My DR IPA is still cloudy , but much clearer than it was and smells great. I just transferred it to the secondary after two weeks and it looks like it will be a winner. If it keeps clearing up it will be a nice looking beer as well. I like my IPA s to have a little murkiness so this looks about perfect so far.
scooberta - thanks for the reply…
How long are you planning to stay in secondary and how long in bottle conditioning?
I can just stay in primary can’t I , I mean I don’t have to move it to secondary - it should clear up with time - right?
G
[quote=“g3p0”]scooberta - thanks for the reply…
How long are you planning to stay in secondary and how long in bottle conditioning?
I can just stay in primary can’t I , I mean I don’t have to move it to secondary - it should clear up with time - right?
G[/quote]
yes it will
Sorry to keep bugging you guys here…
Can I coldcrash the primary after two weeks to help speed up the ‘clearing’ process - without adversely affecting the bottle conditioning / carbonation process?
G
[quote=“g3p0”]Sorry to keep bugging you guys here…
Can I coldcrash the primary after two weeks to help speed up the ‘clearing’ process - without adversely affecting the bottle conditioning / carbonation process?
G[/quote]
dont cold crach until you know fermentation is done and let the yeast clean up any byproducts from fermentation, then yes it is fine
[quote=“g3p0”]Sorry to keep bugging you guys here…
Can I coldcrash the primary after two weeks to help speed up the ‘clearing’ process - without adversely affecting the bottle conditioning / carbonation process?
G[/quote]
I’ve cold crashed in the past but find it unnecessary. If you let the beer sit in the primary it will clear up just fine. Look at it after 2 or even 3 weeks then decide. Realize that if you cold crash you will pull air into your fermentation vessel as the beer cools. Up to you.
As far as adversely affecting carbonation, your beer will carbonate just fine… it will probably take longer. I’ve had beer take as much as 5 weeks to properly bottle condition/carbonate after a 3 week primary followed with a cold crash.
[quote=“g3p0”]Sorry to keep bugging you guys here…
Can I coldcrash the primary after two weeks to help speed up the ‘clearing’ process - without adversely affecting the bottle conditioning / carbonation process?
G[/quote]
You’ll make much better beer if you let it make its own schedule. Rushing it is almost never a good idea.
“Yeast makes the beer, you just held a spoon”
I forget who said that, but it’s true. The way to make the best beer is to set things up properly so the yeast have the conditions that allow them to perform properly. That means proper pitching rates, good temperature control and enough time to finish the job. That last includes enough time to flocculate out.
OK, a quick update on my first two AG brews. The Irish Red, which I let the sparge water get way too cold and sparge way too long, was very weak with a very strong bitter bite(not bitters, because a good bitter is my favorite beer). I’m talking about a very drying bitter flavor.
The second beer was an IPA. My sparge water on this batch was too hot and I had to sparge too long because I had to heat the sparge water again. This time the beer smelled great with great hop flavors but again the bitter bite. I’m not quite sure what I did wrong but I tried again yesterday, so we shall see.
Jim
The bitter bite is tannin extraction. It is a dry bitter, often described as sucking on a tea bag. Both scenarios you described would cause tannin extraction. Fly sparging can be a real pain in the a$$ until you have your system in order. Two words: batch sparge. Instructions to follow:
http://dennybrew.com/:cheers:
[quote=“Hades”]The bitter bite is tannin extraction. It is a dry bitter, often described as sucking on a tea bag. Both scenarios you described would cause tannin extraction. Fly sparging can be a real pain in the a$$ until you have your system in order. Two words: batch sparge. Instructions to follow:
http://dennybrew.com/:cheers: [/quote]
Thanks Hades I really appreciate the help. My spathe went much better this time so I will let you know how it went.
I let my beer ferment until the gravity is stable for two or three days then wait at least a week for the yeast to clean up. After that, or at least three weeks - whichever is LONGER - I cold crash for three-to-seven days. Three-to-seven is an arbitrary number that fits my schedule.
Not everyone considers cold crashing necessary or helpful. I haven’t done any studies, but it doesn’t seem to do any harm and many report it helps clear the beer. I’ve never seen it cause a problem.
Another thing to consider is pH. Have you checked mash pH? Do you have a water report?
I do not have a water report, but this time I used bottled spring water to see if there was a difference. I looked for the water information from our small city but they only had the report for carcinogens and bad stuff. I may pay for a water report, however our water taste and quality tends to change constantly.
Jim
Alotta times you can deduce wut something tastes like, by how it “smells.” Anyone ever smelled cat urine. Yep, you all have. Now you have a pretty good idea of wut it tastes like. Yer welcome
Voice of experience? :mrgreen:
You can go at it different ways. If you’re going to use bottled water, consider going distilled and then building your own water with brewing salts. There are good programs available for doing this; they all require a bit of study time to get a basic understanding of water. Bottled or tap, a lot of water will require some pH adjustments to brew either light or dark colored beers without tannin extraction. The problem with spring water is, typically it doesn’t all come from the same spring so it’s mineral content varies.
If your water tastes good, you could get a pH meter and some lactic acid to adjust pH down and pickling lime to bump pH up. You really want to have a meter before doing those types of adjustments. Some people swear by pH test strips. Personally I can’t stand them.
[quote=“Hades”]You can go at it different ways. If you’re going to use bottled water, consider going distilled and then building your own water with brewing salts. There are good programs available for doing this; they all require a bit of study time to get a basic understanding of water. Bottled or tap, a lot of water will require some pH adjustments to brew either light or dark colored beers without tannin extraction. The problem with spring water is, typically it doesn’t all come from the same spring so it’s mineral content varies.
If your water tastes good, you could get a pH meter and some lactic acid to adjust pH down and pickling lime to bump pH up. You really want to have a meter before doing those types of adjustments. Some people swear by pH test strips. Personally I can’t stand them.[/quote]
test strips are horrible and will not give an accurate reading.
THe more expensive strips that are like 40 bucks for the box (forget the name) are better but not by much.
Invest in a ph meter if you want to test ph
[quote=“Hades”]You can go at it different ways. If you’re going to use bottled water, consider going distilled and then building your own water with brewing salts. There are good programs available for doing this; they all require a bit of study time to get a basic understanding of water. Bottled or tap, a lot of water will require some pH adjustments to brew either light or dark colored beers without tannin extraction. The problem with spring water is, typically it doesn’t all come from the same spring so it’s mineral content varies.
If your water tastes good, you could get a pH meter and some lactic acid to adjust pH down and pickling lime to bump pH up. You really want to have a meter before doing those types of adjustments. Some people swear by pH test strips. Personally I can’t stand them.[/quote]
Our city water taste pretty bad on a good day even when run through a carbon filter. I guess I have a little homework to do on water. I tried PH test strip to test the mash this past brew but it never changed color no matter what i put it in. Must have been old.
Ok guys, thanks to your help I have a drinkable second beer(IPA). The first Irish Red was a total loss but I’m brewing my fourth batch tomorrow and thanks to y’all they are getting better and better.
Thanks to all on this forum! Cheers
