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- Nov 2, 2017
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I think I'm in need of some hugging, or some encouragment....or advice at least.
I've done 6 beers so far, started in late October last year, and I'm not the happy brewer I hoped to be. To be honest, the five beers I've been able to taste is more or less a disapointment so far. There has to be something wrong in my brewing process but I don't know what and why. The disapointment is the way the beer tastes, there is this off-flavor in all of them...some got more and some got less. The hoppy IPA's seems to hide it better, in the english ales/bitters it's more obvious. Problem is, I have no word to describe the flavor...just that it's something i DON'T WANT in my beer. It's also a smellable flavor. However, it seems to be fading away somewhat as the beer ages. I'm at this moment drinking a bottle of my second brew, bottled a bit more than 2 months ago, and most of that off flavor seems to have vanished. But as with most of my brews it also have a problem with being to dry and lacking enough mouth feel.
My brewing process (BIAB) (been more or less the same for all brews, maybe some slight changes from brew to brew):
Someone seeing something obvious wrong with this? Some hint where I should change or something I can do different? Any kind of advice and help and hugs is appreciated!
I've done 6 beers so far, started in late October last year, and I'm not the happy brewer I hoped to be. To be honest, the five beers I've been able to taste is more or less a disapointment so far. There has to be something wrong in my brewing process but I don't know what and why. The disapointment is the way the beer tastes, there is this off-flavor in all of them...some got more and some got less. The hoppy IPA's seems to hide it better, in the english ales/bitters it's more obvious. Problem is, I have no word to describe the flavor...just that it's something i DON'T WANT in my beer. It's also a smellable flavor. However, it seems to be fading away somewhat as the beer ages. I'm at this moment drinking a bottle of my second brew, bottled a bit more than 2 months ago, and most of that off flavor seems to have vanished. But as with most of my brews it also have a problem with being to dry and lacking enough mouth feel.
My brewing process (BIAB) (been more or less the same for all brews, maybe some slight changes from brew to brew):
- Mash at 67C (152F) for at least 60 minutes, usually 70-75 minutes. I've got an insulated kettle and I think I have the temperature rather OK during that time. I have two thermometers (standard alcohol ones) and they show pretty much the same. I stir the grain15 minutes, or so, into the mash. To the last two brews I've added some lactic acid to the water to get down to a decent pH reading. My first brew I finished mashing with lifting the bag and do a gentle squeeze, however with the others I've finished with doing quite a hard squeeze on the bag.
- I do a sort of a sparge where (with the bag sitting on a colander) I pour hot water, 75C/165F, rather slowly over the bag, into the kettle, to get to my expected boil volume.
- I boil for at least 60 minutes, more or less a good rolling boil.
- I use muslin bags for the hops. Usually a bittering hop at 60, and at end of boil, sometimes a 15-20 minutes before end of boil.
- I chill the wort by putting the kettle in a old stainless washbasin filled with cold water and with a immersion chiller I put into the kettle 10-15 minutes prior to end of boil. It takes me about 20-25 minutes to get the temperature down to about 23-25C (73-75F). I let the hop bags stay in the kettle during this time.
- I pour the wort into the fermenter through a rather dense cloth/filter (scrim ...i think thats the word?).
- Sprinkle my yeast over the wort and aerate it with a good shake for some minute. I've so far only used dry yeast, US-05, S-04 and Nottingham.
- The fermenting phase is something I'm rather concerned with, I don't have a good control over the temperature unfortunally. The first days when the yeast is as most active the temperature of the beer might go up and down 3 degrees Celsius (5-6 degrees F), something between 19C to 22C usually. I usally ferment for 2 weeks, up to 3 weeks. The FG of most of my beer is always lower than expected, sometimes much lower.
- I bottle the beers, using a tap on the fermenter with a bottle filler attached. I carbonate by adding the amount of sugar I need directly to bottles prior to filling them (dissolve sugar in boiling water, cool down and fill with a syringe kind of thing). Leave the beers in the bottles for at least two weeks for conditioning.
Someone seeing something obvious wrong with this? Some hint where I should change or something I can do different? Any kind of advice and help and hugs is appreciated!