Incident as this and the coffee beer look really promising.

[Spacehost]

They don’t warn you how much of this is just cleaning, sanitising, cleaning, sanitising, do they? On the plus side my coffee beer will be amazing if it tastes half as good as it is already, and my saison looks smashable. See you in two weeks.

[Gaz]

The one thing I've learned with adjucts is that if you want it to taste amazing after it comes out of the bottle, it needs to be too much before it goes in.

I bottled a white stout with coffee, vanilla and cacao nibs which tasted like tiramisu when it went in the bottle but the flavours were dialled right down after conditioning. It's still nice, and I've got a few bottles around but next time I brew it I'm doubling everything.

 

[Spacehost]

I’m trusting the recipe here, but I’ll be doing a “quality check” tomorrow night to make sure nothing weird is going on. It’s a very clear but pleasant coffee taste, which should become more of a background note.

 

One definite issue: the beer is unspeakably, unfathomably dark, to the point I couldn’t see the bottling want in the carboy and if you shine your phone light on one side of the bottle you can’t see it on the other. So there’s a lot of crap hoovered into the final beer and thus he bottles when I racked it into my bottling bucket. It should drop but it’s definitely one for a gentle pour, swig from one of these and you’ll not enjoy it.

[Spacehost]

All my beers have turned out good. Even a Saison I invented, bungled, and bottled anyway- it's possibly my fave so far.

 

So I'm making cider from windfall apples from the MIL

[minstrels]

Did a spot of brewing today.

 

 

A 4.5% best bitter hopped with East Kent Goldings. Should hopefully be pretty tasty.

[Spacehost]

Cheap Northern Brewer starter kit, most of the boring bits you need plus some 2018-expiry perishables for £40.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/133499076970

[Sabes]

On 30/07/2020 at 07:18, Sabes said:

Brewed up a sour yesterday, got kilos of cherries from the allotment that'll get added in a week or so and then no more brewing for a while

Finally got round to bottling this today. Smells, looks and tastes amazing. Blows the 2019 version out of the water.

[Spacehost]

Decided to graduate to 9.5L batches since I think my process is on lock. This is a California Common. I really need to redo my numbers to account for my mash efficiency- I'm hitting the mid-80%s, my recipes target mid-60%s, so it's wound up being a likely 7% instead of a quaffable 4.9%.

[minstrels]

Funny, you've just scaled up and I'm thinking about scaling down.