Hello and help please!

[Tom Parsons]

Hi all,
I have just started home brewing. I am starting with extract brews and kits while I get the basics together before I dive into all grain.

I would like to describe my latest brew that went horribly wrong, what I suspect happened and what I might try next time to improve things - any advice very welcome!

I attempted to make a dry hopped pale but ended up creating a muddy puddle. It was a pale ale dry hoped with 150g hop pellets in 24 litres

When I transferred it from FV to bottling bucket, it was a lovely golden colour (I guess around 4 SRM). I used a wand/cane to fill the bottles from the bucket having added dissolved priming sugar to the bucket.

After about 4 days of warm conditioning, I could tell carbonation was OK, so I thought I see how it was tasting. 4 hours in the fridge later, I poured it. I was shocked to see the colour - it had darkened to about 17 SRM! (a dark bitter). I really liked the taste though - the hop aroma was great.

Sadly just a week later, the beer was still dark but now tasted of cardboard and the hops were gone.

I am guessing the beer picked up too much oxygen? I am thinking of bottling straight from primary next time - do you think that would help?

Are there any other possible causes of this discoloration you can think of?

Thanks

Tom

 

[Sadfield]

Hi.

Definitely sounds like oxidation I'm afraid. How did you transfer from primary to your bottling bucket? By syphon, tap or a tube attached to a tap? Transferring to a bottling bucket and batch priming is a good way to do it, being gentle and not splashing or foaming the beer is key. You could however try straight from primary, although this would require priming the bottles individually, as it's hard to mix priming sugar in the fv without disturbing the trub.

Sent from my E5823 using Tapatalk

 

[-Bezza-]

I'm reading this wondering whether a lot of steps have been rushed in the excitement of getting to try the beer.

As a general piece of advice, once you've pitched the yeast into some well aerated wort, it's best to leave things be as much as possible - 2 weeks to ferment and let the yeast have its fun and wipe up the mess afterwards, 2 weeks to carb and another 2 weeks to condition. That doesn't specifically address the issues you've faced, but a good practice in general. To minimise risk of oxydation, no splashing things about once the yeast is in.

How long did you dry hop for?

I'd also suggest a cold crash once fermentation has completed and the dry hops are in. It might be that a lot of hop sediment was transferred to the bottles which has had an impact on colour.

 

[Fil]

when transfering into the bottling bucket, use a hose with a draintap, and as with a siphon tube lay the end in the bottling bucket base, that way residual co2 still dissolved in the beer from fermentation can get agitated out of suspension by the transfer and can form a protective co2 blanket above the brew, taking it slow n gentle is fine

and when filling bottles, again fill from the bottom and let the foam flow out the top, it may be a bit messy, (do it over a tray..) but the foam is full of co2 and its pushing out all the air in the bottle..

next time.....

 

[LarryF]

I've always bottled from the primary using tap and bottling wand and never had a problem with clarity. I would really recommend the 2+2+2 suggestion, I'm now thinking of a 2 week ferment and then remove the heating and give it a week long mini cold crash (more for the winter months). When I dry hop I use a weighted mesh bag.

 

[Tom Parsons]

Thanks all. I dry hopped after 5 days and transferred to bucket at day 10. I will leave it longer next time. I "cold crashed" to about 11°c from about day 9.

I left most of the beer for 2 weeks to condition before transferring to the fridge. I figure I did a rubbish job transferring to the bucket - my fv has a tap and I used a hose into the bucket, but I do confess to not thinking about oxygen pickup.

I put the hops straight into the fv - should I use a bag to avoid too much hop matter? If I am leaving fermentation for 2 weeks, at what point would you recommend adding hops?

 

[LarryF]

Thanks all. I dry hopped after 5 days and transferred to bucket at day 10. I will leave it longer next time. I "cold crashed" to about 11°c from about day 9.

I left most of the beer for 2 weeks to condition before transferring to the fridge. I figure I did a rubbish job transferring to the bucket - my fv has a tap and I used a hose into the bucket, but I do confess to not thinking about oxygen pickup.

I put the hops straight into the fv - should I use a bag to avoid too much hop matter? If I am leaving fermentation for 2 weeks, at what point would you recommend adding hops?

I dry hop 5 days before bottling.

 

[Slid]

Using a bag for the hops is good for reducing hop material in the beer. Add the dty hops for five days after 9 days in primary FV, so that they get removed on day 14.
I would then rack to a secondary FV for a further week before bottling, but not everyone does. In fact, I expect to be in the minority.

When racking - transferring beer to another FV, use a s hose that is long enough to be under the surface in the second vessel.

 

[Tom Parsons]

I think I will try bottling from primary after 2 weeks with hops in a bag for last 5 days next time - see how that goes. Thanks again for your time.

 

[GerritT]

Using a bag for the hops is good for reducing hop material in the beer. Add the dty hops for five days after 9 days in primary FV, so that they get removed on day 14.
I would then rack to a secondary FV for a further week before bottling, but not everyone does. In fact, I expect to be in the minority.

When racking - transferring beer to another FV, use a s hose that is long enough to be under the surface in the second vessel.

I rack 2 days before bottling, But only if it fits in with the weekends. But racking is a thing.

 

[Bigcol49]

'Ow do!
I found this interesting tidbit on t'Interweb: Many recipes call for as much as seven days of dry hopping, but recent research has indicated that most if not all of the beneficial compounds have been extracted within two to three days.
(https://www.love2brew.com/Articles.asp?ID=597)

 

[GerritT]

'Ow do!
I found this interesting tidbit on t'Interweb: Many recipes call for as much as seven days of dry hopping, but recent research has indicated that most if not all of the beneficial compounds have been extracted within two to three days.
(https://www.love2brew.com/Articles.asp?ID=597)

So 5 days would be sufficient. Fits between 2 weekends. #wouldwork

 

[-Bezza-]

'Ow do!
I found this interesting tidbit on t'Interweb: Many recipes call for as much as seven days of dry hopping, but recent research has indicated that most if not all of the beneficial compounds have been extracted within two to three days.
(https://www.love2brew.com/Articles.asp?ID=597)

Interesting. I probably dry hop for too long as I chuck them in after the first week of fermentation, so they get another 1 week in the warm and 1 week of cold crashing before the beer gets into the bottle. Perhaps I should dry hop a week later, once I've started the cold crash...