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- Today
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Yea, me again. Still researching this one. Found info on these links: https://www.homebrewersassociation.org/how-to-brew/how-to-add-fruit-to-beer/ http://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=253994 https://www.beeradvocate.com/community/threads/when-is-the-best-time-and-way-to-add-fruit-to-your-beer.64464/ have a lot of good advise. So far, I have: - If the fruit is fresh, sanitize it with heat (165degrees) or soak in pure grain for an hour. Some say vodka isn't enough (alcohol should be 62.5%) - If the fruit is frozen, it is already sanitized. I'm seeing that freezing kills off the bad things in life - If the fruit is strong flavored, use one pound per gallon. Weaker fruits might take two pounds per gallon My plans, as of now (please toss in opinions) is to get three one pound bags of frozen cranberries for the two batches I'm going to make. A week before I make the beer (which, probably will is this weekend), I'll take sanitize the blender and a container. I'll slightly chop the fruit, put it in the container, and put it back in the freezer. Per the first link, "It is said that freezing and thawing fruit a few times helps release more flavors by breaking down cell walls, which means a fruitier brew!". Next week, I'll make the base wheat beer as normal, and keg them. After one week of fermenting, I will take the fruit out of the freezer, sanitize the blender, and puree the fruit. Half the puree will go into each keg. One keg will be made with Splenda, one not, thus one beer will be tart and one sweet. Welcoming thoughts, comments, etc
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I have made some nice beers with a variety of MJ yeasts, but avoid Mangrove Jack's "M03 UK Dark Ale" yeast aka "M15 Empire Ale" yeast. I have had 3 batches now with horrible attenuation and/or off-flavors. The fact that MJ has rebranded this yeast several times now should have been my first clue.
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Yes, and no. Ideally, you refrigerate for three days only what you're going to drink in 3 days. I have labels, I write the date it goes in the fridge. At the beginning of a batch, if I'm slow to dig into it (at one point I had 13 choices), 2 weeks after the first bottles went in I removed them, added more conditioned bottles, and crossed the date off, putting them at the rear of the batch to condition more. If you have made a lager (95% of Mr. Beer recipes are ALES), then after 4 - 8 weeks warm conditioning you can store all of them in the fridge.
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I guess that depends. If you're crushing the whole batch in a week, it probably doesn't matter.
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so apparently I am dong wrong (or at least missing out) by refrigerating the entire batch at the end of conditioning.
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I agree also. I use 1/2 tsp per 12 oz. bottle.
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you can save money by using dry yeast and washing it / harvesting it when done to use in another batch. even if you only do about 4 generations on one sachet of yeast, that's still a big savings over liquid yeast.
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Just one question - What were you aiming for? Just my personal opinion, not meaning to be so negative, but throwing ingredients together, without a goal or idea of the results is not good brewing. Secondly, fermenting at 70 deg F is rather high, for most ales. Hope for the best and let us know how it turns out.
- Yesterday
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Yup. That clears it up. That is the assumption that I was under, just wanted to be sure. Thanks!
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Agree completely with the Gonzo Dr. The amounts on the MrBeer carbing chart are rather high. Cut them back by 25% or so and you'll be in good shape.
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Can't improve what RickBeer said for a great usable plan. Some beers do require longer conditioning; I have a bit of a mad scientist German Doppelbock that I will lager for about 6 months! (The Mr Beer instructions will give you a great guide line.) Ask here if unsure as many have made the beer you are brewing. But most are drinkable after 4 week and improve a lot with a bit more time. Hope we helped!
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Following advice I was given a while back, for sugaring you may want to cut back 1/4 tsp if using table sugar from the guide. As I am not a fan at all of fizzy beer, this so called "rule of thumb" works for me. If you want a fuller fizz, the chart is very good. Some domestic beers have a tad too much carbonization for me and I avoid those. You might want a "sample bottle" with full sugar from the chart and one a bit less. Then you get to find the taste that pleases you. Agree as well with a full refridg time. Helps the beer is oh so many ways.
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I've let beers sit in the fridge for 3 days, and I've also drank them after putting them in the freezer just long enough to get them cold. I can't say I've noticed that much difference between the two.
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Well, Hmm, maybe I will put some orange peel in one................. and Amarillo hop?
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Next week will brew another Cooper's DarkAle --> 3 LBKs So looking what to make. In checking the Coopers/au site I saw again the Nut Brown Ale recipe. Which they claim to be similar to the much lamented discontinued Nut Brown Ale, except that I think it was craft beer kit thus 5.5% rather than the 4.5 they cite, but the comment that is addition of crystal malt that is the key it the real answer I think, they suggest steeping 200-500g for 6 gal. That is 7- 17 oz (for ease say 8-18 oz.) That would be approx. 3-6 oz grain per LBK. From the recipes below and Briess Ingredient summary, I got in #2 - ~ 2.4 oz C60 from the Special Dark, and some lighter C (unspecified from Sparkling Amber. I got in #3 - ~ 5 oz from the Special Dark, so these are at the higher end of the recommendation based on expected yield from grain. I could taste the bitter from the malt in the #3 so that may be a bit too much. Then I came here as a palette for my recipe speculation. So any ideas are welcome. I am tending towards the one of the #1 and then 2 of the #2 but with different hops in each. Tough choices. I made these: All these were good. Cooper's Dark Ale #1 --> 2.35 + 1.2 --> 3.52%ABV 1/3 coopers can + 1 pack booster (basic Cooper's recipe) Cooper's Dark Ale #2 --> 2.35 + 1 + (1 + 1) --> 5.35% ABV + 8 oz Special Dark LME + 8 oz spark amber + 8 oz pils light DME + HBC438 hop 0.5 oz @ flameout --> 5.3% Cooper's Dark Ale #3 --> 0.5 lb light DME +1 lb Special Dark + 0.5 oz EKG hp @ flameout. -> 5.2? %
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Drink one for me will ya? Or should I say "for me, drink one you will?"
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I'm sorry, shouldn't that have been, "the easiest a true lager to make is not"?? P.S.. its my Friday at work ('regular' job) and I am feeling a little squirrely
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Well, honestly, because you can save a lot of $$ on yeast using liquid yeast, if you do it right and if you brew often enough to make it worth the time (this is a big factor) and constantly have fresh yeast. What I used to do is take 2 smack packs, do a 5L starter, split that into 4 mason jars. I could then take each of those and do the same if I wanted and then take what I had from there and make starters for per batch as needed. In the end run it saved a lot of cash... but took a lot of time. Once Manfish really got going, I realized I didn't have the time do be doing it that way any more and I was forced (for lack of a better term) to start going with 2 smack packs per batch and making the yeast I need per batch from it, thus spending more $$. I am to the point now where I realize that time is the most precious thing I have and if I can be doing something else other than working on starters, I want to do that, so hence my comment above about going back to dry yeast, especially at the pricing you can get if you buy it in the 500g brick vs 11.5g packet.
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Yes, I have under pitched and under oxygenated too with wheat beers to get higher esters. In this one I was looking for the lemony flavor described with the 3711, but did not get not much. I also did not get the temp that high ( I think it only went to high 60s in my basement) Also not much head on that beer, dissipates very fast. It is an easy drink, refreshing but stronger than it tastes (Calculates to 6%). Maybe next time add maltodextrin or a bit more grain. This was a conversion of an all grain recipe to Mr B.. Mr B Canadian Blonde 13 IBU, 3.5 ABV, 1.56 lb DME eq. 0.25 lb Pilsner DME 0.5 lb Wheat DME 4 oz Vienna Malt Grain steep. 0.2 lb clear Candi sugar Hops add 7 IBUs - 0.5 oz each Strisselpalt and Saaz mixed. 0.5 oz boil 10 min, 0.5 oz at flameout. Yeast Wyeast 3711
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Thanks. Remember that a true Lager isn't the easiest of beers to make, but well worth the effort. Don't be discouraged if your first attempt isn't commercial quality. Just sit back, enjoy the fruit of your labor, and try again
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Finally finished that thread, lots of good information there. Thanks!
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re underpitching... sometimes this is actually desirable. when you want to stress the yeast early on and have a prolonged growth cycle to make lots of esters... if I am doing a hefeweizen with liquid yeast, I will skip the starter, under pitch... and let the temps go up a bit more than usual. this way I can get lots of banana esters while the yeast make up their cell count numbers. when doing a Trappist ale I also underpitch a little and let the temps ramp up wherever they want. if you don't want ester development you pitch enough yeast and keep the temps in optimal range... but where's the sense in spending all that money on liquid yeast for a result you can get with a 3 dollar dry yeast?
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After 24 hours, krausening is active to a level I have never seen before, began calming down a bit this afternoon. Temp kept and controlled at 70º so that aspect is good. As I have never used the yeast supplied, I am a bit unaware of what normal would be. I will let it run 21 days in fermentation. It is always a delight for mr to watch and learn from the process running its course On another topic: I had my first taste of my beer made for Festzeit. Delicious taste, nice finish, solid ABV. I will wait until the last week of October fest for retesting the beer. Should pick up a lot by then. For this beer 4 weeks clearly not enough to fully bloom, but better taste and finish when compared to a some of the domestic Fest beer I compared it too. Alas, not a true duplicate of my favorite, Augustiner, but not so off that it does not bring back many memories from when I lived 2 blocks from the Oktoberfest Wies'n! I love this hobby!y
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Sometime in the not so distant future... you ready for this? 10 gallon batch split. 5 gallons being a dunkel and then possibly the other 5 getting watered down a lil and using a Saison yeast for a dark Belgian grisette? Sounds pretty good for winter. #castleblackbelgian #whydoesthattygarianhavehairsoblackbelgian #slamajammadunkel #idonthavemuchforadunkel
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This better be good beer. LOL!
