Betterbrew IPA (first kit beer)

[sbond10]

Ooooo a dishwasher you'll get chemicals that's dirt mental to beers taste not to mention last nights spag Bol. Also I have a little bottler by bottle 18 I've lost the will to live

[Monkeybrew]

A little bottler is certainly a godsend

Re the dishwasher debate - I am preparing to bottle brew #54 on Thursday night, and will yet again be loading up the dishwasher with my bottles. I just turn off the rinse aid, put 2 heaped teaspoons of youngs sanitiser powder in the door compartment and then run the dishwasher on its longest cycle in the morning. I then run it again on the hottest shortest cycle, but this time with no sanitiser powder so the bottles get another hot rinse just for luck.

As I say brew #54, so it works for me

[aarsims]

Bottled today after ten days in the primary Pretty clear already! Gona leave it for a week in the dark 20c understairs cupboard i fermented in, then in the garage on the cold floor. Can't wait to try it! Smells nice but didnt taste great warm and cloudy from the siphon haha

[MartinC]

Hi all,
Regarding the tempertaure of fermentation, which is where this thread started, I agree with Monkeybrew about 28C possibly giving rise to off flavours. If you do have to ferment at that temperature I would rack it off the lees into a second fermenter after 5 days so that the dead yeast doesn't autolyse too much.
I've just made my first batch of this and bottled it. It has only been in the bottle for a week and needs another 3 I reckon. However, I was tempted last night to open one up and it was very good. It has a very fuity flavour, more than other IPAs that I've tried. This could well be down to the yeast used, though it doesn't specify what variety it is.
The only issue I had with it is the amount of time it took to clear. I use a different bottling technique to most people whereby, after fermentation (7 days I think I left it) I rack off into a second fermenter and add finings to clear it, prior to bottling. That process normally takes 3 days. However, this time it took 10 days! Admittedly, it was in my garage and we had a brief spell of summer and the garage warmed up more than I would have liked but, even so, it was an unusually long time. But even after a total of 17 days in fermenting bins no harm was done.
Cheers,
Martin

[aarsims]

So i tried a small bottle of the ipa today bearing in mind its only been in the bottle 5 days. It hissed as i popped the cap and produced a nice head when poured. No noticeable bubbles raising from the bottom of the glass. It smelt very sweet and fruity and tasted very much the same. I am hoping this is due to it being young and not due to the high temps when i pitched the yeast which lasted till the morning after. Was gona go buy a stout kit tomorrow but now ive tasted this batch im not so sure. I hope it gets better as it tasted very bad and had to force myself to finish the glass

[aarsims]

Temp was 28c when yeast was pitched, next morning i got it down to 22c inwhich it stayed steady for 10 days...

[Monkeybrew]

So i tried a small bottle of the ipa today bearing in mind its only been in the bottle 5 days. It hissed as i popped the cap and produced a nice head when poured. No noticeable bubbles raising from the bottom of the glass. It smelt very sweet and fruity and tasted very much the same. I am hoping this is due to it being young and not due to the high temps when i pitched the yeast which lasted till the morning after. Was gona go buy a stout kit tomorrow but now ive tasted this batch im not so sure. I hope it gets better as it tasted very bad and had to force myself to finish the glass

5 days is certainly young, but the main thing is that it doesn't taste like vinegar and it sounds nicely carbonated

Give it a few weeks or months as time is usually a good healer

Why are you hesitating to buy a stout, if your IPA is a slow burner, a fast conditioning stout could be just what you need.

[aarsims]

Thanks for the encouraging words Ill try it again in a few weeks then. Its just it seems to taste like a brubox silly kit i did last year but not as bad. That one had a very homebrewy twang but im ure that was due to my untreated tapwater. This brew was done with all bottled water.

Ill pick up a coopers stout today then and maybe one of the new wilkos two can kits

[aarsims]

Bought a coopers stout and a Woodfordes Wherry today Gona start the stout next week. This time i will chill the bottled water in the fridge to make sure i get a low enough temperature for pitching.

The Woodfordes Wherry says it needs to be around 18c and 20c during the ferment but using the understairs cupboard i can only keep it around 22C.. will this matter?

[aarsims]

Just started my stout Pitched the yeast at 18C! Also while brewing i had a pint of my IPA which has only been in the bottle 10 days. What an improvement! So much better now. Ill post a pic up next thursday when i crack the next one

[Monkeybrew]

Just started my stout Pitched the yeast at 18C! Also while brewing i had a pint of my IPA which has only been in the bottle 10 days. What an improvement! So much better now. Ill post a pic up next thursday when i crack the next one

Glad the IPA is tasting better

Give your stout 24 hours and you should start to see some action, and all going well you will be drinking it in 2 weeks time

[aarsims]

Having a pint of the ipa this evening... Has lots of fruity flavour.. sort of like banana. not bad though

[MartinC]

[quote="aarsims"]Having a pint of the ipa this evening... Has lots of fruity flavour.. sort of like banana. not bad though

I agree about the flavour. I think I've ruined mine, though. I has a sour taste and I suspect it has an infection because I had a lot of trouble getting it to clear; I had to add two doses of finings which meant opening up the fermenter twice and stirring it.
I notice the example in the picture looks cloudy. Anyone esle had problems with it settling?

[aarsims]

Mines completely clear now. That picture shows chill haze and due to the rubbish phone photo does not look clear at all! I didn't use any finings as i find most brews clear in the bottle within a week

[aarsims]

Here's a pic of the stout mentioned earlier in the thread. Amazing at 4 days in the bottle