If it aint broke ... Dont fix it!

[Furby]

Hi again Trendsetters .....

Well, the next batch (draught) got bottled and another on the way as my last post explained.
Being the experimenter I've always been, I cracked open one of these (this time 4 days after I bottled, aren't ya proud of me ) and guess what I got ... A dead motherless glass of nothing!!
Now don't get me wrong, the taste was there, but I get more bubbles when I urinate into Percy's Porcelain.

Why is it taking Sooooo .... Long!!! The lager previously was only 2 days.

However, the final bottle I decanted, No 31, (as I do for a tester) had substantial dregs of the "trub" (I think you call it that), and settled quite well within this period. Tried this one and when poured into glass .... got carbonation.
It kicked me like a Mule ...
Quite good, except for the fact I had started making dinner for my 'Honey' .... which with all intentions was pan fried reef fish and bernaise sauce, accompanied by garden fresh salad drizzled with tarragon /basil oil .... Crispy sauteed potatoes and herb bread.

She got baked beans on toast.

So, my point being ... I liked the lager but it needed a little more body and just a tad more ooompfah.
I'm thinking ... the kit + 750gm brew sugar + 250 dex +250 LDM.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated

Cheers

[Heals]

4 days to prime? I let mine prime for two weeks!

I doubt 4 days will give you anywhere near the maximum carbonation (unless you're storing the bottles at a really high temperature, which would ruin the beer anyway, so don't do that).

Carbonate in the bottle for two weeks at around about 22 deg and it'll bubble up nicely.

[tazman67]

another 2 months be better to drink....3 months...even better...longer....

[Furby]

Thanks fellas ... I understand it does need a certain period to mature for carbonation but what baffles me is why the lager was drinkable after only 2 days?
The only difference was the lager was done with brew sugar and fermented 6 days ...... The draught with dextrose and fermented 11 days.

Cheers

PS: Trying the lager after 2 weeks maturing has turned out a 'handsome' drop. Clear, fine bubbles working the glass and maintaining the head. Light in colour but just seems to be missing something.

[Noodles]

Different beers will carbonate at a different pace, there are so many variables from brew to brew. You have to consider how long in the primary (if you bottle earlier they are going to carb up quicker), the temperatures they are stored at after bottling, the ingredients used in the brew, what primer was used for 2nd fermentation, how much primer was used, and I could go on.

This is why we generally wait at least 2 weeks before sampling, to cover all the variables. And I do mean sampling, have a taste at 2 weeks, but you're doing your beer a disservice by getting stuck into it before at least a month has passed.

[rwh]

I liked the lager but it needed a little more body and just a tad more ooompfah

For more body, you need to increase the amount of long-chain molecules left in your beer after fermentation is complete. Dextrose is 100% fermentable, which is why you have such a watery beer, all of it's turned to alcohol. To increase your beer's body, try replacing some of the dextrose with either maltodextrin (which is 70% non-fermentable carbohydrate), or Light Dry Malt Extract (LDME), which is around 20-30% non-fermentable. The advantage of malt is that it gives you a nice malty flavour. I'd recommend anything up to 250g maltodextrin (too much and you risk a soapy mouthfeel), or up to 100% malt (that is, replacing all your brewing sugar/dextrose with malt). This is a little more expensive, but trust me, once you do it once, you'll know why your beer tastes soooo much better than anything you can buy from the likes of CUB or Tooheys. Which brings me onto my next point:

More ooompfah: you need some more hops! I'd recommend getting started with some flavour hops, try 15g of Cascade pellets, boiled for 10 minutes. It's what gives the beer its, well... flavoursomeness!

So, here's how you make a beer like this:

1. Get your biggest pot, and boil up some water, say 2/3 fill the pot.
2. Add your LDME to the boil, let it settle down. WATCH the thing, or you'll end up with a very sticky kitchen.
3. Add your hops. Boil it for 10 minutes. While that's happening, clean, sanitise and half-fill your fermenter with cold water.
4. Take it all off the heat, open up your kit can and scrape the contents into your boiling mixture (called wort now). Stir it all up, make sure it's all dissolved.
5. Pour it into your fermenter, top it up with more cold to make 23L.
6. Pitch the yeast.
7. Close it all up, wait for 7 days (I actually wait 2 weeks normally, as this allows the beer to "condition" better, meaning it tastes better out of the bottle quicker).
8. Bottle, prime as usual.
9. Wait 3 weeks, then drink some awesome beer.

While you're at it, have a read of this:

Simple things that make HB better

[Boonie]

2. Add your LDME to the boil, let it settle down. WATCH the thing, or you'll end up with a very sticky kitchen.

Especially take note of No 2 for your "Honeys" sake, or you will be banished from the kitchen.

I'm now on my sideburner BBQ due to a slight "accident" from not watching the Malt. Lets just say I was cooking two at once and doing other things as well and the kettle is now melted

Nice instructions rwh. The link is excellent too with instructions from Chris.

Cheers

Boonie

[Longrasser]

Um..actually i add LDME to cold water in pot and bring to boil
Find it avoids lumps of "toffee"

Have just bottled a brew after 1 month 3 days in the tub
Was gin clear and tasted wonderful.......

[TommyH]

Um..actually i add LDME to cold water in pot and bring to boil
Find it avoids lumps of "toffee"

Have just bottled a brew after 1 month 3 days in the tub
Was gin clear and tasted wonderful.......

I normally add it to cold water too. Though last brew I added the ldme to hot water. Yep. Got toffee stuck to the bottom of the pot!!!!

[rwh]

LOL well I just had the opposite experience, added LDME to cold, then boiled... Needed to use a metal spoon to scrape the super-sticky stuff off the bottom. In future I'll be going back to adding to boiling water, each to their own I say!

[drsmurto]

I just add LDME to empty pot, add boiling water and then stir. All dissolved. Adding LDME to water resulted in lumps and the steam from the water meant there was always some LDME left in the packet.

[Kevnlis]

I just add LDME to empty pot, add boiling water and then stir. All dissolved. Adding LDME to water resulted in lumps and the steam from the water meant there was always some LDME left in the packet.

This is my process as well, works the best IMHO.

[Heals]

Duhhh, now I feel stupid - that malt stuck to the packet thing has always given me the shits, I'll start putting the fermentables in the pot first from now on!

[warra48]

I only use LDME for starters, and put it in the pot first, add cold water, put it on the stove to bring it to the boil, and stir. It dissolves very easily that way, without lumps.

[Furby]

Some great tips here guys .. Thanks

The last brew was the first time I used LDME ... Threw it in after the kit/dex/boiling water and ended up with 'malt balls' .... Whilst in a state of panic, you've never seen a guy work so hard to try and dissolve em ... trust me!

Still ended up with a few clumps before topping up with cold water and thought 'what the heck', the yeast has gotta eat it sometime or another.
(As going by some posts I have read, there's not a lot that can go wrong with a brew providing the basics are maintained)

Sure enough, the yeast did it's job.

When I bottled, it seemed no different from previous attempts although perhaps a little more cloudy ... I put this down to the malt ... maybe I'm wrong.
Will soon see when conditioned and the taste test comes.

Does it make a diff to the final product using different techniques during the initial stages?

Cheers

[TommyH]

Now I remember reading somewhere that to avoid malt clumping you should add it to a dry vessel then add hot water to it.
It may even have been instructions from Coopers!!!

[Longrasser]

just dunnit ......add malt to dry pot ....chuck in 2 litres of cold water...bring to boil....smooth as...

[warra48]

just dunnit ......add malt to dry pot ....chuck in 2 litres of cold water...bring to boil....smooth as...

Told you so !!!!!!!!!