Brewing beer

[zahc]

I'm making my first beer. I made wine years ago but just followed instructions when I did.

So I got 4lb of hopped 'Irish stout' canned malt extract, and another 2lb of malt extract that the guy at the store gave me. I boiled them with 2 gallons of spring water, and then added another 2 gallons of cold spring water and put it in the sink full of ice until it was 75F. Then I added one more gallon of spring water, and poured it into the fermenter violently. This is when I noticed that I was probably supposed to add "water to make 5 gallons" rather than adding 5 gallons, because the batch almost filled up my 6.5 gallon fermenter bucket. I just sprinkled the dry yeast on top. and put the lid on.

I know you are supposed to ferment below 75F but I don't have a basement or anywhere cool really, so it got up to like 77-78F and bubbled pretty strong for the first day. I made a foam cooler for the fermenter and put it inside but since I put it in there like a day ago it's completely stopped bubbling. I wonder if my yeast died somehow, or maybe it was just so warm that it fermented in like 36 hours? I tapped some off and it really tastes like beer--warm flat beer, but beer.

[GigaBuist]

I don't suppose you have an original gravity reading to compare a current one to?  That'd tell you if the yeast munched their way through enough sugar or not pretty clearly.

If not, you could try pulling some of the beer out, put some diluted sugar water in the small sample, and see if the yeast start going NOM-NOM-NOM again.  If they don't they're probably dead.  If they're dead just pitch some more and try and keep the temp around 72-75 this time.

[zahc]

If not, you could try pulling some of the beer out, put some diluted sugar water in the small sample, and see if the yeast start going NOM-NOM-NOM again.  If they don't they're probably dead.

So even after fermentation is complete, if you put some sugar water in with a sample of the 'beer', the yeast will like come alive again? Actually I guess that makes sense since it's supposed to ferment when you bottle it.

I never took a gravity reading, but you can definitely smell and taste alcohol in it.

[zxcvbob]

Yeast is pretty hard to kill.  I'll bet it just finished a lot faster than you expected because the gravity was lower (you added too much water) and the temperature was a little too high.  Just pretend you were making Mild or regular Bitter (ale) and run with it.  Add the priming sugar and bottle it.

[GigaBuist]

So even after fermentation is complete, if you put some sugar water in with a sample of the 'beer', the yeast will like come alive again?

Sorta.  When they run out of food they just shut down and "sleep" for a while.  Shove some sugar down their throats and they'll perk right up again.

If they're actually D-E-D dead nothing will wake them up.

Kinda like Rosie O'Donnell if that helps any.

[geronimotwo]

i agree that yeast are hard to kill without much higher temps. the cooler wort with slower fermentation is supposed to make better beer.  i think you have fermented all of your sugar.  give it a good stir and see if you get a few more bubbles out.  are you using an airlock?  you will likely find this batch to be a bit on the light side, with the extra water, but it should be drinkable.  what kind of hops did you use?  try using 4 lbs of wheat malt, 4 lbs of amber malt, and some cascade hops.  mmm mmm good. 

[zahc]

Yes I was using an airlock.

I just siphoned it into a 2nd bucket and there was some major activity...There was probably 1/2 inch of yeast at the bottom plus a bunch of foamy junk up the sides of the bucket. I think it tastes ok, so I think I'm good. It tastes kind of apply though.

So now the question of how much priming sugar. The internet says that for most beers you want 2 volumes of CO2 or so, and they have charts that say I need about 3.5oz of sugar, but does the fact that my beer is a bit watery make any difference in how much priming sugar to use? If so, which way?

[zxcvbob]

Don't use white sugar or honey to prime it; especially if it tastes apple-y already.  Use corn sugar (dextrose) or malt. 

[zahc]

I have plenty of dextrose. I just don't want flat beer or bottle bombs.

By the way, has anyone ever bottled into reused soda bottles (plastic ones)?

[geronimotwo]

never have used plastic.  most of my bottles are old beer bottles (not twist-offs).  i use about an ounce of corn sugar per gallon. boil the sugar with a little water to sterilize it first. (the only reason to sterilize everything is to kill any odd bacterias or yeasts that will change the flavor of your beer.) i sterilize everything with a mild bleach solution (car-boys, hoses, stir sticks, bottles, etc. anything that touches the beer.) of course it all gets rinsed with well water, so that likely adds bacteria of its own. make sure the yeast has done it's job before adding sugar and bottling, or there will be extra carbonation (possible explosions).

[grislyatoms]

I tried it once (brewing beer) from a kit. The end result was...not beer.  

[zxcvbob]

Plastic should be OK if you plan on drinking it right away.  (within a month or two)  I have a bunch of 1-liter pop bottles I want to try next time I brew a batch.

[geronimotwo]

do not expect good beer directly after bottling, it must age in the bottles first.  the purists go a couple of months before drinking theirs.  i am likely to start tasting in two weeks, but there is a definite improvement as time goes on.

[zahc]

I bottled all by beer up 3 days ago. How long, minimum, does it take to carbonate? Is there any way you can tell by looking at the bottles? I have some of them in my 125F attic. I think I might be too impatient for this hobby.

[grislyatoms]

IIRC, when you bottled it, it should have already had a vaguely beer smell and you should have seen at least some carbonation.
It has been a long time ago, though, so I may be incorrect. That's what I remember, though. 

[zahc]

It did smell and taste like beer and when I started the siphon with my mouth (I know you aren't supposed to do that), it did taste a little bubbly already.

[Sindawe]

I bottled all by beer up 3 days ago. How long, minimum, does it take to carbonate? Is there any way you can tell by looking at the bottles? I have some of them in my 125F attic. I think I might be too impatient for this hobby.

OUCH!!  125F is WAY too hot for good bottle conditioning.  Move it to the basement or cool dark closet.  You MAY be able to save the batch.

When we were doing beer, we generally bottle conditioned for 3 months or so.  Never did get a "bubbly brew", but most batches were a nice beer with a some fizz.

The most effervescent brew I've ever done was raspberry melomel (a type of mead) that we used a champagne yeast to ferment with and spiked with a bit more honey at bottling.  It would fizz when opening the bottle and steamers of bubbles would rise from the microscopic imperfections in the glass the melomel was decanted into for drinking.

[zahc]

I didn't put the whole batch in the attic, just 2 bottles to test if it's going to ferment in the bottle at all. The rest is aging at about 77F, which is where we keep our house. Unfortunately in this confounded Texas, there are no cellars or basements where you can keep things cool. I made a cooler for my fermenter which I will use next batch, but I can't store all my bottles in there too.

[JonnyB]

I generally add the corn sugar from the kit, plus a bit of regular granulated sugar for priming before I bottle. I thought the end result was a bit flat for my taste w/o the extra sugar.

After bottling, the beer goes to the basement to sit for about three weeks before I sample it. The basement temperature is around 65 degrees, getting to 70 in the summer. Three weeks is OK but more time is better.

The attic temp will probably do much more harm than good. Beer likes a fairly cool, stable temperature.

My latest batch was a European Pilsner, lagered in the refrigerator for just over two months before bottling. In my MSHO, it wasn't so much an improvement over ale that it was worth the extra effort. I think I'll stick to brewing ales.

jb

[SADShooter]

zahc:

Properly primed and bottled, the beer should be carbonated after about ten days, plus or minus. I store at room temperature during this period. If you look at the airspace in the bottle neck, you will see beading against the glass indicating pressure. The brew is drinkable at this point, but as other have noted, aging can improve it depending on style.

I have a rye ale to transfer into the escondary tonight. First time with this recipe. Since I've developed a taste for rye whiskey, I'm looking forward to trying it.

SADShooter

[zahc]

When I bottled my beer, I bottled about half of it with .7oz/gal of corn sugar, and the other half at .9oz/gal. Well it's been about 4 days, and the .9oz/gal half seems to be carbonated nicely. I'm not convinced the beer tastes right, though. It's hard because I haven't tasted a lot of beers, particularly not stouts. But I think I taste apple and a kind of chemically taste as well. I need to take a six pack to my friend who is much more experienced with beer tasting, so that he can tell me what he thinks. I think that it's at least drinkable though.

[zxcvbob]

When I bottled my beer, I bottled about half of it with .7oz/gal of corn sugar, and the other half at .9oz/gal. Well it's been about 4 days, and the .9oz/gal half seems to be carbonated nicely. I'm not convinced the beer tastes right, though. It's hard because I haven't tasted a lot of beers, particularly not stouts. But I think I taste apple and a kind of chemically taste as well. I need to take a six pack to my friend who is much more experienced with beer tasting, so that he can tell me what he thinks. I think that it's at least drinkable though.

You get that apple taste if you add any cane or beet sugar.  A little is actually part of the flavor profile of some ales (Belgian?), but generally it's a bad thing.

[zahc]

Well I didn't deliberately add any cane or beet sugar, but I don't really know what was in the can of liquid malt extract that I used. I also heard that you can get fruit flavors from fermenting at high temperatures which I definitely did.

[SADShooter]

Temperature definitely affects the yeast. I think the recommended max for ale yeast is about 78 degrees. The beer won't be unsafe, but high temps will sometimes create those off/chemical flavors.