Help me fix my homebrew.

[nickjdavis]

@dreaddan

I wouldnt say that "PET are really that bad"...but my experience is that you do seem to get more bottle variation than with glass.

Yes 2+2+2 is as you describe....sometimes I let my beer sit for three weeks in the FV to let the yeast really clean up.

One of the techniques that I use to deliver flavour is to actually forego any sort of early bitterring boil addition and put all my hops in late...for example I brewed a beer where my hop additions (Godiva 6.7% AA) were 17g for 15 mins, 24g for 10mins, 34g for 5mins, 25g whirlpool for 20mins. The beer was full of hop flavours....i'm not saying this is the right way or the best way to get lots of hop flavour into a beer.....its just a methodology that works for me. that particular beer was relatively low IBU (20)....if you require higher bitterness then there is nothing to stop you using a clean bittering hop (something like Magnum for example) as a traditional 60 minute addition or by going even bigger with the late hop additions.

So using Tesco Ashbeck as a source you've still got a pretty mineral free water (even if the constitution has changed in recent years) and shouldnt require any acidification when used as sparge water...though I still question the need to add brewing salts to the sparge water (unless the salt additions are extreme and may affect your mash pH...but your additions are not what i would call extreme)....all you are really doing is rinsing the remaining sugars from the mash...as long as the sparge water isnt too hot then you should be OK, as long as your runnings are not dropping below 1.010 or drifting above 6pH....but the latter shouldnt happen with Ashbeck.

I do much the same with my malts....i don't have space to store 25kg sacks (and typically use three or four base matls depending on what I brew) so I buy what i need (crushed) for my next two or three brews....given that I brew roughly every three weeks it doesnt sit around too long once opened....if its lying around for 3 or 4 months then you might have an issue.

I dont think your bottling is weak...unless you are going to force carb in a keg and then counter-pressure fill then you have no other option....I bottle in exactly the same way as you...as long as you are using one of the "little bottler" style bottle fillers and filling from the bottom and can control the initial flow of the beer until the bottom inch or so of the bottler is covered then you shouldnt have a huge problem unless brewing super hoppy pale (APA/IPA) beers where it seems the slightest opportunity for Oxygen ingress can cause problems down the line.

By all means message me directly if you want to send me a beer for tasting.

 

[dreaddan]

Are the hop amounts for 24l?

I do think I'll re-look at the additions, I'm not 100% convinced that I need to bother. But feels a simple thing to do.

I think i need to look at the sparge and time in the ferementer.

Ill probably reachout once it's done.

 

[nickjdavis]

Are the hop amounts for 24l?

I do think I'll re-look at the additions, I'm not 100% convinced that I need to bother. But feels a simple thing to do.

I think i need to look at the sparge and time in the ferementer.

Ill probably reachout once it's done.

Was a 25L brewlength.

 

[Tommo 2]

@dreaddan

I wouldnt say that "PET are really that bad"...but my experience is that you do seem to get more bottle variation than with glass.

Yes 2+2+2 is as you describe....sometimes I let my beer sit for three weeks in the FV to let the yeast really clean up.

One of the techniques that I use to deliver flavour is to actually forego any sort of early bitterring boil addition and put all my hops in late...for example I brewed a beer where my hop additions (Godiva 6.7% AA) were 17g for 15 mins, 24g for 10mins, 34g for 5mins, 25g whirlpool for 20mins. The beer was full of hop flavours....i'm not saying this is the right way or the best way to get lots of hop flavour into a beer.....its just a methodology that works for me. that particular beer was relatively low IBU (20)....if you require higher bitterness then there is nothing to stop you using a clean bittering hop (something like Magnum for example) as a traditional 60 minute addition or by going even bigger with the late hop additions.

So using Tesco Ashbeck as a source you've still got a pretty mineral free water (even if the constitution has changed in recent years) and shouldnt require any acidification when used as sparge water...though I still question the need to add brewing salts to the sparge water (unless the salt additions are extreme and may affect your mash pH...but your additions are not what i would call extreme)....all you are really doing is rinsing the remaining sugars from the mash...as long as the sparge water isnt too hot then you should be OK, as long as your runnings are not dropping below 1.010 or drifting above 6pH....but the latter shouldnt happen with Ashbeck.

I do much the same with my malts....i don't have space to store 25kg sacks (and typically use three or four base matls depending on what I brew) so I buy what i need (crushed) for my next two or three brews....given that I brew roughly every three weeks it doesnt sit around too long once opened....if its lying around for 3 or 4 months then you might have an issue.

I dont think your bottling is weak...unless you are going to force carb in a keg and then counter-pressure fill then you have no other option....I bottle in exactly the same way as you...as long as you are using one of the "little bottler" style bottle fillers and filling from the bottom and can control the initial flow of the beer until the bottom inch or so of the bottler is covered then you shouldnt have a huge problem unless brewing super hoppy pale (APA/IPA) beers where it seems the slightest opportunity for Oxygen ingress can cause problems down the line.

By all means message me directly if you want to send me a beer for tasting.

Is the hop schedule listed above for 23 litres or 19 litres, would like to give your technique a go.

 

[nickjdavis]

Is the hop schedule listed above for 23 litres or 19 litres, would like to give your technique a go.

Was a 25L brewlength, targeting 20IBU with an OG of 1.042 (i.e. a Bitterness Ratio of 0.48 IBU/SG).

With very low or medium low AA hops, you may find yourself having to put lots of hops in the boil...something that may have detrimental effects to the long term stability of the beer or even on your bank balance, the way some hops are priced.

As an example I did a similar thing in a different beer using 2.7% AA hops....100g in total across additions at 15,10,5 and zero minutes....this only gave about 9 IBU in total...I'd have needed double the amount to get close to the 22IBU which was desired...instead, just 8g of 17% Magnum at 60 mins got me where I needed to be.

So its great for getting lots of flavour in your brew...but dont let it dictate everything about your hop additions....if you need to add something neutral to get your IBU's up then dont be afraid of doing so.

 

[Tommo 2]

Was a 25L brewlength, targeting 20IBU with an OG of 1.042 (i.e. a Bitterness Ratio of 0.48 IBU/SG).

With very low or medium low AA hops, you may find yourself having to put lots of hops in the boil...something that may have detrimental effects to the long term stability of the beer or even on your bank balance, the way some hops are priced.

As an example I did a similar thing in a different beer using 2.7% AA hops....100g in total across additions at 15,10,5 and zero minutes....this only gave about 9 IBU in total...I'd have needed double the amount to get close to the 22IBU which was desired...instead, just 8g of 17% Magnum at 60 mins got me where I needed to be.

So its great for getting lots of flavour in your brew...but dont let it dictate everything about your hop additions....if you need to add something neutral to get your IBU's up then dont be afraid of doing so.

 

[Tommo 2]

Was a 25L brewlength, targeting 20IBU with an OG of 1.042 (i.e. a Bitterness Ratio of 0.48 IBU/SG).

With very low or medium low AA hops, you may find yourself having to put lots of hops in the boil...something that may have detrimental effects to the long term stability of the beer or even on your bank balance, the way some hops are priced.

As an example I did a similar thing in a different beer using 2.7% AA hops....100g in total across additions at 15,10,5 and zero minutes....this only gave about 9 IBU in total...I'd have needed double the amount to get close to the 22IBU which was desired...instead, just 8g of 17% Magnum at 60 mins got me where I needed to be.

So its great for getting lots of flavour in your brew...but dont let it dictate everything about your hop additions....if you need to add something neutral to get your IBU's up then dont be afraid of doing so.

Cheers for that mate

 

[dreaddan]

Hi, I've tried the current batch and seems OK to me. Obs still young but does need more flavour.

So I'm thinking of adding more to the late boil which looks.like:

10g @15
9@ 5
20@ hopstand for 20mins
44 dryhop for 2 days

 

[Jim Brewster]

Nothing is jumping out at me as a culprit.
Perhaps try a different style of beer with a different yeast and some darker malts just to see how that goes?

 

[foxy]

Hi, I've tried the current batch and seems OK to me. Obs still young but does need more flavour.

So I'm thinking of adding more to the late boil which looks.like:

10g @15
9@ 5
20@ hopstand for 20mins
44 dryhop for 2 days

A good article to read here, Glen Tinseth helped in formulating the calculator but it shows how some IBU predictions can be way out. Since using the calculator have found the bitterness more realistic, but have had to wind it back slightly. It still comes down to the Goldilocks method..
A Modern Method for Calculating IBUs - Brew Your Own

 

[dreaddan]

Nothing is jumping out at me as a culprit.
Perhaps try a different style of beer with a different yeast and some darker malts just to see how that goes?

Tbh, I think ingoing to try one more batch to use up what is have and if that's still got the same issues I think I'll give up.

 

[Jim Brewster]

Could be worth giving a small batch AG kit a try from a homebrew supplier such as CrossMyLoof, then you can eliminate wether it is ingredients or process.

I wouldn't worry too much about water profiles at this stage, just dechlorinate with either pre-boiled, a campden tablet or use bottled. in fact I've never had much success with water adjustments and I've lived in both very hard and very soft water areas at both extremes and always seems best when I just leave the water alone. Although if you have very high hardness i.e. carbonate, you might want to adjust the hot liquor to get the mash pH down to the correct levels.

Just wondering, do you use clear PET bottles? as the hop flavour will be ruined through exposure to sunlight. And how is the carbonation level? often the beers I've had that weren't quite right have opened without much of a pop. Are you conditioning in a cold cellar, if so 2 weeks will almost certainly not be long enough

 

[dreaddan]

I have thought about using a kit, though most I found were for 25l batches.
My water defo needs something as it had a tang to it, which is why I use bottled water.

For conditioning I store them in my home office for 2 weeks, it's usually pretty warm in there as its at the top of the house. I then move yo the celler, so although there brown glass don't get much light.
Mostly there decently carbed, occationly over

 

[dreaddan]

I thought i should update this now.
I sent this up to Scottish amateur brewers comp and got 31 and 32 so definitely better.
I tasted a bottle the day before the comp that had traveled so want fully clear but was decent, low flavour but no off flavours - I felt it was young so was surprised it did so well.

Unfortunately I do this some of these bottles have oxidised as I'm getting more sweetness now

I'm sure I was over sparging so I think I'll do a quick dunk sparge from now on.