Brew 2?

[IDK]

I’ve just moved my first brew to the cellar. Sampling tells me the first beer is drinkable but doesn’t have a great after taste. Hoping for some improvement in the cellar but not sure I’ll be able to get through the remaining 40 bottles.

So looking for ideas for the second brew.

Thinking maybe I’ll do a smaller batch to reduce potential waste while I’m learning.

I don’t want to spend much money at this stage so will probably be another extract kit.

Got quite a medicinal taste in the first brew so thinking not using tap water next time.

What small changes improved your early brews?

 

[Clint]

Well you need to tell us about that first brew and what you did.

 

[IDK]

Well you need to tell us about that first brew and what you did.

Love brewing uncle teddy’s Yorkshire bitter kit.

Made up 23L. Came in slightly over pitching temp so waited till next morning and pitched at 23 degrees.

Two week fermentation
SG 1042
FG 1012 (instructions said 1010 but went on the time).
Temp 18-20 degrees

Bottled and conditioned for two weeks in a mixture of glass and PET. Had an issue with capper so some caps not sealed for 24 hrs.

 

[nickjdavis]

Add a Campden tablet to your 23L of water the night before you brew and let it stand.

Depending on the yeast...23 degrees may have been a little warm and the fermentation activity may have caused the temp to rise further still....you could have actually reached temps of 25 degrees plus during the early stages of fermentation causing stress to the yeast.

Dont worry about the time that the kit instructions say to leave the beer for....wait until fermentation is completely finished....same gravity readings a couple of days apart. Leaving it longer also gives the yeast time to tidy up after themselves and clear up any off flavours....your fermentation might be done in 5 or 6 days but waiting another week wont do your beer any harm at all.

Did the yeast come as part of the kit? Might be wise to not use it as you dont know how long it's been sat around in the box for (I'm not familiar with the Love Brewing kits but they may have good control over the age of their kit contents...then again they might not!!)....only adds a couple of quid or so to maybe buy a pack of Nottingham or other dried yeast that you know is fresh.

The biggest improvement most people make in their process is to get a good control of fermentation temperature....keeping the temp consistent through the fermentation process will keep your yeast happy....wildly varying swings in temp will cause stress leading to off flavours.

The five most important things to control in your brewing process are...

1) Sanitation
2) Fermentation temp control
3) Sanitation
4) Fermentation temp control
5) Sanitation/fermentation temp control

(yes its old and a bit trite but it does go to show where you should focus your efforts.....keep things clean, give your yeast the best environment to do their job in and they will make you good beer.