ooh bloody hell

[brysie]

righto davey.

got me cupboard up and running. just testing different wattage lightbulbs to try and get the temperature down.
im onto an 11 watt energy saver now.
i can see me having to get some sort of temperature controlled power cutout else ill be boiling me beauties.

ill keep you posted.

[brysie]

so how did the lager go last night then?

my cupboard worked a treat.
the room went down to about 12 degrees but the temp in the cupboard stayed over 18
so, boingys lager with golden syrup here we go.

one funny thing tho. ive been comparing some of the little bottle bombs that i started this thread with.
as an experiment,i added around 6grams of sugar to a couple of 250ml bottles and wrapped them in cellotape [just in case].
ive just opened one and guess what? flat as a witches proverbial in a vice. the ones i put 3 grams in- nice fizz, good head and plenty of tiny bubbles
rising right to the last gulp.
do you think that` proper` too much sugar killed the yeast or something?

[randomdave]

I had an epic fail moment an pulled em out of the cuppboard to warm em for an evening, sadly there were casualties.... All of them. We wont go into detail about who was at fault, however there was bottles, there was a bottle opener and a glass and a great deal of pouring. Now there are just bottles to clean and put away.

Im not sure about your little sugar experiment. Its been awhile since my biology days so cant remember if too much sugar can kill yeast. I know too much alcohol can but i cant imagine that a lager would have enough to finish em off. Was the flat one sweeter than the fizzy one?

[brysie]

haha badlad.

funnily enough, the over sugared ones didnt taste very sweet at all. didnt taste bad though. [less fruity than the others]
and even weirder still....i put 4 cubes in one half pint bottle, just for fun. when i opened that one it had a tiny fizz and tasted lovely.
if im honest, i struggled a bit when capping these little bottles and wonder if the excess gas was escaping anyway.
i cant make sense of it meself but one things certain...carlsberg export half pint bottles are stronger than they look.
im hoping to get one of ditches stouts under way this afternoon because boingys suggested lager with golden syrup says to steep a few hops
and add to the mix and i havnt got a sieve. i was going to pop out this morning and get one but its pishing down.

[randomdave]

Yes thats rather odd. Perhaps your right and they hadnt sealed properly. I would have thought if the yeasties were dead then there woudl have been no fizz in any of the bottles and they would have been sweet from the sugar you added to prime.

For my next kit ive come full circle and have another coopers aussie lager. It was the first kit i tried and it turned out great, but I used maize sugar so it was a bit watery and cidery. For this one im using DME so I have an idea of taste difference.

[brysie]

now that sounds like a plan.

ive been tempted to try that myself but have to have a go at this geordie with golden syrup and a few extra hops first.
got around 150 pints of various nectar just sitting around, conditioning, but im determined to give each one 4 weeks before drinking them.
so much beer...so little time.

[randomdave]

My problem is I cant leave it alone. I make it I bottle it a week later the sample bottle i open turns into 4 bottles then it all goes pretty quick after that. Ive started making turbo cider to try an keep me away from my beer while it conditions.

[brysie]

hahaha

youre a badlad. what are the turbo cider kits like then?

[Shedman67]

I found that the coopers Australian lager tased fantastic straight away (5 day ferment + 2 days with finings in the cornie to clear and carb). The whole lot was gone a week later. (wife didn't like it much so more for me HA!)
The Edme German pilsner was another story. 9 day to ferment + 2 to carb and clear and it tasted awfull.
But because I had nothig else ready I had the odd half here and there. So after a couple of weeks I still had 1/2 a keg left.
It started to taste better and better each day till after about 3 weeks in the keg it was Great.
So now if I'm doing lager I start 2 kits at the same time, coopers Aus and Edme pilsner. By the time the coopers is gone the Edme is coming good.

Regards,
SM67

PS. if you don't want exploding bottles chill them real cold before opening.

[KevP]

You'd be mad to expect any kit brew to taste anywhere near its potential if you are drinking without at least a month conditioning!

[brysie]

youre not wrong kev but its sooo tempting.
i cant believe that with around 180 pints conditioning in the cellar ive had to buy a few bottles from gateways this week.

...and the first casualty. i brought a few of me little bottle bombs back up into the warm for a couple of days as an experiment.
first two excellent. lovely and clear but still not what i would describe as lager though.
third one...flat as a witches you know what thats been steamrollered..
upon closer inspection theres a three inch crack running down from the neck.

im not sure if thats because i put so much sugar in or if i did it meself when i was bottling. any thoughts?

[randomdave]

I doubt it was the sugar, id expect you to have more broken bottles if that was the case. Its more likely a weak bottle thats gone when you have capped it or gone under pressure.
Probably worth checking your other bottles of the same brew tho just to be on teh safe side.