Hengoedbrewer
Regular.
Hi guys
I am after some general thoughts as to why I might not be getting good brewing results if possible.
After somewhere in the region of 10 kit brews; some "straight" and some modified; I have just done my second extract; a BrewUK vanilla porter. The first was a Way To Amarillo which I am discounting more or less as a leak left quite a lot of it on my kitchen floor and totally flat bottles. I had high hopes of the porter and nothing went wrong on brewday, far as I could see, but, I am really quite disappointed with it- most of it is in Coopers PET bottles and some in glass- The PET bottles taste and smell quite yeasty and have very little head, and the first out of the fridge was very "plastic-y". The glass bottles seem better- a lasting head and good lacing but still not a massive amount of flavour, certainly no vanilla and not really the strong flavours I expect from a porter, and an apparently very good recipe pack at that. It was weird as out of the FV the porter was okay- good aroma of vanilla- but the bottles have none!
I am just beginning to worry as although the hobby is great, I am yet to have a batch of a finished product which I have thought was really, really good, and am therefore considering if I keep trying or give up, or wondering if I am just going wrong somewhere? For the porter I thought I had all the bases covered- I got a decent LCD thermometer to check steeping temps properly, it was brewed using an Inkbird 308S for proper temp control with an aquarium heater and water bath and brewed pretty much constantly at about 19.5; I even used a new FV. I am wondering whether maybe I should start changing some variables- for eg using a different steriliser, at the moment I use Milton tablets, or trying a pressure barrel not bottles....?
Some details on brewing methods if it helps;
1. I always ferment for minimum 2 weeks in 1 FV and don't bother with racking to secondary; and I batch prime with normal table sugar (porter for eg was 95g for 18L batch);
2. I always brew in the cupboard under the stairs using a water bath, and as I say I now have an inkbird for fermentation temp control;
3. I clean FV's with Oxy clean and sterilise with Milton tabs; and same for bottles (though bottles I rinse straight after drinking so unless they are really mucky I just sterilise them rather than clean again);
4. For the porter I put the bottles in the trug after brewing with the inkbird set at 20 to carbonate them- I also put the ones that wouldn't fit in there in the airing cupboard where the boiler is, and up to the attic to cold condition- it was bottled on the 27th November and I had my first bottle last Saturday.
Any help or suggestions would be massively appreciated- I don't want to give up but I am at a bit of a loss to why I keep getting disappointing results, and as extract is an expensive way to brew I don't want to keep throwing money away
I am after some general thoughts as to why I might not be getting good brewing results if possible.
After somewhere in the region of 10 kit brews; some "straight" and some modified; I have just done my second extract; a BrewUK vanilla porter. The first was a Way To Amarillo which I am discounting more or less as a leak left quite a lot of it on my kitchen floor and totally flat bottles. I had high hopes of the porter and nothing went wrong on brewday, far as I could see, but, I am really quite disappointed with it- most of it is in Coopers PET bottles and some in glass- The PET bottles taste and smell quite yeasty and have very little head, and the first out of the fridge was very "plastic-y". The glass bottles seem better- a lasting head and good lacing but still not a massive amount of flavour, certainly no vanilla and not really the strong flavours I expect from a porter, and an apparently very good recipe pack at that. It was weird as out of the FV the porter was okay- good aroma of vanilla- but the bottles have none!
I am just beginning to worry as although the hobby is great, I am yet to have a batch of a finished product which I have thought was really, really good, and am therefore considering if I keep trying or give up, or wondering if I am just going wrong somewhere? For the porter I thought I had all the bases covered- I got a decent LCD thermometer to check steeping temps properly, it was brewed using an Inkbird 308S for proper temp control with an aquarium heater and water bath and brewed pretty much constantly at about 19.5; I even used a new FV. I am wondering whether maybe I should start changing some variables- for eg using a different steriliser, at the moment I use Milton tablets, or trying a pressure barrel not bottles....?
Some details on brewing methods if it helps;
1. I always ferment for minimum 2 weeks in 1 FV and don't bother with racking to secondary; and I batch prime with normal table sugar (porter for eg was 95g for 18L batch);
2. I always brew in the cupboard under the stairs using a water bath, and as I say I now have an inkbird for fermentation temp control;
3. I clean FV's with Oxy clean and sterilise with Milton tabs; and same for bottles (though bottles I rinse straight after drinking so unless they are really mucky I just sterilise them rather than clean again);
4. For the porter I put the bottles in the trug after brewing with the inkbird set at 20 to carbonate them- I also put the ones that wouldn't fit in there in the airing cupboard where the boiler is, and up to the attic to cold condition- it was bottled on the 27th November and I had my first bottle last Saturday.
Any help or suggestions would be massively appreciated- I don't want to give up but I am at a bit of a loss to why I keep getting disappointing results, and as extract is an expensive way to brew I don't want to keep throwing money away