Home Brew Questions
- Thread starter Voley
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Stig
Condimentalist
I find it puts visitors off drinking all my beer when I mention racking off into kegs
Have you ever admitted to dropping the sparge arm in it?
ringo
Macaroni cheese controller
After 48 hours the second fermentation is now out to a cooler room to clear. Think I might see the point of a second primary barrel, I accidentally siphoned some of the yeats cake out too and now its sat at the bottom of the barrel. Im guessing now the sugar has acted it wouldnt be worth trying to decant the good stuff out and return it to the barrel cleaner?
ringo
Macaroni cheese controller
2.5 weeks later and it again measures 1.014
I suspect I've cocked up the measuring rather than brew a beer with no alcohol. Plenty of fizz in there, have to be careful to keep the tap almost shut to avoid getting pure head out of it. Anyway I had a couple of glasses and it's by no means clear but tastes like fairly decent beer, pretty palatable.
The cupboard might be a touch warm and there's a bit of yeast cake in there, I guess I'm best leaving it another week or two to see if it clears?
Funky_monks
Neo-Rustic
2.5 weeks later and it again measures 1.014
At what temperature? SG is temp specific.
You can re-use your yeast by the way, just scrape up that yeasty sediment into a jam jar and stick it in your next brew. The head brewer up the road reckons a yeast is best on brew 2 or 3.
It'll clear if you get it colder. Try your garage.
ringo
Macaroni cheese controller
Thanks, glad to hear I haven't made non-alcoholic beer . Didn't know that about the yeast cake, would you put that in instead of the normal yeast or have both?
Err, the cupboard was about 18-20 degrees. I clearly need to do some reading here as I have no idea how temperature makes a difference or how to work this out.
I've moved the keg to my shed, will see how it looks in a few days.
Good this innit. All that lovely beer.
. Didn't know that about the yeast cake, would you put that in instead of the normal yeast or have both?Err, the cupboard was about 18-20 degrees. I clearly need to do some reading here as I have no idea how temperature makes a difference or how to work this out.
I've moved the keg to my shed, will see how it looks in a few days.
Good this innit. All that lovely beer.
Funky_monks
Neo-Rustic
Thanks, glad to hear I haven't made non-alcoholic beer
Err, the cupboard was about 18-20 degrees. I clearly need to do some reading here as I have no idea how temperature makes a difference or how to work this out.
I've moved the keg to my shed, will see how it looks in a few days.
Good this innit. All that lovely beer.
You'd have to try pretty hard to brew non-alcoholic beer. You'll know the yeast is working by all tat fizzing in the first few days, you know, when you try to move the beer and it fizzes everywhere. SG readings should be taken at 20C. There is maths to factor in the temp if it isn't 20C or you could go here:http://dd26943.com/davesdreaded/tools/convert.htm. Beer ought to brew best at 18-ish C although, my brewing mate reckons theirs does best on a quick ferment at 22-24C. Much warmer than that an it will taste 'thin', colder than 16C and it will taste yeasty.
Beer brewed at 20c ought to spend a week in the vat , a week in the barrel and a couple of days in the 'cellar' (around 10c), although I like to open ferment mine for nigh on 2 weeks before I barrel it for a week.
Bottled beer takes longer to 'bottle condition' - up to a month. The best bit about making beer is that its so quick compared to wine.
existentialist
Tired and unemotional
Tomorrow, this thread is one month shy of its first anniversary!
Great to see all the batches going on - I got a Milestones kit for Christmas which is fermenting furiously in the kitchen, while I'm taking advantage of the lower temperatures by putting a batch of lager on in the shed. I'm just waiting for the extract to arrive to get two brews of Special Wedding Ale on, in time for May, when the Special Wedding happens.
Great to see all the batches going on - I got a Milestones kit for Christmas which is fermenting furiously in the kitchen, while I'm taking advantage of the lower temperatures by putting a batch of lager on in the shed. I'm just waiting for the extract to arrive to get two brews of Special Wedding Ale on, in time for May, when the Special Wedding happens.
Funky_monks
Neo-Rustic
s'Wicked, innit?
I made up new recipes for my daughter's birthday and christmas. I think I'll do a lighter 'spring' beer next......
existentialist
Tired and unemotional
One of those things that NVP has linked to is fine...but beware bottles without the proper shaped neck - a lot of Badger Brewery beers are now coming in a bottle with a neck which lacks the big chunky edge that those cappers work on.
If you have lots of those bottles, you'd be better off with a stand capper, or perhaps (I don't like them) the sort where you put the cap on and hit the capper on top of it with a mallet.
tombowler
still missing the point
i used to have an all metal hand capper it worked well but did chip the odd bottle i find the plastic one twists on use not sturdy enough imho
i went over to pressure kegs just need a fridge big enough to stick one in to get it below room/ warm cellar temp did consider the trick with wet towls but not got round to it yet
i went over to pressure kegs just need a fridge big enough to stick one in to get it below room/ warm cellar temp did consider the trick with wet towls but not got round to it yet
existentialist
Tired and unemotional
I'm using a plastic lever capper, but it sounds as if it is a lot more robust than the one you're describing. I think I'd quite like to go over to a stand capper, but was wondering about sorting out some kind of attachment to my drill stand, already screwed to the shed bench, instead...
Stig
Condimentalist
I've got one of these, they're much better:
They cap anything. From the tiny mixer bottles I get from the pub to put 'testers' in, to the strange-necked bottles some breweries seem to use.
They're about £25 but well worth it IMO if you do a lot of bottling. Just google 'bench capper',
They cap anything. From the tiny mixer bottles I get from the pub to put 'testers' in, to the strange-necked bottles some breweries seem to use.
They're about £25 but well worth it IMO if you do a lot of bottling. Just google 'bench capper',
i've been saving up youngs bitter bottles which look like they'll fit the bill.
mr steev
magic thought wizard
I cracked open my damson wine a couple of weeks ago... it was fantastic!
We had a party and I was only intending to sample one bottle... we ended up getting through five! Friends were drinking it out of choice and going back for another glass rather than just drinking a little to be polite
I must admit that I was very wobbly by the time I went to bed, but the next day I didn't feel too bad at all. It definately passed the test and I will be making some again later in the year.
I've got a big bag of the last parsnips I dug up from the plot the other day, which will be my next experiment. Anyone got a tried and tested recipe?
We had a party and I was only intending to sample one bottle... we ended up getting through five! Friends were drinking it out of choice and going back for another glass rather than just drinking a little to be polite
I must admit that I was very wobbly by the time I went to bed, but the next day I didn't feel too bad at all. It definately passed the test and I will be making some again later in the year.
I've got a big bag of the last parsnips I dug up from the plot the other day, which will be my next experiment. Anyone got a tried and tested recipe?
retribution
Jack of Dubs
Last brew messed up a bit in the bottling stage - we'd cleaned a load of Hobgoblin bottles out, filled them all up, then discovered the caps wouldn't go on properly 
Had to then pour all the bottles out into the barrel and let them mature there, ended up not tasting as good as previous attempts.
We've got one of the cappers in that picture ^ - Does anyone know whether it's the caps themselves or the capper that we'd need to change to cap Hobgoblin bottles?
Thanks
Had to then pour all the bottles out into the barrel and let them mature there, ended up not tasting as good as previous attempts.We've got one of the cappers in that picture ^ - Does anyone know whether it's the caps themselves or the capper that we'd need to change to cap Hobgoblin bottles?
Thanks
Stig
Condimentalist
Last brew messed up a bit in the bottling stage - we'd cleaned a load of Hobgoblin bottles out, filled them all up, then discovered the caps wouldn't go on properly
We've got one of the cappers in that picture ^ - Does anyone know whether it's the caps themselves or the capper that we'd need to change to cap Hobgoblin bottles?
Thanks
It's the capper I'm afraid- the caps are all the same. The problem is getting them to grip the top of the bottle correctly.
existentialist
Tired and unemotional
Neither.
The caps are the same - it's the profile of the bottle's neck that has changed.
Traditional beer bottles have a shoulder below the rim of the bottle, and it is this that the capper clamps round and then compresses the crown cap onto the rim, viz:
With the hobgoblin (and Badger) bottles, that shoulder is a little bump, much like the rim again - the neck profile is like a number 3. A neck capper won't grip that, so you tend to find the lid isn't pushed on firmly (you can achieve this by leaning on the top of the capper, but it's dodgy).
A bench capper eliminates the problem, as you aren't using the shoulder to squash the cap down - you're pressing onto the whole bottle.
The caps are the same - it's the profile of the bottle's neck that has changed.
Traditional beer bottles have a shoulder below the rim of the bottle, and it is this that the capper clamps round and then compresses the crown cap onto the rim, viz:
With the hobgoblin (and Badger) bottles, that shoulder is a little bump, much like the rim again - the neck profile is like a number 3. A neck capper won't grip that, so you tend to find the lid isn't pushed on firmly (you can achieve this by leaning on the top of the capper, but it's dodgy).
A bench capper eliminates the problem, as you aren't using the shoulder to squash the cap down - you're pressing onto the whole bottle.
retribution
Jack of Dubs
Thanks for the replies. So at the moment we've got one of these, which just won't cap the Hobgoblin bottles:
If I get one of these, is that likely to work?
Or is it just really difficult to use Hobgoblin bottles without a bench capper?
If I get one of these, is that likely to work?
Or is it just really difficult to use Hobgoblin bottles without a bench capper?
existentialist
Tired and unemotional
Those are a bit harsh on bottles - if you clobber them too hard, you can chip the neck, if you don't clobber them hard enough you may not get the lid on right.Thanks for the replies. So at the moment we've got one of these, which just won't cap the Hobgoblin bottles:
If I get one of these, is that likely to work?
Or is it just really difficult to use Hobgoblin bottles without a bench capper?
What would be really neat is if someone were to make an aftermarket plate for the lever cappers that would fit the skinny neck bottles (I bet they say they're doing it because it saves transport costs on 3 grams of glass, or something).
Hmm.... *goes to shed and thinks*
existentialist
Tired and unemotional
Meanwhile, I've been labelling the beer for the wedding.
Due to lack of time, I've cheated outrageously - this is actually a Woodforde's Headcracker kit, which as any fule kno is a 24 pint job.
So what I've done is to add to the recipe a kilo and a half of dark malt, and make it up to the full 21 litres, and then dry-hopped the hell out of it with some Goldings I had in the freezer and needed to use up soon. It's been fermented very slowly at lowish ale temperatures (average 10-12C), and took 4 weeks to ferment out - one of the slowest brews I've done.
It sampled a bit grassy off the barrel, but that's the dry-hopping. It's got 4 weeks in the bottle, which should mellow it off, but the chocolatey bitterness of the malt will cover that in any case.
There's a companion lager, too, which was likewise cheatily brewed from a pilsner kit-and-kilo kit, augmented with about two kilos of LME and also dry-hopped (to take off the sweetness of the malt and do a bit of disinfecting...because I put this brew on in the shed). When I saw we had a cold snap coming, I didn't want to miss a lager brewing opportunity, so it's been brewed for about 7 weeks at temperatures from zero to about 9 degrees - my first actual lager brew
I'm currently "sampling" the lager - it's the sedimenty leavings from the barrel bottom which I've bottle-conditioned and settled out. It's fruitier than any lager has any right to be, and has a rather acquired-taste nose with classic sulphurous lager-yeast tones, but manages to be crisp and fairly clean on the palate. Yum. Sadly, it looks a little hazed, but they won't notice that in the dark. Not after 3 or 4, anyway...
Due to lack of time, I've cheated outrageously - this is actually a Woodforde's Headcracker kit, which as any fule kno is a 24 pint job.
So what I've done is to add to the recipe a kilo and a half of dark malt, and make it up to the full 21 litres, and then dry-hopped the hell out of it with some Goldings I had in the freezer and needed to use up soon. It's been fermented very slowly at lowish ale temperatures (average 10-12C), and took 4 weeks to ferment out - one of the slowest brews I've done.
It sampled a bit grassy off the barrel, but that's the dry-hopping. It's got 4 weeks in the bottle, which should mellow it off, but the chocolatey bitterness of the malt will cover that in any case.
There's a companion lager, too, which was likewise cheatily brewed from a pilsner kit-and-kilo kit, augmented with about two kilos of LME and also dry-hopped (to take off the sweetness of the malt and do a bit of disinfecting...because I put this brew on in the shed). When I saw we had a cold snap coming, I didn't want to miss a lager brewing opportunity, so it's been brewed for about 7 weeks at temperatures from zero to about 9 degrees - my first actual lager brew
I'm currently "sampling" the lager - it's the sedimenty leavings from the barrel bottom which I've bottle-conditioned and settled out. It's fruitier than any lager has any right to be, and has a rather acquired-taste nose with classic sulphurous lager-yeast tones, but manages to be crisp and fairly clean on the palate. Yum. Sadly, it looks a little hazed, but they won't notice that in the dark. Not after 3 or 4, anyway...
