Questions after 1st brew

[prankard]

Hey Guys,

I've finished brewing my first proper homebrew. That is, one that doesn't come from a kit. I followed a simple SMASH recipie online and made 2 simple pale ale beers, both with liquid malt extact one with cascade hops, and the other with east kent goldings hops.


I'm nearing the end of the homebrew process and only a week or so left until I can have a proper drink. (I've already has a cheeky drink and am not appalled by the results, so I have a lot of hope)



However, during the brewing process, I took a lot of notes and have some questions about how I can make my brewing process better, and some generic questions about brewing to my process that are hard to find the answers online.


1. Boil time, My boil took 79 minutes (instead of 60) to boil off from 2.4 gallons reduce to hit 2 gallons. My recipe was modified from a 6 gallon boil to hit a 5 gallon target.

I don't think the extended time is an issue (please tell me if it is), however in the initial recipe they had some times to hit in terms of adding hops.
E.g. In a 60 minute boil, but in hops at 60, 10 and 1 remaining from the boil.

However, due to my extended boil time in my kettle. Should I extend these times to put my hops in to match my longer total boil time or just put them in the same timings?


2. Oxidising the wort allowed before fermentation? So during my process of transferring liquid into different containers. I've realised my auto-siphon is rubbish. Or more to the point, I'm rubbish at using it. I think I have the nack of the auto-siphon now, however have decided to use a fermenter with a spigot with an appropriate sized tube to transfer the liquid from the fermenter to bottling will reduce the oxygen in transferring. However, I still need to transfer liquid from the kettle (or my large saucepan) into the fermenter.

Does it matter if oxygen gets into the wort via the siphon at this point, in fact should I force it to oxygenate via the siphon at this point, as the wort needs to be oxygenated for the yeast?


3. Cooling the beer after fermentation. So, I've recently turned a fridge into a BrewPi with temperature controls for the fermentation process. This is great for fermentation, however, I've read you can drop the temperature of the beer after fermentation to force the yeast to stop. Should I do this? And is it just a shock to the beer to rapidly cool it to 2 degrees or so and put it back to the regular temperature. I don't see many beginner articles/tutorials on this.



4. Clearing the beer. Should I attempt to clear the beer? Is it simply a visual element. I've had a look/taste of my homebrew so far, and it's cloudly and not pretty looking, which does affect my first impressions.
However I'm brewing for a wedding eventually and it's likely that people might drink this from the bottle anyway and thus not see the colour/cloudness.


5. Botting/clearing temperature. So far I've missed the clearing phase. There is a lot about temperature of the beer during fermentation for the yeast to get best results.

Does the temperature of the beer matter after fermentation. Either in the clearing or bottling phase? In my current brew, I've stuck my beers above the kitchen cabinets. Is it essential I keep the temperature constant?



I'm enjoying the world of homebrew so far. It seems like I need to nail this process in order to get the recipe right.


Thanks for reading, any help will be great for my next brew,


James

 

[Dutto]

Okay, here goes and hoping I'm correct:

1. Boil the hops for the specified time and not the full boil. Too long a time with the bittering hops and it may turn out more bitter than you want.

2. It doesn't matter if oxygen gets in during transfer to the FV. Some brewers install an aquarium air-pump to aerate the wort before fermentation. Personally I just stick in a bit of yeast nutrient.

3. Dropping the temperature after fermentation is finished isn't done to stop the yeast from working it is done to help clear the brew before bottling. Waiting a week longer will achieve the same result.

4. I have never used finings to clear a beer brew and prefer to use that lovely free stuff "time"! It may take many weeks for a brew to completely clear but if it hasn't cleared after three weeks then just accept that there's nothing wrong with slightly cloudy beer.

I recommend that NO ONE drinks home-brewed beer directly from the bottle. The secondary fermentation used during carbonation ALWAYS leaves a layer of yeast on the bottom of the bottle and a lot of people can have major tummy upsets if they drink it.

Bass Brewery used to produce two bottled beers; a Blue label and a Red label. My Dad usually drank Blue label but due to a shopping mistake Mum bought Red label. Unfortunately, the Red label finished fermenting in the bottle and my Dad downed three of them in a hurry because he was thirsty. I have memories of him throwing up violently in the back-yard just under my bedroom window.

5. As previously explained, cold crashing (dropping the temperature after fermentation is complete) is a great way to start the clearing process, if it's available; but it isn't necessary.

I have cleared many bottles of beer in a cool dark place such as my garage. With regard to your own brew, "above the kitchen cabinets" is probably the warmest place in the kitchen and there is a good chance that the yeast formed in secondary fermentation will stick to the side of the bottle on the "sunny side". Hence the "cool dark place" recommended.

Hope this helps. :thumb: :thumb:

Brewing is a bit like the Princess looking for her Prince so you have to kiss a lot of frogs before you get one that's perfect. :lol:

 

[brumbrew]

Okay, here goes and hoping I'm correct:

1. Boil the hops for the specified time and not the full boil. Too long a time with the bittering hops and it may turn out more bitter than you want.

2. It doesn't matter if oxygen gets in during transfer to the FV. Some brewers install an aquarium air-pump to aerate the wort before fermentation. Personally I just stick in a bit of yeast nutrient.

3. Dropping the temperature after fermentation is finished isn't done to stop the yeast from working it is done to help clear the brew before bottling. Waiting a week longer will achieve the same result.

4. I have never used finings to clear a beer brew and prefer to use that lovely free stuff "time"! It may take many weeks for a brew to completely clear but if it hasn't cleared after three weeks then just accept that there's nothing wrong with slightly cloudy beer.

I recommend that NO ONE drinks home-brewed beer directly from the bottle. The secondary fermentation used during carbonation ALWAYS leaves a layer of yeast on the bottom of the bottle and a lot of people can have major tummy upsets if they drink it.

Bass Brewery used to produce two bottled beers; a Blue label and a Red label. My Dad usually drank Blue label but due to a shopping mistake Mum bought Red label. Unfortunately, the Red label finished fermenting in the bottle and my Dad downed three of them in a hurry because he was thirsty. I have memories of him throwing up violently in the back-yard just under my bedroom window.

5. As previously explained, cold crashing (dropping the temperature after fermentation is complete) is a great way to start the clearing process, if it's available; but it isn't necessary.

I have cleared many bottles of beer in a cool dark place such as my garage. With regard to your own brew, "above the kitchen cabinets" is probably the warmest place in the kitchen and there is a good chance that the yeast formed in secondary fermentation will stick to the side of the bottle on the "sunny side". Hence the "cool dark place" recommended.

Hope this helps. :thumb: :thumb:

Brewing is a bit like the Princess looking for her Prince so you have to kiss a lot of frogs before you get one that's perfect. :lol:

What a great reply!

 

[JapanBrew]

Dutto nailed it.

 

[Dutto]

Thanks fellas.

 

[prankard]

Thanks for your reply Dutto.

Your help will help me with my second brew. I've started the second batch and have put the hops in at the correct times.

The initial tastes of my first batch I think lacks initial taste probably because the boil went on too long and I put the hops in too early. Only more time and a lot of drinking will tell.

This batch with your advice should go better. I owe you a beer :drink:

 

[Dutto]

All part of the process. :thumb:

The secret of home brewing is to brew so much that you can afford to leave beer to condition on the shelf.

It really is amazing how much difference a month can make to a brew; and they usually improve with age.

Enjoy! :thumb: :thumb:

 

[JapanBrew]

All part of the process. :thumb:

The secret of home brewing is to brew so much that you can afford to leave beer to condition on the shelf.

It really is amazing how much difference a month can make to a brew; and they usually improve with age.

Enjoy! :thumb: :thumb:

Yep. Pick up a bunch of FV and then keep brewing. I usually knock a batch off a week. At the peak, I had 10 FV going. Right now I only have 6 full. But it lets you brew and bottle each week and you get tons of options when it comes to cracking open one and relaxing on the deck!!

 

[fourbob]

Just to add to the respone to point 1:

With experience, if you are consistently finding that you have to boil longer than anticipated to get to your target volume then you can always adjust the initial water volume used for the mash / sparge. The type of pot / strength of boil will affect how much you lose to evaportation so if you are constantly over, then put less in! But you'll only get to know this once you've got to know your set-up and how it works.

Personally I don't bother with target volumes - if I end up with a bit more than I expected then fine, a bit less then, well, fine also I guess!

 

[jeg3]

I focus on hop times not post-boil volume. I'd rather have a beer which tastes as desired with a slight variation in volume and/or OG.