How do I improve the quality of my brews?

[RyanMcco]

Hi folks

I've been brewing for almost a year now, muchly enjoying my brews.

My Normal procedure is:

-Sterlilise
-Primary FV
-Siphon into a second FV add the sugar solution
-Use a bottler and put it into bottles and cap,
-leave in the house for a week or two
-move to garage where its nice and chilled
-Drink.


However I've come to realise after supping a few pints over the weekend (its been a while since i drank any ale that wasnt my own) that i'm getting a certain sharpness/bitty-ness or the impression i'm having something extra in the brew, certainly after supping a pint of Doom Bar in Cornwall, or even a Bodingtons, i'm missing some smoothness. What can I do to make it better?



Having read on forums that I should put it in a second FV for a few weeks before bottling it, won't remove it all but should remove most of it...but i've got questions..
Wont the settling by doing this remove the yeast from the beer so that when i add my 80g of sugar, it'll just sweeten the beer?





Also... What is the implication of the following, as an idea:-

As soon as i siphon the beer into my secondary FV, dont add any sugar then somehow 'filter' the beer into my pressure keg thing , seal it and then before drinking use a co2 cartridge to carbonate the brew thus after a period of settling make it a bit smoother?



any advice would be greatly received Thanks!

[EoinMag]

The first step to improving your beer would be temperature control.
Try to keep the temperature between 18 and 22c constantly, 18ish for a more neutral beer, towards 22 for more flavour from the yeast.

The second step would be to examine your sugar/fermentables addition.
If you are adding sugar to your kits then consider mixing sugar and malt extract or just malt extract, although just extract can lead to a beer which is a bit too overpowering in flavour also.

[Wolfy]

IMHO there are three things you can start with:
Ditch the usual kit-yeast and use a specialty yeast of known quality that has been stored at the right temperature and looked after (US05, Nottingham or whatever yeast is suited for the beer you are making).
Ensure you have adequate control over the temperature that you brew at, don't let it get too hot, too cold, and try not to let it fluctuate day-and-night.
'Upgrade' the quality of ingredients that you are using, use a premium kit or check the additions that you use - you did not mention if you use sugar, all malt/extract or what your ingredients actually are.
... those three things alone could make a bigger difference than changing other aspects of your process.

But to answer your questions:
You only need a small amount of yeast in order to bottle-carbonate, a light dusting on the bottom of the bottle, and the beer can even look clear when you are bottling and you will still have enough yeast to carbonate. It will not hurt to let your beer sit for an extra week or two before bottling, but it should help you reduce the amount of yeast.

CO2 is CO2 and it does not matter how it gets into your beer, force carbonated (via a cartridge) or via secondary fermentation, if all other things are the same, the beer will taste the same no matter how it is carbonated. If you are worried about the amount of yeast you transfer, just let the beer sit a little longer in your primary, then carefully siphon into your secondary leaving most of the yeast - that should have settled by then - behind.

[RyanMcco]

Hi Guys

thanks for the quick replies..

I'm usually using a 2-tin Kit with Safale 05 yeast and based on the thermo i've got on top of my FV (re-used baby thermometer) its about 21' the whole time.. got a north facing room with a warm PC keeping it at perfect temp..

I think i'd like to try filtering it next time, is there anything anyone can suggest for that?

[TC2642]

I would add, keep good records, if you do decide to go partial mash or AG it'll serve you well. You can also experiment with different types of sugars demerara, light brown etc. if you want to increase your SG without shelling out for spray malt.

BTW, very difficult to filter beer, I did hear about an Australian company selling a cap that could 'catch' the yeast but most likely they are designed for different type bottles to the ones in the UK. Another problem I can think of, as Wolfy said, is that it would not carbonate your bottles properly, plus yeast has quite a lot of vitamins in it which are very beneficial to health. As long as you pour it carefully you can get a sediment free pint quite easily, or you could try a keg?