Small home brewery

[the big lebowski]

thanks for the reply i`ll have a look and check it out

[Naga]

How does your beer taste?

TBH, most kit beers have a generic taste and can give off a slight "homebrew twang". What types of flavours and smells you got coming through......if thats the issue?

[the big lebowski]

hi,the main prob i think i have is fluctuating temps,i have really stepped up my cleaning so thats alot better, taste wise it does have that home brew taste if drunk 1 month after racking into bottles but if i leave it in a cool place for 3-4 months then its pretty good ,my ingredients are wilco`s lager can , 500g brew sugar ,500g brew malt, yeast and 25 liters of spring water,cheers

[the big lebowski]

i have had some v bad smells from them but like i said cleaning is the main thing that ruins a batch ,i did have a batch that was foul and i poured 6-8 bottles away just cos of the smell when i opened them i didnt have the heart to throw the rest away so left them in the back of a wordrobe for 5 months and tried them again and they were really nice,no idea why ? thats why i`ve been asking questions and reading up alot ,does this help atall ? hope so ,cheers

[simon12]

What was the smell like ie sulphur/egg, vinegar, banana, vegetable etc. I have had a few brews that had the banana like taste/smell (desirable in a few styles) that faded after 6ish weeks in bottles. Some off flavours/smells can be cleaned up by the yeast if you give it an extra few weeks sitting on the yeast after primary fermentation stops.

[the big lebowski]

the main two types of bad smells have been the poor hygene taste which an auto gap reflex kicks in and you just think i cant drink that , the other is a sharp not vinegar but slightly acidic smell and taste that gives the classic "home brew" taste,i`ve put my latest batch in my dads garage under a blanket and am hoping that 4 months in a much cooler temp will help,cheeers

[the big lebowski]

what temps do you store yours at ?

[the big lebowski]

on a slightly a slightly different note , i bought the river cottage booze book which is a very good read in my opinion ,has anyone tried the sparging technique the he talks about using the two 33 liter fv`s with the holes drilled in the bottom of one of them ? i might knock the tin kits on the head and give that a try instead ,any thoughts ? cheers

[simon12]

I only make ales so store and ferment at room temp. I made 1 pilsner style beer which I cold conditioned in a spare fridge for 6 weeks but since I used an ale yeast fermentation was at room temp, the cold part seemed a bit pointless as the ale I made a week later and bottled on the same day is much clearer but is was such a different recipe I have no idea why.
As for the 2 33l buckets as mash tuns I did look at that option but decided a cool box with a tap and filter/bazooka screen would be better as it holds the temperature better. I still need to put a duvet over it to hold the temp though so maybe a duvet over the buckets would do the job just as well. There are many ways to DIY all grain beer kit and they all work. I use a 33l food grade bucket with a cheap plastic tap and 2 £5 kettle elements for my boiler and HLT this with the £15 cool box mash tun and my £34 ebay immersion cooler I think is about the cheapest setup. The 2 bucket mash tun would be around the same price and would have a larger capacity.
I only ever made 1 beer kit before going all grain and the difference is amazing. My very 1st all grain beer with not much knowledge and a recipe I made up despite all sort going wrong the finished beer really was a why can't large breweries make anything this good moment.

[the big lebowski]

all grain is the way i think i`ll go but i have 1 more kit in so im going to order a fv heat strap and use that to try and keep the temp more constant (i live in a rented room in a house so the heating comes on at 6-9 in the morn and 5-12 at night and is off the rest of the time ,not great) cheers