Youngs American IPA

[Hops_and_Dreams]

Bottled it this week and am planning to let it condition for my usual 10-12 weeks before touching it (have quite a bit of stock to see me through until then) Will this result in too much loss of hop flavour? Any views on this?

I think the instructions advise it to be drunk within 4 months, after that they say the hop flavour will fade. I don't think mine will reach 4 months, so I'm not worried! To be honest, mine's only been in the bottle for 2 weeks and has cleared and tastes great already.

 

[Hops_and_Dreams]

Think the Nelsons Revenge is a 36 pinter, although a while since i done a Woodfordes....

Yes, now you've said it, you are right.

 

[DoctorMick]

I think the instructions advise it to be drunk within 4 months, after that they say the hop flavour will fade. I don't think mine will reach 4 months, so I'm not worried! To be honest, mine's only been in the bottle for 2 weeks and has cleared and tastes great already.

Mine has made it to 8 weeks and I have about 4 left. :sad:

 

[elliott]

Christ, this stuff is relentless, I've got a 5 inch gap between the top of the beer and my airlock and I've had to clean it out twice this morning already!!

Its the most agressive fermentation ive had very tightly sealed container tho helps that. Fermentation takes 21 days at least.One if the best kits ive done. Very fine bottle sediment, need a good month to condition / settle not to churn up when pouring. An excellent beer, requiring more patience then normal. Enjoy.

 

[Chippy_Tea]

Christ, this stuff is relentless, I've got a 5 inch gap between the top of the beer and my airlock and I've had to clean it out twice this morning already!!

Make a blow off tube like the one below then you only have to empty the container each time it gets messy.

Put enough water in the container to cover the end of the tube.:thumb:

 

[Yeastmaster]

Thanks for all your advice on when to drink everyone. Will cracking first bottle open after 2 months and start working my way through.
How I love this hobby!

 

[Beerlover]

Checked my gravity today and it was on 1005 down from 1060 so looking at over 7%!! Decided to chuck my hops in and I'll transfer to PB in a couple of days.

 

[ProjectBeer]

Currently got this kit fermenting away (my first ever brew). OG was 1050, had to switch the airlock to a blow off tube as it was pretty active. Can't wait to try it...in about 3 week's time! The wait is agonising...

 

[Badseed1974]

Day 16 and still bubbling away with a big yeasty head, this waiting is intolerable!

 

[terrym]

Hello Folks
New to this forum but not to homebrewing. I started back in 1970 (DMS/SFX + grain, orange dustbin for a fermenting bin!, 2 pint bulmers cider pot screwtop bottles etc etc) but lapsed a some years ago. Just started again, and so far impressed with the quality of the kits I have tried except...
Started a Youngs American IPA at 23 litres in my Youngs nominal 25 litre bin with airlock. Room temperature about 20 degC. First bubbles at 24 h, but bubbling through the lock at 48hours. Never had this before and I have brewed a lot of beer.
What to do? I decided to take out about 2 litres from the bin, and clean everything up and hope that I haven't contaminated the brew. Its now burbling away at 140 bubbles/min, the krausen is just touching the lid but not blocking the inlet to the lock
Is this normal with this kit? How long before the fermentation rate starts dies down, and how long before the krausen starts to sink back.
Also, I have another Youngs American kit waiting and this time I want to be in control not be controlled. What to others do with these kits to avoid air lock 'boil over', use less yeast, lower fermenting temperatures, bigger bin, a 'blow over trap'??
All comments gratefully received :

 

[Wolfracer]

I don't use an air lock. Just a bin with a good lid. I crack it open slightly open but it is still closed.
Your kraisen will be there for a fortnight.
leave it alone.
seriously. Leave it alone. A month is not uncommon for these brews.

 

[Ste_Mog]

I use one of the Coopers Kits which is taller than the other FVs I've seen due to the krausen sleeve they come with. If it wasn't for this my IPA would have been crawling out of the top too. Easilly the worst I've seen for this. Tastes amazing once done though!

I've also done the AIPA which wasn't as bad, but still very active. All these seem to take over three weeks to finish but are drinkable quite young from my experience.

 

[elliott]

Hello Folks
New to this forum but not to homebrewing. I started back in 1970 (DMS/SFX + grain, orange dustbin for a fermenting bin!, 2 pint bulmers cider pot screwtop bottles etc etc) but lapsed a some years ago. Just started again, and so far impressed with the quality of the kits I have tried except...
Started a Youngs American IPA at 23 litres in my Youngs nominal 25 litre bin with airlock. Room temperature about 20 degC. First bubbles at 24 h, but bubbling through the lock at 48hours. Never had this before and I have brewed a lot of beer.
What to do? I decided to take out about 2 litres from the bin, and clean everything up and hope that I haven't contaminated the brew. Its now burbling away at 140 bubbles/min, the krausen is just touching the lid but not blocking the inlet to the lock
Is this normal with this kit? How long before the fermentation rate starts dies down, and how long before the krausen starts to sink back.
Also, I have another Youngs American kit waiting and this time I want to be in control not be controlled. What to others do with these kits to avoid air lock 'boil over', use less yeast, lower fermenting temperatures, bigger bin, a 'blow over trap'??
All comments gratefully received :

Yes, aggressive fermentation. I had a spare [ sterilized ] bubbler ready to push in and pull other out, did this a few times. Probably not ideal, - but it worked for me with a quick relay change over. The kit worked out great -unfortunately its not all going to last a month- like i know i should leave it.:drink:

 

[terrym]

Thanks for the replies.
Since I posted I have found that the lid did not seal properly (solved with cling film) and also, if the only outlet from the bin is via the trap, then the krausen seems to grow towards the lid (and then the airlock inlet) and then it splutters from the airlock, even when the bin has been moved from a background of 21 degC to my garage at 16-18 degC.
Now, at over five days in, I am following the advice of my local homebrew shop which is to ignore the trap completely at this stage and just crack open the lid at one side to vent the bin and cover that area with an old towel to minimise any mess.
And at present that seems to be working.
I really hope that this is all worthwhile!!

 

[homebrew23]

I have one of these kits on the go now, it's excellent, very similar to Goose Island. Good luck with it!

 

[HisDudeness]

Hi everyone I have been lurking on these forums for some time and finally signed up today as I wanted to check something with some more experienced brewers, I have done a few kits already and apart from making lots of mess have generally been successful so far, anyway I put the AIPA in the FV on the 3rd April and saw fermentation about 24hrs later, over the last couple of days bubbles had slowed almost to a standstill and krausen was completely collapsed so I decided tonight to open it up (have left it completely untouched up to this point) and take a sample to see if it was ready for hopping to my amazement the hydro reading came out at 1.000 ! I havent seen it go anywhere near this low on anything I have done before so assumed it must be a reading error. I checked the hydrometer in 20deg tapwater and as expected it read the same value so took another sample and got the same result. The brew seems to have fermented a bit on the warm side as I used a fishtank heater for the first time and I think the calibration of the thermostat is a bit off, the samples were measured at just over 25degs but even taking this into account the reading will still be around 1.002 according to the calculator on this site. So anyway I guess the question is do you think this reading is realistic or is there something else going on? Can beer go down to 1000? If it is looking at at least 6.9% with an OG of 1054 thats what I class as a bit of a shin kicker! :electric:

 

[Twostage]

I've had beer go down to 1.004 but not 1.000. Unless there is some fizz which would be making bubbles on the hydrometer and lifting it (you could test this by spinning it and/or leaving it for a while to go flat) then you should probably believe your eyes.

Did you taste it ? 25 degrees is a bit high, could have created some off flavours.

 

[HisDudeness]

No real fizz in it and couldnt see any bubbles at all, I tried spinning the hydrometer and it stayed the same, I did have a taste and it was quite bitter and very dry/sharp but I dont think it tasted off as such, kinda what I was expecting at this stage. Anyway chucked the hops in and sealed it back up so we will see how it progresses over the weekend :hmm:

 

[HisDudeness]

Just thought even if bubbles were in the sample and lifting it wouldnt that give a higher rather than lower gravity reading?

 

[ProjectBeer]

Just took a gravity reading after 13 days in fermenting as the bubbling in the airlock has slowed significantly. OG was 1050 and tonight's sample was 1005. There's still some movement in the airlock pushing the vodka I've got in there around. I'll take another sample tomorrow, but I'm assuming it will already be good to dry hop.

I took the sample from the tap on the FV at the bottom, so no idea what it looks like on the inside. Should I just go ahead and dry hop tomorrow if the SG is the same? It's my first ever brew so still a bit hesitant at the moment.