Bulldog, Hammer of Thor

[winnywood]

Racked this to another fv yesterday fg was 1.008 so 6.3% a potent one. I left in fv for 10 days added hops on day 6.
Was very surprised there wasn't much trub in bottom of fv. Not sure whether thats a good thing or not. Gonna leave for another 10 days before bottleing.
Brewed this @ 20°c and then up the temp to 24°c on day 7.
Fement was nice and steady not much krusen.

 

[Tean Buns]

Another update on the progress of the brew.

Three weeks in the bottle and I got one in the fridge this morning to see what it is like chilled properly.

Nose = odd sweet thing coming off the beer, reminds me of the Ice-cream and soda pop that I used to drink as a kid ... sweet on the nose then, and bubble gummy, no hoppiness that I can detect.

Head & figure = perfect looking blonde beer, good head, excellent carbonation, fine bubbles pearling up through the brew and lager style lacing too ... a gorgeous looking pint.

Flavour = now this is an odd one, I am expecting lager but get something different. My overall impression is that this is not a Pilsner but Weissbier. The flavour profile has nothing at all to do with standard lagers, more so it reminds me of Belgian beers, think along the lines of Duvel and you'll get what I am trying to convey. There is a distinct sweet profile, and the bubble-gummy nose comes through in the taste too, I also get faint hints of orange, orange peel. ( I promise you it is NOT the washing up liquid ). So it is sweet but strong too, 6% according to the blurb, it is more of a sipping beer than a guzzler and that's not a problem because this is actually quite a complex beer ... the brew is intriguing and I do keep wanting to come back to the glass to find out what is going on. I reckon that means it is pretty good despite the fact that I was expecting something drier and more along the lines of a standard Pilsner.

Would I buy it again ? Probably not for personal consumption. I did this brew as an experiment because I am not yet up to doing multi-step mashes, I don't have the kit for prolonged cold fermentations, making a decent Munich style lager is still light-years away. What I wanted was less of a daunting beer to offer my neophyte guests ... I don't want to be scaring them away. On these terms, The Hammer of Thor does the job almost perfectly ... but I fear that the beer may still be a little too complex for pure novices.

So, would I buy it again ? With the objective of giving it to guests ? No problems at all ... this is a good kit, it is not what I was expecting but the end result good. It is a lot better than a lot of commercial brews out there, for me, it gets a thumbs up :thumb: But more again in a couple of week's time ...

 

[Markdon]

Think i didnt use enough sugar when priming, which is a shame as its looking like a tasty pint.

 

[Tean Buns]

Another taste test ... at four weeks in the bottle. This is turning into REALLY nice beer. In one week, the brew has dried out some, the bubble gummy orangey flavours have diminished and there is more of a proper lager profile coming through, I actually got a few hints of bitterness this week ... yes a really nice brew, absolutely spot on for a kit. Totally satisfied. 10/10 for me. :thumb:

 

[winnywood]

Racked this to another fv yesterday fg was 1.008 so 6.3% a potent one. I left in fv for 10 days added hops on day 6.
Was very surprised there wasn't much trub in bottom of fv. Not sure whether thats a good thing or not. Gonna leave for another 10 days before bottleing.
Brewed this @ 20°c and then up the temp to 24°c on day 7.
Fement was nice and steady not much krusen.

Had sort of forgot about this one. do you peeps think its gonna be ok to bottle now? Its been in a secondary fv for over 3 weeks now. Im a bit worried it might not secondary ferment ok. Any one else left beer to clear thos long before bottling?

 

[Tean Buns]

Racked this to another fv yesterday fg was 1.008 so 6.3% a potent one. I left in fv for 10 days added hops on day 6.
Was very surprised there wasn't much trub in bottom of fv. Not sure whether thats a good thing or not. Gonna leave for another 10 days before bottleing.
Brewed this @ 20°c and then up the temp to 24°c on day 7.
Fement was nice and steady not much krusen.

Had sort of forgot about this one. do you peeps think its gonna be ok to bottle now? Its been in a secondary fv for over 3 weeks now. Im a bit worried it might not secondary ferment ok. Any one else left beer to clear thos long before bottling?

You should be fine ... you can culture up yeast from bottles that are months old. Go ahead and bottle, you'll be REALLY unlucky if it doesn't condition up, most unlikely. :hat:

 

[Tean Buns]

Six weeks in the bottle now and WOW has it improved. :clap: All of those sweet things have almost gone, the brew has dried up and it is turning into an absolutley fine beer ... I mean this is a kit and it tastes this good ! If you haven't read my previous posts, I'll just repeat myself, don't expect pub style lager, it's not that, it's almost lager, but not quite.

I am going to try and put into words what I have here, not very easy.
Odd sort of nose on it, I can't get it but my nose is abysmal, wood, leather ? something along those lines.

Head retention is not very good, therefore in with macro-lager production

Good looking ? Absolutely ... I'd take her home. More of a slight amber colour, hence the references to Belgian beers in previous posts, totally clear and does the job as far as a bottled lager should do.

taste ... and now it gets interesting, how can I describe this, intially it's thick in the mouth, and there is a light malty profile coming through, carbonation is just right and that malty profile slowly defines itself and becomes a slight residual sweetness. I cannot pick up any hoppiness though which is a shame because I like hops. This beer has improved dramatically in just two weeks ... I reckon it'll be even better in two weeks time ... so ... two months condtitioning will do it ... more in a couple of week's time

Spot on kit .. 10/10 for me ... I will be serving this brew to guests. :drink:

... providing there is any left ! <)

 

[IOMMick]

I started this one on Monday February 3rd. I followed instructions to the tee and brewed it to 23l, only this time I used about 20l of Mineral Water instead of my normal tap water - my tap water is quite decent but I wanted the mineral water for the 5l bottles containing it, to ferment some more wine. I pitched the yeast a bit cold at around 13c - I was in a rush I had a plane to catch and thought pitching it cold should mean a slow start, but it shouldn't damage anything as the FV will heat up to room temperature within a few hours (right?). Anyway I flew back in on Thursday and had a look and it seemed be completely dead, but with evidence that there had been considerable fermentation due to the mess around the sides of the FV. The texture of it also looked a bit weird, like a cold soup which had separated layers, rather than a homogeneous single substance (and this scares me a bit as no other brews have looked like this).

Anyway I did a reading on Thursday and it came out at about 1.012 from an SG of 1056, which is considerably faster work than the Evil Dog kit I done which took a couple of weeks to ferment out. Doing a reading again tonight it seems to have stuck at 1.012, which is a little high considering the Evil Dog went to 1003 eventually. So yeah I want to get that a bit lower, so I added a bit of yeast nutrient and gave it a bit of a stir, before letting it sit for a couple of hours then taking this photo

I added the hop teabags straight after and put the lid back on - thinking of giving it another 3 or 4 days in the heat to see if it moves then moving it for a week's cold crash before bottling. Will let everyone know how I get on :pray:

 

[Tean Buns]

I started this one on Monday February 3rd. I followed instructions to the tee and brewed it to 23l, only this time I used about 20l of Mineral Water instead of my normal tap water - my tap water is quite decent but I wanted the mineral water for the 5l bottles containing it, to ferment some more wine. I pitched the yeast a bit cold at around 13c - I was in a rush I had a plane to catch and thought pitching it cold should mean a slow start, but it shouldn't damage anything as the FV will heat up to room temperature within a few hours (right?). Anyway I flew back in on Thursday and had a look and it seemed be completely dead, but with evidence that there had been considerable fermentation due to the mess around the sides of the FV. The texture of it also looked a bit weird, like a cold soup which had separated layers, rather than a homogeneous single substance (and this scares me a bit as no other brews have looked like this).

Anyway I did a reading on Thursday and it came out at about 1.012 from an SG of 1056, which is considerably faster work than the Evil Dog kit I done which took a couple of weeks to ferment out. Doing a reading again tonight it seems to have stuck at 1.012, which is a little high considering the Evil Dog went to 1003 eventually. So yeah I want to get that a bit lower, so I added a bit of yeast nutrient and gave it a bit of a stir, before letting it sit for a couple of hours then taking this photo

I added the hop teabags straight after and put the lid back on - thinking of giving it another 3 or 4 days in the heat to see if it moves then moving it for a week's cold crash before bottling. Will let everyone know how I get on :pray:

I would rack it off into a carboy and leave it well alone for three weeks or so. It looks like your primary has finished and now needs a good dose of secondary fermentation. 1012 is a good FG for a beer with a high starting gravity ... it all depends on the yeast. The beer looks cloudy, this means that the beer has not finished fermenting ... even if your air lock is not producing bubbles .... leave it alone for a couple of weeks.

Have you got a thermometer strip stuck to the side of the bucket ? Great things. If it is up around 18°C It means there's not a problem ... at the end of primary. :hat:

 

[IOMMick]

I started this one on Monday February 3rd. I followed instructions to the tee and brewed it to 23l, only this time I used about 20l of Mineral Water instead of my normal tap water - my tap water is quite decent but I wanted the mineral water for the 5l bottles containing it, to ferment some more wine. I pitched the yeast a bit cold at around 13c - I was in a rush I had a plane to catch and thought pitching it cold should mean a slow start, but it shouldn't damage anything as the FV will heat up to room temperature within a few hours (right?). Anyway I flew back in on Thursday and had a look and it seemed be completely dead, but with evidence that there had been considerable fermentation due to the mess around the sides of the FV. The texture of it also looked a bit weird, like a cold soup which had separated layers, rather than a homogeneous single substance (and this scares me a bit as no other brews have looked like this).

Anyway I did a reading on Thursday and it came out at about 1.012 from an SG of 1056, which is considerably faster work than the Evil Dog kit I done which took a couple of weeks to ferment out. Doing a reading again tonight it seems to have stuck at 1.012, which is a little high considering the Evil Dog went to 1003 eventually. So yeah I want to get that a bit lower, so I added a bit of yeast nutrient and gave it a bit of a stir, before letting it sit for a couple of hours then taking this photo

I added the hop teabags straight after and put the lid back on - thinking of giving it another 3 or 4 days in the heat to see if it moves then moving it for a week's cold crash before bottling. Will let everyone know how I get on :pray:

I would rack it off into a carboy and leave it well alone for three weeks or so. It looks like your primary has finished and now needs a good dose of secondary fermentation. 1012 is a good FG for a beer with a high starting gravity ... it all depends on the yeast. The beer looks cloudy, this means that the beer has not finished fermenting ... even if your air lock is not producing bubbles .... leave it alone for a couple of weeks.

Have you got a thermometer strip stuck to the side of the bucket ? Great things. If it is up around 18°C It means there's not a problem ... at the end of primary. :hat:

The airlock was moving very slowly again this morning, so it's doing something now (not sure if it was the stir, the hops, or the yeast nutrient - or maybe all). I know 1.012 is technically close to FG but I've yet to have a beer finish above 1.006 (think it's a slightly dodgey hydrometer) and it just doesn't look quite right, so I'm hoping to get it down. Anyway, yeah as long as it's doing something I'll have the patience to leave it, I'll wait until it's current fermentation boast slows then rack to a secondary and leave for another while.

 

[Tean Buns]

I started this one on Monday February 3rd. I followed instructions to the tee and brewed it to 23l, only this time I used about 20l of Mineral Water instead of my normal tap water - my tap water is quite decent but I wanted the mineral water for the 5l bottles containing it, to ferment some more wine. I pitched the yeast a bit cold at around 13c - I was in a rush I had a plane to catch and thought pitching it cold should mean a slow start, but it shouldn't damage anything as the FV will heat up to room temperature within a few hours (right?). Anyway I flew back in on Thursday and had a look and it seemed be completely dead, but with evidence that there had been considerable fermentation due to the mess around the sides of the FV. The texture of it also looked a bit weird, like a cold soup which had separated layers, rather than a homogeneous single substance (and this scares me a bit as no other brews have looked like this).

Anyway I did a reading on Thursday and it came out at about 1.012 from an SG of 1056, which is considerably faster work than the Evil Dog kit I done which took a couple of weeks to ferment out. Doing a reading again tonight it seems to have stuck at 1.012, which is a little high considering the Evil Dog went to 1003 eventually. So yeah I want to get that a bit lower, so I added a bit of yeast nutrient and gave it a bit of a stir, before letting it sit for a couple of hours then taking this photo

I added the hop teabags straight after and put the lid back on - thinking of giving it another 3 or 4 days in the heat to see if it moves then moving it for a week's cold crash before bottling. Will let everyone know how I get on :pray:

I would rack it off into a carboy and leave it well alone for three weeks or so. It looks like your primary has finished and now needs a good dose of secondary fermentation. 1012 is a good FG for a beer with a high starting gravity ... it all depends on the yeast. The beer looks cloudy, this means that the beer has not finished fermenting ... even if your air lock is not producing bubbles .... leave it alone for a couple of weeks.

Have you got a thermometer strip stuck to the side of the bucket ? Great things. If it is up around 18°C It means there's not a problem ... at the end of primary. :hat:

The airlock was moving very slowly again this morning, so it's doing something now (not sure if it was the stir, the hops, or the yeast nutrient - or maybe all). I know 1.012 is technically close to FG but I've yet to have a beer finish above 1.006 (think it's a slightly dodgey hydrometer) and it just doesn't look quite right, so I'm hoping to get it down. Anyway, yeah as long as it's doing something I'll have the patience to leave it, I'll wait until it's current fermentation boast slows then rack to a secondary and leave for another while.

I have noticed that the addition of hops, finings etc will give the impression that the fermentation has started again but generally it is just the gas coming out of solution, there may be some residual fermentation but it'll not be much. With a high gravity beer you are going to find it hard getting the brew down to 1006 ... it'll take lots of time. Particularly with an ale yeast. My AG brews tend to finish at around 1010. Dave Line recommends 1 week's conditioning for each degree of final gravity ... so that gives us some idea of how long it will take to bring the last few degrees down. And this has been true of my own brew ... almost 7 weeks in the bottle now and it is ONLY just coming into form.

I doubt your hydrometer is "wrong" ... unless you boiled it up or something ... but the scales on the things are not very clear and leave quite a lot of room for error. Temperature also plays its part.

Happy home-brewing... it'll be fine. It's worth the wait, I am really impressed with the brew ... for a kit :hat:

 

[TartanSpecial]

Hi everyone. This is my first post...just got back into brewing again after a 20 year break. I also started a Hammer of Thor batch off on Monday 3rd Feb....starting gravity 1.056, and by Sunday the 9th it was 1.009 and slowed right down doing its secondary..... The colour of my batch looks a bit lighter than your pic but it could be the camera..or my colourblindness :) . I'm planning to leave another few days then bottle at the 14 day mark.

I've also got a Muntons Midas touch in the pressure keg..its turned out really nice though has taken 3 weeks to clear properly.

 

[Tean Buns]

Hi everyone. This is my first post...just got back into brewing again after a 20 year break. I also started a Hammer of Thor batch off on Monday 3rd Feb....starting gravity 1.056, and by Sunday the 9th it was 1.009 and slowed right down doing its secondary..... The colour of my batch looks a bit lighter than your pic but it could be the camera..or my colourblindness :) . I'm planning to leave another few days then bottle at the 14 day mark.

I've also got a Muntons Midas touch in the pressure keg..its turned out really nice though has taken 3 weeks to clear properly.

Welcome back to the fraternity. RE the photo, it looks as if the brew has just started to clear ... it seems to be clearing on the top inch or so. It could be the light, a shadow tho'. But it's quite a dark "lager" all the same. Let us know how yours turns out ... I'm chuffed with mine. :hat:

 

[IOMMick]

No, mine really was as ugly and dark as the photo suggested, when I went to give it a stir it had a lighter colour of liquid just below the top layer (which as I said concerned me) - it seems to be slowly bubbling away again now and I had a quick peak and it looks much healthier today, a bit more like beer and less like curdled soup. I'm going to leave it in the heat until Friday to get the FG a bit lower then cold crash for a week while I fly off somewhere warm with the missus and kiddies for half term

 

[Tean Buns]

Yet another update.

Wow ! Even since last week the beer has improved, it's now week seven, it's even better, it's getting drier and lighter as the weeks go by. I am even more impressed. I am unable to put into words what is going on with the beer, it is light, dry, not quite like lager, lacking a bit of hoppy bite to my mind but overall an excellent beer. And it kicks too ... still 10/10 for a kit. Spot on. :drink:

 

[TartanSpecial]

sounds good...I'll bottle mine on Monday and hope it turns out as good as yours. :

 

[Tean Buns]

sounds good...I'll bottle mine on Monday and hope it turns out as good as yours. :

The trouble is I like the beer and want to come back for more. I have bottled in 75 cl bottles and when the beer is at 6% I only dare have one of an evening ... otherwise things would go a bit wild :grin: ... keep us updated on how yours comes out.

 

[TartanSpecial]

bottled mine today..and took a pic of the fermentation vessel....it looks darker than when I took a look at it a week ago (when it was a lot cloudier) and looks remarkably similar to yours...unfortunately I'm having trouble attaching the picture....says '0' is the maximum number of attachments I can add. :wha:

 

[Tean Buns]

bottled mine today..and took a pic of the fermentation vessel....it looks darker than when I took a look at it a week ago (when it was a lot cloudier) and looks remarkably similar to yours...unfortunately I'm having trouble attaching the picture....says '0' is the maximum number of attachments I can add. :wha:

Photo ... rules of the forum, until you have certain number of posts you can not insert photos. And then you have to upload them to a host site and paste them in using a link.

darker & lighter on photos is very difficult to judge, ideally it requires a flash at the back of the bottle and even then it is nowhere near 'reality'. Only two weeks to go before you can start tasting ... but it would be better to wait ! Just like I didn't ... and won't !

Happy Home-brewing :hat:

 

[Rob Johnston]

I forgot that I had some of this in the fridge in the garage until the other day, so I went and took a couple of bottle`s out, they had been in there for 7 months and wow they were really nice, glad that I forgot them, but alas now there is only one left, so I might just pop and have it now, :drink: