Advice for New Brewer
Posted: Mon Feb 27, 2017 2:37 pm
Hi
I am a Bristolian with the simple aim of (eventually) brewing beers that are nearly as good as some of the wonderful craft ales current available - including from our home town. So far x2 kit brews (x3/10 and x4/10 self-rating). Currently brewing:
5 gallons
4No x 500g Malt Extract
100g of Hops (Cascade added at Zero and 45m of boil)
Sorry can't recall yeast.
Kept around 18-20 degs
OG 1.029
"The girls" as I like to call them, got to work sharpish. Lot of bubbling - slowed after 5days. This is now d8. SG now 1.09 for last 3d. Some bubbles - lid gets "tense" but not much going on I think. I have turned the heat off (using heating band or strap).
My issue: when I taste the wart or whatever you call it after it has fermented it tastes really weak. A good deal weaker than the wart tasted with my previous "kits" brews. It's a nice clean taste and are definitely some alcohol plenty of hops in there but the aftertaste is a weak to the point of watery. Lovely man in Brewer's droop suggested I put in five bags of malt I wanted 5% beer and four bags if I wanted 4%. But having read up on it I'm concerned that my OG was a bit too low.
The question is this, should I go ahead and bottle of beer and just trust that it will develop a more wholesome taste through secondary fermentation in the bottle (I was planning on adding some sugar)? Or is there anything else I could do to tackle this watery element? I noticed with my other batch that the taste changed considerably in the bottle but I wouldn't said tasted stronger.
Any advice? I'm looking forward to coming to one of the brewing groups.
Cheers
BrewDoctor
I am a Bristolian with the simple aim of (eventually) brewing beers that are nearly as good as some of the wonderful craft ales current available - including from our home town. So far x2 kit brews (x3/10 and x4/10 self-rating). Currently brewing:
5 gallons
4No x 500g Malt Extract
100g of Hops (Cascade added at Zero and 45m of boil)
Sorry can't recall yeast.
Kept around 18-20 degs
OG 1.029
"The girls" as I like to call them, got to work sharpish. Lot of bubbling - slowed after 5days. This is now d8. SG now 1.09 for last 3d. Some bubbles - lid gets "tense" but not much going on I think. I have turned the heat off (using heating band or strap).
My issue: when I taste the wart or whatever you call it after it has fermented it tastes really weak. A good deal weaker than the wart tasted with my previous "kits" brews. It's a nice clean taste and are definitely some alcohol plenty of hops in there but the aftertaste is a weak to the point of watery. Lovely man in Brewer's droop suggested I put in five bags of malt I wanted 5% beer and four bags if I wanted 4%. But having read up on it I'm concerned that my OG was a bit too low.
The question is this, should I go ahead and bottle of beer and just trust that it will develop a more wholesome taste through secondary fermentation in the bottle (I was planning on adding some sugar)? Or is there anything else I could do to tackle this watery element? I noticed with my other batch that the taste changed considerably in the bottle but I wouldn't said tasted stronger.
Any advice? I'm looking forward to coming to one of the brewing groups.
Cheers
BrewDoctor