Common and simple - tom caxton's real ale

[leondz]

Thought I'd try something easy and simple. Should be pretty hard to mess this up (so far I've done an unlagered flat lager, and a dusty but drinkable stout, beer-wise, neither perfect but both devoured :thumb:).

The change - pretty much the only one from the stock recipe - was to use Gervin English ale yeast, woken up in wheat malt extract and lukewarm water for a couple of hours before pitching, instead of the kit yeast.

After mixing water, spray malt, "hop enhancer" and the kit, I topped it up with water from the shower. Naughty and full of chlorine, I know - there's about 6 clean fresh litres to 17 straight-outta-the-tap ones - reckon this'll bugger it up?

OG: a rather light 1026 - means more trips to the toilet

 

[Vossy1]

I'm not familiar with that kit l, but IMO something isn't right with an OG of 1.026. I would expect it to be at least 1.040, and more for a real ale kit

I topped it up with water from the shower. Naughty and full of chlorine, I know - there's about 6 clean fresh litres to 17 straight-outta-the-tap ones - reckon this'll bugger it up?

If full of chlorine the simple answer is yes. If you added the water 'vigorously' to the fv, then you may have 'knocked out' some of the chlorines, but there will still be chloramines present. if the beer tastes good from the fv my advice is to drink it asap. As it matures a tcp taste will develope as phenols react with chlorine and it will only get stronger with time. Get some camden tablets for your next brew, they're as cheap as chips and will sort the chlorine out no probs

EDIT, I've had a look at the TC kit range and most have a minimum OG of 1.040.
How much spray malt did you add l?

 

[leondz]

Bugger, alright, thanks. It was really vigorous - kept foaming out of the top while adding it. Impatience is always expensive Everything before this I've used water from the Brita filter, left it to stand for a say (I'm guessing - correct me if I'm wrong - this doesn't get rid of chloramines) or some sodium metabisulphite.

edit: a 1kg bag of geordie spray malt - half spray dried wheat malt, half spray dried dextrose. Everything was stirred to an even consistency so the OG doesn't seem right to me either - might've been dissolved air from the water addition, perhaps?

 

[Vossy1]

Everything before this I've used water from the Brita filter, left it to stand for a say (I'm guessing - correct me if I'm wrong - this doesn't get rid of chloramines)

Brita say that their filters will remove 74.4% of chloramine, so that's pretty good, though I can't find that info on a U.K site, it could be out there though.

EDIT

edit: a 1kg bag of geordie spray malt - half spray dried wheat malt, half spray dried dextrose. Everything was stirred to an even consistency so the OG doesn't seem right to me either

Looking at the majority of kit instructions 1kg of sugar is right. I wouldn't worry about it too much. When you have the first signs of fermentation take another reading with your hydrometer. The yeast will do a pretty good job of mixing things up for you and you may get a better gravity reading. Failing that, follow the instructions as normal and put your OG reading down to an anomolous result.

 

[leondz]

Fantastic, I like the sound of that (though SGs going /up/ overnight can't be a good general rule). Just read the wikipedia page on chloramines, pretty annoying things for us! Shame about the sulphites being so good for helping clear the water out, I've a friend who's allergic to them, and putting 5 odd gallons through a brita filter ain't fun (especially when it's not as good as sulphites in the first place). Ho hum. It's not like an extra 2-3 hours prep on brewday is going to slow down the whole process very much Thanks again.

 

[Vossy1]

SG's shouldn't go up, but if you've done everything right, there's only a few reasons for the wrong SG, 1) kit not mixed properly, 2) Faulty hydro, 3) too much water added, 4) fermentation already happening....and some I've probably forgotten at this time of morning

I use filter for my drinking water. I don't use it for my brewing water however. I only use camden tablets to treat that, and it works fine with my water supply, no TCP taste.

 

[jamesb]

I'm not familiar with that kit l, but IMO something isn't right with an OG of 1.026. I would expect it to be at least 1.040, and more for a real ale kit

I topped it up with water from the shower. Naughty and full of chlorine, I know - there's about 6 clean fresh litres to 17 straight-outta-the-tap ones - reckon this'll bugger it up?

If full of chlorine the simple answer is yes. If you added the water 'vigorously' to the fv, then you may have 'knocked out' some of the chlorines, but there will still be chloramines present.

Not all water companies add chloramines. Dee Valley Water certainly don't.

 

[Vossy1]

T'is true :thumb:

 

[leondz]

This morning, SG was at 1029 at 20.5°C; to check the hydrometer, tap water's coming in with 999 at 19°C (doesn't seem too off). The mixture was really thoroughly mixed, it frothed like nobody's business after the boiling water went in and I checked the feel of the FV's bottom with the spoon to make sure no goop was sticking on the bottom. Spray malt added just after the boiling water (and before mixing), same goes for the "hop enhancer". The tin went from warmed to open to poured to mixed over about 5 minutes, at temperatures too warm for most yeasts, so goodness knows what's gone on there. The only thing I didn't get last night was a temp reading along with the hydro reading, but it was about 25-30C, if not colder.

Local water has 0.17mg/l chlorine and 0.06mg/l chloramine; you can really smell it when you run the tap hard (hence us having a filter)! Thanks to Practical Fishkeeping for that one, it looks like they've done tons of water surveys - very useful.

 

[leondz]

Sorry to rant on about this. Could the OG be so low because I've used 1kg spraymalt instead of 1kg sugar - would 500g demarara + 1kg spraymalt be a better substitution for next time?

 

[Vossy1]

Could the OG be so low because I've used 1kg spraymalt instead of 1kg sugar

Sugar is 100% fermentable and extract around 78% (according to beersmith), so yes, you would see a drop in OG using spray malt alone.

would 500g demarara + 1kg spraymalt be a better substitution for next time?

If the kit advises sugar use only, you need to know what percentage of the fermentables are being provided by the sugar. Once you know that you can substitute that figure with anything you like...within reason :thumb:

 

[leondz]

It is delicious! Kegged today at SG 1004 (not quite 4%), with gelatine finings; secondary should get the pressure up. The half of the hop sachet that went in added plenty of bitters - not a lot of aroma, but enough for me. Recommended :)