Will it be OK

Get advice on making beer from raw ingredients (malt, hops, water and yeast)
Post Reply
homers brew

Will it be OK

Post by homers brew » Tue Mar 24, 2009 9:33 am

Hi all.

Having recently done my first AG home brew and then after re-reading the various guides dotted around, I fear I may have made a total of three mistakes with this one. Possibly more but who knows.

number 1: I did not dechlorinate the water and just used tap water.

number 2: I kept the lid on during most of the boil due to the steam produced.

number 3: I primed the beer by adding glucose to the bin before bottling. Although I did transfer from FV to second bin first then added the glucose in here. I fear the glucose may not be distributed properly although I have not tried opening a bttle yet.

Can anyone confirm whether any of these factors will totally ruin the brew. It is a London Pride copy.

Cheers.

Homer

User avatar
edit1now
Under the Table
Posts: 1408
Joined: Wed Nov 28, 2007 5:09 pm
Location: North-west London

Re: Will it be OK

Post by edit1now » Tue Mar 24, 2009 9:44 am

Don't panic.

Leave the beer in bottle for a week in a warm place to prime, then move it to a cooler place for three or four weeks before you test it.

If it tastes OK after that then you've got away with it.

If some of the bottles are flat then the glucose wasn't distributed evenly. If all the bottles are flat then there wasn't enough yeast left, and next time you might think about re-pitching.

If you've got TCP beer then you'll put metabisulphite in the mash and sparge liquor next time.

Other odd flavours might be due to boiling with the cover on...

User avatar
simple one
CBA Prizewinner 2010
Posts: 1944
Joined: Tue Oct 28, 2008 11:35 am
Location: All over the place

Re: Will it be OK

Post by simple one » Tue Mar 24, 2009 10:53 am

I wouldn't worry.

If it was granulated glucose/sugar you added, it may not have dissolved completely. If it was powdered glucose/sugar you might get away with it. I would say if your adding priming sugars to beer then turn it in to solution prior to doing it. If you add it to bottles it can be in powder/granulated form.

The other two points I wouldnt worry about. I did loads of brews before coming on here and finding out that chlorine affected brews. And I used to leave the lid sometimes and other times I didnt. I never got any off tastes. Now I take precautions because it might happen, rather than what has happened to my beers.

It will taste like beer.

homers brew

Re: Will it be OK

Post by homers brew » Tue Mar 24, 2009 2:08 pm

Thanks for your responses.

As my first brew I havwe a lot of requests from people to try it, i.e. give them a bottle. I just didn't want to inadvertantly poison anybody.

Homer

delboy

Re: Will it be OK

Post by delboy » Tue Mar 24, 2009 2:36 pm

homers brew wrote:Hi all.

Having recently done my first AG home brew and then after re-reading the various guides dotted around, I fear I may have made a total of three mistakes with this one. Possibly more but who knows.

number 1: I did not dechlorinate the water and just used tap water.

number 2: I kept the lid on during most of the boil due to the steam produced.

number 3: I primed the beer by adding glucose to the bin before bottling. Although I did transfer from FV to second bin first then added the glucose in here. I fear the glucose may not be distributed properly although I have not tried opening a bttle yet.

Can anyone confirm whether any of these factors will totally ruin the brew. It is a London Pride copy.

Cheers.

Homer

It'll probably be ok, you might be lucky and live in an area with very low levels of chlorination so you might not even notice the dreaded TCP taste.

homers brew

Re: Will it be OK

Post by homers brew » Tue Mar 24, 2009 2:44 pm

The water is very soft in birmingham. Suppose this doesn't affect the amount of chlorine though.

User avatar
simple one
CBA Prizewinner 2010
Posts: 1944
Joined: Tue Oct 28, 2008 11:35 am
Location: All over the place

Re: Will it be OK

Post by simple one » Tue Mar 24, 2009 11:49 pm

It won't poison anyone.

It will blow there socks off. Most people haven't tasted a good brew.

Chlorinated or or not... it will still be a darn sight tastier than most shop/pub bought muck.

Like the Hitch hikers guide says...
Dont panic.

Post Reply