TheRtHonorable
Active Member
Hey guys,
Sorry if this is a long post, but I'm having problems with off flavours having moved from kits to BIAB, and having done two AG brews.
I've just bottled AG#2 tonight, after 11 days in the FV.
Both brews were Bathams Bitter clones; after the first one went wrong I decided to stick to the recipe and get the beer tasting right before moving on. The first attempt tasted a bit odd while sampling it from the FV on the way along,and after bottling and conditioning, it has a very odd taste. I can't decide if it's astringency or sourness. The FV did get up to 26C though at one point, before I read that it should really be a fair bit cooler.
For the first brew, I used my 50L stainless pan on a gas stove, and the boil wasn't that strong. Hops were in a hop bag, and there was no hop strainer so all the break material went into the FV. I squeezed the grain bag quite a lot, and the OG was around 1.054 if memory serves... It fermented down to 1.012, and it was pretty cloudy going into the bottles. It still hasnt cleared that well!
So, I decided to make some changes for AG#2. I fitted two 2750w elements to the boiler, and added a braided tube as a hop strainer. Hops went straight into the boil, and irish moss went in towards the end. The wort was really clear into the fermenter, with OG 1.044. It fermented for 11 days at around 20C, down again to 1.012. I tasted it at four days into fermentation when it was around 1.020, and it tasted fantastic, nice and hoppy.
Basically, both brews had the same taste/aroma, with it less obvious in the second one, although its only just been bottled. I don't know if it's down to less break material in the second one, or lower fermentation temperature.
I did notice that the trub left over for AG#2 smelled really strongly of the off flavours I'm getting. It smelled really alcoholic, and not in a good way. Perhaps I should rack the beer off the trub next time into a secondary, maybe after 4 or 5 days?
I really had hoped that my AG brews would be much better than kits, so I'm rather disappointed and I've thrown a fair bit of money into this. I'm actually considering buying another kit just to have some beer to drink while I work this out!
Any advice would be much appreciated!
Cheers,
Chris
Sorry if this is a long post, but I'm having problems with off flavours having moved from kits to BIAB, and having done two AG brews.
I've just bottled AG#2 tonight, after 11 days in the FV.
Both brews were Bathams Bitter clones; after the first one went wrong I decided to stick to the recipe and get the beer tasting right before moving on. The first attempt tasted a bit odd while sampling it from the FV on the way along,and after bottling and conditioning, it has a very odd taste. I can't decide if it's astringency or sourness. The FV did get up to 26C though at one point, before I read that it should really be a fair bit cooler.
For the first brew, I used my 50L stainless pan on a gas stove, and the boil wasn't that strong. Hops were in a hop bag, and there was no hop strainer so all the break material went into the FV. I squeezed the grain bag quite a lot, and the OG was around 1.054 if memory serves... It fermented down to 1.012, and it was pretty cloudy going into the bottles. It still hasnt cleared that well!
So, I decided to make some changes for AG#2. I fitted two 2750w elements to the boiler, and added a braided tube as a hop strainer. Hops went straight into the boil, and irish moss went in towards the end. The wort was really clear into the fermenter, with OG 1.044. It fermented for 11 days at around 20C, down again to 1.012. I tasted it at four days into fermentation when it was around 1.020, and it tasted fantastic, nice and hoppy.
Basically, both brews had the same taste/aroma, with it less obvious in the second one, although its only just been bottled. I don't know if it's down to less break material in the second one, or lower fermentation temperature.
I did notice that the trub left over for AG#2 smelled really strongly of the off flavours I'm getting. It smelled really alcoholic, and not in a good way. Perhaps I should rack the beer off the trub next time into a secondary, maybe after 4 or 5 days?
I really had hoped that my AG brews would be much better than kits, so I'm rather disappointed and I've thrown a fair bit of money into this. I'm actually considering buying another kit just to have some beer to drink while I work this out!
Any advice would be much appreciated!
Cheers,
Chris
