First attempt at extract with steeping grains

[Spapro]

@Spapro - the fridge actually doesn't take up much space! I bought a cheap one off ebay and made a thread about the build here. I've only realised now that having a fridge like that next to the TV is a bad thing....I want beer all the time now!

Nice build, just suggested to the wife I should have a brew fridge next to our TV in the front room - I can't print her response here for the risk of causing offence !!!

 

[ProjectBeer]

Ok so I was anxious to try a bottle this evening after 9 days conditioning. I have to say, it's pretty damn tasty! I absolutely love it! It's got an aftertaste that dries the mouth out, it's roasty, chocolatey, bitter and smells great. I'm not sure what I would change about it if anything. I'm sure it will just keep getting better in time for my birthday bbq in a week and a half.

Oh...and it's super dark :)

 

[stevej]

Ok so I was anxious to try a bottle this evening after 9 days conditioning. I have to say, it's pretty damn tasty! I absolutely love it! It's got an aftertaste that dries the mouth out, it's roasty, chocolatey, bitter and smells great. I'm not sure what I would change about it if anything. I'm sure it will just keep getting better in time for my birthday bbq in a week and a half.

Oh...and it's super dark :)

Looks amazing well done :drink:

 

[clibit]

Looks great. What yeast did you use?

 

[ProjectBeer]

Just US-05

 

[clibit]

Just US-05

Good choice I reckon, won't interfere with all the malt and hops flavours you got in there.

 

[ProjectBeer]

I figured for IPA styles at least I'm going to stick with a clean fermenting yeast until I'm happy with recipes. I might buy a another FV to split batches and experiment.

You do a lot of 10 litres batches right? How big are your FVs?

 

[clibit]

Not sure exactly what they hold, about 12 litres I think, to the brim. Not a huge amount of headroom, but no problems so far!

 

[ProjectBeer]

Mind if I ask where you got them and what they look like?

I'm slowly realising that 5 gallon batches are huge and I want to try lots of new recipes so maybe smaller batches might be the way forward, but I'm not sure if I can fit 2 smaller FVs in my brewfridge...

 

[clibit]

I picked them up in an Indian take away, they held yoghurt. I got five, for nothing. And a 5 litre one too. I also have five demijohns.

 

[ProjectBeer]

Ha! Fair enough then :)

 

[clibit]

You can buy 10 litre buckets of yoghurt. How much yoghurt do you get through? :-)

 

[ProjectBeer]

I don't think I've eaten even 1 litre in the last year!

 

[Covrich]

I don't think I've eaten even 1 litre in the last year!

You can knock up some batches of tandoori chicken :rofl:

And .. lots of healthy breakfasts...:|

 

[GHW]

Smaller fvs, like 15L cost about £7 online. I'm going to get a few I think as I might be able to squeeze two in where I've just got my 30L at the mo. Also you'll probably lose less to trub than doing a 5 or 10L in a big old fv. That's my theory at any rate.

 

[ProjectBeer]

Hmm....I'm not sure if I might have a problem...

I opened up one of the 500ml bottles (the majority are in 330ml bottles) after having it in the fridge all day at 8C. There was a LOT of gas escaping when I popped the lid and the beer started foaming out of the bottle. I had to pour it into a glass then pour about a pint's worth of foam out before being able to pour it from the bottle.

I took a picture of it with a massive foamy head. I think there may be some over-carbonation in some of the bottles...? A lot of the hop aroma is lost compared to the bottle I had last night, could that be due to the over-carbonation?

I really hope they don't turn into bombs - thankfully they're stored in a large plastic box with a secure lid.

I think net time I rack to a bottling bucket with priming sugar, I may give it a few gentle stirs to make sure the sugar solution is mixed throughout properly. I had just left the end of the hose in the bottling bucket to swirl and mix on it's own, but not sure if it was enough. Fingers crossed there are no explosions...

Do you reckon since it's a 500ml bottle it needs a bit more headspace than a 330ml bottle? My method is to fill until the beer reaches the rim of the bottle, then stop and remove the bottle from the little bottler so that the displaced beer creates some headspace in the bottle.

 

[ProjectBeer]

Actually, once the fizz died down, it still tasted great!

 

[Slid]

I never worked out the little bottler that came with the Coopers kit at all. Too many drips onto the bedroom carpet. Would suggest an inch and a half headroom for proper beer bottles.

The usual reason for over-carbonation is bottling too early, not too much priming sugar.

And I am not convinced that batch priming gives more uniform distribution of priming sugar than using a funnel and a teaspoon, placing the sugar directly into each bottle.

 

[ProjectBeer]

It's a good thing our kitchen has a wooden floor :) A towel underneath sorts it right out.

I don't think I bottled early though - fermentation seemed to have been complete for quite a while before I even dry hopped, and I had left it over 3 weeks in the FV including the dry hop time, plus 2 days of cold crashing, which I assumed would have cause most (not all) of the yeast to drop out of suspension and lead to a longer conditioning time.

I've put one of the 330ml bottles in the fridge to see if that one is ok, maybe it is the headspace after all.

If I have to prime every bottle, I'm not gonna enjoy it haha.

 

[clibit]

Batch priming works. Just give it a gentle stir and leave it alone for half an hour, sterilise the bottles, perhaps.