Youngs American IPA

Hmm, so I put 2 bottles in the fridge after a week and it was...ok. I've just tasted the second bottle after almost 2 weeks. It has a been of a weird twang / smell to it that I can't quite put my finger (or nose) on.

When I was racking to the bottling bucket, quite a lot of the hops started clogging the autosiphon on more than one occasion, causing bubbles in the siphon tubing. I halted and restarted the siphoning several times after rinsing out and re-sterilising the auto-siphon.

But do you think that would be enough to have properly damaged the beer? I've just put 2 more in the fridge and will have a taste to see what if any an extra week of conditioning at room temp has done. I'm crossing my fingers I don't have a bad batch!

edit: just tried one of the more matured bottles and it tastes better, but that twang is still present.

Is the twang a slightly banana-like fruitiness? Or is it more of a sourness?

Have just cracked open my first bottle of this - 3 weeks in primary, 7 weeks bottle conditioning.
Best beer I've brewed so far.
A bit like Brew dog Punk IPA or Devil's Backbone IPA but better.
Well done, Young's!

You need to bottle condition MINIMUM 6 weeks. It'll be great then.

rodabod said:

Is the twang a slightly banana-like fruitiness? Or is it more of a sourness?

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I take back what I said - it tastes great after 3 weeks conditioning! The entire batch is now chilling at 8C in my beer fridge. Had a friend round on Wednesday, he brought over some beers (13 Guns IPA and Brewdog Dead Pony) and he actually prefered the Youngs IPA out of the lot!

Last night I opened my first bottle after nearly three weeks conditioning. First, I kept back 25g of the 100g of hops from the kit at the start, since I didn't want it to be really really hoppy as others seemed to find, but if I ever did this kit again I would use the full 100g, although the hops came through well in my brew. Anyway, it was almost clear and poured with a good head. To be honest I found it slightly sweet even though I got it down to 1008 (from 1058), and in error did brew slightly short to just under 22 litres. It did not have any 'odd' tastes but I also found it needs to be chilled for serving. For me it was good but not outstanding. Hopefully it will improve more to my taste in another month or so.

Hi Everyone,

I'm a total beginner and have bought the Youngs American IPA as my first kit as I'm quite keen on Goose Island IPA which this kit is meant to taste similar to. I started it off on Thursday night following the instructions pretty much to the letter. I used bottled water, pitched the yeast at 22 degrees celsius and had a starting SG of 1.060 (I think, didn't have a trial jar then and the froth prevented me from being totally sure of the reading). Checked on Friday morning and it was bubbling away pretty regular then on Sunday morning it had flowed through the airlock and was piled up on top of the lid! I cleaned the airlock out 3 times then resorted to a blowoff tube which now seems to have settled down. Should I re-fit the bubbler airlock or leave the blowoff tube connected?

Would I be best to leave it for a full 14 days before checking the SG? Also, how should I fill the trial jar? The FV has a tap fitted, should I use this or do I pop the lid and use a sample pipette?

When it is ready to bottle, would it be best to fill the bottling bucket via the tap or should I siphon it? When bottled, should the bottles be upright or can they be stored horizontal?

Apologies for all the questions! I just like to be prepared :) Thanks in advance for your help fellas!

mc88 said:

Would I be best to leave it for a full 14 days before checking the SG? Also, how should I fill the trial jar? The FV has a tap fitted, should I use this or do I pop the lid and use a sample pipette?

When it is ready to bottle, would it be best to fill the bottling bucket via the tap or should I siphon it? When bottled, should the bottles be upright or can they be stored horizontal?

Apologies for all the questions! I just like to be prepared :) Thanks in advance for your help fellas!

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I imagine from the tap would be fine for the sample, for tranfserring to bottling bucket I use a siphon, that way it transfers with the least chance of making a splash and transfers it slowly (you do not want to get or get as little air / oxygen into it after its fermented)

Store your bottles upright so that the sediment settles at the bottom.

Hi mc
All sounds good! Either way is fine personally I'd just use the tap for samples, as for bottling I'd defo use the tap, much easier and controlable. I suppose you could store your bottles on their side but you'd have to stand upright a day or so before you want to drink them, as you'll have yeast sediment from the secondary ferment in there and you won't be popular if you drink that!:shock:
Rob.

Oh and 14 days minimum

Thanks for your quick replies Covrich and Racinsnake.

Covrich - as an alternative to siphoning into the bottling bucket, would it be okay to connect tubing to the tap and then fill the bottling bucket? This way I'd imagine there would be less chance of air/oxygen getting into the beer compared to just opening the tap over the bottling bucket?

Racinsnake - for actual bottling I've bought one of them little bottles which is like a wand with a valve on the end that connects to the tap. The reason I ask about storing the bottles on the side is that I have a wine fridge which I was thinking I could use for cold conditioning. What temp is best for cold conditioning? This time of year, would the temperatures in the garage be suitable?

Iv heard good things about little bottlers.
Iv never done it but I can't see why you couldn't condition bottles on their sides, but they would need to be stood up well before drinking to allow the sediment to settle back to the bottom, as I'm typing this Im wondering if the sediment would completely sink to the bottom when stood back up, as it sticks like shat to a blanket when rinsing out after drinking.
Temps, I would go for around 2 deg, not sure about the garage, mines cool but not that cool. You could have some on standby in there ready for the fridge I suppose. :

Racinsnake said:

Iv heard good things about little bottlers.
Iv never done it but I can't see why you couldn't condition bottles on their sides, but they would need to be stood up well before drinking to allow the sediment to settle back to the bottom, as I'm typing this Im wondering if the sediment would completely sink to the bottom when stood back up, as it sticks like shat to a blanket when rinsing out after drinking.
Temps, I would go for around 2 deg, not sure about the garage, mines cool but not that cool. You could have some on standby in there ready for the fridge I suppose. :

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I will try to just condition them upright like normal people instead of being awkward haha I didn't realise they needed to be cold conditioned at that low of a temperature, I thought somewhere around 10 degrees celcius was what I should have been aiming for! So do you usually have a fridge specifically for conditioning your bottles?

Every avenue is worth exploring in my opinion.
Yes, I er do (coughs) have a beer fridge :whistle: lol, just a cheapie off preloved.. It keeps me out of swmbo's way. It's down to preference I suppose, you may prefer it a little higher as I do like a nice cold pint.
Keep us updated on your progress.

Racinsnake said:

Every avenue is worth exploring in my opinion.
Yes, I er do (coughs) have a beer fridge :whistle: lol, just a cheapie off preloved.. It keeps me out of swmbo's way. It's down to preference I suppose, you may prefer it a little higher as I do like a nice cold pint.
Keep us updated on your progress.

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I might look into getting a beer fridge in the long run, I think I will warm condition for 2 weeks at fermentation temperature (20 degrees) then put them in the garage to cold(ish) condition for at least another 4 weeks. After this, I will put a few in the fridge for a few days before drinking to clear. Does this sound about right?

Would you advise using a muslin bag for the hops? I was wondering if it may make the beer taste less hoppy than just throwing them straight in the FV?

My experience of doing this kit is that it clears after about two weeks bottle conditioning without needing to refrigerate. But is much improved served chilled.

PS. And as far as muslin bags you need to decide whether you want to maximise the hop addition but have the risk of hop carry over into your bottles. Personally I use a bag weighed down with SS spoons. Much easier.
.

terrym said:

My experience of doing this kit is that it clears after about two weeks bottle conditioning without needing to refrigerate. But is much improved served chilled.

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Agreed! Also I used a bag, far less mess to clean up and dry hopped for 4 days. Beer came out just fine

I always chuck the hops in and use the muslin bag on the end of my bottler, works fine for me

All sounds good to me, I'm a few days ahead of you with a Youngs kit, fermented for about 16 days to get correct reading then added hops last night, going to bottle in a couple of days. I'll syphon into another FV and then into bottles, I think. I've bought Coopers PET bottles from Tesco which I'll probably give a rinse through with Milton sterilising fluid. It could get messy.