Better Brew Czech Pilsner

[Diggerg]

Ok so quick taster tonight before they go out in the shed. Light carbonation in glass but no head. Smells hoppy but still a bit of a yeasty smell. No drifting of yeast in the bottle when poured and tastes quite nice. Hope fully age and cold conditioning will improve things.
Also how do I post a pic?

 

[sometime]

Hello all ..just looked at my pilsner thats been in 10 days and its funny I have a reading of 1012 to and it looks like a pint of old Rosie...!!!

 

[sometime]

Hello...oohh It's not going great 14 days in and still @ 1012 .tastes rubbish ,very cloudy.was going to be my Christmas lager not sure wot went wrong used 1kg of light dme ,maybe it will come good .(I'm new to brewing )

 

[bman1]

Have just set this kit off today. Used 1kg brewing sugar and added a saaz hop tea of 35 g boiled for 20 mins. O.g was 1.041 which seems a little low compared to others. Smelled amazing when mixing it up. Hope ot doesn't turn out weak as was hoping for a stronger abv with this one.

 

[Diggerg]

Tried another bottle of this last night. Still cloudy despite being bottled for a few weeks. Tastes good though. Was cloudy from the outset so not sure if using DME had anything to do with it? ??

 

[Philjobooboo]

Got this 1with my starter kit, the middle of October. Tasted it when I was bottling it ansd it way rank! Followed instructions to the T. Been in the garage conditioning for 2weeks now tastes loads better and very clear, still a bit vinegary, but I'm guessing that will go with age????

 

[Diggerg]

Does anyone know what colour this should be using a colour scale? According to this scale mine is about 16 EBU. Does that seem right.
http://beersinthehall.blogspot.co.uk/20 ... e.html?m=1

 

[Diggerg]

Just found manufacturers details. EBU should be between 8 and 12. ABV should be about 4.8%. Mine came out at 5.6% so maybe the darker colour and stronger abv are from using spraymalt and not just sugar?

 

[homersthirdnipple]

Started this off last night, my first kit for about 12 years, the last was undrinkable, so went to the pub instead (for 12 years!!)
Anyhoo, after a spell in Saudi brewing anything and everything I have the bug again, mainly red wine and turbo cider, but after rave reviews of my new found skill I decided to up a gear,got the heated fermenter fridge box thing going in the man cave thermostatically controlled, took advice from this thread regarding , well everything, and off we go.
A question I have regarding racking off, I usually rack off my wine so I get a good bottle with no sediment and it works well. Can this be done with lager? I have clear waterbottles 18 litre type and was thinking racking off into those to clear, then bottle and secondary ferment. Can there be any problems with this?
Thanks in advance

 

[itbrvilla]

Started this off last night, my first kit for about 12 years, the last was undrinkable, so went to the pub instead (for 12 years!!)
Anyhoo, after a spell in Saudi brewing anything and everything I have the bug again, mainly red wine and turbo cider, but after rave reviews of my new found skill I decided to up a gear,got the heated fermenter fridge box thing going in the man cave thermostatically controlled, took advice from this thread regarding , well everything, and off we go.
A question I have regarding racking off, I usually rack off my wine so I get a good bottle with no sediment and it works well. Can this be done with lager? I have clear waterbottles 18 litre type and was thinking racking off into those to clear, then bottle and secondary ferment. Can there be any problems with this?
Thanks in advance

There will always be sediment with bottle conditiond beer. I've seen quite a few threads where people have discussed the merrits of racking to a secondary before kegging/bottling vs using 1 FV.

 

[RaffCPH]

Just found manufacturers details. EBU should be between 8 and 12. ABV should be about 4.8%. Mine came out at 5.6% so maybe the darker colour and stronger abv are from using spraymalt and not just sugar?

Mine is about the same colour. I used 1 tin of brewferm light lme, some raw cane sugar and dry hopped with saaz and brewed a tad short to around 22, came in at 5.6%. Only been in the bottle 3 weeks but very tasty already though perhaps a bit too malty for the style as I'm missing the crispness. Further conditioning and time will tell. I am happy I chucked in extra hops though to balance the malt.

I had a bottle of Konrad Svetly Lezak 14 the other day, a strong czech pils, exact same colour as the kit turned out.

 

[Rivvo]

Put this on 4 days ago and its sitting at 18/20', it's really not doing much at all, the instructions say to ferment at 20' but I'm wondering if its just not warm enough?
My first two brews didnt ferment like mad either and my house can be quite cold, should i just leave it for 3 weeks at a mild ferment or should there always be 'monkey brains' going on in the vat?

 

[itbrvilla]

Put this on 4 days ago and its sitting at 18/20', it's really not doing much at all, the instructions say to ferment at 20' but I'm wondering if its just not warm enough?
My first two brews didnt ferment like mad either and my house can be quite cold, should i just leave it for 3 weeks at a mild ferment or should there always be 'monkey brains' going on in the vat?

I'd leave it at least another 2 weeks or so. My first 4 brews have barely done a thing but all still fermented out.

 

[Rivvo]

Yeah though new I'm getting the impression that slow but sure wins the race :thumb:
Villa fan?

 

[itbrvilla]

Yeah though new I'm getting the impression that slow but sure wins the race :thumb:
Villa fan?

Correct! I think the clearer you can get it in the bucket before bottling or putting in the barrel the less yeast deposits in bottles/barrel meaning less risk of cloudy beer.

 

[Rivvo]

Cheers, I've got a brewferm wheat in 2nd vat for 10 days now so I'm just worried about leaving things too long, trial and error i guess!

 

[itbrvilla]

Cheers, I've got a brewferm wheat in 2nd vat for 10 days now so I'm just worried about leaving things too long, trial and error i guess!

On here they tend to recommend 2 weeks minimum, 3 weeks is mentioned a lot and others 4 or more. If fermenting lagers at lower temps like 5c then it can take upto 8 weeks to fully ferment.

 

[itbrvilla]

I think the key is not to keep checking it or you will end up with infected beer. I found it difficult not to look on my first few brews but now keep it out the way and only check fermentation after 2 1/2 weeks and then a couple of days later.

 

[Diggerg]

Popped open a couple last night. It is definitely better after 5 weeks. Still very light carbonation but I now put that down to coopers drops and not using sugar to batch prime. Very impressed as only my second kit.

 

[Rivvo]

Right, it's been fermenting for three weeks now, I checked it today and it's down to 1006 (from 1046) giving an abv of 5.6%, although that might be a bit out due to my hygrometer, I did brew short to 22 ltrs so I'm thinking it's probably ok, I intend to decant into a secondary for a week to clear a bit then bottle.
I took a good sniff close to the surface and it nearly blew my sinuses out, almost a vinegary smell but not that strong or acrid, doesn't smell much like beer at the moment :? , the colour looks like an IPA at the moment but it was quite clear.