Beer quite flat???

[Darklore3003]

Hi there,
I used to brew a few years back and decided to take the hobby up again and try a new bit of kit. I saw the American "beer machine" by Brewmasters and decided to purchase as it was a fermenter/conditioner pressurised barrel capable of puring pints as they have been conditioned. It comes with a CO2 container and dispenser which seemed like a good idea.

The problem I have is I have done 3 brew's. The first was a success, the second was a disaster and the brew I am currently finishing seems to have a very nice and consistent head but no livelyness whatsoever. Is there any tips and tricks I can use to bring the beer to life? Other than the flatness, the beer tastes nice and would be a shame to have to bin it.

To add: it is a "just add water" system

 

[Good Ed]

Welcome Darklore, Don't bin it :shock: I'm sure someone will come along to advise you about your beer engine system :

 

[Darklore3003]

I binned the second load, it wasn't nice at all

I have brought it back into the warmth perhaps I moved it to condition to early? Also it seems very hazey and not clear at all, would this expect to settle?

Thanks

Si

 

[Dunfie]

Hi Si

I have to admit that I have no experience of the Beer Machine but from the quick look on their website it looks like you make a beer from extract mix. It ferments and conditions in the primary and then you simply pour through what looks like a floating tube.

Having said all that you still need to follow the same rules as any other beer making process. They only real control you have with this system is when you move from the warmth into the cold for maturing. So I suppose my first question would be, how do you know the fermentation is complete? Is there anyway of being able to take a gravity reading? If not then I would simply elongate the process a bit.

Most of us leave the beer in primary fermenter for 11-14 days before even thinking about racking as this allows the yeast to complete its work, clean up after itself and settle out. I wonder if the instructions you have are being a bit on the optimistic side (most of the beer kits have the same problem). A spell in a cold environment will certainly help the beer drop clear.

Are you adding CO2 or are you expecting it to carbonate naturally?

 

[Aleman]

The beer machine can make good beer . . . Just not with the supplied mixes :sick: . . . On one of my websites a long time ago I had instructions on how to Use a beer machine and make good beer . . . I'll see if I can find an archive. :hmm:

One thing I would say is that you could consider the Brupaks Beers of the World 'kits', these make a very palatable beer and IIRC are only 20 pints so should fit in the beer machine.

 

[Darklore3003]

Hi, Thanks for the replies. I do think that I may have moved it too early, the way to check the completion of fermentation, according to the instructions, are to place water on the over pressurisation valve and if there are bubbles, its complete??? I do not agree with this statement at all

I have now moved it back into the warmth and it seems to be developing a lot better and will move it for clarification on Friday. I do have a fermentation bucket so I may use that for the fermentation and the beer machine as a conditioner/dispenser

If you could dig it from the archive it would be great Aleman, Thanks!!

 

[Alan Robinson]

Just out of interest, I had a visit by a fella I know a few weeks ago, and gave him a glass of my pale ale. While I had a very decent head on mine, his glass refused to keep any head at all. We tried washing the glass in soapy water and drying it with a clean tea towel, and sharing ale from the same bottle, and still, I had a good head, and he didn't.

He claims this is normal, and he never has a beer with a head. The suggestion was that something supernatural was going on, you know, auras and stuff like like, but I don't subscribe to mumbo-jumbo. Nonetheless, it was very odd, and I cannot trump up a decent explanation for it.

 

[Aleman]

Oils on the skin. I can pour a beer with a great head, and just one sip and the head will vanish .. .. after eating fish n chips

When you have cleaned the glass with soapy water . . . rinse well in very hot water to remove the surfactants from the glass that kills head as well. (as does being married . . . but that's for another forum :lol:)

 

[Alan Robinson]

Oils on the skin. I can pour a beer with a great head, and just one sip and the head will vanish .. .. after eating fish n chips

When you have cleaned the glass with soapy water . . . rinse well in very hot water to remove the surfactants from the glass that kills head as well. (as does being married . . . but that's for another forum :lol:)

Well there, who'd have thought it? The man in question is my sister-in-law's lad. She's a Wiccan, and he's a bit odd - you know - always introspective and treating my missus as though she's an Agony Aunt. I bet he's sneaked into our bathroom and borrowed her lipstick. :nono: