Overheated the Wort Maybe?

[Geordieboy]

Hi to everyone on this forum. I am relatively new to Beer Brewing but have 200pints to my record!
I bought the Geordie Lager kit from Wilko's and had everything spot on, temp, Spray Malts dissolved, initial temp........ All was well in the airing cupboard the first night then I noticed she was Bubbling like mad and the temperature of the brew had reached 32Deg C. I promptly kept the door open and it dropped down to 23 Deg C.
Here is the rub, it has stopped bubbling now and after 1 week, the specific gravity is measuring 1.012 steady.

Have I knackered it?

 

[Covrich]

How does it taste? that sounds way too hot to be honest and I cannot imagine in a lager you will not get off flavours but then again you may get lucky..

only one way to tell , draw a small sample off and taste it

 

[phettebs]

That's too warm for even an ale let alone a lager. You may have a lot of headache inducing fusel alcohols in that brew. But as Covrich said, pull a sample and taste it.

 

[Geordieboy]

I measured the ABV and it came out looking light but very cloudy which is to be expected. I have it cooled to 24 deg now and that is pretty consistent.

 

[Geordieboy]

I've just tasted it, (Its been in the fermenter for 1 week today and it tastes pretty good. It is very cloudy, but it has very little CO2 in it. The bubbles are like it is going flat. As this is a lager, I will put a CO2 bulb on my barrel.

In your opinions, should it have more bubbles or will they come during the time it sits in the barrel?

Thanks for your help here.

 

[Covrich]

I am a bit confused, you are drinking it straight from the fermentor (which is what we suggested) but it will not be carbonated yet .. I expect it may still be cloudy..

if it tastes okay then leave it for another week at least and if you can in a much cooler place

 

[MickDundee]

That's too warm for even an ale let alone a lager. You may have a lot of headache inducing fusel alcohols in that brew. But as Covrich said, pull a sample and taste it.

Most lager kits aren’t really lager kits and just have a neutral ale yeast in the kit.

 

[Geordieboy]

Correct, the lager is still in the fermentor and I drained of a mouthful via the tap. As a newbie to this, I wasn't sure if it should have its CO2 in after 1 week that was all.

I can remove it from the airing cupboard and place it in a cooler room, should be about 16deg downstairs, if you think this will help.

 

[phettebs]

Did you taste a sample? (Edit, I see you did). How'd it taste?

At this point, the fermentation "damage" is done and there's not a lot you can do about it.

 

[Geordieboy]

It tasted like a light IPA. It wasn't bitter or sour. It was okay without a lot of body to it.

It just had light gas in. I would happily drink it once it was cleared and with a bit more gas in it!

I have a water filter attached to my house as the water is very heavy and full of chlorine. I started making homebrew as I was getting horrible hangovers from UK beers. This route appears to have cured that. I can now drink 4-5 pints and all is good in the cranium!

 

[phettebs]

In the end, that's all that matters. If you will drink it, then all's well!

 

[Hoppyland]

The beer won't have much CO₂ in it if it's still in the fermentor.
By the sounds of it, you intend to serve it from a pressure barrel. This is where it will "condition", meaning that CO₂ will dissolve in the beer and you will perceive it as "fizzy". There are basically 2 ways to do this. The quick way is to inject gas into your barrel, then leave it for a while to go into solution. Quick, but if you are using small CO₂ bulbs then pretty expensive. The second way is the "prime" the beer, which means putting a relatively small amount of sugar into the beer when you barrel it. Here, the yeast remaining in the beer ferments the priming sugar and produces CO₂, carbonating the beer. As you drink from the barrel, the pressure drops and the beer becomes less fizzy. At this stage, you can use the CO₂ injector to top-up the pressure and maintain condition. Slower (it takes more time for conditioning by natural fermentation), but cheaper (small CO₂ bulbs are the most expensive way of introducing gas into your beer).
Glad to hear the beer tastes OK, though. 32°C is way higher than you should normally be!

 

[Geordieboy]

As I am going through dozens of the little CO2 canisters, I wish to convert to the gas cylinders. What valve do I need, what cylinder, and where do I get them refilled please?
Thanks again for all of your help. I appreciate I am asking a lot, however, I am not giving up brewing beer now and want to get it right!

 

[Hoppyland]

When I last used a plastic pressure barrel (a very long time ago!) you could get CO₂ cylinders for them that were much larger, and much more economical, than the tiny CO₂ bulbs. They were made by a firm called Hambleton Bard. You first bought a cylinder, including a deposit, and when empty you could take it back to your local homebrew shop for a refill. You had to buy a different (inexpensive) cap for your barrel, which had a very simple (aka crude!) valve to fit the gas cylinder. What you did was screw the cylinder down onto the valve, and briefly let gas into the barrel. It was not a perfect system! There was no pressure regulator, so It needed a little experience as you could easily over-carb the barrel - letting in a little at a time was crucial. Also, several times I must have got a piece of crud stuck in the cylinder valve, because when I went back to it the b***** was empty! Nevertheless, it worked and was a lot cheaper than bulbs. I think they're still available, but I'm not certain.
I moved on to bottling, which gave me more consistent results, beer that cleared more quickly, and was even cheaper as no gas needed to be bought at all. Cleaning, sterilising and filling loads of bottles was pain in the ****, though!
These days I use stainless steel kegs, with large pub-style gas cylinders and pressure regulator. A vastly superior system, but certainly not cheap to set up. Once you've got the kit, the gas works out very cheap, though. It has other benefits. For instance the CO₂ can be used to purge air when transferring beer, so it stays in good fresh condition much longer (works with foodstuffs as well!). I'd never go back!

 

[Geordieboy]

When I last used a plastic pressure barrel (a very long time ago!) you could get CO₂ cylinders for them that were much larger, and much more economical, than the tiny CO₂ bulbs. They were made by a firm called Hambleton Bard. You first bought a cylinder, including a deposit, and when empty you could take it back to your local homebrew shop for a refill. You had to buy a different (inexpensive) cap for your barrel, which had a very simple (aka crude!) valve to fit the gas cylinder. What you did was screw the cylinder down onto the valve, and briefly let gas into the barrel. It was not a perfect system! There was no pressure regulator, so It needed a little experience as you could easily over-carb the barrel - letting in a little at a time was crucial. Also, several times I must have got a piece of crud stuck in the cylinder valve, because when I went back to it the b***** was empty! Nevertheless, it worked and was a lot cheaper than bulbs. I think they're still available, but I'm not certain.
I moved on to bottling, which gave me more consistent results, beer that cleared more quickly, and was even cheaper as no gas needed to be bought at all. Cleaning, sterilising and filling loads of bottles was pain in the ****, though!
These days I use stainless steel kegs, with large pub-style gas cylinders and pressure regulator. A vastly superior system, but certainly not cheap to set up. Once you've got the kit, the gas works out very cheap, though. It has other benefits. For instance the CO₂ can be used to purge air when transferring beer, so it stays in good fresh condition much longer (works with foodstuffs as well!). I'd never go back!

This is what I need then.
My understanding is I need 2 Corny kegs and a large CO2 Cylinder.
Can you help me with the connections I need and where to buy all of this in the UK?
Many thanks

 

[Redwulf]

Most of the online Homebrew shops do corny setups. I got a deluxe 2 keg set up from BrewKegTap last year and it came with everything I needed apart from the gas cylinder which you'll need to source locally.

 

[Geordieboy]

Most of the online Homebrew shops do corny setups. I got a deluxe 2 keg set up from BrewKegTap last year and it came with everything I needed apart from the gas cylinder which you'll need to source locally.

Flippin Brilliant! Very much appreciated. I've been looking for somewhere to buy the lot from! Awesome help Cheers

 

[Hoppyland]

There's a good overview of the system here:
https://www.themaltmiller.co.uk/blog/so-you-want-to-start-kegging-your-home-brew/There are plenty of online suppliers, whose prices are likely to vary.

The best gas cylinder to go for will depend upon where you live. I'm in the wilds of SW Scotland, and the easiest for me is Hobbyweld. This isn't the cheapest. There's a (refundable) deposit upfront - I think it was about £60. My "local" supplier (50 mins drive away!) charges about £33 for a refill (6kg of gas) - but they do last for ages. You probably be able to do a lot better ,depending on where you live. If you get on well with your local pub, you could also ask them about CO₂ suppliers)

 

[Geordieboy]

Bought s whole setup with 2 cylinders and 2 regulators delivered for £280 from brewkegtap. Jonny was brilliant.

My local gas supplier wants £20 deposit and £20 refill for a 10litre cylinder.

I'm all sorted! Thanks to everyone on here for your help and support. I'll update with my beers as I move forwards

 

[Slid]

The Geordie kits are made by Muntons and will all come with Nottingham style Ale yeast. Even so, 32C and it bubbling like mad sounds dodgy to me.
Don't drink more than a small amount to try it out and be prepared to tip it if it disagrees with you in any way.

https://www.muntons.com/beer-kits/
Above is a link to the Muntons website. If you do kits, you may find it interesting and informative, I know I did!
If you have a look at the company's turnover etc, you may get a feel for how economically insignificant HB is.