Cooling....

BOB357 said:
I'd transfer to the fermenter. A bit more sanitary than keeping it in the kettle. I doubt you'll have any problem chilling 7 liters quickly.
Click to expand...

Bob's on it again! Yeah7 liters? No problem! Put the carboy on ice and as that goes it, the lesser volume will cool faster than the larger amount in the kettle. Running it down the side will increase the surface area too!
 
I have to remember the ballon trick next time I cold crash. Last time I cold crashed Ihad three fermenters all with blow off tubes into a jug with sanitizer. The jug was sucked dry. I have been drinking two of the batches, no apparent issues. The third batch was bottled so, the jury is out on that one.

Zambezi
Cold crashing cause a lot of solid material to fall out of the beer, hop particles, proteins, etc., it will help clarify the beer.
 
Thanks all.
I think I will forego the cold crash for my first brew, as I have no idea is I suffer from chill haze....;)
Then the next brew, I'll cold crash and I can see the difference.
Fingers crossed, it all turns out OK

I'm planning on bottling and storing the beers for a couple of days around 18-19 oC, then move them to the normal fridge (at around 5oC).
How long do you think I should wait between bottling and drinking? 10-14 days, if I have enough self control?
 
Zambezi Special said:
Thanks all.
I think I will forego the cold crash for my first brew, as I have no idea is I suffer from chill haze....;)
Then the next brew, I'll cold crash and I can see the difference.
Fingers crossed, it all turns out OK

I'm planning on bottling and storing the beers for a couple of days around 18-19 oC, then move them to the normal fridge (at around 5oC).
How long do you think I should wait between bottling and drinking? 10-14 days, if I have enough self control?
Click to expand...
Never under estimate the power of not changing things until you've got a batch under your belt for comparison. I should do it more often myself.
 
Zambezi Special said:
Thanks all.
I think I will forego the cold crash for my first brew, as I have no idea is I suffer from chill haze....;)
Then the next brew, I'll cold crash and I can see the difference.
Fingers crossed, it all turns out OK

I'm planning on bottling and storing the beers for a couple of days around 18-19 oC, then move them to the normal fridge (at around 5oC).
How long do you think I should wait between bottling and drinking? 10-14 days, if I have enough self control?
Click to expand...
Bottled beer needs time to carbonate, leave at warmer temp for 2 weeks at least. Then chill. This is where the patience comes in. ;)
 
Warmer temps being similar to these fermentation temperatures of 18-24 oC?
Cheers :)
 
Good experimental design, folks! We call it OFAT - One factor at a time. It's about the only way you can tell your treatment is causing the effect, unless you do statistical experimental design and run many, many trials.... Wait, that means brewing more!
 
Thanks again for all the info.
I am slowly getting there....
 
Just a quick update:
I bottled my beer today.
And It actually smells like beer :)
I bottled in 500 ml ex-sprite bottles, pet bottles, with screw top..
The first 2 bottles are not very clear, the rest looks fine. I'm sure the "rubbish" will settle in the next 10-14 days, so it should be okay.
There may be a taste difference though?

I ended up with 5.5 liter. I think about 1/2 liter stayed behind in the bucket.
So I got a bit less than I should (it was a 7 liter recipe, but I knew that was the case as I lost some volume during the sparge and cooking and I didn't want to use too much water to get to the 7 liter).
I tasted the last bit coming out of the fermenter. It's a bit hoppy, but not bad.
Now for the waiting game.....

Little tidbit, I had some apple juice lying around to make cider, but I still got 5 liter on the go.
Instead, I have added the juice to the trub in the bucket, added some sugar and placed it back in the fermenting fridge.
We'll see what that becomes.
There used to be a drink here that was called hHunter's Edge, which was a cider with hop. Hopefully it turns out as something like that
 
Zambezi Special said:
Just a quick update:
I bottled my beer today.
And It actually smells like beer :)
I bottled in 500 ml ex-sprite bottles, pet bottles, with screw top..
The first 2 bottles are not very clear, the rest looks fine. I'm sure the "rubbish" will settle in the next 10-14 days, so it should be okay.
There may be a taste difference though?

I ended up with 5.5 liter. I think about 1/2 liter stayed behind in the bucket.
So I got a bit less than I should (it was a 7 liter recipe, but I knew that was the case as I lost some volume during the sparge and cooking and I didn't want to use too much water to get to the 7 liter).
I tasted the last bit coming out of the fermenter. It's a bit hoppy, but not bad.
Now for the waiting game.....

Little tidbit, I had some apple juice lying around to make cider, but I still got 5 liter on the go.
Instead, I have added the juice to the trub in the bucket, added some sugar and placed it back in the fermenting fridge.
We'll see what that becomes.
There used to be a drink here that was called hHunter's Edge, which was a cider with hop. Hopefully it turns out as something like that
Click to expand...


Sounds good! :)
 
Zambezi Special said:
Just a quick update:
I bottled my beer today.
And It actually smells like beer :)
I bottled in 500 ml ex-sprite bottles, pet bottles, with screw top..
The first 2 bottles are not very clear, the rest looks fine. I'm sure the "rubbish" will settle in the next 10-14 days, so it should be okay.
There may be a taste difference though?

I ended up with 5.5 liter. I think about 1/2 liter stayed behind in the bucket.
So I got a bit less than I should (it was a 7 liter recipe, but I knew that was the case as I lost some volume during the sparge and cooking and I didn't want to use too much water to get to the 7 liter).
I tasted the last bit coming out of the fermenter. It's a bit hoppy, but not bad.
Now for the waiting game.....

Little tidbit, I had some apple juice lying around to make cider, but I still got 5 liter on the go.
Instead, I have added the juice to the trub in the bucket, added some sugar and placed it back in the fermenting fridge.
We'll see what that becomes.
There used to be a drink here that was called hHunter's Edge, which was a cider with hop. Hopefully it turns out as something like that
Click to expand...
The beer's flavor will change with time but sounds like a success to me!
 
I'll report back in a day or 10 ;)
 
Okay, we are 10 days in.
I tasted a little bit of beer. Sure smells like beer, but still a bit watery (weak), quite sweet and not much carbonation.

Not really a good check as this was a very little bit of beer of less than 100 ml, sitting in a 500 ml bottle....
Yes I know. It was the last bit out of the bucket. I had hoped it would be a bit more.

Anyway, I am going to leave the remainder for at least another 4 days, maybe even till next weekend before I open another bottle.
Now the first 2 bottles were not very clear. The latter ones were.
Should I drink the cloudy bottles first (I am thinking that they will be much clearer now, with a lot of debris)
 
Be sure to chill them down for a few days before drinking. Enjoy!
 
Tasted my beer again yesterday.
Had it in the fridge for 3 days or so.
The taste is good. Totally different from the little bit I tasted a couple days ago.
But... Not a lot of fizz.
I think that the sugar solution was not properly mixed with the beer, before bottling.
Now I am thinking of putting all bottles in the fridge and check after 2 or 3 days if they caved in a bit (I am using pet bottles). It is what happened to the one I drank.
Then open them, add a little sugar, close them, shake them and put them back to the fermenting fridge for a week.
Good plan? Or am I thinking of something totally daft?

Thinking a bit further, maybe first thing to do is to cool one of the last bottles and see if the same happens?
 
Cooling won’t carbonate them quicker, the carbonation will be quicker if the bottles can stay at room temperature (68-70).
 
Ah, but I don't want to put them in the cooler to speed up carbonation, but to check on the carbonation.
The bottle that I moved from the fermentation fridge to the normal fridge had a little dent in it (after 2 days in the fridge, not when moving it).
I think because cold liquid can contain more CO2, so a slight under pressure developed.
So the idea is to move all bottles and check which bottles it happens to. These ones I will then remove from the fridge, add some sugar and put back to the fermentation fridge and leave them for another 2 weeks.

The first little bit I tested was somewhat carbonated, and that was only about 50-100 ml in a 500 ml bottle. It was the last bit that got bottled, hence my idea that the sugar solution was not properly mixed before bottling.
And if that's true, I will have some bottles with too little sugar and some with too much sugar
 
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