Home brew

[Dartgod]

I know there are some other home brewers on here; Bwana and TJ for starters.

I'm brewing my first batch ever today. It's a German wheat. Looking forward to tasting this bad boy in about a month!

[Dartgod]

Bumping this because I'm in the middle of brewing my fourth batch, the second one this year. It's a Sierra Nevada Pale Ale clone, second time I've brewed this. It turned out so well last year I figured I'd do it again.

I'll be adding the liquid malt extract here in a few minutes.

[JimNasium]

Originally Posted by Dartgod

Bumping this because I'm in the middle of brewing my fourth batch, the second one this year. It's a Sierra Nevada Pale Ale clone, second time I've brewed this. It turned out so well last year I figured I'd do it again.

I'll be adding the liquid malt extract here in a few minutes.

That's awesome. I've got a house under contract and won't close until April 25th so it looks like it will be at least the first week of May until I get to brew again.

[Dartgod]

Well it's in the fermentor now and the cleanup is finished. I'll be enjoying this tasty new homebrew by Memorial Day.

[crispystl]

So I brewed my first batch and after two weeks fermenting the shit tastes like apple cider. I used a quarter cup more honey than the recipe called for. Could this be the problem? Should I let it ferment another week?

[Lzen]

Tastes like apple cider? What style is it supposed to be?

[crispystl]

Originally Posted by Lzen

Tastes like apple cider? What style is it supposed to be?

Blonde Ale that I added honey to. Keep in mind I haven't bottled it yet I just tasted it after it fermented. Is this normal?

[Lzen]

Originally Posted by crispystl420

Blonde Ale that I added honey to. Keep in mind I haven't bottled it yet I just tasted it after it fermented. Is this normal?

I see. I never taste after fermenting but before bottling so I can't say if its normal. But I would guess that it probably is normal. You realize that when you add the sugar in the bottles, the remaining yeast feeds on that and ferments for the couple weeks or so that they're in the bottles before serving?

[Lzen]

I will give one example. My last brew was an amber ale. I let it ferment in the bucket for 3 weeks. I tried one after a week and a half in the bottles. I thought I made a mistake or something because it didn't have much carbonation and didn't taste particularly good. But after about 3 weeks in the bottles, I tried one again just the other day and it tasted pretty good. Point is that some beers take a little longer to finish than others.

[crispystl]

I was planning on letting it ferment another week before bottling now I'm wondering if I should just bottle it??

[shirtsleeve]

Originally Posted by crispystl420

I was planning on letting it ferment another week before bottling now I'm wondering if I should just bottle it??

Sounds like either you fermented at the wrong temp, used a funky yeast or weren't sterile enough. Get the brew off the yeast and into a carboy in very cool (fridge) temps. Keep the airlock full of sterile water and let it set for two weeks. All of the funk will drop from the beer and it will clarify nicely. It just might save it. The way to check the fermentation for completion is to check your specific gravity. You should be very close to 1.000 after fermetation considering the type of beer you are trying to brew.

[PhillyChiefFan]

I brewed an English Pale last week and bottled last night, first batch ever.

I have a feeling I wasn't sterile enough though, and am kind of worried about how it's going to turn out.

Also, I didn't have a wort chiller and the guy who was helping me forgot to tell me that we needed to cool down the wort immediately, so it sat outside and took almost 2 hours to cool down to 55 degrees.

Will that have a terrible effect on it?

[1moreTRich]

Originally Posted by crispystl420

So I brewed my first batch and after two weeks fermenting the shit tastes like apple cider. I used a quarter cup more honey than the recipe called for. Could this be the problem? Should I let it ferment another week?

Green apple off flavor can be a couple of things. Usually it is because the beer is young and hasn't had time to finish fermenting and the yeast hasn't converted all the acetaldehyde. The other, less common ones are the yeast you use is giving off the off flavor, usually because of too high fermentation temps or their was too much sugar (sucrose) used.

Guessing on your description I would guess that it is just too young a this point. Let it keep working, don't take it off the yeast yet, let them finish doing their job. Make sure you are keeping your temperatures in the 65-68 degree range as well.

[1moreTRich]

Originally Posted by PhillyChiefFan

I brewed an English Pale last week and bottled last night, first batch ever.

I have a feeling I wasn't sterile enough though, and am kind of worried about how it's going to turn out.

Also, I didn't have a wort chiller and the guy who was helping me forgot to tell me that we needed to cool down the wort immediately, so it sat outside and took almost 2 hours to cool down to 55 degrees.

Will that have a terrible effect on it?

Sanitize not sterilize is the level of cleanliness you are looking for. Did you use some kind of sanitizer such as Star-San, One-Step, or Iodophor?

Usually it is recommended to cool the wort off as quick as possible. This allows what is call the "Cold Break" the protein are thermally shocked and will drop out of suspension. This prevents chill hase. Also the faster you get the wort cooled down, the less time there is for bacteria and oxidation before the yeast can get to work.

With that said 2 hours is not that long of a time. There is a bit of a debate going on about whether rapidly chilling the wort is as necessary as everyone has made it out to be.

As long as you used some sort of sanitizer, I don't think your beer will be too affected. Remember beer is pretty robust, it's harder than you think to ruin it.

[crispystl]

Originally Posted by 1moreTRich

Green apple off flavor can be a couple of things. Usually it is because the beer is young and hasn't had time to finish fermenting and the yeast hasn't converted all the acetaldehyde. The other, less common ones are the yeast you use is giving off the off flavor, usually because of too high fermentation temps or their was too much sugar (sucrose) used.

Guessing on your description I would guess that it is just too young a this point. Let it keep working, don't take it off the yeast yet, let them finish doing their job. Make sure you are keeping your temperatures in the 65-68 degree range as well.

Well I left town While it was fermenting and set my heat to 65 but there was a bit of a warm spell here. It could have gotten to around 70-75 is that too high?

[otherstar]

Originally Posted by crispystl420

Well I left town While it was fermenting and set my heat to 65 but there was a bit of a warm spell here. It could have gotten to around 70-75 is that too high?

I ferment ale in Texas at the temp in the summer, but then again I leave it in the bucket for about 4 days, then transfer to a glass carboy for another 3-4 days then I keg it. If I force carbonate it, I can usually drink it about 36 hours after kegging, but it is still a little cloudy at that point. After a week or so in the keg, it's nice and clear. The only times I've ever had off flavors is when I haven't been as careful sanitizing as I should have.