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Higher and Higher

Northern Brewer General
#1

I had a whole bunch of stuff typed… you should have read it… it was epic… I however don’t feel like retyping it all so the short… three beers, first time brewer… 1 maple wheat ale, 2 caribou slobber, 3 a milk stout.

Beer one is supposed to be like 5.6 abv, turned out 8.7+ (tastes 90 proof.) and will not form nor hold a head.

Beer two will only form and hold head if refridgerated for a few days, but it quickly dissipates… but is is rich in body and flavor, I like that part.

Beer three is in the process of being bottled, forms and holds a head with out Carbonation, and even though it is flat, tastes great!

has anyone else ran into the same issues as this? I can see it so far seems to be getting better… but it is hard to tell… btw… it is only taking about 1.5 days for the airlock… (three piece) to stop working… did a reading on this last one instead of waiting for 2 weeks and bottling… was where it was supposed to be, and I decided to go ahead and bottle it. Any thoughts or ideas welcomed.

#2

Keep some Advil handy, and watch out for exploding bottles.

#3

Extract or all grain? Hydrometer or refractometer? Correctly measured volumes.

#4

  1. dme

  2. lme steeped grains

  3. lme steeped grains

Hydrometer

not sure what you mean by correctly measured volumes

#5

Beer 1: too much DME or too little water
Beer 2: http://beersmith.com/blog/2008/06/25/en … e-brewers/
Beer 3: carbon dioxide is a normal product of fermentation, but holding a head is a bit weird…

Your short fermentation times indicate temps may have been too high…

Sound advice. :cheers:

#6

[quote=“EBJones”]I had a whole bunch of stuff typed… you should have read it… it was epic… I however don’t feel like retyping it all so the short… three beers, first time brewer… 1 maple wheat ale, 2 caribou slobber, 3 a milk stout.

Beer one is supposed to be like 5.6 abv, turned out 8.7+ (tastes 90 proof.) and will not form nor hold a head. A kit is typically spot on for OG and thus ABV. If you added maple syrup which is a fermentable sugar you boosted the alcohol content. Lack of head is probably from to short of conditioning time. High alcohol brews can take six weeks to condition at 70° to 75°.

Beer two will only form and hold head if refridgerated for a few days, but it quickly dissipates… but is is rich in body and flavor, I like that part. Probably needs more conditioning time and more refrigeration time to force the carbonation into solution.

Beer three is in the process of being bottled, forms and holds a head with out Carbonation, and even though it is flat, tastes great! This beer may not be done fermenting or has not been given enough time for the yeast to clean up. Bottling may create potential bombs. It is still producing CO2. Target SG is just a guide. Stable hydrometer readings over a period of three to four days is the only way to know when fermentation is complete. A time schedule just does not work.

has anyone else ran into the same issues as this? I can see it so far seems to be getting better… but it is hard to tell… btw… it is only taking about 1.5 days for the airlock… (three piece) to stop working… did a reading on this last one instead of waiting for 2 weeks and bottling… was where it was supposed to be, and I decided to go ahead and bottle it. Any thoughts or ideas welcomed.[/quote]

Volume measurements: Are you sure you have the correct volume in your fermentor for the recipe.

#7

Beer three was at the proper sg for several days. That is when I read that time is just a guide line. So that is why I decided to bottle it. I will let you all know how beer three turns out in a couple of weeks. I am letting beer two sit in the fridge for a week or two. Beer one I still believe was contaminated by wild yeast. As for temperature, it is usually 68-70 in my house.

#8

Put beer #3 bottles in a rubbermaid tote with a lid while carbing. Flying glass is bad, m’kay?

#9

Both the fast fermentation time and the “tastes like 80 proof” suggest the fermentation temperature is too high. If the airlock stopped bubbling and the hydrometer read the same thing for three days, it is likely that active fermentation is done. But, that doesn’t mean the beer is done, and the yeast can still be active enough to drop the gravity another point or two, or in rare circumstances stall then start up again. Both of these can lead to bottle bombs, which as stated are dangerous.

Even if it was entirely done fermenting though, there are other reasons though why it is good to wait longer before bottling. Immediately after fermentation is done, the beer is full of suspended yeast. The yeast will settle out if left undisturbed for a few weeks, but it is better to allow them to do that before bottling or you’ll end up with massive amounts of sediment in the bottles, which makes it harder to pour a clear beer. Less sediment in the bottle also means better shelf life if you plan to store the beer for a while, but I suspect that isn’t a concern for you.

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