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I have brewed 10 or so batches of homebrew, and am gaining an extensive overview with tips from this forum, so thanks
My question is...
I brewed a beer; suitably titled 'hobo beer' with an alcohol content of 8.5%. It was a lager.
I was wondering how long (ideally) this will take to mature once bottled?
It has been bottled for around 1 month now and tastes quite cidery (Possibly because of the high alcohol grouped with the immaturity of the beer?). I have read any 'normal' brew could essentially take ~ 6 months to mature. But considering this is high alc content & a lager, I am looking at a larger time scale, aren't I?
Always tastes better after at least 3-4 months and a good week in the fridge. I'm not a chemist but the advice here from the big Lebowski and Yard is good.
IMHO the higher alcohol brews seem to taste average until well matured....
Cheers
Silk
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Now brewing -A Dogger Lager
secondary - empty
new drinking - Kiwi IPA - a bloody ripper !
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silkworm wrote:
IMHO the higher alcohol brews seem to taste average until well matured....
That was going to be precisely my question. Does the high alcohol content wash out flavour. I understand that from somewhere, can't remember where, but does it kill flavour?
And would a maximum 6.0% be reducing flavour of a fairly normal kit brew?
I'm only up to brew #18 and am only now beginning to get the idea of flavour and the answers to some of these questions.
Others will have a definite answer.
I tend to prefer the standard Aussie beer alcohol content of around 5%.
If I follow the coopers standard recipes the beer usually ends up around 4-6%.
I tend to keep my fermentables at around 1.1 kg. This varies with partials - adding grains.
The few brews that have been styled as Bocks or stronger Ales have all tasted odd after 2 months of maturing but on second tasting at + 4 months tasted great.
I have found more complexity in the flavours of the stronger alcohol brews not neccesarily more or less flavour. Some of the pils have great strong flavours of fruit and hops bitterness with average alcohol content.
The lower alcohol ones were cleaner tasting but this might be more to do with the style ?????
Every now and then I like to taste a full flavour and then I will turn to the strong ales for some malty goodness.
So at the end of the day more alcohol = longer maturing time.
Stronger alcohol doesn't wash out the flavour but might not suit the style of beer.
Last edited by silkworm on Wednesday Nov 09, 2005 9:32 am, edited 1 time in total.
Cheers
Silk
_____________________________
Now brewing -A Dogger Lager
secondary - empty
new drinking - Kiwi IPA - a bloody ripper !
_____________________________
"Listening to someone who brews their own beer is like listening to a religous fanatic talk about the day he saw the light" Ross Murray, Montreal Gazette
Normal ale yeasts such as supplied in Coopers lager kits can ferment up to about 15% in suitable conditions. These conditions are not including the addition of masses of cane sugar. The yeasts require excellent aeration, sufficient nutrients, either from the malt or as a supplement and the correct fermentation temperature. Very large beers like barley wine are very complicated to make, and respectfully, in my experience it is not being within the scope of the average kit brewer. Nor can we see that it within the scope of the average kit either. Of course with some exceptions.
In making large beers, one must ensure sufficient yeast is pitched. There are formulas out in the web, and tables showing the number of live cells required per degree plato per volume. Essentially, if you brew big, put more yeast or the too few cells present will become increasingly stressed over time and produce poor flavoured beers indeed.
If making a beer stronger than 10% with Coopers kits, I would not use more than 10% sugar or dextrose and would pitch 4 sachets of dry kit yeast, or 3 of S-04. Before pitching, aerate the wort for many many minutes whisking, stiring, beating with mechanical devices, drop the wort from one fermenter to another then be pitching rehydrated proofed yeast. Then 1 day after pitching, drop the beer once more to ensure there is enough oxygen for the yeast to replicate.
A typical flavour from underpitching is cidery/fruity tastes not typical of the strain.
I brewed a version of Uncle Arthur's Famous Falling Over Water that was meant to be a Christmas beer, at about 11 per cent. It was pretty green before about six months. It was so syrupy that it was more like an after-dinner beer.
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