Beer Rescue Job?

[earthwormgaz]

Ay up forum,

I've tried to make some pale ale. I bought pale malt, hops, 4 packs of ale yeast, some brewing sugar and some fresh hops.

Here's the details from the order ..

100277 ORGANIC First Gold Hops 100g 1 £4.80 £4.80

101142 ORGANIC Crushed pale Malt 3kg 1 £4.95 £4.95

101109 Brewing Sugar 1kg 1 £1.60 £1.60

101776 Danstar Nottingham Beer Yeast 4 £1.35 £5.40

I used all the hops, all the malt, 2 packs of the yeast, and little of the sugar. A week and a half later, I think the starting specific gravity was too low, but I've only just worked that out.

Should I add more sugar to try and rescue it? More yeast maybe?

I've worked out when I added the yeast, the specific gravity was 1.015 at 28°C, so that's 1.017 according to my calculations.

Now, it's 17°C, and about 1.009, so that's 1.002 I think. So, that means my "beer" is about 1%? Not very good. I put a whole day into making this, so I'll be gutted if I've ruined it.

Even if I get the ABV up? Is it going to taste like "cat wazz" (weak)?

The Recipe I followed ...

3.5kg crushed pale malt
50g of hops (I doubled this and used the whole 100g I'd bought)
25 liters water

So I was a bit short on the malt, but used more hops. I also boiled some nettles in with the grist to make it more interesting.

 

[Moley]

Sorry, rewind, that makes no sense whatsoever.

What was your brew length? You started with 25 litres, what did you end up with?

What was your recipe and how did you mash or sparge that pale malt?

How much sugar did you add?

What weight of hops and for how long?

 

[earthwormgaz]

I followed the steps in the book I got the recipie from, although I was a bit rushed so I might have cut corners.

It said to heat water to 75 degrees (I had to guess a bit, thermometer stops at 50), so I did, and added all the malt and left it for an hour. I strained this through a sterilized towel into the brewing bin.

I did the sparging as the book suggested to rinse the malt through the towel, then put the result back into the pan, and boiled it with the hops and nettles.

It said to do this for about an hour, although I think I only managed 40 minutes. I let it cool to 28 degrees, and then pitched the yeast.

Weighing the 1kg bag of brewing sugar tells me I added 110g of it last week.

Hopefully that clears things up! :thumb:

 

[TheMumbler]

If you didn't get the temperature high enough or went too high you might not have got much conversion of starch to sugar which would result in a low gravity.

If you had not much extraction from the malt and add a load of sugar it probably won't taste great. You might be better off adding some malt extract, if you are going to go down that road. To be honest I'd cut my losses - let it ferment out, keg or bottle and see how it tastes.

How did you calculate your original gravity?

1009 at 17*C will be 1009 or 1010 depending on whether your hydrometer is calculated for 20 or 15*C btw - there is a calculator for hydrometer correction in the calculators section (see the button in the top left menu)

I certainly wouldn't add any more yeast, that would just be a waste.

This post is worth a look before you brew again

You could also google "brew in a bag" if you don't have the kit for a AG standard set up.

 

[earthwormgaz]

If you didn't get the temperature high enough or went too high you might not have got much conversion of starch to sugar which would result in a low gravity.

How did you calculate your original gravity?

1009 at 17*C will be 1009 or 1010 depending on whether your hydrometer is calculated for 20 or 15*C btw - there is a calculator for hydrometer correction in the calculators section (see the button in the top left menu).

Yeah, you're right, I calculated that wrong. The hydrometer is calculated for 20 degrees. The chart in my book says to take -0.6 off, so it's something like 1008.4.

Tragically, I think this still means I've made beer with no booze in it.

 

[Eradite]

Hi Gaz,

Sorry, I got some more questions!

I followed the steps in the book I got the recipie from, although I was a bit rushed so I might have cut corners.

It said to heat water to 75 degrees (I had to guess a bit, thermometer stops at 50), so I did, and added all the malt and left it for an hour. I strained this through a sterilized towel into the brewing bin.

I did the sparging as the book suggested to rinse the malt through the towel, then put the result back into the pan, and boiled it with the hops and nettles.

It said to do this for about an hour, although I think I only managed 40 minutes. I let it cool to 28 degrees, and then pitched the yeast.

Weighing the 1kg bag of brewing sugar tells me I added 110g of it last week.

Hopefully that clears things up! :thumb:

How did you mash the grain? you need to have kept the mash (grain plus liqour) at about 65 degrees C. If you just added the hot water to the grain and left it in something uninsulated or without some sort of heat source, then there would have been little enzyme activity resulting in poor "sugar" conversion from the grain.
Also you need to take the hydrometer reading before you add the yeast. You can just add more sugar to your brew but in higher quantaties there will be a effect on taste (I think this is about 20% of your total fermentables) plus yeast will loose there ability to metabolise some of the more longer chain sugar molecules (Fix). 3 kg of malt in a final 20l brew length, plus 110g of sugar should give you a reasonable ABV thats why I ask about the mash.

Anyway, its just part of the learning process realising you have made a mistake is the only way to improve!

 

[earthwormgaz]

I put it in a big pan on the hob, heated it to well above 50 degrees, added the malt, and then put the lid on with a towel round the whole thing as I remember. I don't think I kept any heat on it.

I need a bigger pan and a new thermometer for next time (the one that came with my beginners set from the brew shop rolled off the table and smashed, so I used the one out of the greenhouse - cleaned of course!).

You're right, I might just have to add more sugar and hope for the best, then learn the lessons for next time.

EDIT: Oh, and I did take the 1st reading before the yeast, so that bit was okay.

 

[Sean_Mc]

THESE videos really helped me when I started Gaz

 

[earthwormgaz]

Oh well, there goes nothing, I added an extra few hundred grams of sugar. Let's see what happens.

 

[Muddy Funker]

With the greatest respect Gaz your approach does seem a little haphazard as in leaving to chance.

I hope this doesn't come across the wrong way but while brewing with grains can be forgiving some aspects really are important.

The mash in particular that has already been mentioned, I don't think anyone should guess temps. Temp needs to be accurate and maintained to get the fermentables out of the grain.

Timings ideally should be adhered to.

Are you sure your starting gravity was that low? If you checked it after only a few days it would have dropped quite a bit potentially.

You never know you could have made a winner, only time will tell.

Best of luck :thumb:

 

[evanvine]

It said to heat water to 75 degrees (I had to guess a bit, thermometer stops at 50)

Nearly fell off my chair when I read that! :rofl:

 

[BarnsleyBrewer]

I followed the steps in the book I got the recipie from, although I was a bit rushed so I might have cut corners.

It said to heat water to 75 degrees (I had to guess a bit, thermometer stops at 50), so I did, and added all the malt and left it for an hour. I strained this through a sterilized towel into the brewing bin.

I did the sparging as the book suggested to rinse the malt through the towel, then put the result back into the pan, and boiled it with the hops and nettles.

It said to do this for about an hour, although I think I only managed 40 minutes. I let it cool to 28 degrees, and then pitched the yeast.

Weighing the 1kg bag of brewing sugar tells me I added 110g of it last week.

Hopefully that clears things up! :thumb:

Is this a wind-up??
You haven't even used a basic how to brew on these grains so it'll never work, you need to read books then read them again!!

BB

 

[evanvine]

Is this a wind-up??

It's not me using a pseudonym, honest Guv!

 

[earthwormgaz]

Oh well, having read this, I now fully expect to have 5 gallons of tasteless alcohol free brown water this time next week.

What a waste of £20. Maybe it'll do the compost heap good.

I need a new thermometer and a bigger pan for the hob next time then.

 

[Runwell-Steve]

Have a good read of the info on this site before you attempt your next brew, it really helped me understand the process.

Start at Section 1 and just work your way through.

http://www.howtobrew.com/intro.html

 

[BarnsleyBrewer]

Oh well, having read this, I now fully expect to have 5 gallons of tasteless alcohol free brown water this time next week.

What a waste of £20. Maybe it'll do the compost heap good.

I need a new thermometer and a bigger pan for the hob next time then.

Why don't you try a few quality beer kits first then progress onto AG once you've cut your teeth.

 

[robsan77]

Gaz - A group of us in notts get together regularly for beer swapping and general drinking. Join our fb page, we are meeting tomorrow night actually if you fancy it?

https://www.facebook.com/?ref=logo#!/ho ... 11391&ap=1

 

[earthwormgaz]

Amazingly, I tried some last night and it's not that bad. I sterilized a little glass and took a scoop of the stuff, then filtered it through a paper towel to get all the yeast floaters out.

It's very hoppy, the book said use 50g and I used a hundred, I might go for 75g next time because I do like that. I think there's even a hint of nettle!

It's got just about enough taste, but I've no idea about the ABV. I doubt I'll know until I wrack it off and all that, and drink a few pints of it to see what it does to my head!

Ta for the offer Robsan, might pop down one time.

 

[earthwormgaz]

Well, nobody will be surprised to hear that I racked this off and tasted it a week later, to the tune of 4 pints. Whilst it tasted nice, my head didn't feel like I'd had 4 beers, so I can safely conclude I've made a barrel of cat waz IPA.

I'll learn the lesson! Next time I'll need a proper thermometer and something better to mash in maybe. The cool box idea seems interesting, and I also hear you can use an old boiler? Is that a lot better than just buying a bigger pan for the stove?

 

[Springer]

I'm with BB, it sounds to me that a couple of kits would be a good thing for you to do. Also some reading of the forum and a good book. Have you thought about malt extract brewing, if you want to give kits a miss.
All grain brewing is not difficult but it does require a systematic approach and some basic kit.
Read and then ask questions.
Good luck
S.