First Brew

Northern Brewer General
41

I used spring water for this one. I have two fermenting that I used bottled drinking water from Wal-Mart.

I will be sending Ward Labs a package this week to test my water. I was really trying not to get all technical with brewing but it appears I may have to.

Wanted to go with “if water taste good then the beer will be good”. But too many people say not to use the RO water from the vending machines and not to use spring water.
I don’t drink my tap water- not that it taste bad but I was raised on bottled water so that’s what I always drink.

Going to see what the lab report says and go from there. I have no problem building from my tap water but I really don’t want to be adding this and that to get the “perfect” water.

For what it’s worth, I did try another one today. It was better but zero head and it really didnt appear to be carbonated. I think what happened on the first one is I poured almost the entire bottle and some of the junk from the bottom of the bottle went into my glass. Rookie mistake.

I think next time I bottle I may use sugar.

42

I finally got around to bottling up my Caribou Slobber today. I don’t plan on popping one open until about 3-4 weeks. Hopefully they come out good!

43

Next weekend I will brew up the Caribou Slobber. I have two fermenting now- those will be bottled next week and they will free up my carboys.

44

I never used the fizz drops. Based on the mixed reviews, I figured measuring priming sugar was better.

But now I keg, so I don’t really need to do either.

45

The German Blonde was my first brew. Three weeks in fermentor (swamp cooler) and two weeks bottle.
Glad I didnt have much expectations with this brew. Smells like beer and taste ok but there is a taste I cannot describe. Not a very good mouth feel, zero head. Could be an issue with temp control early on, although I thought I did pretty good.
First one down, hopefully many more to come. I’m sure as I get accustomed with the process the end product should improve.

Have two in the chamber. Tomorrow will be two weeks. Thinking about bottling and allowing two weeks in the bottle.

46

[quote=“ed_brewer”]The German Blonde was my first brew. Three weeks in fermentor (swamp cooler) and two weeks bottle.
Glad I didnt have much expectations with this brew. Smells like beer and taste ok but there is a taste I cannot describe. Not a very good mouth feel, zero head. Could be an issue with temp control early on, although I thought I did pretty good.
First one down, hopefully many more to come. I’m sure as I get accustomed with the process the end product should improve.

Have two in the chamber. Tomorrow will be two weeks. Thinking about bottling and allowing two weeks in the bottle.[/quote]

Don’t be discouraged. It could be a multitude of things. Clean everything up real good and try again.

I would let things settle longer rather than bottling sooner. I guarantee any off flavors you’re tasting are not from leaving it too long. You’d have to leave it sit for 6+ months for yeast death to change the flavor of your beer. A lot of flavors mellow and settle out with age, and the beer can taste even better, depending on style of course.

Also, use priming sugar instead of the fizz drops. Those things are so hit or miss. Sugar is so much better.

If you could get someone to describe the flavor, I’m sure someone here would be able to tell you what it is probably from. You can also try distilled water with extract, should work a lot better than spring water or tap water. Temp control can be kind of difficult. I know you tried to get close, so it should be OK. Always go by the temperature probe on your bucket or carboy or jug, never by ambient temp.

Are you very familiar with the Blonde Ale style? Maybe it’s just not something you’re in to, that would make it taste odd to you. Don’t be offended by anything I mention, I’m just trying to possibly narrow it down for you.

47

[quote=“Templar”][quote=“ed_brewer”]The German Blonde was my first brew. Three weeks in fermentor (swamp cooler) and two weeks bottle.
Glad I didnt have much expectations with this brew. Smells like beer and taste ok but there is a taste I cannot describe. Not a very good mouth feel, zero head. Could be an issue with temp control early on, although I thought I did pretty good.
First one down, hopefully many more to come. I’m sure as I get accustomed with the process the end product should improve.

Have two in the chamber. Tomorrow will be two weeks. Thinking about bottling and allowing two weeks in the bottle.[/quote]

Don’t be discouraged. It could be a multitude of things. Clean everything up real good and try again.

I would let things settle longer rather than bottling sooner. I guarantee any off flavors you’re tasting are not from leaving it too long. You’d have to leave it sit for 6+ months for yeast death to change the flavor of your beer. A lot of flavors mellow and settle out with age, and the beer can taste even better, depending on style of course.

Also, use priming sugar instead of the fizz drops. Those things are so hit or miss. Sugar is so much better.

If you could get someone to describe the flavor, I’m sure someone here would be able to tell you what it is probably from. You can also try distilled water with extract, should work a lot better than spring water or tap water. Temp control can be kind of difficult. I know you tried to get close, so it should be OK. Always go by the temperature probe on your bucket or carboy or jug, never by ambient temp.

Are you very familiar with the Blonde Ale style? Maybe it’s just not something you’re in to, that would make it taste odd to you. Don’t be offended by anything I mention, I’m just trying to possibly narrow it down for you.[/quote]

Thanks for the reply. The two batches in the fermentor will be bottled using sugar.

I’ve tried a few blonde ales before but not a German Blonde. Being a newbie, it’s hard to describe the taste. It’s more mouth feel than anything. It’s not sweet but it leaves a dry taste in my mouth.

As for water, I may try distilled next. All i have to add is calcium chloride and gypsum. I played around with a few water calculators but could never get the correct ratios. Didn’t really spend a lot of time but will mess around with it over the weekend.

As for fermenting, isn’t the norm 2-3 weeks in primary then either keg or bottle? I left this one in primary for three weeks and two weeks in bottle.

The two I have in the fermentor makes two weeks tomorrow. Would it be good to leave in for another week?

Temp control-- placed the probe on the side of the carboy and went with that. Stayed in the low 60’s for the most part but did have some spikes.

48

Can I ask you why you felt the need to add gypsum and calcium chloride?

49

the lbhs sold me some but i didnt use any

50

I believe you said this was an extract kit. This has probably already been covered but don’t add any chemical additions to extract. The chemicals are already in the extract.

Go ahead with the distilled water and work on brewing technique, temp control throughout the process and you will get improved product.

That being said, the last extract kit I ever did sucked, :cry: after 4 ok extract batches and I have been much happier in the all grain camp.
Five gallons of crappy beer is a lot…

51

yes, this was my first batch and it was extract. I have a total of 4 extract kits and these will probably be the last. I did one BIAB two weeks ago, a SNPA clone and I much preferred the process vs extract. Extract was a good learning experience for me.

Am wheat was an extract kit I did two weeks ago. Have a cream ale and caribou slobber to brew.

If I use distilled water for AG, I would need to build the water up? but distilled does not need to be built up for extract?

52

Voodoo hit it. You don’t need to add brewing salts for extract. Those are in the extract from the manufacturing process.

Distilled for AG would need salts added for both correct pH but for FLAVOR as well. Once I did an unintentional experiment… which is code for I was drinking and brewing and forgot to add the salts. Although the pH was fine the beer tasted dull and flat. This is why I don’t drink and brew at the same time now. Better to concentrate on the beer being made rather than the one being drank.

53

When you say dry, do you mean like high alcohol dry or a hot, burning kind of astringency? I know my first couple of extract batches were hit or miss until I learned a little more about processes. When I made the switch to all grain I decided I’d probably never do extract again. I have a lot more control now over body, mouthfeel, dryness, etc.

With temps, the first few days are the most important. If you can maintain a steady temp for 72 hours of active fermentation, then if it spikes or rises afterwards it’s not going to hurt anything. Keeping things steady for those first few days is important too, trying to keep it near your target temp. Pitching temperature is also important. Make sure your wort is a little lower than your target fermentation temp before you toss the yeast in. Tossing them into warmer wort can stress them, even if you lower it after pitching. Also make sure you’re shaking the jug a little to get some oxygen in there. Most of the time, just transferring the wort to the jug can get enough oxygen in there, but it doesn’t hurt to shake it a little especially for a small batch.

2-3 weeks for fermentation can be accurate, but there’s really no “norm” when it comes to brewing. In my experience so far, I’ve had some take a whole 4 weeks to finish out, but my last brew was done in one week exactly. It depends on the yeast, your pitch rate, temps, the conditions of your wort, sanitizing properly, etc… I haven’t brewed as long as some folks here, so I’m just talking from my experience. Yeast don’t follow a calendar, they just do what they do. If you really want to test when it’s done, grab a refractometer for your small batches, or a hydrometer when you move to larger batches. The only reason I found my most recent brew was done in a week was because it looked like it completely stopped and I was worried it stalled. I took a reading and was shocked to find I went past my target gravity a little.

54

[quote=“Voodoo donut”]I believe you said this was an extract kit. This has probably already been covered but don’t add any chemical additions to extract. The chemicals are already in the extract.

Go ahead with the distilled water and work on brewing technique, temp control throughout the process and you will get improved product.

That being said, the last extract kit I ever did sucked, :cry: after 4 ok extract batches and I have been much happier in the all grain camp.
Five gallons of crappy beer is a lot…[/quote]
Yeah, 5 gallons of crap is alot, which is why i brew 1 gallon batches. Need to hone my skills and find recipes I like before going bigger. Plus I need to find a brew my wife likes to keep her happy and off my case.

55

[quote=“Templar”]When you say dry, do you mean like high alcohol dry or a hot, burning kind of astringency? I know my first couple of extract batches were hit or miss until I learned a little more about processes. When I made the switch to all grain I decided I’d probably never do extract again. I have a lot more control now over body, mouthfeel, dryness, etc.

It’s hard to describe. It’s not a horrible taste. Just kind of unpleasant. It’s definitely not a hot or burning feel, so I would say more of a alcohol dry.
I have 1 all grain (BIAB) under my belt. I’ll continue with this method vs extract.
Hopefully subsequent brews improve.

56

Happy to report that the funky taste I mentioned previously is now gone. Not sure why it was there. At least my wife said it was good so that is a plus.