Spoke to John Ritchie again today , and for the record he couldnt be more helpful, Hes enthusiastic about his work and products and this comes over in his attitude . The analysis of the sample i sent him came back. The Problem was containing acetate and fusel alcohols. There conclusion was it was caused by Yeast quality and or fermenting above 26c. The sample i sent was fermented between 20 -22c . Hes asked me to do another test kit . Without knowing the batch number its hard to trace back to that batch of yeast. He also mentioned that there kits contain Individual yeast strains. Tailored to suit the style of beer. So its not a generic strain like some use . Any way hes going to be looking into yeast quality and we will be speaking again in a couple of weeks , In the Mean time please any and all comments on these Kits will be welcome.:thumb:
Problems with Festival Bitter
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Spoke to John Ritchie again today , and for the record he couldnt be more helpful, Hes enthusiastic about his work and products and this comes over in his attitude . The analysis of the sample i sent him came back. The Problem was containing acetate and fusel alcohols. There conclusion was it was caused by Yeast quality and or fermenting above 26c. The sample i sent was fermented between 20 -22c . Hes asked me to do another test kit . Without knowing the batch number its hard to trace back to that batch of yeast. He also mentioned that there kits contain Individual yeast strains. Tailored to suit the style of beer. So its not a generic strain like some use . Any way hes going to be looking into yeast quality and we will be speaking again in a couple of weeks , In the Mean time please any and all comments on these Kits will be welcome.:thumb:
This is very interesting - I mentioned on another thread that I had to ditch an Endeavour Pale a month ago as it smelled of nail polish and the sample tasted awful. It was either just in or just out of use by date (a month either way) but I don't have the box now. I have no temperature control for fermenting but I would be very surprised if it reached above 20c. I would expect it to be 16 - 18c. I tend to ferment on the cool side even if it takes a bit longer.
He said he has had no other complaints , but i said most people dont complain they just throw away and dont buy again , We dont complain enough in this country that why we get so much poor service and food in restaurants bars and in general
I agree we don't complain enough.
I brewed a Wilkos cerveza at the same time which had a very faint tang to it so it may be possible that they both were fermented slightly high (but highly doubtful). This was before the recent hot spell and I didn't have any heating on in the house. If anything they would have been pretty cold in the middle of the night.
I brewed a Wilkos cerveza at the same time which had a very faint tang to it so it may be possible that they both were fermented slightly high (but highly doubtful). This was before the recent hot spell and I didn't have any heating on in the house. If anything they would have been pretty cold in the middle of the night.
The problem is that the brew cools at night then the yeast struggles, while it gets back to temp during the day then back down at night its a up down temp scale making the yeast struggle that causes these twangs.
That's much more likely in my case rather than fermenting at 25c. The faint twang on the cerveza seems to be conditioning out but the taste of the Endeavour was extreme. The temperature must have fluctuated wildly or the yeast really struggled for it to taste and smell so bad.
This can be combatted by using yeast that likes low temps . A low fermenting lager yeast is perfect for kitchen brewing during nov to april . there certain times of the year for making certain types of beer , lager time is nov to april , then your long conditioning brews like stout and christmas ales then your bitters, Ipa. Milds , Scottish ales etc. ale yeasts do better around 20-22c lager yeasts colder so try to temper your brewing to suit the Yeasts. You will have to find out the kit yeast types or use your own, If i make lager for example i can get 3-5 batches from a good lager yeast. :thumb:
Yes i had one that was like a tin of varnish (USA Steam ) and this last one was the Pilgrims hope not so bad but still not good (the one i sent to Ritchies) pity you dont still have the box or a sample.
Unfortunately I didn't bottle any of it as I thought it a waste of time - no way that was going to condition out! If I'd known that Ritchies would have been interested in analysing a sample, I would have kept a small bottle or two.
The best ã30 I ever spent was on an ink bird controller,I aqquuired the old freezer from Doune Castle (where Monty Python was filmed) and honestly temp control changes the whole scenario,its good for cold crashing and conditioning
Old_Bob
Active Member
My brew is the same, Ive just put down to the fact that hops were added during the brew.
Mine seems to be creating quite a bit of pressure in the keg and blowing off the float assembly from the tap.
Not had a chance to drink much of it as yet due to this.....:-(
Seems okay the small amount that I have had.
Mine seems to be creating quite a bit of pressure in the keg and blowing off the float assembly from the tap.
Not had a chance to drink much of it as yet due to this.....:-(
Seems okay the small amount that I have had.
