What did I do?

Northern Brewer General
1

So, I am a newbie with some successful extract kits under my belt (EPA, Sierra Nevada Pale Ale, Wheat, Caribou Slobber). I say successful because those I shared with did not stop drinking at 1 beer :lol:

I thought I would try to put my own recipe together, and in hindsight think should have went with a different yeast. I ended up using Wyeast 3763 Roeselare Ale Blend. I did not realize that this is a type of yeast that needs a very long time to age (so I have read), and not even sure I used it with something all that compatible. I picked it because of the flavor profile description. Had I read the details, I would have seen the ageing requirements. Here was my recipe:

Brew date 12/12/14

  1. Steep 1lb Briess Caramel 40L in 2.5 gal distilled water until temp reached 170F (about 17 minutes)
  2. Brought to boil
  3. Added 6.0lbs MM Gold Malt Syrup
  4. Add 1oz Chinook hops at 15 minutes into boil
  5. Add 1oz Cascade @ 15 minutes before flame out
  6. Total boil time was 60 minutes
  7. Cooled to under 100.
  8. Added distilled water to equal 5 total gallons.
  9. Aerate for 2 minutes
  10. Pitched yeast (6 hours after smack and inflation)
  11. Primary 1 month plastic @ approximately 65 degrees F
  12. Secondary glass carboy In Process @ approximately 65 degrees F. (brew date was December 12th)

Last week I pulled a sample. Smelled good. Tasted drinkable with strange aftertaste (medicine like). I am thinking the aftertaste is due to the time the yeast needs to age. My questions are:

  1. Did I go to secondary to soon?
  2. Due to the type of yeast, how much longer should I keep in secondary?
  3. Would additional hopping be of any value?
  4. Was thinking of transferring back to plastic and adding Vinters Harvest Cherry. Not sure I could get the beer and cherries into a 5 gal glass carboy.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated. I hope I have something salvageable. Cheers to all and thanks in advance! :cheers:

2

Personally I’d transfer to a secondary, plan to forget about it for a couple years and brew something fresh ASAP.

I bet you don’t make that mistake again. :smiley:

Edit: I hope you like sours.

3

[quote=“kcbeersnob”]Personally I’d transfer to a secondary, plan to forget about it for a couple years and brew something fresh ASAP.

I bet you don’t make that mistake again. :smiley:

Edit: I hope you like sours.[/quote]

Well, it’s been in secondary for two months now. I’ll let it sit until next year and then bottle.

Thanks!

4

Sanitize or just cleaning…. Distilled? Whom told you that? RO ifn yer tap is city water… :lol:

5

Used distilled for brewing, but have moved away from that. Guess i was worried about the tap water not being sanitary. Have since read that the minerals in tap water can help with beer flavor. Not sure I have noticed any difference.