homebrewandbeer.com

Ive experienced something this past weekend that has made me think about my own homebrew methods. Im new to this homebrewing (6 brews) but my mate has been brewing for years. My first brew is now 4 weeks in the bottle, a Morgans Aust Lager, made with dextrose and following directions to the letter. I took hydrometer readings at start and the finish over two days. Its drinkable, if youre already drunk. Otherwise its got a sickly sweet aroma and taste. We actually tipped it (the one bottle we opened) down the drain.
My mate only brews coopers kits and only ever uses a kg of white sugar and white sugar for priming as well. He doesnt even own a hydrometer and has never used one. He puts a brew down in any weather and waits two whole weeks regardless before he bottles. Whilst at his place he had a brew bubbling away at 28c, Id have been trying to cool it down but he didnt care. His beers taste great at 4 weeks in the bottle.

So am I wasting time and money using fancy sugars and taking hydrometer readings ? My mate thinks so.

Im certainly hoping my next brews turn out better or there will be a few fermenters and loads of bottles on Ebay soon. If I cant brew better and cheaper beer than I can buy ? then whats the point.

I'm confused..

You used dex and it tastes crap.. And then you say "Am I wasting my money using fancy sugars"
By this I assume you mean malt, maltodextrin etc etc.. But you havent used them yet in your own brew you have tried..

Use malt.. You will never go back.

OK, well here are my thoughts.

1. I don't know why your brew is sickly sweet. Is it well carbonated or is it flat? Did the fermentation proceed to completion? What was the final hydro reading?
2. Dextrose is a cheap sugar. It costs $3 a kilo. It's not as cheap as sucrose, true, but it's still a cheap sugar. If you want the best beer, try all-malt... using either dried or liquid malt (liquid is better quality generally).
3. How did all your other brews taste? Also sweet or were they OK?
4. You've only done 6 brews, don't give up, you're in the right place, we'll set you straight eventually!
5. I can't beleive that the beer you're brewing is not cheaper than commercial, now all we have to do is imporove it so it tastes better too I've done 15 batches, and I reckon all except one have been better than stock-standard carlton draught.
6. Maybe post exactly what steps you followed for this sickly-sweet brew and we'll try to work out where you went wrong.

His beers taste great at 4 weeks in the bottle.

Bullcrap they do. If you like watery cidery shit tasting beer maybe they do. But you probably grew up on vb also.

never tip beer out just put it away and try it again later about 6 months or so

ive had brews that arent so good straight away and tried them from 6 months to 1 year later and are a totaly different tasting beer

OK,
My FIRST brew is only 4 weeks in the bottle and right now it tastes like crap. I only tipped out the bottle we opened, not the whole batch. I will taste it again in the future. The instructions from Morgans suggest the beer is drinkable after 2 weeks but will benefit from longer storage.

EDIT: I just rang my mate and the beer of his that we drank, was 3 months in the bottle, but he said he does drink his at 4 weeks and they taste better than mine did. (I doubt it)

Based on this experience I will not try any of my other brews until theyre much older, nor will I stop home brewing.

I did grow up drinking VB, but it hasnt passed my lips in freakin years. Nor will it ever again, a holiday in Europe as a 20yr old saw me come home with an idea of what beer should be like.

I guess I was just surprised at how good my mates beer was with only white sugar, after all I'd read on here. Ive used a mixture of dex, and malts in my brewing. Hopefully when my brews mature in the bottle theyll taste heaps better and I may even convert my mate from his ways. I have a Coopers Pale Ale down now, which I used Safale yeast and coopers Brew enhancer 2 +250gr LDM. Hopefully itll be nicer than my mates, which IMHO tasted nothing like the real deal.

Biggles wrote:I have a Coopers Pale Ale down now, which I used Safale yeast and coopers Brew enhancer 2 +250gr LDM. Hopefully itll be nicer than my mates, which IMHO tasted nothing like the real deal.

I did the exact same brew, only difference was I used the kit yeast. It turned out to be a ripper and IMHO very close to the original. Was very tasty at the 4 week stage but improved significantly at 6 weeks. I'm sure your mate will be very impressed.

I'm bottling the same brew again tonight, but i've bumped up the LDM to 500g.

You are wasting your time if you are using dextrose. Just use malt, and you'll notice a HUGE change in the quality of your beer.

Sucrose just tastes like #@%*. If that's what you like though, go for it. You can make beer any way you like it.

depending on how you are storing your beer at this time of the year you might also find that cooler temperatures [ie if you have been storing it outside and it is cold] might have slowed the processes

but building up enough stocks to enable you to leave it for a few months is always a good idea

PHI, (I cant type that many letters in your name)

Cooler temperatures ? ?

Its getting hotter now. Where are you located in the world.

In fact its getting so warm here that Im not sure that Ill too many more brews done before it gets to hard to keep them cool.
(unless I can get a fridge and fridgemate)

I used to brew coopers kits with white sugar before i knew any better and i can tell you that once you brew a good beer with quality ingredients then you will see that there is no comparison at all, I dont know if your mate is just a simple pisshead or if he actually appreciates a good beer but trust me go all malt on a brew and you will be astounded at the difference, in saying that your brew still should have been better using dex than one using sugar

I' ve been using 200 grams of wheat malt,1.5 kg of liquid malt and 300 grams of dextrose and have had no problems with the homebrew taste at all.In fact my brews have tasted better than most of the commercial brews i have tasted.

I'm fairly new to HB but in 3 months I've learnt there is a huge difference between using Brew Enhancers/Dextrose and using Liquid Malt.
Using 1.5Kg Liquid Malt with any kit will get you a beer at commercial standard or better, add some hops and/or grain and you will get a brew better than most you'd buy in a store.

I'm never going back to Brew Enhancers or Dextrose.

I used just plain sugar for while with Coopers Pale Ale, OK for a cheap beer.

My mate that I did these with (in partnership), liked them.

I started making a few when he was "busy". I started putting Liquid Malts and Hops in my brews and lo and behold, 10 times better IMO.

I have moved on from the plain sugar "cheap and nasty" beers as I prefer flavour now.

If you can get your hands on some bottles as you wished, make a few diff types to see what turns you on . Or, do as I did and have your mates collect stubbies until you can find longies.

Since my mate moved on, due to technical differences (still mates), I have not made the same brew twice........love a challenge

I did some brews with white sugar when I started and while they did start of crappy they did age very well.
Won't be using it again though

maybe they are not his beers??? he may be trying to outdo you all malt or i wont drink it

Reading some of the replies has got me thinking...

My brews are made using the Coopers Sparkling Ale (from the "Premium" range), and basically following the recipe from under the lid.

It calls for ingredients as follows:
1.7kg can Coopers Wort concentrate
1.5kg can Coopers malt extract
500gms light dried malt
300gms dextrose

I use reverse-osmosis filtered water, and am now "starting" the yeast in 25-odd degree water with ~10 teaspoons of malt.

I then prime the bottles with white sugar, when I'm ready to bottle - the only point at which I use it.

Would I be better off replacing the dextrose with an extra 300grams of malt? Or should I replace BOTH malt and dextrose with 800gm - 1kg of liquid malt?


Buggered if I know...

biased99 wrote:Reading some of the replies has got me thinking...

My brews are made using the Coopers Sparkling Ale (from the "Premium" range), and basically following the recipe from under the lid.

It calls for ingredients as follows:
1.7kg can Coopers Wort concentrate
1.5kg can Coopers malt extract
500gms light dried malt
300gms dextrose

I use reverse-osmosis filtered water, and am now "starting" the yeast in 25-odd degree water with ~10 teaspoons of malt.

I then prime the bottles with white sugar, when I'm ready to bottle - the only point at which I use it.

Would I be better off replacing the dextrose with an extra 300grams of malt? Or should I replace BOTH malt and dextrose with 800gm - 1kg of liquid malt?


Buggered if I know...

I was happy with original recipe all bar lack of Bitterness. I am going to use Pride of ringwood. The gentlemen on this forum have told me it is fairly bitter so I am going to experiment with a little at first

Did you use the can yeast or did you use the sediment/yeast from the bottom of the Coopers Bottle.......It does make a very slight difference in taste.

Try White Candy sugar as I beleive that's in the original recipe. Also, if you're going to culture up yeast from the bottle, use the pale ale as it's the same yeast, but is more viable due to the lower alcohol content.

Trizza,

that's the way! Let people know that malt is the only way to go!

I am yet to work out some brewers fascination with "brew enhancers" and dextrose. I think it is just because Coopers and others tell you from day 1, that these are what you are supposed to use. They like to play the angle of making HB as cheap and simple to make as possible, so that you keep buying thier products.

Biased99,

the dextrose in that recipe is soley to boost the alcohol. The recipe is designed to give you a close copy of CSA. If you want to change the recipe around, go for it. Using more malt will give you a bit more sweetness, so you may have to add extra hops to balance this.

As for generally using sucrose- it can definately be used (I use brown sugar, golden syrup, maple syrup, molasses, candi sugar, etc reasonably often).

It's just a good rule of thumb to not use more than 20% sucrose (by weight) in any recipe.