Wellington

[Stunned Monkey]

So I tried a Wellington Wheat Beer kit from the Home Brew Shop. It's been in the keg now for a month and tastes dreadful - properly chemical as if I emptied a bottle of TCP in there. As for hoppiness, seems to have very little actual flavour which is what I was after having really enjoyed Scottish ales on holidays there (Fyne Ales' Fiddler's Gold - yum!).

I've been brewing more or less non stop for the past 18 months or more now and this is the fist time anything has gone so drastically wrong for no apparent reason...

has anyone got any suggestions? Anyone else had bad experiences of this kit?

 

[Muddydisco]

Did you use a campden tablet to treat your water? TCP is connected with chlorine in the water

 

[Stunned Monkey]

I have them but didn't bother this time... :-( not been a problem for countless other brews. P'raps I didn't rinse out the keg and/or FV... Bugger

 

[Muddydisco]

May have been fine other times but it's not worth losing a brew over. The water company may of had problems with leaks in the area and upped the quantity of Chlorine in the water hence why you got 1 bad brew, Don't rely on the water company keeping chlorine at set levels they always fluctuate.

 

[Stunned Monkey]

Lesson well learned, cheers. What actually happens between the yeast and chlorine?

 

[Touchstone]

I have had this prob once or twice in past & I put it down to too high a ferment temp, since I made a fermenting fridge , no probs. I also fill the HLT the previous day to hopefully let the chlorine escape.

 

[Stunned Monkey]

HLT?

Definitely not too hot - without too much detail it's effectively brewing outside with a temp controlled brew belt keeping it between 18 and 19 degrees.

I have had hints of TCP before which could well be due to the brew getting a bit warm, but this stuff is foul. Something went very wrong this time :-(

 

[beermaker]

Interesting point about the water company upping the water treatment! Never given water chemistry a thought before as we have good old North Yorkshire water and it's always given me good brews, but I've recently moved house (same area though) and the water board has had the road up a few times so might be worth taking a new stance on this! Whats the deal with the Campden Tablet? Do I just add it to the FV?

Wassail!
Phil

 

[beermaker]

HLT?

HLT - Hot Liquor Tun, where the sparge liquor is kept :)

 

[Stunned Monkey]

..so in this case, HLT = FV cos it's only mere kit brew