Any ideas where I went wrong?

[GaSh65]

I went to bottle some AG today. I used a recipe that someone kindly shared on here a while back. I've made a few batches now. Found out quite quickly that doing 5 litres turned out better than 10. I think that was due to not being able to get the liquid to cool down sufficiently. I was putting the stock pot into a sink with ice water and the 10g took forever and still didn't taste as good afterwards. Anyway, 5 litres has been fine so far.
I've started to tweak the recipe slightly. First off I surmised that if I were to double the amount of hops, from 5g and 10g to 10g and 20g, then I'd effectively be changing the Pale Ale to IPA. I may be wrong, but the theory made sense in my head.
I then decided, as I like a hoppy flavour, to dry hop it as well. This didn't work quite so well first time, as I massively over hopped it. I added 20g of dry hops, which clogged up the bottling wand and syphon. And tasted way too hoppy! Lesson learned.
So this time, I did what I'd done before that worked successfully, then added 5g of hops at the dry hopping stage. And as I went to bottle it, saw this (please see attached picture). It didn't smell that clever either.
Any suggestions as what may have happened?

 

[crowcrow]

Looks like most of my brews before I cold crash - I wouldn't say that was worrying unless it was obviously white mould, which I don't think it is?

If it is then the issue would be sanitisation - adding dry hops is a minor risk, but not been an issue for me so far.

On your 10litre vs 5 issues, no idea why that would be, unless you are leaving the hops in during the longer post boil cooling? I don't cool at all, and leave it to cool naturally, but I remove the hops spider after about 30mins.

 

[GaSh65]

Looks like most of my brews before I cold crash - I wouldn't say that was worrying unless it was obviously white mould, which I don't think it is?

If it is then the issue would be sanitisation - adding dry hops is a minor risk, but not been an issue for me so far.

On your 10litre vs 5 issues, no idea why that would be, unless you are leaving the hops in during the longer post boil cooling? I don't cool at all, and leave it to cool naturally, but I remove the hops spode after about 30mins.

Thanks for the response.

I'd never seen a brew with those white lumps in before, so I tipped it down the toilet.

I usually try my hardest to sanitise everything, but possibly something slipped through my caution net and infected the brew.

I don't leave hops in while cooling. I have them in a mesh bag, so take that out and then place the pot in the sink with cold water and ice blocks. Maybe with the 10 litre brew I'd not left it to cool for long enough and then pitched the yeast when it was not cold enough?

Plenty to think about and bear in mind though, so thank you.

 

[crowcrow]

Yes, might well be that - sometimes my 20+ litre brews take 24 hours to get down to pitching temp. Trying to think what else might cause the issue - it could be that mashing is different at 5 and 10 litres?

But I often get 'cauliflower floaters' in my all grain brews like this The magic of a cold crash

Nothing to worry about, I find a cold crash helps give you a nice clean brew to bottle or keg - getting to the time of year you can cold crash outside in a couple of months!

 

[GaSh65]

Yes, might well be that - sometimes my 20+ litre brews take 24 hours to get down to pitching temp. Trying to think what else might cause the issue - it could be that mashing is different at 5 and 10 litres?

But I often get 'cauliflower floaters' in my all grain brews like this The magic of a cold crash

Nothing to worry about, I find a cold crash helps give you a nice clean brew to bottle or keg - getting to the time of year you can cold crash outside in a couple of months!

So even though fermentation had finished, I leave it somewhere cold for a while and those lumps will disappear? Then I can bottle?

 

[crowcrow]

Yes, I always ferment for at least 2 weeks (unless pressure fermenting) in the bucket. Then I put the whole bucket in my keezer at 1c for about 2 days - then bottle of keg. The 'cold crash' helps the bits fall to the bottom - they are still there just nicely packed down and out the way.

Before I had a keezer, in the winter I'd leave my beer in the bucket in a cold dark shed for a few days for the same effect (if it is cold enough).

 

[moto748]

I think it's fair to say that this point that whilst I wouldn't deny that cold crashing is desirable, it is not essential. All my beer, throughout the process, is either in my kitchen or my living-room (never in a fridge). So around the 19-21 deg range of ambient temp. It is in demi-johns with a air-lock prior to bottling. Normally, these days (wasn't always the case!) the beer is pretty damn clear at bottling stage, and usually clears fully after two or three days. I always use at least a few clear glass bottles in a batch, helpful so you can see exactly what's going on. I don't keg beer, so can't comment on that.

I tried putting beer in my garden shed at one time (this was after bottling), hoping it would aid clearing, but that didn't seem to work for me, so I abandoned the idea.

 

[GaSh65]

Yes, I always ferment for at least 2 weeks (unless pressure fermenting) in the bucket. Then I put the whole bucket in my keezer at 1c for about 2 days - then bottle of keg. The 'cold crash' helps the bits fall to the bottom - they are still there just nicely packed down and out the way.

Before I had a keezer, in the winter I'd leave my beer in the bucket in a cold dark shed for a few days for the same effect (if it is cold enough).

That's very helpful, thank you.

 

[allotment_fox]

Out of interest was the yeast the same on each brew? Yeast will differ in the way they ferment out .
guess you are using Protafloc copper fining tablet / Irish moss. towards the end of boil.
I control my brew temperature and try not to disturb it to much about day 9 I drop down to 7c until kegging / bottling If I dry hop I just carefully part lift the fermenter lid to keep O2 out

 

[GaSh65]

Out of interest was the yeast the same on each brew? Yeast will differ in the way they ferment out .
guess you are using Protafloc copper fining tablet / Irish moss. towards the end of boil.
I control my brew temperature and try not to disturb it to much about day 9 I drop down to 7c until kegging / bottling If I dry hop I just carefully part lift the fermenter lid to keep O2 out

Every time I think I have half an idea about brewing, someone says something which reads like Latin to me and then I realise that I'm still just a newbie!
So thanks for the response but I'm sorry but I don't know what "Protafloc copper fining tablet" or "Irish moss" are.
I have a selection of Yeasts, but I've used Safale S-04 Ale Yeast for the last two batches, this is the first time I've had an issue.
I think I may leave Dry Hopping for now, until I can get the process consistent before I try to branch out again.

 

[An Ankoù]

Every time I think I have half an idea about brewing, someone says something which reads like Latin to me and then I realise that I'm still just a newbie!
So thanks for the response but I'm sorry but I don't know what "Protafloc copper fining tablet" or "Irish moss" are.
I have a selection of Yeasts, but I've used Safale S-04 Ale Yeast for the last two batches, this is the first time I've had an issue.
I think I may leave Dry Hopping for now, until I can get the process consistent before I try to branch out again.

That photo, above, doesn't look too good and as it didn't smell right I think you were right to chuck it. But, as others rightly mention, there are some funny sights and smells with perfectly good beer and every brew doesn't necessarily look and smell the same.
You mention that you're sometimes cought out by the terminology. I wonder if you've read a decent home brew book through from beginning to end, something like Graham Wheeler (older, second hand editions from amazon) or Greg Hughes at a push. I wouldn't recommend the excellent Palmer at this stage as it can be difficult to separate the essential from the more or less desirable, and avoid the many excellent American writers who use different terminology, have to work with different malts, use different units of measure across the board and whose liquid measures (they tend not to use litres) of the same name are different to ours.

 

[Cwrw666]

Every time I think I have half an idea about brewing, someone says something which reads like Latin to me and then I realise that I'm still just a newbie!
So thanks for the response but I'm sorry but I don't know what "Protafloc copper fining tablet" or "Irish moss" are.
I have a selection of Yeasts, but I've used Safale S-04 Ale Yeast for the last two batches, this is the first time I've had an issue.
I think I may leave Dry Hopping for now, until I can get the process consistent before I try to branch out again.

During the boil it's usual to use something that helps precipitate proteins out of the wort (which makes the beer clearer). These are called copper finings - copper because the old boiling vessels were made of copper in the old days. Copper finings are usually seaweed based - Irish moss is a dried form of seaweed, basically gelatin, while protofloc is the same but refined and in powder or tablet form. You add them to the boil, 10 minutes before the end.
But don't worry, I've occasionally forgotten and the beer cleared anyway.

 

[allotment_fox]

Every time I think I have half an idea about brewing, someone says something which reads like Latin to me and then I realise that I'm still just a newbie!
So thanks for the response but I'm sorry but I don't know what "Protafloc copper fining tablet" or "Irish moss" are.
I have a selection of Yeasts, but I've used Safale S-04 Ale Yeast for the last two batches, this is the first time I've had an issue.
I think I may leave Dry Hopping for now, until I can get the process consistent before I try to branch out again.

Think your yeast (Safale S-04 Ale Yeast ) is a great yeast and this yeast normally drops down ok once it's finished. a tablet at the end of boil also helps as comments above have said

 

[GaSh65]

That photo, above, doesn't look too good and as it didn't smell right I think you were right to chuck it. But, as others rightly mention, there are some funny sights and smells with perfectly good beer and every brew doesn't necessarily look and smell the same.
You mention that you're sometimes cought out by the terminology. I wonder if you've read a decent home brew book through from beginning to end, something like Graham Wheeler (older, second hand editions from amazon) or Greg Hughes at a push. I wouldn't recommend the excellent Palmer at this stage as it can be difficult to separate the essential from the more or less desirable, and avoid the many excellent American writers who use different terminology, have to work with different malts, use different units of measure across the board and whose liquid measures (they tend not to use litres) of the same name are different to ours.

Thanks for the book tips. I do have the John J Palmer book and did start it, but found it like reading a book to pass my driving test and instead of the Highway Code, picked an in-depth volume on how to build a car.
I'll have a look for the others, that could help a lot. Thanks again.

 

[starseeker]

Try the Greg Hughes book, covers all the basics and some great recipes