Mine is just OK and I won’t be doing it over. I don’t know any reason why the so-so taste? It smells awesome. Everything on brew day went fine, I can’t remember anything I did wrong. I did squeeze the bag really well, but have done so before with no issues. This was my first time sparging a BIAB batch but I can’t believe that would be an issue. It’s been in the keg for a full month and has not improved much in flavor.
Scladed_dog that stinks. From the reviews this sounds like a great stout. Now I did add dark chocolate cocoa powder to the boil and also soaked the nibs in vodka for 8 days so I hope that adds something. Anyone else recently brew this and have a better or the same experience of scalded_dog?
What do you do for water treatment?
I used campden tabs 1 per gallon. My water is good here never had issues before. I always start with cold, but I never started using the campden until my last few brews. My last brew I got the water ready the day before and let it sit in my HLT overnight. Man the next day it smelled like an indoor swimming pool. I’m assuming letting that tap water off-gas overnight is as good as using the campden tabs?
I’m pretty fussy about my beer. I expect my brews to be as good or better than pretty much any store bought beer. I have brewed some phenomenal beers. This one was as good as many store bought beers, just not so good it would make you jump up and say “that’s a do over” Now the JP 11’a ale was one of those beers I would crawl through broken glass for…I have a keg almost ready to tap now.
If your only treating for chlorine dark beers can be difficult. IMO they need more brewing salts to really hit their ‘sweet’ spot. Do you have water report to know if your water is hard enough for a dark beer?
[quote=“scalded_dog, post:24, topic:6658, full:true”]
I used campden tabs 1 per gallon.[/quote]
This probably has nothing to do with your issues, but that’s too much campden. One tablet will treat 20 gals.
A while back Martin Brungard posted that campden is an oxygen scavenger,
so over dosing can strip your wort of O2 that you need for yeast propagation.
I use 1 per 15 gals in my HLT.
Research the use of powdered vitamin C for treating water with chlorine & chloramine… Very small amount needed…very small pinch in the water & stir prior to adding other items on Bru’n spreadsheet…very quick / instaneous reaction.
Ok thanks…I’m wondering now because my last 3 brews all mediocre and all used 1 tab per gallon. The JP 11’s tastes pretty good for only 2 weeks in the primary and 2 weeks in the keg. Came out a bit flat and I think it needs another week on the co2 but it’s very smooth and tasty (also this was my first batch sparge)
Loopie I never thought about it. I’m on city water (Douglasville Georgia) I wonder if a smaller town like this would have a water report? I’ll try to find out and see if I can post it.
Scalded, I found the DDCWSA website. They do offer a “report” but it’s focus is only on contaminants. You might be surprised what they could tell you if you contacted them. Chances are they do have a full report.
I’m thinking the campden tabs WERE the problem. I just tapped a keg of Tallgrass Buffalo Sweat Stout and it is awesome. Needs a bit more co2 but is excellent. That was the first batch where I used no campden at all. I set the water out in my HLT the night before to allow the chlorine to “off gas” I’m thinking using 10-20 times the amount of campden (I misunderstood and used 1 tab per gallon) required may have been robbing oxygen and causing a weak fermentation…thoughts? I want to Brew the JP 11’s ale again with only 1 or no campden to see how it is.
Just an FYI. I have been brewing the chocolate milk stout for a while now but I just aquired a siphonless 5 gallon secondary and when trying to bottle directly from the secondary the nibs would plug up the valve and bottling hose when I got near the bottom. When racking to a bottling bucket this has never been a problem.
