St Peters Ruby Red Ale review

[MartinHaworth]

Got this conditioning as a Christmas beer (25/12 will be 5 weeks in the bottle) - I won't touch a drop till then!

I had it 14 days in FV before bottling, and compared to my last brew (Harvest Mild), it was really cloudy at bottling.

3 weeks in the bottle and it has cleared well, but still not 'bright'.

What is surprising is the massive amount of yeast at the bottom of each bottle. OK, I'm a newbie, but LOADS.

I will handle/pour with care, and all will be well - but any thoughts on this?

 

[Covrich]

Got this conditioning as a Christmas beer (25/12 will be 5 weeks in the bottle) - I won't touch a drop till then!

I had it 14 days in FV before bottling, and compared to my last brew (Harvest Mild), it was really cloudy at bottling.

3 weeks in the bottle and it has cleared well, but still not 'bright'.

What is surprising is the massive amount of yeast at the bottom of each bottle. OK, I'm a newbie, but LOADS.

I will handle/pour with care, and all will be well - but any thoughts on this?

I left mine 3 weeks before bottling and even then it looked muddy water when I bottled it, but within about 2 weeks in teh bottle it was clear.

It looks muky when bottling but is a great beer when done,

 

[MartinHaworth]

Thanks Covrich, muddy water is a good description!

I'll hold out in hope and really looking forward to that first pint on Christmas day!

 

[user 12263]

Interesting to hear about it being cloudy, i'll take a closer look but during the hydrometer test i didn't notice it being particularly cloudy. OG was 1040 and hit 1014 after 6 days then down to 1012 2 days later. I'll check again tomorrow evening and possibly barrel it.

 

[Covrich]

Interesting to hear about it being cloudy, i'll take a closer look but during the hydrometer test i didn't notice it being particularly cloudy. OG was 1040 and hit 1014 after 6 days then down to 1012 2 days later. I'll check again tomorrow evening and possibly barrel it.

I cannot remember to be honest, but I remember that hop sachet bits floating on top.. I think just the case of when racking it to the priming solution it just all muddied up perhaps..

When I did a Blonde it looked like Orangeade when I bottled it but then cleared perfect golden colour..

I normally leave my brews 2-3 weeks depending on schedule. I find by the end of the 1st week in the bottle the clarity is much better and almost clear by the 2nd. if I get Chill Haze (not that it is at all a problem) that sometimes goes after a month or two.

 

[sloth]

When I put this in the barrel 8 ish weeks ago I was pretty downbeat about it, didn't taste taste great and was very cloudy for at least a month. Now it's incredibly drinkable and it couldn't be more clear. I would do it again, but I'd brew a little short, 18/19ltrs maybe

 

[user 12263]

My ruby red is in the barrel. OG was 1011 down from 1040 after 10 days. Took a quick sample during the transfer and it looked pretty cloudy just as everyone said. I'm sure it'll clear and i'll come back with a contribution when it's ready or i tuck in regardless, whatever comes first.

As the nelsons revenge is nearly at the tap on the 1st barrel i've come to terms with the fact that i'll have to get a few ready mades in for christmas. :-o

 

[MartinHaworth]

OK Guys, I have a problem. And I bet someone here has had it before + knows a way forward.

Cracked the first bottle of Ruby Red on Christmas Day. The beer is so carbonated that when opened the heavy sediment at the bottom of the bottle is disturbed by the released Co2 as it rises.

The result, a lovely beer - but cloudy.

This evening I plan to slowly open a beer, releasing Co2 slowly and retightening several times -see if it works.

Any ideas?

Thanks

Martin

(Festival Landlord moving slowly in FV, down to 1009)

 

[kodak79]

I've just had this on a Four Finger Jack. My solution was to only drink them when they are straight from the fridge as this tends to considerably reduce the liveliness.

 

[Cwrw666]

A cold liquid can hold much more gas dissolved in it than a warm liquid. So refrigerating can help solve this problem. A down side to this is that ales and bitters taste much better at only a little below room temperature!
I have been known to pop a glass of red wine in the microwave to warm it up a bit before drinking. Maybe it would work for beer as well - refrigerate, pour the beer, microwave a little to bring the temperature back up...

 

[kodak79]

I like that idea. I might give it a go as I've been drinking these cold because when I've tried doing one at room temp it went mental and at around 10-15 degrees wasn't too bad but it definitely mixed up the sediment and ruined the taste.

 

[MartinHaworth]

Had a couple of beers last night, and tried this out. Chilling made a real difference to the sediment churn on opening.

I've got a mix of 500ml and 1ltr bottles, and whilst all of them are very heavily carbonated, with a bit of chill the 500ml ones open fine.

The 1ltr ones are trickier - they have more sediment in them - but I had some sucess in chilling, slowly releasing pressure and allowing to resettle. The sediment was raised by the Co2 in large lumps and so resettled within 5 minutes.

If I'm honest, I don't like the 1ltr bottles, I end up pouring twice (pint + top up), and it never really works well....

Thanks all

Martin

 

[kodak79]

I totally agree on the large bottles. I now make sure that I always empty bottles in 1 pour as I've found that pouring in some and then letting the rest slosh back to the bottom of the bottle will pick up more sediment. I have got some beers that have compacted really well and I can pour the whole bottle without getting any noticeable sediment in my drink, buy others that just don't seem to compact so well - I wish I knew why as there's only 10 days between bottling times for the 2.

 

[clibit]

I pour into a jug if the glass isn't big enough, you need to pour the whole thing in one go and leave the last bit.

 

[Cwrw666]

I pour into a jug if the glass isn't big enough, you need to pour the whole thing in one go and leave the last bit.

Ditto. If you have a bottle only a bit bigger than your glass (I have some 660ml grolsch type bottles) you can get away with pouring out a couple of inches of beer, drinking it, then pouring the rest. But it does depend on the firmness of the sediment. Some kits have very firm sediment, but others don't seem to compact down at all. I've always assumed it's because different kits use different yeast types.

 

[user 12263]

Well mine has been over 2 weeks in the barrel and it's a really nice pint. Cleared well and a lovely colour and flavour. Only slight issue as others have mentioned is it seems heavily carbonated. Even at the most gently trickle into a tilted glass i end up with a massive head in the glass. I used 90 grams of sugar for conditioning. I have let out a bit of pressure with a slight turn of the barrel lid ensuring there's still a hiss when i've re-tightened, hoping it'll easy off on the serving pressure and resulting head. Bit of a pain but still, would brew again maybe with 70 grams of sugar.

 

[Cwrw666]

Well mine has been over 2 weeks in the barrel and it's a really nice pint. Cleared well and a lovely colour and flavour. Only slight issue as others have mentioned is it seems heavily carbonated. Even at the most gently trickle into a tilted glass i end up with a massive head in the glass. I used 90 grams of sugar for conditioning. I have let out a bit of pressure with a slight turn of the barrel lid ensuring there's still a hiss when i've re-tightened, hoping it'll easy off on the serving pressure and resulting head. Bit of a pain but still, would brew again maybe with 70 grams of sugar.

You shouldn't have let the gas out, mate, all that'll happen now is that you'll run out of gas half way down the barrel. Don't let air glug back into the barrel through the tap when this happens though as that'll spoil the beer - just take the cap off and re-prime with 80g of sugar and leave in a warm place for a week before you start drinking it again (or if you have the attachment, use a CO2 bulb). I have to do this every time with a PB anyway.
The massive head is not caused by over-carbonation, it's the way the beer squirts out of the tap. You can stop it mostly by attaching a small bore tube to the tap and dispense into the bottom of your glass. Or do what I do - fill a jug straight from the tap, let it settle for a minute or two, then pour a glass from the jug. You'll find the beer is then just like pub beer.

 

[user 12263]

You shouldn't have let the gas out, mate, all that'll happen now is that you'll run out of gas half way down the barrel. Don't let air glug back into the barrel through the tap when this happens though as that'll spoil the beer - just take the cap off and re-prime with 80g of sugar and leave in a warm place for a week before you start drinking it again (or if you have the attachment, use a CO2 bulb). I have to do this every time with a PB anyway.
The massive head is not caused by over-carbonation, it's the way the beer squirts out of the tap. You can stop it mostly by attaching a small bore tube to the tap and dispense into the bottom of your glass. Or do what I do - fill a jug straight from the tap, let it settle for a minute or two, then pour a glass from the jug. You'll find the beer is then just like pub beer.

Thanks for the heads up, duly noted, although I have a Co2 bulbs and Pin valve top so i'm not too worried about re-priming. Same here on my last brew, half way down it needed constant topping up with Co2.

It's the first time i've used the barrel and the previous one didn't have quite such a dramatic effect on the head. I'll try the jug route. Cheers ears! :)

 

[sloth]

I've heard the adjustable sparkler tap from home brew online can make a huge difference. Not sure if it's true, and it will I think only fit a 4inch top barrel as it secures with a back nut.
Anyone care to confirm?

 

[coupe3234]

This was in the FV for three weeks, wouldn't go below 1014 so bottled it at that with half a tsp of cane sugar in each bottle. left in a warm room for 2 weeks and then cupboard under the stairs at 14 degrees for another week. Had a couple last night and I'm enjoying one at the moment, crystal clear, fizzing away like mad in the glass and keeping a lovely creamy head all the way down. Quite a sweetness to it but a reasonable dry finish too. Allround I'd have to say this is a very very good kit and one of the nicest beers I've tasted so far. I believe it will get even better as it matures. I would recommend this kit to anyone thinking about taking up home brewing, it's a fantastic pint.:clap: